Saturday Morning Memories

In 4th grade Fox Saturday morning cartoons were the talk of lunch time. During the Autumn of 1992 Fox Kids line-up included two powerhouse animated series namely, "Batman: the Animated Series" and "X-Men". While the girls would sit at their tables discussing how cute Macaulay Culkin was in "My Girl" and how it made them cry, us boys were deep in debate about which superpower was the best. Superpowers, hidden special abilities what 9 year-old boy doesn't what to wake up and discover they were a mutant like the ones on the "X-Men"? Important arguments were made during the half hour lunch sessions and eventually agreements, optic blasts are good but charging anything with kinetic energy till they explode was better.
"X-Men" first aired on Halloween in 1992, and I was sitting at a distance to the television screen that any optometrist would scream. I wasn't that excited to see a new cartoon since, ironically enough, a Halloween a few years before for "The Real Ghostbusters" prime time special written by none other then J Michael Straczynski. Neither episode disappointed, but at that moment "X-Men" eclipsed my love for "Ghostbusters", for the reasons listed above. The series would go on for 5 full seasons totaling 76 episodes, including the retelling of classic comic runs such as "Days of Future Past" and "The Dark Phoenix Saga".

Recently, I picked up the first DVD volume of this childhood favorite. The first two volumes consisting of 16 episodes a piece were released on April 28th. Going back and re-watching the first few episodes, I noticed how rough the animation is. The first two episodes, "The Night of the Sentinels", in parts look almost unfinished, where the background seems to be sketched and not fully drawn. The rest of the DVD set didn't look quite as rushed. The dialog in parts does come across a little over the top, but all the voices in the series are still the voices I hear whenever I read an X-book. Honestly, the voice for Rogue might be why I have a thing for southern accents.

Going back and seeing these episodes again it is difficult to separate how much I enjoy it for what it is and how much I enjoy it for what I remember it for. Overall, the series ability to tackle social issues of prejudice and intolerance inside of a kids show is impressive on it own. Also, the price is right at about $20 for each volume. These DVD collections remind me why I wanted the "X-Men" video game for the Sega Genesis, when other kids where excited for "Mortal Kombat" and "NBA Jam".