Welcome to another X-centric installment of Adventure(s) Time, a look back at animated heroes of the past. This week, we’re remembering one of the elements that made X-Men: The Animated Series so unique. Fans of the era remember the series for faithfully recreating the look of the comics…right down to all of the intricate buckles, pouches, and belt loops of the 1990s design style. Heck, even when Marvel wanted the team to abandon the Jim Lee look, they stood firm.

The tone of the series also matched the (mostly) serious tenor of the comics, with no real effort to make the show “kid-friendly.” X-Men presented a good faith effort at portraying the comics’ ongoing themes of bigotry and alienation. Specific character dramas, such as Rogue’s inability to physically touch others, were also faithfully translated. Jean Grey questioning her humanity after developing godlike powers? Wolverine’s struggles with his inner rage? His desire to make peace with his past? That’s all there, too.

We Have Only Ourselves To Blame

Another element of the comics was also brought to the screen, and this one turned out to be a bit of a problem. For decades, the standard in comics consisted of done-in-one, self-contained stories. With no real ongoing continuity, editors were free to take two or three of these stories and slot them into any issue. (Rarely would a single story be “issue-length.”) With only a few exceptions, like Captain Marvel’s "The Monster Society of Evil," this was the industry standard for decades.

RELATED: X-Men: The Animated Series – Where the Heck Was Kitty Pryde?

Stan Lee’s approach in the earliest Marvel comics wasn’t so different. He was mostly running issue-long stories, not ten-pagers, but didn’t feel a great need to create a tight issue-to-issue continuity. As the months developed, however, Stan recognized the devotion of the Marvel fanbase. These were readers who didn’t miss an issue, who obsessed over the details. This granted Stan a freedom to reference past issues. And to continue a story past one issue. Sometimes past three or four issues.

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Simple, Straightforward X-Continuity? Nah.

Chris Claremont, during his lengthy stint on the X-titles, embraced Stan Lee's approach. As many have noted over the years, Claremont’s X-canon is closer to a Russian novel than any traditional superhero narrative. Plot threads could weave their way through stories for literal years before reaching a conclusion. Even at the end of sixteen years on the titles, Claremont still had countless stories left to tell with the characters, little hints that had never been paid off.

When adapting X-Men, borrowing this narrative style only made sense. After all, X-Men stories don’t consist of them merely popping in, saving the day, then flying home. Their actions have consequences, their lives are impacted by events and progress to new points. That’s essential to the appeal of the franchise.

RELATED: X-Men: The Animated Series and Its Surprising Jim Lee Controversy

This approach is evident throughout Season One. Meeting Jubilee leads the X-Men to investigate the Mutant Control Agency. That mission ends with Morph killed and Beast captured. Beast’s trial inspires Magneto to reappear. Magneto hiring Sabretooth to distract the team causes Wolverine’s painful memories to resurface. Wolverine’s angst over his past, and resentment of Scott and Jean’s relationship, forces him to briefly abandon the team. And on and on, for thirteen episodes.

But, because the production required for a half-hour animated series has numerous elements not present in monthly comics, this did create some problems.

Anyone Old Enough To Remember Those McDonald's Ballots?

The FOX Network had issues with the strictly linear episodic approach right away. After the two-part pilot preview was a hit, fans voted for a new X-Men to air over Thanksgiving weekend. The next episode ready to air was... episode four, a continuation of the still-in-production episode three. FOX apparently grumbled and went ahead with a still unfinished version of the third episode.

Mojo in X-Men The Animated Series

Another problem occurred later that season, when another episode wasn’t ready for air. The episode after it, “The Cure,” was ready, however. So, FOX edited the cliffhanger from “Slave Island,” skipped the unfinished one, and went ahead with “The Cure.” Too bad that episode opens with a reference to the missing episode, and a puzzling sequence of the X-Men repairing their destroyed mansion.

RELATED: X-Men: The Animated Series – Which Scenes Never Aired in Reruns?

In his book, Previously on X-Men, showrunner Eric Lewald discusses FOX’s problems with the episodic approach. Running "previously..." montages in the opening, like a prime time drama, was suggested. There is one redeeming feature, from FOX’s point of view, that made the tactic acceptable. As explained by Lewald:

I wanted to shake people..."Look, not only will the kids be able to catch up, but it saves you money. That's 20 seconds you don't have to reanimate, you've already got the footage."

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Sneaking Around Network Edicts

But the issue of out-of-order episodes still bothered the network. The directive after Season One was no more continued narratives… Lewald found a way around it.

Having Xavier lost to the mysterious Savage Land at the end of the first two-part story, then saved at the end of the season during the last one, while touching base with him for a minute every episode, gave us a "continuing story" even if the episodes in between were all stand-alone stories that resolved themselves. It allowed us to produce the Savage Land bits first, so they would be certainly completed in time for airing.

RELATED: X-Men: The Animated Series – The Story Behind All Those Uncanny Cameos

Which is actually ingenious. Could any viewer at home tell those scenes were animated first? Nope. They slotted in nicely with the other scenes, while keeping the ongoing narrative going. Season Two maintains the feel of Season One, culminating in another satisfying season finale.

Season Three follows the traditional pattern… until it doesn’t. “Out of the Past” is a two-parter introducing not only the Reavers, but the intergalactic elements of the Claremont canon. This leads into the heavily-demanded adaptation of “The Phoenix Saga”...a five-parter that selects the most memorable scenes of the comics and weaves them into a streamlined narrative. The finale, featuring an apparent death for Jean Grey, was going to be followed-up within a few weeks.

This was not to be.

When Done-in-One Took Over

X-men Animated Series Develops Better Characters

Lewald explains in his book the mandate going into Season Three.  No more continued stories... not even if you animated the subplot scenes first.  The ongoing Phoenix storyline wasn't the only element botched by overseas animators. With FOX airing seemingly random episodes in any order, viewers were confused, and the show’s narrative was never the same. It’s a shame, too. The X-mythos is all about the tapestry, the stories that build, the connections formed over years of an ongoing saga. While later episodes of X-Men do have their moments, the epic feeling is just lost. “Done-in-one” and the X-Men simply don’t fit.

RELATED: Which Classic Foes Couldn’t Appear on X-Men: The Animated Series – And Why?

Future animated adaptations realized this. Episodes of X-Men Evolution or Wolverine and the X-Men rarely appeared out of order. (Likely thanks to the help of more reliable overseas studios.) It’s too bad their forerunner wasn’t able to continue down the path it set, but maybe that’s the price of being ahead of your time.

That’s all for now. If you have any suggestions for future installments, just leave a comment or contact me on Twitter.