X-Men '97: Review

[selenak]

Background: I have not seen the original 1990s animated show this new series is a successor of, though I have seen its praises sung a lot in X-Men fandom, not least by andraste, and since had watched and liked this new series, I decided to use the circumstance that I'm paying the Mouse anyway and watch this, too. I can therefore certify that it's absolutely comprehensible if you, like me, came to the X-Men via the movies and then branched out to reading a few of the comics in trade collections, though not that many. Also? It's much more emotionally satisfying and fun than any movie effort since Days of Future Past.



Firstly, back in ye olde days when the very first X-Men movie starring Gandalf and Picard was released and made me ship them and get interested in this X-Men thing, I do remember one regular complaint by people who'd come to the movies from either the comics or the original animated 90s show or both was that movie!Rogue was a completely different character, aside from the moniker and the powers. Which I can now see is absolutely true. Mind you, I also still think it should be possible to like both. But they, their circumstances and relationships are really completely different. (Thoiugh I have to say I'm glad Anna Paquin didn't have to try a heavy southern accent and call people "sugar" when portraying a then contemporary teenager.)

I was already familiar with the entire Cable and his background saga not from any later movies but because likeadeuce was into him back when we were all rping at theatrical_muse, but with Remy/Gambit only via general osmosis and reputation, ditto Jubilee (I know she had some cameos in the newer movies, but I can't say I remember what they were), and Roberto/Sunspot and Forge were completely new. But like I said: it was no problem to follow the story and adjust to everyone's personalities in this particular incarnation. Another thing I had osmosed because of likeadeuce's Cable thing was the Jean Grey/Madelyn Pryor weirdness, which sounds lke a narrative clusterfuck of the non- fun kind as written in the comics, so let me congratulate the scriptwriters of this animated series for doing it in a way that doesn't make Scott Summers or either of the ladies look bad. I'm all for Clone angst by Clones who didn't know they were Clones, and combining it with the twist that neither Jean nor Madelyn now ever find out when they were switched or whose memories are whose (up to the point Jean showed up in the X-Mansion again) means Jean gets to angst about non-Phoenix now, too. And you know, if Farscape hadn't avoided giving Aeryn the problem of having to live with two Johns who both have equally valid claims to be the one she fell in love with by first having her on a ship with only one of them and then killing off that one, she'd have been in exactly Scott Summers' situation mid this season.

But let's be honest, while I like Scott and Jean, they're not who I was most curious about going in. This version of Magneto gets to do the storyline I had osmosed but not read where Magneto is for a while the head of the school courtesy of Xavier being temporarily dead (as you are in comics every now and then) and having expressed the with for sit to be so, so I was delighted the show chose to go with this. And then inevitably brought back Xavier for the last third. And while both of them had vaild relationships with the other sex (Magneto with this version of Rogue, Xavier with Lilandra), they were indeed as slashy as promised. Both when Magneto still thinks Charles is dead and when it turns out he's not. They were the very first pairing I fell for which combined great affection for each other with vaild ideological opposition to each other with willingness to hurt each other because of that if needs must with willingness to save each other, and this series offered all of that, and then some. Sign me up for characters who do the "i'm willing to fight you to save a greater number of people than if I didn't, but then I will immediately risk life and limb to save you because your life means more to me than mine" to each other on a regular basis, then and now!

Let's see, what else:

- Storm's losing and regaining her powers arc felt quite familiar by now (not for my exposure to Storm, for stories about superpowered folk in general), but I really liked the series showcasing her friendship with Jean the way it did

- Morph as the resident shape changer and his ability to turn into just about anyone including the Hulk made me wonder why Mystique in the movieverse never did that, in universe I mean, on a Doylist level, Fox obviously did not have the right

- Osmosis tells me poor Scott had a rough time in the hands of various writers these last few years, so let me assure you that romantic troubles caused by evil Sinister and his cloning aside, he's showcased as an excellent team leader throughout the series and respected as such.

In conclusion, I'm definitely there for the next season.

Comments

[profiterole_reads]

I was addicted to TAS, so I remembered well that Lilandra had taken Xavier to space to heal him. The X-Men and Magneto knew about that, so the continuity was a little wonky here. But yeah, there was a lot of Xavier/Magneto going on here.

But the relationship I was most fascinated with way back, without knowing what slash was yet, was Wolverine/Morph, so I was super excited to see them again, and damn, the writers sure almost went for it with this pairing as well. <3

[selenak]

I did wonder whether Morph speaking-as-Jean in a certain scene was meant as a confession of his own emotions, too….

[profiterole_reads]

It was. Beau deMayo confirmed it.

[andraste]

I was addicted to TAS, so I remembered well that Lilandra had taken Xavier to space to heal him. The X-Men and Magneto knew about that, so the continuity was a little wonky here.

I think that the idea is meant to be that they're letting everyone think he died, including the lawyers, but the X-Men and Magneto know that's not what happened. There's a lot of vague talk about Charles being 'gone' and you'd think they'd be mad he didn't tell them he'd survived if they thought he was dead. But it comes across strangely because the show wants to treat his being alive as a twist for some bizarre reason, even though he wasn't dead at the end of X-Men '92. (Which is one of the few things about the show that really didn't work for me because - c'mon, guys, do you think we don't know how this works by now? Next you'll be expecting us to think Gambit is going to stay gone!)

There is some odd continuity stuff - mostly around the way Charles relates Magneto's backstory in the '92 series and also T'Chaka is meant to be dead by this point in the broader animated universe from the nineties - but I don't think that's a retcon, just something they handled awkwardly for no good reason.

[profiterole_reads]

I think it was mostly to surprise new viewers. For example, with only Magneto and the X-Men being present, there was that talk about Charles's Last Will and Testament... which turned out to be a whole book instead of a sheet of paper. I bet Charles was waxing poetry at Erik in this book. lol

[andraste]

Oh, that's a fair point. I guess they might think mutants every actually die and continue to be dead!

That will was novella length, and given that all the legal information it apparently contained could be covered in a single sentence and it also looked to be hand-written we can only assume it was ninety-nine pages of fond reminiscence and one page of 'also you own all my stuff now, please don't throw my children out of the house XOXO.'

[yhlee]

Ah, I've got to catch up so I can read your review! :D

[selenak]

It is very, very enjoyable, I promise, and thus not a harsh task to catch up with. ;)

[kore]

....ooh I might see this, I was a bit wary bc I loved the original.

[selenak]

Andraste loved the original as well and her loving this was why I watched it in the first place, so I think you’re pretty safe.

[profiterole_reads]

It's like the original, but on steroids (only 10 episodes of 30 minutes, but they could have easily told the same stories in 20 episodes of 20 minutes, so that we can breathe a little).

[likeadeuce]

I was already familiar with the entire Cable and his background saga not from any later movies but because likeadeuce was into him back when we were all rping

MY FANDOM LEGACY LET ME SHOW IT TO YOU!

I did, obviously, dig the hell out of all the Summers drama in XMen 97, but, as you said, the overall Magneto storyline is the real standout. I only ever saw bits and bobs of the 90s cartoon myself so I don't think I caught everything, but as a fresh start it worked really well.

[selenak]

Ah, but your fandom legacy is more than this, for in addition to Summers family drama, you educated me in the original Captain America/Iron Man fallout from the comics Civil War and in Bruce Springsteen songs!

And yes, I figured you might like this version. :)

[likeadeuce]

Such a legacy!!!

[andraste]

I am glad that this show works for people who did not spend the nineties hanging on every word of it and renting the only tape the nearby video rental place over and over. I may have seen Night of the Sentinels a few too many times. (My family were very late adopters of VCR technology.)

Anyway, as you already know, the original show is how I got to fandom in the first place! I'm so happy that it continues the legacy of adapting X-Men stories to animated form in such a satisfying way. Their take on Madelyne is so much better than the original comics story, which has terrible characterisation for both Scott and Maddy herself.

And that's not even getting into the stuff I hated about Fatal Attraction (the original story where the X-Men go to attack Magneto on and asteroid and he rips Wolverine's adamantium out and Charles breaks his mind) and how they fixed the things I disliked while keeping the good parts. Or how they actually managed to make Bastion into an interesting character!

I cannot wait for Season Two.

[selenak]

I shall stay away from the original stories for good then, life is too short, and nothing I'd osmosed made me think I'd love them in their original form. Otoh, I see Disney also seems to have the original animated series, sooooooo.....

[andraste]

While it's definitely more aimed at kids than the current series and the animation was definitely on a budget, I think that in most ways it holds up well!

If nothing else, when you get to the second episode of the second season you will easily spot the exact moment teen me went 'wait a second, there is absolutely no platonic explanation for this behaviour!'