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Wolverine and the X-Men: The Complete Series
R1 - America - Lions Gate Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Jeremiah Chin (16th January 2011). |
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The Show
 Though it sounds ornery and cantankerous, even downright grumpy, these kids and their newfangled cartoons don’t make the cut compared to the cartoons back in my day. The original “X-Men: The Animated Series” (1992-1997) along with “Batman: The Animated Series” (1992-1995) defined what comic book-to-cartoon conversions should look like, bringing the stories and arcs of the comics to life in animated form with a few new additions that even make their way back into the comics. But they also had their own signature art stles that helped to define the look and image of the show. All the animated series' that have followed, like “Wolverine and the X-Men” (2008-2009) that in it’s short run tried to recapture the old magic of X-Men: The Animated Series” of my childhood, infused with a different art style though touching on many of the old Chris Claremont storylines that were brought to the screen so well in the earlier show. In the first episode, Wolverine (Steven Blum) is getting ready to leave Xavier (Jim Ward) and the X-Men to go off on his own, a classic Wolverine move, only to have the school somehow attacked, everyone knocked Unconscious, while Xavier and Jean Gray (Jennifer Hale) have disappeared completely. With anti-mutant sentiment on the rise and the X-Men disbanded after a year without Xavier, Wolverine decides to get the gang back together to try and find the Professor and Jean, and generally do good for Mutants. At first the road is rough, getting the team to follow him rather than Cyclops (Nolan North) is difficult for Wolverine, but with the help of Beast (Fred Tatasciore) he gathers much of the team back together, including a grumpy Cyclops with the eager Shadowcat (Danielle Judovits) and Nightcrawler (Liam O’Brien) along with new recruits like Emma Frost (Kari Wahlgren). At first glance I was a bit frustrated in the show’s move towards the more "anime" inspired art style that has become more and more popular, which is fine, but jarring compared with the original art style. While it’s a little unfair to keep drawing comparisons, it’s ultimately what has to be done for anyone in my generation who grew up with the original animated series and is now watching anything new. However after a few episodes the eyes adjust and the different style becomes more acceptable and tries to go for the same kind of overall feel, with may of the designs keeping to the old look with a few redesigns that aren’t terrible. They also do a good job of bringing some of the characters from the comics to screen, even if in cameos, like Dust, who have been created later. In terms of story it does a fairly good job of keeping the connections and winding arcs from the comics intact in some form, or at least hinted at. The connections in comic team allegiances can get far more complicated than any soap opera, then don’t even get started in looking at the different romances and relationships. For example, Cyclops was married to Jean Grey, Madeline Pryor (unknowingly), and later Emma Frost, and has had children like Cable, Stryfe or X-Man who emerge in different time lines and futures but always travel through time to hang out with their parents. He is also the brother of Havoc, and recently Vulcan, son of Corsair of the Starjammers. Don’t even get me started on Wolverine or any of his alternate universe connections. And of course this is the paragraph where I applaud the new voice acting cast, but can’t get over how they aren’t like the originals. The signature voices of “X-Men: The Animated Series” have become so deeply implanted in my brain any portrayal seems to pale in comparison, even Patrick Stewart’s great performance as Xavier in the “X-Men” series of films (2000-2006) doesn’t hold up compared to Cedric Smith’s performance in the original series since he defined the role in my mind. But what they do in the series is not try to emulate the voices of the film or even the original series, and come away with something reasonably good in their interpretations that remain well balanced with the characters and not just shadows of their original selves. After being disappointed by “X-Men: Evolution” (2000-2003), “Wolverine and the X-Men” does a good job at bringing the stories that really matter to screen without messing around with the high school motif that “Evolution” tried and failed to accomplish. It’s a decent part of the X-Men animated saga, looking more like the newer animated Marvel Products, for better or worse, and gives a dose of X-men storylines that have me craving more of the original animated series than of this new one. Though that could have been the cause for cancellation. This set includes al 26 episodes of the series, cancelled after it’s first season, across 3 discs: - “Hindsight (Part 1)” - “Hindsight (Part 2)” - “Hindsight (Part 3)” - “Overflow” - “Thieves’ Gambit” - “X-Calibre” - “Wolverine vs. the Hulk” - “Time Bomb” - “Future X” - “Greetings from Genosha” - “Past Discretions” - “eXcessive Force” - “Battle Lines” - “Stolen Lives” - “Hunting Grounds” - “Badlands” - “Code of Conduct” - “Backlash” - “Guardian Angel” - “Breakdown” - “Rover” - “Aces and Eights” - “Shades of Grey” - “Foresight (Part 1)” - “Foresight (Part 2)” - “Foresight (Part 3)”
Video
Presented in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen the show does a good job of using the widescreen presentation and the animation looks fairly crisp on screen with only a few quick and intermittent moments of digital junk showing up on the screen. The coloring of the show and palette look nice enough, playing off the darker hues of the characters and mood when necessary, but especially bringing back Wolverine’s classic look, with some fine character designs, but again the slant towards the anime character and body designs leave me wanting for a more signature style.
Audio
The main audio track is an English Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track with a classical audio soundtrack that aims for a cinematic feel to the animated series, which is a nice touch considering the goal of going for a more serious animated X-Men show. Again the voice acting cast is well put together and the different sound effects for the show, from Wolverine’s claws to Nighcrawlers’ ‘bamf’ all sound about right for some good production design. The transfer into the 5.1 surround track brings a good feel to it all and you don’t lose any resolution that you wouldn’t have had on television, even upgrading a bit beyond considering that the show is not in high definition here. There’s also a Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo track, though unfortunately no subtitles.
Extras
This set was maybe the most significant example of be careful what you wish for that I’ve had in reviewing here, considering on this set there are 29 audio commentaries for the 26 episodes of the show, an impressive effort to give insight or just talk about the show across all the discs. It might be the first time I haven’t watched all of the commentaries for every episode, I’ve finally been defeated and for that I’m sorry. Plus there are some bonus trailers and two featurettes. An impressive offering. DISC ONE: First here is a list of the audio commentaries on the disc and their corresponding episodes: - Audio commentary on the episode "Hindsight (Part 1)” by series writers Craig Kyle and Greg Johnson. - Audio commentary on the episode “Hindsight (Part 1)” by series directors Boyd Kirkland and Steve Gordon. - Audio commentary on the episode “Hindsight (Part 2)” by series writers Craig Kyle and Greg Johnson. - Audio commentary on the episode “Hindsight (Part 2)” by series directors Boyd Kirkland and Steve Gordon. - Audio commentary on the episode “Hindsight (Part 3)” by series writers Craig Kyle and Greg Johnson. - Audio commentary on the episode “Hindsight (Part 3)” by series directors Boyd Kirkland and Steve Gordon. - Audio commentary on the episode “Overflow” by series writers Craig Kyle, Greg Johnson and Chris Yost. - Audio commentary on the episode “Thieves’ Gambit” by series writers Craig Kyle, Greg Johnson and Chris Yost. - Audio commentary on the episode “X-Calibre” by series writers Craig Kyle, Greg Johnson and Chris Yost. - Audio commentary on the episode “Wolverine vs. the Hulk” by series writers Craig Kyle, Greg Johnson and Chris Yost. - Audio commentary on the episode “Time Bomb” by series writers Craig Kyle, Greg Johnson and Chris Yost. - Audio commentary on the episode “Future X” by series writers Craig Kyle, Greg Johnson and Chris Yost. Craig Kyle and Greg Johnson bring a good beat to the commentaries, putting together the important bits of information and helping to connect the different storylines together from the comics, comparing what they put together, but with a lot of recurring jokes including their credits. Chris Yost brings a nice third voice to the commentaries on later episodes, though there’s more sarcasm about their participation in the show than anything else, it’s not quite as insightful as you would want, but with the quantity they provide there’s some quality mixed in there. The three commentaries with Boyd Kirkland and Steve Gordon bring a different perspective as parts of the art department, especially to hear the experience of Gordon who has worked on so many different shows, along with a few quips about the show. It doesn’t flow quite as well as the rest of the tracks, but these three are more insightful about how they turn the show into an animated process and putting everything together for making an animated series. Bonus trailers on the disc are: - “Alpha and Omega” runs for 2 minutes and 30 seconds. - “Thor: Tales of Asgard” runs for 1 minute and 57 seconds. - “The Spy Next Door” runs for 2 minutes and 21 seconds. - “Planet Hulk” runs for 1 minute and 55 seconds. - “Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow” runs for 2 minutes and 6 seconds. - “Battle for Terra” runs for 2 minutes and 16 seconds. DISC TWO: Another round of audio commentaries on all the episodes: - Audio commentary on the episode “Greetings from Genosha” by series writers Craig Kyle, Greg Johnson and Chris Yost. - Audio commentary on the episode “Past Discretions” by series writers Craig Kyle, Greg Johnson and Chris Yost. - Audio commentary on the episode “eXcessive Force” by series writers Craig Kyle, Greg Johnson and Chris Yost. - Audio commentary on the episode “Battle Lines” by series writers Craig Kyle, Greg Johnson and Chris Yost. - Audio commentary on the episode “Stolen Lives” by series writers Craig Kyle, Greg Johnson and Chris Yost. - Audio commentary on the episode “Hunting Grounds” by series writers Craig Kyle, Greg Johnson and Chris Yost. - Audio commentary on the episode “Badlands” by series writers Craig Kyle, Greg Johnson and Chris Yost. - Audio commentary on the episode “Code of Conduct” by series writers Craig Kyle, Greg Johnson and Chris Yost. - Audio commentary on the episode “Backlash” by series writers Craig Kyle, Greg Johnson and Chris Yost. Again the trio of Kyle, Johnson and Yost bring some good flavor to the commentaries, but I wish they had possibly brought more people in and out of the commentaries, highlighting specific episodes or even voice actors in the process, more like the golden standard of TV commentaries seen on the “Futurama” (1999-2003; 2008-Present) releases. DISC THREE: Rounding out the audio commentary barrage are the final episodes: - Audio commentary on the episode “Guardian Angel” by series writers Craig Kyle, Greg Johnson and Chris Yost. - Audio commentary on the episode “Breakdown” by series writers Craig Kyle, Greg Johnson and Chris Yost. - Audio commentary on the episode “Rover” by series writers Craig Kyle, Greg Johnson and Chris Yost. - Audio commentary on the episode “Aces and Eights” by series writers Craig Kyle, Greg Johnson and Chris Yost. - Audio commentary on the episode “Shades of Grey” by series writers Craig Kyle, Greg Johnson and Chris Yost. - Audio commentary on the episode “Foresight (Part 1)” by series writers Craig Kyle, Greg Johnson and Chris Yost. - Audio commentary on the episode “Foresight (Part 2)” by series writers Craig Kyle, Greg Johnson and Chris Yost. - Audio commentary on the episode “Foresight (Part 3)” by series writers Craig Kyle, Greg Johnson and Chris Yost. You can hear a little bit of the exhaustion in their voices, their jokes go a little crazier and they comment as much on the different storylines all coming to convergence in the final episodes of the series and drawing all of the lines between the different arcs that have occurred. Finishing on a high note with a good final touch on the series, even if they thought another season was in their future. Still there are good comments mixed in, along with some extra notes on combating piracy and keeping storylines intact. The first featurette is “The Inner Circle: Reflections on Wolverine and the X-Men” which runs for 18 minutes and 51 seconds, they give some of the information that may have come through a bit in the commentaries, but more explicitly drawing the connections into "Days of Future Past," building the storylines from the characters that they loved the most, pulling in the big cast and all the different mutants putting them all together. It’s a decent featurette that even draws in some side-by-side storyboard sequences, concept art in the background, but most importantly some interviews with the voice actors that are not only great to see in real life to see their look compared to the characters, but just hear how they figure out the sound of their characters and figuring out how they pull their performances out in the booth. “Making Wolverine and the X-Men” runs for 5 minutes and 15 seconds, the second featurette on the disc talks about moving from “X-Men Evolution” to “Wolverine and the X-Men” while creating a similar yet new look, pulling in Boyd Kirkland, it even pulls in certain parts of the first featurette to be restated. This featurette however does a bit more talk of the incorporation of characters and designs, both in terms of story and artistically within the show. Finally is what is labeled on the disc as a trailer gallery, but in reality is a compilation of bonus trailers for: - “Alpha and Omega” runs for 2 minutes and 30 seconds. - “Thor: Tales of Asgard” runs for 1 minute and 57 seconds. - “Planet Hulk” runs for 1 minute and 55 seconds. - “Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow” runs for 2 minutes and 6 seconds. - “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Season 7: Parts 1-4” runs for 1 minute and 32 seconds. - “Super Capers” runs for 2 minutes and 31 seconds. - “Speed Racer: The Next Generation: The Fast Track: The Movie” runs for 17 seconds.
Packaging
The three discs come in a regular sized keep case, along with a cardboard slip-case.
Overall
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