X-Men: TAS vs. X-Men: Evolution vs. Wolverine and the X-Men

[Sam Robards, Comic Fan]

EDIT: Added a poll!

I haven't seen a thread that combines discussion of all three animated X-Men series, but let me know if there is one already in progress.

At any rate, I wanted to talk about the three main* X-Men animated series: X-Men (TAS), X-Men: Evolution and Wolverine and the X-Men (WatX). Which one do you like best? What're the pros and cons of each series? If you could merge aspects of each together, what would they be?

Not being one to simply toss a topic out and leave, my favorite is TAS. It had great characters, great stories, great voice talent, the whole nine. The only areas where it struggled were in animation quality (a side-effect of Saban wanting to make the show for as little as possible) and the somewhat over-reliance on Claremont adaptations in the latter seasons, which were often somewhat neutered for kids TV (Proteus being the primary example). That last season (when they had shifted production to the Philippines) also had some stinkers, but Old Soldiers was legit (and written by Len Wein, to boot!). This series was also the best at incorporating a political aspect of X-Men, what with their regular sojourns to Congress and treating the Friends of Humanity like an extremist political group.

I watched the first season of Evolution when it first aired, but lost interest: I later went back and rewatched the entire series back when Marvel had it on their YouTube channel (if they still do, let me know: I looked just now and couldn't find a trace of it anywhere). That said, there's definitely a lot to like there: the animation's great (the best out of the three shows), and it's nice that they switched the cast up from TAS to help make it more distinct. Adding Nightcrawler and Kitty in main roles, in addition to a more movie-like take on Rogue, was an especially nice touch; however, I wasn't crazy about the high school setting, and treating the X-Men and Brotherhood like opposing cliques just felt weird to me. They did borrow certain elements from the comics, but I never felt like they were doing straight adaptations like TAS did. I also appreciated the attention they gave some of the New Mutants/X-Force kids later down the line, and it does get credit for creating X-23.

Wolverine and the X-Men was one I was really excited for when it came out, and there was a lot to like there. The Terminator-esque plot setup is ingenious and really sets it apart from the other two series. I also loved the inclusion of Genosha as a mutant state, and this show's version of the Scarlet Witch is probably the best on-screen representation the character's ever gotten (no offense to Elizabeth Olsen, but the MCU Wanda is Jean Grey lite). Unfortunately, Wolverine being the center of the show got old kinda fast, but having the present and future scenarios run simultaneously helped keep things fresh. Also, on a personal level, why the Hell is Cyclops wearing a trench coat? Sure, he pulls it off, but it looks like he swiped it from Gambit (who, funnily enough, doesn't wear a trenchcoat in this series). The unfulfilled cliffhanger that we got at the end of the season/series also stings because I was psyched for an Age of Apocalypse storyline.

So there're my thoughts on the X-Men animated series. I like 'em all, but none of them are perfect.

One last thing before I end this exhaustive thread opener, my dream team from all three series would be:
-Cyclops (TAS)
-Jean (Evolution)
-Wolverine (TAS)
-Rogue (TAS)
-Nightcrawler (WatX)
-Storm (Evolution)
-Beast (WatX)

*Pryde of the X-Men was only a pilot episode, and there isn't really enough there worth talking about, if we're being honest, even if it was the inspiration for the beloved arcade beat 'em up.

[ChildOfTheAtom]

Should've been a poll.


X-MEN: Anime had best visuals

[Darkgreed]

i like X-Men Evolution the best because it was it's own thing. it was fun to watch, you could relate to the characters more. X-Men:TAS comes second and Wolverine and the X-Men is last.

[Sam Robards, Comic Fan]

Should've been a poll.


X-MEN: Anime had best visuals

I thought of that the second after I posted it. Go figure.

[Dante Milton]

I thought of that the second after I posted it. Go figure.

You should still be able to add one under the "Thread Tools" menu just above the first post.

I liked TAS when I was a kid, but it hasn't aged well. Didn't care for Evo, I wasn't in the right demographic for the show. Never even seen WatX.

[Dementia5]

I was already in my twenties when TAS first aired, but I still loved it. It’s still my hands-down favourite, and I think it had the best formula by a wide margin, and I believe it has aged just fine. Evolution was ok, but WatXM was like a slow-motion train wreck.

As I’ve mentioned in another thread, what Disney needs to do now is make a new animated series with the original TAS cast, add a few characters from Evolution, update the animation and they’ve pretty much got a licence to print money.

[Sam Robards, Comic Fan]

You should still be able to add one under the "Thread Tools" menu just above the first post.

Score. Thanks!

[Vegan Daddy]

X-Men TAS!

[Heroine Addict]

While I enjoyed all 3 IMMENSELY, and even Pryde too, there's certain aspects of W&tXM that captivated me more than the others. Now that could be 'cause it's just the most recent & modern, so still the "freshest", in terms of experiencing it & all that entails. But it had the best depictions of many characters I'm the most fond of, which I feel is the real reason, at this time. Polaris, of course, Angel, Nightcrawler, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Emma Frost, Psylocke, & Domino, just to name a few. Plus the likes of newbies Hellion & Dust, as well as TONS of Mutant cameos, from Blink & Dazzler to Firestar & Scanner. Enjoyed depictions of others like Rogue, Bishop, Jean, Mags, Gambit, Storm, Iceman, Kitty, etc., also. Oh, and even Blob, found him HILARIOUS! LOVED EVERYthing & every scene involving Genosha/HoM, as well as Selene & the HFC, and all the future stuff too. Was SO lookin' forward to season 2 & AoA, and couldn't have been more disappointed when it was cancelled, while bein' in the early stages of actual production no less. But alas, guess it just wasn't meant to be, and I say that with a VERY heavy heart.

I even used it for one of my earliest, self-created avatars here, I was so enraptured by it:

[Harpsikord]

Hot take: TAS is obectively bad. The bad animation, the cheesy storytelling, the subpar voice acting... Jean Grey entirely, and Storm for that matter. Without any nostalgia fueled glasses, TAS is bad. It's just bad. There's no other way to actually explain it.

Now, that leaves WATXM and X-Men Evolution. I've watched both of them to their conclusions, and they are both quite good cartoons... but. X-Men Evolution is the only one of the two that told a decent, well composed, and most importantly finished storyline. WATXM was good, and had a good story, but it ended on a cliffhanger that will forever remain unfinished. It had so much potential that, due to the nature of the burgeoning (at the time) CompleX, went untapped. Storylines that went unresolved, character arcs that were overall unfinished, and a second season that they were meant to get that promised to likely be the best Apocalypse storyline that the cartoons would have offered. But that's the thing. It didn't deliver, or rather, wasn't allowed to deliver.

That's why I'm voting for Evolution, which I will also mention had the best interpretations of numerous X-Men and even if it didn't inherently have that, it had the best character development by far.

[AdamFTF]

They all had their strengths but none of them are perfect.

I grew up with the Fox X-Men cartoon. Given the time period and the way it combined classic stories with a more contemporary cast of characters, it was the best at giving young viewers a snapshot of "this is what X-Men is".

X-Men: Evolution is its own thing while at the same time being about something that's been part of the X-Men's DNA since the '60s. Like it or not, teen mutant heroes have been a part of the X-Men concept since the O5, and then it was carried on to stuff like New Mutants, Generation X and New X-Men. Basically, it took the teen hero aspect and did it with more popular characters, which is probably the only way such a show would have been made before the cinematic superhero boom. I like the show. I think it was well made. It portrayed likable characters and the drama it was trying to portray rather well. It was a "smaller" series than the other ones in a lot of ways, but that didn't make it bad. Heck, I even liked the fact that they went to public school half the day. It meant they had to interact with non-mutant people and that every interaction wasn't just going to drive some kind of conflict.

Wolverine and the X-Men I had a hard time even seeing because I didn't have Nicktoons Network. When I first saw it I wasn't impressed. But when I watched the whole show on DVD I liked it a lot more. I think it's one of those shows that's so tied up in an overarching story that it's more satisfied when watched in large chunks.

[DragonsChi]

TAS is what got me on X-Men and it will always hold a place in my heart. However, Evolution has way better re-watch-ablity so it got my vote.

I didn't even bother with Wolverine and the X-Men. Have him headline a X-Men show like that just sorta seemed like a insult to the franchise to me.

[From The Shadows]

I admit to not watching much of TAS as I just couldn't get into it at the time even though by then I was a devoted comic reader. Maybe because I was in my teens and it was aimed more towards kids. I used to be a harsher critic of it but I have put it into perspective. I found Evolution entertaining but I felt it was too much of a departure from the original source material for it to be my favorite. Like Kurt, Rogue, Scott Jean etc being students while Storm and Wolverine were instructors. I felt both Storm and Wolverine were pretty boring as characters. Also, Kurt was directed towards kids too much as the comic relief and as a Nightcrawler fan I couldn't get behind that. I was in my twenties when the show aired as well and this was where Kurt was just getting off being a capable leader of Excalibur. I really enjoyed WatX though because I felt they were able to combine everything that made the X-Men great. The senior X-Men that were senior X-Men in the comics were senior X-Men in the show. And I had no interest in them as teens. They also incorporated the more mature subject matter that the X-Men were famous for and the subplots that Claremont was known for. The more mature content didn't overshadow the superheroics in it so it still remained fun and didn't become too depressing. I also have to admit to some bias here because I thought this is where they really got Nightcrawler right as a character. I really couldn't complain about how any of the X-Mens personalities were depicted here. I thought they were mostly spot on.

If I have any complaints about WatX its the obvious one that others have had. I felt Wolverine being the spotlight isn't the road they should have taken with it. They had established all the characters as interesting and likable and it made you want more of them but they took a back seat to all the Wolverine episodes. I think Storms intro episode was handled really well and I was really excited but then she became sidelined through most of the show. The only other character besides Wolverine that got any attention was Nightcrawler and maybe Rogue. My biggest complaint though was how they handled Forge. They took a deep and interesting character and made him the comic relief. He was almost a completely different character entirely. Even his voice isn't what I imagined it to be. I know people have complaints about Cyclops like the OP re: being the trench coat guy. I think that was to reflect more his grief about Jean being missing and it mirrors how he was portrayed just at the end of the DPS in the comics where he needed to take a break from the X-Men so it didn't seem really OOC to me. That scene in the show when you think Cyclops isn't going to join the X-Men on their mission and he just silently walks onto the plane with determination saying "Ok I may be gutted over Jean but I'm still an X-Man and I have a job to do." And the way he effortlessly takes out the Shadow King with his optic blast, you can see his thoughts are still with Jean but he is so seasoned and formidable on the battlefield he instinctively knows what to do. That scene really sticks out with me and is what I remember him for. If they focused on Scott more I felt they would definitely have done him justice. Even though Wolverine was being portrayed as the "destined one" over say Scott and Jean and even Xavier himself I still found him pretty likable and if they toned that down or did away with it completely this show would have been just right.

Here I'll rate the animation of all three shows from "best" to "worst." Its all preference really.

1. WatX
2. Evolution
3. TAS

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

X-men evolution was my intro to the x-men and I'm fond of the x-men in school so I didn't mind that aspect.

[Innocent Bystander]

as I was an X-men fan from the 1980's, the Animated Series was never more than a pale shadow of the comic stories. Evolution, while it didn't do exactly right by my favorites, at least had them as regulars, and it was its own thing, and I respected that. And it beats out WatX because Wolverine was tolerable as a team player.