X-Men fans as you may be a where i've taken a look at more then a few X-Men adaptations be it movies or the original animated series. However there is one series that i've not taken a look at and well since i'm continuing this run of mostly doing animated reviews be they movies or TV episodes I thought that now was a good time to finally look at an episode from this show and so here is my review of the very first episode of x_Men: Evolution called "Strategy X" enjoy the review everyone.
The plot of the episode is honestly really hard to describe not alot really happens in the episode and what little does happen is done for no reason. This is the first episode of the show and there's no plot to the actual episode which for me at least is huge red flag since it gives me very little reason to watch any more episodes which is something that should never be the case no matter what the show is but I do like the idea of having the X-Men and Brother Hood Of Mutants attend the same school since it makes you wonder when are both groups going to fight or even if there going to fight.
Starring in the episode is Kirby Morrow as Scott Summers / Cyclops , Venus Terzo as Jean Grey and David Kaye as Charles Xavier. Also starring in the episode is Brad Swaile as Kurt Wagner / Nightcrawler , Scott McNeil as Logan , Kristen Williamson as Ororo Munroe / Storm , Colleen Wheeler as Raven Darkhölme / Mystique , Vincent Gale as Duncan Matthews , Neil Denis as Paul Haits , Christopher Judge as Erik Lehnsherr / Magneto and finally we have Noel Fisher as Todd Tolansky / Toad.
For me personally I thought that the acting in this episode wasn't that good which can be seen as a good thing since the actors are still trying to find there characters. However since alot of these characters had started to become household names at this point thanks to the first X-Men movie as well as the nineties X-Men animated Series I do feel that more effort should have gone into making the acting for this debut episode really good.
The animation for this episode was done by Mook DLE who also did the animation for the rest of the series. I honestly liked the animation in this episode granted it's really mind blowing but for an early 2000's animated show the animation is episode is actually pretty decent I won't lie and say that it's perfect because it's not but given how badly it could have been having animation that is just ok is a good thing in my opinion.
To me what makes the animation decent and nothing more is the fact that it looks like every other show that came out around the same time. There's nothing from a stylistic point of view that makes this show standout because it looks like all the other action shows that were coming out around the same time as this show and as such this show just blends in with all the others and it does nothing to help itself standout and grab your attention. Sadly tho that also effects the animation because it's just like every other action animated show that came out around the same time period.
Like I said before I like the fact that alot of the core characters in this show are all attending the same school since it adds a level of drama that wasn't there before. Since now your wondering when the two groups will find out about each other when they do find out about each when will they attack each other this is a kind of drama and suspense that you don't really get in the movies or in the comic books and so i'm glad that it's in this series.
As a fan of Storm i'm shocked that they didn't use her character that much in this episode since she only shows up for a few minuets in a couple of scenes and that's really it. Hell in the big training room scene she just stands there while Charles Xavier saves his students the least they could have had her do is fly down to help since she very easily could get all of the students out of harms way but the makers of the show chose to have her do nothing for some reason.
For me one of the worst things that this episode does is they give Kurt Wagner / Nightcrawler a device which makes him appear normal. This to me goes against the original idea of the X-Men since the team at least when it comes to animation have never been about having disguises to fit in they've always been about wanting to be accepted by people for who they are and by giving Nightcrawler this device it goes against that message and that ideal.
This was I believe the first X-Men show to air on Kids WB with the show starting on November 4th 2000 with the final ever episode airing on October 25th 2003. Despite only being on the air for three years the show lasted a very impressive four seasons which no matter what show it is is a very impressive run and so I have to give this show credit for lasting quite a long time as it lasted three years I have ti assume that the series does have it's fans which if so then good for this show since getting a fanbase is always hard no matter the show or film.
I would class this is as an action show however just based on the first episode which had very little no action in it im honestly not sure. I counted how many action scenes there are in this episode and there's only really one granted it's a big long action scene but still having one action scene in the debut episode of an action show is for me a bit of a red flag because it shows that the makers of the show have no idea what there doing but who knows maybe the makers of the show do know what there doing but if so there not doing a good job of letting me know.
Overall if this episode is a true representation of the show as a whole then I don't see this show being that good. Yes there are some good things in this episode that is something that I will never ever deney but there are alot more bad things in the episode at least I think there is anyways but if you guys like this episode faults and all then more power to you but for me this episode gets a 5 out of 10 from this comic book and animation fan.
All the images that I used in this review were gathered from either the official X-Men: Evolution fandom wiki page of the the official X-Men Movies fandom wiki page. Since the overall majority of the images came from the official X-Men: Evolution fandom wiki page I have no choice but to recommend that website for images of either this show or this episode but be warned alot of the images aren't high quality at all.