Pryde of the X-Men

Now you have to realize this movie is 10 years old, don't listen to Kninja about this movie or Generation X, she apparently doesn't realize when Pryde of the X-Men came out it was probably one of the best cartoons out, all cartoons at that time were made just about the same especially the TV cartoons which it is. So don't listen to her and don't listen to me go out and judge it for yourself, and don't forget it's 10 years old and it isn't about fact or voices it's about having fun, and don't forget you're not supposed to read into these little kid shows it's no Gone with the Wind thing it's a cartoon so have fun "True Believers".

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 forgotten late-eighties pilot showed promise but was never picked up as a series. Although the characterizations are annoyingly overwrought (in typical Saturday morning fashion), the adaptation was very faithful to the source material. The producers chose a mid-eighties line-up (Cyclops, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Storm, Dazzler, Kitty Pryde) and concisely setup the struggle between the two mutant factions while briefly outlining the comic book's continuity at that time. The only misfire was Wolverine's inexplicable Cockney accent (the character is supposed to be Canadian, not British). They even managed to include Lockheed, Kitty's ridiculous pet dragon. Not a bad job, and it proves that you *don't* have to extensively reinvent the comic (as was done with "X-Men: Evolution") in order to make it work on the small screen.

Pryde of the X-Men. Not the WORST ten dollars I ever spent... but it sure wasn't X-Men the Animated Series. Putting together a good team wasn't enough to make this 25 minute cartoon a decent one. Staring, Cyclops, Storm, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Dazzler (yeah!), and the newcomer Kitty Pryde (Shadowcat), the X-Men go off to face Magneto, and attempt to stop him and his brotherhood from allowing a comet to strike Earth. While the movie flows very well, I just didn't think it had enough... "pizazz" to make it a truley interesting cartoon. For one, the characters were way underused. Cyclops, Storm, and Dazzler (yeah!!), each had about 4 lines. At least they didn't mention Cyke's family, Storm being a goddess, or Dazzler's music career, otherwise people'd be lost.

Animation was good in this -- almost had a manga feel to it, and when Dazzler used her powers it looked very cool. The voice talents were kind of thrown... Wolverine had an AUSSIE accent *shakes head*, Dazz sounded like a schoolgirl, and Colossus just sounded funny. Another bad thing is the fact Nightcrawler's costume was the same color of his skin. Heh... not all too plesant when you think about it.

The Brotherhood fight scenes were probably the worst parts of this movie . You know what I mean, that "one person takes on one guy instead of the whole team knocking him senseless in one strike". Dazzler takes on Pyro, team goes on. Wolverine TRAPS Toad (and for some reason stays behind), team goes on. Colossus takes on Juggernaut, team goes on! See the pattern? Although the beginning scene where the White Queen takes on the soldiers was a very cool scene. Have to give credit for that.

So basically, this movie doesn't have much to offer -- except if you're a BIG Shadowcat or Dazzler (yeah!!) fan like myself. But if you're a Dazzler fan, don't expect a great performance... and if you're a Kitty fan, expect to hear her whine like Kath Souice 's (voice talent of Kitty) Phil and Lil of the Rugrats.

This one shot X-men pilot episode had the best animation quality of any other Marvel cartoon then or since. Yes, the quality even rivals X-men Evolution. I prefer the mature look of Pryde's animation over Evolution's Disney look any day.

The Voice-Overs (Wolverine's Australian accent) have been panned quite a bit on this board. Wolverine's austrailian accent didn't bother me much at all and I collected the X-men comic for a while during the eighties. Even though Wolvie's accent was wrong, his temperment and intensity were captured perfectly by the Voice-Over. I'd Prefer Pryde's Austrailian Wolverine over Evolution's MUCH SOFTER Wolverine any day. Evolution's Wolvie just doesn't have the intensity or temperment; C'mon Wolverine as a teacher? Gimme a break. The other characters in Pryde were well portrayed.

The story line isn't that complex but it's not supposed to be. It's a pilot episode and therefore is meant to be more of an showcase of the format and characters of the cartoon than anything else. The plots surely would have gotten more complex had the series been picked up.

I can't help but think that Marvel missed an opportunity by not producing more episodes. Hmmmm... maybe the animation was too expensive because it was damn near movie quality. If the 90's series had Pryde's animation quality, we would have had a near perfect series. I've seen Pryde of the X-men several times and always wondered about what could have been. If you haven't seen Pryde of the X-men yet, don't listen to negative reviews and go check it out. It's definitely worth it.