X-Men: Evolution

A lot of people have been putting this show down, and I'd like to set the record straight. For those who don't know, the show is about the X-men when they were teenagers. The creators probably thought that by making them younger, they could appeal to a younger audience (it's survived 3 years up to this point, so who's to say they were wrong?). And for the most part, this angered X-men "purists", who argued that the series butchered their favorite characters, and that this was an insult to "true" fans. Get over yourselves.

I'll admit, the first season was pretty dull. The writers spent the majority of time introducing new characters (a necessity for a show with such a large, diverse cast). They couldn't develop individual characters very much, or put them into the complex story arcs that the comics are famous for.

But that all changed with season two. Unfortunately, by that time, most older fans had already given up on the series and are missing out on some great stuff. The story has evolved (no pun intended) over the years, and now we're beginning to see some of the classic X-men arcs. With the escalated aggression of Magneto, the rising tension between humans and mutants, and the emergence of Apocalypse, I feel that the series has reached a turning point. The writers are able to explore complex issues such as prejudice and tolerance, while still presenting it from a kid's-eye view. They've reached a new depth that they're now just starting to explore. So give it a shot. Just because these X-men aren't exactly what you're used to isn't necessarily a bad thing. Heck, if they were just going to copy what came before, there would really be no sense in making a new series in the first place.

For those that despise this cartoon because it takes liberties, then change the freaking channel, bub, and shut the hell up.

For those who remember the early early days of X-men, they were all teenagers in a school, learning to use their powers to benefit mankind. Well, in comic book continuity, these characters have all grown up, married, divorced, died, betrayed their friends, etc etc etc.

This cartoon went back to the basic principle that Stan Lee and Jack Kirby started out with back in the 60's. And it's revamped itself to fit today's standards and cultural influences. I like to see it as an animated version of the "Ultimate X-Men" title that marvel is producing, which does the same thing of reformatting the story to today's timeline.

And each character in this show is well written to the point that I like them even better than some of their comic book counterparts.

Scott -- we're seeing a leader developing here, but he's still a kid learning to deal with who he is and his place in the world.

Logan -- granted, he's toned down a bit, but he's just as gruff as he is in the comics, and has a better voice than he did in the 90's cartoon.

Kurt -- great interpretation. I always thought Nightcrawler was a little stiff for my liking (given his background), so I love to see him be a party animal, and to be one caught goofing off.

Rogue -- BIG BIG BIG BIG BIG IMPROVEMENT!! I'm sorry purists, but the little Southern belle thing annoyed me to no end! Someone commented that they didn't like this version of Rogue because she doesn't say "Suga." It's called good writing. I like Rogue better as a Goth girl, for one basic reason. Given her power, it would seem to me that she would keep herself isolated and sullen, to ward off anyone trying to get close to her, and the dark depressed goth girl would pull that off, not the friendly southern belle. Plus, it makes her an interesting contrast to Jean and Kitty, who are upbeat popular girls.

Toad -- they took one of the worst characters of comicdom, and made him likable. He works better as a lovable loser, who just can't get a break.

I will also give honorable mention to a couple other characters, like Magneto, who is actually a threatening presence in this cartoon, and Beast, whose transformation in this cartoon makes more sense than in the comics.

The best animated X-Men yet, and it will be very hard to top.

That's pretty much what I would chalk this up to. The New Mutants series finally hits the screen. If you read the comics back in the 80's like myself then you know what I'm talking about. Wolfsbane, Sunspot, Boom Boom, amazing!

Plus, it's totally different than any previous series or new one that's out now, in the sense that they didn't regurgitate old stories. The 90's series tried retelling some cool plots but left me yelling at the screen all the time. "That's not how that happened!" "Why'd they do that?!" lol.

X-Men Evo is all original start to finish. Awesome. Think about it. We all want to see some of our favorite tales retold visually but me, I don't want my favs being changed for the sake of cost or director's personal choice (X-men the last stand... ugh).

Evolution also had the best animation ever! Very anime influenced. Some characters like Wolvie were a little exaggerated visually but still very cool looking. Especially season 3 and 4 with Apocalypse. Best rendition of this character I've ever witnessed. He was totally evil. Magneto comes off like a dark shadowy madman, which is so different. No soft old man here. Magnus was vicious and calculating. Perfect!

I couldn't ask for anything more other than bring this one back! It was stopped when it just reached it's peak. So sad. I was ready to see all the things that Xavier seen for the future. (When you see the series finale you'll know what I mean). So...

until Wolverine starts hosting his own cooking show, talk show and reality TV... make mine Marvel.

Seeing how many have bashed this show, I decided to give my two-cents in. I had never heard of X-men before Cartoon Network decided to show Evo here in Sweden. Curious, I went on-line to see if it was something. What was explained got me interested, and I started to look up facts on the original comics, particular the first ones. Afterwards I saw Pryde of the X-men, and one of TAS, and accutally decided that I liked Evo better! When it arrived I had no means to see the first episode, or the second as I was away that weekend. But when I did see it, I watched the episode 'Spyke-cam' and decided that I liked the animation. (Rouge's and Kitty's dance went smooth.) Also, I researched about Evan (Spyke.) And found out that he was an Evo-exclusive chara, and stumbled upon an interview with the creator of him. Apparently they wanted Evo to have something unique, so they made Spyke, and from what they says, they didn't know about Marrow. I believe them, because how many X-men/mutants are there in the Marvelverse?! They can't know everything about all of them. Now they also gave the mutants a more likely life.

I mean, if a big institute is opened up in your city and you see almost nothing of those who live there, wouldn't you wonder? That's why it's so good to have the mutants go in a 'normal' school. (How normal it is to have earthquakes without fault-lines, a shape-shifting, blue principal, and prehistoric monsters from another dimension destroying the school dance.) Both Jean and Scott are part of the popular-class people. Pietro is a part of the cute guy-class. Todd is in the, not to be near unless absolutely needed. Kitty is a part of the annoying freshman-class, though she is friend with Jean. Rouge is the loner. (Well until her powers developed.) Kurt is the insecure one. Evan is the joker. And so on, they need to cooperate with the normal teenage problems, be the normal teenager, and handle the evolution of their powers.

One more thing, Logan only came to the institute when the news was talking about strange things in Bayville. When he got there, it's unlikely that he knew that he was gonna be a teacher. But as the student-body where growing in the institute they where in need of more teachers, and Logan's loyalty to the X-men, as well as his friend Chuck(Xavier.) he became the violent, lonesome teacher, that pretends he doesn't like the students, but he wouldn't want them hurt.

I'll give this show 9.5/10.

X-Men: Evolution was the first real exposure that I had to the X-Men universe. The original animated series was way back when I was just a toddler, so I am not too familiar with it. Thus, I had a lot to thank to the Evolution series because it made me feel fascinated with the X-Men and eventually Marvel universe.

The concept of making the characters teenage high schoolers was a bit appalling, especially to the comic fans, but I guess it was intended to appeal to younger generations. In my opinion, making them teenagers aren't too bad at all. It allowed more character growth to happen for most characters whilst dealing with the anti-mutant issues, even for the notorious Brotherhood members like Avalanche and Quicksilver.

The story was a bit slow at first. Of course, it had intentions of introducing the characters that would later make up the X-Men team and the Brotherhood. It was good that it did this so that newcomers to the X-Men world would not feel lost when watching it. As the first season finale ended, I felt a bit empty, wanting more. But it satisfied my X-Men thirst, with enough action and character developments that made me wait for Season 2. As the series progressed, it did get better and more structured. More loved-by-fans characters were introduced such as Gambit and Colossus and added great dynamics to the conflicts and relationships (eg. the questionable bond between Rogue and Remy in the show).

The characters in the series are definitely fleshed out. They had opportunities to experience emotional and personal growth that changed them from the first time we met them in the series. In return, viewers will have certain opinions on most of them, be it love, hate or neutral.

The animation in X-Men: Evolution is of course much better and smoother than the X-Men: TAS (which is not to say the original animated series is bad or anything). The actions scenes excited me a lot, the showcase of the mutants' powers are made more subtle but still believable and the expressions on the characters are drawn well, making us believe in their emotions. Kudos to Steve Gordon for coming up with great character designs as well.

All in all, X-Men: Evolution is definitely a good series to try if you're an X-Men fan. The stories does not quite follow to the comics, but that's what makes it good, as it tries to tell the stories of the X-Men universe in a more relatable way, especially to the younger generations.