X-Men: Animated Series Volume 1 – Review

The Show:

In 1992, when Night of the Sentinels debuted it was an event for me. Prior to the release of that amazing two part episode, I was a deep nerd for all things X-Men. I had the toys and read as many of the comics as I could. I was perhaps unaware of the deeper issues the writers were exploring at the time, themes of prejudice, tolerance, acceptance, were maybe over my head at that time, but the something there clicked within me. But regardless of that, the X-Men: Animated Series from 1992-1997 was what sealed the deal for me.

Intelligent writing, a great cast of voice actors, and awesome action, this was the reason I stayed in on Saturday mornings. Night of the Sentinels, a two-part debut, sets up the show perfectly. We’re introduced to the team through the eyes of Jubilee. She’s our guide into the X-Men world as they’ve existed prior to her knowledge. The episodes set up the tension between mutants and humans, gives us a unique character in Morph, and starts us off unpredictably. One character dies, another is captured, and the team is split on how Cyclops handled the botched operation of stealing some government documents. True X-Men geeks will recognize a few cameos by Domino and others.

From these episodes on, we’re given some of the best stories to see. Cold Vengeance is a great episode dealing with Wolverine‘s rage and isolation, only to have Sabretooth interrupt everything. Days of Future Past gives us a disturbing look at the Sentinel program and bigotry and how they ruined our future. What makes these episodes work, from one to thirteen (of all of Season One) is how they naturally developed characters and the situations, building upon the last episode. This works beautifully in a personal favorite episode, Final Decision. This is the climax to a season’s worth of Sentinel attacks, intolerance, ignorance, and a disturbing glimpse at one possible future. Each X-Men must ask themselves what is worth fighting for, as Xavier is determined the only way the future and intolerance could be avoided is to attack the Sentinel base. Magneto is here and while thematically at odds with Xavier, offers a line that shows his honor and the courage of the mission (for which he thinks is suicidal): “You’re all fools…heroic fools.”

The X-Men have never been represented better than they were here (well, X2: X-Men United is damn close) as they were in the comics. So why, after 12 years after the show ended its five year campaign and three theatrical movies later are we finally getting this release? Sidney Iwanter, the Fox network executive and one of the key figures in the shows success, explains: “I think the delay was, and I can’t confirm this, due to rights. Marvel went into bankruptcy and it ended up to Disney. They were able to get a hold of these things because of the Fox Kids package, after Saban Entertainment bought it in 1995-96. I can only say that it had to deal with the rights situation. There’s probably no other reason. Marvel probably had to sign off. Who actually owned these negatives in the post-Marvel bankruptcy, I don’t know. It probably had something to do with the fact that Saban sold Fox Kids in portions. It’s really a complicated process, so to me the best way to look at it, was that is was a rights situation.”

They’re here now, thankfully, and worth every minute of waiting.

The DVD:

Audio/Video: They look and sound good, not great. No noticeable remastering was done, although outside of a few issues, the 1:33.1 frame looks pretty good. Same with the audio; nothing new, but nothing bad here.

No Extras sadly are here, outside of a few non-related trailers for other Buena Vista releases.

Conclusion: Every Marvel, X-Men, or superhero fan worth their salt should buy these up right now. While the lack of extras is disappointing, with the “Play All” feature, you’ll be too busy notice.

Rating: