Pryde of the X-Men

Why does everyone seem to hate this? Sure, the story was 100% generic, but it was definitely watchable. While the Saban cartoon that followed it around four years later was much more complex story-wise, its animation couldn't hold a candle to this one. If they were somehow able to combine this cartoon's animation with the stories of the show that came after this, we would have had a GREAT series.

This one time deal left something to be desired. I remember this show coming on during the Marvel Action Hour with Robocop, Dino Riders, and something else, possibly Spiderman. X-men was made by Sunbow, the powerhouse of the 80's, so the voices were some of the same people heard in GI Joe. The story of is fast paced and reads like a comic strip with action left and right. The black bird looks better than the recent futuristic versions out there. They also stay very close to the comic unlike other versions. This one timer was probably just to promote the video game, but it should have been a series. Who knows what would've happened if it was a series, it sure would have been better than the newer versions now.

"Pryde of the X-Men" was obviously an attempt to stay within the spirit of 1980s cartoons rather than bring the X-Men to life.

When considering the cartoons of the 80s, you have to think of the following things that EVERY hero cartoon (G.I. Joe, He-Man, She-Ra, early Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Superfriends, Transformers, etc.) did. The word "hordes" was used at least 400 times in each episode of each cartoon to describe the villain's army (even if the "army' only consisted of 5 people). "You'll regret this!" was shouted by each villain once or more in each episode. Every battle started with exactly ONE (1) corny line of dialogue, uninterrupted, from each participant, and the battle would continue with no further voicings except screaming when hit, or sound effects.

"Pryde of the X-Men" is the story of Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat and how she comes to join the X-Men. There's no real complaints with any of the X-Men's portrayals in the show, except for Wolverine... why, why, WHY did they have to make him Australian? Colossus sounds like a Russian stereotype, Nightcrawler is German (and seems to be rather "interested" in Kitty), Cyclops is the boy scout leader type, and Storm doesn't talk. Oh yeah, and Dazzler. "Leave this to the Dazzler!" Classic. The powers aren't consistent with the comics, at least, not entirely. White Queen throws glowing spears of some sort, Magneto seems to have super-strength, and Dazzler seems to fire a conventional laser gun.

If you like 80s cartoons, watch this, but don't expect a solid book to screen translation. Stan Lee could've done better (and did, in the 1993 cartoon on Fox.)

This cartoon is in keeping with X-Men continuity and characters other than Wolverine (wrong accent, too tall).

If you like the Evolution cartoon, which has nothing to do with either the comic books or the 90s cartoon, you probably won't like this.

If you follow the X-Men somewhat faithfully and like the 80s cartoon, and can ignore Wolverine's height and Australian accent, you'll probably like this.

I do. It is not perfect -- I miss Rogue from the later cartoon -- but it is fun and the animation is traditional, not lampoonish like the Evolution mess.

Considering how old this is, Pryde of the X-men is not too bad. Particularly, the animation and artwork are at least as good, if not better, than the 90s animated series. The style of the art is actually quite faithful to the comic books. The voice acting was okay though the voice casting was a bit liberal; many of us have simply grown so used to the voice acting of the 90s cartoon that anything different seems odd, and even more recently we've been spoiled by fantastic actors like Patrick Stewart in the movies. The only bizarre (and arguably wrong) voice was Wolverine, who for some odd reason has an Australian accent.

Otherwise, the biggest weakness is the relatively weak plot and script. The plot seems rushed and a bit ambitious(the show is only 20 minutes), though it's hard to say what the creators' intentions were since this was the only episode made. All in all, Pryde of the X-men is a good watch for X-men fans, especially fans of the 70s and 80s rosters.