X-Men '97

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

It's pretty faithful to the original - though as it's on cable... wait, streaming, they don't have ABC's Saturday Morning censors or angry cereal/washing powder execs to worry about. 

 

There is just one way they could have improved it...

Spoiler

 

To meep, my X-Muppets...

 

[FX/GRAMS: lightning, thunder, concert organ playing opening chords of "Never Gonna Give You Up", accompanied by DW's maniacal laughter]

 

Edited April 4 by ThaOGDreamWeaver

[Techwright]

Just saw episode 3 and...well...it finished.

 

Two stories told sequentially, rather than flipping back and forth.

 

Story 1:

Spoiler

I like that they're showing advancement in time by having Jubilee's 18th birthday.  I don't like that it's Mojo. Never did like the character. I also don't like that the whole story felt like those half-baked, sell-some-toys episodes of action hero cartoons in the 1980s.  Lastly, I didn't much care for the lack of originality crossing Matrix with Jumanji to achieve their story.  I did like two things:  first, they show that Jubilee is not just a sparkler, which was an accusation often made in the 1990s.  Instead, she's still in development and the virtualized version has shown her potential.  (Side note: many forget those "sparkles" are actually plasma explosions.  She's fried more than a few electronics in her awkward years.  Imagine what plasma explosions could do in a fully-trained adult version of her.) Second, I like the 16-bit game sequences.  They were drawn very well, though I suspect this is actually computer compositions made to look like old 2-D cell animation.

 

Story 2:

Spoiler

Fully disclosure: Forge is one of my favorite X-men. Always has been, alongside Beast and Nightcrawler.  So any time he's onscreen, you have my attention.  And they appear to be doing a take on the Forge/Storm romance of the comics.  Again, approval.  However, they seemed to have severely gimped (no pun intended) Forge's ability.  There's a great scene in the 1990s comics where he is attacked mid-morning, pulls out a custom gun laying down serious firepower, and mocks the baddie by pointing out that Forge designed and build the gun over breakfast just that morning.  In other words,  he designs at speed.  So having him act more like a normal genius human having trial/failure work is not exactly Forge.  Having him with a slight limp is also not Forge.  His custom built limbs are every bit the equal to his real ones. 

 

As to the ending. not sure what that creature was (a manifestation of the Shadow King, perhaps?) but what a way to launch into nightmare fuel again!  I'm pretty sure the actress voicing Storm is doing the creature's voice as well, so maybe a manifestation of Storm's psyche?

 

[Voltor]

On 4/4/2024 at 11:02 AM, ThaOGDreamWeaver said:

It's pretty faithful to the original - though as it's on cable... wait, streaming, they don't have ABC's Saturday Morning censors or angry cereal/washing powder execs to worry about. 

 

There is just one way they could have improved it...

  Reveal hidden contents

 

To meep, my X-Muppets...

 

[FX/GRAMS: lightning, thunder, concert organ playing opening chords of "Never Gonna Give You Up", accompanied by DW's maniacal laughter]

 

 

And this week's episode is proof of that!

[Techwright]

Playing catch-up.  I've still got episode 6 to watch still, but episode 5 may just be the best animated X-men episode of all time.  Episode 6 may derail my viewpoint, but it's looking more and more like they're working towards an interpretation of the Age of Apocalypse, my favorite X-men arc of all time.  I'm not much for the music scene, my tastes run too old school for the mainstream, but whomever scored this episode did an awesome job.

 

The positives having been said, I realize the slogan is "mutant and proud" but maybe the pink see-thru guy might want to put on some trousers, or at least a swimsuit in public?

Edited April 19 by Techwright

[Snokle]

57 minutes ago, Techwright said:

Playing catch-up.  I've still got episode 6 to watch still, but episode 5 may just be the best animated X-men episode of all time.  Episode 6 may derail my viewpoint, but it's looking more and more like they're working towards an interpretation of the Age of Apocalypse, my favorite X-men arc of all time.  I'm not much for the music scene, my tastes run too old school for the mainstream, but whomever scored this episode did an awesome job.

 

The positives having been said, I realize the slogan is "mutant and proud" but maybe the pink see-thru guy might want to put on some trousers, or at least a swimsuit in public?

 

Myself and my wife both agree that Episode 5, sets the tone big time for the series, and easily the best that came out. Also choosing the song which my wife identified immediately from a very popular R&B/Pop band from the 90's was a perfect touch. Aside from keeping the art similar, and trying their best to keep VA to sound as close as the originals (and with originals 20 years later) I feel adds a great service.

 

Episode 6, follows up on the 5th, with a couple people we know would be back sometime and confirms the Age of Apocalypse mentions, bringing a little bit of horror into it with the fears people have during mass wars. I am excited to see how the rest of the season goes, if they go like Invincible and have a major story arc that happens in the background and foreground over multiple seasons, or they will do major arc for a bit then hope to the next.

 

I think I want to mention is Emma Frost and her simple comment in Episode 5, really got a smile from me to see her more devious side and not just boring evil mutant. I am hoping that this could bring in (or mention) a personal favorite X-Men book for me  X-Force.

[Voltor]

Age of Apocalypse was adapted in the original series with the two parter that was combination of Terminator and Age of Apocalypse where Trevor Fitzroy went back in time to kill Xavier before he creates the X-men

 

Episode  5 of '97 feels like an upgraded version of the Mutant Massacre, imo.    This attack will likely motivate Magneto to put his helmet back on and declare war.

 

 

[Mr. Vee]

They seem to be fusing a bunch of different stories from different eras into one, from as far back as mutant massacre but with elements as recent as HoX/PoX. The show was always good at fusing comic semi-coherence into a simplified thread so i'm here for it

[Techwright]

Episode 7

 

Another solid episode with a good many cameos.  The big bad is not a character I'm familiar with (I must have stopped collecting right before his first appearance), but I believe his name was the reason for a name change for our own Citadel.

 

Spoiler

I like that they're showing a long-term effect on Genosha.  So often in animated shows, they tend to turn the camera elsewhere and completely forgot about the scale of impact a disaster has, moving on with other stories instead.  Here, the implications are years to recovery, though I also like that they showed triage as relatively empty because only dead were being recovered. 

 

The reveal of the Big Bad answers a question that's been bugging me since Episode 5:  where did all the material and labor come from to assemble the super Mastermold?  Such things surely are traceable.  Now I understand that there's a situation where material either comes from theft or the future, and construction is probably by robots.  No ledgers to trace. 

 

Nice to have an Avenger make an appearance.  Also nice to have Morph duplicate Quicksilver.  There were people at the funeral that I suspect were cameos, but I didn't recognize them.  They were to the right of Cyclops and Jean.  General Ross is a creep in any universe it seems. His voice actor, Michael Patrick McGill did a credible impression of William Hurt.

 

Lastly, I liked the twists and turns in this one: Rogue dropping Trask, and Trask revealed to be something more.  I appreciated that the writing team brought the attack on the X-men in the middle of Rogue's angry speech rather than waiting for a pause like TV writing so often does.

 

EDIT: Forgot to add that the voice of the Big Bad sounds quite a bit like Jimmi Simpson, currently starring as the voice of Dr. Hemlock, the main villain in the last half of the show Star Wars: The Bad Batch.  However, the character is unlisted currently in IMDB.com, so I was unable to verify that.  Not surprising, since it would have spoiled the episode.

 

 

Edited April 24 by Techwright

[BrandX]

For Episode 7

Spoiler

One of the things I loved was not seeing Captain America kick Rogue's butt.  I was afraid that's what we'd see when I saw him show up in the episode.  If the two of them fought, I feel there'd be no way for Cap to win and I just wouldn't by it, especially after the destruction (and it was awesome!) she caused for Ross.

 

I do think some of the X-Men should've stopped Rogue from dropping the guy.  I get Wolverine not doing it, but a bit surprised Jean didn't stop him from falling.  Some X-Men should also be walking away from such actions.

 

[Techwright]

9 hours ago, BrandX said:

For Episode 7

  Hide contents

One of the things I loved was not seeing Captain America kick Rogue's butt.  I was afraid that's what we'd see when I saw him show up in the episode.  If the two of them fought, I feel there'd be no way for Cap to win and I just wouldn't by it, especially after the destruction (and it was awesome!) she caused for Ross.

 

I do think some of the X-Men should've stopped Rogue from dropping the guy.  I get Wolverine not doing it, but a bit surprised Jean didn't stop him from falling.  Some X-Men should also be walking away from such actions.

 

 

Responses:

Spoiler

On the basis of sheer power, yes, Rogue greatly outmatches Captain America.  But Cap has also trained to fight beings much more powerful than himself, including training with allies Thor and Hulk.  Cap is also known not only as a superb fighter but also a skilled tactician.  It would be very tough, but I find it entirely possible that he could defeat Rogue by some other means other than strength and speed, especially as she's unbalanced right now.  But yes, in a fight with both mentally balanced, he'd have a tough time defeating her.

 

As regards the drop, we had both Jean and Morph in a position to snag him.  I was likewise surprised none stepped in to at least try.

 

I was watching some reaction videos this morning over coffee and realized there's one thing about the show I find annoying: Wolverine standing or sitting around flexing one set of claws in or out as he makes a comment.  It's one thing if he's making a point, such as in the first episode when he wanted another character to understand the real danger Logan posed, but seven episodes in of this casual claw displaying has me almost believing the show creators fear we'll forget his claws if they don't display them at every opportunity.  As if.  None of the other characters do this with their signature powers, so why make an annoying visual statement at every chance?  It's a minor annoyance in the grand scheme of things, but one that I hope they'll address in the future.

[Mr. Vee]

I'm not sure how I feel about the huge power upgrade for Morph - i.e. taking on the powers of whomever they're mimicking. I don't remember if they had that when they came back on the original series but I know they didn't have it all along - otherwise they'd not been just running around getting killed in the early sentinel fight of the original. It's a nice gimmick for putting in cameos but if you think about it it makes them simultaneously overpowered and a bit dumb, cuz why wouldn't you just always mimic Phoenix Jean?

Edited April 25 by Mr. Vee

[BrandX]

2 hours ago, Mr. Vee said:

I'm not sure how I feel about the huge power upgrade for Morph - i.e. taking on the powers of whomever he's mimicking. I don't remember if he had that when he came back on the original series but I know he didn't have it all along - otherwise he'd not been just running around getting killed in the early sentinel fight of the original. It's a nice gimmick for putting in cameos but if you think about it it makes him simultaneously overpowered and a bit dumb, cuz why wouldn't you just always mimic Phoenix Jean?

 

I don't believe he's copied energy blasts and such has he?  Merely the physical aspects?  Maybe they look like metal claws for instance, but they're not adamantium level metal claws, even if he may be able to make them tougher than just bone.

 

I think a real question is, why does he morph to look like Angel to grow wings and not just grow wings?

[Mr. Vee]

They copied 

Spoiler

Quicksilver's speed

which isn't energy projection but still seems a cut above basic physical aspects as you describe.

Edited April 25 by Mr. Vee

[Techwright]

8 hours ago, Mr. Vee said:

They copied 

  Hide contents

Quicksilver's speed

which isn't energy projection but still seems a cut above basic physical aspects as you describe.

Marvel has always played a bit fast and loose with shapeshifters and what they can do.  About the only thing they've shown (to my knowledge) they clearly can't mimic is Wolverine's adamantium (original X-men movie), which makes sense because it's not a DNA thing.  But it's clear in this series that Morph's ability are intended to happen on a DNA level.   Marvel really should clear some things up though.  If Morph can mimic Quicksilver's speed, then why not Rogue's abilities or Professor X's?  With current understanding, Morph should be someone capable of running Cerebro in Xavier's absence, and flinging metal on Magneto's scale. 

 

[Mr. Vee]

I don't recall an instance before this of power replication from a shape shifter (but to be faaaaiiihh i don't recall much of anything ever). It does make sense that they should be able to mimic down to dna though given that their power already extends to such things as voice and mannerisms and style of movement. In which case they should mimic Proteus or Jaime Braddock and just manipulate the sentinels out of reality. They'll be fine til they have to go one on one with a similarly boosted Mystique.

[BrandX]

1 hour ago, Mr. Vee said:

I don't recall an instance before this of power replication from a shape shifter (but to be faaaaiiihh i don't recall much of anything ever). It does make sense that they should be able to mimic down to dna though given that their power already extends to such things as voice and mannerisms and style of movement. In which case they should mimic Proteus or Jaime Braddock and just manipulate the sentinels out of reality. They'll be fine til they have to go one on one with a similarly boosted Mystique.

 

Looking at his Marvel page, it seems he has Shapeshifting and Power Mimicry.  However, there does seems to be limits, but I'm also left wondering if he can change into a made up look, or if he has to copy someone.

 

Seems like he's a minor version of Rogue mixed with Mystique.

[InvaderStych]

Got caught up yesterday, #6 and #7 were very well done.

 

Am I the only one who found great satisfaction watching Rogue go ... er, um, rogue?

😉 After the way the Fox movies did her so dirty, it's fantastic to see the character done properly.

 

At the risk of having my Nerd Card revoked:

 

I have absolutely no idea who the guy pulling the strings is supposed to be.

 

As to Morph, I has a theory: His ability to mimic powers might be limited to physical abilities, which is why he's not simply pulling the Xavier/Jean card every time. No, it doesn't quite make sense if he's getting them by twisting his DNA, but a little bit of writer's fiat may be involved to keep him from simply being a plot spoiler every time. Even if he could copy Jean's powers, I suspect he'd only get Basic Jean - weren't Phoenix/Dark Phoenix Jean boosted by outside forces? Yes, I know that question is more call to pull my Nerd Card. 😛 

[Lightslinger]

Absolutely loving X-Men 97 so far, amazing what they've accomplished. 

 

I'm hoping they're using this as a blueprint for how to use mutants in the MCU.

 

 

[Techwright]

14 hours ago, InvaderStych said:

Got caught up yesterday, #6 and #7 were very well done.

 

 

  Hide contents

Am I the only one who found great satisfaction watching Rogue go ... er, um, rogue?

😉 After the way the Fox movies did her so dirty, it's fantastic to see the character done properly.

 

 

At the risk of having my Nerd Card revoked:

 

 

  Hide contents

I have absolutely no idea who the guy pulling the strings is supposed to be.

 

 

As to Morph, I has a theory: His ability to mimic powers might be limited to physical abilities, which is why he's not simply pulling the Xavier/Jean card every time. No, it doesn't quite make sense if he's getting them by twisting his DNA, but a little bit of writer's fiat may be involved to keep him from simply being a plot spoiler every time. Even if he could copy Jean's powers, I suspect he'd only get Basic Jean - weren't Phoenix/Dark Phoenix Jean boosted by outside forces? Yes, I know that question is more call to pull my Nerd Card. 😛 

 

I'll answer your hidden contents:

Spoiler

To be fair to the Fox movies (I didn't see the Apocalypse nor Phoenix movies), Rogue is portrayed how she was before she permanently absorbed Carol Danvers powers. Carol Danvers, as in Ms Marvel, roughly the Marvel Comics female equivalent of Supergirl.  That was a huge upgrade for Rogue, so her animation portrayal is after the fact.  I think I recall them showing a flashback in the 1990s version of the animation, but its been decades since I watched that show, and I might be wrong on details.

 

You need not have your Nerd Card revoked.  There's a host of us who had no idea who Bastion, "the guy pulling the strings" is.  I've seen many reaction videos now where people are pondering who he is.  In my case, he appeared in the comics after I stopped collecting, and I had no idea until I saw the name "Bastion" in the closed captioning.  I'm pretty sure this character is the reason our resident android, Citadel, is named such today.  When the game first started, he was named Bastion, and with Marvel's synthetic being existing 8 years in publication before City of Heroes was released, I can see why they'd want a synthetic being with the same name to be changed.  From what I gather, and this is a spoiler,  Bastion came into being through a fusion of a Mastermold and a Nimrod class Sentinel, though I'm unclear if it was in the future or the present.  Probably the former.

 

[StrikerFox]

On 4/26/2024 at 6:51 AM, Lightslinger said:

Absolutely loving X-Men 97 so far, amazing what they've accomplished. 

 

I'm hoping they're using this as a blueprint for how to use mutants in the MCU.

 

I want the X-Men 97 cartoon to be canon in the MCU. So when the X-Men are finally introduced, it will be the liveaction iteration of the same team. History and backstory for most of the team members will already be in place. 

[BrandX]

Spoiler

Okay, who else loved seeing Rogue do a hand clap the likes of Hulk?  They really seemed to show Rogue's strength in 97.

 

[Mr. Vee]

Small mid-credit in the finale, btw

[Techwright]

6 hours ago, Mr. Vee said:

Small mid-credit in the finale, btw

 

[Voltor]

On 4/25/2024 at 8:26 PM, Techwright said:

Marvel has always played a bit fast and loose with shapeshifters and what they can do.  About the only thing they've shown (to my knowledge) they clearly can't mimic is Wolverine's adamantium (original X-men movie), which makes sense because it's not a DNA thing.  But it's clear in this series that Morph's ability are intended to happen on a DNA level.   Marvel really should clear some things up though.  If Morph can mimic Quicksilver's speed, then why not Rogue's abilities or Professor X's?  With current understanding, Morph should be someone capable of running Cerebro in Xavier's absence, and flinging metal on Magneto's scale. 

 

 

Season 2 of the original series, Morph turned into Wolverine to fight Wolverine and did pop some metallic looking claws, but Wolverine slashed them to pieces saying "You look like me but you don't fight like me!"  Also Morph's powers weren't really quantified on the cartoon until after Sinister saved him and revived him.  When he returned in Season 4 and defeated Master Mold, he copied Sasquatch, Angel and Longshot's abilities.

 

in Xmen 97, he has transformed into Psylocke and had her ninja abilities,  has turned into Colossus and had his strength and durability,  turned into Juggernaut and had his strength but also Juggy's lack of speed but I doubt he would have the mystic shield around him that shields Juggernaut form harm at all times given how the Prime Sentinel defeated him, he turned into Quicksilver and had his speed,  and he turned into the HULK and was smashing Sentinels.  

 

So I'd say he can copy physical abilities and powers, but turning into Jean or Xavier and gaining their telepathic powers, probably not.  Back in the old comics, when he was the Changeling, he took Xavier's place and Xavier bestowed some psychic energy to him to give him limited telepathic power that returned to Xavier when Changeling was killed.

 

If he turned into Rogue, he would likely get her flight, strength and durability but  not her absorption power.  If he turned into Magneto I doubt he'd get Magneto's full power if any at all otherwise he could have fixed the Earth after what Magneto did.  Same if he turned into Storm or Cyclops, likely limited version of their powers at best.    Could he copy Nightcrawler's teleport powers? maybe.    Could he copy Bishop's powers? Not likely

 

He seems limited to direct physical powers but not energy powers, at least so far. 

 

Would he regenerate if he was transformed into Sabertooth or Wolverine and injured?

[Voltor]

What a great finale! 

 

I am still concerned though about Xavier's mind attack on Magneto.  He didn't shut him down and seemed to cure Magneto's hate, but Xavier did say he has his own flood of rotten memories....so did he still absorb any of Magneto's hate into himself?  Will the ONSLAUGHT still occur?

 

Also at the end of Beyond Good and Evil part 4 in the original series we see that IMMORTUS was pulling the strings all along.  is he still pulling the strings and sent the Xmen through time?

 

Will the Xmen be forced to play a part in the creation of Apocalypse, just as they aided in his destruction in the Axis of Time? Though his essence did survive and possess Cortex in Season 5.

 

Original Cartoon: Cable had been fighting Apocalypse for years in the future, but he has to go back in Season 2 to aid Bishop and the Xmen and as a result this was actually Apoc's first encounter with Cable.   Then we later get the Beyond Good and Evil where Apocalypse comes from Cable's future to the Axis of time and tries to stop and restart time itself. 

 

Original Cartoon: One Man's Worth part 1 and 2: Fitzroy from Bishop's time makes a deal with Master Mold to go back and kill Xavier before he forms the Xmen, Nimrod goes with him.  Bishop and alternate Storm and Wolverine fail the first time and go back again and stop him by showing him proof that Master Mold will be unstoppable without the mutant resistance that was inspired by Xavier and the Xmen.   Result: Xavier is saved but Nimrod leaves a piece of himself to merge with a human who then has a kid that becomes the evolved human/Nimrod mutant hybrid Bastion.

 

The original and new series love their time paradoxes.