It has aged pretty well! After all the movies, though, I find it odd to hear the different voices for each character.
A good introduction to the X-Men group and the show (though it felt a little awkward when Storm, a woman, said that they were the "X-Men"
The introduction of the show was helped by Jubilee, who is the classic "new view" into this world and new way of life.
When you have a lot of characters to juggle like in this ensemble, the quality of dialogue matters even more for each character, since they're not going to have a lot. Whereas something like Spider-Man is a singular hero and so you can write a lot for him in his debut episode.
Here they succeeded.
One of the things i remembered most about this show was it's grungy look, and it's here, and i kind of like it. The grunge combined with the futuristic technology yet with a slightly dystopian kind of atmosphere with the huge mutant hunting robot and the societal discussion of the danger of mutants, is a unique setting.
Speaking of which, i like the discussion about the mutants place in society and co-existing with humans.
It's an interesting debate, really. Most mutants want to co-exist, and the X-Men are like superheroes but also want to co-exist with normal humans.
A lot of normal humans just want to be safe. A lot are fearful of the mutants powers, and a lot want to lock the mutants up.
It's a hard debate because mutants can be so much more powerful than normal humans and often have advantages. There's a huge power imbalance.
And while the X-Men want to help out and forward the message of mutants co-existing with humans, i don't know if it's possible. Not every mutant is going to be good, even if humans were mostly not trying to kill or lock up humans, and support co-existing. There's always going to be bad mutants and groups who will kill a lot of people.
And if the good mutants lost against the bad, then what can normal humans do then? They've been supporting co-existing, but now if the good mutants they relied on are defeated, they are utterly screwed against the bad ones. So i can see why the normal humans scramble to defend themselves.
I think one of the best ways forward would be for potentially dangerous mutants (and some other classes of mutants) to live in their own separate society. Carve out a portion of the world for those classes of mutants, with their borders defended by good mutants. Make visitor passes to go through the border. Or make it possible for migration. Register mutant powers and ways to contain them before allowing them to the human side. And have some mutant special forces for the human side incase some bad mutants sneak or blast through the border.
I don't know, it would present it's own problems, but i don't think there's an ideal solution. It's possibly better than the continued chaos that's going on now, and could get much worse. Mutants should not be persecuted, and a war between mutants and humans would be devastating. It would be a civil war in every country. Sometimes hard problems require hard solutions. Humanity might be able to unite after a few centuries or more, when mutant genes have become so widespread that most humans are now mutants.
Here's discussions about a mutant registration act and a superhero registration act. If you're not familliar with marvel characters/MCU and the X-Men, then these links are going to have spoilers.
https://www.reddit.com/r/comicbooks/comments/1y26sn/support_the_mutant_registration_act/
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskScienceFiction/comments/4eilg0/marvel_are_you_anti_or_pro_registartion_act/
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskScienceFiction/comments/26eb40/debate_should_we_support_the_mutant_registration/
https://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/comments/37m3cl/cmv_in_marvels_civil_war_im_a_supporter_of_the/
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskScienceFiction/comments/4eilg0/marvel_are_you_anti_or_pro_registartion_act/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Avengers/comments/u9fuph/who_did_you_support_in_the_civil_war_and_why/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Avengers/comments/r0gy5w/in_captain_america_civil_war_were_you_team_cap_or/
https://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/comments/njs982/cmv_i_think_iron_mantony_stark_was_right_in/
https://www.reddit.com/r/marvelstudios/comments/gep4k5/neither_is_100_right_but_ultimately_i_would_take/
https://www.reddit.com/r/marvelstudios/comments/sq9751/iron_man_was_right_in_civil_war_and_caps_argument/
https://www.reddit.com/r/marvelstudios/comments/5fencc/to_those_who_picked_a_side_in_civil_war_using/
https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/5430ov/captain_america_civil_war_cap_unlikable/
Some good comments was when someone talked about how a mutant kid could destroy their whole classroom or level a city if they had a bad day, or if they wanted to. Another comment talked about how there's a difference in danger between a normal human and someone who can fart atom bombs. It's silly but it's a good point.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2023-04-04T21:35:37Z
[7.4/10] Part 1 of the “Night of the Sentinels” two-parter is a solid introduction to the X-Men and their world. The smartest choice the series premiere makes is to root the story in the perspective of Jubilee, who is as new to this as the audience is.
On a practical level, that gives the show a chance to introduce everyone and everything. It’s hard to put myself into the shoes of someone new to the X-Men, but this was my introduction to the characters when it originally aired. If you’re uninitiated, you get a good sense of Professor X and his crew, their team dynamics, and their powers from Jubilee bumping into the various team members and watching their abilities in action.
Some of it’s a little blunt. Rogue’s random discussion of her backstory along the way of a mission, or Professor X clarifying to Cyclops that the Mutant Control Association is a private organization even though he presumably ought to know, comes off a little ham-handed. But for the most part, the show does a good job of showing each of the main members with their powers in action, and enough of their personalities and banter to get a sense for how they fit together.
Gambit is debonair. Storm is theatrical. Morph is playful. Cyclops is strait-laced. Rogue is a bit sarcastic. Beast is intellectual. There’s obviously more shading to be done, but you get the gist of each of the main players, which is important when situating viewers with a new show. And hey, most notably for X-Men fans, you get a good sense of Wolverine as someone who is gruff, sometimes outright insubordinate, but who cares enough to go after Jubilee even when it’s not the current mission.
Channeling all of thai through Jubilee lets the audience share in her confusion and chance to learn about these ostensibly scary but genuinely heroic major players. Sure, it’s a little blunt to have Cyclops just announce the team’s mission of doing good deeds to show regular humans that mutants aren't to be feared. But for the most part, Jubilee makes for a fine entree into this world and its major personalities.
Beyond the pure introductory function though, she serves a deeper purpose -- to drive home the key themes of the series: the unjustness of prejudice and the plight of people who are subjected to it. As Jubilee herself says, she’s just a kid. She didn’t ask to be a mutant. And yet, she faces bigotry and downright hatred from the people she encounters simply for being who she is. Even her own foster parents are worried about what she might be.
Seeing someone so innocent subjected to thai builts sympathy, and plays into the metaphors that have long been the stock and trade for the X-Men in the comics. It’s easy to put yourself in Jubilee’s shoes, and wonder why people would hate a person just for being who they are. The fact that she’s a young Chinese-American woman drives the anti-xenophobic perspective of the show home. Couple that with her struggling to control her powers which is an apt metaphor for growing up, and Jubilee having to hear politicians rail against her kind on national television, and you have the recipe for someone whose very existence helps you understand what the X-Men are fighting for and why.
Along the way, while the animation is a little choppy to start, the imagery is quite cool. The gigantic sentinels are terrifying, stomping through neighborhoods and malls, leaving destruction in their wake. Small touches like Beast’s ability to operate in any direction, or Rogue using an escalator as a shield make for some neat moments. And I’m completely blinded by nostalgia, but the designs for the X-Men really pop off the screen.
Overall, this one delivers on the promise of an X-Men series out of the gate, with an array of personalities with cool powers, a crisis of the week worthy of their talents, and a perspective character who brings their plight and their cause to the forefront.