The final adventures of the 90's hit X-Men: The Animated Series are now on DVD in X-Men- Volume 5! These final 14 episodes feature animated interpretations of classic X-Men tales The Phalanx Covenant, No Mutant is an Island, and the origin of Mr. Sinister!
Episode Highlights:
"The Phalanx Covenant Parts 1 and 2"- The alien race known as the Phalanx has come to Earth, and now the X-Men must team up with some unlikely allies to stop this threat before all civilization is destroyed. This two part episode features appearances by Mr. Sinister, Banshee, Moira MacTaggert, Forge, Quicksilver, Polaris, Cameron Hodge, Warlock, Magneto and more! This is a great (yet shortened) interpretation of the Phalanx event story that ran throughout the X-Men titles during the 90's.
"Old Soldiers"- Did you know that thanks to Wolverine's healing factor his aging is slowed down significantly? Did you also know that he fought along side Captain America during WWII? This episode features the first encounter of these two iconic characters as they must go on a mission which will pit them against the Red Skull himself!
"Descent"- The origin of Mr. Sinister stands revealed! Taking a page from the 90's mini-series "The Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix", viewers will learn the tale of Nathaniel Essex and how he came to be the twisted geneticist known as Sinister. This was a great interpretation of the four issue saga and stands out as being one of the best adaptations to animation from the comics.
"No Mutant Is An Island"- Reeling from the "death" of Jean Grey after "The Phoenix Saga", Cyclops leaves the X-Men and goes out into the world on his own. While the episode had some great moments that are directly translated from the comics, the overall quality of the episode's animation was pretty lacking. If you were a fan of the original story then it is still worth checking out.
"Graduation Day"- The final episode of X-Men: The Animated Series features many cameos of classic X-Men heroes and villains. Professor Xavier is attacked on live television and his mutant powers are revealed to the world. Morph returns to help his friends and appears before the world as Xavier to hold off the coming war between humanity and mutants. Now, the X-Men must come together and find a way to save the Professor's life and go on a suicide run to the mutant island of Genosha to enlist the aide of the one man who can help them: Magneto!
Special Features:
There are no special features on this release.
The More You Know:
The four part Season 4 finale "Beyond Good and Evil" was meant to be the end of X-Men: The Animated Series, but due to the extremely high ratings, FOX decided to pick the show up for an additional set of episodes. The only problem with this pickup was that the original animation company was not able to produce the next season quickly enough for the studio, so FOX turned to a different animator to complete the series. As a result, the final episodes still are similar in style, but definitely have a different look to them.
Overall:
The final installment of X-Men: The Animated Series is here and fans can finally enjoy the complete series. The only minor problem that I had with this volume is that the episodes are out of order, which will cause confusion to most viewers. The episode, "No Mutant Is An Island" takes place between The Phoenix Saga and the Dark Phoenix Saga stories, which were released in earlier volumes. It would have been nice if the episodes on the volumes were in release order, but beggars can't be choosers. At the very least, every episode of this hit show is now available on DVD.
ComicsOnline gives X-Men – Volume 5- 4 timeless X-Men storylines out of 5.
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