X-MEN REVISITED - 'Night of the Sentinels' (Parts 1 & 2)

'X-Men' (1992)

With the impending release of "X-Men '97", I've decided to take a look back at its predecessor, the show that the new series promises to follow. In this review, I take a look at the two-part story that started the original animated "X-Men" show in 1992. At the time, this show became one of the prime series to watch on Saturday mornings when it aired on Fox.

Also, since this is about a group of mutants at Charles Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, I'm going to grade each episode as I go along through the series.

Now, I'll go ahead and get this out of the way. The animation of this original series has aged quite a bit. When compared to something like "Batman: The Animated Series", the animation just doesn't hold up as well. Physics is thrown out the window completely in this particular episode, such as the fact that nothing keeps the same proportions or follows the same rules. The Sentinels are the best example for this as they change in size and strength. At one moment, they're too strong for the X-Men to handle and in another moment, the X-Men are able to cut them down like butter.

Cyclops faces off against a Sentinel in 'Night of the Sentinels'!

In other words, it's actually a pretty good and literal adaptation of the comic books being released at the time. The design of the X-Men and their near future setting was ripped directly from the comics that were being designed and drawn by artist Jim Lee. In fact, the setting and the faithfulness to the source material is exactly what makes this series still work for me even today.

'Night of the Sentinels' chooses to follow the young Jubilee, a character that just realizes she is a mutant who can... shoot bright sparkly things out of her hands. Admittedly, her powers are weak but Jubilee is simply used as an avatar for the audience. She is new to the mutant world, so she can ask the questions that the audience may be asking and she helps set up the world that these mutants and villains occupy.

Another strong aspect of these first two episodes is that it does a great job of setting up a world where humans are afraid of mutants. While the X-Men want to co-exist peacefully with humans and help advance mutant-kind, they must also face off against dangerous humans who want them wiped off the face of the planet simply because they were born differently.

The two-parter contains two primary battles: one at a site where mutants are being registered by the evil Henry Gyrich and the other at the factory where the Sentinels are being built by a man named Trask. There is even a tragic outcome during the first battle where an X-Man is killed and one is captured, which is higher stakes than other animated shows at the time where the rule, generally, is that everyone has to make it and no one ever really gets hurt.

At the end of the day, 'Night of the Sentinels' is still a strong start to a show that became a staple of Saturday morning viewing in the '90s. The animation has admittedly aged in these initial episodes, but the world building and staying true to the source material of the time still makes this one of the stronger animated shows from its era and they were still a ton of fun to watch, which is really the only thing that matters.

GRADE: B-