X-Men ’97 Is A LOT, And Maybe That’s Not A Good Thing

The power of nostalgia compels you.

I’ll get this out the gate real quick: I liked X-MEN ’97, Disney’s new series meant to recapture the “magic” of the early 90s Fox Kids cartoon show. I believe the action sequences alone are worth giving it a watch, and certain storylines adapted were done with faithfulness and, clearly, a lot of love.

I did, however, have two issues with the show. One’s just for me, a classic Me Thing, while the other is something I’m not sure if everyone is aware of.

Now, I state that I persona;;y have the issues, not necessarily these are concrete true issues I can’t believe everyone else isn’t noticing. I’m not going to be screaming on the web, “Um, AKSHUALLY, this show is terrible because…” It’s apparent from a quick look at social media this outing is universally loved and that’s great for the people who love the X-Men. They deserve a good show.

Angry X Men GIF - Find & Share on GIPHY — *No more feeling like Cyclops when it comes to X-Men adaptations.*

But there were two things that stuck out to me.

First, is the voice acting/direction. I’m not going to cross reference all the voice cast from the original incarnation to this newest one. I know a lot of original actors were brought back and a lot of voice roles were recast for one reason or another. That’s fine. It happens. What does bother me is the direction they’re given. If this were a faithful adaptation then, yeah, the goofy, over the top voices would work. (This does excuse the voice actors for Scott Summers, Hank McCoy, and the brilliant Jennifer Hale taking over Jean Grey.)

But since they decided to do these expertly more serious, epic storylines without a hint of irony or tongue-in-cheek bravado, none of it gelled well. There I was, watching the extinction of Genosha, brilliantly represented in Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely’s NEW X-MEN #115, and then the very next episode there’s Professor X’s shaky, old, sagacious voice, trying to sell the devastation and all I could think is, “This sounds so goofy.”

Voices are unique and what works for some might work for others, but if you weren’t going to recast everyone but still have them do their cheesy 90s voices, it didn’t mesh well for me. Cannot stress that enough. We’re 30 years on. Voice acting has evolved far from ’97.’ Just look at Ray Chase’s Cyclops or the aforementioned Jennifer Hale’s Jean Grey to show what improvement there was in their character’s individual presentations.

Hang Tight X-Men GIF by Marvel Studios - Find & Share on GIPHY — *Yes, Cyclops is a dork. But he’s a cool dork. Sometimes.*

I don’t know. That’s just me.

The second part of that, I feel, was the story progressions. Specifically, the stories chosen and how they were presented.

I remember the exact moment. It was in-between episodes 2 and 3. SPOILER ALERT IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THE SHOW YET.

The Trial of Magneto was here, then it was gone, righteous 80s outfit and all. Then, the very next episode, “Jean Grey” isn’t actually Jean Grey, she’s a clone planted by Mr. Sinister. I thought, “Oh, great, this is the direction of the series. The Madelyne Pryor/Goblin Queen storyline.”

She was gone by the end of the episode.

“Huh?”

Jubilee got half an episode to do silly video game stuff with Mondo. Okay. Storm STARTED a story, that didn’t finish until two episodes later because we had to do the MUTANT GENOCIDE OF GENOSHA. But before we could touch on the mutant massacre anymore, suddenly Bastion is here.

Bastion?

BASTION?

It. Was. A. Lot.

I follow a good amount of writers on the ol’ soshes. Books, comics, television, and so on. I do so with the hope of seeing what they’re working on, learning from them, and trying to grow as a creator myself. I still have a long way to go, I get that, but I like to think I’ve learned enough to be able to comment on this.

This was a lot of story in a short amount of time.

One of my favorite storylines from the original X-Men: The Animated Series was the The Phoenix Saga and The Dark Phoenix Saga, both spanning multiple episodes with large, expansive set pieces and character moments. How could it not be? IT’S THE PHOENIX SAGA. (This might be why filmmakers are still trying to do the story justice on the big screen but continually fail again and again.)

The Madelyne Pryor/Goblin Queen/Nathan Summers story was done and done in one episode. Sure, Cable came back later in the series, but I thought there was going to be a lot more mileage out of her impersonating Jean, infiltrating the X-Men further, breaking them down one by one, but nope. Over in a single episode.

I received advice from a prominent comic writer who offered some guidance on my pitches for Projects GREY and NESS. He said, and I’m paraphrasing here, that there’s no time for subtlety anymore. No time for nuance. You are contending with the entire world in the palm of people’s hands when you make something, so you have to hit them fast and hit them with everything right up front.

I think that’s what X-MEN ’97 did.

The creators understood this is 2024. They were doing a weekly release. There was no time to waste. “Get to the good stuff, let the characters shine, then move on to the next big story.” The show was so packed they had to fill the iconic opening credits sequences with story bits to remind you of what’s happened before in both the show and the comics because it was A LOT.

I don’t think I like that. I understand it, on some level I agree with it, but I think my disapproval stems from my wishing we were in a different time, a different world, as I am coming into my own as a story teller. Maybe my own stories are too slow. Maybe I need to get to the good stuff faster. Sure, other creators can tell expansive, long form stories that audiences will stick around for, but that only comes after I’ve established myself.

Funny that the biggest thing I didn’t like about X-MEN ’97 was the lesson I needed to learn the most.