| The 1992 X-Men animated series debuted on October 31, 1992 on the Fox Network as part of the "Fox Kids" Saturday morning lineup. The plot was loosely adapted from famous storylines and events in the X-Men comics, such as the Dark Phoenix Saga, Days of Future Past, the Phalanx Covenant, and the Legacy Virus. The show features a team line-up similar to that of the early 1990s X-Men comic books: The line-up largely resembles that of Cyclops' Blue Team, established in the early issues of the second X-Men comic series.
The series' first 13 episodes were notable for being possibly the first time ever that an animated series had a full season of episodes flow one into the next, creating a single continuing narrative, something the series producers fought heavily for.[1] However, starting with season three, most episodes (except for multi-part stories) were shown in random order.
Each episode was assigned two different numbers internally. One is for Script Order, which indicates the number assigned by the production company. The other is for Production Order, which are the official episode numbers assigned by FOX Children's Network, indicating the order in which they received the episodes. These both vary from the order in which the series actually aired after season three. According to series writer Steven Melching, the Script Order is the "best guide in terms of overall series continuity, as this is how the stories were originally envisioned to flow together." [2]
The X-Men also appeared on Spider-Man in episodes "The Mutant Agenda" and "Mutants' Revenge". Storm later appeared in the three part episode “Secret Wars”.
As of 2008, the X-Men animated show stands as the longest running Marvel Comics based TV show, lasting for six years, with five seasons and a total of 76 episodes. The series was canceled after the episode "Graduation Day", which aired on September 20, 1997.[3]
The first season order was thirteen episodes, which was standard for a network show. The Sentinel story wrapped up at the end of the season because the writers were not sure that there would be more than one season. Looking back at the previous Marvel animated adaptations, there was great fear that X-Men would fail. When the first season became a number one hit, the network ordered 39 more episodes.[4]
| Script # |
Title |
Writer(s)[5] |
Original Airdate[5] |
Prod. # |
| 01 |
"Night Of The Sentinels (Part 1)" |
Mark Edward Edens |
October 31, 1992 |
XM-101 |
| Jubilee is attacked by robots called Sentinels at a local mall, but she is saved by the X-Men and taken to the X-Mansion for her safety. The X-Men discover that the group running the Mutant Registration Program intend to track down and eliminate mutants. Later the X-Men find the Sentinel base and infiltrate the base to destroy the files on mutants. The episode ends in a cliffhanger when Storm opens the door to a room where many armed soldiers are hiding, waiting to ambush the X-Men. |
| 02 |
"Night Of The Sentinels (Part 2)" |
Mark Edward Edens |
November 7, 1992 |
XM-102 |
| Wolverine smells the soldiers' gun oil and quickly closes the door before the soldiers fire. Storm enters and sweeps the guards away with her wind power. After destroying the files on mutants, the X-Men escape to the Blackbird, but are stopped by the sentinels. During the fight with the Sentinels, Morph is shot and presumed dead. While Beast gets blasted against the fence and gets an electrocuted and is captured. The rest retreat to the Blackbird on Cyclops’ command. Later Jubilee decides that it is best to stay at the X-Mansion. |
| 03 |
"Enter Magneto" |
Jim Carlson &
Terrence McDonnell |
November 27, 1992 |
XM-103 |
| After Beast's trial, Sabretooth demands that Beast be set free, prompting the guards to shoot and injure Sabretooth. Cyclops aids Sabretooth and brings him to the Mansions' infirmary. Later, Magneto attacks a military missile facility. As the X-men arrive, Magneto is preparing to launch nuclear missiles in order to ensure a war between mutants and humans. Cyclops, Storm, and Wolverine face off with Magneto, but are unable to stop him. Later Storm uses her control over wind and lightning to cause the missiles to short-circuit, deactivating them and drop them into the water. Having prevented a nuclear war, the X-men return home to the mansion having learned the full power of Magneto. |
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