X-Men Vol. 2

Rating NR Formats DVD Genre television series Starring Iona Morris, Lenore Zann, Alison Seasly-Smith Directed by N/A Publisher Walt Disney Video External Links

“X-Men Make a Nostalgic Return on DVD”

From what I can remember, life as a 9-year old was relatively mundane.  I went to school and I rode my bike, maybe played a few sports here and there, but nothing too special that I could really look forward to.  That is, until Saturday morning would come around.  Back then, my young life revolved around those wonderful cartoons that aired during the early hours of the most beloved day of the week.   Much like a grown man would look forward to sitting in front of his television for a football game, I couldn’t wait to pop-a-squat in front of the TV with my bowl of Captain Crunch or whatever delicious cereal my mother had purchased that week and get lost in a world of animated bliss.

Now, as good as some of those cartoons were, they really were all just part of a countdown for me until the main attraction finally came on.  It was the one cartoon that became the primary reason for me waking up so ridiculously early.  Yes, I’m talking about X-Men.   The groundbreaking show from the 1990s, which was an adaptation of the Marvel comic books, made those mutated superheroes a household name and created a whole new generation of X-Men fans.

And now, the classic animated television series has finally found it’s way to DVD in two separate volumes (both released on April 28).  Words cannot express the warm nostalgic feeling that overwhelmed me as I began watching the first episode of volume 2 and the opening title started playing.  After all, this is the show that brought the comic books that so many of us adored to life.  It proved to us that Wolverine sounded just as badass as he acted and that Sabretooth was just as terrifying as he was on paper.   And it made us all wish we spoke with a Cajun accent like Gambit so we too could sound just as cool.

The show, which was part of the memorable Fox Kid’s Saturday Morning Lineup, comes off just as entertaining as it did when I was 9.  Almost one third of Volume 2 is made up of the compelling “Phoenix Saga” which successfully uses five episodes to tell the tale of Jean Grey’s infamous transformation into Phoenix.  And the standalone episodes do a good job of equally distributing the storylines among the X-Men, which allow for closer, more in-depth looks into each of their intricate past lives.  All your favorite villains show up as well with evil schemes and dialogue that make them so easy to love (especially Mister Sinister, my all-time favorite X-Men villain).

Don’t get me wrong, not all the episodes are amazing.  Like all television shows, X-Men Volume 2 has a few clunkers.  I can actually remember as a kid watching the lame “Mojovision” episode where the X-Men get cast against their will in a television show for an alternate dimension.  I just sat there staring at the screen after it ended thinking, “what was that?” It ruined my Saturday.  And I never was a big fan of The Savage Land storylines like the one Professor Xavier and Magneto find themselves in during most of the episodes in volume 2.

Even though the show was created and intended for younger audiences, it’s filled to the brim with classic stories and characters from the comics that would please any fanboy of the X-Men.  And if you have always wanted to get into the X-Men but don’t know where to start, these DVDs are a great way to give you an educated overview without having you spend a fortune on comic books.  If you loved the show as a child then it’s a no brainer; pick this DVD up.  Not only is it a pleasant stroll down memory lane, but it’s also a great way to get super excited for the new movie, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which opens this Friday.