X-Men animated series

[lupineblues]

When it comes to the Original 90's series (early 2000's as well, I think) X-Men Evolution, and Wolverine and the X-Men, what do you think of them?

[Megalictis]

The first animated series was a straight-up adaptation of story arcs from the comic book. At the time it came out my older son was barely old enough to "get it" but he liked it because it was an action cartoon. I remember "correcting" their telling of the story every week. While I was disapointed that they felt they had to change so much and "dumb it down" I was still impressed at how much serious stuff they managed to keep intact. Likewise while some of the character depictions bugged me (Storm utterring incantations before using her power) there were other points - like Cathal Dodd's portrayal of Wolverine - that have set the benchmark for me ever since. When I read Wolverine I "hear" him in Cal Dodd's voice. Finally a lot of people tell me they grew up watching that cartoon and it's what got them interested in comic books. I still watch the re-runs occasionally - I'm not sure I've seen them all.

X-Men Evolution aired on a network my local cable monopoly didn't carry. The animation had become simplified and as far as I could tell so had the storyline. Most of the characters had been turned into teenage mutants (always a bad move as far as I'm concerned), who by incredible coincidence all went to the same high school. And the big disappointrement - no Cal Dodd. Apparently Marvel thought de-aging most of the characters and turning X-Men into a high school soap opera for tweens would appeal more to kids. Maybe it did, but it never appealed to me. I guess you could say that the original X-Men team was a high school soap opera too but I didn't care for the original X-Men either.

Wolverine and the X-Men is an improvement on Evolution and seems to try to create an X-universe midway between the comic book and the movie. While the animation remains stylized (little legs on huge torsos) the story is the most "adult" of all the animated iterations of the X-Men. After all the various adaptations over the years I don't mind so much any more that the characters are somewhat different. I enjoy it as an extended "What If?" and the hook for me is it sets up a premise wherein Wolverine leads the X-Men yet keeps Wolverine in character doing it. It's still "made for kids" so it doesn't really satisfy my craving for a Wolverine series on the small screen (that would have to be on HBO), but Kyle & Yost still manage to deliver stories that keep me interested (despite Wolverine never spilling blood).

[Mark Caringer]

90's cartoon was the best by far, evolution was kinda sucky, but i like some of the stuff with x-23 kinda. Wolverine and the X-Men is ok, but something bugs me about the art, maybe the feet. idk