"Hated and Feared" X-Men The Animated Series Re-watch: "Night of the Sentinels Parts 1 & 2"

 X-Men The Animated Series

This blog is supposed to be dedicated to my various nerdy interests. The things I consider to be a hardcore fanboy of and I realized that there is a real lack of one of my top 5 fandoms: the X-Men. If you have been reading my "Batman: The Animated Series" recaps from the beginning, first, Goddess bless you, secondly, you know that Batman was my first comic book fandom. It was "X-Men: the Animated Series" that turned me into a comic book fan and the X-Men the beating heart of that fandom that is still alive today.

"X-Men: The Animated Series" immediately hooked me. I felt a kinship to these mutants. It could be because I too felt like I was inherently different than everyone else, even if at 9 years old, I wasn't quite sure what that was. The X-Men are voices for anyone who felt in the minority. Who has been persecuted for being who they are, not accepted based on things they couldn't change. I immersed myself in the X-Men. If you're old enough, you might remember the Scholastic book orders that you'd get in elementary school. Shortly after "X-Men" premiered there was a guidebook that I begged my mom to buy and I wore that out. The X-Men have one of the most convoluted continuities of any comic book franchise and I could walk you through every single and twist and turn, every retcon, every horrible run, if you wanted me too. Trust me, you don't want me too. And it's all thanks to this animated series. 

"X-Men: The Animated Series" pulled heavily from the rich history of the comic it was based on. The team was an all-star roster but other famous mutants routinely made guest appearances. It relatively faithfully adapted major storylines like "Days of Future Past," "The Phoenix Saga" and "The Dark Phoenix Saga." It didn't shy away from adult subjects. The voice cast was stellar. It was one of, if not the first animated series to be serialized. Much like "B: TAS," a lot of modern day animated series owe a lot to "X-Men: The Animated Series." I'm very excited to experience this all over again. The show premiered with three special episodes aired weekly beginning October 31, 1992. It moved to it's regular Saturday morning perch on January 23, 1993. It ran for five seasons. I will be recapping these episodes in script order which is different than air date order so if you're following along on Disney+ you'll want to make sure you're watching the correct episode. Now, without further adieu, let's get to it.

"Night of the Sentinels," Parts 1 & 2

Storm: [to Sentinel] "Storm, mistress of the elements, commands you to release that child!"

Rogue: "Lighten up on the speeches, sugar."

Rogue: [to Cyclops] "You look as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs."

Young Jubilation Lee aka Jubilee is a mutant. A person born with powers that mark them as different and therefore something to be feared by the majority of the human population. Thinking they are helping her, Jubilee's foster parents register her with the Mutant Control Agency. Shortly after, a mutant hunting robot called a Sentinel shows up on their lawn attempting to abduct her. Jubilee flees to the local mall where the Sentinel pursues. Jubilee is rescued by Storm, Rogue and Gambit, members of the mutant hero team, the X-Men. Founded by Professor Charles Xavier, the X-Men fight for his dream of a peaceful co-existence between mutants and humans. Jubilee meets the rest of the team, Cyclops, Beast, Wolverine, Jean Grey and Morph. Professor X sends a team to the headquarters of the MCA to destroy the files they have on mutants. That is a success but the team experiences losses that may tear it apart. Meanwhile, Jubilee sneaks off to make sure her foster family is safe and is kidnapped by a Sentinel and interrogated by the head of the MCC, the mutant hating Henry Peter Gyrich. Can the X-Men come together to save Jubilee and thwart the MCC?

I wish my clothes changed like this.

"Night of the Sentinels" is a near perfect introduction to the X-Men and the world they inhabit. So much of this frames how I read and think about the X-Men today. The show cribs a lot of its lineup from the record breaking "X-Men" #1, published in 1991 by Chris Claremont and Jim Lee. The costume design, all of it. The voice work is iconic. To this day, when I read "X-Men" comics, I hear the voice actors of "X-Men: The Animated Series." 

Part one of "Night of the Sentinels" does a lot in 21 minutes. It introduces the team. It introduces the major conflict of the series. You get a real sense of the relationships of these characters and Jubilee is a great POV character. She is very much a product of the '90's, a stereotypical mall rat with vocal fry that any Valley Girl would be proud of. She's also endearing and not one dimensional. She cares about her foster family, even if they do kind of screw her over twice. Well, her foster dad kind of screws her over twice. She knows their hearts are in the right place. It's a lot of fun to experience the X-Men through her eyes.

That mall action sequence is dope. Storm speechifys and Rogue tears up an escalator to kick some robotic Sentinel ass. Gambit pauses flirting with a shopgirl so blow some shit up. Speaking of Gambit's flirting, there is some innuendo there that I'm kind of surprised the show got away with. The episode keeps moving at a pretty brisk clip, heading to Professor Charles Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. Jubilee does get out of that room pretty easily but I'll let it go. 

Poor Morph.

The X-Men are this great dysfunctional family and these two episodes really illustrate that so well. Cyclops is the tightly wound leader, Wolverine his main antagonist, Gambit's the flirt, Beast is the brain, Storm is the regal older sister, Rogue the sassy, strong one, Jean the smart, sensible one, Morph the cut up. These are kind of general descriptions but in a premiere like this, that is what you need and then you flesh the characters out as you go, which the show does really well even in these first couple of episodes. 

As Cyclops, Rogue, Gambit, Beast, Wolverine and Morph head to the MCA to destroy the records there is such fun banter that feels like it could have been pulled directly from any X-Men comic. It is a ton of fun and makes what happens next feel more tragic than it already is. Part one ends on a pretty tight cliffhanger with the team inside getting ready to be ambushed and Jubilee getting kidnapped.

I really enjoy part one but part two is really where the sausage gets made. This is really where you start to feel the pathos that "X-Men: The Animated Series" does so well. Things go south pretty quickly after the inside team destroys the records. Sentinels are everywhere and as Wolverine attacks Morph cries out and then Jean is crying out because she no longer feels Morph through Cerebro. Killing off Morph is a boss move the show does right off the bat. Its not really something I'd seen when I would watch Chip N' Dale Rescue Rangers or Darkwing Duck. Launchpad wasn't killed off in the first episode. They weren't playing games.

Jubilee: Bondage queen

I loved how the show keeps things vague at first. Cyke and Wolvie fighting, Jean trying to keep the peace. Then we get a flashback to the battle and see Morph seemingly murdered and Beast captured. This begins a sequence that fleshes out why Wolverine and Cyclops are like oil and water. Cyclops has to think of the whole team while Wolverine is more impulsive and can't see any reason why they would ever not fight, possibly to the death for their family. That is easy for him to do since he has a healing factor, amirite? This episode has the first, of many, Wolverine storm outs. At least he just goes into town this time. The locals don't love Wolvie especially the guy who must really love Jack Nicholson. This little sequence also helps cement that though Scott and Logan will butt heads pretty consistently, Scott is not going to back down or apologize for his decisions but he will never just give up on the rest of the team. He may not be able to help Beast right now or bring Morph back from the dead but they can save Jubilee.

This is going on pretty long so some strays. "X-Men The Animated Series" never featured guns with bullets unlike its DC counterpart. Anytime guns were featured they were plasma weapons, which is pretty interesting. The president is also a woman, which goes to show that a woman can only be president in fiction, even in 1992. Gyrich and the MCA may have been shut down, but he, Trask and the Sentinels will continue to appear. Jubilee says good-bye to her foster parents and it is kind of sweet, and then they are never seen again.

Next up, the Master of Magnetism makes his animated series debut and Sabretooth gets more to do than just antagonize cops in a news report.

I'm so excited to re-watch this and hope you all enjoy these sometimes rambling recaps. If you're a fan, I'd love to hear why in the comments. Favorite episodes? Best memory? Let me know.