WOLVERINE & THE X MEN: X CALIBRE
April 26th 2010 23:41
Category: Videos, Television
Based on the Marvel comic character Wolverine created by Lee Wein & John Romita Snr
Director: Boyd Kirkland
Head Writer: Greg Johnson
Producer: Jason Netter
Starring: Steve Blum (Wolverine), Yuri Lowenthal (Iceman), Liam O Brien (Nightcrawler/Angel), Kari Wahlgren (Emma Frost), Jennifer Hale (Jean Grey), Jim Ward (Professor X), Fred Tatasciore (Beast), Tom Kane (Magneto), Grey Delisle (Spiral), Susan Dalian (Storm), Kevin Michael Richardson (Shadow King), Phil Morris (Colossus), Roger Craig Smith (Forge), Nolan North (Cyclops), Richard Doyle (Senator Kelly), Danielle Judovits (Shadowcat), & Kieren van den Blink (Rouge)
Released by: Marvel Entertainment & Magna Pacific
Running Time: 132 minutes Rating: PG
Every now and then you come across a real gem for a real steal, this particular DVD I picked up in a major supermarket at one of the two major shopping precincts in my home town. It was going for ten bucks and it had about just over two hours worth of viewing on it, and considering it was all about the X Men and Wolverine I felt it was worth shelling out some spenduli for it. Granted I did have a few slight misgivings, after all it was in the kids section so I felt it was going to be something a bit cutesy but fortunately when I got it back to my abode and in the DVD caddy of my trusty laptop my misgivings were quickly dispelled.
Over the last several years there have been several live action X-Men movies along with the standalone X Men Origins: Wolverine movie so it seemed to be natural to see an animate television series chronicling the activities of one of the more commonly known Marvel superhero teams. In fact I have to admit that I’m surprised the series hasn’t gotten much publicity so to speak as it seems to have been relegated to the world of the bargain basement bin as far as DVDs go. And according to the very tiny print on the back of the box this was a DVD that was only released just last year (which only passed four months ago), so it’s not as if it was a series from way back when. In fact the movies are still selling at what could be considered as premium prices the last time I checked, you sure as heck can’t buy them for ten dollars.
Of course all of this has come about with the disappearance of Charles Xavier, Professor X, a mutant telepath who through his Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters hoped to shift public perception of mutants and create some kind of harmony between mutants and normal people. He formed the X Men, a team of mutant heroes in order to prove that there was no need for ordinary people to fear mutants, his creation of this team was the result of the actions of a group calling itself the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, an organisation who followed a more extremist line and were usually affiliated with Magneto, Professor X’s former friend and long term rival. Magneto as a child has experienced firsthand the terrors of Nazi death camps during World War Two, his feelings to ordinary humans thus became coloured by such an experience. He firmly believed that it would be only a matter of time before the humans would follow a similar stance in regards to mutants that the Nazi’s had taken against the Jews and Gypsies. His agenda thus became one of pre-emptive retaliation, although in this series we see that rather than conducting various operations against his enemies he has taken a different tact…more of that later.
So when the events of this DVD open all seems relatively well in the world, Wolverine is about to head off on a jaunt somewhere, Colossus, Nightcrawler and Shadowcat are all involved in some intense training in the danger room and Professor X is looking over his other students with fatherly good humour in the grounds of the Xavier Institute, whilst Jean Grey and Scott Summers are having a slightly heated conversation. It’s a scene that makes one think of blissful domesticity…and then it all goes horribly pear shaped. And that is when we are introduced to the fact that all of this is Wolverines recollections of what happened one year previously, he is returning to the institute after this event has happened and the world has changed irrevocably. But now more than ever it strangely needs the X Men and it needs someone to lead them, and although he is reluctant, Wolverine is that someone.
No doubt there are some serious hardcore fans out there who would say that a lot of the material in this series goes against the holy and exalted canon of the X Men comics. Certainly there are changes, a lot of changes to the story that is the X Men saga but I feel that the creators and writers behind this series have done a very good job of weaving together a compelling story. They have taken the concept of poetic license and employed it with skill and gusto to create an extremely entertaining and amusing series – which frankly is a first for a western cartoon, after all I can remember the old Justice League and other similar cartoons ending with fairly corny finales that had everyone standing around laughing amidst a vast swathe of carnage and chaos. It just didn’t jell, here though there is an effort to have something a lot less saccharine and cheesy.
It is very interesting to see how the nation of Genosha has evolved down through the years – the first I had ever heard about this particular island state was way back when in the eighties when it was a nation that enslaved mutants for its own economic benefit. It was modern technological powerhouse but that base was built on the backs of mutant endeavours not any breakthrough innovation by its scientists. Now in this series Genosha is the Promised Land ruled by Magneto, a haven where mutants can live in peace free from oppression, discrimination and from fear of being incarcerated. Every now and then in the show you see a billboard or a flyer featuring a smiling Magneto and the word Genosha emblazoned beneath his photo, rather amusing. Almost sounds too good to be true, and who knows maybe it is, but it certainly is an interesting plot device and an interesting way to depict Magneto almost as if one year later on down the track he has taken up Charles Xavier’s mantle and run with it. If you like your superhero cartoons then Wolverine and the X-Men is definitely one you should get your hands on, and like I say it’s very reasonably priced…or you can catch it on ABC 2 on Sunday mornings if that’s more your thing…
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