X-Men: Evolution

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.

i have read one slash review for this series to many, STOP COMPLAINING! IT'S JUST A TV SHOW FOR GOD SAKES!!!!!!!! how bad could it be if Marvel gave it the ok to begin with. anyway, if children watch the show and get into the x-men they will be more inclined to get into the comic's and get the original story, the entire genre will be more likely to fade into complete obscurity over the years if todays children never hear of the x-men. so if you stop watching the series from a completely bias point of view you might actually enjoy it! (for those of you who are reading this and have no idea what i am talking about just watch the show! it's good! of course you cant anymore because it's canceled, so go to amazon.com and buy the DVD's!)

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.

Sure, it can not compare to the Fox animated series or the hit movie, but Evolution is pretty good anyway. It has an interesting new look for the X-Men. This show brings back the more popular characters and adds some that weren't a major part of the last show. And why should you expect the same character development? This is a NEW show with NEW people behind the scenes. This is a good show, give it a chance.

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.