World Famous Comics: X-Men Evolution - Season 1 Collection (UnXpected Changes / Xplosive Days / X Marks the Spot / Xposing the Truth)
X-Men Evolution - Season 1 Collection (UnXpected Changes / Xplosive Days / X Marks the Spot / Xposing the Truth)
Starring: Scott McNeil, Meghan Black, Christopher Judge, Kirby Morrow, Venus Terzo Average Rating: Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Binding: DVD Format: Animated, Box set, Color, DVD, NTSC Label: Warner Home Video Number of Items: 4 Region Code: 1 Release Date: September 16, 2003 Running Time: 274 minutes Theatrical Release Date: November 04, 2000
Description: This collection includes all 4 of the following titles X-Men Revolution titles: 1) UnXpected Changes: Volume 1 includes episodes 1-3. "Strategy X" - Cyclops has an "Accident" with his optical beams while trying to defend Toad at a school football game. "T
This is where it starts This is a great set for a great price. You should get the whole series, but this is the begining. From the first to last episode everything in season one is so fresh and new.
Entertaining for fans and non-fans alike Disclaimer: First of all, if you are a die-hard X-Men comic purist, this show is not for you. I say this because X-Men: Evolution is about a group of teenage mutants who are fighting to be accepted and finding their place in the world...all during high school. It's not anything like most of the comics except for the characters' names and powers, so anyone who will be annoyed by that might as well not bother because it will just end up making them mad.
This show, after the three X-Men movies, was one of my first introductions to these characters, and no doubt I wouldn't have become quite so interested in the comics without it. A friend of mine gave me a link to watch the entire show online, and, being curious, I decided to give it a shot. In the first three episodes I was reintroduced to Cyclops, Jean Grey, Nightcrawler, Rogue, and Shadowcat in a slightly different form than I was used to, but I was instantly hooked. The driving force behind the first season is a mysterious villain who is working with the principal of Bayville High - where the young X-Men attend regular high school - for reasons unknown. (Of course, if you've seen the movies or know anything at all about the X-Men's villains, you'll be able to figure it out easily...but it makes for good suspense anyway.) There are occasionally cheesy moments (well, it IS a kid's TV show!) and moments where the animation is a bit off, but overall this is one of the best animated shows I have ever had the pleasure to watch. And it just keeps getting better and better each season. It's a terrible pity that they're too stingy to let us have Season 4 on DVD, though...it delved into darker and more emotional moments than I've ever seen in a kids' TV show.
great new series. The x-men in a new light. Now as kids they struggle with going to a normal school. and learning to control their new abilities.
Are you a die-hard X-Men fan? Do you refer to all of the X-Men (including Wolverine) by their full names instead of their code names? Do you reassure yourself that the discrepancies between various versions can be explained by invoking alternate timelines? Do you while away boring tasks by mentally assembling teams with synergistic combinations of mutant powers? Can you use the expression "oh my stars and garters" with a straight face?
If you answered "yes" to all of the above, you should buy X-Men: Evolution Season 1. If, instead, you rolled your eyes in disgust and assumed I was joking, you should probably pass on it.
The first season is exactly what one would expect of an X-Men take-off targeted at the Saturday morning cartoon crowd. Major characters are accounted for, but the intellectual elements are missing, or at least obscured by the saccharine "feel-good" tone of the show. Like all things X-Men related, the stories are character driven. However, relying heavily on tired high school clichés, they have all the emotional depth of a Hallmark greeting card.
The scenario has teenage versions of Jean, Scott, Kitty, Kurt, Evan, and Rogue (ok, even I don't know her real name) attending high school with several members of the Brotherhood. Clearly, this must be some alternate timeline because otherwise serious liberty has been taken with the biographies of some major characters.
Despite the dubious tutelage of principal Raven Darkholme (a.k.a. Mystique), the young mutants learn that its important to know who your true friends are, home is where the heart is, your family is all those who love you, and teamwork should come before rivalry. Professor Xavier and his fellow faculty members, Ororo and Logan, exchange kids-will-be-kids looks and all is well with the world.
The central theme of mutants as a metaphor for various oppressed groups does not come into play, as the story assumes mankind is unaware of the existence of mutant abilities. However, those lovable teenage misfits in the Brotherhood make enough trouble to keep the X-Kids busy and make the series enjoyable. If you shudder at the idea of supervillians so adorable you just want to tousle their hair and pinch their cheeks, let me reassure you that the cuteness does have a limit; the major antagonists are taken seriously and represented as adults. You won't see the master of magnetism wielding his powers to steal road signs, or a teenage Mystique banishing a pimple with her shape shifting ability.
In all fairness, the aspects of the first season which so disappoint the basement-dwelling thirty-somethings make it perfect for children. The episodes generally stand on their own, requiring little or no effort to follow. Morality is fairly black-and-white and happy endings are the norm. There is a final confrontation at the end, but little was done to lead up to it. Don't expect to be dazzled (or challenged) with creative plot twists.
For adult fans, the greatest strength of the X-Men: Evolution series is the writers' uncanny talent for putting the characters' powers to use in amazing combinations. For example, in the first season, you'll see Nightcrawler and Shadowcat making synergistic use of their abilities. I personally found this rather refreshing, as I have often postulated (during a boring commute) that Kurt and Kitty would make an astounding team. Evolution is one of the few incarnations of the X-Men where power-related plot holes are difficult to find. Unlike many science fiction creators, the Evolution writers clearly define the "rules" of their universe and play by them consistently. These subtle indications of genius foreshadow what is to come in later in the series.
Considered in isolation, the first season is mediocre and rates three stars. I was tempted to give it four simply because of the inherent sentimental value in seeing my favorite superheroes (and a few villains) as adorable animated adolescents. The main reason for the die-hard fan to purchase season one, however, is the expectation of what is to come. The humor, intrigue and drama of the later seasons build upon the characters and relationships established in the first episodes, so if you intend to watch the series it is best to get in at the beginning.
And no fan should go without seeing the rest of the series. In the second season, X-Men: Evolution, like its protagonists, undergoes a rapid and dramatic transition from an immature, simplistic form to a thing of awesome and unlimited potential. The contrast is enough to elicit and exclamation of "oh my stars and garters".
nice to get them all at once in a first season pack nice price and nice to get all of one in one order toobad it wasn't packaged like season 3 and they need season 4 the fight with apocolips it was only a few episodes long.
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