XTAS Reviews
Feb. 10th, 2010 08:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stormkeeper_lovedorisAt last I have time to review more episodes of the X-men Animated Series! Such weighty titles today -
Episode: Come the Apocalypse
Brief summary: We learn the truth behind last episode’s “cure” for mutation – it’s a scheme for Apocalypse to turn mutants into slaves and use them to destroy the world!
- I thought the opening scene of this episode is sad. Angel undergoes “the cure”. He’s soon screaming on the operating table as Mystique unleashes Apocalypse’s brainwashing on him. He stands in stark contrast to Rogue, who chose not to undergo “the cure”. Rogue had a support system, a team to fall back on. I think we see here that it was to Angel’s detriment that he had no such support.
- There is an incredible scene in the Muir Island pub. Cyclops muses to the other X-men that “We’ve all had a hard time accepting who we are”. Mystique disguised as Angel walks in and tells the throng of mutants, “I’m cured! You don’t have to be hated”. Cyclops rather passionately declares, “We’re mutants. That’s what we are. There’s nothing wrong with us that needs to be cured”. In all honesty, if I wanted to use an episode of XTAS to draw a parallel from the treatment of mutants to the treatment of gay people, I could not have scripted it better than this scene.
- It’s sad to see Rogue looking back, one last time as the X-men leave the pub, on the possibility of being “cured” herself. That brings to mind one final speculation regarding the previous episode, “The Cure”. Much of that episode’s struggle lies in the fact that Rogue’s mutation prohibits her from touching anyone. And yet just a few episodes ago, the X-men were on Genosha where collars that blocked mutant powers were in abundance. How hard would it have been for the X-men to raid Genosha and pick up a few collars so Rogue doesn’t have to be so depressed? Not very.
- Why does Apocalypse create only four slaves? He had a pub full of willing mutants. Maybe he felt he only needed four – but the battle scenes in this episode sure prove otherwise. I guess he just underestimated the X-men.
- Speaking of Apocalypse and his slaves, we got a glimpse of how lonely they were before they decided to undergo the “treatment”. Not to beat a dead horse, but it is too bad that they didn’t have a group like the X-men either. At the pub Xavier says words to the effect that they have to allow each mutant to reach their own decision, but me – I think the X-men should have done more recruiting. I know, I know - they don’t have the time.
- I love getting to see the X-men relax, so I enjoyed the scene in the rec room. I especially liked Gambit’s flirting with Rogue, her response to him which suggests she’s having trouble fighting her attraction, and Gambit’s reaction to Storm’s attempt at humor.
- The scene with Rogue and Mystique doesn’t seem quite right. In a later episode, “A Rogue’s Tale”, we learn the background between the two of them and it’s quite significant. But here it’s like that background doesn’t exist – like they either haven’t met yet or the creators were trying to make it somewhat ambiguous. Maybe the creators hadn’t worked out the XTAS version of their history at this point.
- There’s a great moment in one of the battle scenes. Apocalypse asks who dares oppose him, and Wolverine responds, “The X-men do, bub”. Not a bad sentiment coming from someone who only grudgingly admitted, a few episodes ago, that there’s something to this “wimpy teamwork” thing. I’m sure Wolverine realized its benefits a moment later when Gambit helps him during the battle, too.
- I liked Pestilence’s kicky jacket.
- Though speaking of jackets, I’m not clear on exactly how Rogue lost hers during the battle.
- Rating: Four and a half stars. Great use of most of the X-men working as a team, nice continuation of Rogue’s struggle with her powers, the battle scenes were strong and not overdone, and extra points for the scenes in the pub and the rec room.
Episode: Days of Future Past, Part I
Brief summary: The time-traveler Bishop arrives from the future to stop a traitorous mutant from assassinating Senator Kelly. The problem is, he doesn’t know which mutant it is – only that it’s one of the X-men!
- I have to declare my bias upfront: I hate time-travel episodes! I believe that only one episode in XTAS got time travel right: “One Man’s Worth”. And even that episode gets pretty repetitive. I’ll try to put my bias aside as I watch this episode, but no promises that I can be objective. One thing I am doing to help make it more palatable, though, is that I’m splitting Part I and Part II into separate reviews so I don’t have to re-watch them right in a row.
- At least this episode has lots of Gambit!
- And there’s cool Terminator-esque music in some of the future segments. Seriously, that was a nice touch.
- Wow, in the future timeline, mutants are being hunted and rounded up into camps – but not only is there a cemetery commemorating the X-men but somehow the rebels also have a neat laboratory for Forge with a working time machine. Very resourceful group of hunted and desperate mutants!
- I do love the scene in the present-timeline, where Rogue and Gambit are visiting Beast in prison and bringing him books. Seriously, it’s lovely. This season has been very Beast-deprived; I’m glad that we’re reminded that the rest of the team hasn’t forgotten him, and I like seeing Rogue and Gambit spending time together too. Although it is kind of weird that Rogue and Gambit are allowed to hang out inside Hank’s actual cell. Normally when people visit prisoners they aren’t allowed to get behind the bars and in the cell with them.
- The scene also does show that Gambit finds jail cells disturbing. There’s a story behind that, one which we don’t get to see in XTAS.
- Jubilee is sitting behind some important-looking computer screens and doing a “security check”. And later she’s doing some “cross patching” of one of Bishop’s gadgets. So, see, she can’t complain that she doesn’t get to do anything important around here.
- “At least I don’t lose my hair.” – Gotta love Wolverine’s reaction to seeing the future version of himself. He’s so wonderfully skeptical about the whole Bishop-arriving-from-the-future thing.
- There is an exchange between Cyclops and Jean that I’d sure love to explore more. Bishop tells the X-men that the assassin could be any one of them. Cyclops loudly declares that it couldn’t be Jean. (We know he loves her, but it seems kind of odd that he bursts out with this in the middle of the meeting). Jean then says that of course it could. “I’ve had my dark days. Or have you forgotten?” I wish I knew the backstory on that. Just like with Gambit’s issue with the jail cell, XTAS gives you a little taste to whet your appetite but doesn’t always let you eat enough to fill you up.
- Rating: You know what? As much as I dislike time travel, this episode’s not too bad so far. I give Part I four stars.
Episode: Come the Apocalypse
Brief summary: We learn the truth behind last episode’s “cure” for mutation – it’s a scheme for Apocalypse to turn mutants into slaves and use them to destroy the world!
- I thought the opening scene of this episode is sad. Angel undergoes “the cure”. He’s soon screaming on the operating table as Mystique unleashes Apocalypse’s brainwashing on him. He stands in stark contrast to Rogue, who chose not to undergo “the cure”. Rogue had a support system, a team to fall back on. I think we see here that it was to Angel’s detriment that he had no such support.
- There is an incredible scene in the Muir Island pub. Cyclops muses to the other X-men that “We’ve all had a hard time accepting who we are”. Mystique disguised as Angel walks in and tells the throng of mutants, “I’m cured! You don’t have to be hated”. Cyclops rather passionately declares, “We’re mutants. That’s what we are. There’s nothing wrong with us that needs to be cured”. In all honesty, if I wanted to use an episode of XTAS to draw a parallel from the treatment of mutants to the treatment of gay people, I could not have scripted it better than this scene.
- It’s sad to see Rogue looking back, one last time as the X-men leave the pub, on the possibility of being “cured” herself. That brings to mind one final speculation regarding the previous episode, “The Cure”. Much of that episode’s struggle lies in the fact that Rogue’s mutation prohibits her from touching anyone. And yet just a few episodes ago, the X-men were on Genosha where collars that blocked mutant powers were in abundance. How hard would it have been for the X-men to raid Genosha and pick up a few collars so Rogue doesn’t have to be so depressed? Not very.
- Why does Apocalypse create only four slaves? He had a pub full of willing mutants. Maybe he felt he only needed four – but the battle scenes in this episode sure prove otherwise. I guess he just underestimated the X-men.
- Speaking of Apocalypse and his slaves, we got a glimpse of how lonely they were before they decided to undergo the “treatment”. Not to beat a dead horse, but it is too bad that they didn’t have a group like the X-men either. At the pub Xavier says words to the effect that they have to allow each mutant to reach their own decision, but me – I think the X-men should have done more recruiting. I know, I know - they don’t have the time.
- I love getting to see the X-men relax, so I enjoyed the scene in the rec room. I especially liked Gambit’s flirting with Rogue, her response to him which suggests she’s having trouble fighting her attraction, and Gambit’s reaction to Storm’s attempt at humor.
- The scene with Rogue and Mystique doesn’t seem quite right. In a later episode, “A Rogue’s Tale”, we learn the background between the two of them and it’s quite significant. But here it’s like that background doesn’t exist – like they either haven’t met yet or the creators were trying to make it somewhat ambiguous. Maybe the creators hadn’t worked out the XTAS version of their history at this point.
- There’s a great moment in one of the battle scenes. Apocalypse asks who dares oppose him, and Wolverine responds, “The X-men do, bub”. Not a bad sentiment coming from someone who only grudgingly admitted, a few episodes ago, that there’s something to this “wimpy teamwork” thing. I’m sure Wolverine realized its benefits a moment later when Gambit helps him during the battle, too.
- I liked Pestilence’s kicky jacket.
- Though speaking of jackets, I’m not clear on exactly how Rogue lost hers during the battle.
- Rating: Four and a half stars. Great use of most of the X-men working as a team, nice continuation of Rogue’s struggle with her powers, the battle scenes were strong and not overdone, and extra points for the scenes in the pub and the rec room.
Episode: Days of Future Past, Part I
Brief summary: The time-traveler Bishop arrives from the future to stop a traitorous mutant from assassinating Senator Kelly. The problem is, he doesn’t know which mutant it is – only that it’s one of the X-men!
- I have to declare my bias upfront: I hate time-travel episodes! I believe that only one episode in XTAS got time travel right: “One Man’s Worth”. And even that episode gets pretty repetitive. I’ll try to put my bias aside as I watch this episode, but no promises that I can be objective. One thing I am doing to help make it more palatable, though, is that I’m splitting Part I and Part II into separate reviews so I don’t have to re-watch them right in a row.
- At least this episode has lots of Gambit!
- And there’s cool Terminator-esque music in some of the future segments. Seriously, that was a nice touch.
- Wow, in the future timeline, mutants are being hunted and rounded up into camps – but not only is there a cemetery commemorating the X-men but somehow the rebels also have a neat laboratory for Forge with a working time machine. Very resourceful group of hunted and desperate mutants!
- I do love the scene in the present-timeline, where Rogue and Gambit are visiting Beast in prison and bringing him books. Seriously, it’s lovely. This season has been very Beast-deprived; I’m glad that we’re reminded that the rest of the team hasn’t forgotten him, and I like seeing Rogue and Gambit spending time together too. Although it is kind of weird that Rogue and Gambit are allowed to hang out inside Hank’s actual cell. Normally when people visit prisoners they aren’t allowed to get behind the bars and in the cell with them.
- The scene also does show that Gambit finds jail cells disturbing. There’s a story behind that, one which we don’t get to see in XTAS.
- Jubilee is sitting behind some important-looking computer screens and doing a “security check”. And later she’s doing some “cross patching” of one of Bishop’s gadgets. So, see, she can’t complain that she doesn’t get to do anything important around here.
- “At least I don’t lose my hair.” – Gotta love Wolverine’s reaction to seeing the future version of himself. He’s so wonderfully skeptical about the whole Bishop-arriving-from-the-future thing.
- There is an exchange between Cyclops and Jean that I’d sure love to explore more. Bishop tells the X-men that the assassin could be any one of them. Cyclops loudly declares that it couldn’t be Jean. (We know he loves her, but it seems kind of odd that he bursts out with this in the middle of the meeting). Jean then says that of course it could. “I’ve had my dark days. Or have you forgotten?” I wish I knew the backstory on that. Just like with Gambit’s issue with the jail cell, XTAS gives you a little taste to whet your appetite but doesn’t always let you eat enough to fill you up.
- Rating: You know what? As much as I dislike time travel, this episode’s not too bad so far. I give Part I four stars.
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Come the Apocalypse
Date: 2010-02-11 04:13 am (UTC)Apocalypse you mastermind what are you going to do after the world is destroy!? I think you should sit down and think about that. ;)
But that might send Rogue the wrong message and put her in danger. What if the mansion got attached and Rogue was wearing that collar? Sure she could take it off but I read a fic once where Rogue was using the collar to be with Gambit and when she took it off it took a while for her powers to come back. OR something could fall on her and she'd be crushed.
They need to work that muscle. When has the Prof ever taken Rogue aside an helped her control her ability? She uses the ones she got from Mrs. Marvel more than her original power. Even Mystique let her use her ability and taught her to control it more that the prof encourages her too. They ever test that power and see is she can get it under control. I'm sure Logan wouldn't mind helping her since he's got the healing ability.
I think Apocalypse liked the poetry of the four horseman. :D
Is that the scene where Rogue messes up the pool table? Cause I love that scene!
- Though speaking of jackets, I’m not clear on exactly how Rogue lost hers during the battle.
didn't she get shot with a laser and it disintegrated or something?
Re: Come the Apocalypse
Date: 2010-02-11 11:55 am (UTC)Oooh, very interesting! But I do think it's something that should have been explored.
They need to work that muscle. When has the Prof ever taken Rogue aside an helped her control her ability? She uses the ones she got from Mrs. Marvel more than her original power. Even Mystique let her use her ability and taught her to control it more that the prof encourages her too. They ever test that power and see is she can get it under control. I'm sure Logan wouldn't mind helping her since he's got the healing ability.
Yeah, I do think that's a very valid criticism. The Prof really should be doing more to help her. Of course, for all we know, maybe he has been working on her problem to no avail, but in XTAS there's not a line of dialog to support that. Now in a recent X-men comic (don't ask me which one, I can't keep them all straight), he does help her so she can touch. The cover of that comic is the icon I'm using with this comment.
didn't she get shot with a laser and it disintegrated or something?
It's just weird that a laser would disintegrate something so specific (like, just the jacket - nothing else!)
Re: Come the Apocalypse
Date: 2010-02-11 01:25 pm (UTC)That is random. ;)
I love that they just want to be together. *sigh*
Re: Come the Apocalypse
Date: 2010-02-11 05:28 pm (UTC)Me too. :)
P.S.
Date: 2010-02-11 11:56 am (UTC)LOL!
Episode: Days of Future Past, Part I
Date: 2010-02-11 04:36 am (UTC)Ohhh good point! Maybe it's from his childhood.
Jean and Scott. and this was before the Phoenix Saga?
Re: Episode: Days of Future Past, Part I
Date: 2010-02-11 11:52 am (UTC)