Plot: What’s it about?
This release contains five episodes from the X-Men animated series and while I wasn’t a fan, I am still pleased to see the series here. I do like certain episodes, but I always found the animation too crude for the X-Men and as such, I never watched much. The series features all the old favorites, such as Wolverine, Magneto, Cyclops, Professor X, and the others, in adventure after amazing adventure. I’d seen Universal’s release of The Phoenix Saga, so I knew what to expect from this disc, which features five additional episodes of the series. Below you’ll find a brief synopsis for each included episode, as well as my own thoughts.
Reunion Part 1- In this episode, Professor X and Magneto have been taken hostage, to be used as bait by Mr. Sinister. He hopes that the X-Men will venture into the Savage Land to rescue them, where Sinister can then begin his maniacal plans. He seeks to use the mutant genetic material to create a master troupe of mutants, for his own gain, of course. This is a decent episode and leads into the follow up well enough, so I think it is a nice inclusion. I do wish the episodes leading up to this two partner were released here however, as some details seem to make no sense with just these two episodes.
Reunion Part 2- As planned, the X-Men travel to the Savage Land and soon after they arrive, they find themselves captured and powerless. Their mutant powers taken from them, the team seems depleted and with little recourse, doomed to fulfill Mr. Sinister’s wishes. But as usual, Wolverine decides to spice up the event and with a little help, he might able to thwart the evil plans. This was another solid effort and offers a cool close to the storyline, one of the better episodes I’ve seen, in fact.
Out of the Past Part 1- An old flame has returned to haunt Wolverine, since she blames him for her father’s death. He knew her as Yuriko, but now she is a living weapon and is known as Lady Deathstrike, a much more imposing moniker, to be sure. She soon lures Wolvie into the Morlock tunnels, hoping to use some hidden technology to enact her revenge. I wasn’t too taken with this storyline and as such, I wasn’t that taken with this episode.
Out of the Past Part 2- The strange alien device Yuriko used Wolvie to access turns out to be more expected, with a most lethal surprise inside. The device is in truth a prison cell and inside, lurks the M’Kraan Spirit Drinker, which is not a being you’d want to run into. The battle soon rages and when Jubilee’s spirit is absorbed, Wolverine must risk his own life to save her. Again, this storyline just wasn’t written for me, but if you’ve seen part one, then you’ll want to watch part two, if just for closure.
No Mutant Is An Island- After he has lost his love, Cyclops leaves his X-Men brethren and heads out to discover his past. His path takes him to the orphanage he once lived in, as an unwanted mutant child. As he looks around and learns more about his hometown, he stumbles onto a big scam, which involves young mutant kids. Now he must trace the crime back to the root, then shut it down for good. This was a more serious than most episodes, but it was cool to see such a personal perspective, very cool indeed.
Video: How does it look?
The episodes are presented in full frame transfers, just as they were shown on television. I wasn’t overly impressed here, but the image looks sharper than television editions, which is all you can ask for in the end. The colors seem bold and never bleed, while the animation looks as smooth as ever, which ain’t too smooth. No errors in the black levels either, so no detail is lost in the process at all. I saw no compression errors either, a solid presentation indeed.
Audio: How does it sound?
These episodes look like they did television and in the same turn, sound like they did when broadcast. The episodes have been given stereo options and while not too dynamic, the audio seems cleaner than I remember. The sound effects sound decent and the music does too, pretty good stuff as far as stereo options are concerned. I heard no errors with dialogue either, always crisp and never hard to understand. This disc also includes subtitles in English, Spanish, and French, just in case you might need those.
Supplements: What are the extras?
This disc contains no bonus materials.
