Let’s Talk about X-Men ’97 Episode 1-1

On September 20^th, 1997, Henry Peter Gyrich attacked and critically injured Professor Charles Xavier.

In the moments after Professor X seemingly died, his outer space empress and sometimes mistress, Lilandra arrived.

The leader of the Shi’ar empire promised she could save Xavier, but she’d need to return him to her home world to do it.

So, in an episode fittingly entitled Graduation Day, X-Men: The Animated Series ended.

On March 20^th, 2024, the wildly unexpected happened. A sequel series debuted on Disney+.

Let’s talk about X-Men ’97 episode 1-1, the one where the wrong person says, “To me, my X-Men!”

An Honest Evaluation

I’m prone to gush about X-Men: The Animated Series because it was preternaturally good for its era.

Ostensibly a Saturday morning cartoon, X-Men told serial comic book stories that sometimes required months to complete.

Now, 27 years later, Disney+ is retrying the format by returning the same characters and most of the same voice actors.

While watching this episode, I sometimes felt like I was re-living the 1990s in the best possible way.

In other instances, I recognized just how clunky some of the dialogue could be.

So, what I’ll say in advance is that some things might be best left in the past. I haven’t decided yet whether X-Men falls in that bucket.

The animation crew has gone to great lengths to guarantee an authentic look for the sequel series, but it’s still a bit jarring in 4K.

I want to keep an open mind here, so my thoughts will focus on a single episode at a time.

Later, I may go back and evaluate story arcs and/or seasons. For the time being, I’ll just play it where it lies, though.

In this case, that means suspending a bit of disbelief as we travel only a few months into the future from when we last left the X-Men.

Meet the New X-Men

The whizbang action starts with the dreaded Friends of Humanity (FOH), horrible bigots trying to ensnare a mutant.

This teenager reveals his identity as Roberto da Costa, whom Marvel fans will instantly recognize as Sunspot.

At this point, he’s just a scared rich kid trying to buy his way out of generational hatred.

We quickly learn that the FOH has gained some Sentinel tech. As I recap episodes, I’ll refresh the details about stuff from the original series.

For now, all you need to know is that the FOH hates Mutants because the latter group is the winner in natural selection.

The FOH members impotently rage that a better version of humanity exists, and it’s not them.

The Sentinels are basically Mutant-killing robots the size of skyscrapers.

In this opening scene, the hand of one nearly wipes out multiple X-Men. So, these things are mega-dangerous.

After we meet Sunspot, the FOH derides him and makes no secret of a plan to torment the teen.

At this point, various X-Men arrive to save the day. The ordering here matters from a storytelling perspective.

First, we get reminders about the various abilities of characters like Storm, Bishop, and Cyclops.

While Storm gets her moment later, this sequence is intended to give Cyclops his moment to shine as the new leader of the X-Men.

He wrecks everybody despite the fact that the FOH bigots have gotten upgrades. And he saves Sunspot, too.

At one point, the FOH thinks they’ve captured him and that he’ll surrender, only for him to say, “Not!” Borat would be so proud.

Back at the X-Men Compound

We only saw three members of the original X-Men in the opening scene, and that’s by design.

Back at Xavier’s mansion, Gambit and Rogue make beignets. They’re quite the happy couple.

Soon afterward, Professor X enters the room to talk to Scott, but it’s obviously Morph.

They’re an odd character in that Morph’s presence in the original series was intended to be limited.

Specifically, Morph died in the pilot episode. Later, they returned as a possessed character before the X-Men rescued them.

Now, Morph, who is also a variant of Changeling in some corners of Marvel, works as a full-fledged member of the X-Men.

And I guess that I should add that if the name didn’t give it away, Morph can exactly duplicate the appearance and behavior of others.

Scott Summers aka Cyclops isn’t amused because he’s always such a clenched tightass.

At this point, Gambit uses his powers to energize a beignet and throw it at Cyclops. The object stops in mid-air.

At this point, an extremely pregnant Jean Grey enters the room. It’s her powers that have dialed down the tension in the kitchen.

That baby may or may not be Nathan Summers, who later becomes Cable.

This turn of events would be significant to the original series. So, we’ll pay attention to that.

Meanwhile, Sunspot rests in bed, his only respite a brief encounter with that cute girl, Jubilee.

She introduces him to the Danger Room, which he doesn’t find in any way intriguing, making me question his sanity.

Then, Sunspot gets real serious when an adamantium claw almost impales him. It turns out that’s the real Wolverine.

To a larger point, this episode is specifically echoing the original pilot, wherein Jubilee was the new X-Man who felt out of place at the mansion.

Same War, Different Day

We learn a few things along the way. The first is that Professor X’s government contact now helps Scott Summers.

Also, as demonstrated during the opening sequence, the X-Men aren’t currently working as a team in Charles’ absence.

We nearly get a basketball game, which would hearken back to some of the original episodes.

Alas, before that happens, Scott and Logan fight before Jean Grey persuades Wolverine to stand down.

For her part, Jean wouldn’t mind if she and Scott went off and did their own thing rather than staying with the X-Men.

Later, the team tries to locate Sunspot, who fled the mansion after his Wolverine encounter.

So, they visit a local nightclub, where the kid realizes that the FOH has found him again.

His holding the glowsticks probably didn’t help with the whole “blending in” thing.

Also, when Jubilee finds him, they dance, and she puts on a fireworks show.

For their part, Storm and Cyclops take a different assignment. They head to the prison holding Henry Gyrich.

Without getting too deep into the show’s lore, Gyrich worked with Bolivar Trask to build the Sentinel program and Master Mold.

Later, Master Mold, arguably the most dangerous being in the X-Men’s present, betrayed Gyrich and Trask.

Then, Gyrich tricked Professor X into revealing his Mutant nature and almost killed the man.

So, Cyclops feels bitter in offering a reduced prison sentence if Gyrich will narc on Trash and the Sentinels. Gyrich passes.

However, Jean tries to use Cerebro to penetrate Gyrich’s mind.

This doesn’t go great, as Jean witnesses a dark future for her child. So, yeah. That’s probably Cable.

The Requisite X-Fight

Jean learns enough to identify the presence of another Sentinel construction facility in the desert.

The team flies one of its Blackbirds to this facility, but a surprise attack by a Sentinel wrecks the plane in mid-air.

At this point, the X-Men become a team again, with the flying members rescuing the non-flyers.

There are two noteworthy moments here, with Morph taking on the Archangel version of Angel to save someone.

 

Then, Scott uses eyebeam blasts to slow his descent via…giant explosions. I’m not sure this one makes sense, but it looks cool.

Also, Scott establishes that he’s the leader afterward when he states, “To me, my X-Men.” Some X-Men fans are gonna haaaate that.

At this point, the X-Men discover Master Mold and Trask. Why is Trask still working with Master Mold? Great question! And I can’t tell you.

Anyway, a bunch of Zombie Sentinels arise from the desert, and the team fights.

The fight goes pretty well with the various members demonstrating their unique skills.

My favorite moment involves my favorite X-Man, whom I haven’t even mentioned yet.

Beast appears, takes control of a Sentinel and casually states, “Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful, involuntary friendship.”

That line gets thunderous applause from me, a Beast and Casablanca fan.

Soon afterward, the Sentinels categorize an “Omega-level threat.” Cyclops taps his comm device and says, “Give ‘em the forecast.”

Storm stomps in and promptly wrecks the place, thereby killing every Zombie Sentinel in sight.

At this point, Master Mold rises, but before the big bad can do anything, Gambit hops on Wolverine’s back.

The duo performs a kind of modified Fastball Special to decapitate Master Mold. Apparently, that’s fatal in killer robots, too.

The Surprise Twist and Final Thoughts

Back at the mansion, the team doesn’t have much time to celebrate, as the security system has tracked an intruder.

Sitting in Professor X’s study is his closest frenemy, Magneto.

The supervillain reveals that Charles left his entire fortune to Magneto in the will.

Since we know that Professor X isn’t dead, this will get retconned later, but it creates intrigue for the time being.

The team didn’t want Cyclops as the leader of the X-Men, but they definitely don’t want Magneto in charge.

So, there’s the season one conflict. Cyclops must earn his title, while Magneto interferes.

Oh, and Sunspot doesn’t stay. He does give Jubilee a card to contact him, though. Someone’s got a cruuuuush.

PS: I skipped over arguably the most detail here. The episode starts with the beloved X-Men theme but with modernized graphics.

Overall, the presentation remains nearly identical, though. In fact, the closing credits still show the X-Men’s mutant powers.

However, the opening credits of the pilot come across as something of a graveyard.

The list includes Victoria Alonso and Beau DeMayo, both of whom Marvel has since fired.

This season reflects DeMayo’s work almost entirely, so it’ll be interesting to determine how good his writing was.

Some elements of this episode made me very happy, while others caused me to realize just how much higher my entertainment standards are now.

I’d give this episode an A- because it’s fittingly reverential to the original, but the new X-Men series will need to do more to keep me invested.

 

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