Nostalgia. It is a disease that infects our senses to perceive products through rose coloured glasses just because of some fleeting connection to good memories of our younger days. In reviewing the much loved X-MEN THE ANIMATED SERIES it is only right that nostalgia is removed from the equation and we can review those show as objectively as possible to the standards of that era. The end result is really a mixed bag with its ups and downs when it comes to technical quality, writing, artwork and voice acting. It is not a bad show but not the epitome of perfection that many may choose to believe.An roaring action packed opening sequence, beautifully detailed art and amazing animation, kicks off each episode to the electronic fanfare of the now iconic X-men theme. As we segue into the episodes proper the drop in quality is very noticeable. There has always been a trade off between the level of art detail and the smoothness of the animation motions. Here, they tried to mimic the detailed art of the era's comics. The designs are straight out of the 1990s comics particularly those drawn by artist Jim Lee, maintaining lots of shadows and contrast with lighting effects, clothing folds and skin creases painstakingly drawn frame by frame. The level of detail is almost on par with direct to video Japanese Anime of that era, no simple feat coming from Korean studies AKOM. Unfortunately the quality of the animation leaves much to be desired. There is a stilted look to many scenes particularly in the more crowded action sequences. Backgrounds seem unfinished at times and the occasion animation error can be quite jarring. Close up shot fare better only because there is less to animate and the detailed art more than makes up for the mediocre animation. The stories are very close adaptations of tales straight out of the comic books, particularly the best works by Chris Claremont and Fabian Niceza. Overarching story lines spanning multiple episodes give each season a grander more epic feel. Stand outs include the Phoenix Saga, the Cable and Apocalypse conflict, and of course Magneto's Insurgency. There is a good mixed of "event" episodes and more intimate character Centred ones where there is less emphasis on action, more on drama and development. Initially both scripts and actors fell into the trappings of typical Saturday morning cartoon fluff: overacting, juvenile dialogue. Come season two and the script took on a more mature tone (again a result of adapting lines directly from the comics). Characters die and relationships get broken then healed as the episodes tackle themes of discrimination, extremism, illegal experimentation, and even some existential philosophy. The status quo continually changes unlike many other cartoons which always revert to status quo by the end of the episode.Slowly but surely the voice actors eased into their roles and by season 3 they were emoting like experts; subtle, nuanced, perfect. Many of the voices like Iona Morris' extra dramatic Storm, Norm Spencer's heroic leader Cyclops and Cathal Dodd's scowling Wolverine have gone down in history as being THE iconic voices of the characters that comic readers hear in their heads whenever they flip through their Favourite books. It is easy to see why the series garnered such a wide appeal, pleasing both casual viewers and Long time comic readers alike. It's faithfulness to the source material and visual aesthetics of the comics are tampered with necessary tweaks to make the continuity less convoluted. Having read the comic, I dare say that some of the changes are actually an improvement over the original stories. The cartoon's biggest asset is its willingness to show the more mature subject matter of the comics without dumbing stuff down for kids. The artwork is beautiful in all its rich detail, a cut above other cartoons of that era but sadly let down by sub par animation. Though it takes it's time to find good footing, X-MEN THE ANIMATED SERIES is right up there among the best of 1990s cartoons. Not perfect, and definitely not aged well when compared to shows of today, but excellent nonetheless.

Having reviewed every cinematic adaptation of the uncanny team, I though that "Waite what about the original animated series on Fox?". So to start this series is easily in the top ten of the most beloved superhero series even more than twenty years afters its opening in 1992, wait(!) Am I writing about an animated series that is on reruns since the turn of the new millennium? Wow I feel old! So X-men(1992) was my first encounter with the mutants and their adventures, the issues that they faces and why the team is the way it is. What I loved even to this day is the designs of the character, those colorful suits ,which 1. make it easy to distinguish for instance Cyclops from Beast and 2. show looks awesome and I wish some day to see something like that on the big screen. For real this has been sixteen years ,nine movies and two incarnations of the major players of the mutant group and the most only suit that look some like the ones from the series and comic are the ones from First Class and Deadpool.Another nice thing is that the mutants under the command of the main adversary(not enemy) of X-men, Magneto aren't evil for evil sake, but the society treatment of each and every one made them like that. In simple words they act in evil ways because this is the only thing they ever took from the regular humans. For that reason ,though I don't condole with their approach ,I get the why of the situation. Also no one can forget the amazing story-lines that the series adapted from the mythology of the team up to that point in time, from the Phoenix saga, the Age of Apocalypse, Slave Island and Days of Future Past just to name a few of them. And in some cases this adaptations were better than their feature film counterpart ,I am looking at you X-men Origins and Last Stand! And the opening theme, how could I not mention this amazing theme, what every fan of the series has memorized. Hell you can't say you are fan of the X-men if you don't know this song, period!!!!If you are a fan of the X-men this is for you and me the same as the Jesus of Najaret of the religious guys: The basis with what anything related with the subject you love is compared. And now let's get dangerous, what I don't like with the series.1) The animation is a bit stiff compared with modern-day animated projects. 2) At times the series is to much a product of its time, which means that some quotes at the nineties worked now sound dated and over the top.3)...The audience that is so devout to this series that like to shot out of the sky the feature film adaptations. But that is more a problem with the angry nerds and not with the series per say.Over all if you want your kids to get in to the X-men then show them this series and if you have the time watch it with them, in the age of the internet everyone can and usually relive his childhood by watching something this series.

I'm sorry but this show is rated way too high. I think most people are blinded by their nostalgia.I didn't watch this show as a child. I grew up watching Batman: TAS and Spider-Man TAS which I absolutely loved and still love to this day. I re-watch those shows pretty regularly even as an adult.I tried to watch a couple episodes of X-Men TAS since it was rated so highly on here. I found it pretty unwatchable. It's pretty obvious to me that this show was made strictly for children, without any concern for making it interesting to adults too.It is really preachy to kids about accepting and tolerating people who are different from you. This is a good message, but they hammer it in literally every episode. Also, the dialogue is really bad at times and Wolverine is almost useless since he can't use his claws on anyone except robots. There are countless nonsensical moments where the plot or the premise just doesn't add up. It's not a bad show for children, but I can't watch it as an adult.

Unlike many people on here, I am not familiar with the comics but I can safely say, if you liked the movies, then you are bound to enjoy this. It can appeal to kids as well as adults as it deals with some personal issues as well involving certain characters. The main characters in this series are as such: Wolverine, Xavier, Jean, Scott, Rogue, Gambit, Jubilee, Beast and Storm. Each are unique in their own way. Other characters such as Nightcrawler, Iceman and Colousess and not main characters and appear in few episodes but it was interesting to see how they were portrayed and characterised and I think they did it perfectly, considering that they didn't get much screen time. I was glad to see that it involves the love triangle between Logan/Jean/Scott and Rogue/Gambit and was done reasonably realistically but without getting in the way of the main story lines.Moving on, some of the story arcs were fantastic, particularly the Dark Phoneix saga and Days of Future Past. Some however (particularly Beyond Good And Evil) felt a bit out of place and long running. It also deals pretty well with the fight between mutants and humans while not going over the top. The animation is spot on and characters such as Logan and Jean look amazingly like they did in the movies! The fights are fun to watch and are fast paced and for once, they are allowed to punch! There is plenty of action and let's face it - who doesn't enjoy watching that? But what would this series be without humour? There are some extremely funny scenes and funny lines that you can't help but snort at. Logan and Gambit must have the best sense of humour in this particular series. I definitely recommend this series, it may be old but it is classic! 10/10.