X-Men: Evolution - What did people think?

[Dingo]

I wonder what Marvel animation fans thought of this particular variant of the X-men franchise. Not only did several main characters have to deal with the stress of mutatation but they also had to deal with the standard issue stresses of adolescence and high school (frightfully stressful times I seem to recall).

For me personally this was one of my favorite series (I have most of the episodes on DVD and I'm downloading them on iTunes too). Kitty Pryde as a teeny bopper was pretty interesting for one.

On fanfiction.net there exist two excellent authors of the X-men Evolution series. One of them is Red Witch. She has written both standalone Evolution fics (largely one-shots), but she is also renowned for creating a series called the Misfitverse. Starting with the fic Ronin Toad, in which Todd Tolansky is abandoned by Magneto and rescued by G.I. Joe and continuing for a massive array of one-shots and hundred chapter fics and everything in between for almost eight years of writing, she's managed to weave various X-men incarnations and appearances into her ficciverse which is affectionately called the Misfitverse.

Plot spoiler: The Misfits are various Brotherhood of Mutant Members abandoned by Magneto after the events of Ronin Toad who become the US Army mutant team called the Misfits.

Another of those two authors is RoguefanKC, his works on the Misfitverse combine series such as Charmed, Ghostbusters, and SWAT Cats among others against the threat of the Heartless from the Kingdom Hearts series. A very good author.

I've also written my share of Misfitverse fics under the penname Theodore Hawkwood. Mine combine Charmed, the Net, and Once Upon a Time in Mexico (the character of Agent Sands) into the Misfitverse.

Anyway, with that big fanfiction blurb, I was demonstrating that the X-men Evolution series has been a HUGE muse for me for writing fanfiction. And because of that it's obviously a favorite series of mine.

Onto yet another boring part, I'm not certain if X-men Evolution is considered Marvel, so I apologize if I posted this in the wrong forum.

My personal favorite X-men Evolution characters were in no order:

1) Shadowcat
2) Avalanche
3) Toad
4) Blob
5) The Scarlett Witch
6) Beast
7) Wolverine

[Nightcrawler]

I don't see why this would be off-topic in a forum talking about cartoons based on Marvel characters. Last time I checked, X-Men Evolutinon is Marvel.

Anyway, I think what is so appealing about writing fanfiction for Evolution is that there is a lot of room for writers to expand on characters back story as well as move forward with new stories.

That said, Evolution was not without it's flaws. For the first couple of seasons, for me anyway, it veered between tediousness and awesomeness. I remember being really excited for Season 4 to begin airing and then being really disappointed when I found out that was the last season.

Just some thoughts I felt like sharing.

[Blackstar]

One thing that I never understood about X-Men: Evolution was why the X-Teens lived in the Xavier Institute but went to regular public school. Wasn't the Institute also a school?

As for the XME fan fiction, I stopped reading it a long time ago because too much of it was shipper nonsense. Whenever I'm reading a fanfic summary and I see a sentence starting with the words "Couples include...", I just move on the next one.

[SpideyFan914]

One thing that I never understood about X-Men: Evolution was why the X-Teens lived in the Xavier Institute but went to regular public school. Wasn't the Institute also a school?

In X-Men Evo (best X-Men series ever and amongst the best Marvel series ever, btw), the Institute was more a boarding house. They only taught fighting skills, but regular public school was still necessary.

As for the XME fan fiction, I stopped reading it a long time ago because too much of it was shipper nonsense. Whenever I'm reading a fanfic summary and I see a sentence starting with the words "Couples include...", I just move on the next one.

Lol! Same here!

[Dingo]

As for the XME fan fiction, I stopped reading it a long time ago because too much of it was shipper nonsense. Whenever I'm reading a fanfic summary and I see a sentence starting with the words "Couples include...", I just move on the next one.

If you're willing to give it a try, BlackStar, Red Witch and RoguefanKC's works are pretty awesome in terms of plot and aren't mostly shipper stuff written badly.

One thing that I never understood about X-Men: Evolution was why the X-Teens lived in the Xavier Institute but went to regular public school. Wasn't the Institute also a school?

I figured it was a school focused on the mutant aspect and the state of New York's public school system provided the educational aspect.

That said, Evolution was not without it's flaws. For the first couple of seasons, for me anyway, it veered between tediousness and awesomeness. I remember being really excited for Season 4 to begin airing and then being really disappointed when I found out that was the last season.

There were good and bad first and second season episodes, but seasons 3 and 4 were pretty cool. I personally liked Shadowdance as a favorite second season episode.

[Blackstar]

Regarding the series itself, I could take or leave it. I wasn't in love with the "Mutant High" premise and most of the 1st season plots were distinctly forgettable. XME got more interesting after season 3, after the main characters were publicly outed as being mutants because then we got to see more story lines about the mutants and their powers and less "X-Men 90210" shipper stuff. The animation and character designs, however, were beautiful. If nothing, XME was a nice show to look at.

Also, on the upside, for once we got an X-Men series that wasn't all about Wolverine. Logan was the centerpiece of the odd episode now and then, but overall, he took a back seat to the main action. I actually didn't mind ol' Wolvie having a supporting role as the "gruff uncle" to the X-Kids.

[FGfan]

I'm an Evo fan, but I strongly advise to avoid season 1 like the plague, Strategy X was the worst opening for a Marvel cartoon I've seen, Nightcrawler goes from awkward, scared newbie to team member within the space of ten minutes (when they could easily have had an episode or three devoted to his gradual fitting in), Nightcrawler's annoying at first, almost half the Brotherhood is introduced in a single episode. AND Wolverine uncharacteristically walks into a store to ask for a glass of water.

But for all that ranting: I did enjoy Evo, it went significantly uphill with season 2. The animation was well done and it did accomplish some pretty good things. It's not as good as TAS, but it still did do some good stuff.

[Wonderwall]

Nightcrawler's annoying at first

At first? When did he stop being annoying in that series? As much as I've criticized Wolverine and the X men, they're Nightcrawler only made this version's even more unbearable.

I liked Evolution but it's still my least favorite of the X Men shows and Nightcrawler was one of the top reasons for that. The main thing I had against it was that it was a very plodding and tedious show that never really did much of anything and when it did the show was over.

What was a shame was that it did get pretty good at the end of the second season and onwards. The animation is the strongest of all the X Men shows so it at least has that over the other two shows. The voice acting was pretty good and most of the characterizations were as well. I think this show did have the most fleshed out cast as well as opposed to the other 2 X Men shows were a multitude of characters were introduced and never given time( the new one is very guilty of that ).

Overall I think Evo is like a middle ground for me when it comes to Marvel animated shows. I don't hate it but I dont love it either. So that's why its a good divider for the Marvel shows I loathe and the ones I'm a big fan of.

[Bat-Fan Beyond]

We've discussed this series several times already here on the forum, and I think I've personally exhausted my feelings for the show within a thread I started here, and caught a bit of flak for, comparing it to Wolverine and the X-Men. But anyway, to put it simply, I absolutely love the show, and despite its deviation from the comics, I truly believe it's superior in writing, direction and animation to both X-Men:TAS and Wolverine and The X-Men.

[FGfan]

At first? When did he stop being annoying in that series? As much as I've criticized Wolverine and the X men, they're Nightcrawler only made this version's even more unbearable.

Actually, now that you mention it, Evo's Nightcrawler was always fairly annoying. At least the TAS version didn't have the obviously accented voice.

One thing I'll give Evo is that it has higher quality animation, although even that's not entirely fair since it's fairly obvious why that would be the case. Evo did eventually progress in quality, but I doubt many would argue that well written, the first season was not.

despite its deviation from the comics, I truly believe it's superior in writing, direction and animation to both X-Men:TAS and Wolverine and The X-Men.

I'll admit that it was better in animation quality as mentioned above, but otherwise? No way, TAS had much better writing, it immeadiately set the tone for just how serious it was intending to be, killing off Morph in the first episode (and originally, it was supposed to be permanent), compared to Evo which had a rather comical scene involving Wolverine in the first episode.

[Bat-Fan Beyond]

I'll admit that it was better in animation quality as mentioned above, but otherwise? No way, TAS had much better writing, it immeadiately set the tone for just how serious it was intending to be, killing off Morph in the first episode (and originally, it was supposed to be permanent), compared to Evo which had a rather comical scene involving Wolverine in the first episode.

Okay, well maybe when you have mediocre directing and mediocre animation, it's kind of difficult to determine how good the writing actually is. Granted, most of the writing on TAS was based on concepts that were somewhat faithful to the source material (the comics), just like the character designs were faithful (Jim Lee designs), so I'll give it that-- but if the direction is bad, the writing will suffer, just as great designs can't save poor animation.

[Anwar]

I dunno, I was watching "Night of the Sentinels" a while back, and it seemed...well, a little over-the-top and blatant really. The voice acting from the non-main characters was pretty bad (and some of the regulars sucked too), the whole "Mutants as a discriminated minority" thing was slammed on the viewers' heads with little subtlety and the whole "let's sick giant robots on them!" thing was a little TOO comic book. At least with EVO the Sentinels were the result of a renegade scientist (at first) and in W&X-Men they're only made AFTER the Mutants had already set up their own country with an army.

[FGfan]

Okay, well maybe when you have mediocre directing and mediocre animation, it's kind of difficult to determine how good the writing actually is. Granted, most of the writing on TAS was based on concepts that were somewhat faithful to the source material (the comics), just like the character designs were faithful (Jim Lee designs), so I'll give it that-- but if the direction is bad, the writing will suffer, just as great designs can't save poor animation.

Might I ask how TAS was badly directed (apart from the tradition of inexplicably turning Magneto over to Xavier's side?)

Because I remember being rather surprised at how serious the show was clearly meant to be when I watched it as a child, it was heavy-handed for what young kids generally think of when they hear "cartoon" and how serious it was meant to be really showed. And that finale very nearly had me in tears. Yes the animation's not as good as Evo, but that shouldn't be hard to determine why. When I read comics from that era, and see Cyclops, I hear Norm Spencer. When I see Wolverine drawn in the style used for TAS, I hear Cal Dodd. When I look at Beast in almost any version, I hear George Buza.

Evo, on the other hand? It was very badly written in its first season, comical portrayal of Wolverine in the first episode and rushed intros, didn't seem truly serious as a show until season 2.

[Wonderwall]

just as great designs can't save poor animation.

Actually they would. A great design in animation will allow it to move the best way possible. X Men TAS didn't have great animation designs. The designs work great in still motion but Jim Lee unfortunately does not translate to animation at all.

[Bat-Fan Beyond]

Actually they would. A great design in animation will allow it to move the best way possible. X Men TAS didn't have great animation designs. The designs work great in still motion but Jim Lee unfortunately does not translate to animation at all.

That's what I meant, actually. Maybe I should have worded that differently. Jim Lee's designs are great, but obviously they don't make for great animation.

Might I ask how TAS was badly directed (apart from the tradition of inexplicably turning Magneto over to Xavier's side?)

When I say direction, I don't necessarily mean the concepts and story direction that the series was going in-- I mean how the voice acting, story exposition and editing are all put together and delivered per episode.

In my opinion, I feel the show's overall execution was not done well. Yeah, compared to everything up to that point by Marvel, it was pretty good and had some mature themes, BUT, if you watched and compared it to Batman:TAS and Disney's Gargoyles, it was pretty darn crappy.

[FGfan]

When I say directed, I don't necessarily mean the concepts and story direction that series was going in, I mean how the voice acting, story exposition and editing are all put together and delivered per episode.

In my opinion, I feel the show's overall execution was not done well. Yeah, compared to everything up to that point by Marvel, it was pretty good, BUT, if you watch and compare it to Batman:TAS and Disney's Gargoyles, it was pretty darn crappy.

Pfff, when I see the TAS designs used for the characters, in the original comic form from which the series was loosely adapted, I hear their TAS voices, not their Evo ones. At least TAS didn't get off on the note of nearly comical portrayals.

Meanwhile, since the name of this thread isn't "nitpick TAS:"

I actually think Evo went significantly uphill with the second season, "Growing Pains" was a much better written opener than "Strategy X," and it seemed to have its stories more gradually fleshed out.

[Bat-Fan Beyond]

Pfff, when I see the TAS designs used for the characters, in the original comic form from which the series was loosely adapted, I hear their TAS voices, not their Evo ones.

Yeah, but maybe that's because you heard their voices first and it left an impression on you. That became your standard because of it being your first acceptable exposure to the charcters outside of comics. Nothing wrong with that. I'm an old-head, so when I was a kid I always heard Paul Soles' voice whenever I read a Spider-Man comic.

And although, it may sound like I hate everything about the show, and I'm nitpicking, I really do think that there were some voices that were right on target. For example, I thought Beast was perfect, but Wolverine was too over the top.

[Silverstar]

X-Men: Evolution was never a favorite X-Men show of mine, but it looked better than any of them so far. (With Wolverine & the X-Men as a close second.)

My gripes:

• I didn't care for the public high-school format. I understand that the X-Men were originally teenagers in the comics, but mutants and 90210 just don't mix for me.
• Many of the first and second season episodes were just too fluffy and shippy for my tastes. There was far too much emphasis on characters' crushes and whatnot. The show didn't really start to look up until season 3.
• Spyke. 'Nuff said.
• There were a lot of annoying, weak or silly characters. Nightcrawler was made too goofy, and gosh-darn was he annoying. ("Da Fuzzy Dude?" Give me a royal break.) Boom-Boom was nails-on-a-blackboard personafied. Beast was too whiny and ineffectual, plus his design was just...off. Avalanche's "bad boy with a heart of gold and eyes only for Kitty" shtick got old real quick. If Storm had been used any less on the show, she could've phoned her lines in. Juggernaut was heinously underused and under-characterized. Spyke's power was a joke. Scott was bland as usual. Amanda Sefton (Daytripper) was revamped into an ordinary high school chick with a mutant fetish. The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants were reduced to Bulk and Skull status. (Thankfully, we got the Acolytes and Apocalypse as formidable threats.)

My praises:

• Again, the animation was excellent.
• Some characters were done well: Kitty was cute. Jean, while not used to any great extent, looked great. Wolverine was placed in a supporting role for a change. Rogue was well done here, if a tad overused. Iceman was the cocky kid, as he should've been. Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver were cool.
• The stories actually got pretty serious and intense by the last season, although it felt kind of like "too little, too late".

[clownkingofcrime]

X men the animated series in the mid 1990s on Fox was memorable in the same way as Spiderman TAS, but not as good as Spiderman TAS. It was a important series to the Marvel Animated Universe though. But overall, X men evo is superior in action, animation, story, and many other things. I do not know if it is the best Marvel animated series though.

[Rick Jones]

I only got to see the first three seasons earlier this year and I enjoyed all three of those seasons a good deal. There were episodes I liked more than others, same goes for the characters, and there were a fair share of things that annoyed me but it was still a lot of fun to watch. Personally, it's an overall great show in terms of animation, designs, music and writing. I think that I was more open to watching the show now than I was when it was on the air, when I couldn't help but compare it to XTAS mercilessly (I was a pre teen X-Men fanatic). I've only seen a couple of episodes from the 4th season, mainly the finale, and I'm hoping that they eventually release it to home video.