In Short

X-Men: Evolution recasts the X-Men mythos in a newer, more easily accessible light. Many famous members of the mutant super hero team are present as teenagers trying to get through high school while hiding their fantastic abilities. Even many classic villains appear as teenagers, and while there are still adult characters they tend to take on a mentoring role during the first season. The first season generally introduces the characters and concepts of the show and lacks any overarching storyline.

The Good: The writers do a good job of recasting many of the characters. Wolverine is a strong, but not all powerful, mentor who doesn’t solve all the show’s problems. The animation is good, and while many battles are short they do depict interesting uses of the characters abilities.

The Bad: Some of the voice acting is annoying, and it’s not helped by the writing. While many authors are skilled at writing dialogue for teenagers, the writers here seem unable to grasp life as a teenager. When the low quality writing and voice acting is combined it can result in some moments that are painful to listen to and watch. The show takes too long to get going, with excessive amounts of time spent introducing characters.

The Physical Thing

As of this writing Season One can be acquired as a package of the four individual DVDs currently released for $23.98, and that’s what I’m reviewing. The DVD packaging is poor on several levels. First, the cases are flimsy. While they are made of a harder card stock, the plastic latches can be annoying and the cases generally lack the strength and ease of use of a simple plastic case. Second, each DVD includes about three episodes. This results in frequent DVD switching, which is annoying considering that each episode is only about 20 minutes long.

The special features, however, are pretty good. Interviews, a behind the scenes look at the show, and trailers are all here for the fans that want them. I was also pleased to find a simple “Play All” function with each DVD. Too many series DVDs leave this option out.

My Take

Cyclops, Jean Grey, Rogue, Shadowcat, Spyke (a new character who throws bone spikes and is Storm’s nephew) and Nightcrawler are all teenagers living at Professor Xavier’s estate and attending a nearby high school. They also happen to be mutants, otherwise normal people who through genetic mutation have acquired fantastic powers. By day they go to class, fight bullies, and live what the writers think are typical teenage lives. By night they undergo a sort of special forces training with Wolverine, Storm, and Professor Xavier. Every character has a special “X-Men” costume and, on occasion, the team ventures out in public together to deal with a problem. However, in Season One (and Two) the world doesn’t know about mutants yet. This means the X-Men hide their powers and quietly prepare for the day when the world learns of them and, inevitably, lashes out against them.

That the characters are teenagers is handled especially well since many classic villains are also teenagers at the same school. The shape changing villain Mystique serves as the school principle and trains her own mutants – Blob, Toad, Avalanche, and Quicksilver – to fight against the X-Men. The why of this is a little mysterious until the season finale when it becomes clear that Magneto is behind her efforts and wanted mutants to fight against one another so that the strongest would prevail.

Unfortunately, the show takes far too long to get going. The dialogue and voice acting are a quick turn off, especially after watching many superior animated shows based on comics. Christopher Judge (Stargate’s Teal’c) was a strange casting choice for Magneto, and never worked for me (possibly due to my extensive enjoyment of Stargate). Most early episodes focus on a single character, either showcasing their problems in life or introducing them to the X-Men team. While this does build a certain amount of familiarity later on, the lackluster episodes often have little of interest going on and are difficult to watch. This is a far cry from any of the DC animated shows of the past 15 years.

It’s unclear exactly what anyone’s motives are. Professor Xavier preaches peace, but he is building a highly trained army, has deadly security systems, uses two heavily armed aircraft, and mentally invades other peoples minds when he finds it useful. A lot of this is fine – just classic X-Men stuff that he had – but some degree of setup or explanation would have been nice. Magneto, his counterpart, believes a war is brewing. However, instead of trying to recruit mutants or unite individual mutants under his leadership he seems to want them to fight among themselves. This doesn’t make a lot of sense, especially considering how the character has been portrayed in previous media and comics. Often it feels like the writers are just throwing X-Men ideas down and moving on without any real consideration of the why.

Other characters get much better treatment. Nightcrawler has to deal with his strange appearance throughout the series and comes to rely on an ‘image inducer’ which allows him to appear normal. This is a wonderful addition, especially in later seasons when he can’t deal with not using the inducer. The writers do an excellent job here, over time, communicating how painful his freakish appearance is to him. Rogue has more of a gothic presentation, with pale skin, purple lipstick, and dark clothes. This matches up well with her abilities, which already make her a natural outsider, and this new take on the character is wonderful to behold.

Most of the other characters are readily identifiable, and that’s a good thing. Cyclops has more of a personality here than he has had in many comics and media, which is a welcome change. Jean Grey is cast as the ultra achiever, which fits her very well. Wolverine and Storm receive some of the best treatment, in part because I felt like they were returned to their roots. Storm is a powerful leader and a powerful woman, working to mentor the students and protect them from danger. Wolverine is more like his early 90s incarnation – a powerful mutant, but not the plot solving presence he has often been depicted as in recent years. His fights with Sabertooth are evenly matched, which would make them interesting if not for the fact that the writers present them for the sake of having Wolverine and Sabertooth fight one another and nothing else.

There are some memorable moments, however. The season finale, The Cauldron, introduces Havoc, Cyclops’s brother and one of many minor characters to be introduced from X-Men lore, and involves the brothers strong bond and trust in one another. Unfortunately, that two part finale may be all a viewer takes away from the first season. Other episodes are lack luster and, when viewing them, I sometimes just wanted them to end so I could move on to hopefully better episodes.

If you appreciate good writing and want a show that does a good job of depicting teenagers with super powers then this probably isn’t a good match for you. It’s probably not a good match for folk who like super heroes generally either, as most of the battles are very small scale affairs with little drama. Fans of the X-Men who want to see a new twist on the series and can deal with a few flaws, however, may find a gem of a show here. If you love everything X-Men, especially if you’ve been a fan of the comics for years, then this show probably has something to offer you.