X-Men: The Animated Series is one of the most beloved animated shows of the 1990s and a high-water mark for comic book related media adaptations. The series covered a staggering number of story arcs throughout the history of the X-Men, faithfully recreating seminal moments for longtime fans and newcomers to the series. Despite its lackluster ending, X-Men: The Animated Series is still regarded highly by fans. But there is another piece of animated X-Men history that some fans might not know about.
Marvel’s foray into animation began with 1966’s The Marvel Super Heroes, a show that set the stage for further adaptations. It was 1978’s Fantastic Four that began a connected animated universe that continued in 1979’s Spider-Woman, 1981’s Spider-Man and Spider-Man And His Amazing Friends, and 1982’s The Incredible Hulk. In 1989 Marvel released a pilot episode for a show based on the X-Men, a show that has a bit more history behind it than one would expect.
Entitled X-Men: Pryde of the X-Men, the pilot’s budget came from 1988’s Robocop animated series. Marvel had Toei Animation produce the animation for the pilot, lending a much more anime feel instead of the typical Western approach seen in previous shows. Financial issues prevented more of the show from being made and also ended the animated universe that been built throughout the previous ten years.
Despite existing solely as a pilot, X-Men: Pryde of the X-Men is a fantastic adaptation of the classic mutant team of that time. Toei’s work on producing the animation for the pilot gave it a surge of vibrant colors and gripping action sequences in levels of quality not seen in previous animated Marvel works. Pryde of the X-Men was also received well enough that it became the inspiration for the hit X-Men arcade game developed by Konami.
In 1990 a comic adaptation of the pilot was published. X-Men: Animation Special (adapted by Danny Fingeroth) was unique in that its art was composed of still shots of the animation cels used for the show. The usage of animation cells forced the comic to lack a certain sense of variety in the layout of its pages, relying on simply square panels in grid formations, but the images lifted from the pilot are still bright and appealing to view. With dialogue and narration lifted straight from the pilot, X-Men: Animation Special was a faithful one-to-one reconstruction of the pilot.
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The plot of Pryde of the X-Men and subsequently X:Men: Animation Special centers on Kitty Pryde, a young girl arriving at Xavier’s School For Gifted Youngsters for the first time. Kitty gets a literal crash course on the X-Men when she accidentally discovers and falls into the Danger Room. Things only become worse for her as Magneto and his band of evil mutants launch an attack on the X-Men that same day, stealing Cerebro’s mutant power circuit. Kitty joins the X-Men as they launch an emergency operation to recover the mutant power circuit and stop Magneto's evil plans. It’s an absolute shame that Pryde of the X-Men was canceled with only a pilot under its belt as it possessed a great deal of potential for future installments.
If Marvel had continued to have Toei Animation lend their talents to the production of the series it could have easily become one of the best products under the Marvel name. With X-Men ’97 being released sometime next year the animated saga of the X-Men will continue on. Even though Marvel had plenty of animated series before and after Pryde of the X-Men and the ’92 series, none have had such success or impact the way the X-Men have. As long as the new series remains faithful to the level of presentation and story-telling that made the ’92 series so popular ardent X-Fans will have nothing to fear.