Last time on X-Men: The Animated
Series, the X-Men hit the big screen. The interdimensional
producer/director Mojo teleported most of the team, (Cyclops, Jean, Beast,
Storm, Rogue, and Wolverine) to his dimension Mojoworld to star in a series of
his new brainless action television shows. He brought them in to replace his
previous media darling Longshot. After everyone had a 3–5-minute little action
scene, Jean used her powers to disrupt Mojo’s control room, and Longshot freed
them to get his timeslot back. The team beat Mojo seemingly by crushing him
with his control room and were sent home.
Mojo survived, though, and showed us what’s up with Charles and Magneto.
The two had finally reached the outskirts of Magneto’s citadel. They also
watched another of Magneto’s former Mutates, a humanoid pterosaur named Sauron,
kidnapping a Savage Land woman. Magneto assessed Sauron as a being so powerful
he’d be difficult to beat even if they had their powers. So, the journey is
almost over but the hardest part is to come. Enough recap. Let’s get to it.
We start in the Savage Land, Charles
and Magneto are climbing cliff. They’re trying to get back to Charles’ plane in
the hope they can call for help. They’re attacked by a group of Sky Riders, Savage
Land humans astride Pterosaur mounts. They’re able to drive them off with a few
well-placed rock throws and make it up the cliff. They’re ambushed at the plane by the Mutates,
Amphibious the frog man, Barbarous the four-armed man, Vertigo the mesmer and a
white wolf man. They try to fight them off but, well, they’re two late middle-aged
men against four people with superpowers. It doesn’t go well for them. They’re
grabbed by Barbarous and Wolfie, and Vertigo uses her mental powers to knock
them out. Huh, it’s almost like they should have attacked them as a group from
the start or something.
Back in the US, the X-Men had
gotten a message from Morph that sounds like he wants to come back but is under
threat by someone, so Scott, Jean, and Logan are flying the Blackbird to check
it out. I should note that it sounds like three separate soundbites cut
together to make this message, but this episode does happen in 1993, they might
not even know that you can splice audio together like that. They find Morph in
Branson, Missouri, performing in a production of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde under
the alias Xavier Murphy. Morph is clearly using his powers to enhance his
performance, shapeshifting on stage from Jekyll to Hyde. The X-Men follow him
backstage. When they find Morph, he tries to play dumb, but they aren’t buying
it and ask him why he called them. He tries to warn them about Mr. Sinister
wanting Scott and Jean and how he has the professor, but Sinister, watching
from outside the tent, activates a shock chip in Morph’s brain to make him compliant.
Wolverine is ready to fight but he’s grabbed by Gorgeous George and Slab of the
Nasty Boys. Mr. Sinister tells his team to be careful when they acquire Summers
and Ms. Grey for him.
In the Savage Land, the Mutates are
leading a hypnotized Charles and Magneto back to the citadel. Unbeknownst to
them they’re being tracked. The pair watching them are Ka-Zar of the Savage
Land and his Sabretooth tiger companion Zabu. Yes, he is Blonde Tarzan, that’s
like his whole schtick. Ka-Zar wonders aloud if they could use the Mutates
desire to destroy Magneto against them before he and Zabu run off to prepare. Ka-Zar
finds a herd of Triceratops, and the two startle the beasts into a stampede and
lure them towards the Mutates. They scatter when the Triceratops charge, and
Ka-Zar leads Charles and Magneto away. Once they’re away from the Mutates,
Charles tries to thank Ka-Zar but he grabs Charles by the shirt and demands to
know who he is and why he brought the Devil Magneto back to this land. He says that Magneto’s Mutates are the source
of all the trouble in the Savage Land lately and it’s their fault his wife was
kidnapped. His wife is Shanna the She-Devil, the blonde Savage Land woman
kidnapped by Sauron last time. Charles stops Ka-Zar from beating on Magneto,
saying that whatever his past crimes, Magneto isn’t to blame for this. He says
the Mutates serve a new “master” and Ka-Zar thinks he must mean Sauron. He
tells them that Sauron is kidnapping Savage Landers and bringing them to the
Citadel for some reason. He’s hesitant to side with Magneto, but Magneto points
out he doesn’t have much choice. Ka-Zar swears that Charles will suffer his
vengeance if Magneto betrays him again. They begin to sketch out a plan to break
into the Citadel.
In Branson, Scott demands to know
what Sinister has done to the professor. Sinister isn’t talking and orders his
men to grab them. Gorgeous George wraps them up in his stretchy goo hands
before they can react. Sinister starts to gloat, but Wolverine freed himself
from Slab and slashed Sinister’s side with his claws. Sinister regenerates and
then blasts Logan, knocking him into a tree and knocking him out. Jean uses the
distraction to telekinetically take off Scott’s shades and he starts blasting
the Nasty Boys and then Sinister. He hits the mad scientist with his eye beams
a few times before Ruckus uses his sonic shout to knock him, Jean and Morph
out. Sinister thanks his minion and tells the X-Men that they escaped him once,
but they won’t be so fortunate again.
Sinister has his men bring the
X-Men to his plane. He tells them to make their guests comfortable. Wolverine
wakes up and says he doesn’t want to be a burden and attacks his captor,
Hairbag. A scuffle breaks out again, Sinister blasting Wolverine back and
ordering Slab to get Jean to the plane. Wolverine tackles Slab and tries to
free Jean, but this Jean is Morph, who hits Wolverine with a branch to knock
him down. The Nasty Boys and Sinister get Jean on the plane and they take off.
Scott chases after them and tries to shoot the plane down but he can’t get a
good look at it. Logan tells him to take it easy, they’ll find her no matter
what it takes.
Back in the Savage Land, Magneto,
Charles, Ka-Zar and Zabu take a raft towards the Citadel. Ka-Zar calls it a
blight upon his land, but Magneto says that it wasn’t meant to be. It was
supposed to be a symbol of his great ambition for this land. Charles points out
that the ambitions of powerful men usually bring strife and misery to those
they’d improve. They’re attacked by a plesiosaur that smashes their raft, but
Ka-Zar gets on it’s back and drives it away. They reach the shore of the
citadel and Magneto reveals a hidden passage to his lab. They enter it and are
met by the Mutates and their soldiers. Magneto is shocked by their presence, Amphibious
says their master found that passage long ago. Ka-Zar and Zabu bolt
immediately, hoping they can find another way to save Shanna. Barbarous wants
to go after him but he’s told to stop by… a short man with a huge head. Charles
asks if he’s the master, but no, this is Brainchild. He serves as the master’s
steward in his absence. He orders the two chained to the wall.
As they’re wrapped in vines, the
Master, Mr. Sinister, arrives. Jean is so relieved to see the professor is
alive, and Magneto claims to be less than impressed after finally meeting
Sinister. Sinister gloats about the upgrades he’d made to the Citadel. He
explains that he’d made a device using a tissue sample from Sauron that drains
the power from any Mutant in the Savage Land. One of Sauron’s powers is to draw
energy and power from people he touches, like a psionic vampire, so this
tracks. Sinister and his people have devices that protect them from these
effects. He admits that he didn’t know the device would somehow return Xavier’s
ability to walk and he hopes Charles enjoyed it while he could. He tells them
that he’s after their ‘essence’ but cuts off when he senses Morph going for a
gun and warning his men to do something about it. Hairbag tackles him. Mr.
Sinister asks him why he keeps fighting Sinister’s control. Morph says that
he’s free of it. Sinister seems rather bored by this and tells him he’ll suffer
the same fate as Xavier then. Morph says he’d rather die an X-Man than live as
his slave. Mr. Sinister tells Charles that he’ll now contact the X-Men and
bring them here. Charles refuses, but Sauron then arrives and says he doesn’t
have a choice. Sauron uses his hypnotic stare to try to control Charles’ mind.
Charles fights him but Sauron is extremely powerful. The others worry that
this’ll break Charels’ mind, and Magneto adds the most powerful Mutants on
Earth will avenge him for this. Charles finally breaks and he asks for his
orders.
Back at the mansion, Charles contacts
the X-Men via Cerebro. He tells them to meet him at the following coordinates
before the transmission cuts out. Beast notes that he seemed… odd and asks
Gambit to trace the single. He says he’ll do it in a minute, the Blackbird just
landed. Beast and Cyclops tell each other at the same time they need to talk.
The X-Men head out, realizing they’re headed into a trap as they know Charles
was being controlled. Wolverine seems to be itching for a fight. Beast wonders
how anyone could survive out in the Savage Land. Cyclops doesn’t know but he
tells the team to brace themselves, they’re going in.
This was an excellent penultimate
episode of the season. Most of the episodes this season hinted at Mr.
Sinister’s plans being the overarching plot. He lured Charles and Magneto to
the Savage Land to take them off the board for a while and ultimately capture
them to lead the X-Men to his stronghold where they won’t have access to their
powers. A little convoluted, as I noted above, he could have caught them day
one if his Mutates didn’t go after them one at a time like they did for most of
their episodes, but it works. I suppose you could take his not capturing them
right away as a sign of his contempt. They’re without their powers in a land of
dinosaurs, obviously his superhuman soldiers will catch them eventually. It was
interesting to see Ka-Zar in the X-Men, I honestly forgot he would make
an appearance. As noted above, he’s essentially Marvel’s Tarzan, being a white
man that got stuck in a jungle only to become de facto king of the beasts.
Though, the TV version implies he and his wife Shanna were born in the Savage
Land where in the comics they’re marooned there until they make it their home. He’s
strong, fast, and has a strong connection to the animals of the Savage Land. Him
running away to fight another day doesn’t look great but I suppose that he who
fights and runs away lives to fight another day and all that. So, Magneto,
Charles, and Jean are in Mr. Sinister’s hands. The X-Men are on their way, are
expecting a trap, but don’t realize they’ll be without their powers once they
enter this piece of an ancient, forgotten world. This is shaping up to be a hell of a
finale. See you then.
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