Now that it's over, how would you rate X-Men '97 Season 1?

[Chubistian]

Great! I think Lifedeath could've been better and I disliked the half episode of Mojo, which made two friends to put down the series. Luckly, I convinced one of them, my roommate, to not give up on it and he catched up and we watched the last 3 or 4 episodes together. I'm still working on making the other friend continue the series, I'm going to have to appeal to his love for Cyclops!

I've no major complains otherwise. I had a great time watching it. Most fanservice was cool, really few moments took me off, and the characters were fun as hell. It hits nostalgia, but also has something new to offer, and I think that the opportunity to have less censorship over what the series can show did wonders for it. More blood doesn't equal a better story necessarily, but here, it was well used to build moments that wouldn't have had the same impact or that downright wouldn't be possible to do, like Wolverine aiming for the killing blow or Rogue dropping down Trask.

[Doom'nGloom]

Great, 8/10. Emotional moments hit hard and I loved all the cameos. Some characters didn't get much to do compared to others and I think the show was wrongly advertised, particularly Storm being a co-lead which wasn't the case. I'd say Cyclops and Jean were the leads. I personally don't have a problem with this but Storm fans may have, rightfully so.

Excellent. I haven't chimed in much because I was waiting to binge watch but I'm caught up now and it was fantastic.

You are the most enthusiastic poster I've ever seen in this site when it comes to anything involving mutants so I was wondering why you were so silent on the show. Now I know

[Dementia5]

Absolutely fantastic!

If I had to pick one thing to gripe about it would be that they really needed two more episodes to expand the season into, as a few of the episodes seemed to have a bit too much plot packed into them.

[Zero Hunter]

I agree it felt kind rushed, but that could just be because they thought this might be a one and done season so they wanted to fit in as much as they could. Now that it seems to be a hit maybe season 2 will slow the pace some. Over all I will give it an 8/10. Setting up all this cool stuff with Apocoylpse definitely has me hyped for season 2.

[yogaflame]

I don't think they were on one season logic, because season 2 has already been written and recorded with the VA, and season 3 is already under development. So, they knew they had more than one season. I do wish they had slowed down a little bit, focused their intent, and let their stories breathe. That's why "Remember It" was so great; they focused. Most of their stories were too rushed and too crammed, and then you had LifeDeath 2 which was empty, despite there having been plenty of material in Fall of the Mutants and the years of Storm's powerless period to draw from.

I am curious what a non-super fan would think of this season. We know the source material, we can see slight allusions and references. But that sort of shorthand storytelling only works with an informed audience. Maybe that's why this show hasn't made waves on the Nielsen charts. General audiences can't connect with the material at this density, at this rate. The showrunners/writers were writing for themselves, not a wide audience.

[ChronoRogue]

I'd give it a solid 7.5.

It suffers from poor pacing, too much drama overload, and a few under-cooked plots. why does bastion keep capturing the x-men instead of killing them, why is jubilee breathing in space, etc..

That said there is some excellent dialogue, the action is top-notch and while the character balance isn't great it's done a good job reminding people why the X-Men are one of the best superhero teams in comics.

[starduck]

8/10 loved it overall and of the best superhero shows in a while, but it kinda felt apart near the end.

[jignat]

Pros:

Art/animation/music/Voice acting

A good mix of action and dramatics and character moments

Thrilling action sequences. It almost felt like anime.

Giving attention to a wide variety of comic stories over a wide time period (80-90-2000-2010)


Cons

WAY too many characters!
IMO, Wolverine,Bishop, Morph, and Beast were underserved. Sunspot while better than the Fox movies could have been more fiery.
Even the old show with 7 members usually focused on small groups of 3-5 and saved all 7 for big stories. Bishop almost felt like a bait and switch.
Morph is 90 percent one liners and cameo machine. He should have not been bought back as a full time member.

Some storylines like Inferno and Lifedeath were too rushed and needed time to breathe.


Overall: I'm excited for a Season 2!

8.5/10

[H-E-D]

I voted accidentally, sorry.

[MyriVerse]

Too much Jubes and Berto. Not nearly enough Storm.

Otherwise as good as a series with no Shadowcat can get.

[mugiwara]

Too much Jubes and Berto. Not nearly enough Storm.

I thought exactly the opposite... although that guy who was supposed to be Sunspot was a disappointment.

I enjoyed some moments, like the Genosha cameos (Pixie! Glob! Cipher!) and the E for Extinction adaptation. They didn't pull any punches.
Forge was a nice addition.
But yeah, it was way too rushed, trying to squeeze as many iconic comics moments and plots as possible in a limited number of episodes.
Disappointed also that, like the comics, they can't even let a major character stay dead.

[shooshoomanjoe]

It just started and it's already over? I guess that's a benefit of streaming services.

[Uncanny X-Man]

It's interesting that for comics fans, and myself included, a lot of episodes felt really crammed with many story beats that developed over a large number of issues in the books. Like Inferno was dozens of issues compressed in a 30 minute episode.

Talking to my normie friends though or seeing the reactions from the general public online, most see X-Men '97 as a fast-paced show, with a lot happening in every episode.... and they're loving it. For them it's no different from say an episode of The Boys in terms of pacing, and a welcome change from the average Marvel show where the meaty stuff is saved for the last episode. They don't know that New York is to be invaded by demons and don't expect that to last 3 episodes instead of 20 minutes. Neither POV is wrong, it's just interesting how different expectations colour one's judgement.

[AppleJ]

Overall it's been massively impressive as far as source material covered, animation quality, action and generally better dialogue and characterization. Most characters got a major glow up in both design and personality.

I have some specific gripes and I think it really peaked for me at Episode 5, while I thought episode 10 was messy plotwise, had some illogical choices and was unsatisfying as an season ending.

I do think there was some clear favoritism for certain characters, while others were sidelined or given little time to shine.

I think Rogue is the one character for whom her characterization was not always well written and she comes off as highly inconsistent a few times.

Generally this suffered from the condensed run time.

[bat39]

5 stars from me!

I just binged it all over the last few days, and maybe it is recency bias talking. The show definitely has a few flaws (though what they are depends on your perspective) but on the whole, the show overwhelmes you in a positive way

Few early thoughts:

1. I'm not normally the biggest fan of the 'mutants as minorities' metaphor being considered the alpha-omega of the franchise. But this show is probably one of the best (if not the best) uses of the mutant metaphor. Without coming across as preachy, or 'woke', or indulging in (real-world) partisan politics, the show does a brilliant job illustrating the struggles that an oppressed people go through - individually and communally, at physical, psychological, emotional and political levels.

2. Even as the show goes a long way towards deconstructing Xavier's dream, it also makes a very strong case for the existence of the X-men, particularly in the finale. Maybe Xavier's dream is foolish, but between Magneto and Bastion both set to destroy the world as we know it in order to preserve their respective races, the X-men truly become the last hope for everyone. And perhaps, as naive as it is, Xavier's dream allows us at least enough leeway to stave off absolute armageddon one day at a time?

3. I think most of the characters got their time to shine at some point or the other throughout the season - Cyclops, Jean, Magneto, Xavier, Gambit, Rogue, Jubilee, Sunspot, Nightcrawler, Cable and Forge. Beast, Morph and Wolverine didn't get much focus, though in the latter's case its hard to feel too mad about it, and they're definitely setting him up for a meaty role in Season 2. And yeah, Bishop was pretty much an 'Advertised Extra', to use TV Tropes parlance...still I like the way they've set him up for the next season. But the Cyclops love was the real highlight for me.

4. It was a continuation of the TAS, and yet it felt like a different, slightly more mature and complex show. Some character relationships were fleshed out a lot better than they were in the original IMO - Gambit and Rogue, Jean and Storm, Scott and Xavier, even Jean and Logan. The plot-lines and socio-political themes also felt a lot more evolved (pun intended!), even as the show moved at a breakneck pace. This isn't a show for kids, but a show for 90's kids who grew up, and it really, well, shows!

5. X-men '97 did what TAS did best - take long and complex comic-book plots and distill them down to their essence in a streamlined manner. Yes, you can argue that some stories were not done justice, or that the show tried to do 'too much' in one season. But that's in keeping with the original show. And while an extra episode or two wouldn't have been remiss, I can't say I didn't enjoy the pace, and the overloading of X-men goodness. This is definitely not a show that slacks off with 'filler' (Motendo notwithstanding...probably my least favorite part of the show), or spends time meandering and leaving the good stuff for the finale, or worse, Season 2.

6. The ending left me excited for what comes next. Scott and Jean in the future raising Nathan ala The Adventures of Cyclops and Pheonix? Wolverine with bone claws? Forge assembling a new X-men team which could potentially include the likes of Colossus and Shadowcat? A time-travel arc involving the origins (and the present-day return) of Apocalypse? Grayson Creed as President and all the drama that'll entail? Deal me in!