{"id":1936,"date":"2009-09-22T05:00:01","date_gmt":"2009-09-22T09:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onceuponageek.com\/?p=1936"},"modified":"2010-08-02T01:13:24","modified_gmt":"2010-08-02T05:13:24","slug":"review-x-men-animated-series-dvds-vol-3-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/onceuponageek.com\/wordpress\/2009\/09\/22\/review-x-men-animated-series-dvds-vol-3-4\/","title":{"rendered":"REVIEW: X-Men Animated Series DVDs vol 3 & 4"},"content":{"rendered":"

X-Men the Animated Series<\/em> is one of the more beloved cartoons to come out of the 1990s.\u00a0 This series ran on Fox from 1992-1997 for five seasons with a total of 76 episodes. Last week volumes 3 and 4 were released on DVD by Buena Vista Home Entertainment (no doubt in order to capitalize on the same-date released X-Men Origins: Wolverine<\/em>).\u00a0 It’s sort of ironic when you think about Buena Vista releasing these cartoons in light of Disney’s recent purchase of Marvel Comics.\u00a0 It’s a small world afterall (pun intended).\u00a0 I would have reviewed volumes 3 & 4 before now, but there is simply so much content on these DVDs that I’ve been busy watching them.\u00a0 Seriously, there is over 11 hours of X-Men across these two collections!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> \u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026..<\/span>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

X-Men the Animated Series<\/em> volumes 1 & 2 came out this past April.\u00a0 To read my review of those volumes, please click here<\/a>.\u00a0 This time out, volumes 3 & 4 cover episodes from the third and fourth season of the show.\u00a0 Volume 3 contains 15 episodes, including: an adaptation of “The Dark Phoenix Saga”; an exploration of Wolverine’s past in the Weapon X project; and an alternate timeline in which the X-Men never existed due to the murder of Professor Xavier.\u00a0 Volume 4 contains 14 episodes, including: Magneto’s offer of sanctuary to all mutants aboard his Asteroid M fortress; and Apocalypse’s daring plan to kidnap all telepaths using Cable’s time platform.<\/p>\n

I used to be a major X-Men junkie. We\u2019re talking MAJOR junkie. I\u2019d read every single Uncanny X-Men story from Giant-Sized X-Men <\/em>#1 (1975) through Uncanny X-Me<\/em>n #320 (January 1995), and all the various franchise books. Shortly after the “Phalanx Covenant”, I\u2019d had enough and just walked away from 20 years of continuity and over 400 comics.\u00a0 So I was really surprised when the storyline in these cartoons truly grabbed me.\u00a0 Essentially these are adaptations of Chris Claremont’s best work.\u00a0 While these cartoons aren’t perfect, they did a much better job adapting “The Dark Phoenix Saga” than did the film X-Men: The Last Stand<\/em>.<\/p>\n

As with the previous volumes, these cartoons provide solid entertainment.\u00a0 There is tons of action, subplots, and drama.\u00a0 I’ve said it before, but the creators definitely deserve props for not reinventing the X-Men for this cartoon. They pulled plots directly from the old comics, instead of trying to \u201cre-imagine\u201d the X-Universe.\u00a0 It’s evident that the storytelling in volumes 3 & 4 has improved as compared to the previous releases.\u00a0 The writers have brought a little more maturity to the adventures.\u00a0 The stories focus quite a bit on character development and the discrimination against Mutants.<\/p>\n

Some of the stand-out episodes on these releases include:<\/p>\n