“Continuing the excitement of the classic X-Men animated series on DVD, volume 3 includes a lot of cool episodes which include the ‘Savage Land’ and ‘The Dark Phoenix’ sagas but also plenty of action-packed episodes featuring X-Factor, Iceman, the Juggernaut, Nightcrawler, Bishop, Ka-Zar, Shard and more!”
© MARVEL, X-MEN and all related characters and their distinctive likenesses thereof are trademarks of Marvel Characters, Inc. and are used with permission.© Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
DVD TITLE: X-MEN VOLUME 3 (Marvel DVD Comic Book Collection)
DURATION: 345 Minutes (15 Episodes)
DVD INFORMATION: English, Dolby Digital Surround Sound, Fullscreen (1:33:1), French and Spanish Language Tracks, French and Spanish Subtitles
COMPANY: Marvel Entertainment Group/Buena Vista Home Entertainment
RATED: TV Y7 FV
RELEASE DATE:Â September 15, 2009
Starring:
Cedric Smith as the voice of Professor Charles Xavier
Cal Dodd as the voice of Wolverine/Logan
Norm Spencer as the voice of Cyclops/Scott Summers
Lenore Zann as the voice of Rogue
George Buza as the voice of Beast/Doctor Henry “Hank” McCoy
Catherine Disher as the voice of Jean Grey/Phoenix
Iona Morris (1992) and Alison Sealy-Smith (1992-1997) as the voice of Storm/Ororo Munroe
Alyson Court as the voice of Jubilee/Jubilation Lee
Chris Potter as the voice of Gambit/Remy Lebeau
Lawrence Bayne as the voice of Cable, Erik the Redd
Payl Haddad as the voice of Nightcrawler/Kurt Wagner
Jeremy Ratchford as the voice of Banshee/Sean Cassidy
Lally Cadeau as the voice of Doctor Moira McTaggart
Ron Rubin as the voice of Morph
Marc Strange as the voice of Forge
Philip Akin as the voice of Bishop
David Hemblen as the voice of Magneto/Erik Lehnsherr
John Colicos and James Blendick as the voice of Apocalypse
Don Francks as the voice of Sabretooth/Victor Creed, Puck/Eugene Milton Judd, Shaman
Christopher Britton II as the voice of Mister Sinister/Nathaniel Essex
Rick Bennett as the voices of Juggernaut/Cain Marko and Colossus/Piotr Rasputin
The X-Men are back for more nonstop thrills and excitement in Volume 3 of the definitive animated series. Faithfully created from the pages of the original Marvel® comic books, these classic stories are a must-have for any X-Men fan! When the all-powerful Dark Phoenix inhabits the body of Jean Grey, The X-Men go to battle in order to save one of their own. Get into the action with 15 spine-tingling episodes, including the 4-part “Dark Phoenix” saga, in this collectible 2-disc set!
For 46 years, the mutant superhero team known as “X-Men” have been a part of the lives of several generations. I personally grew up with the the X-Men during the latest 70’s and early 80’s but became interested once again during the early 90’s when artist Jim Lee brought a new look and eventually created this incredible synergy amongst the fans.  A time when Chris Claremont was ending his run and the storylines would be be infused by more excitement from Fabien Nicieza and Scot Lobdell.
We were greeted with awesome storylines such as the “The X-Tinction Agenda”, “The Muir Island Saga”, “X-Cutioner’s Song”, “Fatal Attractions”, “Phalanx Covenant” and “Age of Apocalypse” from 1990-1995 and in addition to the excitement in the comic books (which would continue on with the action figures from Toy Biz), the animated series was one of those special events that took place in October 1992 on the Fox Network.
I can easily remember how many of my friends and fellow comic book collectors were excited for the series. Although not exactly the same type of storyline from the comic books, the animated series captured the heart and soul of the X-Men and “X-Men: The Animated Series” would continue on through 1998.
Needless to say, the animated series is close to the heart for the diehard X-Men fan but also those who were young when the series came out, are now wanting to share the animated series with their own children. And for me, it’s great to watch this series alongside my six-year-old son and seeing him enjoy the series as well.
“X-MEN VOLUME 3” comes with 15 episodes on two discs. It’s important to note that according to Buena Vista Home Entertainment, “X-MEN VOLUME 3” is going by how it was aired and not by production episode number. So, I will list the episodes with their episode # on the DVD but also their episode script #. Included are spoiler-less summaries:
DISC: 1
- EPISODE 34 (38) – Savage Land, Strange Heart (Part 1) – Sauron kidnaps Storm in order to feed on her mutant energy. The X-Men meanwhile team up with Ka-Zar.
- EPISODE 35 (39) – Savage Land, Strange Heart (Part 2) – With Storm becoming Garokk, Sauron wants to absorb her mutant energy. the X-Men along with Ka-Zar try to put a stop to both Sauron.
- EPISODE 36 (35) – Obsession – A former horseman of Apocalypse, the Archangel wants his revenge. Meanwhile, the X-Men try to help him.
- EPISODE 37 – The Dark Phoenix (Part 1) – The Phoenix takes over Jean’s body and now the Inner Circle Club want to that power.
- EPISODE 38 – The Dark Phoenix (Part 2) – The Inner Circle make their move and Professor X and Emma Frost battle against each other for psychic control of Jean. The Dark Phoenix is born.
- EPISODE 39 – The Dark Phoenix (Part 3) – The X-Men try to save Jean Grey from the Phoenix.
- EPISODE 40 – The Dark Phoenix (Part 4) – With Lilandra wanting the Phoenix (Jean Grey) dead, the X-Men must do what they can to protect her.
DISC 2:
- EPISODE 41 (37) – Cold Comfort – The X-Men find out that Bobby Drake (Iceman) has been breaking into a top-secret government installation. Has Iceman become evil? This episode features the X-Men vs. X-Factor.
- EPISODE 42 (44) – Orphan’s End – Cyclop discovers something important about Corsair.
- EPISODE 43 (46) – The Juggernaut Returns – Cain Marko (Juggernaut) loses his ruby of Cyttorak and someone else discovers it and becomes as powerful as the Juggernaut in order to impress women.
- EPISODE 44 (53) – Nightcrawler – Gambit, Rogue and Logan go on a trip to Germany. But when Logan hears of stories of a demon hiding at a monastery, he goes to find out who this demon is.
- EPISODE 45 (61) – Weapon X, Lies and Video Tape – When Wolverine receives a postcard, it drives him mad and memories from the past start to consume him.
- EPISODE 46 (54) – One Man’s Worth (Part 1)– Trevor Fitzroy and Bantam team up with Master Mold and go back in time to kill Professor X.
- EPISODE 47 (55) – One Man’s Worth (Part 2) – Bishop, Shard team up with a Wolverine and Storm from another time in order to protect Professor X.
- EPISODE 48 (51) – Courage – Morph returns to the X-Men but is he ready to be part of the team?
VIDEO & AUDIO:
“X-MEN” the animated series is presented in full screen (1:33:1). One thing that you will notice is that the animation does show its age. Since the animation was created over 17-years ago, a lot of the animation is hand drawn and compared to many of the digital animated series that are show on television today, the animation doesn’t have that digital color vibrancy as newer animations and also, you will notice that the animation does has its share of scratches and dust (that a lot of classic animation have on DVD).
As for audio, audio is presented in Dolby 2.0 and is dialogue-driven (a French and Spanish language track is also included). Unfortunately, the soundtrack is front channel driven but for those who have receivers capable of a setting to enable stereo on all channels, I found that to be the best setting to enjoy the series on my home theater system.
As for subtitles, “X-MEN VOLUME 3” is provided in English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
There are no special features included on both DVD’s.
I was among the big X-Men fans who were highly anticipating the series and just loved it! As a collector of the X-Men comic books around that time period, to have a series based on Jim Lee’s character designs and a series with so much potential of showcasing a variety of enemies and characters, it was always a treat to find out who would be introduced in each episode.
In fact, during the hoopla and way before the Internet became part of our natural lives, many of the fans would communicate about the episodes through electronic BBS’s and show our happiness and excitement over the animated series, the action figure line and of course the many multiple X-Men related comic book series that flourished from the early 90’s.
For volume 3, the first disc contains the “Savage Land” and “The Dark Phoenix”s saga but truthfully, I enjoyed the individual episodes on Disc 2 the best. In fact, one of my favorite two episodes are the “One Man’s Worth” two-parter which are included in Volume 3. It may not have a lot of the X-Men in the episode but I felt the storytelling was well done on those two episodes.
The “Dark Phoenix” episodes are episodes that I really wasn’t into back when the animation debuted. Having read so many Dark Phoenix storylines, I wasn’t a big fan of the Inner Club storyline but I did enjoy the use of the Shi’ar.
Now, there is one thing that is a big negative that hardcore fans of the animated series may find and that is the choice to feature the episodes via air date and not script #. For example, the episode “Orphan Ends” is about Cyclops and Corsair, an episode that takes place right after part 4 of “The Dark Phoenix Saga”, but on the DVD, the episode takes place after an Ice Man episode “Cold Comfort” and is a bit off.
Granted, I know there are hardcore fans who really take issue of the episode listing on this DVD series but knowing how long fans have waited for the series and knowing what’s done is done, this is probably the best we are going to get of the series in a long time (unless they remaster and restore it for a Blu-ray release in the future which I don’t know if that will ever happen). So, with that being said, I still recommend the purchase of the series, especially if you have already purchased volume 1 and 2.
Overall, “X-MEN VOLUME 3” is an entertaining set and with a total of 15-episodes. This long awaited series ala season 3 and parts of season 4 is now out on DVD via this third volume and features appearances of more heroes and villains from the Marvel Universe!
For fans of the “X-MEN” animated series, despite the episode listing which is disconcerting for some, the episodes are still entertaining, action-packed and still fun to watch over 15 years later and yes… still worth owning!
“X-Men: The Animated Series” fans, another volume on DVD that is worthy of having in your collection!