Stay Tuned #61: X-Men '97
a.k.a. The Uncanny TiX-Master.
Christmas is three days away, Ticketholders!
And ever since Disney dropped the first season of X-Men '97 last year, I had been wanting to revisit X-Men: The Animated Series (which I did for last Tuesday's review), and the month of X-Mas seemed like the perfect time.
I had even intended to include '97 in that review and post the whole thing today because I had heard it was a continuation of the original series (hence naming it after the year The Animated Series concluded). However, once I watched the first episode of '97 (and especially after two episodes, because hoh-leigh shiot, the reveals are already insane), I realized that I had too much to talk about to lump it in with its predecessor, so I finished editing and scheduled the Animated Series review a week early so I could devote the entire Christmas week Stay Tuned to X-Men '97.
X-Men '97 isn't just a continuation of X-Men: The Animated Series, it's a modern return to the earmarks of a time when the original series was at its peak. In addition to the relatively grounded, mature, character-rich, long-form serial narrative format that defined the first two seasons, '97 kicks things off with an updated version of the original intro sequence (now including Morph, who made a welcome return to stand in—poor word choice‽—for Xavier in "Graduation Day" after the events of "Courage" forced him to get his head straight, and Bishop, who is just there because unknown time travel reasons and the Rule Of Cool) and a slight re-work of Ron Wasserman's classic but doubly derivative theme by The Newton Brothers (Goosebumps). Most of the original voice cast reprise their roles (Alison Sealy-Smith as Storm, Cal Dodd as Wolverine, Lenore Zann as Rogue, George Buza as Beast, Adrian Hough as Nightcrawler, and Christopher Britton as Mister Sinister), and the replacement actors do a commendable job of capturing the originals' idiosyncrasies, if not their voices. The animators even do an updated version of the Season One bad CGI character bios for the end credits, which is one of those "they didn't have to go this hard, but I love that they did" touches. As for the story, well....
Which makes the beginning continuity of X-Men '97 a little screwy, because despite Morph's one act of stagecraft there to keep Xavier's cause alive, the world now treats Gyrich's attack as a successful assassination (including Magneto). And if he's really meant to be dead to the world, why is Professor X still in the opening?
A question for later, perhaps. But the big question for the first episode is how the Friends Of Humanity are getting their hands on Sentinel tech (which was supposed to have been decommissioned after the Animated Series ripped off Terminator foreseeing the A.I. Singularity Point and "Days Of Future Past" was thwarted...and the "Time Fugitives" future was thwarted...and the "One Man's Worth" timeline was thwarted...) and turning themselves into Racist Megaman (so, MAGAman?). The fight animation (and therefore, the viewing audience) goes hard this episode, and Jubilee getting to be a mature voice of reason when the team are protecting a trust fund Mutant codenamed Sunspot (who develops a crush on her and sort of moves into the X-Mansion later) was a nice step forward for her character. Speaking of steps forward, Jean is pregnant with Cable now (but doesn't remember that he's going to be Cable? Is she trying not to influence a future she saw coming, or is something else going on here?) and Magneto, playing into that "is Xavier dead or 'dead'?" continuity issue, inherits the X-Mansion as an episode stinger, leading to him joining the opening roll call sequence in an episode where we see how much his rival's "passing" (and the repeated failures of his own, more terroristic and separatist activities) has changed him. Like, enough to wear one of the stupidest costumes I've ever seen and rekindle his pre-Animated Series romance with Rogue (they can physically kiss because of ICP's "Miracles," Gambit isn't happy about it, and it's one of the few times that offscreen canon works in the series' favor...except we find out in a later episode that he's kind of a groomer and Mystique was his Ghislaine Maxwell, and his approach to Mutant leadership and superiority resets so hard by the end of the season that Xavier has to pull an Onslaught teaser to stop him from de-magnetizing the planet—I said I never read the comics; not that I'm oblivious to major events). And while Magneto is proving himself and giving perhaps his most badass line ever (the "don't make me let you down" moment), Storm falls to an assassin calling himself The X-Cutioner (not to be confused with the able-est of turntablists of the same name), losing her powers in a clear, well-acted allegory for the emotional and psychological pain of conformity and identity suppression. On the lighter side of things, Wolverine gets a rarely seen opportunity to be funny (not badass cheesy—there's some of that, too—but a genuinely vulnerable comedic foil) as he tries to get Jean to the hospital on time. But why does she name her son after the man who abducted and ran genetic experiments on her (Sinister's name is Nathaniel Essex, remember?), why does Bishop's scar look like the logo on Magneto's stupid new costume, and...where'd that second Jean come from‽
Yes, the sequel series does the Madeleyne Pryor clone stuff (even going sexy-evil and making her the Goblin Queen for an episode) so that Wolverine, Cyclops, and Madeleyne can all be unfaithful scumbags and make the real Jean (whose memories are incomplete because Sinister is a sadistic, eugenicist piece of fuck—this series is back to gore and death and allows PG-13 swearing now, so I feel okay going Plus-Shitting-UltRa here) look like the bad guy for basically no reason. At least we get a decent reason why Cable looks so good for two thousand (he's Time Moses because baby Cable went with Bishop on his trip...)
We then get a mixed bag of an episode in "Motendo/LifeDeath: Part One." The good is that it's a nostalgic homage to 90s X-Men beat-em-ups and action platformers like the arcade game (though several opportunities were missed to make a Magneto "Welcome to die!" reference) and Mutant Apocalypse, Jubilee gets to learn more about her powers by teaming up with an older version of herself (voiced by her original VA), and the subplot/second half follows Storm on a journey to recover her powers. The bad is that it's a Mojo episode where Jubilee gets regressed back into her bratty Season One characterization so she can act a fool and get trapped in a video game.
Which is made even stupider by the next episode because while Jubilee is learning to grow up by interacting with an AI of herself inside a video game, Storm is fighting off an owl demon that embodies her own fears (and has her voice) so that she can overcome her claustrophobia and save Forge's life (by the way, he's thousands of years old in the future because his Mutant powers let him fix anything, effectively making him a hot cyborg Frankentein with a moral compass) by getting her powers back, and the X-Men are visiting the repurposed Mutant country of Genosha.
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| ...Just like my sarcasm! |
It's a fun, nostalgic Easter egg hunt for Mutant cameos (like the Morlocks having their first, undisturbed experience of above-ground life, and Rogue reuniting with Nightcrawler) that reminded me a bit of My Hero Academia's lighter moments. Until it's not, because going to Genosha for a fun time has never been a good idea and Sentinels always show up, except without 90s broadcast standards to tie the series down (and the intended demographic being Millennials like me who grew up watching the original series on TV, rather than the younger age range we fit into at the time), onscreen mass murder by giant, laser-spewing robot is now on the table. So say goodbye to the Morlocks (despite Magneto putting up a Dragon Ball Z level of resistance to ensure his promise to Leech from the second episode was kept, hence his return to his old, terroristic ways later in the season after this effort fails) and to Gambit (who goes out like a boss, and it's worth seeing for yourselves). The only thing more disturbing in this episode (besides all of the shock-value deaths) is Rogue continuing to be a double-timer with the man who groomed her (Magneto is a Holocaust survivor, and Rogue was a teenager when they met).
So now Gambit and Magneto (and his stupid costume) are out of the roll call, and Nightcrawler is in.
Things go intergalactic for an episode (the same episode where Storm gets her powers back) as Xavier attempts to tackle anti-Terran prejudice among the Shi'ar (who evolved from birds, so Lilandra and Sauron are genetically related, maybe?) and once more chooses the Earth and his love's political stability over love itself when the psychic trauma of the Genosha massacre reaches him.
Meanwhile, Rogue goes on a rampage to find Gyrich and get revenge for Gambit's death (Magneto also "died" in the attack, but I'm "happy" she "made a choice"), which brings her to blows with Captain America, leads to her coldly dropping Trask (Gyrich's partner in the original Sentinel program) to his death, and revealing the inspiration behind the season's final villain threat.
As revealed by Cable (all growed up and dealing with a few millennia of abandonment issues such that he also gets in on the Jean hate train for a bit—Madeleyne also died on Genosha, BTW), that villain would be Bastion (whom I only know from his inclusion as a boss in the MUGEN fan-made game, Avengers VS. X-Men, though this final arc is most likely based on the "Operation: Zero Tolerance" storyline, which I know of because Wikipedia and Google exist). He's an amazing villain (kind of making me think the writers who created him were fans of the Baby Arc of Dragon Ball GT) with an effective, insidious plan (prey on modern sensory overload and public apathy to turn radical conservatives into hybrid Sentinel sleeper agents—sort of a commentary on the Black origination and White corruption of the "woke" movement, I think) to remake and conquer the world,
Because I had no knowledge of the OZT storyline from the comics, I expected more clone stuff to be involved (like Bastion being a Magneto clone or Cooper—the X-Men's UN liaison and handler—to be a clone of Bastion's mother because blonde with glasses), but I ended up enjoying how his origin tied into "One Man's Worth," even if he did feel too OP for his own good and his evolving design was kind of reminiscent of Baby getting more and more shoulder pads with each new form (not to mention the regenerating, biomechanical nature of both villains).
Also, after Bastion publicly debunked his death, Xavier is back in the roll call (as is Storm, even though she's had her powers back for awhile now), and the series...with two episodes left. So it's time for some bullshit as Rogue and Sunspot join Magneto for Saturday morning cartoon whiplash reasons and the doubled global threat of Magneto and Bastion (introducing a time element to the final battle because defeating Magneto will cause Bastion's army to reboot) leaves the team more divided than ever. Past, present, and future collide for the audience as 90s series and classic comics fans get to see costumes from both eras onscreen and in action for the first time since the "Dark Phoenix" finale and the series mixes the new villain (Bastion, who is himself an amalgamation of past, present, and future, as well as man, machine, and Mutant) with shock moments from the comics like Magneto ripping out Wolverine's adamantium (so maybe Boneclaw Wolverine next season?) and Xavier psychically breaking Magneto (hence the Onslaught reference I made earlier). And after several blatant, awkward, "remember when I was the Phoenix a couple of times and I have to tell you the abridged plot of both arcs even though you were all there?" references (and Dark Phoenix being in every opening animation), somehow, the Phoenix returned...again!
Even with things getting so dire and extreme that the government intends to risk a Sokovia-like incident by blowing Asteroid M (Magneto's failed space utopia from "Sanctuary") out of the sky (despite mentions of Cinematic Universe concepts like the Genosha massacre being an anchor point, the presence of King T'Chaka and no one mentioning the events of Age Of Ultron suggests the Animated Series Universe is a different continuity from the MCU), the theme of converging and diverging time periods persists through the finale, with the X-Men, Magneto, and a severely injured Bastion being scattered across time when the Asteroid's gravity engine is damaged.
X-Men '97 is more than just well-modernized nostalgia bait (the reverent homages and updates to iconography of the Animated Series' glory days and the comics, returning voice actors, plus a little good-natured shade on the movies), it is incredibly well animated and continues the property's legacy of contemporary but timeless social commentary. Unfortunately, the new series also takes one of my least favorite aspects of the original (morally repugnant, domestically criminal love triangles) and triples down on it with a side of victim-blaming, statutory Acrobatics, and "plot necessary" fascist sympathy. Granted, these...choices...were most likely adapted from the comics and not creative liberties for the show itself, and competent media literacy dictates that they elicited the appropriate response (a lack of disgust or a self-righteous expression of "don't watch because heroes do bad things and won't someone please think of the children‽" is more of an audience self-report than anything, and keeps our society from positive, emotionally intelligent evolution). But a feeling is a feeling, and I had it, and I expressed it, and that's all I can do with an otherwise perfect work of art like this.
And I'm not the only one who thought so, because a second season is already on the way for 2026 with a third season in development for 2027 (at which point the original series' fifth season will be thirty years old). Information on Season Two suggests that, in addition to the time travel plot (surrounding Apocalypse yet again), we can expect a focus on Wolverine (Sabretooth and Deathstrike are set to return, plus his adamantium is gone and Silver Samurai was a cameo during the blackout sequence), more family drama with Cyclops and Magneto (Havok and other members of X-Force are set to return as well), and an episode or two about the Danger Room (which apparently gained sentience for awhile in the comics). To Me, Season Two!
I do read comics; I'm just more of a Zenescope guy at the moment, and tomorrow, I'm gifting my Omnibusted post on Madness Of Wonderland, so Stay Tuned, and please remember to Become A Ticketholder if you haven't already, leave a comment at the bottom of this post and any others you have opinions about, help out my ad revenue as you read so I can afford to have a merry little X-Mas, and follow me on BlueSky, Tumblr, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, and LinkedIn to like what you see and receive the latest news on my astonishing content.
Uncanny TiX-Master,
Tuning Out.
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