X-Men (1992) - Volume 5

Fans of the animated X-Men series that first aired on FOX Saturday mornings in the mid-'90s can complete their collection with the release of Volume 5, the final installment covering this version of Marvel Comics mutant heroes. The team's line-up can be found detailed in the review of Volumes 1 & 2.

This two-disc set presents 14 episodes. Ten are from the fifth season, which was picked up unexpectedly by the network at the last minute. The timing of the decision required a new animation studio be employed for the final six episodes, and there's a noticeable difference in artwork. The four remaining episodes were postponed from previous seasons due to production delays.

As stated in a review of Volumes 3 & 4, the episodes are presented in airdate order as opposed to production date. This affects the continuity of "No Mutant Is an Island." In that episode, Cyclops quits the X-Men because he is distraught over Jean Grey's "death" at the conclusion of “The Phoenix Saga,” which occurred in season three. She subsequently reappears alive at the conclusion. The other episodes out of order feature characters that appeared earlier in the series. Former Soviet Union agent Omega Red returns in "A Deal With The Devil." "Longshot" finds inter-dimensional villain Mojo up to his old tricks. Nightcrawler teams with the X-Men in "Bloodlines" to help his mother who is revealed to be a familiar face.

As if villains on Earth weren't enough, the X-Men must deal with alien forces as well. The two-part "The Phalanx Covenant" finds heroes Beast and Forge working with villains Mr. Sinister and Magneto against the Phalanx, a techno-organic alien that is trying to assimilate all organic life. In "Storm Front," another two-parter, Storm travels to Akron's world as only her weather-controlling powers can help his people, but he is not what he appears.

The stories are written better than most superhero cartoons and some have previously appeared in comic books. The plots and resolutions are believable and realistic. They don't come across as if the writers thought children would accept whatever was presented. The only downside is many of the adventures feature a small number of X-Men involved. Unfortunately, there are not many battle royals taking place with the team's full roster. A special treat for Marvel fans is the appearance of new characters to the series such as Captain America, Red Skull, Cannonball, and Sunfire.

Animation and superhero fans don't need to be completists to find a spot on the shelf for X-Men Volume 5.

Article first published as DVD Review: X-Men (1992) - Volume 5 on Blogcritics.org

X-Men (1992) - Volume 3 & Volume 4

Buena Vista Home Entertainment has released the next two installments of the X-Men cartoon series that aired on FOX Saturday mornings during the 1990s. The first two volumes were previously reviewed and a basic overview of the characters were given. Volume 3 has 15 episodes and Volume 4 has 14 episodes and they offer a lot of quality superhero entertainment.

For reasons not clearly explained, the continuity after the five-part “The Phoenix Saga” completely fell apart and episodes aired out of production order, screwing up the storylines. This is an unfortunate but completely understandable situation because the demands of television and the difficulties of producing a weekly, animated series can come into conflict. However, it’s been over ten years and all the episodes are at hand in the vaults. It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever why the DVD producers didn’t rectify the situation and present the cartoons in the correct order as intended.

Volume 3 skips four episodes, including "No Mutant Is an Island" where Cyclops quit the group because he was so distraught over Jean’s death, only to discover her alive. However, all viewers know as they watch “The Dark Phoenix (Part 1)” is Jean is having tests conducted on her in Scotland at Dr. Moira MacTaggart’s lab with no explanation to her reappearance. The resolution of Jean Grey-Phoenix storyline was altered from the comics and lightened, likely for child viewers.  It works, but loses its power, especially after she, and the audience, already experienced a false death.

The second disc offers a few single-story episodes featuring X-Men members from the comics such as Archangel, Iceman, and Nightcrawler. The Juggernaut returns in an episode of the same name. Revisiting the “Days of Future Past” storyline, Bishop comes back from the future in the two-part “One Man’s Worth,” which opens in 1959 when the assassination of a young Charles Xavier creates an alternate timeline where humans and mutants are at war.

X-Men fans will recognize appearances by the likes of Apocalypse, Dazzler, the Inner Circle Club (known as the Hellfire Club in the comics, also likely changed for the children), Corsair, Lilandra, and Sabretooth.

The first disc of Volume 4 presents multi-part stories. “Proteus” deals with Dr. MacTaggart’s powerful, reality-warping mutant son who goes in search of his absentee father; “Sanctuary” finds Magneto setting up a mutant refuge on an asteroid, but a follower still seeks revenge against humankind; and the four-part “Beyond Good and Evil” finds Apocalypse working to destroy eternity and create his own universe to rule over.

Disc Two finds Wolverine receiving the main focus in half the single-story episodes. In the last episode presented, “Family Ties,” Magneto learns he is the father of Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch. Familiar faces to Marvel Comics fans in this set include Mister Sinister, the Morlocks, Cable, Mystique, Silver Samurai and High Evolutionary.

Luckily for the consumer, the quality of the stories and animation makes up for the lack of effort put into the releases by the DVD producers. There are no extras, which is unfortunate for all involved because the series is very deserving of highlighting the subject matter and the creative team responsible for the best adaptation of the X-Men, and one of the tops of any comic book. The video is presented Full Screen at 1.33:1 and in Dolby 2.0 Stereo. Volume 5, which will conclude X-Men, can’t come soon enough, especially because it will allow the viewer to watch the series in the order intended.

X-Men (1992) Volume 1 & Volume 2

Capitalizing on the release of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Buena Vista Home Entertainment has made available two volumes of the animated adventures of the X-Men. It first aired on Fox Kids Saturday mornings from 1992-1997 and along with Batman: The Animated Series helped kick-start the superhero animation boom of the decade. X-Men is currently still the longest-running series derived from a Marvel Comics property at 76 episodes, the first thirty-three of which are and contained on these two-disc sets.

The roster for this version of the mutant superhero team is comprised of deputy leader Cyclops who shoots red energy beams out his eyes; Wolverine who has heightened senses, fast self-healing powers, and a skeleton fused with adamantium that produces sharp claws; Rogue can absorb the power and memories of anyone she touches with possible fatal results and can fly; Storm controls the weather, such as using the wind to help her fly; Beast has great strength and agility with intelligence to match; Gambit can imbue items with explosive energy, specifically playing cards that he throws with amazing accuracy; Jubilee shoots energy from her hands in the form of fireworks; Jean Grey, who doesn’t use her “Marvel Girl” name from the comics, has telepathic and telekinetic abilities. Their leader is Professor Charles Xavier, one of the most powerful telepaths, who is wheelchair bound.

Volume 1 features the 13 episodes of the first season and the first three episodes of the second season. The series opens with the X-Men coming to the aid of teenager Jubilee who is being chased by the mutant-seeking robots known as Sentinels, and eventually joins the team. Humankind is scared of mutants, yet the X-Men still comes to their aid in time of trouble, even when it comes to battling their own kind, like Magneto the master of magnetism, who demands by force equality with, if not superiority to, homo sapiens.

Fans of the comic book will recognize Magneto’s first appearance similar his debut in X-Men #1 and the two-part “Days of Future Passed” based on The Uncanny X-Men #141 and #142. Both veer slightly from the original material. Many characters from the Marvel Universe appear throughout this volume from X-Men in the comics the winged Angel and Colossus whose body can turn into hard metal, to villains like Wolverine-nemesis Sabretooth, shape-shifter Mystique, Xavier’s brother Juggernaut, and non-mutant government agents Henry Peter Gyrich and Senator Robert Kelly.

Volume 2 picks up with the fourth episode of season two, which finds Colossus returning to ask the X-Men for help to defeat the villain Omega Red, until its conclusion. While the first season focused a lot on the team, the second season presents many storylines that derive from the heroes’ back-stories. In “Repo Man,” Wolverine gets captured by his former team, the Canadian superhero group known as Alpha Flight. “X-Ternally Yours” finds Gambit return home to save his brother. “A Rogue’s Tale” revisits the title character’s past and reveals much of her powers were absorbed from Ms. Marvel.

The second season also featured two two-part episodes. “Time Fugitives” finds Cable from the year 3999 going back into the past to fix the timeline altered by Bishop from the year 2055 who was trying to stop a plague in his time. The season-ender “Reunion” culminates the season’s running subplot featuring Xavier and Magneto who are captured in the Savage Land of Antarctica by Mister Sinister to trap the X-Men. Marvel Comics fans won’t be surprised by the appearance of Savage Land residents Ka-Zar and Sauron.

Volume Two concludes with the first seven episodes of the third season that are used to set up and tell the classic “Dark Phoenix Saga,” which appeared in The Uncanny X-Men #129-138 about the transformation of Jean Grey. The resolution is altered, but delivers similar results, making it satisfying.

The creative team of X-Men do a great job capturing the characters’ personalities and their interactions. Although a Saturday morning cartoon, the writing isn’t dumbed down for children and deals with themes of diversity and tolerance without being preachy. There’s also a lot of good action and fighting.

Both volumes are worth owning for superhero/comic book fans and Volume 3 can’t come soon enough. Makes me wish I had the time-travel ability of some of these characters.