X-Men: Evolution "X-Treme Measures" Talkback (Spoilers)

[Stu]

Discuss this episode of the fan-favorite X-Men: Evolution animated series!

Episode #36 - X-Treme Measures
Original Airdate - November 2, 2002

When the Morlocks create a new sports drink that's harmful to mutants, it finds its way into Spyke's hands at a Skateboarding Competition. To make matters worse, Spyke's powers are becoming more and more uncontrollable and his temper is following suit. Meanwhile Kitty learns to drive, horrifying her worried fellow mutants.

Comments?

[LazyReaper]

I really liked this episode. And unlike some of the fans, I don't really mind Evan, so it was little sad to see him go. The mutation process was done well. And whole subplot with Power Aid blended in perfectly aswell.

Almost ALL of the scenes with Kitty's Driving were Hilarious! I loved them! The look on Logan's face was just priceless! And Scott wasn't too bad either. I was really cracking up during the entire scene. Too bad though, I would have really liked to see how Jean would have handled Kitty.

All in all, a good episode. I give it a 4 out of 5 stars. I really wanna see what they do with the guy that was responsible for Power Aid. It could turn out to be very interesting


-Aximlli-

[Sandoz]

This was a pretty good episode. Storm and Spyke recieved some good character development, and it was nice to see more of Berzerker, even if his connection with the Morlocks wasn't really explained. I love Kitty, so I really enjoyed the driving subplot. I was hoping against hope that she'd end up driving with Lance since he has a car, but alas, it was not meant to be.

[Pyro]

I thought the episode was pretty good, though it had a couple of weak points. I don't really care much about Evan, however, I liked his character develpment. He had some really good fighting and skating moves. I felt sorry for Ororo when Evan left without even giving her a hug. I also liked Ororo having a bigger part than usual.I thought it was funny when he said "What's happening to me!?" when he mutated further. I could see if it was his first mutation, but he could have been a little less shocked after a second. I didn't like where, at the end, the Power8 guy was like "Let's make more!" knowing that it was bad for mutants. It was like he was lying right in the professor's face. I don't know if I can stand another episode with that corny Power8 stuff. Who knows though, I might like how the story will come together.

I give it a 3 1/2 out of 5

I've given up on waiting for Pyro to appear in another episode. So I've changed my avatar to my favorite superhero! lookit!

-Pyro~ManiacX-

[Knightmare]

Yeah this was a great episode, I 've got a feeling that the power8 guy is going to sell the power8 formula to muntant haters as a weapon. I loved seeinf Callisto, she's always been one of my favorite characters. I hope we get to see the Morlocks later in the season.

[n8twing]

hey-- I thought Bezerker was created soley for the EVOLUTION toon-- was he in the X-Men comics? If so, when?? And the series hasnt explained WHY he knows the Morlocks.... howcum?

[Sandoz]

Berzerker is a pretty obscure mutant who only appeared in one issue of X-Force, I believe. In the comic he was a Morlock who went "berzerk" when his girlfriend Scaleface was killed. He dies in the very same issue, as he's knocked into water when he's powered up and is electrocuted. My guess is that in Evo Berzerker used to be a Morlock, but left them for some unexplored reason. It'd be interesting if Xavier already knew about the Morlocks before Evan joined them.

[Mister Intensity]

This was the best Evan focused episode on X-Men: Evoluition. He never really felt comfortable with the X-Men. Out of the entire team, he was the one whose primary social group was outside the Institute. While the others were, more or less, "typical" teenagers, with the exception of Rogue, Evan always identified with outsider skater culture. When the team was exposed as mutants, while the others lost most or all their outside friends, they still had strong enough ties within the Institute that they had their social groups within the Institute to fall back on. Evan never really formed those relationships. Out of all the X-Men, even took his outing as a mutant the hardest.

At the same time, he was having a harder time controling his powers, especially during times of stress. Evan would never use an image transducer like Kurt because in many ways he is vain. Not only that, I think he would be comfortable being public with his powers without the social ostracism and without further mutation. Unlike Kurt, who had a strange appearance all his life, Evan started mutating further in the middle of a few years after gaining his powers. He probably always had resentment for hiding his powers after they emerged but once that came out a whole new set of problems came about. Kurt, despite his uneasiness about his appearance, is comfortable with himself, but Evan isn't. Evan saw himself as a "rebel," but when he really had something to rebel about, he couldn't take it.

While all the X-Men have gone through dealing with mutation, Evan never felt that any of them understood him. In a sense, he saw them as "golden boys and girls" that could pass if they wanted to. Even Kurt, the one X-Men with a strange appearance, had the "golden boy" mentality and could easily pass with his image transducer. When he met the Morlocks and saw a group of mutants who couldn't pass and sufferred because of their mutations, he saw a group of people who didn't have the option of being "normal." He finally found a group of mutants who could challenge his beliefs on being a mutant beyond the assimilation model espoused by Xavier and the extremist terrorist model espoused by Magneto and Mystique. In many ways, the Morlocks are more "in your face" and represents values that aren't definable by most homo sapien standards. Evan was the one student who always questioned why he was pursuing the course he was pursuing, now maybe he could learn why with this new course he is pursuing.

While X-Men:Evoultion doesn't usually directly deal with race issues directly, Evan's Blackness has something to do with his alienation. The way that the mutant experience has been used as a racial analogy has never been handled handled well and often veered towards melodrama (see mid-80's to 2000 X-Men comics and the Fox series), this was effectively done because everything was so matter of fact and acknowledged very real differences within society.

Mister Intensity

[Antiyonder]

Originally posted by Mister Intensity
This was the best Evan focused episode on X-Men: Evoluition. He never really felt comfortable with the X-Men. Out of the entire team, he was the one whose primary social group was outside the Institute. While the others were, more or less, "typical" teenagers, with the exception of Rogue, Evan always identified with outsider skater culture. When the team was exposed as mutants, while the others lost most or all their outside friends, they still had strong enough ties within the Institute that they had their social groups within the Institute to fall back on. Evan never really formed those relationships. Out of all the X-Men, even took his outing as a mutant the hardest.
Mister Intensity

Wasn't he getting along with Kurt?

[Mister Intensity]

This is the same Evan who told Kurt, "We're not friends." There's a difference between getting along with someone and being friends with someone.

Mister Intensity

[Sandman]

The Bon Voyage Spyke episode.


Random Stuff:

The first thing people usually sight as their hatred of Evo is Spyke. Hardcore comic fans hated him because he was too much like Marrow. Mainstream Evo fans hated him because he got too much screen time compared to other more interesting characters. But he really wasn’t that bad. I actually kind of liked him in this episode.

Sometimes I felt bad for Spyke. He was basically blackmailed into being a X-Men and taken away from what seemed like a happy home life. The X-Men really didn’t do much for him and were quick to drop him during African Storm. Yeah he could be annoying, but he wasn’t nearly as bad as many of the New Recruits. I’d rather have Spyke by my side than Evo Bobby in a fight.

If the Morlocks can turn Spyke around, maybe the X-Men should send Bobby and Tabby down there. Ray can go with them and hook up with Scaleface again.

If there is a comedic subplot of an episode that doesn’t include either Kurt or the Loserhood, it probably is not going to be funny. Didn’t really need to see Kitty gets her driving permit as a comedy bit. I want those 3 1/2 minutes of my life back. Leave the comedy to the pros.

Too bad they never followed up on the Powr8 drink. What happened with Powr8 was too important an angle to just drop.

[Kury Wagner]

I gave it 3 1/2. I didn't care much for the character Spyke. It seemed like they just stuck him in when they needed to fill a space on the screen. He was almost like the "token black character" on Evo (other than the girls. i.e Amara and Jubi). Plus he was too annoying. I mean I love Evolution, don't get me wrong, but if Storm had a nephew I'd think he would be a little more... whats the word I'm looking for...spiritual?

I don't know maybe thats just me.

Later,
a fellow X-Fan

[STARTOUNZ]

This was the best Evan focused episode on X-Men: Evoluition. He never really felt comfortable with the X-Men. Out of the entire team, he was the one whose primary social group was outside the Institute. While the others were, more or less, "typical" teenagers, with the exception of Rogue, Evan always identified with outsider skater culture. When the team was exposed as mutants, while the others lost most or all their outside friends, they still had strong enough ties within the Institute that they had their social groups within the Institute to fall back on. Evan never really formed those relationships. Out of all the X-Men, even took his outing as a mutant the hardest.

At the same time, he was having a harder time controling his powers, especially during times of stress. Evan would never use an image transducer like Kurt because in many ways he is vain. Not only that, I think he would be comfortable being public with his powers without the social ostracism and without further mutation. Unlike Kurt, who had a strange appearance all his life, Evan started mutating further in the middle of a few years after gaining his powers. He probably always had resentment for hiding his powers after they emerged but once that came out a whole new set of problems came about. Kurt, despite his uneasiness about his appearance, is comfortable with himself, but Evan isn't. Evan saw himself as a "rebel," but when he really had something to rebel about, he couldn't take it.

While all the X-Men have gone through dealing with mutation, Evan never felt that any of them understood him. In a sense, he saw them as "golden boys and girls" that could pass if they wanted to. Even Kurt, the one X-Men with a strange appearance, had the "golden boy" mentality and could easily pass with his image transducer. When he met the Morlocks and saw a group of mutants who couldn't pass and sufferred because of their mutations, he saw a group of people who didn't have the option of being "normal." He finally found a group of mutants who could challenge his beliefs on being a mutant beyond the assimilation model espoused by Xavier and the extremist terrorist model espoused by Magneto and Mystique. In many ways, the Morlocks are more "in your face" and represents values that aren't definable by most homo sapien standards. Evan was the one student who always questioned why he was pursuing the course he was pursuing, now maybe he could learn why with this new course he is pursuing.

While X-Men:Evoultion doesn't usually directly deal with race issues directly, Evan's Blackness has something to do with his alienation. The way that the mutant experience has been used as a racial analogy has never been handled handled well and often veered towards melodrama (see mid-80's to 2000 X-Men comics and the Fox series), this was effectively done because everything was so matter of fact and acknowledged very real differences within society.

This is a well-written statement. Evan's main weakness is his self-pride and thought he didn't really need the Institue at first to help him handle his powers. He seemed to be a popular kid at his old school being that he was on the basketball team and after leaving home, could make just as many friends at Bayville High. He found his clique with his fellow skateboarders while Kurt was mainly bonding with Scott, as well as Rogue once it was revealed the two had a common link with Mystique. Jean bonded with Kitty (who along with Kurt got closer with Rogue since they were roommates), as well as Scott, and the New Mutants bonded with each other when they all came into the picture at about the same time in season 2. Most times, you'd usually see Bobby with Sam or Ray, Amara with Tabitha, Rhane with Roberto (mostly offscreen save for "Retreat" when they finally got to speak), and Jamie in the role of tagging along with whoever was around. Since Evan only seemed to be close with his non-mutant friends at school, his studies there and training at the Insitutue seemed to suffer as a result around the episode "African Storm". The problem though, was that Storm seemed to be the only one involved with Evan's training and seemed to get overly burdened when he wasn't responding well to her, leading her to consider having him booted from the Institue. With Wolverine, Beast, and the Professor around, why didn't she have them help her? Beast or Xavier could have easily offered to tutor him and Logan could have gotten him up for some early morning training sessions to remedy his lateness. Xavier could have just as easily had Scott or a couple of the others reach out to Evan to let him know he's part of the family and be willing to spend some time with him. For a top-notch institue, they didn't really do a good job with Spyke in these departments.

Once the X-Men were exposed after "Day of Reckoning", Evan was definitely the one most affected since he didn't have anyone else to bond with once his non-mutant friends wanted nothing to do with him. He was also the most likely to be targeted by bullies since few other than Duncan hassled Scott, the girls were rarely picked on and Kurt continued hiding himself. All this resulted into Evan becoming increasingly angry and resentful of society's negative reaction to mutants, and he certainly couldn't continue being a boy scout like Scott in terms of not using his powers to defend himself when under attack. It's likely the increased stress resulted in Spyke's mutation going to that higher level sooner than it was supposed to. Of course, it had come at the right time once he met the Morlocks, whose freakish outward appearances already made them outcasts. They were able to form their own little community where they could get away from those who would shun and/or attack them. Though he was with them for a short time in "X-Treme Measures", Spyke was quickly willing to join their cause to destroy the POWR-8 factory because of the oppression they've suffered as mutants, adding the fact they did save him when he was poisoned. I believe his main reason for staying with the Morlocks was because of their open acceptance not just because he's a mutant, but the fact that they could keep him away from the overall hatred he would have to endure (which wouldn't been that much of an option had he stayed with the X-Men) until he was ready to face it on his own as he eventually would be in season 4's "Uprising", which turned out to be a better episode than this one.


This is the same Evan who told Kurt, "We're not friends." There's a difference between getting along with someone and being friends with someone.

In regard to this, Evan mainly said that out of anger and frustration with nearly getting booted from the Institute. He probably didn't mean it in "African Storm" just as Kurt in "Mainstream" said he "Used to be" friends with the others when a few students at school suspected he's a mutant. Rogue, Kitty, and Evan (in "The Stuff of Villains") had every right to be angry with him since he chose to stick with those who'd readily shun them instead of with his true friends who certainly would have stuck up for him if he were revealed. The fact he didn't step up for Scott against Duncan and the other thugs showed Kurt was a coward in regard to this issue and is much more dependent on his image inducer as a result. Some would say the watch would benefit Spyke, but since he's already recognized as a mutant, it really wouldn't. By the time "Uprising" airs, Evan proves to have much more courage than Kurt as he's willing to fight against bigotry and even pops out once in a while to make others know that mutants aren't going to just go away and should be accepted in normal society.

[Movie06]

Another favorite of mine. I always thought that since Spyke was more Mor-lock material, him living with the Marlocks just works well with him.

Although his time with the X-Men was good while it lasted at least to me.

[Windrider]

i remember watching this eoisode and i was so mad because i actually like spyke. he is about my fith favorite evo character. but now i think it was a good choice on the writers side.