The 31st of October is best known for Halloween but it has many different meaning to people all over the world. To fans of X-Men it signifies the anniversary of the show but this anniversary is extra special, it celebrates the 20th anniversary. When the show aired on the 31st of October 1992 a lot of kids would have been trick or treating or in my case just getting to grips with walking. I did not watch the first episode when it aired then but I have made up for it tenfold.
X-Men was a very popular show in the 90’s and rightly so. For a lot of children it was probably one of the most grown up cartoons available. The X-Men consisted of the original line up, Professor X, Wolverine, Storm, Jean Grey, Cyclops, Gambit, Rogue, Beast and Jubilee. It also featured an original character, Morph. The characters were very similar in appearance they were drawn in the comics by Jim Lee. Many others made appearances throughout the 5 series that it aired for.
There were a lot of storylines from the comics adapted for the TV, The Phoenix Saga and Days of Future Past (which will be the instalment in the X-Men movie franchise). Most of the storylines were amazing and some not so much but every show has an episode or two that make you do a double take. Though a majority of the double takes were caused by stories that echoed social problems at the time.
The main theme that resonated throughout the show was prejudice against people who were not like everybody else. As a child it tends to be harder to shrug it off when you are raised not to view people in a negative manner just because they are different. Growing up in a multicultural environment made me a very open and accepting person but as a child, while watching X-Men it filled me with sadness and anger to see others being treated in that manner even though I knew they were not real it rang of truth which I only grasped a few years later. Divorce, AIDS and Christianity were other social issues visited throughout the show. I remember having discussions with my friends about the meaning of divorce and why people would do that at the age of 9. Luckily I am not as naïve as I was back then and can think out of the box when I re-watch those episodes.
Character development is something that the show did very well all of the main characters were dissected and thoroughly inspected. I knew each and every character well enough from reading the comics and for those who only watched the TV show they knew quite a lot about the characters. Unlike many cartoons I see today there are plenty of character specific episodes. Not just one or two for the 2nd tier of character but all those who had a role had their story told. Whether it was their own or a group story, you got to know a majority of the goodies, baddies and inbetweeners that made X-Men the show it was.
With character developments came relationships, love/hate, hate/hate, love/love and probably one of the most recognised love triangles in the marvel universe. If you haven’t guessed who I am talking about, I am tsking at you. The Jean Grey, Scott Summers and Wolverine ménage a trois was the first love triangle I ever encountered. It made me dislike Scott, Jean Grey and love Wolverine. I didn’t like the fact that she seemed to have it all including the love of Wolverine. Wolverines heart to me was something so special that seemed wasted on that red headed ….vixen. To be honest I wanted Storm and Wolverine to get together. Not the light flirting, occasional kiss, deep meaningful gazes but together. They would have been so good together……sigh… though in saying that my ultimate couple was Gambit and Rogue, everything about the two of them gave me the fuzzies and made them a contender for best couple of all time.
The X-Men TV show was and still is a gem to X-Men fans. Though there was an attempt to reboot it (X-Men Evolution), which wasn’t too shabby in my opinion. Nothing will beat the original cartoon series which has been rated as 1 of the Top 10 in 90’s cartoon programmes on numerous polls and rightly so.
[Words, Tendai Muzwidzwa]
Editor-in-Chief, part-time super villain and hoarder of cats. If you can’t find me writing, I’m probably in the kitchen!
