X-Men: The Animated Series

[gaastra]

http://www.spider-friends.com/liberatio ... ntDVD.html

Includes x-men 90s cartoon!

Only in the uk. America gets cheated again.

" SPIDER-MAN AND HIS AMAZING FRIENDS - THE COMPLETE SEASON ONE has a listing on Amazon.co.uk for August 25th, 2008. Amazon has been known to list things before they are finalized. Still this should be a pretty good idea of when the first season will be out, though it isn't guaranteed.

Here's the entire list of Marvel cartoons that Amazon.co.uk shows so far:


May 26, 2008
The Incredible Hulk - Complete 1966 series
The Incredible Hulk - Season One Part One 1996 series

June 30, 2008
Fantastic Four - Season One 1995 series
Spider-Man - Season One 1967 series
X-Men - Season One Part One 1992 series

July 28, 2008
Silver Surfer - Season 1998 series
Spider-Woman - Volume One 1979 series
The Incredible Hulk - Season One Part Two 1996 series

August 25, 2008
Fantastic Four - Season Two 1995 series
Spider-Man & His Amazing Friends - Season One 1981 series
The Incredible Hulk - Complete 1982 series
X-Men - Season One Part Two 1992 series

September 22, 2008
Fantastic Four - Complete 1978 series
Spider-Man - Season Two 1967 series
Spider-Woman - Volume Two 1979 series
The Incredible Hulk - Season Two 1996 series"

[eddievalient]

Grrrrr... Why won't Disney get off their kiesters and release this stuff in the US? Do they know how many X-Men fans there are? And how many of them put the 90s series next to Batman as the standard for superhero shows?They're sitting on a goldmine! Why can't they see that? You'd think with a new X-Men show in the works it would be the perfect time for them to cash in.

[Viscountesstiara]

I hit a high and low all in the same moment. I was so excited when I read the headline, but sorely disappointed when I saw it was only being released in the UK. Too bad.

[ShyViolet]

Grrrrr... Why won't Disney get off their kiesters and release this stuff in the US? Do they know how many X-Men fans there are? And how many of them put the 90s series next to Batman as the standard for superhero shows?They're sitting on a goldmine! Why can't they see that? You'd think with a new X-Men show in the works it would be the perfect time for them to cash in.

I agree! In reference to X-Men, however, the only series I'm interested in is the '92-'97 one. (yeah, it actually lasted that long.) One of my face animated shows of all time--nowhere near as good as B: TAS of course, but still great on its own all the same.

X-Men '92 blazed trails for more "adult" cartoons as well--it had serious themes and issues which was very unusual at the time. A character actually dies in the pilot episode (he was brought back later due to fans' requests, but originally the writers had every intention of having an actual death occur.)

Unfortunately, and with all respect to fans, I have no interest in the new show or for that matter Evolution. IMHO, trying to make the X-Men all trendy and "kewl" pretty much takes away their purpose. They're not "loners", they're a team. There was always something very pure about them, even with being outcasts. That's why I'm not really into these new interpretations.

[GeorgeC]

People have to be kidding if they compare the Marvel shows to the Batman, Superman, and Justice League series produced in the last 16 years! There's just no comparison. The Marvel shows are mediocre at best. Only the hardest-core Zombies think they're great and even most Marvel fans admit that the DC characters have generally been handled a lot better in animation within the past 16 years.u

Melodrama, hamstrung plots and bad adaptations, generic character designs, and the worst Korean animation has to offer basically characterizes Marvel animation in the 1990s. The other shows before that era aren't much better, either.

The reason why these series aren't showing up any time soon in the US has to do with rights issues and lack of faith in sales.

Apparently, Marvel doesn't own ANY of the animated series made from the 1960s to the mid-1990s featuring its characters. It, of course, wants royalties for the characters but there's some question about exactly how much is owed to Marvel for these shows.

Disney came to own these shows through a series of buyouts. They were originally owned by various companies through the late 1980s until (I think) New World obtained the rights to them. Later, through some negotiating, Saban got most of these shows but aired very few of them on the Fox Family Channel which was originally plain Family Channel. Saban, being a clever fellow, sold out his shares in Fox Family Channel to Disney and that's how they have all these shows.

To begin with, Disney doesn't have great faith in releasing animated TV series to home video. They DON'T like releasing something that won't guarantee them a million unit sales. Like it or not, I doubt any of these Marvel shows would sell anything like a million units.

Disney got into trouble with Marvel after Buena Vista Home Video (the Disney home video label) released the original 1960s Spider-Man animated series on DVD a few years back. Marvel was also not happy that Disney used unpaid-for original comic art on the packaging of several Spider-Man and Hulk DVDs, too.

I can't say how well the Spider-Man '67 set sold, but it was a bit steeply priced for a 40-year-old show. As for the other DVDs, they probably did okay but I wouldn't have expected any of the single DVD releases of Spider-Man and the animated Hulk to do as well as the live-action movie versions of those character let alone a Disney animated classic feature!

Video quality on the single releases was mediocre but excellent on most of the DVDs of the Spidey '67 release which had some restoration work done on it...

[eddievalient]

George, I dare you to watch X-Men's first season and try to tell me it's not a good show. It's what turned me on to serial storytelling and I still rank it pretty highly as an example of how to do it properly (although I'll admit that the following seasons are uneven at best with some good episodes, some great ones and its fair share of stinkers).

In the case of the 90s Spider-Man series, the main writer/producer John Semper has said in interviews that he wasn't able to make the show as good as it should have been because Fox Standards and Practices were somewhat more restrictive than was necessary. Given that, I think it turned out pretty well (the Neogenic Nightmare storyline being the show's peak).

All I'm saying is that if the DC shows have been given such great treatment (and for good reason), Marvel deserves a little love too.

[EricJ]

George, I dare you to watch X-Men's first season and try to tell me it's not a good show. It's what turned me on to serial storytelling and I still rank it pretty highly as an example of how to do it properly (although I'll admit that the following seasons are uneven at best with some good episodes, some great ones and its fair share of stinkers).

Make that "Season 1 AND Season 3".
And that's the Larry Houston 90's version, not the 00's "Evolution" version that was contractually obligated to be a mess.

(although I'll admit that the following seasons are uneven at best with some good episodes, some great ones and its fair share of stinkers).

This was the show Bryan Singer claimed was his first introduction to X-mutants, before taking on the movie--

And if the 90's toon occasionally seems a little melodramatic by 00's standards, that's part of the cool...The show tried to be a basic explanation of all the hundreds of Chris Claremont-era characters, and captures the feel of the 90's print-comic.
Whereas WArner/DC tries too hard to compensate for "Superfriends" jokes, and would be willing to retcon any of their characters a dozen times over, just to make the latest Justice League seeem "more like WB".

In the case of the 90s Spider-Man series, the main writer/producer John Semper has said in interviews that he wasn't able to make the show as good as it should have been because Fox Standards and Practices were somewhat more restrictive than was necessary. Given that, I think it turned out pretty well (the Neogenic Nightmare storyline being the show's peak).

The MTV Spiderman was a well-meaning mess:
The new WB Spiderman looks almost as messy--with "Evolution" stylized animation, if only for the reason that WB seems to be the only one with a foot in Saturday morning anymore--but just how MTV got that homemade-CGI thingy had more to do with fans refusing to give up MTV Animation for dead.
(And let's not even talk about that movie-cash-in "Fantastic Four". Shudder.)

And judging from that equally contract-futzed "Wolverine" series, looks like we're never going to get the X-Men as "pure" as we did back in the 90's...
The 90's Fox series was just the product of its decade: A director schooled in 80's melodramatic-action GI Joe, taking on the challenges of 90's Cool.

[eddievalient]

I guess I'm just a little more forgiving than you. I never thought Evolution was any better or worse than the 90's show, just different and I enjoyed it for what it was. Likewise, the new series looks like it might be pretty good (although its a shame Marvel had to pull the first series trailer 'cause it seriously sold me. Apparently they forgot to ask permission for the Foo Fighters songs they used).

I've only seen the first episode of the new Spider-Man show, but I was very impressed and I'm looking forward to seeing it on dvd.

[ShyViolet]

Has anyone ever heard of this show (well, only a pilot) ? It was released on VHS years ago but never DVD.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pryde_of_the_X-Men

http://www.badmovieplanet.com/3btheater/x/x-men.html

[Randall]

I've got that tape! The pilot's not too good, but it is interesting as a curiosity. Though, as a Canuck, I resent hearing Wolverine with a ridiculously overdone Australian accent!

[ShyViolet]

Wow, that's really cool Rand! I saw clips of it; yeah, Wolverine's accent definetely seemed a bit "off".

The pilot was kinda neat though, very "classic-reto." Maybe in some future DVD re-issue for the '92 show, they'll include this pilot too.


I read somewhere a long time ago that Cal Dodd, the guy who did the voice for '92 Wolverine, is an actual Canadian. According to the story, he asked that Wolverine not say "Huh?" when he was confused, but "Eh?" like a real Canadian.

From Wik:

Elsewhere, a taxi pulls up to a mansion; inside is young Kitty Pryde. Professor Xavier has invited her to the his school because she is a mutant, and here he can train her in her power, the ability of phasing that allows her to pass through solid matter. He then takes her to the Danger Room, where the other students are training. They are the X-Men: Cyclops, Colossus, Dazzler, Nightcrawler, Storm, and Wolverine. The team is friendly when they are introduced, but Kitty is frightened by Nightcrawler’s demon-like appearance, and Wolverine insists that “the X-Men don’t have room for whiny brats.”

Really interesting, since the basis for much of the '92 pilot (which was excellent) was very likely inspired by the original '89 pilot, except that this time Kitty Pryde was Jubilee, a young mutant who doesn't know how to control her power, is rescued by Storm and Rogue and brought to the mansion, stumbles on the danger room and is frightened and confused by the mutants she meets. But Wolverine is much more sympathetic to her than in the original story, and goes out to look for her when she runs away.

Even weirder is that the 2000 X-Men film by Bryan Singer also takes much of these elements and transplants them into the film, except this time Jubilee is a much younger Rogue. Like Jubilee, Wolverine looks out for her and goes to look for her when she runs away. So strange how ideas carry over.....

[EricJ]

I've got that tape! The pilot's not too good, but it is interesting as a curiosity. Though, as a Canuck, I resent hearing Wolverine with a ridiculously overdone Australian accent!

Are we still talking about things, in the YouTube era?:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tFBFkbubdc

Had Stan Lee autograph my copy at a con, back in the day, but never knew what happened to it--

As I've heard it explained, the 80's version was fresh out of Hasbro's Transformers days (when they still bragged about every toy being animated), and the writers had to figure a way of cramming all eleven or twelve major characters into one twenty-minute pilot...Also, you never see the heroes out of costume, or referred to by their off-hero names.
(But I'll at least give them props for keeping the "classic" showoff Nightcrawler as a regular character, and not the bible-thumping retcon that showed up in the 90's series.)

When Gambit and Rogue showed up in the first episode of the 90's version, my first thought was, "This is not your parent's Pryde of the X-Men... "

[ShyViolet]

and not the bible-thumping retcon that showed up in the 90's series.)

Hey, I actually liked the presentation of Nightcrawler as religious, and found that episode quite moving.

(Hey, there's another story point that was carried over into Singer's version. )

When Gambit and Rogue showed up in the first episode of the 90's version, my first thought was, "This is not your parent's Pryde of the X-Men... Shocked "

Just curious, was that because A.) They were both relatively new characters as compared to those before (and after) Second Genesis or B.) Their "tortured" relationship of not being able to touch was delved into?

[GRUNT]

I started watching the show again because it is just that darn good.

I was thinking about how much love and attention Kitty gets animation-wise, and was wondering if they switched animation studios later on in the series because I noticed that Kitty, in particular, tends to look more and more off-model in the latter seasons.

However, I couldn't find any information that the show was actually animated in Korea (though I assume it was). I don't suppose anybody knows how much of the show (if any) was outsourced to Korea?

To my pleasant surprise however, I learned that Steven E Gordon - who did the incredible character designs - also animated some of my favourite shots! Which, come to think of it, probably explains why they are among my favourites :]. Absolutely gorgeous work http://stevenegordon.com/animation/animation_05.html

EDIT: I started going through Steven E Gordon's blog after making this post and noticed that he does indeed mention "the overseas studios" (I assume it's in Korea). I guess it's just a few bits which are animated in the USA? Or just really hardcore animatics for the overseas studios to use?

[GeorgeC]

Might have been done through Rough Draft.