Friday, October 8, 2004

Jessie and the Rippers
“Adverbs For Sale” is a reference to Schoolhouse Rock (aka Grammar Rocks.) The specific song/episode is “Lolly, Lolly, Lolly.” I have a neat little book which contains the lyrics to all of the songs, and I really enjoy it. To be honest, Schoolhouse is a little before my time, so even though I know most of the lyrics I haven’t really heard the songs themselves.

As anyone who is worth their weight in McNuggets knows, Mayor McCheese is the Mayor of McDonaldland. Apparently JC Baggee is worth an awful lot of McNuggets today, because he guessed the reference and answered the obscure question correctly. That earns him a whopping 3 points, and puts him at the top of the heap.

Current High Scores
JC Baggee 5 Points
Shinmaru: 3 Points
Mimmi, Semjaza Azazel: 2 Points
Ben, Solo Tremaine, Sara,
Nerdsy, Arcadia: 1 Point

I realize that today is Friday, but I’m postponing Shy’s Obscure Question segment until tomorrow.

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“Pryde of the X-Men"

Most of you are probably familiar with the X-Men: Evolution animated series that has aired on Cartoon Network and various other stations in recent years. This show was actually an updated version of Fox’s classic X-Men: The Animated Series, which I remember fondly from my childhood in the 1990’s. Now I’m sure the average reader has seen one, if not both of the shows, but did you know that there was a third X-Men animated series created in the 1980’s? Well, I did, and I’d like to share some of it’s charm and wonder with you.

Actually “Pryde of the X-Men” was never made into a full television series. It’s simply a pilot created for television networks in the hopes that additional episodes would be ordered. Sadly, nobody took much an interest in the X-Men, and after airing as a television special on Saturday mornings, it was never seen again.

Contrary to popular belief, “Pryde of the X-Men” was not a mediocre cartoon, and it’s quality had nothing to do with it’s failure to be sold to the major networks. This show is quite possibly the most faithful adaptation of a Marvel comic book ever, whether it be to a TV show, a video game, or even a feature film. In a time when “G.I. Joe” and “Thundercats” ruled the airwaves, the “Pryde” pilot was years ahead of it’s time in terms of overall quality.

Like every good X-Men story “Pryde” is about the villainous Magneto, and his attempts to take over the world. Possibly inspired by G.I. Joe, Magneto and the Brotherhood of Mutants (Blob, Juggernaut, Toad, Piro and the oh-so-sexy White Queen) are referred to constantly as terrorists. I doubt the word had such a strong connotation during the 80’s, but it’s kind of surreal for something like a 20 year old X-Men cartoon to have relevance today.

Magneto and the Brotherhood have an evil scheme to destroy mankind once and for all, but they need to collect some special items first. It just so happens that those items belong to none other than Charles Xavier, and so the plot is set into motion.

The real story begins when young Kitty Pryde (“Shadowcat” to those of you who are nerds) decides to visit Xavier’s Mansion after receiving a mysterious letter from Professor X. He invites her to join the X-Men and help fight for the good of human and mutants everywhere, she is very hesitant, and for the next few moments Professor X spills exposition all over the place.

I’d also like to mention here that Kitty Pryde is the original “‘What are the X-Men?’ Girl.” When introducing the X-Men to a new generation it is a common plot device to make one of the characters a young female, just coming to terms with her powers. Their job is to ask the dumb questions that fans already know, and learn to use her abilities for good instead of evil. Also, you can tell how old you are by identifying which of the “WATX-M?” girls you relate to. [Shadowcat: 23+, Jubilee: 15-22, Rogue: Birth-14.]

Jubilee was the “WATX-M?” girl of my generation, so always and forever I will associate her with asking dumb questions and getting herself into trouble. Setting the standard for this type of behavior, Kitty is no different. Fortunately she has a lot of personality for a 14 year old girl, and I can honestly see why Professor X would choose to violate the state’s child endangerment laws and put her on the team. But there is far more to the team than Professor X and Kitty: meet the X-Men of 1984!

Colossus! Nightcrawler! Cyclops! Storm! Wolverine!
…and the lovable Dazzler!

Dazzler? Yeah, isn’t it awesome? You’ll notice a lot of “Big Names” are missing from the roster, most notably: Beast, Iceman, Rogue, Gambit, and Jean Grey. I’m kind of surprised that Jean Grey is missing from the team, but Cyclops is a lot more interesting without her. The term “whipped” comes to mind.

As for why the other major characters are not present, I can only imagine that they wanted to create a very diverse team and that other characters did not seem interesting enough. That’s usually why Nightcrawler and Beast are not present together: characters that are too similar either in appearance or in personality. (Also, Rogue and Gambit weren’t around then. Most of your favorite X-Men made in the 1990’s. Take that fans of Cable and Psylocke!)

You get the idea. I could go into great detail explaining the very funny bickering between Kitty and Wolverine (who has an Australian accent for some reason) or how Kitty learns to overcome Nightcrawler’s frightening appearance and be his friend, but I won’t. This is a very basic story with a lot of great action sequences and memorable moments. If you love the X-Men, you’ll love this cartoon. It gives every character their moment in the spotlight, and is incredibly entertaining.

If you would like to learn more about “Pryde of the X-Men” or want to know where you can obtain a copy just AIM me. I’m too tired to write another two pages about this, but darn it… If I had the energy I so would.
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