90s Nostalgia with the X-Men

I recently decided to embark on a trip to memory lane courtesy of Netflix streaming.  I watched all 5 seasons (76 episodes) of the 90s X-Men cartoon.  The show aired from 1992 to 1997 and when it came out this 10 year old was glued to the TV.

I still remember when Night of the Sentinels first aired, Pizza Hut did a big promotion for the TV show and I made my parents take me to the only one near our house which was in Canarsie, NY (I lived in Brooklyn at the time the show came out).  I got a cup and a VHS tape out of that trip.  It was with that childlike enthusiasm that I sat down to watch the entirety of the X-Men series. 

 The series has aged, not terribly, but it has.  Everything is bright 90s blues, pinks and yellows.  The voice acting is shaky at times but not terrible and they didn't use the same cells for multiple scenes which the Spider-Man cartoon that aired at the same time did constantly.

When guys my age bring up the X-Men cartoon almostthirty they generally have one thing that drives them nuts.

Jubilee, with the power to shoot sparklers from her fingers!  Quake in fear Mister Sinister.  Shit your pants Juggernaut.  Fly into the sun Dark Phoenix.  As entirely unnecessary as she was, I honestly don't feel she was the worst part of the show.  A good portion of the action didn't even involve her because they left her whiny ass at home.  The character that really annoyed me might surprise you.

The character that really drove me nuts was Storm.  I know part of her character trait is that she at one time believed she was a Goddess which sort of explains the one thing about her that drove me nuts, but holy shit was it played up in this show.  Every single time she used her powers she had to explain to you what she was doing.  "Wind and rain heed my call!" "Arctic winds I command thee!" "Lightning come forth and strike this menace down!"  Holy shit enough already!

A few more quick observations:  I'm pretty sure Gambit was willing to die to get with Rogue just once, and with the way they drew her, I know every boy was right there with him (myself included).  Why did Gambit, Jean & Cyclops have that weird like hood type thing that covered the back of their head went around their forehead and left the top of their head and face open?  The voice of Wolverine will always be the voice I hear when I read a comic with him in it.  Morph was more of a waste then Jubilee.

With all that being said it was a damn fine cartoon and a wonderful trip down memory lane.  Sometimes when you decide to feed the nostalgia bug you're left disappointed, it is so hard for things to be as good as you remember them to be.