X-Men '97: The Animated Series

[BobbysWorld]

Technically, given the way the O:ZT storyline played out in the comics when Bobby was away from the team for awhile, it wouldn't be completely out of the realm of possibility for him to pull a guest star role in an adaptation of that story....the character infamous for distancing himself from the X-Men ages ago in the animated universe WOULD be completely off of O:ZT's radar when they came for the X-Men, meaning if long-in-place protocols developed by Xavier in case the team was compromised ended up activated similar to the comics...Bobby could get pulled in to lend a helping hand to whichever mutants the protocols put him in contact with...like Marrow & CeCe.

(I'm not really expecting Bobby to show up in the show again, tbh, but just saying. O:ZT is his most famous storyline from the 90s and if the show does end up doing a version of it, his lack of connection with the X-Men team in the animated universe wouldn't necessarily be that big of a hindrance, and in fact, given the nature of the storyline and how it unfolds, could even help sell it in terms of how he's able to escape O:ZT's notice initially).

[Frontier]

Am I crazy or was there some kind of leak or tease that Bastion would show up?

[CGAR]

There are very interesting arcs that could be done in way better and more elevated in episode form. I hope that is what they are doing.

I hope thats what they are doing; looking at specifici 90s arcs and seeing which was are good to translate to tv and what can be done better to make the episodes a better experience for the audience.

[marhawkman]

Am I crazy or was there some kind of leak or tease that Bastion would show up?

Well, Bastion was the next logical step since they'd already used Mastermold and Nimrod...

[NewMutant]

Do we know the run times? Hopefully a bit longer than the original series.

[Phoenixx9]

Am I crazy or was there some kind of leak or tease that Bastion would show up?

Yes, I think Bastion was mentioned and/or shown in July as going to appear in the show.

[Sin Nick]

Do we know the run times? Hopefully a bit longer than the original series.

How long are the episodes for "What If?" I'm hoping at least some of them are longer than the standard 22 minutes like the original series was since it's only 10 episodes.

[Grunty]

Technically, given the way the O:ZT storyline played out in the comics when Bobby was away from the team for awhile, it wouldn't be completely out of the realm of possibility for him to pull a guest star role in an adaptation of that story....the character infamous for distancing himself from the X-Men ages ago in the animated universe WOULD be completely off of O:ZT's radar when they came for the X-Men, meaning if long-in-place protocols developed by Xavier in case the team was compromised ended up activated similar to the comics...Bobby could get pulled in to lend a helping hand to whichever mutants the protocols put him in contact with...like Marrow & CeCe.

(I'm not really expecting Bobby to show up in the show again, tbh, but just saying. O:ZT is his most famous storyline from the 90s and if the show does end up doing a version of it, his lack of connection with the X-Men team in the animated universe wouldn't necessarily be that big of a hindrance, and in fact, given the nature of the storyline and how it unfolds, could even help sell it in terms of how he's able to escape O:ZT's notice initially).

While indeed unlikely, the idea of suddently switching perspective to the previously mostly unimportant Iceman, has some potential to create or enhance an oppressive atmosphere that would suit the OZT storyline very well.

Like the first episode of OZT beginns with Bobby Drake in his civilian day job, where he hears news on the radio that Senator Kelly has been critical injured by a supposed mutant assassin, there are mutants rioting on the streets of New York and the new chief of the NYPD Sebastion "The Bastion" Gilberti has been given green light to put his proposed "Zero Tolerance" programm into action.

Bobby then tries to head home, avoiding one of the riots in action, when he is intercepted by two stereotypical "government agent types" who introduce themself as agents of Zero Tolerance and try to arrest him after identifying him as former X-men. In the resulting chase they turn into Prime Sentinels and after Bobby manages to shake them off, random people he encounters in the street (including someone he knows from work) would suddently turn into Prime Sentinels aswell.

Only later does the perspective finaly switch to the x-men and the viewer is allowed to learn what happend to them in the meantime and how they try to deal with OZT.

So the entire story beginns with this oppressive sense of uncertaintity and with the viewer just as much in the dark as Bobby. Essentialy Nights of the Sentinels meets Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

In this regard having Cecilia Reyes and the Marrow as completely new characters who eventualy acompany Bobby, could even add to the atmosphere, by leaving the viewer to guess if he can really trust them and by having each of them hold a piee of the puzzle as to what happend.

Again just an example of what COULD be done.

There are very interesting arcs that could be done in way better and more elevated in episode form. I hope that is what they are doing.

I hope thats what they are doing; looking at specifici 90s arcs and seeing which was are good to translate to tv and what can be done better to make the episodes a better experience for the audience.

Since they have the "power" of hindsight at their disposale, adaptations can potentialy take even bad storylines and turn them into something good, by destilling them to the parts that had potential.

[ARkadelphia]

Interesting.

BTW, clearly we also know who “Remember It” could be about. lol.

Forget Me Not?

[Android 17]

Forget Me Not?

That would be a twist.

[jubilees_bf]

Regarding Bastion… I did also hear a rumor that he would play a role as one of the villains of this season. Also, it was stated somewhere that the team would face a different type of sentinel. This would make perfect sense when looking at the last three episode titles about Tolerance. In Operation: Zero Tolerance, Bastion created the Prime Sentinels and fought/captured the team. In the background of this, Jubilee was also kidnapped by him and tortured/probed for information on the X-Men. She managed to resist several times and even smashed the controls to the X-Men’s prison cells- allowing them to escape without her.

She then befriended one of Bastion’s officers, who helped her escape… reuniting with Wolverine in the desert and then joining the team in an all-out battle against the Prime Sentinels.

Would be pretty awesome if some of this was shown in these episodes.

[The Overlord]

Regarding Bastion… I did also hear a rumor that he would play a role as one of the villains of this season. Also, it was stated somewhere that the team would face a different type of sentinel. This would make perfect sense when looking at the last three episode titles about Tolerance. In Operation: Zero Tolerance, Bastion created the Prime Sentinels and fought/captured the team. In the background of this, Jubilee was also kidnapped by him and tortured/probed for information on the X-Men. She managed to resist several times and even smashed the controls to the X-Men’s prison cells- allowing them to escape without her.

She then befriended one of Bastion’s officers, who helped her escape… reuniting with Wolverine in the desert and then joining the team in an all-out battle against the Prime Sentinels.

Would be pretty awesome if some of this was shown in these episodes.

It looks like the villains of this season will Sinister, the Hellfire Club (I wonder if it will keep it's more kid friendly name, the Inner Circle) and a new generation of Sentinels.

[GeneTitan]

How long are the episodes for "What If?" I'm hoping at least some of them are longer than the standard 22 minutes like the original series was since it's only 10 episodes.

The "What If..." episodes hover around 33 minutes. Because there are no commercial breaks, they don't feel short at all. The episodes in season 2 felt very "full" to me.

[Frontier]

It looks like the villains of this season will Sinister, the Hellfire Club (I wonder if it will keep it's more kid friendly name, the Inner Circle) and a new generation of Sentinels.

Which might be where Bastion/Operation Zero Tolerance comes in.

Also considering they're introducing the Mutant Liberation Front (possibly), I wonder if Stryfe might be in season 2.

[FlawedCoil82]

Do we know the run times? Hopefully a bit longer than the original series.

That is what I have been wondering. With as few episodes as they are giving us, then at least I hope to get some 40+ minute episodes thrown in there. It’s be great if they were all that length (or longer).

And yea, I am definitely looking forward to the prequel comic as well. But the art work makes me nervous that it will be too much like the flawed but still enjoyable “X-Men ‘92” comic. I want artwork and storytelling similar to “X-Men Adventures”. I don’t want anything deliberately campy or cartoony.