Generation X

I'm fairly lenient were it is concerned to comic to film productions, and with that in mind I enjoyed this film. I haven't seen it since 1996 (I taped over my recording), but I thought that it was pretty good. The characters weren't as close as one would like, but it was still really fun seeing the four-color characters brought to life.

It was on as a late-night movie where I live about eight months ago and I watched and enjoyed it again. Heather McComb was a standout as Jubilee. Hey, I didn't even have to look at the cast list to remember her name. Neato.

It wasn't anything to write home about, but it was at least a fun adaptation. I mean, how many comics have been made into films anyway. Gen X fans should be proud.

Have a good day then.

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.

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.

Though it is in no way as good as the latest X-Men movie, X2: X-MEN UNITED, GENRATION X is still good for being the first to star characters from Marvel's most influential comic line.

To be made in 1996 and only for television, This movie does in no way fall into the same boat as the other attempt to bring Marvel to the small screen,FANTASTIC FOUR(1994?). I have to admit the special effects were cheesy and the acting could have been better, the movie was still good and the action was still compelling. I had the opportunity to read the comic not long after the movie premiered on FOXtv and it goes very well with the story and the characters are cool.

If you have the opportunity to see this film, it will be worth your while. Enjoy.

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.