X-Men: The Animated Series Appreciation Thread

[NewMutant]

X-Men: The Animated Series

A change is coming. A new breed of man, gifted with strange and frightening powers, has emerged. Many of these mutants believe they should rule—and that open conflict with the human majority is inevitable. Hated and feared by those they've sworn to protect, one group stands in defense of a world on the brink of genetic war. Cyclops. Wolverine. Storm. Jean Grey. Rogue. Beast. Gambit. Jubilee. Students of Professor Charles Xavier. Mutants all, children of the atom who have banded together to defend their kind from prejudice and persecution. United, they form a team dedicated to bringing humanity together in peace. Stan Lee presents… X-Men: The Animated Series.



At the height of the X-Men's popularity in the (love or hate) 90s era, Fox debuted X-Men: The Animated Series on Oct 31st, 1992. The series was Marvel's second attempt to at animated X-Men after their failed "Pryde of the X-Men". The series was developed around the Claremont/Byrne/Cockrum era, using Jim Lee's designs, set in the (then) modern 90s using the main comic cast at that time. During this five season run they retold many classic X-Stories: Phoenix Saga, Proteus, Dark Phoenix Saga, Days of Future Past, Fall of the Mutants, X-tinction Agenda, Mutant Genesis, Phalanx Covenant, Age of Apocalypse, etc. The series ended on Sept 20th, 1997.

The animated series is Marvel's longest running cartoon at 76 episodes. Spider-Man: The Animated series comes in second with 65 episodes, including a two part episode "Mutant Agenda" which brings the animated X-Men cast over to the Spider-Man cartoon. Storm, would later return in the final season for a "Secret Wars" four part episode.

The show was both acclaimed and commercially successful. Along with Batman: The Animated Series, the series success helped launch numerous comic book shows in the 1990s. In its prime, X-Men garnered very high ratings for a Saturday morning cartoon, and like Batman: The Animated Series, it received wide critical praise for its portrayal of many different storylines from the comics and adult themes. In 2009, IGN ranked X-Men as the 13th greatest animated show of all time in their Top 100 list, the third-highest standing for a comic book-adapted show on the list. The show also ranks in at 106 on IMDB's Highest Rated TV Shows with At Least 5,000 Votes. A spin-off titled "X-Men Adventures" ran along side the series and printed the retold cartoon episodes in comic form. The entire series is now available on DVD, but prior it was one of the most requested TV on DVDs.



Many fanboys and non-fanboys alike credit the series as their first exposure to the X-Men. The cast remains to be the most well known X-team to date, as well as some of the most well known comic characters. Celebrate, appreciate, and love not hate the best there is at what they do, the strangest teens of all... X-Men: The Animated Series!

[cc008]

This show was my childhood. The theme song is seared into my brain. I was devastated when they took it off NetFlix.

[Pharozonk]

I haven't watched this show since I was a little kid, but I loved it back then. I'm not so sure it would hold up today if I tried re-watching it.

[Ambaryerno]

Used to love this show as a kid.

[Project Initiative Cascada]

The show was OK. Jubilee was annoying as **** (Jenna Marbles confirms that) and it gets MAJOR points off for never including Kitty Pryde and never properly utilizing Magik and Rachel.

[yogaflame]

Best translation of the comics to date! Real teamwork and global/diverse mutants, Cyclops is true to form, a noble Charles, good Magneto, excellent Storm, strong and sassy Rogue, charming Gambit, just enough but to too much Wolverine, Beast is better than in the comics, so is Apocalypse! Some great stuff in here, along with annoying/stupid characters, animation errors and over the top voice acting, but still awesome!

[Speed Force League Unlimited]

I like Jubilee in this show
I love the art style
Voice acting sucks

The show is decent, not something I remember fondly

[a0040pc]

Loved this series. I actually recently re-watched the entire series and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I just hated that my favourite X-Man Kitty Pryde didn't appear in it whatsoever. Even the minor X-Men characters had cameos, Kitty got nothing. There could have been an episode dedicated to her, maybe similar to the Kitty Pryde and Wolverine LS.

[Derek Metaltron]

I am gradually watching this on Netflix UK (just saw the Juggernaut/Colossus episode in Season 1) and it's awesome! Really wish the BBC had shown this as well as as the Marvel Action Hour (Iron Man, Hulk and the FF) when I was a kid. Annoyingly though they only seem to have up to the end of Season 3 on Netflix UK at present, in fact Marvel stuff on Netflix UK is kind of odd - they have 70's Spider Woman but none of the Spider-Man cartoons.

[Speed Force League Unlimited]

Loved this series. I actually recently re-watched the entire series and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I just hated that my favourite X-Man Kitty Pryde didn't appear in it whatsoever. Even the minor X-Men characters had cameos, Kitty got nothing. There could have been an episode dedicated to her, maybe similar to the Kitty Pryde and Wolverine LS.

It's a real shame they didn't have her, her, Iceman, and Nightcrawler are the three I wanted to see most while watching this show

[jdtennesse]

I loved this series as a kid. I used to watch it on Saturday mornings, excited as hell. It was fantastic, I have seen every episode, some more than once. I also rewatched it a few years back - of course there are some things which make it a bit dated but I still enjoyed it a lot. I will watch it again, I just need to find some free time. Back then, it was my childhood. Watching the series was the only way for me to get to know more X-Men stories, since I couldn't get the comic books here in eastern Europe, I could just read some reprints. So, yes, the show is awesome.

[KurtW95]

One thing I loved about TAS was Morph. I still to this day hope that Marvel brings back 616 Kevin Sydney as Morph.

Things I loved substantially less was the version of rogue that was used and Storm's constant, non-stop narration. (Well, at least it wasn't Halle Berry.)

[Conch22]

Really liked Graydon Creed in this. Jubilee going "why do you hate us? What did we ever do to you?" And his response "You were born" was terrific. Sabretooth being Graydon Creed sr. seemed like a weird change, like it was done just to make their relation crystal clear. Still, it was a series were one of the lead characters spends the first year in prison and has very clear parallels between real world white supremacist groups and the friends of humanity. Loved alot of the voice actors, as well as Gambits bad grammar. Bishop claiming to be a time traveler and Gambit saying "that's the best kinda lie, one can't nobody prove!" is a highlight. Animation quality dropped off near the end, but the finale was quite satisfying, and also came up with a new and well reasoned aspect to magneto's powers that I'm surprised hasn't been used since, to my knowledge anyway

[Hatbar]

This is where my love of all things X began and the voices are still the ones I hear when I read the comics. I recently re watched them and it holds up very well (apart from the fifth season which is horrible.) I think its the best portrayal of the X-Men animation wise and they did well to fit in so many characters and storylines.

[Silvermoth]

I loved the animated series but I'm watching the anime series at the moment and that's really good too