Disney+ day came with so many exciting announcements which you can read about here.
And specifically one of those exciting announcements got us all feeling nostalgic for those Saturday morning cartoons we watched in our pyjamas…
X-Men: The Animated Series is coming back and Disney is picking up where we left off – the official title is X-Men ‘97 and we could not be more ready for this.
The original
The original X-Men animated series was and still is one of the truest adaptations from the comics that we have ever seen.
The animated series had some incredible voice acting, art style, and who could forget that iconic theme song?
Now that we know the new animated series is going to pick up where we left off let’s get into all things X-Men: The Animated Series and why we love it so much.
X-Men: The Animated Series was the highlight for most 90’s kids’ Saturday mornings, mine included.
Not only did it bring the comics to life but it gave lesser-known characters like Jubilee, Gambit, and Morph a well-deserved spotlight.
X-Men paved the way for the hero cartoon boom that brought us Spiderman, Batman, The Fantastic Four, and so much more.
So what made X-Men: The Animated Series so good? Here are some of the best things that made the series what it was.
Unforgettable Voice Acting
The original cast for X-Men: The Animated Series were all fired…
That’s right, on the first day of filming it was concluded that they all sounded like amateur high school students so the casting director went to Toronto to find theatre-trained actors instead.
This shift is what gave us the iconic Cajun Gambit, southern bell Rogue, and the very wise Professor X.
And I couldn’t talk about the iconic voices without spotlighting that husky Wolverine whose voice actor was also a Jazz singer.
Character Development
The original X-Men cartoon had us feeling all of the feels when we went into the backstories of our favourite characters.
Going back to Wolverine’s origin story, touching base with Magneto’s family ties, and even the start with Jubilee and her parents.
We got to connect and go deep with the X-Men in the best ways.
One of the most memorable was the Dark Pheonix Saga where we were given a Dark Phoenix that could talk which ended up giving us an insight into what was going on behind Jean’s internal struggle.
Storytelling
I’ve already mentioned that the series was the truest adaptation to the comics that we had ever seen.
To add to that the series introduced a lot of social topics that some of the Fox executives felt were too dark for kids.
They honestly felt that the darkness of some of the themes like divorce, religion, and disease would cost them the success of the show.
Of course, they were wrong and it turned out that it only pushed the series’ success even further.
As kids growing up with X-Men there were cartoon characters or heroes that we could finally relate to on a deeper level.
Animation
The animation of the series is next to none as it felt like the perfect middle between comic books and cartoons that inspired future styles for superhero animated shows.
When the creators of the show were asked about their inspirations they give a mention to Japanese animator and icon Hayao Miyazaki.
They wanted the animated series to be something that was intricate and detailed which is what they delivered.
You can read more about that in this interview here; The Making of ‘X-Men The Animated Series.’
“Butt-Kicking” Dialogue
You’d be lying if you’re an X-Men fan and you told me you never played X-Men on the playground – and when you did, you probably quoted the best sayings from the series.
If there isn’t a name for this kind of dialogue yet, then there needs to be something done about that because it is fantastic.
Wolverine’s near to swearing insults and threats, Rogues impulsive flirting, Gambit’s constant comments about wanting to play a game, and of course villain monologues made every episode memorable.
Final Thoughts
X-Men: The Animated Series made some pretty bold steps forward with elements of storytelling and animation.
They also became known for their inclusivity in the show – including characters like Bishop and having a good number of female heroes on the team at a time when that wasn’t as popular.
The show came every Saturday with an epic fight scene, storyline, and our favourite characters.
Granted, towards the end the animation and story got a little questionable since Fox ordered more episodes after the original finale and then cut the budget but we’ll just pretend those episodes don’t count.
All that said, I can’t be more excited about X-Men ‘97 and with fingers crossed they’ll keep to the original animation style for all those fuzzy nostalgic feels.
You can stream X-Men: The Animated Series on Disney+ today, so why don’t you go ahead and do that? You won’t regret it.
What did you love about X-Men: The Animated Series and who is your favourite X-Man? Let us know in the comments below!
By Rosa Wilcox
Twitter: @eawilcox_
