Big Worlds On Small Screens: Rebecca Fisher Discusses “X Men Evolution.”

~ by Rebecca Fisher
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Introduction:

After the release of Bryan Singer’s first X Men movie back in 2000 (wow, has it really been that long?) it seemed natural to capitalize on its success by green-lighting an animated series. The last time these particular characters had been given this treatment was back in the 90s – and though that show is remembered fondly, it’s definitely dated badly.

I was curious to see if the same thing had happened to X Men Evolution, as my sister was a huge fan back when it originally aired, and I also remembered enjoying the new incarnations of all my favourite characters. As it happens, there are some aspects that are a little cringe-worthy, but when watched as a whole (yes, I binge-watched all four seasons) it’s still a surprisingly coherent and suspenseful story.

Premise:

What separates X Men Evolution from other takes on the original comic-book material is the de-aging of many characters back into teenagers. As such, the likes of Scott Summers (Cyclops) and Jean Grey are introduced as students attending Bayville High School whilst boarding at Professor Xavier’s Institute for Gifted Youngsters.

Across the course of the first season, more young mutants are discovered and brought to the Institute, including Kurt Wagner (Nightcrawler), Kitty Pryde (Shadowcat) and Evan Daniels (Spyke), learning how to control their abilities while attempting to blend in among their peers.

From left: Shadowcat, Nightcrawler, Jean Grey, Cyclops, Rogue and Spyke

Unbeknownst to Xavier’s students, their school principal Miss Darkholme is really Mystique in disguise, who’s busy rounding up her own team of mutants: the Brotherhood. Standing on the outskirts of both factions is the aptly named Rogue, a Goth teenager with impressive powers who is highly coveted by both sides of the mutant cliques.

Often the show (especially in its early seasons) can feel a bit like a teen drama involving characters who just happen to have superpowers. Unlike the comics or films, the science-fiction element of the story is kept to a relative minimum, with the focus instead on adolescent crushes, fitting in at school, and rivalry among the two mutant groups. One episode for example, involves the X Men and Brotherhood going on a school field trip and getting into a competition about which team can reach the summit of Mount Humiliation first.

Yet as the series goes on, the writers start bringing in more of the traditional X Men storylines …

Story:

From a rather patchy first season, which mainly serves as an introduction to all the main characters, the show starts to delve into more adult themes. As Xavier’s long-term rival, Magneto considers mutants the dominant species on the planet, and plans to recruit individuals to join his isolationist vision for the future. Across the second and third season, the students must deal with the hostility and prejudice they face when they’re “outed” as mutants, as well as government programmes that perceive them as a threat.

The third season also begins laying the groundwork for Apocalypse, an ancient mutant bent on conquering the planet (and soon to be featured in the upcoming film), whom all the mutants must unite to defeat in the fourth and final season.

Xavier tries to negotiate with Apocalypse

Although there are a few filler episodes – some of which can be incredibly strange – the series as a whole was carefully planned and plotted, with foreshadowing of future events and plot devices planted in early episodes that had payoff much later. The show also makes great use of the mutants’ abilities – Mystique’s shape-shifting, for example, allows her to infiltrate Xavier’s Institute across several episodes without either the characters or the audience realizing who she really is.

Characters:

The retooling of certain characters from their original incarnations resulted in some interesting dynamics among the cast, and have certainly made an impact on how people view the franchise. Before X Men Evolution, Shadowcat and Nightcrawler were not widely recognized characters to those outside comic book readership, and the idea of making Rogue a Southern Goth proved incredibly popular.

All the X Men. No I’m not going to name them all.

Not all their creative decisions were a success. Spyke was an original character, one introduced as Storm’s nephew and designed to embody the rebellious teen persona, but he never really gelled with the rest of the cast and eventually ceased to be a regular in season three. On the other hand, the show also came up with the idea for X23, a young female clone of Wolverine, designed and trained as a weapon, who proved popular enough to get her own comic book spin-off.

Most refreshing of all, the show is not monopolized by Wolverine, who here can best be described as a bodyguard and trainer for the students (and the de-aging of Scott and Jean means there’s no love triangle either).

As ever, it’s always interesting to see what different writers will do with the same set of characters, and X Men Evolution had some innovative ideas in handling the expansive material.

Conclusion:

It was fun revisiting this show, and I was surprised by how well it held up. Some of the animation can be a bit stilted, but other times it’s incredibly impressive, as when Rogue absorbs Mystique’s shape-shifting abilities and morphs into other mutants in quick succession.

It all ended on something of an open note, with clear foreshadowing for a non-existent season five that would have tackled the famous Jean Grey/Phoenix saga, but the show still manages to wrap-up most of its important plot-threads. Since the movie franchise is still going strong nearly fifteen years later, there’s no better excuse to check out another take on the familiar material.
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Next Time: Sinbad

It only lasted a single season back in 2012 and was apparently trying to jump on the fantasy-series bandwagon popularized by the BBC’s Merlin. So where did Sinbad go wrong?
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About The Reviewer:

Rebecca Fisher is a graduate of the University of Canterbury with a Masters degree in English Literature, mainly, she claims, because she was able to get away with writing her thesis on C.S. Lewis and Philip Pullman. She is a reviewer for FantasyLiterature.com, a large website that specializes in fantasy and science-fiction novels, as well as posting reviews to Amazon.com and her They’re All Fictional blog.