Search This Blog

Wednesday, 24 September 2025

X-Men '97 "To Me My X-Men" Review


When people think of great X-Men shows and great superhero animated shows in general they usually think of X-Men: The Animated Series. Yet what alot of people seem to have forgotten is that show actually got a sequel show with the first episode of the show being one that i'm going to be talking to you al about today and so then join me as I review the episode that re-introduced the classic X-Men to new generation of the fans with the episode in question being called simply just "To Me My X-Men" enjoy.

The plot of this episode is when newly upgraded sentinels start attacking the X-Men have to find out who is giving them these upgrades and why. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good with the plot of this episode being very close in terms of tone to the typical plot of X-Men: The Animated Series with it being clear as day that the makers of this episode had a clear love and passion for the original show as all of the things that this episode does from a plot point of view makes sense not only for the characters but also interms of the characters as well with the only real negative about this episode is the fact that this episodes plot and the plot of the original series are striking similar to one another even down to the fact that they take on the exact same foe which is something that does make this episode feel pointless to watch as you watch the first episode of the original show and still get the same experience from it as there's really nothing in this episodes plot that makes it stand out from the plot of the first episode of the original show outside of the cliff hanger ending for this episode but that's really it with the episodes plot on the whole being a really good plot and is one that does feel more in line with X-Men: The Animated Series then anything from any of the more modern Marvel animated TV shows with the plot of this episode also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.


Starring in this episode is Ray Chase as Scott Summers / Cyclops and Jennifer Hale as Jean Grey and A Computer. Also starring in this episode is Alison Sealy-Smith as Ororo Munroe / Storm , Cal Dodd as James Howlett / Wolverine , J.P. Karliak as Kevin Sydney / Morph and Mullet , Lenore Zann as Anna-Marie Raven / Rogue , George Buza as Dr. Henry "Hank" McCoy / Beast , A.J. LoCascio as Remy LeBeau / Gambit , Holly Chou as Jubilation Lee / Jubilee , Isaac Robinson-Smith as Lucas Bishop / Bishop , Matthew Waterson as Erik Lehnsherr / Magneto , Ross Marquand as Charles Xavier / Professor X , Gui Agustini as Roberto Da Costa / Sunspot , Catherine Disher as Valerie Cooper , Lawrence Bayne as Carl Denti / X-Cutioner , Todd Haberkorn as Henry Gyrich , Gavin Hammon as Bolivar Trask and Eric Bauza as Mastermold , Sentinels and A News Anchor.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. With this being something that does make alot of sense as alot of this episodes actor are reprising their roles from the original show and much like how Kevin Conroy is THE voice of Batman to many alot of the original series actors that returned for this show are THE voices of these characters and therefor it will always be great to hear them saying new line as these truly iconic character and the actors that thy got to replace certain actors like Holly Chou do a good job of getting close to the original voice as is humanly possible without just outright copying what the original actor did with the character in the first place and while yes there are alot of really good performance to be found in this episode there are also some really bad ones as well like the fact that we have Ross Marquand as Charles Xavier in this show and he just doesn't live up to wat the original actor did with the role this is despite the fact that Ross Marquand himself is a really good actor he's proven that time and time again but he needs to be given the right role and Charles Xavier just isn't the perfect fit for hm as an actor with the acting that's in this episode also really being helped by the fact that this episodes script is just so good that all this episodes actors have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very episode.


Doing the animation for this episode is the legends and the really greats that are currently over at Studio Mir. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good with this episode and the rest of the show having what can best be described as being an anime look to it which is something that does make sense given just who is animating the episode with the episodes animation also looking really stunning withy it having a look that is both modern and sleek and yet also old and more in line with the look of the classic show as well with this being something that really does work really well for this episode as this is an episode that has the toughest job to do by having to convince the old fans to come back and watch the episode whilst also trying to win over new fans and by giving it this look that whilst it does look like the old show but only more modernized does make alot of sense with alot of the characters not only having these really fluid movements to them but also getting alot of really cool shots that do nothing more then show of the episodes animation with even the backgrounds in this episode looking really good and really well detailed so much so that it does feel like at times that you can just reach out and grab any of the backgrounds in this episode with the episodes animation looking like a work of art in all of the best senses.


To help with recapturing the fans of the original shows the makers of this show did the best thing possible and that's reuse the original shows theme song. Which yes granted might be seen as being a small thing but in saying that tho alot of the old fans myself included really do love that old theme song and any on screen continuation of that show needed to have that theme song playing to make it genuinely feel like this is the next episode and it's something like that that does make this show feel like it was made for fans of the original animated series by fans of the original animated series and alot of that does come down to the fact that the writer of this episode Beau DeMayo as truly an awful person as he may be does seem like a genuine fan of the X-Men and it's that love and that passion for not only the original show but it's characters as well that does shine through in this episode as all of the characters are no only acting in character but also feel in character as well and the fact that they managed to get the original theme song for this show does say that the makers of this show are truly fans of the original show as that is something that only fans would want and while yes granted the version used in this episode is a remixed version of the original theme song it's still that original theme that we all know and love with this shows version of the classic theme song being more then enough to get us hyped up for the episode ahead something which wouldn't have been possible if they used a different theme song as those of us that grew up with the original show really wouldn't know that this was meant to be a continuation of the original show without hearing that classic theme song playing at the start of the episode.

While there are alot of positives to be fond not only in this show as a whole but in this episode as well sadly tho this episodes does have a few not so bright spots in it as well. Chief amongst which is the fact that Sunspot in this episode really isn't given much in the way of a personality other then being this shows version of Jubilee and that's really it with the character just being bland and forgettable with the other really negative thing being the fact that they have Charles Xavier killed OFF screen which yes granted might seem like a minor nitpick but given the fact hat both this show and the original show use alot of drama in all of their stories this is something that really should have been shown to us on screen as he is a main character and it would be a great way to not only get old fans hooked but also shock the new fans as well as then it would mean that any character could get killed off and while yes they do explain a way his death in later episodes of this show for alot of these early episodes he is meant to be dead and so it would have been nice for that drama factor to see Charles's death from the point of view of the X-Men only to then show us what actually happened in later episodes of the show as then we'd get to not only see but also experience these characters that alot of us grew up watching watch someone who they were all close to now suddenly no longer be there for them instead of just having it told to us how they all felt which is something that we got in this episode and while that is something that does kind of work for this episode it would have worked all the more if we got to see Charles's death on screen.


Let's just take a second to talk about Magneto as it really doesn't make any sense for Charles to leave him anything let alone everything in his will. As the two of them spend the best part of the entire original series being arch enemies who only teamed up very rarely and while yes they were friends in the past since they have die so much to each other after the fact it really doesn't make any kind of sense for Magneto to get anything in Charles's will with it making sense that the X-Men would choose not to trust him as they really haven't a reason to trust the man who has tried to kill them on several occasions in the past and while this does play in the main plot of this season it's also one that doesn't make a whole lot of sense as surely Charles would be more then likely to trust one of his own X-Men like for example either Cyclops or Wolverine then he would to trust the person who has tried to take the over world at several points in time and heck in the makers of this episode really wanted to make sure that giving Magneto all of this power was something that could work and be perfect for his character then they they should have  given us a reason for the characters to trust him and make that moment at the end of the episode still feel shocking as it should have been but also feel right for his character as you very easily could have had him show yup in the episodes third act fight to help the X-Men out whilst being mysterious about why he's actually helping them which would give them a reason to kind of trust him and would also feel true to his character but just having him appear at the end of the episode is a solid cliffhanger but it doesn't do his character any kind of justice whatsoever.

Now then this episode has /  had a exact grad total running time of exactly thirty minuets and thirty seconds. Which to be fair to this episode is pretty much the exact grand total running tome for the rest of this show as alot of this shows episodes have pretty similar running times to them anyway with this episodes having just the right amount of plot there to really cover that amount of running time in the first place but in saying that tho this episode also doesn't use it's running time all that wisely either as the plot of this episode as good as it is really isn't that well developed with the episode just rushing from one big set piece to the next without really taking the time to set up the plot of the episode and to let the episodes plot become fully developed with this being something that the original series not only knew to do but also did really well as well despite having much more shorter running times and yet here in this episode also of the time it does feel like that the characters are just doing random things for the sake of doing it and when there is a plot in there it' the same plot from the first episode of the original X-Men: The Animated Series with the episodes characters not really getting much in terms of character development which is something that does kind of make sense as this is only the first episode of the show afterall but at the same time tho none of the characters that are returning from the original show get much interms of development either as we the audience aren't really given a reason to care for nay of the characters in this episode and while the original characters do come slightly betting in this regard this is mainly due to the fact that they were in the original show with them not really getting anything interms of this episode but I really will admit that this episode really does have some really good pacing to it tho.


So now then as this is an action episode that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. Which is something that's kind of to be expected as all of the action in the original show was also really good and therefor it makes sense that the action in this episode would be just as good with alot of the main characters really getting a chance to show us just what it is that they can do and what it is that they ring to the team in any given action scene and while alot of the characters like for example Sunspot don't get a chance to show us just what it is that they bring to the team those that do like Storm for example really do make it count with the best action scene in the whole entire episode being the third act fight where alot of the X-Men take on these newly built and newly upgraded Sentinels with us getting a chance t see all of the X-Men's powers which is something that will always be cool to see with even getting just alot of really cool moments in that scene like Beast destroying the head of Sentinel just so he can use it's body as kind of like a giant puppet to take on and take down another Sentinel and while that scene is the best action scene in the whole episode the episode on the whole is filled to the brim with alot of really good looking scenes that look good because of the fact that this episodes tremendous animation really does help them all to come alive in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. 


Overall not on this episode but this show as a whole is must watch for fans of the classic X-Men: The Animated Series as just by going off of this episode alone it does more then enough justice to both the original show and it's characters whilst also just being it's own thing which does prove that Marvel really does still know how to make good if not even great content when they really want to in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. ow the i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very episode in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very episode really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly an 8 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the im ages that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from the official Disney fandom wiki page and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very episode that I used in this very review being the really great the official Disney fandom wiki page really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very episode with alot of them being better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on the official Disney fandom wiki page are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.

No comments:

Post a Comment