If you read my review of the Vol. 6 DVD release, you’ll remember I said to hold out because the complete season would not be too far off. Well here it is, and as the show was sadly cancelled, this not only is the complete season 1 but the complete series as well.
Following the X-Men of Marvel comics lore, the show widely varies from the history established in the comic book. But the characters (for the most part) are so well represented and the series pulls from so many classic X-Men story lines, that this didn’t bother me in the slightest.
In this series, an explosion destroys the X-Mansion and Prof. X and Jean Grey disappear. One year later Prof. X appears to Wolverine and tells him that he is trapped in an apocalyptic future and only Wolverine, with the help of the X-Men, can the future be prevented from happening. This is a great twist on the classic character line up because not only does it force Wolverine to be a leader, but it pushes Cyclops to the side and the show looks at how both these men deal with being outside their comfort zone.
The biggest problems that this series has, character wise, is Toad and Forge. Toad has always been an annoying character, but in this show he’s even more annoying. In the comics Forge is a wise old shut in, in the show he’s the young socially awkward kid who kind of looks like Tom Green. It’s very distracting.
There are some really great stories in this show. Nightcrawler gets to show off his style against Mojo and Spiral twice, Wolverine has to fight Hulk again and Angel has to deal with losing his wings and being turned into Archangel. Since the show is called Wolverine and the X-Men many of the stories do focus on everyone’s favorite adamantium bone laced mutant, however there are plenty of episodes that give focus to the other characters to keep things different. Sure, not all characters get the same amount of love, but you can only sell so many stories with 26 episodes.
The episodes are presented in widescreen 1.78:1. Sound is Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. This is a really well animated show with a good mix of hand drawn and computer animation. The colors really pop on these discs and the sound is great.
Audio Commentaries: All the episodes have commentary and if you’re a fan of the show then these are really great commentaries. They tell great stories about why the chose which characters they did and they make lots of jokes about their own storytelling that keep the commentaries lively and entertaining.
The Making of…: (5 min.) A pretty typical making of, but it is really interesting and informative.
The Inner Circle: Reflections on…: (20 min.) This is a more in-depth look at the series wherein the creators of the show look back at the show they created and talk about it. The information here makes the 5 minute making of pretty worthless.
This is a solid X-Men cartoon that is very entertaining from beginning to end. It’s a great addition to the X-Men cartoons that have come before it and if you’re an X-fan, then this is definitely a great DVD set to add to your collection.
Marvel and Lionsgate present Wolverine And The X-Men: The Complete Series. Created by Craig Kyle and Greg Johnson. Written by Greg Johnson. Starring Steve Blum, Jim Ward, Nolan North, Fred Tatasciore and Kari Wahlgren. 598 minutes on 3 disc. Released on DVD and Blu-ray: October 12, 2010.
