Generation X

A few years before the wildly successful and very well made "X-Men" movie, there was a TV version that bombed. "Generation X" was pretty much the same show though the characters they focused on were mostly different from the ones in the movies. In both cases, mutants are distrusted by the masses and unregistered mutants are being rounded up by the authorities. However, there's a mutant academy and many of these folks are being spirited off to this school where they'll learn to channel their skills and use them to fight evil.

So why didn't they green light the series? Well, I don't think it was because the public wasn't ready for such a show. To me, the problem is the very limited appeal of the show based on its style. While made in 1996, it looks right from 1984 with a strong New Wave style. The colors, music, lighting and look of the show look very dated and very 80s. The show also seemed focused towards teens only. Additionally, and this is what bothered me the most, the camera angles were annoying just to be annoying! Askew angles abound...and it jut makes it look cheap and kind of stupid! Add to that some occasionally poor writing and a bizarre character played by Matt Frewer (I think he was channeling Max Headroom a bit too much here) and you'll understand why the show was a flop and didn't get off the ground. After seeing this pilot movie, I am certainly glad they never made more.

As someone who followed Generation X the comic book from its inception, I recall being very excited about the Generation X tv movie during its debut. Unfortunately, that didn't last long. It was a thrill to see what started out as a fantastic comic make it onto the small screen, but the attempts just weren't enough.

Matt Frewer did a fantastic job of chewing the scenery, but it's usually easy to forgive the man his zaniness, particularly if you've ever watched Max Headroom. Beyond that, Generation X was and still remains painful to watch. Just about every canon character that started out in the comic book was not only miscast (i.e., the Chinese-American Jubilee being played by someone who wasn't), but poorly characterized. Mondo, the laid-back Hawaiian had transformed into pure arrogance, while Angelo, the cynical and quick-witted ex-gang member was suddenly on the shy and tentative side.

It was, in a way, what you'd expect from a comic book movie. That is assuming that you don't actually read comics and just have a stereotype in mind, however. Lighting was often overdramatic in a way that any Batman moviegoer could recognize and wince at. Scenery was not especially impressive, excepting the building which stood in for the Massachusetts Academy. Characters did not come across as particularly three dimensional, and it felt as if every prop involved had been drawn rather than created.

Although the movie in and of itself is a whimsical bit, easy to watch if you'd like a brightly colored distraction from the world around you, its script is lacking and its acting on the dull side. I felt for the characters involved not because Generation X the movie was convincing, but instead because I felt loyalty to the characters I'd been reading about for a number of years. The addition of Refrax and Buff, who had potential of their own, was more proof that this was a slapdash movie made in hopes of grabbing a few bucks. After all, these two appears sheerly because the remaining characters from the comic book would go over the budget for filming, as their appearances and powers would require too much in the way of special effects.

Overall, it was a disappointing experience, but I remain fan enough of the comic to keep a taped copy for nostalgia's value.

Compared to most comic-to-TV adaption, Generation X is...adequate. It doesn't rely on campiness (Batman/60's, the Justice League TV show pilot...). The main problem is that the writers don't seem to have much idea what they're doing. They opted for one big-name star (Frewer) and ended up with a bargain-basement Joker impersonation. The whole Dream Dimension plot is just stupid (even the characters acknowledge they're ripping off Freddy Krueger/Elm Street - not a good sign).

When the show sticks to the mutants themselves, it's pretty good. The school seems curiously understaffed, and in that huge mansion, why do six students have to sleep in two fairly small rooms? And the lack of budget shows, since the superheroics are mostly small-scale. Still, the cast is likeable enough, and it probably would have made a decent TV series if the ratings had been there.

Warning guys! Hey, the following is just my opinion. To the makers of this film, don't get offended. This is just my opinion. I liked your movie, anyway.

The movie was about the star of Generation X with Emma Frost and Sean Cassidy as headmasters of the Xavier's School for Gifted Younsters. In the story, Angelo Espinosa and Jubilation Lee were being recruited by the headmasters. In school, they then meet the rest of the kids, M, Mondo, Buff, & Refrax. Typically, not all students get along. The movie showed the life of the kids in and out of school. Then later, they battle against Russell Tresh. After some twists and thrills, Generation X won the battle against Tresh.

I saw that TV movie from way back. They didn't follow the storyline, they added two characters (who aren't even in the comics), failed to include Penance, Chamber, Paige, Synch. Speaking as a BIG fan of Gen X, that was so appalling. Speaking as a BIG fan who wants a Gen X Movie, that was quite OK. I loved the movie in a way because there is no real Gen X movie. The cast just don't look like the comic book characters. Anyone would totally agree with me. But all in all, it was just OK.

I'm a Generation X fan, especially the early Scott Lobdell run on the comic book. So it was with much enthusiasm that I flumped down in my recliner, remote and comic book in hand (yep, I'm a comic geek), and prepared to witness the anticipated event.

What I ended up watching, however, was a really disappointing two hours of mutant mayhem.

First of all, they were trying to do a Gen X movie without ANY connection to the X-Men, other than the basic 'mutant menace' thing, and the fact that they were using Xavier's school. Second, the actors they got to play the kids looked and acted nothing like the comic version I know and love. I mean, Jubilee is Asian, but tell that to Heather McComb, who had none of the firecracker's attitude. Mondo was nothing like the Samoan slacker in the comics, and instead was some punk kid I wanted to slap. Husk and Synch were noticeably absent, and in their places were Refrax and Buff (the latter of which was the only interesting character in the movie). Skin turned out similar to his comic roots, but all in all I had to constantly remind myself that the characters speaking were supposed to be the same ones from the book. That's a bad sign.

What's Matt Frewer doing in this movie? He's supposed to be a comic-relief villain, but name me one villain in a comic-based movie over the last decade who WASN'T!

Now I hear they're going to make another GenX TV movie (or possible TV series). They say they're going to have better casting. I hope they have better writers and producers as well.