Needless to say, I’m a huge fan of Saturday morning cartoons. I consider those days something of a lost art, and X-Men: The Animated Series was a premiere piece in that collection. But that was then. There were a handful of respectable comic book-based programs in 2024, but nothing brought out the emotions and excitement quite like X-Men ’97, the show that resurrected the past and made it my present.
To be upfront, I may have a serious nostalgia boner for the original cartoon, but X-Men ’97 isn’t just a nostalgia trip. What we have here isn’t a reboot or mishandled sequel but a continuation that attempted to fill the hearts of new and old fans, recapturing that spirit of watching such a groundbreaking adventure. Though the show may continue the story just months after the original series finale, the people behind X-Men ’97 understand that much of their audience has grown up and wants their cherished childhood tales to be sprinkled with a little more maturity, but without changing the tone too much.
“One of our guiding principles when making the show was to try to give the audience the same feelings they had when they watched the original series,” executive producer Brad Winderbaum told AwardsDaily, going on to explain, “The thematics are still inherently X-Men, but the drama did have to be turned up a little bit in order to emulate that feeling that many of us had as kids watching the show.” He also mentioned that the entire team working on X-Men ’97 was a fan of the original, “We all have X-Men in our DNA,” so everyone knew the Saturday morning vibe and worked it into the style, which influenced the writing, voice acting, and look of the show. “We were not trying to create something new,” Winderbaum reassured, “Actually, we were trying to create something old.” Being fans themselves, the production crew knew that if they didn’t match a certain level, and didn’t keep things authentic, the viewers would know.
Step one was to secure the intro, which must never be skipped. Along with the “Previously on X-Men,” that opening sequence is akin to a religious experience for some. The second part was a little tougher, getting the old voices back, but some of the actors had passed or felt they were no longer right for the character. However, all of the new performers felt spot on. I’m not sure we could have asked for much better, within reason, and it was wonderful seeing a couple of the performers who didn’t return to their original characters still receiving roles. The animation has seen an upgrade as well. Some aspects looked odd initially, but seeing everything in motion makes the presentation feel engaging and fluid, with a slight anime flair that mixes well with the original aesthetics and bold lines. I love how colorful it all looks, and these action segments roar off the screen as our heroes go wild with their powers creatively in ways that don’t always translate well into live-action.
Then there are the stories, and like the original series, the writers here took major arcs and constructed their own adaptations for the animated series timeline. We see “The Trial of Magneto,” “Fatal Attractions,” “Inferno,” “Lifedeath,” and “Operation: Zero Tolerance, all slammed into ten episodes while still alluding to other plot points that will likely be more relevant later.
The show takes what was already built and moves forward with it, delving into several harrowing storylines and tough themes, then wraps those decisions in our nostalgia and lets it all blow up in our faces for an emotional gut punch. The one advantage to this not being on Fox Kids’ Saturday morning lineup now is that there was less concern about the censors. This time there could be a little blood, some extra coarse language, the team can be hornier (hell, one of them is already pregnant), and when the fighting starts, there is less reason to hold back. In many ways, X-Men ’97 grew up with its core audience without going over the top with adult catnip (gore, nudity), remembering where it came from, and still being open to new viewers across a wide range of ages.
This doesn’t mean the show has lost some of that campy nature we all loved, it’s still based on a a bunch of mainline comic book issues from almost three decades ago after all. The dialogue can be corny at times, just look at some of the Storm lines. These phrases wouldn’t work with any other character, but they feel right for her and this show. There are moments when I still want to pump my fist up in the air like I did while watching as a kid. The writing is solid while still remembering the goal. Sometimes, there’s so much going on, and episodes can be so dense that the character moments feel cheesy, but that’s part of why we care about them.
Most of these characters received some slight upgrades as well, not just in combat – though that is awesome – but in how they handle themselves, deal with situations, and the small arcs they go through. As a kid, I felt like I was the only person who genuinely liked Cyclops, but over the years, he seems to have gathered many more fans, and this cartoon may be one of his best incarnations. Their personal grief, even the love triangles that almost make it a mutant soap opera, feel nearly as important as the battles to protect the future. It feels like these characters are all moving forward in their lives, changing because of what they’re being put through, and it seems like we are getting time with more of them – minus dropping Bishop off like a bad habit – as no one character truly dominates too much of the time (coughWolverinecough). The X-Men are an interesting and diverse group of heroes who don’t always see eye-to-eye, their lives are messy and they don’t mind letting that spill out onto the front lawn, but that’s also what makes them more entertaining than certain other popular groups.
Hell, this show made Bastion cool. I’ve always loved him as a villain, but I live for ‘90s cheese like this. Here they found a way to present him at his best. He feels like a bigger threat here than any of his comic book runs.
“Tolerance is Extinction.”
The team is also still doing its social commentary. The X-Men have never been subtle about that, and whether it was intended from the beginning or not, these characters have always stood for something, and the word tolerance is thrown around a lot. Once again though, it isn’t overpowering, more of a right and wrong issue in a franchise that has always tried to show that things aren’t always clear-cut black and white. These ideas still feel important, relevant, and tied to the real world, even if it’s obviously about super-powered individuals. It’s just nice to see something that can have nuance and not be too preachy about it. This aspect won’t be new to anyone familiar with the X-Men.
The idea was never to make something to rival the original cartoon but rather new stories that got us as excited for the next episode as we used to be. That said, X-Men ’97 isn’t perfect. Most people’s issues with this season seem to be in the stuff we didn’t get more than what made it to the screen. The show is fast-paced and feels like it is rushing through some of the greatest storylines, barely giving the emotional beats a moment to sink in. The original show had more episodes to play with, but slowing down may still be a necessity. A couple of episodes felt like they tried to do too much or that the characters seemed off, especially with Xavier’s segments in space, but I’m in the camp that the X-Men are better off without him being a constant presence.
I’m still of the opinion that what we received was incredibly awesome, nine weeks of a new cartoon that did so much for me. The time I spent talking with friends between episodes, obsessing over certain parts, theory-crafting what could happen, and re-reading up on old storylines, all rocked. The anticipation helped build the hype even more, as it simmered until I excitedly sat down in front of my monitor for the next installment. Man, they missed out by not setting these to go live on Saturday mornings! In a world where it’s so easy to be negative, just going with the gut reaction to hate every new thing based on something we used to love, assuming everything is going to be shit because others have been previously, X-Men ’97 didn’t let me wallow in that.
From the moment I saw that first trailer, I realized there was something astonishing happening, and it tapped into that childlike wonder I used to feel every Saturday morning. Is it better than the original? No, but it’s right up there, a true continuation for those who loved the original, made by people who feel the same. This wasn’t just serviceable, they probably could have gotten away with doing a lot less, but now our favorite mutants get to continue pushing the envelope, doing the source material justice. I know there has been some problems, shake-ups with the staff, but I’m so damn excited for season two. There were some wonderful shows this year, but nothing ignited that fire I used to feel like X-Men ’97 did.
