So you can watch all of the X-Men Evolution episodes for free on hulu.com, and I’ve been watching them with Lucy. We just finished watching the first season so I thought I might share some thoughts for those of you who are interested.
If you’re not familiar with show the basic premise is it follows a group of teenage X-Men, who are studying at the Xavier Institute, while they also attend Bayville high school. The show does not follow the continuity of the regular X-Men comic. Some of the characters, like Cyclops and Jean Grey, are still teenagers, while other characters, such as Wolverine and Storm, are older and serve as instructors for the Institute.
I must say that I do like this show. I remember that it came out about the same time as the X-Men movie. I watched it on occasion, but never really followed it. The show is obviously aimed at a much younger audience (when the show premiered in 2000 I was 16, now I’m 27) but it still has some entertaining moments. It’s fun to see Wolverine as a coach like figure to the students. They are often afraid of him, but at the same time they seem to have a very real respect for him. I also like the interaction of the characters. You can see some of the behavior traits that the adult counterparts are known for, but they still act very much like teenagers. So while Scott is still very serious, and is an obvious natural leader, he still struggles with just wanted to hang out with his friends, or goof around when he should be studying. I’m not sure why but I’ve always enjoyed teenage superheroes, but that is a discussion for another time.
Most of the first season deals with the formation of both the X-Men and the Brotherhood. This was both really fun, but also very annoying. I know who all the characters are, and which side they are going to choose, so the drama of their reveal, and the battle for their loyalty was a bit lost on me. It also felt like it dragged out a bit, since the first half of the season, which is only 13 episodes, dealt with this. Still, it was a very fun way to introduce the characters to a new audience. Also it gave us a chance to learn more about the characters individual, rather than them all being on the team right from the start.
The other main characters introduced, not in either the X-Men or the Brotherhood, are Magneto, Mystic, and Sabertooth. Magneto is very much left in the shadows. He is seen as more of a manipulator of events, rather than be involved himself. Mostly his character is kept in shadows, but it was clear to me who he was. Towards the end of the season he plays a more dominate role. It doesn’t take long for him to recruit both Mystic and Sabertooth. I’ve always enjoyed the clear line that is drawn between hero and villain in the X-Men world. It seems like 99 percent of the characters are either with Magneto or with Professor X.
Juggernaut is also introduced in an early episode. It was fun to see him closer to his comic book origin, then other ways he has been portrayed in other media. Though the way they defeat him is somewhat ridiculous. The X-Men and the Brotherhood join up to beat him, which is a common theme throughout the season. Many of the episodes ended with the Brotherhood and the X-men both just walking away after fighting each other. I suppose it was another aspect of the show that appeals to kids, but not to adults.
The X-Men do not attend all classes at the Institute. They go to a regular high school. I’m not really sure why that is. I supposed it was because younger kids are very excited by the idea of one day going to high school, so seeing superheroes in high school would be doubly cool. This also acted as a way for the X-Men to interact with the Brotherhood, who somehow go to the same school. This was kind of stupid. The one good thing about this was that the world does not know about mutants yet, so it doesn’t make people curious about what is really going on at the Institute. It seems strange that rather than the X-Men dealing with mutant hating senators, they have to deal with principals, and jocks.
There is also some inconsistently with the X-Men’s powers. For example when Rouge takes Cyclops power she is in full control of it, just like Scott would be if he hadn’t suffered a brain injury. This is the correct use of both their powers. However they really fuck up Storms powers, who is always shooting rain or lighting right out of her hands. She doesn’t create weather, she manipulates the existing weather. Jean is also subject to varying levels of power. Sometimes she can throw a file cabinet at you, other times she has trouble throwing a chair at you.
The look of the characters is nice. I enjoy the design of the show. Wolverine wears the brown and black costume, instead of the yellow and blue costume he is more known for. I’ve always thought the brown and black costume made much more since for such a rough and savage character. I mean, come on! Can you imagine the ridiculousness of be attacked by a vicious killer with knife hands who is dressed head to toe in yellow! All the characters have an individual look, which is nice. I’ve never really cared for the movie costumes, and since the show came out at the same time as the movie you would think they would have gone for a similar look. I’m glad this was not the case.
Over all it was an enjoyable season. I will be watching season two. My hopes for the next season are that there will be more characters introduced. There have been numerous versions of the X-Men team with tons of different roasters, so there is no shortage of people who might join the team. Along with that there are a ton of villains that could show up. I’m not sure if anyone has a bigger rouges gallery then the X-Men, since you would have both the enemies of the team, and the individual characters themselves.
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