Synopsis
Not unlike the New Mutants comic book, these are episodes which feature the heroes in thethroes of adolescence. Unlike the New Mutants, however, these are the X-Men themselves intheir youth: Jean Grey, Cyclops and so on. So in between fighting the Brotherhood of EvilMutants, they also have to worry about dating and homework and the whole bit. At least this discdoesn’t try to pretend it’s a feature film.
Audio
The sound is about par for TV cartoon tr…nsfers, which is still pretty good. The music has thebest of the surround treatment, but big as it is, it doesn’t overwhelm the dialogue, which iswithout distortion. The effects are workmanlike. There is some sense of an environment, but thisis pretty low key, and constantly displaced by the music. Still, any environmental effect at all issomething I don’t often see with TV cartoon DVDs.
Video
Transfers of cartoons are usually problem free, and this is the case again here. The coloursare vibrant, almost leaping off the screen, and there is no grain, edge, or other transfer problemsto deal with. The image is very sharp as well. The animation is pretty limited, but that’s anotherstory.
Special Features
Not much, really. Some fairly elaborate bios of the various characters are provided, andproducer Boyd Kirkland introduces each episode (briefly). There is also a choose-your-own-adventure feature, called “The X-Men Comic Book Adventure” and this is the lamest thing I’veseen since Ballistic’s rock-paper-scissors combat game. The menu is scored.
Closing Thoughts
Very much for X-Men fanatics only, though young fans will probably get some enjoymentout of this as well.
Special Features List
- Episode Introductions by Boyd Kirkland
- Character Bios
- Comic Book Adventure
