Viewer Log: X-Men: TAS ep 43

 The Shi'ar have come to end the Dark Phoenix.

Last time on X-Men: The Animated Series, The Dark Phoenix was born. Corrupted by the dark emotions and illusions introduced to her by Wyngarde of the Inner Circle, the Phoenix rebranded herself as the Dark Phoenix to embrace her new position as a goddess of death and evil. The X-Men do their best to stop her, but the power gap is so extreme that they are barely able to slower her down. After blasting her friends about, Dark Phoenix grew bored and flew off into space. The X-Men quickly form a plan to build a Mnemonic Scrambler to hopefully just disorientate Jean, the human half of the Dark Phoenix, long enough to drive the Phoenix force out of her. Meanwhile, Dark Phoenix flew across the galaxy to the D’Bari system, a Shi’ar star system and gobbled up their sun. Thankfully the solar system was devoid of life (not so in the comics) but the captain stationed there sent an SOS to the Empress. The Dark Phoenix returned to Earth and the bit of Jean within her was drawn to her childhood home. The X-Men laid a trap there, using Charles mind to lull the Dark Phoenix, Storm’s mists to hide their actions and Cyclops driving Jean’s father’s car to lure her out. While distracted looking for her dad, who was safe behind Charles, Gambit slapped the scrambler on her head. But she proved too powerful to incapacitate that way and now she’s pissed. She throws the X-Men around some more, Wolverine tackling her at one point and attempting to end this… but can’t because she’s still Jean. Scott reaches out to her one last time and gets her to hesitate long enough for Charles to mentally blast her. She recovers too quickly for them to stop her, but Charles pulls her into the mindscape, and they duel. Dark Phoenix is still too powerful for him to defeat, but he’s able to draw out Jean herself and the two together imprison the Dark Phoenix in Jean’s subconscious. High fives all around! The joy of the win is short lived, though, as Lilandra arrives and announces that the Shi’ar have decided to put Jean Grey to death for her crimes as the Dark Phoenix. Damn. Enough recapping. Let’s get to it.

 

We begin with Lilandra ordering the capture of Jean Gray. Things look bad as the Royal Guard aren’t pushovers, but Charles quickly reads Lilandra’s mind and announces something in the Shi’ar language. Lilandra’s men stop and Charles explains that the Shi’ar have an ancient tradition of trial by combat that cannot be refused. The X-Men are beamed aboard the Shi’ar ship, and it takes off. The Grey’s look on in shock, which makes me again say that this must be the weirdest day for them.

 

On the ship Cyclops asks what this is all about, and Lilandra reveals how the Dark Phoenix destroyed the D’bari star. They fear that soon the Dark Phoenix won’t be satisfied with single stars, and she’ll start destroying the whole galaxy. Scott goes to bat for Jean, saying that Charles cured her. But Jean does say that while the Phoenix is dormant again it’s still in her and could reawake. Beast is outraged at the idea of killing one being to get at another. Charles calms things down by saying he invoked the “Arin’nn Haelar” and she can’t refuse it. Lilandra says that he shouldn’t be smug about this, as he’s only compounded by the tragedy of these events. A little later, they’re walking together, and Lilandra admits that the Shi’ar aren’t operating along on this one. The Phoenix is so powerful she threatens all life, so she’s had to ally herself with other space empires and will need to get their input. She has video calls with the Supreme Intelligence of the Kree and Empress R’Klll of the Skrull, both of whom sign off on the duel. They judge us to be stubborn but honorable. R’Klll adds that she’s approved on the stipulation that the X-Men cannot be allowed to win.

 

We cut to the Team training in a Shi’ar gym. Beast runs an obstacle course when Storm joins him and asks his thoughts on what’s happening. He’s vehemently against this whole thing, as he thinks punishing Jean to stop the potential crimes of another. He thinks the trial by combat is a mockery of justice and that Lilandra is wrong. Below, Wolverine and Gambit are fighting drones. Gambit also asks if they’re in the right. Wolverine says that the Shi’ar might be right, that the Phoenix is too dangerous, but if push comes to shove, he’ll stand by Jean now and forever. Charles reaches out to Lilandra’s mind, saying that they shouldn’t let these events wither their love. Charles tries to convince her to help him, but he takes his mental probes as an attack and casts him out. Even Cyclops is unsure of what they should do. Rogue says that she admires the love between him and Jean and knows that questioning what to do about Jean is tearing him apart. Scott believes that in Lilandra’s shoes he’d choose different, but he’s not sure. Jean joins them, not in her current costume but her old “Marvel Girl” suit. Ya, I bet you didn’t know she used to have a codename. She says it felt right to face this as Scott first knew her. Rogue leaves them to work things out. Jean is also scared that she’ll lose control, and the Dark Phoenix may destroy Earth. Scott tries to reassure her, but Jean insists he sees her fears before answering. She makes him see the Phoenix raging as an inferno across the Earth and destroying them all. She asks Scott if she’s really worth it, and he says yes.

 

The X-Men are gathered to perform their trial by combat. Lilandra explains that they’ll fight the Royal Guard on the Blue Zone on the Moon. Any who survive will be set free, and if the Guard wins, Jean will be surrendered to them. The Blue Zone is a section of Earth’s moon that has a breathable atmosphere, it’s where Uatu usually hangs out. They get beamed down. Lilandra’s advisor Araki says

 the odds are against the X-Men, but what if they win? Lilandra says they will not, that they can not.

 

The X-Men take a moment to marvel at the Blue Zone and the fact the moon used to be inhabited before the Royal Guard beam in. The plan is to divide and conquer. Jean, Rogue, and Cyclops end up fighting Starbolt, a Shi’ar with Human Torch-like powers. Beast, Storm, Wolverine and Gambit do battle with a pair of Shi’ar in a battle suit named Warstar and Gladiator, who separate them further. Storm and Gambit are finally taken out by Hussar, a being with energy whips, and Earthquake who has Geokinetic powers. Scott, Jean, and Rogue continue battling Starbolt, Smasher, and Oracle. Rogue tricks Starbolt into smashing into a few canyon walls as they fight. Wolverine and Beast take out Warstar but Gladiator throws them around. Wolverine is taken out by a woman named Astra, getting blasted into unconsciousness but he moans Jean’s name as he drops. Rogue tries to fight Oracle but gets mind blasted and drops into a match with Gladiator. She drops a few buildings on him, but Gladiator is a tough customer. Another building drops on them both, knocking her out.

 

On the ship, Charles laments his X-Men being defeated one by one. Araki asks why Lilandra doesn’t go to Charles to speak with him. She reveals that the part of her that is a person wants to comfort him with every breath she takes, but the Empress must be more than steel.

 

Jean tells Cyclops she’s lost contact with the others and is afraid they’re the only ones left. They run into a building, and she makes a wall of moon dust to hide them. Cyclops laments that they don’t have much time, and he can’t put into words what he feels about her. Jean says that where she’s concerned, thoughts matter most and his are beautiful. They kiss and head into battle. It’s like 6 on 2, so while Scott and Jean do well, they’re quickly overwhelmed. A pillar lands on Cyclops, knocking him out and driving Jean into a fury that turns her back into the Dark Phoenix. Lilandra orders her people to destroy the Dark Phoenix and Charles with a heavy heart agrees. The X-Men quickly overwhelm Jean, dropping rubble on her and seemingly killing her, but Jean breaks free one more. Scott begs her to fight it but she can’t, not every second of every day. She begs him to end her, but he can’t she blasts him away. On the Shi’ar ship, their weapons suddenly come online, Charels realizing it’s Jean’s work. She pushes Scott away before Lilandra hits the button and obliterates Jean.

 

Lilandra and Charles beam down. Lilandra tries to give her condolences, but Scott won’t hear it. The Phoenix arises once more. She explains that she used to be a guardian but the emotions she tapped into through Jean drove her mad. Killing Jean set her free and she’s able to protect once again. Scott, heartbroken, demands to know what happens to Jean or if the life of a mortal is beneath her. The Phoenix reveals that she can bring Jean back, but it’s a one-for-one sort of thing, life has to be given to revive her. Both Scott and Logan offer to do it, but the Phoenix then reveals that she can take just a little from a few people, but their lives will still be shortened by the amount she takes. All of the X-Men agree with that deal, the Phoenix draws life from each of them and Jean wakes up. Jean and Scott embrace as the Phoenix flies away. She beams them back to Earth.

 

Late that night, Lilandra says goodbye to Charles via telepathy. Charles says that he senses a part of her mind is closed off to him now. She never blocked him before, and he wants to know why. She says that as an empress a part of her has to be alone, always, but it doesn’t affect her love for him. The arc ends with Scott putting Jean to bed and kissing her forehead.

 

I’m sitting here and marveling at how this is still the best adaptation of the Dark Phoenix storyline despite 30 years and three other attempts to do so. Don’t be mad if you’re a fan of Wolverine and the X-Men, that’s the number two on the list. Part of what makes it superior to either X-Men: The Last Stand or X-Men: Dark Phoenix is simply time. I’ve followed Jean through 40+ episodes of TV, that’s like 12 hours of content, a movie is just never going to measure up on a character development standpoint. But I think a more important element is how they characterized the Phoenix. In both the live action versions, Jean is characterized as growing more reserved, cold and aloof while Phoenix empowered, or lashing out trying to protect herself. I really don’t recall a moment where either version of Jean just gets to revel in her power like the Dark Phoenix does in this string of episodes. There are parts where she’s clearly loving every second of flaunting her immense power and beating up her friends. The whole point of the Dark Phoenix is that she’s a cosmic neutral being addicted to negative impulses and emotions, so having her actually have fun with her immense power is a better way to go in my opinion. The closest I can think we saw this happen was how Famke Janssen’s version used her immense power to almost bang Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, and that’s hardly the same thing. I think what I’m trying to say is that the tragedy of the story is magnified by seeing a character we love acting evil and enjoying it, not in her just fighting with herself and her friends the whole time. But, anyway, ya, this was a good arc. We got to see the Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Jean Gray as the Dark Phoenix grew stronger and took over. It’s a shame that this is the strongest we’ve ever seen Jean be. But that’s par for the course with her. In any given episode she’s the strongest being on the field unless Magneto or Apocalypse is around and then she’s tied for first, so they must knock her out, exhaust her, or otherwise remove her for the story to have any narrative tension. The need for that is removed when she’s the big bad that needs to get taken out. She gets to unleash all the power she’s forced to hold back most of the time and it’s terrifying. It was fun to see the Kree and Skrull as well, just for the worldbuilding… cosmos building. It’s just nice to remember that the Shi’ar aren’t the only space game in town is all. The Dark Phoenix has been defeated and Jean is back home safe and sound. Good way to end the arc and this month of content. Have a good night, everyone. 

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Bluesky: @basicssuperhero.bsky.social

Viewer Log: X-Men: TAS ep 42

 The Dark Phoenix raises! 

Last time on X-Men: The Animated Series, The Phoenix joined upper echelon of society. Held in an illusion by Jason Wyngarde, she was brought into the Inner Circle and celebrated as a queen. Much to the annoyance of Emma Frost, a previous Inner Circle Queen. The X-Men were held with inhibitor collars and forced to watch Phoenix in Jean’s body ingratiate herself with these weird cosplayers. All except Wolverine, who is damp, angry, and looking to scrap. Scott attempts to reach out to Jean mind-to-mind, but Emma Frost senses this and pulls Wyngarde into the mindscape so they can duel each other. Scott almost beats Wyngarde but Phoenix steps in and says that she’s been liberated by the Inner Circle, and she likes it. Wyngarde stabs him and pronounces Scott dead, but he hangs on thanks to his connection to Jean. There’s a hostile takeover as Wyngarde uses his position as puppet master of the Phoenix to usurp Sebastian Shaw’s position, but that’s interrupted by Wolverine bursting in. While the Inner Circle bicker, Phoenix scans Wolverine’s mind and a memory of their… spark, breaks Wyngarde’s control for a second allowing the Phoenix to say, ‘screw all of you’ and fly away. The X-Men fight and humble the Inner Circle, all its members beating a hasty retreat except Wyngarde, who thinks he can fix this. He tries to enthrall Phoenix again, but she’s had it up to here with his BS, breaks his illusion to reveal his real self and then fries his brain with her real self. Scott arrives in time for the Phoenix to announce she’s rebranding as the Dark Phoenix! Enough recap. Let’s get to it.

 

We return to the story to see Dark Phoenix announce herself, revealing her giant fiery form to Scott, the X-Men, and all the random bystanders outside the Inner Circle club. She announces that she’s never giving up this body or returning to the cold void of space. The others join Scott on the roof as he tries to reach Jean. He begs her not to leave and Jean breaks through for a second before Dark Phoenix launches them clear across the city to Central Park. The fliers save the non-fliers, and they regroup. Wolverine asks why Dark Phoenix is attacking them, since she used to be on their side, and Beast says that the professor was probably right. The emotions the Phoenix felt through Jean corrupted her and drove her mad. The Dark Phoenix finds them and announces she’s here to destroy them. Scott orders the team to defend themselves but to be careful. Storm summons up a hurricane to stop her, but she’s barely inconvenience here. They all try to stop her, but Dark Phoenix seems to barely notice as she redirects lightning, transmutes trees to gold and smacks her friends around. Rogue tries to drain her, but Dark Phoenix fire seems to hurt Rogue more than Dark Phoenix. Dark Phoenix asks why he’s trying so hard save her, and Scott announces for the hundredth time that he loves her. Dark Phoenix can’t seem to process that answer so blasts him. Jean breaks through for a moment and tells Scott she loves him and asks him to remember that regardless of what happens next. Dark Phoenix takes over again and morphs into her giant bird form, sending off psychic shockwaves that draw the notice of bystanders, Dr. Strange, Thor, and Uatu on the moon. She flies off into space.

 

We see the Dark Phoenix fly through the cosmos, passing the physical manifestation of Eternity itself as she leaves the solar system. She’s detected by some Shi’ar scouts mapping the D’bari star system. She pops in right as the captain complains about how they’re being tasked with the boring job of mapping a dead star system. They detect the Dark Phoenix enter the D’bari’s star and feed upon it. They flee before the star can go supernova. Fun fact, while the episode goes to great lengths to tell us that the planets in the D’bari system are lifeless… in the comics they very much were not. Gotta soften Dark Phoenix’s fall to madness for the kids. The captain of the survey ship orders they stop and try to destroy the Dark Phoenix before it can do more damage. But she easily slices through their ship’s wing, leaving them stranded. The Shi’ar loses track of the Dark Phoenix, and he contacts Empress Lilandra. She orders her cruiser and guard be made ready, as their greatest fear has come to pass.

 

Back at the Mansion, Charles debriefs his team on his fears concerning Jean and the Dark Phoenix. Namely that that cosmic entity has clearly eaten Jean’s mind. Scott refuses to stop trying so long as Jean’s alive. Charles does agree that he won’t give up on her either, but they do need to face the reality that unless Dark Phoenix drops Jean’s body willingly, then they really don’t have another option to save her. Scott gets a painful headache and senses the Dark Phoenix returning. Charles promises that they’ll try to save Jean, but they need to protect the Earth. Wolverine asks how they can even fight something that can melt them in a second. Scott thinks that’s the key, that while the Phoenix has the power to do that, the fact it hasn’t clearly means Jean has some control left. Beast and Charles postulate that they could beat the Dark Phoenix by targeting Jean, using a Mnemonic scrambler to temporarily disorientate her and hopefully cause the Dark Phoenix to bail out of her. Charles kicks himself for not realizing that the therapy that they were giving Jean earlier was just making her a more perfect host for the Dark Phoenix to inhabit.

 

Beast gets to work on the scrambler, designing a tiara to place on Jeans’ head. I’d prefer a ray, ya know to keep a distance, but what are ya gonna do? Beast asks anyone if they want to test it out. On the roof of the mansion, Scott gets another mental burst from Jean and realizes that the Dark Phoenix has gone back to Jean’s childhood home, a place full of childhood emotions. Dark Phoenix touches down and walks into the house calling for her family, who aren’t home. She sees her old pet cat, but he doesn’t react like he knows her, running off. She finds her bedroom and just sits with a doll of hers. It’s pretty clear that Dark Phoenix is in some kind of fugue state and acting more childlike right now. A car pulls into the lot and she assumes it’s her and rushes down to see him. As she runs out, we see that this is a trap set up by the X-Men. Charles seems to be using his powers to make Jean see what he wants her to while he protects her family and Scott is driving the car. This has got to be a weird family reunion for the Grays. He pulls out and drives away, distracting Jean long enough for Gambit to slip the scrambler onto her head. He apologizes as he does it, saying it’s the only way. Dark Phoenix takes over and hurls Gambit away. Rogue grabs him and demands to know why the gismo isn’t working. Beast tells her to be patient. Storm tries to talk to her, but Dark Phoenix away, Rogue catches her too. Beast says she’s stronger than he’d imagined and she’s frying the scrambler. Wolverine decides he must make the hard choice, tackling Dark Phoenix and preparing to execute her. Jean comes out and begs him to do it, now while she has control. Wolverine seems to earnestly try to cut her throat, but he just can’t do it. Dark Phoenix blasts him away and prepares to kill them all, but Scott interrupts her. He uses their love, all of their love for each other to bring Jean back. Charles mentally blasts her, to stun her. He says that he only bought them a few seconds of peace, they need to destroy the Dark Phoenix, now! Dark Phoenix recovers, blasts everyone away and destroys Charles chair.

 

Not one to surrender, Charles pulls Dark Phoenix into the mental plane and the two do battle. He swears that in the battlefield of the mind he will not be defeated. The Dark Phoenix is unimpressed by Charles’ attempt, saying that arrogant humans could never be strong enough to stop her. Charles grows fatigued I their mental battle and calls out to Jean for her help. They combine their mental powers and Bind the Phoenix in the confines of Jean’s mind.

 

On the outside, Jean’s Dark Phoenix outfit revers to her heroic green instead of the villainous red. Charles tells them that the Phoenix is contained, for now, and says that he was only able to beat the Phoenix with Jean’s help. Jean and Scott have like 15 seconds of peace, before the Shi’ar arrive. Charles asks why Lilandra didn’t contact him, and she reveals its because the Shi’ar high council have voted to destroy the Phoenix and Jean Gray once and for all.

 

Again, imagine being the Grays. Your baby girl comes home for the first time in years, possessed by a corrupted god, and then aliens show up and say they’re going to execute her. Super weird.

 

Damn, that was a lot to take in a 20 minute episode of television. It makes me laugh that even when Jean is at her most powerful as the Dark Phoenix, she can’t go an entire episode without someone knocking her out. She swoons in a stiff breeze sometimes, I swear. The phenomenal power of the Phoenix was brilliantly shown throughout this episode, from her casually redirecting energy, to transmuting matter, to eating a damn star, we really get a good sense of how powerful this being is. And how monumentally bad it is that she’s gotten a taste for blood. The whole, destroying a star system to show that she can, thing was a particularly vivid moment of power. Again, it makes me laugh that the show goes out of its way to say multiple times that Dark Phoenix destroyed the star of an uninhabited system when that was just not the case in the source material. I guess writer Chris Clarmont has said that it was an accident post Dark Phoenix saga, but still, my girl killed a solar system. That’s not something any mortal being should have the power to do. Using her childhood home as a trap was a clever idea. Using the fact that Jean and Dark Phoenix are separate entities, and that Jean is the weaker of the two against Dark Phoenix was brilliant. Using the house and Charles’ mind beam to lull Jean into a vulnerable state and slap the band on her head when distracted were all well thought out. Sure, the plan failed because Hank underestimated her, but the trap was smart. The thing I like most about this episode is that Scott never once stopped believing that he could bring Jean out of the Dark Phoenix. In a lot of stories like this, even the steadfast hero tends to have a moment when they break and admit to feeling like their friend/love has been consumed by the dark being possessing them. But not Scott Summers. His power might just be punch-vision, but I believe that this man would move stars if he thought it would bring Jean back to him. Which, ya know, he might have to do now that Jean is on trial by the Shi’ar. Those bird-people play hardball when it comes to defending their empire, as you’ll see shortly. Have a good night. 

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Bluesky: @basicssuperhero.bsky.social

Viewer Log: X-Men: TAS ep 41

 Wyngarde plays with fire until it burns him, shocking.

Last time on X-Men: The Animated Series, Jean’s back! After spending an unspecified amount of time at Muir Island for therapy to treat her PTSD from being the Phoenix. It hasn’t been going well because the Phoenix is still actively trying to control Jean’s body. Moira has Charles take her home, believing that might help her more than keeping her in isolation. At the same time Scott and Gambit attend a concert for up-and-coming singer Dazzler, and Scott saves her from being kidnapped by a 18^th century aristocrat and his gimp minions. My tongue is firmly in my cheek but I’m only slightly exaggerating. The aristocrat, Pierce, is part of the Inner Circle Club, a secret society that is trying to control the world. Pierce had been sent to ‘recruit’ Dazzler for their club. They decide to not pursuit her, though, as two more members, Emma Frost and Jason Wyngate, burst in to tell the others about the Phoenix and their belief they can control her. Using Frost’s telepathy and Wyngate’s illusions, they attack Jean in her mind and try to fit her into a cliché romance novel starring herself and Wyngate. Jean senses something is wrong and reflexively calls out to Scott, waking her. She sought Scott out, arriving at Dazzler’s show just in time to see the starlet kiss her man. She didn’t know he was seeing anyone, in her defense. Wyngate and Emma followed them and ensnared the Phoenix in his illusion and escape. The X-Men track them to the Inner Circle Club and interrupt the sham wedding between Wyngate and Phoenix. The Inner Circle isn’t all Mutants, but they’re absurdly rich so those without natural powers can buy enhancements, just a FYI. The X-Men start to win against the Inner Circle until Phoenix herself gets involved on their side and blasts Storm. She swears her loyalty to Wyngate and so the Dark Phoenix is born. Enough recapping. Let’s get to it.

 

We open on the X-Mansion in the AM, Charles is reaching out to his team via their communicators but isn’t getting anyone. He tries to reach Scott with his telepathy, but someone actively blocks him from digging deep enough into the inner circle to find them. He powers up Cerebro, his usual trump card, but Emma Frost predicted this move and powers up her own scrambler. That, combined with her own telepathy blocks, even Cerebro enhanced Charles from defeating her. He orders Cerebro to keep probing electronically while he takes a break.

 

At the Inner Circle club, they’ve got the X-Men in restraints, including the inhibitor collars from Genosha to block their powers. Shaw gloats to Leland about how his plan worked, but is interrupted by Emma telling him about Charles. He begins to threaten her, but Wyngarde joins them with Dark Phoenix, now dressed in the Inner Circle club approved costume of lingerie. I have no idea how this got past 90s censorship. He changes whatever he was about to say to suggest he’ll get Phoenix to do it if Emma fails. Shaw kisses Phoenix in greeting, prompting an angry outburst from Scott. Shaw tells him to calm down, as he’s all bluster anyway. He claims that the Inner Circle club is an impenetrable fortress, the X-Men were only allowed to enter so they could be captured and introduce them to Phoenix. Meanwhile, a pair of their gimps… I mean soldiers, are trying to find Wolverine. Or his remains, so they believe. He got dropped from high up through several floors and into the sewer system… but he is a ball of fury with a healing factor… To prove my point, he climbs out of the water just before they arrive. He knocks them into the sewar water and runs upstairs. He scares the piss out of another guard by paraphrasing Clint Eastwood and demands to know where the other X-Men are.

 

Upstairs, Shaw is fawning over Phoenix. It disgusts Emma Frost, who isn’t happy to have psychic competition. Wyngarde promises that he can control him too. He also calls Emma his ‘love’ so I think we can all guess his ‘loyalty’ to Shaw or a romantic partner at this point. Shaw leads her away so she can freshen up before dinner. When alone, Shaw demands to know if the Phoenix loves him or if that’s another illusion. Wyngarde is smug in his ability to control the Phoenix, though Emma insists they can only control the Phoenix for so long. Wyngarde isn’t worried, be believes that the Phoenix craves sensations, emotions, and with the ‘dark’ emotions he’s introduced her too, he’ll be able to control her forever. The pride of this man is disgusting. Shaw seems to agree with me as he orders Wyngarde to order dinner.

 

In the kitchen another Inner Circle member is whining about not getting his 1559 wine, only for it to arrive… in Logan’s hands. He knocks him out with a kick before quipping “lousy year” and dropping the wine on him. He steals a turkey leg and continues his investigating. He’s unimpressed by their garb (which is old even by his 1800s ass) and shows his displeasure by hurling a gimp guard at a few others. He’s hellbent on finding Leland, to get payback. He beats a few more guards before they rush him.

 

The Inner Circle club toasts Jean as their “new Queen.” They don’t say she’s taking the position of Black Queen, but her garb as opposed to Emma’s makes it seem likely. Scott reaches out to Jean. Emma senses it, though, and tells Wyngarde to engage Phoenix’s mind. Scott, Phoenix, and Wyngarde enter Jean’s mind where Wyngarde uses his powers to ‘duel’ Scott, because these weirdos are obsessed with the Georgian era. The mental landscape keeps changing, throwing Scott off balance. He accuses Wyngarde of cheating, but Wyngarde claims that “Jean” is the one helping him beat Scott. Scott nearly beats Wyngarde, but then Phoenix steps in, claiming that she’s already ‘been freed.’ From sympathy and morality. Scott tries to reason with her but she’s not listening, Wyngarde reappears and stabs Scott. It’s one of those “stab his mental projection, hurt the real one’ situation, so the real Scott drops. Wyngarde says that he’s dead and gloats some more, but no, turns out Scott is still alive. Emma brain scans him and learns he’s still connected to Jean and that connection saved him. To prove his power over Phoenix, Shaw orders him to make Phoenix destroy Scott. Jean peaks through Phoenix’s control, but Wyngarde goads her into attacking. She prepares to obliterate Scott, but then Wolverine bursts him, dragging a bunch of guards with him. He shouts “here’s Johnny” as he enters, which makes me think Logan is a movie buff. The man’s seen The Shining! Phoenix blasts him, though, and knocks him down. High on his sense of power, Wyngarde demands Shaw surrender his chairmanship of the Inner Circle over to Wyngarde. Shaw is confident that the Inner Circle wouldn’t follow a Mutant who’s only power is circus trickery, but the other three members present vote against him. Unbeknownst to them, Phoenix goes over to Wolverine and scans his mind. She sees one of their many intense romantic moments in his mind and that snaps Jean out of the Phoenix’s control for a moment. Wyngarde interrupts her though, and tells her to destroy Shaw. Unfortunately, snapping Jean out for that one moment broke Wyngarde’s control of Phoenix. She tells them they’re all fools, no one can control the Phoenix and flies off.

 

Another brawl breaks out, the X-Men doing better this time sine they know what to expect from the Inner Circle members and their guards. Wyngarde runs off, believing he can still control Phoenix if he can get to her. Scott follows them to save Jean. Storm summons a blizzard to stop Shaw, who was their heaviest hitter without the Phoenix. This scares many of the normal guests to the Inner Circle Club, and Emma Frost ran off rather than having to deal with the cops. Shaw doesn’t stop so easily, as he runs through an escape tunnel hidden behind a bookcase. He and Pierce (sans his robot arm that Rogue tears off) run through their escape tunnel, swearing to get revenge on the X-Men. On the roof, Wyngarde tries to ensnare Phoenix in another illusion, but she’s far too powerful for him to control now that she’s embracing her dark side. She says that he gave her a taste for evil to gain himself power and now she hungers for more. To humiliate him for his hubris she breaks through Wyngarde’s illusion around himself, revealing he’s much older and homelier than he pretended to be. She offers to show Wyngarde her REAL power and seems to destroy his mind with the Phoenix Force. Scott makes it to the roof and calls out to Jean, but the Phoenix tells him she’s gone. She claims to be Fire and Fury incarnate, and redubs herself the Dark Phoenix! Well… crap.

 

Well, that went about as well as could be expected. Wyngarde, a weak man with one unique skill and privilege greater than he deserved, in his hubris corrupted a celestial god-like being into becoming a vessel of pure destruction. It would come down to a rich insecure asshole destroying the world, wouldn’t it? Dark Phoenix’s little speech about how weak he is in comparison to her and how he made her into something he could never hope to control was well done. I liken his ability to control Jean to be largely based on when he set up his little illusion. She was asleep, her defenses lowered when he laid the trap, and he sprung it when she was at her most emotionally vulnerable. If Jean hadn’t been exhausted battling the Phoenix for control of her body or if the Phoenix had been just a little more aware, he’d never have been able to put the mental wammy on her. Also, that Wyngarde is a piece of work, right? His machinations to take over the Inner Circle were so damn obvious, I’m shocked Shaw didn’t react sooner. The man is usually very protective of his position, I’m surprised he let it come to a vote to oust him. And I liked how they characterized Emma Frost. Resourceful, strong telepathy but not as strong as Charles while being more devious, wanting to take the Phoenix for their group but being extremely jealous once she started getting upstaged, all classic Emma. Still, hard to see her here, how I assume she was in the comics at this time, and know she’d go on to be a regular on the X-Men roster. Oh how characters can change with time. I should note that while destruction was always an intrinsic part of the Phoenix, its fire is the sort that destroys but makes way for new growth sort of thing. The Dark Phoenix is all about incineration, pure and simple. I liked how this episode continued to bring up Jean and Scott’s psychic connection. Jean’s power has made the two intertwined in a way that few couples could be. Scott being Jean’s rock that she reaches out to even when she’s not completely sure why is a key part of that. Wolverine’s mini rampage is fun, as they tend to be. I am shocked by the loyalty of the Inner Circle goons. I see that angry Canadian and I’m playing dead right then and there. So… ya, next time we’ll see what happens when a dark goddess that’s addicted to sensations goes on a rampage. Here’s a hint, it ain’t good. 

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Bluesky: @basicssuperhero.bsky.social

Viewer Log: X-Men: TAS ep 40

 The Phoenix is back and she's losing her mind.

Last time on X-Men: The Animated Series, Garokk rose up. Garokk is an evil God that ruled over the Savage Land thousands of years ago before being beaten and imprisoned in stone by an unnamed antagonist, but if you know comics was clearly the High Evolutionary. He regained some power when Storm was in the Savage Land and used her powers so concocted the plan to get Sauron to bring her back and unleash her power. The X-Men try to contain her, but Storm is far too powerful for them to contain, and she unleashes enough power to allow Garokk to manifest. One of their plans involved having Karl Lykos try to drain her, which stopped her for a bit but just led to Sauron being unleashed again. Sauron, pissed at being upstaged, tried to drain Garokk’s power. Weirdly it worked and he turned Kaiju sized. The two fight and cause an explosion big enough to be seen from space. The X-Men grab Storm and fall back once it’s clear Garokk is beaten. And now that the Savage Land is Mutant free, Karl is allowed back into Ka-Zar’s tribe since there’s no way for him to transform back into Sauron. Enough recapping. Let’s get to it.

 

We open on Muir Island where Jean is being examined by Moira MacTaggart and Charles. While I don’t think it’s ever been spelled out, this is where she’s been post-M’Kraan crystal incident. Moira is attempting to help Jean remember what happened to her between going into the sun with the crystal and appearing back on Earth. A situation complicated by the fact that the Phoenix is still possessing her. Charles tries to talk to Jean and relax her, but the Phoenix rears her head and announces that she’s still here too. Charles demands to know why Phoenix is still here, her work is done and she’s causing Jean harm by remaining within her. The Phoenix rages at hearing this, destroying the lab. Moira says that they’ve done all they can do for her here, and that they really do need to just send her home. Jean begs Scott for help.

 

We cut to a bar in New York where Scott and Gambit are enjoying a small Dazzler show. Alison Blair is an up and coming singer that puts on very visually pretty shows. Their night is interrupted by Jean’s mental shout for Scott. Gambit tries to tell him it’s in his head, but Scott insists on checking. Once outside, he sees a man dressed as a 17^th century aristocrat and his… gimp masked minions… kay, trying to kidnap Dazzler. Scott intervenes with his eyebeams. The anachronistic nobleman decides to show off how anachronistic he is by revealing he’s got a cyborg arm and tries to kill Scott by throwing an engine block at him. Dazzler reveals she’s a Mutant, making a blinding flash of light that blinds the nobleman and lets Scott take him out. They flee. Dazzler thanks him for his help and asks Scott to please be at her show the next night for some additional security. She’s also a bit flirty with him, but that’s a starlet for ya. Scott agrees but he’s more focused on hearing about her Mutant powers.

 

Back at the Mansion, Wolverine is making a sandwich and uses his claws to slice some salami, Scott coming in and asking for some too. Logan is impressed at seeing how roughed up Scott, ya know Logan, he loves a scrap. He starts to tell Logan about what happened, but then Phoenix comes stumbling into the kitchen. Scott is obviously overjoyed to see his girlfriend again, but notices that she’s a bit off. Charles comes in and says that it’s because she’s tired from her trip. Storm takes her to her room. Scott is frustrated by what’s happened and by the lack of progress in her recovery. Charles tells him that he knows it’s been hard but that if Jean is to have any chance of recovery, she’ll need to draw strength from him.

 

We jump to the “Inner Circle” Club. The cyborg, Pierce, is trying to rationalize away his inability to bring Dazzler in by saying she’s not ‘worthy’ to join them. FYI, technically we’re at the Hellfire Club and the Inner Circle is their ruling body… but now chance in hell that censors would let that through. The other two members, Sebastian Shaw and Harry Leland are unimpressed, Shaw asking if he tried to recruit Dazzler for the club or for himself. When Leland laughs at him, Pierce tries to act tough but Leland uses his powers to overload his cyborg arm by making it heavier. Shaw tells him to back off and tells Leland that the price of replacing the crystal glasses he broke will be added to his dues. They’re joined by Jason Wyngarde aka Mastermind, and Emma Frost aka White Queen, Emma informing them that her psychic powers detected the Phoenix and they want to recruit her or the club. After Emma briefly summarized that Phoenix Saga, and showing us Phoenix crash landing outside Muir island, Shaw is very intrigued. Leland asks how she could know all this, and Emma claims she’s gotten access to Cerebro. Leland says that’s crazy, but Emma reveals that due to his stress and distraction, she was able to get around his security. Their plan is to use Wyngarde’s power to control her. He’s an illusionist of immense power.

 

At the Mansion, Charles asks Jean to tell them what the Phoenix wants. The Phoenix starts to take over, causing Jean’s eyes and mouth to burn like Ba’alzamon as the Phoenix screams that she hungers. Charles helps her repress it and he tells her to relax. Charles and Hank leave her and Scott alone. When outside, Charles postulate that the Phoenix, a cosmic being of unimaginable power, is… well… addicted to the sensations she’s feeling through Jean and why she refuses to leave. He sensed Anger, Resentment and excitement in the Phoenix when they connected. And what’s worse, is she’s taking control of Jean’s body as the dominant personality. Scott tells Jean about wanting to help Dazzler, and the Phoenix takes over, accusing him of leaving her for another woman and threatening Dazzler. Scott says she doesn’t mean that and Jean agrees, she doesn’t… but Phoenix might. Scott promises to find a way to help her.

 

Later that night, Storm wakes Scott and tells him that he should be going to his event. Storm sits with Jean, but the moment she’s out, the Inner Circle strikes. Using Emma’s telepathy to boost his range, Wyngarde access Jean’s mind and uses his own powers to create an illusion to control her. He creates a fantasy of Jean being a 17^th century noblewoman that Wyngarde saved from drowning. He uses this bad romance set up and the jumbled minds of Jean and Phoenix to confuse her. They kiss, but they see a flash of Scott’s face and Jean wakes up. Storm asks if she’s alright, she says she is and asks Storm for a drink. Wyngarde is furious that it wasn’t enough. Emma says that Jean’s mind is connected to “someone” that she reflexively reaches out to for protection. He announces that she will succumb to him in his presence and demands Emma come with him. Storm returns to find a burnt bed and Jean is gone. Damn Phoenix.

 

Phoenix, now in a red costume instead of a green, lands in an alley. Jean seems to realize something is off and forces Phoenix out, reverting to her street clothes. She wanders into the bar where Dazzler is performing. She comes in as a flirty Dazzler grabs Scott and gives him a “I didn’t know he was taken” kiss. The Inner Circle arrives and Emma senses something change in Jean’s mind. Wyngarde smugly says that her mind is reacting to his presence. They come inside before Scott can explain what happened to Jean and Wyngarde puts her under his spell and they run off. Scott and Dazzler try to follow but the Inner Circle goons slow them down for a few seconds.

 

The X-Men (Cyclops, Rogue, Gambit, Beast, Storm, and Wolverine) suit up and arrive at the Inner Circle club clubhouse. Scott is scared that they had to rely on Logan’s nose as Charles couldn’t find Jean’s mind telepathically. He wonders if her mind has changed that much, but Storm suggests that maybe she doesn’t want to be found. Cyclops sends Rogue up to try to find a sneaky way in. She flies up and spies on the Inner Circle holding a sham wedding to help put Phoenix further under Wyngarde’s control. Rogue bursts in before they can do the kiss and the others follow. Shaw tells her to back up as Jean’s in a world she can’t reach. Rogue tries to beat him up, but Shaw’s powers absorb the kinetic energy thrown at him, making him stronger and letting him throw it back at her. The X-Men burst in, and a brawl starts. Wolverine and Storm stop pierce, but Leland drops him through the ground into the sewars. Beast and Gambit get dropped quickly too. Cyclops tries to defeat Shaw, but he just absorbs the optic beam and gets stronger. Storm traps him in ice, but then she’s attacked by Jean. Only for Phoenix to announce she’s in control now and kiss her ‘new husband.’ Well… crap.

 

That’s an auspicious start to this multiparter. But it’s known as the Dark Phoenix saga, so ya had to know this wasn’t going to go well. I like that this is ultimately a two-pronged problem, with both the Phoenix ODing on new sensations and the Inner Circle Club trying to capitalize on this to steal her power. It’s basically one character indulging in a vice with an outside group making that vice more enticing. Dangerous combination, because I think we all know that any control of Phoenix that Wyngarde has is temporary at best. If you’re wondering about their outfits, they’re like… weird cosplayers. The men wear antiquated suits and leggings, the lady’s lingerie because they’re old money sexist. No, I have no idea how even a less risqué Emma Frost’s corset and thigh high boots got passed the censors. Or their goons’ gimp suits. Like… why? The Inner Circle of the Hellfire Club is one of those secret societies that try to rule the world quietly from the background for the most part. While its most famous members like Emma Frost and Sebastian Shaw are Mutants, the group is actually open to anyone with a large enough bank account, as shown with Pierce the Cyborg. Like in the comics Howard Stark and Warren Worthington II (Angel’s dad) are both former members. I don’t believe it comes up in this arc, but their rank and power structure are based on chess pieces, with Emma Frost being the literal White Queen and Shaw being the Black King. There’s also a Black Queen and White King, but they’re not important here. I feel bad that they used Dazzler in this, as she’s one of those characters that is popular with a lot of people, but one of her three appearances in this show amounts to her being a homewrecker. Doing Alison Dirty writers! So… Phoenix is now under the sway of a group of the worst kind of villains, insane millionaires that cosplay as either 17^th century aristocrats or lingerie models. Like… maybe kiss the world goodbye, guys? Well see what happens next time. 

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Bluesky: @basicssuperhero.bsky.social

Viewer Log: X-Men: TAS ep 39

Garokk lives!

Last time on X-Men: The Animated Series, it was back to the Savage Land. Ka-Zar and his people were at war with Sauron, who set himself up as despot of the Savage Land after Mister Sinister split. Sauron’s power runs out and we learn he’s the psychotic alternate persona of Karl Lykos, a Savage Lander that Sinister modified into the super Mutate. He’s nearly captured but a priestess of Garokk named Zaladane saved Karl. She gave him a Garokk pendant and sent him to New York for… reasons. In New York, Karl runs into the X-Men and accidentally drain some of Wolverine’s life essence. … well, he drained him purposely, but he didn’t know he was a Mutant when he did it. Normal humans fuel Karl, Mutants turn him into Sauron. The psychotic Pterosaur kidnapped Storm, as Zaladane promised him Storm would fuel his powers forever. He brought her back to the Savage Land and Zaladane convinced him to use his hypnotic powers to force Storm to unleash her full power. The X-Men followed him and did battle with Sauron and his soldiers. They defeat the Savage Landers rather easily. Sauron’s power starts running out again and he tries to flee, but Jubilee of all people knocks him from the sky and buries him under some rubble. He returns to his Karl Lycos form, and we learn he used to be buddies with Ka-Zar before he was kidnapped. He insists on being punished for Sauron’s crimes, but before they can get into that, Zaladane unleashes Storm on them, as it is the will of the sun god Garokk. Enough recapping. Let’s get to it.

 

We return to the story with a psychotic Storm unleashing a huge hurricane in the middle of the Savage Land. Karl lets the others know about Sauron hypnotizing Storm and turning her into this. Rogue wonders how they’ll be able to stop Storm (she’s easily #2 on their team strength wise under Jean, arguably #1 before Jean got Phoenixed). Jubilee thinks it’ll be a snap for her since she beat Sauron. And I’m like, honey, those two feats are not comparable! She flies off on a Pterosaur. Storm’s storm gets more vicious as Jubilee tries to take her, but she’s knocked aside, but Rogue catches her.

 

We cut over to Zaladane and the Garokk statue. She’s worshiping at it and Garokk says that he’s been waiting centuries for this moment. Storm’s elemental power is surging through the Savage Land, filling him with power and vigor. Storm throws a lightning blast at the tiki head, destroying it but unleashing Garokk’s true body to infect the land below. It spreads towards a volcano in the distance.

 

Wolverine grabs Karl and demands to know what he did. He reiterates that it was Sauron and that his hypnotic powers aren’t to be trifled with. Rogue returns with Jubilee, right before a dino stampede come surging in. They duck away from the dinos in a cave and try to figure out a plan. Rogue offers to drain Storm if the others distract her, but Wolverine points out that Rogue has been overwhelmed by power like that before and she’ll probably ruin weather patterns from here to Barbados if they try that. Karl says that he’ll drain Storm if they fly him to her. Wolverine accuses him of wanting to turn into Sauron again, but Karl vehemently denies that. He hates Sauron and hates being him, Beast believes him and points out that if Karl really wanted to change he could grab at any one of them already. Ka-Zar agrees that it’s the best choice, as Sauron is easier to fight than the weather itself.

 

Storm creates a blizzard and tries to freeze the tropical paradise of the Savage Land. Wolverine, Ka-Zar and Beast distract her with a trebuchet long enough for Rogue to fly Karl up to her. He grabs Storm and starts draining. Once she’s out, Ka-Zar tells him to let go before he turns into Sauron, but it’s too late and Sauron is in control. Rogue makes him break the connection and grabs Storm. She demands he help break Storm’s hypnosis or she’ll take him out. Sauron, pissed off and a little stupid, grabs her. There’s a moment where we see their respective absorbing powers dueling for supremacy, Rogue morphing into a pterosaur and back again and Sauron growing huge and shrinking back. They break the connection and Sauron swears vengeance. Rogue lands, tells the others what happened and how it was weird, and they fall back to Ka-Zar’s village.

 

Garokk meanwhile is infesting the land and turning it into a hard rocky form.

 

Beast grabs a medical kit from the Blackbird and looks over Storm. He gives her a sedative to keep her under control until they can get her back to normal. Beast asks Rogue if she got anything when she touched Sauron and she says all she got was the name Zaladane. Ka-Zar says she’s Garokk’s high priestess and we see some Savage Landers bowing to a Garokk tiki head. Storm wakes up and says she’s sensing some great evil infesting the land. She gets up, feeling Garokk’s influence on the land, and blasts the statue in the village. She wants to destroy Garokk, it and everything else, but the others stop her long enough for Beast to give her another sedative.

 

We cut to Zaladane praying to Garokk’s statue when Sauron joins her, demanding that she rally his troops. She refuses, saying that Garokk is done with Sauron. Sauron, pissed, tries to hypnotize her into obeying, but Garokk infects some vines and tangles him up in then. Sauron insists that Garokk isn’t real, but… like, he obviously is. We learn from Garokk that he once was the sole ruler of the Savage Land. That was until an enemy attacked him, defeated Garokk and sealed him in stone. He also calmed the weather of the Savage Land which further weakened Garokk. Fun fact, they don’t give this enemy a name but he’s obviously the High Evolutionary. He was trapped for thousands of years but was awakened at the end of last season when Storm unleashed her powers on the Savage Land. He basically only got enough to wake up but couldn’t do much more. He reveals that he influenced Sauron’s mind to seek Storm out and bring her here. His plan is to infuse himself with the chain of volcanos that encircle the Savage Land, to fuel his power and make it impossible for him to be imprisoned again.

 

Storm wakes up again, begging the others to restrain her. Rogue laments telling Storm to let loose before. There’s an earthquake as Garokk spreads his influence and turns one of the mountains into his tiki head. He announces the return of the age of Garokk and he destroys the Savage Lander’s village. Garokk uses his infected earth to form a hand to grab at others. He encases house Storm is housed in stone and tries to crush her. Her claustrophobia kicks up, though, and she blows it into oblivion. Storm encases Garokk’s head in ice but that doesn’t seem to stop him. Beast notices Garrok’s influence spreading towards the volcanos and Ka-Zar tells him how they heat the land, and Beast deduces his plan. When ice doesn’t work, Storm tries to melt him with a bright sunny day but that doesn’t work either. Beast figures out that Storm’s attacks are just powering Garokk up. Rogue tries to stop her but Storm throws her off. Her attack does free Sauron. He knocks out Zaladane and flies off.

 

Garokk gets enough power to manifest a giant stone body. Sauron isn’t cool with this and flies to the volcano. Sauron touches the volcano and drains the energy from Garokk and the volcano. He grows to Kaiju size and the two do battle. Storm tries to intervene. Rogue grabs her and pulls her back. Sauron and Garokk seemingly destroy each toher, the explosion being seen from space.

 

The team finds Rogue and Storm and rush Storm to the Blackbird for medical help, and they fly off. Zaladane wakes up beside Garokk’s broken statue, Garokk moaning that he was so close. We find Karl passed out and drained, looking half dead. Ka-Zar and his wife Shanna find him and he gives Karl some of his energy. When he wakes up, Ka-Zar says that he’s welcome back to their village, as with the X-Men leaving the Savage Land, there won’t be any Mutants to risk Karl transforming again. Karl thanks him, rips off the Garokk necklace and smashes it. On the Blackbird, Storm asks if they others can forgive her for flying off the handle like that. They obviously do and Storm does admit that she liked letting go like that, if only just once.

 

That was a fine two-part story. The background on Garokk was neat, as was seeing the cameo from the High Evolutionary. He’ll show up again someday, but it was nice to see him early. Using Sauron as both the cause and solution for this particular catastrophe was just some tight storytelling. While Garokk obviously counted on his absorbing powers and hypnotic eyes would be useful in getting Storm back, he just as obviously didn’t consider that Sauron could turn that power against him. Imagine my shock when we saw a volcano and it didn’t tie into Sauron’s own undoing. Tolkien must be spinning in his grave. It was also nice to get the little bit of resolution that Ka-Zar is able to separate the actions of Sauron from his friend Karl and lets him back into their village. Nice nod that Ka-Zar is a just and fair ruler and acknowledges Karl can’t really be held accountable for that evil buzzard. And I liked that closing message that while Storm unleashed is dangerous, that on some level she got to enjoy herself at least a little. If a little existentially terrifying to realize that Storm is always holding back and is still one of the X-Men’s heaviest hitters. I don’t feel I’m exaggerating saying she’s a contender for the top spot, but Jean’s just got all that Phoenix power these days it’s hard to compare them. Speaking of… next time, the Dark Phoenix saga begins! 

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Bluesky: @basicssuperhero.bsky.social

Viewer Log: X-Men: TAS ep 38

 Sauron is back and he's HUNGRY.

Last time on X-Men: The Animated Series, we caught up with two ex-X-Men. Founding X-Man Robert “Bobby” Drake was attempting to break into an ‘abandoned’ military base absolutely bursting with weapons and tech. The X-Men get the alert via Cerebro and head in to stop him. Scott is angry that his former teammate is being difficult yet again, Hank is excited to see him and scolds Scott for being too critical of him, and Charles is worried he may have failed his wayward student. And Logan is there, enjoying the drama. They stop Bobby and bring him in. When he refuses to cooperate, Charles puts him in ‘detention’ an anti-gravity cell. Hank coaxes Bobby a little and learns he’s looking for Lorna Dane, his girlfriend that disappeared under mysterious circumstances. He still refuses to trust Charles, though, to Hank’s disappointment. Jubilee frees him and they try to raid the base again. They’re immediately captured by at team of Mutants and the X-Men fly in to save them. An all out brawl breaks out between the X-Men and X-Factor. Wolverine, Cyclops, Beast, Iceman and Jubilee ultimately defeat Havok, Wolfsbane, Strong Guy, Quicksilver and Multiple Man before Forge, team leader, comes out and explains the situation. He basically wanted to see how his team would fare against the X-Men so kept Charles out of the loop. We learn that Lorna had actually joined X-Factor and her apparent kidnapping was a very scummy way to try to breakup with Bobby without breaking up with him. She’s also seeing Havok now, which is a bitch move. The teams separate as somewhat friendly rivals. Bobby elects to leave as he likes his non-hero accounting life and believes he'll piss everyone off if he stays too long. Enough recapping. Let’s get to it.

 

Our story begins in the Savage Land. Since we last saw this land out of time, the Pterodactyl man Sauron has taken over, ruling the land from Sinister/Magneto’s old fortress with loyalists riding Pterosaurs. Ka-Zar and his people are in open revolt and are attacking the Citadel. While Sauron has kept them at bay up to this point, he’s rapidly weakening and his soldiers are quickly captured. Ka-Zar and his men corner Sauron in his throne room as he slowly loses his Pterosaur features. He’s saved at the last minute by a mysterious woman that opens a secret passage under the floor. She introduces herself as Zaladane, high priestess of the sun god Garokk. She reveals that through Garokk she knows that Sauron needs to drain the life-essence from Mutants in order to fuel his powers. Which is a bummer since all the Mutants left a while back. She reveals an escape ship that Magneto left hidden at the base of his citadel and tells him that he must flee. Sauron fully reverts to his human form of Karl Lykos, and points out that without Mutants to feed on in the Savage Land, he’ll never return to his Sauron form. Maybe that means Ka-Zar and his people will leave him be. She insists that Ka-Zar won’t risk him ever regaining his Sauron powers and will punish him for his tyranny. She gives him an amulet of Garokk to watch over him and sends him off. As he flies away, Zaladane says that ‘it is as you commanded’ and a giant Rapa Nui style statue’s eyes start glowing.

 

We cut to New York where Rogue is riding a horse through central park with Storm. She announces she’ll take riding over flying any day. Ororo says that she respects and likes Rogue’s spirit but admits that she needs to keep herself under control lest her powers go wonky. Rogue says maybe a little chaos will do her some good and the two ride off.

 

We find Karl hiding in a subway, grabbing people to drain their essence. A refresher for anyone that never read my Sauro villain profile from a while back, Karl’s power is technically the need to absorb life from humans. He touches them and sucks up their ‘essence’ to keep his own life going. When he touches a Mutant, it triggers a retrovirus in his system that turns him into Sauron. He is disgusted by his need to feed on people like a vampire and wanders off. He ends up at a museum where Jubilee, Hank and Logan are hanging out. Karl sees the three as Logan and Jubilee are getting Chili dogs and Hank fumbles with the map. He senses power in them, the flashing eyes on his necklace and the confused look on his face suggests that this is new for him, and he rationalizes he needs just a little power from them to survive. He begs Logan for some help, and when the Canadian goes for his wallet to give him a few bucks, grabs him and starts draining. He’s horrified to learn Logan is a Mutant and that the power is fueling Sauron. Hank runs over and throws him aside, but not soon enough to stop his Sauron morph. He announces that Sauron is reborn before flying off. Beast radios Storm and Rogue about Sauron and Storm does her magic costume change before flying off after him. Sauron senses her great power. She tries to knock him down with ice, but Rogue joins them and he hypnotizes her to help him. Storm summons a gust to knock them aside. Sauron hypnotizes Storm and puts her to sleep. He grabs her and flies off. Beast tells Wolverine and Jubilee to chase after him while he handles Rogue. He hops on her back and uses his coat to blind her, causing her to hit the water to wake her up. Logan and Jubilee chase Sauron, but he gets into his jet and flies off. Logan angrily says that he’ll give Jubilee one guess as to where they’re headed.

 

The X-Men head back to the mansion to get their gear and the Blackbird. Beast tells Wolverine that he’s been unable to contact the others on Muir Island, which is how we learn that Jean is there, and she is being studied post Phoenix. They head out.

 

Sauron returns to Zaladane and gives her Storm. She says that he’s done well and that through her they’ll be able to unlock great power. She promises that if they’re able to unleash her self control, they’ll unleash her full power and give him access to untold Mutant Life energy to fuel his power. He says to watch him. He uses his hypnotic powers to force Storm to let go, unleashing her full power and turning her into an insane storm god. Sauron rushes her and drains her for just a moment. That drops Storm and fuels Sauron with more power than he’s ever felt before.

 

The X-Men fly in. On the way in, Jubilee sees a Garokk statute and asks about him. Beast and Wolverine fill her in based on info Ka-Zar told them off screen last time they were in the area. He’s a local sun god that is said to be infused with the very ground of the Savage Land. They land and start tracking Storm. Beast uses a tracking device, Rogue flies off and Wolverine tries to track her via scent. They’re interrupted by a T-Rex attack. Rogue flies back in to save Beast from getting chomped. The dino chases them, but Ka-Zar jumps on it and they drive to a tiger trap. He says hey, what’s up?

 

They head to Ka-Zar’s village and fill him in on what’s happened. He reveals to them how his people have started to Worship Garokk recently. He explained that after they left, Sauron started kidnapping villagers to help him rebuild the citadel. Ka-Zar tried to rally his people but they were outmatched. Distraught, they almost gave up hope when a Garokk statue appeared in their village overnight. This seemed to rally the people and they were able to defeat Sauron shortly thereafter. Beast asks if he believes, Ka-Zar says he’s not sure. Jubilee joins them in some local garb, right before being attacked by Sauron’s soldiers. Their Pterosaurs grab Jubilee and Rogue, Wolverine is fastball specialed into the sky by Beast to save Jubilee and Rogue breaks herself free. She and Sauron face off, Rogue tricking him into flying skyward until they hit a point too cold for him to operate. He tries to hypnotize her but she resists. He tosses her to the ground. His power starts to run out and he tries to flee, the other’s slow him down and then Jubilee blasts him to the ground as he starts to revert to his human form. She buries him under some rubble.

 

Zaladane worships at a statue of Garokk and is told it’s time to act. She frees Storm and tells her to wreck stuff.

 

The X-Men find Sauron just as he reverts into Karl Lykos. Ka-Zar recognizes him and stops Wolverine from killing him. He reveals Karl used to be a Savage Lander. Karl explains that he was kidnaped by Mr. Sinister and experimented on. This gave him the power to turn into Sauron and the need to drain life to survive. He says that he is separate from Sauron but does need to be punished for Sauron’s crimes. Before they can discuss the ethics of punishing Jekyll for Hyde’s crimes, Storm arrives and is in full crazy mode. Oh no.

 

This was a fun reintroduction to Sauron. While we saw a fair amount of him last time, this is the first episode to expand upon him being more than just one of the most powerful mutates in the Savage Land. I like that they include that Karl Lykos and Sauron are two distinct personas. And that they gave him two distinct voices, with Sauron being so high that its shrill and Karl’s voice being so low it was gravely. Though, off topic but a fun fact, in the actual novella Mysterious Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, there was no alternat persona. Nope, in the story that seems to be the root of all good side/evil side plots, there was no switching personas. Hyde was just Jekyll acting without a filter and being a dick about it. There’s some classic literature info for ya. The plot to use him to bring Storm to the Savage Land and release her power was fairly well thought out. He’s basically the only Mutate that could disable without hurting her and forcing her to let loose. This, plus Sauron being particularly desperate to keep getting enough energy to stay active made manipulating him easy. The biggest weak point of the plan was that Zaladane had to rely on Karl to touch a Mutant with enough juice to transform him. I got the implication that the Gerokk tiki head around his neck may have been manipulating him, making him feel Wolverine’s life force and make it too tempting for him to pass up trying to drain him. But they never said it out loud so who knows. So, Sauron has been repressed again, which is good, but now a crazed Storm is on the loose and a sun god might be doing something evil. A very mixed bag sort of day in my opinion. Next time, we’ll see how this ends. 

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Bluesky: @basicssuperhero.bsky.social

Viewer Log: X-Men: TAS ep 37

Iceman's here to freeze stuff and chew bubblegum. And he's all out of gum. 

Last time on X-Men: The Animated Series, Longshot had a career change. The blonde leading man with vague luck powers fell out of the sky and into Logan’s jeep while he was giving Jubilee a driving lesson. After he, Jubilee and Wolverine fought off Mojo’s goons, Longshot gets taken to the mansion and we learn what happened. Turns out, since the X-Men were last on Mojoworld, Longshot quit his gig as Mojo’s leading man and joined a rebel force trying to stop him. The evil interdimensional tv producer captured him and tried to reprogram him, but Longshot escaped thanks to the rebels but got hit into a warp point that dropped him off at Earth. Oh, and Jubilee is obviously smitten with him. Mojo, being a gross monster that looks like old cheese smells, decided to come to Earth to get his star back. He kidnaps Jubilee and makes Longshot, Wolverine, Beast and Rogue fight his robots to get her back. The X-Men battle through the shapeshifting robots, Wolverine is distrustful of Longshot, but they’re able to get Jubilee back and banish Mojo back to his home reality. Longshot leaves as well but gives Jubilee a kiss on the forehead for believing in him. Enough recapping. Let’s get to it.

 

We open on some security guards arguing about how hot/humid it is at their place of work. A situation made super ironic by the arrival of a blue fella seemingly made of Ice. This is, of course, Iceman aka Bobby Drake. The cryokinetic young man freezes the security cameras and busts into the instillation. He breaks into the warehouse itself and freezes both guards, but not before they hit an alert button.

 

At the X-Mansion, Jubilee is helping Xavier make some repairs to Cerebro. She attempts to use grabbing a part for him as an excuse to use one the Mini-X-Jets, but Charles puts a kibosh on that idea. He tells her she’s not cleared for solo flight and that she really needs to stop behaving like an impulsive child. She says she might not act like one if she wasn’t treated as such. Considering this is still how she behaves and is treated in X-Men 97, a show that comes out 30+ years in the future, this is not a plot point that is resolved quickly. Their argument is interrupted by Cerebro alerting them to a Mutant attacking a federal storage depo. Cerebro tells them that this mutant is using ice powers and then identifies the culprit as Bobby Drake. … it felt the need to de-ice his face, but like… my guy, Mutant powers aren’t so common that you’ll run into two twenty-somethings with the power to encase their whole bodies in Ice armor. Charles puts out a mental call to his X-Men, gathering Wolverine, Cyclops and Beast. Jubilee tells him the mansion is locked down and ready to go, but she’s left behind to prep the infirmary.

 

On the flight over we learn that Wolverine has never met Bobby, that he’s an OG X-Man that left the team at some point, and the Cyclops is a stick in the mud. … I know that’s not new information, but he rags on Bobby hard, saying that the others coddled him and let him get away with a lot. Beast remembers him very fondly, though and yells at Cyclops for talking about and treating Bobby too harshly. Charles tells them to stop fighting. He orders the X-Men to grab Bobby and run, and try to do it without hurting the soldiers. Wolverine is just kind of enjoying Cyclops not being mad at him for once. Cyclops orders the group to split up and find him.

 

We see Bobby using his ice beams to make a wall to hold off the soldiers before running off. He briefly returns to his non-ice form to take a breather when Beast catches up to him. Hank is obviously happy to see his old friend, but Bobby is less than enthused to think Charles is meddling in his business. He ice-blasts Hank away and tries to run. Wolverine cuts him off, but Bobby freezes him in place. He gets blasted by Cyclops, knocking him out and returning him to normal. Cyclops takes a moment to yell at inert Iceman about not having a right to wear his uniform anymore, but then attack copers and soldiers show up. Wolverine notes that he thinks that story about this being an abandoned depot is probably a lie, and Beast says, “no duh,” in the classiest way possible. They end up surrounded, Cyclops radios to Charles they need help, and Charles uses the Blackbird’s Cerebro to make all the soldiers see monsters, so they’d back off. Beast grabs Bobby and the group falls back.

 

Back at the mansion, Charles demands Bobby tell them what he was doing last night, and Bobby refuses to tell him. Jubilee notes that this is the angriest she’s ever seen the professor. Hank helpfully says this is due to a pseudo-father/son bond that has some dominance issues in it. And when Jubilee doesn’t get that, Logan adds that Bobby likes to question authority. Scott also demands Bobby talk, but Bobby refuses, saying that he ‘flunked out’ of being an X-Man and doesn’t owe them anything. Charles points out that he chose to leave, but that’s beside the point. Bobby tries to leave, saying that they can’t put him in detention anymore and that he is going back to that base, but Charles decides to prove him wrong. He activates an anti-gravity detention cell that Hank put in recently. It’s Shi’ar tech. Charles tries to get him to talk but Bobby refuses.

 

Jubilee uses Cerebro to research Iceman. From some old footage we see that he was an OG X-Man, and actually the second ever member of the group. He worked with a pre-blue form Beast, Scott, and Jean. Cerebro determines that Bobby has high potential but low discipline. Which is very accurate, he’s actually an “Omega” level Mutant. That’s a designation given to a Mutant that could seriously threaten life as we know it on Earth. Logan joins her and warns her not to trust pretty packages. She asks him if he’d met Bobby, to which he says no, it was before his time. He goes on to say he got the impression Bobby is dangerous, to which Jubilee points out that he’s a lot like Logan then.

 

We cut to Hank bringing Bobby lunch, and him earnestly asking his old friend what he was doing. Bobby refuses to answer, but apologizes for being… difficult, as he still considers Hank his friend. Hank asks where Lorna is. Bobby angrily says this has nothing to do with her, but when Hank presses him for more info, we get a flashback. We’re shown the first-class X-Men battling the Super Adaptoid. It’s a robot that copies powers, from the look of him it’s got Ironman and Captain America powers at the moment. We see that there’s another team member at the time, a green haired young woman named Lorna Dane aka Polaris. She took a bad hit in that fight and Bobby says that they almost lost her then. He goes on to explain that’s what led him to quitting the team and he and Lorna tries to have a normal life after that. He got a job as a CPA, and they enjoyed being just normal people for a while. But then the stuff with Mutant rights and Sentinels came up and they started fighting. Lorna was very much on the side of ‘lets help Mutants’ while Bobby wanted to keep up the normal life thing. He came to her apartment one night, saw it wrecked and his only clue to where Lorna could be was a scrap of paper with the words Kirby Glenn on it. Bobby thinks the government grabbed Lorna and he wants to save her. He asks Hank to let him out, but Hank tells him that he needs to let go of the past and trust the team and Charles. He says he can’t. Hank leaves, but as he goes, Jubilee (who’d been listening from the hallway) frees him.

 

Iceman and Jubilee attack the base. They’re immediately ambushed by a group of Mutants, one of whom blasts them with an energy wave and knocks them out. The leader of this group, a man with a cybernetic leg and a weirdly familiar voice tells his team to bring them inside.

 

We cut to Cyclops saying he’s going to make Bobby sorry that he took Jubilee. Charles says that’s his fault, that he should have tried harder to reach him. Beast points out that it’s just as likely Jubilee freed him of her own free will. Cyclops tells Charles that it isn’t his fault, Bobby is reckless and refuses to do as he’s told. Charles says that Bobby’s return reminds him that sometimes good leadership is to learn when NOT to give orders. Wolverine swears he won’t say he told him so.

 

They touch down and enter through Bobby’s hole in the gate. They’re spotted on security cameras, and the team leader orders the soldiers to let them pass and leave them for his team. It’s revealed that the leader of this mysterious team is in fact Forge, one of Bishop’s allies in the future.  

 

Jubilee wakes up ties to a chair next to Bobby, her hands in metal caps to keep her from firing her pyrotechnics. There’s a crate labeled Mutant Project, which grosses her out. Bobby wakes up, and uses his powers to free them. He’s attacked by Wolverine and Cyclops yells at her for helping out this miscreant. She says that they had to help him, but Cyclops and the others were too busy condemning him to notice. He says that’s not true, but Charles, listening on the com channel, says she’s right. He fell back into the role of disapproving headmaster and that just pushed Bobby away. They’re attacked by the new team of Mutants.

 

Jubilee blinds a speedster and she and Iceman try to fallback. But They’re chased by a tank of a man that hurls barrels and crates at them. Beast faces off against a woman with a beast form. And Cyclops battles a man with energy blasting powers. Weirdly, when they fire on each other, he absorbs the energy blasters power and the blaster absorbs his eyebeam. Wolverine finally gets up and faces off against a man that can clone himself who dogpiles on him. Charles hovers in to help the team. He realizes that each X-Man seems to be fighting someone who knows the extent of their powers and how to counter act them, so advises his team to swap opponents. Beast throws the animal lady at the speedster, knocking them both out, Bobby freezes the cloner, Cyclops throws the blaster into a wall of crates, and Wolverine takes on the bruiser and takes him out by dropping a water tower on him.

 

Bobby demands to know where Lorna Dane is, and Forge arrives with her and says she’s right here. Bobby seems to not notice the uniform she’s wearing and runs up to kiss her. She is confused why he’s here but forgets about him almost entirely when she sees the blonde blaster knocked out and goes to help Havok. Bobby looks heartbroken at seeing her tenderly lifting Havok up. Forge introduces himself to Charles and his team of X-Factor. He only uses codenames, but I’ll use the full names of his team. It’s comprised of Pietro Maximoff aka Quicksilver, Rahne Sinclair aka Wolfsbane, Guido Carosella aka Strong Guy, James Madrox aka Multiple Man, Lorna Dane aka Polaris, and Alexander Summers aka Havok. No, Cyclops does not recognize his brother or his brother him, probably due to head trauma and not seeing each other for like 15 years. Charles and Logan think that the government is recruiting Mutants to fight Mutants, but Forge says that they’re on the same side, his team is just on the Government’s payroll. He tells Charles that the need for secrecy for security is important, but he also didn’t inform Charles of his team in the hopes scrapping with the X-Men could help them out. Bobby asks Lorna what’s going on. She says that Forge recruited her due to her history with the X-Men. She thought he’d disapprove, so they faked her kidnapping to… there’s not continuing that sentence without sounding like a psychopath. They faked her kidnapping to make the episode happen. She also reveals she’s dating Havok. She says that since joining X-Factor they’re using their powers to help Mutant kind, and since Bobby lost touch with that side of himself she fell out of love with him. The teams part with a friendly rivalry, and no one telling Scott about his little brother. Which is… so damn weird.

 

Back at the Mansion Jubilee and Charles ask Bobby to stay. He refuses, saying that he’d be driving Charles and the others crazy by the end of the day. He asks Jubilee to make help Cyclops not be such a stick in the mud before ice riding away. Jubilee asks if they’ll see him again and Charles says they can only hope.

 

Speaking from 30 years in the future, the answer is ‘yes, one more time, in a flashback.’ I sincerely hope the X-Men 97 team remember him and Warren in season 2.

 

One of my few complaints about X-Men: The Animated Series is how they treated the two not-current X-Men members, Bobby most of all. Warren at least gets some episodes about his struggles as Archangel and finding his humanity again, but this is the only time Robert Drake graces the TV screen and that’s a real shame. He’s the funny man of the OG team, good friends with everyone, and is often times characterized as one of Cyclops’ best friends. He’s certainly one of Cyc’s oldest friends, so seeing him be pissed at Bobby this whole episode is kind of rough. It makes sense and fits with this version of Bobby, he left, Scott feels abandoned, so he’s fixating on and lashing out at every mistake Bobby makes because being mad at him is easier than admitting he misses Iceman. And while I like seeing X-Factor and the fight between the two teams… Lorna seems incredibly cruel and heartless for faking a kidnapping because that was easier than just breaking up with Bobby. Like, girl, you let a retired superhero think you were abducted, how did you NOT think he was going to go after you! At least give him a Dear John letter, for god’s sake. It’s funny that Charles and Scott rode Bobby so hard this whole episode but neither of them tell Lorna she’s acting like a psychopath. And, again, weird they didn’t address the Scott/Alex connection, beyond their powers don’t work on each other which seems like it should be a tip. It’s a shame that this is the only time we’ll see Bobby, really, as again, founding X-Man. The SECOND X-Man. I hold out hope that we can see him and Warren on a mission with Scott, Jean and Hank at some point in X-Men 97, as the fact that the last time we saw those five together on a mission that wasn’t a flashback was in X-Men: Evolution, 20 years ago. Next time, the return of Sauron. No, not the floating eye, the Pterosaur man. 

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Bluesky: @basicssuperhero.bsky.social