Reviews of the X-men Animated Series
Mar. 1st, 2010 09:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stormkeeper_lovedorisThis post closes out my reviews of XTAS’s Season One. Again with the weighty titles - !
By the way, the post that contains my review of Days of Future Past, Part I is at this link.
Episode: Days of Future Past, Part II
Brief summary: Gambit is desperate to prove that he is not the guilty party, and it soon becomes apparent that there’s more going on with this assassination plot than anyone had expected.
- Rogue drives like a maniac! Maybe she should just stick to flying.
- More great Rogue and Gambit flirting in the first scene. And I love how she protects him when Bishop fires on him. Despite her rebuffs of his advances, you can tell how she really feels.
- There were some interesting exchanges in the scene where Bishop accuses Gambit. Gambit asks what the X-men really know about Bishop, and it’s chilling when Wolverine replies, “Only a little more than what we know about you. You’ve never been straight with us.” For two reasons, I also think it’s interesting when Storm says that she knows Gambit better than anyone. First, for the look she and Rogue exchange. But more than that, this is one of the very few indications we get in XTAS of Storm and Gambit’s friendship. In the comics, they’ve been very tight, but during XTAS we really only get small glimpses of their friendship, which is a shame.
- And wow, the end of the scene is wrenching! Gambit asks if anyone here trusts him. Rogue has to look down; at this point, she simply doesn’t feel that she knows him well enough to say that she trusts him. Clearly hurting from this team-wide rejection and hoping to prove his innocence, Gambit leaves. How Bishop and Wolverine got from the War Room into the Blackbird before Gambit, however, is truly a mystery.
- I also have to comment on how sweetly sensitive and fiercely loyal is the X-men’s newest member. Jubilee is so shaken up by Bishop’s accusations against Gambit that she has a nightmare over it! (But why is she sleeping in the middle of the day? Xavier must be running his people ragged!)
- Gambit is also quite crafty in how he manages to escape Wolverine and Bishop. Vintage Gambit.
- There’s a huge anti-mutant crowd outside the White House – in our real, present-day timeline. Sad. It’s gotta suck to be a mutant and see throngs of people on TV
chanting, “Humans yes! Mutants no!”
- Oh wow, this was interesting! The Professor appears before a Senate committee, and Kelly asks him flat-out if his school is a clearinghouse for “pro-mutant propaganda”. I believe this may be the only time in the series that someone expresses the idea that the School for the Gifted may not be what it seems. I wish this had been delved into more; I think there could have been a ton of interesting plotlines from it.
- I love when Scott and Jean – prompted into action by Pyro and Avalanche – tear off their “casual” clothes, revealing their dorky uniforms underneath. At least now we know why so many X-men costumes are tight. They apparently wear them underneath their clothes, all the time. Something about this I find hilarious.
- Rogue was smart in how she defeated the fire creature that Pyro sent after her. She flew high enough that it got beaten by the cold. And a great team effort in how they defeated Blob – Wolverine flings him into a body of water and Storm freezes it over. More great teamwork in how Jean, Rogue, and Wolverine rescue the little girl. They are really doing a strong job fighting as a unit.
- I do love the next Wolverine moment. “This kid’s crying,” he says, of the girl they rescued. He passes her to Jubilee with the command, “Do something.”
- I think it’s odd that first Gambit and then Cyclops didn’t know what Bishop’s mutant power was. I’d have thought that it should’ve been a matter of protocol to ask him at some point. Then again, maybe the accusation that Bishop brought was so shocking that the X-men just forgot some of the basics.
- Gambit is so smooth when he comes upon Mystique. I love his lines. “Surprised to see me? I know I am.” And again, at the end of the episode, Rogue’s second defense of Gambit when Bishop is ready to shoot – brilliant!
- So, Rogue and Mystique again get to talk. But here, they make it seem that Rogue had never known that her adoptive “Momma” was a shapeshifting fellow mutant. The later episode, “A Rogue’s Tale” totally contradicts that. Bummer that they messed up the continuity and didn’t think this all the way through. Regardless, it’s sad that Mystique was so desperate to get Rogue back that she’d been willing to turn her into one of Apocalypse’s slaves. Then again, I’m not sure her word is to be trusted.
- This episode really needed some closure. Gambit spends the whole time defending himself against accusations that he’s a traitor - by the end we learn that he is not, but there’s no scene with him and the X-men to bring home this fact. Unfulfilling.
- Rating: I’ll go with four stars, like I did for Part I. For a time-travel episode, this one was pretty good.
Episode: The Final Decision
Brief summary: With Senator Kelly kidnapped, the X-men need to take on a fleet of Sentinels who are hell bent on not just killing mutants but also on taking over the world!
- I can definitely see how being an X-man would be frustrating. As Wolverine points out at the start, they saved Senator Kelly’s life, and they are being repaid by feverish anti-mutant protests.
- I love the exchange between Magneto and Kelly. “Like you, I believe that mutants and normal humans cannot live together in peace,” Magneto says, showing how both extreme viewpoints are opposite ends of the same coin.
- I also think it’s very interesting how this episode weaves in with the previous two-parter. One leads into the other but they are very dissimilar. The previous episode starts out being all about Bishop, his timeline, the disastrous future he comes from. Magneto is not even mentioned. And yet the whole plot to assassinate Kelly originated from Magneto. Bishop unknowingly was so off in terms of who he went after.
- The XTAS version of Senator Kelly is way, way more likeable than the movie version. With Kelly dying in the first movie, he doesn’t really get a chance to change his viewpoint in movie-verse.
- We do get glimpses that, although progress has been made, everyone isn’t getting along like angels either. Wolverine taunts Gambit when he mistakes a scrap of a Sentinel for a ‘live’ one. Things were very tense between the two of them last episode too. But then again, towards the end of the final battle, Wolverine saves Gambit. And Gambit then goes back to fight alongside Wolverine, saving him. So maybe things are ok here.
- Mastermold’s plan was truly creepy! And the moment at the end was priceless, when Mastermold explains his logic: “Mutants are human.” We see Kelly finally get it! And then Mastermold goes on, “Therefore, humans must be protected from themselves”.
- And wow, can Gambit finally get some props please? After all the accusations last episode of treachery, he again proves his worth: he lets Xavier scan his brain and display images from it on a screen in front of everyone! Can we finally get a, “We’re sorry Gambit; you’ve proven you’re trustworthy,” here?? (Maybe that’s partly what Rogue’s kiss at the end was about?)
- I have always loved the melodramatic scene where the X-men make their final decision, to risk their lives to stop the Sentinels. I love Wolverine’s line: “We’re with you, Cyke!” And Jubilee’s outburst about how being an X-men means more to her than anything in the world, and Wolverine’s agreement with her. Gambit’s hesitation but eventual decision to do the right thing. Magneto calling after them that they are fools, but brave ones. It was a great scene!
- I can sure understand their hesitation. There appear to be hundreds, if not thousands, of Sentinels. Against eight X-men. (And eventually Magneto, who saves his beloved Xavier). We are sure lucky that they had not one casualty.
- Speaking of Magneto, it’s great how he and Xavier team up to defeat Mastermold. Too bad it does not last.
- “I’m not leaving anyone behind!” Cyclops declares in the heat of the battle. “Not this time.” He is still clearly disturbed by what happened in the inaugural episode of the series. We finally get some closure here, as he sticks to his pledge and brings the team home safely. And I love when he gets Wolverine and Gambit to safety (much to Rogue’s relief).
- Speaking of the above scene, Rogue and Gambit’s reunion was awesome – especially the part where she kisses him through her glove.
- There’s one thing at the end of this episode that has never sat right with me. Jubilee is thrilled to see Beast; she runs up to him and hugs him. But he was captured and imprisoned very shortly after Jubilee joined the X-men, so when exactly did she get a chance to become attached to him and why is she so thrilled to see a guy she barely knows? On the other hand, we’ve seen that the X-men have been visiting Hank and (presumably) corresponding with him while he was in jail – maybe Jubilee went to see him frequently and/or exchanged letters with him. Regardless, I’m glad he’s free at last!
- I loved Jean and Scott’s scene at the end where they get engaged. (Though I still can’t figure out why she calls him “Cyclops” during intimate moments like this). I especially like that they are so okay with who they are. Jean expresses concern that their children will be mutants and face the same prejudice they face, and Scott says he wouldn’t have it any other way.
- Rating: Five stars – darn near perfect!
- Average Rating for Season One: 4.2 stars. I also have the average rating that I gave to episodes in Seasons Four and Five, but this is a bit skewed because I didn’t review every single episode. I skipped a few, which I will come back to later – so Season One is the first season that I’ve watched every episode of. Anyway, the average I gave Season Four is 3.4, and Season Five’s average was 4.0, making Season One my favorite season of the three by far.
By the way, the post that contains my review of Days of Future Past, Part I is at this link.
Episode: Days of Future Past, Part II
Brief summary: Gambit is desperate to prove that he is not the guilty party, and it soon becomes apparent that there’s more going on with this assassination plot than anyone had expected.
- Rogue drives like a maniac! Maybe she should just stick to flying.
- More great Rogue and Gambit flirting in the first scene. And I love how she protects him when Bishop fires on him. Despite her rebuffs of his advances, you can tell how she really feels.
- There were some interesting exchanges in the scene where Bishop accuses Gambit. Gambit asks what the X-men really know about Bishop, and it’s chilling when Wolverine replies, “Only a little more than what we know about you. You’ve never been straight with us.” For two reasons, I also think it’s interesting when Storm says that she knows Gambit better than anyone. First, for the look she and Rogue exchange. But more than that, this is one of the very few indications we get in XTAS of Storm and Gambit’s friendship. In the comics, they’ve been very tight, but during XTAS we really only get small glimpses of their friendship, which is a shame.
- And wow, the end of the scene is wrenching! Gambit asks if anyone here trusts him. Rogue has to look down; at this point, she simply doesn’t feel that she knows him well enough to say that she trusts him. Clearly hurting from this team-wide rejection and hoping to prove his innocence, Gambit leaves. How Bishop and Wolverine got from the War Room into the Blackbird before Gambit, however, is truly a mystery.
- I also have to comment on how sweetly sensitive and fiercely loyal is the X-men’s newest member. Jubilee is so shaken up by Bishop’s accusations against Gambit that she has a nightmare over it! (But why is she sleeping in the middle of the day? Xavier must be running his people ragged!)
- Gambit is also quite crafty in how he manages to escape Wolverine and Bishop. Vintage Gambit.
- There’s a huge anti-mutant crowd outside the White House – in our real, present-day timeline. Sad. It’s gotta suck to be a mutant and see throngs of people on TV
chanting, “Humans yes! Mutants no!”
- Oh wow, this was interesting! The Professor appears before a Senate committee, and Kelly asks him flat-out if his school is a clearinghouse for “pro-mutant propaganda”. I believe this may be the only time in the series that someone expresses the idea that the School for the Gifted may not be what it seems. I wish this had been delved into more; I think there could have been a ton of interesting plotlines from it.
- I love when Scott and Jean – prompted into action by Pyro and Avalanche – tear off their “casual” clothes, revealing their dorky uniforms underneath. At least now we know why so many X-men costumes are tight. They apparently wear them underneath their clothes, all the time. Something about this I find hilarious.
- Rogue was smart in how she defeated the fire creature that Pyro sent after her. She flew high enough that it got beaten by the cold. And a great team effort in how they defeated Blob – Wolverine flings him into a body of water and Storm freezes it over. More great teamwork in how Jean, Rogue, and Wolverine rescue the little girl. They are really doing a strong job fighting as a unit.
- I do love the next Wolverine moment. “This kid’s crying,” he says, of the girl they rescued. He passes her to Jubilee with the command, “Do something.”
- I think it’s odd that first Gambit and then Cyclops didn’t know what Bishop’s mutant power was. I’d have thought that it should’ve been a matter of protocol to ask him at some point. Then again, maybe the accusation that Bishop brought was so shocking that the X-men just forgot some of the basics.
- Gambit is so smooth when he comes upon Mystique. I love his lines. “Surprised to see me? I know I am.” And again, at the end of the episode, Rogue’s second defense of Gambit when Bishop is ready to shoot – brilliant!
- So, Rogue and Mystique again get to talk. But here, they make it seem that Rogue had never known that her adoptive “Momma” was a shapeshifting fellow mutant. The later episode, “A Rogue’s Tale” totally contradicts that. Bummer that they messed up the continuity and didn’t think this all the way through. Regardless, it’s sad that Mystique was so desperate to get Rogue back that she’d been willing to turn her into one of Apocalypse’s slaves. Then again, I’m not sure her word is to be trusted.
- This episode really needed some closure. Gambit spends the whole time defending himself against accusations that he’s a traitor - by the end we learn that he is not, but there’s no scene with him and the X-men to bring home this fact. Unfulfilling.
- Rating: I’ll go with four stars, like I did for Part I. For a time-travel episode, this one was pretty good.
Episode: The Final Decision
Brief summary: With Senator Kelly kidnapped, the X-men need to take on a fleet of Sentinels who are hell bent on not just killing mutants but also on taking over the world!
- I can definitely see how being an X-man would be frustrating. As Wolverine points out at the start, they saved Senator Kelly’s life, and they are being repaid by feverish anti-mutant protests.
- I love the exchange between Magneto and Kelly. “Like you, I believe that mutants and normal humans cannot live together in peace,” Magneto says, showing how both extreme viewpoints are opposite ends of the same coin.
- I also think it’s very interesting how this episode weaves in with the previous two-parter. One leads into the other but they are very dissimilar. The previous episode starts out being all about Bishop, his timeline, the disastrous future he comes from. Magneto is not even mentioned. And yet the whole plot to assassinate Kelly originated from Magneto. Bishop unknowingly was so off in terms of who he went after.
- The XTAS version of Senator Kelly is way, way more likeable than the movie version. With Kelly dying in the first movie, he doesn’t really get a chance to change his viewpoint in movie-verse.
- We do get glimpses that, although progress has been made, everyone isn’t getting along like angels either. Wolverine taunts Gambit when he mistakes a scrap of a Sentinel for a ‘live’ one. Things were very tense between the two of them last episode too. But then again, towards the end of the final battle, Wolverine saves Gambit. And Gambit then goes back to fight alongside Wolverine, saving him. So maybe things are ok here.
- Mastermold’s plan was truly creepy! And the moment at the end was priceless, when Mastermold explains his logic: “Mutants are human.” We see Kelly finally get it! And then Mastermold goes on, “Therefore, humans must be protected from themselves”.
- And wow, can Gambit finally get some props please? After all the accusations last episode of treachery, he again proves his worth: he lets Xavier scan his brain and display images from it on a screen in front of everyone! Can we finally get a, “We’re sorry Gambit; you’ve proven you’re trustworthy,” here?? (Maybe that’s partly what Rogue’s kiss at the end was about?)
- I have always loved the melodramatic scene where the X-men make their final decision, to risk their lives to stop the Sentinels. I love Wolverine’s line: “We’re with you, Cyke!” And Jubilee’s outburst about how being an X-men means more to her than anything in the world, and Wolverine’s agreement with her. Gambit’s hesitation but eventual decision to do the right thing. Magneto calling after them that they are fools, but brave ones. It was a great scene!
- I can sure understand their hesitation. There appear to be hundreds, if not thousands, of Sentinels. Against eight X-men. (And eventually Magneto, who saves his beloved Xavier). We are sure lucky that they had not one casualty.
- Speaking of Magneto, it’s great how he and Xavier team up to defeat Mastermold. Too bad it does not last.
- “I’m not leaving anyone behind!” Cyclops declares in the heat of the battle. “Not this time.” He is still clearly disturbed by what happened in the inaugural episode of the series. We finally get some closure here, as he sticks to his pledge and brings the team home safely. And I love when he gets Wolverine and Gambit to safety (much to Rogue’s relief).
- Speaking of the above scene, Rogue and Gambit’s reunion was awesome – especially the part where she kisses him through her glove.
- There’s one thing at the end of this episode that has never sat right with me. Jubilee is thrilled to see Beast; she runs up to him and hugs him. But he was captured and imprisoned very shortly after Jubilee joined the X-men, so when exactly did she get a chance to become attached to him and why is she so thrilled to see a guy she barely knows? On the other hand, we’ve seen that the X-men have been visiting Hank and (presumably) corresponding with him while he was in jail – maybe Jubilee went to see him frequently and/or exchanged letters with him. Regardless, I’m glad he’s free at last!
- I loved Jean and Scott’s scene at the end where they get engaged. (Though I still can’t figure out why she calls him “Cyclops” during intimate moments like this). I especially like that they are so okay with who they are. Jean expresses concern that their children will be mutants and face the same prejudice they face, and Scott says he wouldn’t have it any other way.
- Rating: Five stars – darn near perfect!
- Average Rating for Season One: 4.2 stars. I also have the average rating that I gave to episodes in Seasons Four and Five, but this is a bit skewed because I didn’t review every single episode. I skipped a few, which I will come back to later – so Season One is the first season that I’ve watched every episode of. Anyway, the average I gave Season Four is 3.4, and Season Five’s average was 4.0, making Season One my favorite season of the three by far.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-03-02 04:32 am (UTC)I'll have to re-watch this episode! I don't remember this moment and it sounds adorkable.
no subject
Date: 2010-03-02 11:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-05 02:22 am (UTC)I like the look that Storm & Rogue shared too. And I wish there was more screen time for the friendship I really do.
And isn't Wolverine a little quick to the punch?
Well, she formed a little bond with Gambit when he rescued her at the Mall.
I thought Rogue flew so high that fire couldn't survive in the thin air.
Maybe they thought time traveling was his power. lol
I wish Gambit looked at them all in a disappointing way.
no subject
Date: 2010-03-05 02:42 am (UTC)When is he not? :)
Well, she formed a little bond with Gambit when he rescued her at the Mall
That's a great point. Jubilee feels some attachment to him, plus they survived Genosha together. And she's young and a bit idealistic, so the notion that one of her teammates is a traitor really bothers her.
I still can't figure out why she's sleeping in the middle of the day though. Unless the stress of the situation had her up all night. (But I'd need to re-watch the episode to remember if an entire night passed between Bishop's arrival and the Jubilee-asleep-in-broad-daylight scene.)
no subject
Date: 2010-03-05 03:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-05 02:36 am (UTC)This happened on I, Robot.
- And wow, can Gambit finally get some props please? After all the accusations last episode of treachery, he again proves his worth: he lets Xavier scan his brain and display images from it on a screen in front of everyone! Can we finally get a, “We’re sorry Gambit; you’ve proven you’re trustworthy,” here?? (Maybe that’s partly what Rogue’s kiss at the end was about?)
Awww good point. And Ghost Rider lol And Rogue (winking) and Belladonna.
- Speaking of the above scene, Rogue and Gambit’s reunion was awesome – especially the part where she kisses him through her glove.
lol did she tell him she hated him? LOL
(Though I still can’t figure out why she calls him “Cyclops” during intimate moments like this)
That takes me right out of the scene. :\
And I think Jubilee visited with Hank, just off stage.
no subject
Date: 2010-03-05 02:43 am (UTC)That just added to the moment's charm - especially since it's obvious that she has now fallen for him too. :)
And I think Jubilee visited with Hank, just off stage.
It happened "while we weren't looking".
Thanks for reading! :)