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They are FINALLY putting these out on DVD. Now just give me Spider-Man from the same time and the Iron Man Marvel Action Hour series and we’re set!
The Main Characters
--The main cast of characters here are Wolverine, Jean Grey, Cyclops, Gambit, Storm, Professor X, Jubilee, Rogue and Beast. They are all super-powered mutants, or people born with their extraordinary abilities. Wolverine has claws made of unbreakable metal called adamantium and has a healing factor. Jean Grey is a telekinetic and a telepath, Cyclops shoots optic blasts out of his eyes, Gambit can charge objects that can explode on contact, Storm controls the weather, Professor X is the strongest telepath on the planet and Rogue can steal anyone’s power and memories and also has super-strength and flight. Finally, Beast is super-dextrous and is also blue and furry.
The Setting
The X-Men live in Xavier’s mansion Westchester, NY, but their adventures bring them everywhere.
The Collection
---Disc One---
1) Night of the Sentinels (Part 1) (21:20)
Original Airdate: 10/31/92
The first episode sets the tone right away, with the awesome theme song (still one of the best instrumental theme songs in cartoon history). So Jubilee is a mutant and anti-mutant paranoia is at its height. A big mutant-hunting robot called a Sentinel starts searching for her and finds her in a mall, where the X-Men are conveniently shopping. The X-Men save Jubilee and bring her to their home, the X-Mansion. She (and us the viewer) are given a crash course on all the mutants, including Morph, a shape-shifter. Jubilee, ever the rebellious teen, runs off and is captured anyways. The X-Men are hot on her trail and on the trail of the people behind the Sentinels and behind rounding up all these mutants. So the first episode ends with a cliffhanger. I am happy they still have the original ending with the 3D models of the X-Men. I remember watching this one back when it first debuted and being very nervous since my power went out that morning about 2 hours before the show started. Luckily it came back on and I was able to watch it. It still stands up well today, introducing all the core characters in a manner any could understand.
2) Night of the Sentinels (Part 2) (21:21)
Original Airdate: 11/07/92
We get a recap of the previous episode before this one starts. So the X-Men continue battling the Sentinels and the people guarding the base, all so Beast and the rest could destroy the mutant files. The X-Men almost escape but not before Morph gets killed by a Sentinel. He was really there as cannon fodder anyway (he wasn’t even in the opening credits) but it was still a surprise to see a character killed in only the second episode. It showed what he stakes were in this human/mutant war. Cyclops and the rest of the X-Men escape, with Morph dead and Beast captured. Wolverine isn’t happy with this and drives off alone to save him. Internal politics do enough to stop the Sentinel program, and the X-Men are all too willing to help, destroying as many of them as they can while freeing Jubilee and Beast.
3) Enter Magneto (21:22)
Original Airdate: 11/27/92
We recap the events of the first two-parter. The Beast is still captured until Magneto comes to spring him free. Beast decides to stay. For those who don’t know, Magneto (the master of magnetism) is the arch-rival of the X-Men. The origin Xavier tells Jubilee is pretty close, that they worked together to help mutants at the expense of Magneto’s family. He hates mankind and wants to rid the world of homo sapiens. So Beast goes on trial and it’s a farce, sending him back to jail without bail. Sabretooth shows up and is taken out by Cyclops and Wolverine. Wolvie reveals that he has history with Sabretooth, but doesn’t say what that history is. So the X-Men head off to battle Magneto, who unleashes a bunch of nuclear warheads on the mutants. Luckily, Storm saves the day as Magneto questions Xavier’s actions. This served as an intro to Magneto, the X-Men’s main foil and in that respect it more than did its job.
4) Deadly Reunions (21:12)
Original Airdate: 01/23/93
Xavier probes Sabretooth’s mind, to the objections of Wolverine. They soon have to put that task on hold when Magneto strikes again. The X-Men are there to fight him. During the battle we see more about the X-Men that comic readers are very familiar with, including Storm’s claustrophobia. Xavier eventually causes a Magneto retreat but it doesn’t get better for the X-Men. A anti-mutant politician says he will run for president. Jubilee, staying with Sabretooth, unwittingly unshackles Sabretooth, and he escapes.
5) Captive Hearts (21:20)
Original Airdate: 01/30/93
The X-Men work out in the danger room, with Storm’s claustrophobia getting the better of her. Cyclops and Jean go out for a night on the town when a mutant is chased and he runs to the sewers to his home with the Morlocks. The Morlocks are a bunch of mutants who are not aesthetically pleasing at all and have taken to live in the sewers. So the X-Men need to go out and save the captured Cyclops and Jean Grey, with Storm needing to deal with her claustrophobia and defeat the Morlock leader, Callisto, in a duel. This was very similar to an X-Men story in the comics, and it was done very well. This really played up the Wolverine/Jean romance, and Wolverine’s jealousy of Cyclops, prompting him to leave by the end of the episode.
6) Cold Vengeance (21:22)
Original Airdate: 02/06/93
Wolverine had bailed by the end of last episode and we catch up with him skiing home, right into the trap of Sabretooth. Wolvie is taken down but recovered by some of the locals. One local gets jealous and sells him out to Sabretooth. Sabretooth double-crosses the double-cross and when Wolvie goes to finish off Sabretooth, the local helps Wolvie out. Meanwhile, the X-Men hear about Genosha and Storm, Gambit and Jubilee head to the island to check it out. The people there find out they are mutants and capture them.
7) Slave Island (21:21)
Original Airdate: 02/13/93
Gambit, Storm and Jubilee have been captured by the Genoshans and are treated as slaves. A ton of mutants make appearances here including: Northstar, Aurora, Pyro, Sunfire, Wolfsbane, Blob, Warpath, Mystique, Domino and Caliban. It seems that the mutants are being used to create a dam that powers something called the Master Mold, or a great sentinel that creates other Sentinels. It also seems that Gambit is a traitor to his friends. Gambit escapes and runs into Cable, who has been leading a one-man war against the leaders of Genosha. The X-Men end up destroying the island and the Sentinels, then return home to see the mansion in shambles. References to Muir Island are dropped for the first time in this episode, too.
8) The Unstoppable Juggernaut (21:23)
Original Airdate: 03/06/93
The X-Men come back to a destroyed mansion, and they find a message from Xavier that he left. The question is; did he leave before the mansion was destroyed? Wolverine heads off on his own and the rest of the X-Men head off to find him. Jubilee finds Wolverine and they run into a Russian mutant named Colossus who they think destroyed the X-Mansion. There’s a cute scene of Wolvie getting tossed by Colossus and Wolvie saying he has a nice arm, a nod to the Fastball Special. Colossus ends up in jail, being accused of robbing a bank that their real foe committed. That real foe is revealed to be the Juggernaut. The X-Men break Colossus free and battle the super-strong Juggernaut, finally defeating him by taking off his helmet and using some telepathy to stop him.
---Disc Two---
9) The Cure (21:22)
Original Airdate: 02/20/93
Cable shows up looking for a doctor named Adler, but finds Warren Worthington the Third instead. Warren is better known as the Angel. Adler, as Xavier finds out in Muir Island, claims to have a cure for mutations. Xavier can’t probe his mind, though, and only seems images of Mystique and Apocalypse. The X-Men are repulsed by the cure, except for Rogue, who entertains this idea. She heads to Muir Island where she runs into Pyro and Avalanche, who are expecting Mystique. It turns out that this Adler is really Mystique and she is working for Apocalypse. They want to make Rogue into one of Apocalypse’s pawns. Pyro and Avalanche unwittingly kidnap Adler, who reveals herself to be Mystique. Rogue fights off the duo, and then battles Cable who has his sights set on Adler. Rogue decides not to take the “cure” but another mutant shows up named Warren Worthington. He wants the cure and Apocalypse is willing to oblige.
10) Come the Apocalypse (21:23)
Original Airdate: 02/27/93
So Angel has shown up for the cure, only to become a pawn of Apocalypse and his angelic wings are transformed and the Angel is now the Archangel, a mutant with metallic wings and a far deadlier demeanor. He also gets three other pawns, making them the four horsemen of the Apocalypse. The Horsemen go out and cause chaos. The X-Men make the save and defeat the Horsemen, and Apocalypse makes a hasty retreat. Archangel also realizes the error of his ways and repents.
11) Days of the Future Past (Part 1) (21:23)
Original Airdate: 03/13/93
We’re brought to a dystopian future where an older Wolverine and two other mutants battle Sentinels then fall prey to Bishop, a mutant cop. When the Sentinels turn on Bishop, they all escape, only to run into Nimrod, a super-sentinel. Bishop and Wolverine escape to Forge’s hideout with a time machine to go to the past and save Senator Kelly from assassination and prevent this anti-mutant future. Bishop goes to the past to stop the assassin. So Bishop ends up in the past, but forgets what he was there to do! Bishop is finally reminded when a group of kids talk about playing their new game called Assassins (with Punisher on the cover!). He’s in the past to stop assassins, and he believes those assassins to be the X-Men. He charges into the Mansion where the X-Men hear his story and Xavier confirms it with his telepathy. Bishop then gets notified that something followed him through the portal; Nimrod! The X-Men fight Nimrod and send him back to the future. Bishop and the rest go back to the Mansion and wonder who the assassin is, including Jean talking about a dark side? Hmmm. When Gambit walks through the door, we have the answer as to who the assassin is.
12) Days of the Future Past (Part 2)
Original Airdate: 03/20/93
Gambit takes the accusations that he is the assassin by running away. That won’t help any accusations. So Xavier tells Gambit to stay at the Mansion with Bishop and Wolverine while the rest of the X-Men head to DC to stop the assassination. Blob, Avalanche and Pyro are also there, led by Mystique. Mystique is actually the assassin and we can see the confusion Bishop had when she shifts into Gambit to perform the killing. The X-Men battle the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants while Gambit and Bishop take on the assassin. Bishop is sent back to the past by Rogue who finds out the assassin was Mystique, and is further shocked that Mystique was her mother. Rogue lets her mother leave while Bishop returns home and sees nothing has changed. Forge suspects that something else happened but maybe they don’t know about alternate futures. The X-Men think all is good, until Kelly is kidnapped by Magneto.
13) The Final Decision (21:22)
Original Airdate: 03/27/93
This was the end of Season One. Magneto has kidnapped Kelly, and a group of Sentinels find him and attack. The X-Men catch up but they are a day late and a dollar short. Trask, who created the Sentinels and Master Mold, has Kelly with him and tells him to enact a law that would allow Sentinel production should he become president. Kelly agrees but the plans get majorly messed up when the Sentinels start having minds of their own and the Master Mold wants to take control. The X-Men get wind of this and decide to stop Master Mold and save the man who is a mutant hater. Magneto, who the X-Men saved and nursed back to health, also joins in to help. Kelly is saved, the Beast is freed from prison, and all is right with the X-Men. Cyclops and Jean get engaged and it’s a nice way to end the season, with the main underlying arc of the Sentinels being nicely tied up while introducing Mr. Sinister right at the end to kick off the next season.
14) Till Death Do Us Part (Part 1) (21:23)
Original Airdate: 10/23/93
This would be the start of Season 2. They start with a brief recap of the last episode. We start the season off with Wolverine killing Cyclops in a danger room scenario while Cyclops weds Jean Grey. This was very similar to events that happened in the comic book around the same time as this if I am not mistaken. So Jean and Cyclops are married by a preacher who is really Morph! That is shocking because we all know that Morph is dead. Meanwhile, Senator Kelly tries to help mutants while a Friends for Humanity protester arranges for a man dressed like a mutant to crash the party. Anti-Mutant hysteria is at its highest now, similar to the God Loves, Man Kills graphic novel. Xavier also gets a message from Magneto to head to the Arctic, which was set up by Morph. The Friends of Humanity also tape the X-Men in battle and doctor the footage to make them look like criminals. Morph also infiltrates X-Mansion and sets up all the X-Men for disaster, sending Jubilee to the Friends of Humanity base, knocking Gambit out when he tried to kiss Rogue. He also has a hand in taking out Storm and Beast. Mr. Sinister watches all this in amusement from afar. A great start to Season Two, setting up all the main storylines we’ll see. There’s also a different closing credits to start the new season.
15) Till Death Do Us Part (Part 2) (21:23)
Original Airdate: 10/30/93
Scott and Jean are on their honeymoon and are ambushed by Sinister and taken prisoner all while their powers are dampened with devices that are put around their necks. The X-Men, especially Beast, starts piecing things together that something is up, and Wolverine finally spells it out when he returns and uncovers the fact that Morph was impersonating Xavier as well as other X-Men. The X-Men soon discover that Cyclops and Jean are prisoners of Sinister and his group of mutants and the X-Men are all too willing to oblige their need for a fight. Sinister seems impervious to harm but has one weakness, the optic blasts of Cyclops. The villains flee, leaving the X-Men victorious. Morph runs out on the X-Men and Xavier meets with Magneto, with both realizing they’ve walked into a trap in the Antarctic.
16) Whatever it Takes (21:23)
Original Airdate: 11/06/93
We see an African youth succumbing to a strange entity coming from a mountain that none of his other friend’s see. It seems that an entity has come out of a rip in time, and Storm is worried since she knows the young boy who lives there. The villain that pops out is the Shadow King, a villain with a telepathic ability that rivals Xavier’s. Meanwhile, Wolvie is still looking for Morph, trailing him to Brazil. This episodes really plays out the Storm vs. Shadow King match-up, where Storm lets the Shadow King use her body as a host so that he can free her nephew. They eventually are able to trick Shadow King back into the astral plane and all is back to normal, except for Professor X is still missing and all. We check in on him and see him in the Savage Land, powerless. Oh well, guess we’ll see what happens to them in Volume 2!
Collection Review
It is weird to watch this series now, considering all these characters have now been done on the big screen and are pretty iconic that way. When I think of Wolverine I usually think of Hugh Jackman now, and when I think of Xavier I envision Patrick Stewart. For a while, this is what I thought and heard when I read the comics. That’s another thing to remember. When this show came out the X-Men were the hottest thing in comics and the cast resembles the core of what was in the comics. Still, the casting was pretty spot-on here, and I dare say that this influenced the casting of the film. Does this stand up well today? Yes. The first season was great and watching it like this back to back really gives it a more linear and coherent story. You can see how the Sentinel story introduced in the first episode carried the series all through the first 13 episodes. It was a great theme and it reminded me of the first season of Heroes, where you have this massive season-spanning story with each episode being a part of that story while still dealing with events that make each individual episodes enjoyable and stand well on their own. Season Two also starts off well, setting up the anti-mutant hysteria that I remember continuing on through Season Two. That does raise a question, why separate these into collections and not just do Season 1 or a combo of Season 1 and 2. It would’ve added another disc but it would be much better for viewing continuity.
DVD Features
A) Extras
Barring Sneak Peaks on Disc One (which I won’t even bother with here); there were no extras at all. Maybe a little feature talking about the origins of the series, or even something about the voice-over actors would’ve been nice.
B) Audio/Video
It’s Dolby Digital and Full Screen. I was wondering how this would look, considering I still have all the 1992-1995 episodes on VHS. I have to say, it doesn’t look much better at all than what I have. A lot of the colors seem washed out and it just looks really grainy. The bright colors are non-existent. It sounds slightly better than my VHS, so we’ll give a positive to that.
C) Packaging / Liner Notes
This is about as bare-bones as DVD could get, with a standard DVD case and a lone liner note promoting Blu-Ray DVD’s. I do have to note the cover is very Jim Lee looking.
D) Easter Eggs
None
Overall Review
We’re hit with some previews to start this off. We have G-Force (2:34), Monsters Inc (1:09), Lost Season Four (1:04) and Disney on Blu-Ray (1:13). There’s really not much to this collection to be honest with you. The video and audio haven’t been cleaned up at all, and in fact, I think the original VHS tapes I have of the series look better. There are no extras at all. This really looks like a DVD that was rushed to the market way too soon. To me, it looks like Buena Vista got the rights to the show, recorded it to DVD with no effort, and released it to the unsuspecting public. This was a way for them to make some quick cash and the collection really suffers for that. I will purchase the rest of the DVD’s that they make just so I can keep these in digital format (and also because I only had the first three seasons on VHS). It’s a shame because the shows were really good. They keep all the charm of the comic book series and update it a bit to a more modern audience. You can see where the movies borrowed from this series, keeping much of the same cast together, and using voices similar to what we heard on the big screen. It’s a great series on a couple of terrible DVD’s.
Overall Rating
4.0
10.0 Perfect
9.0-9.5 Near Perfect, Highly Recommended
8.0-8.5 Really good disc, Recommended
7.0-7.5 Good DVD, Mildly recommended
6.0-6.5 Above Average DVD. Mildest of mild recommendations
5.0-5.5 Decent all around disc, but catch it on TV
4.0-4.5 Great Movie but horrible DVD
3.0-3.5 Horrible movie but great DVD
2.0-2.5 There’s at least some merit to this DVD, but not much.
1.0-1.5 Horrible DVD, don’t even bother
0.0-0.5 Worst DVD ever
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