X-Men’97 - Season 1

Stream on Disney+

Episode: 10 Episodes (31 - 42 minutes each)

Rated TV-PG

Based on the beloved Fox cartoon.

Many of us (my age) grew up watching the Spider-Man and X-Men animated series in the 90s on Fox. Now, over thirty years later Disney has brought the series back to continue the story. Follow along with Cyclops as he leads the X-Men, after their leader Charles Xavier had to leave earth due to injuries. Yes, they are picking up where the original series finale left off. The X-Men will use their special gifts to protect a world which fears and hates them.

Themes: “Trust happens when actions meet words.”

Mutants, being misunderstood, fighting for a cause, government, terrorists, trust, family, teamwork, marriage, selflessness, evolution, tolerance, hatred, extinction, war, science, the future, acceptance, NATO, genetics, cloning, nightmares, time travel, children, the future, loss of power, jealousy, hatred, United Nations, relationship problems, space, aliens, psychics, allegiances, politics, genocide, sentinels, technology, protection, technopathy,

Language:

Name calling such as punk, dirtbag, creep, yuppie, fool, animals, dirty mutant, freak, bigot, worm, etc.

Religious Exclamations - 4 B*stard - 1 Crap - 1 Dang - 4 D*mn - 11 Heck - 6 Hell - 5 Pissed - 2

Stuff to be aware of: “Omega level threat detected.”

There is plenty of animated fighting and some of it ends with people bleeding and dying. There are some sexual things (in my opinion) in episode three. There is an underlying feeling built up that Rogue may be cheating on Gambit with Magneto, who is much older than her. One side note here is that Magneto and Rogue do have a relationship in the comics at one point. There may also be some hinted at same sex attraction in episode three. Below I broke down what is in each episode.

Episodes 1 and 2 - There are plenty of 90s midriffs throughout the show. There is a club scene where people dance and a close up shot of two mouths kissing. In a vision there is a talking sentinel head that also looks like a skull. There is a plane crash scene. One character bleeds a little from their mouth during a fight. Morph turns into a woman to make fun of Wolverine. There is a reference to the holocaust and it is mentioned, “because we dared to call God by another name.” Male and female characters embrace and kiss.

Episode 3 - Mr. Sinister who has sharp teeth and red glowing eyes is a bit creepy. There are nightmarish creatures that have multiple arms and their heads change and morph. They are similar to animated versions of John Carpenter’s The Thing. During this nightmare sequence several things take place. Rogue and Magneto embrace and appear to be melting into one another. Wolverine is showering in a scene. His naked silhouette can be seen. Morph smiles coyly at him and offers to help him wash in the “hard to reach spaces.” This is a nightmarish scene and it is said, “Always with the jokes Morph, as if I don’t know. As if we all don’t know.” I assume this is a reference to Morph being attracted to Logan? A teddy bear turns into an animated scary looking professor X. There are demon looking creatures. A baby is put into a tank of liquid. There is a bit of blood in this episode. A male and female character kiss. A bar is shown and a character is seen drinking from an unlabeled bottle.

Episode 4 - Mojo is the villain in this epidose. If you don’t know anything about him he is very gross. He is no longer large, but skinny with tons of loose flesh. He has sharp teeth, things pulling his eye open, and his lower body is a mechanical scorpion type chair. As the episode progresses Mojo gains his weight back and appears more like the normal version. When defeated he shoots light out of his mouth and seems to get fried. Jubilee (female) and Roberto (male) kiss and fall backwards and the scene goes black. This episode is split in two. In the second half the word D*mn is used twice and there is a huge owl demon that bites people and their viens turn an odd color. It talks with a creepy voice.

Episode 5 - There is a kiss scene between Wolverine and Jean Grey, however Jean is married to Cyclops. Jean later kisses Cyclops. A bar in Germany is mentioned. An affair is mentioned and Rouge is seen standing in a bedroom while Magneto is in bed asleep. People drink what is implied to be alcohol. One character has a nose blood and it drips on the floor. Explosions happen and people die and get hurt. There is some blood. Some people get disintegrated. One character gets stabbed in the side and there is a significant amount of blood.

Episode 6 - a character gets stabbed in the face with a heel and bleeds a little. A character has a demonic wound that looks like a breathing black blob. The demonic owlbear is back and speaks in a creepy voice. It changes its face to other characters with sharp teeth. It’s head also turns in circles. There is a brief mention of evolution. There is a character that mentions, “drinking wine, and making love.” A man begs to be killed.

Episode 7 - More comic book style fighting, but no blood. Some bloody patients can be seen in a medical tent. As with a few past episodes this one has a few curse words. A man is suffocated by another. A man tries to jump off a building and is caught by a character and then thrown off. There is a zombie like character whose head turns in unhuman ways.

Episode 8 - Mr. Sinister returns with his creepiness. A man is seen in a speedo and he is locked up and hanging by his wrists. There is a man and woman that are briefly seen in their underwear/bathing suit. They are dipped into a vat of stuff. An old woman moves in unnatural ways and you hear her bones cracking. This is meant to be creepy. Several other random people do this. They get computer like veins on them. Their eyes also glow and they kind of look like tech zombies. Some have long creepy tongues. There is a small statue of Atlas holding up the world. His naked butt can be seen.

Episode 9 - This episode starts with a bunch of human sentinel hybrids that have been shut down and kind of look dead. There is mention of a conversation that took place in a bar. Magento mentions that gods abandon those who believe in them. A character gets stabbed and blood can be seen on what stabs him, this is pretty graphic compared to what has been seen in episodes before this.

Episode 10 - Two characters are drinking beer in mugs in a bar. A character is seen with multiple wounds. One character gets shot across the forehead with some blood. Suicide is mentioned in one sentence. A character gets very old and looks creepy. A character gets crushed is oozing stuff and has a messed up face similar to Two Face from Batman. It could be too disturbing or gross for some. Morph changes into Jean Gray and says to Logan, “She can’t say it, but I can. I love you Logan….”

Overall:

Some things parents should be aware of is that there has been a big deal made about a tweet (or advertisement) stating that Morph is nonbinary. This word is never used in the show and Morph is referred to as he, however his body language and things he says makes the viewer assume Morph is attracted to Logan. Wolverine is male and Morph’s true form (he shape shifts) was a male in the old cartoon and he sometimes shifts to it in this. In the finale Morph changes into Jean Gray and says to Logan, “She can’t say it, but I can. I love you Logan….” There is also lots of fighting, a few curse words, and characters that die.

They nailed the dialogue, character interactions, costumes/clothes, and even a 90s feeling animation style that is just updated enough to feel fresh. The actions sequences are insane and epic! This show has been nostalgia overload and I can’t wait to see what they do with it. I love how the intro changes with each episode to reflect things happening and characters coming and going. Episode six has some fun space character cameos. The side story with Storm, in my opinion, is the weakest story in the show. While it is a good story of overcoming lies we tell ourselves it propelled the story forward the least. The finale left so many things hangings, but also set up so many old comic stories. I’m excited to see what happens next.