Defending my Pryde (of the X-men)

If you are a reader of this blog, you know I am a comic book fan. I admit that I wouldn't be comic book fan if it weren't for cartoons. One of my earliest memories was of watching "Spider-man and his Amazing friends". I remember an particular episode where the Spider-friends, consisting of Spider-Man, Iceman and Firestar meet the X-men, consisting of Prof. Xavier, Cyclops, Storm, Angel,  and Wolverine (with a British accent). As the two teams battled an intruding Juggernaut, I was amazed by the team that I didn't see on a weekly basis. Although I wouldn't see these X-men again for a while (I had no idea they appeared in another Spider-Friends episode), they left an impression on me that would last for most of my life.

What the hell are you staring at? Keep reading the blog!

By 1989, "Spider-man and his Amazing Friends" began re-airing on tv as part of the "Marvel Action Universe" along with a Robocop cartoon (hey, it was the 80s, even Rambo had a cartoon) and some...show about dinosaurs I never gave a shit about. One episode of the cartoon block was particularly memorable when instead of...that dino show, there was a promo for a new show based on the X-men. At this point, I knew a little more about the team, so I was excited to see how the show would turn out.

My first impression of the show was that it was awesome and honestly, my opinion still stands. The animation was good, the story line was simple enough and, in my opinion, the X-men personalities, or ever much of it could be fit into a 20 minute show, were captured perfectly...kind of. Unfortunately, "Pryde of the X-men", named after character Kitty Pryde, was just a pilot and judging by it only airing once, it didn't quite make the cut.Thus, this would be last time I would see the X-men on television until four years later.

Put your arms down,Dazzler, we can see you. We just don't care about you.

Today "Pryde of the X-men" is seen as joke and for the reasons why I liked it. The story, as I described it being simple, could be seen as insulting to long time fans for being too simple. The portrayal of the characters was seen as laughable, especially Wolverine's, who was given a Australian/ Scottish accent. While I can openly admit that the pilot was flawed, I feel it still could have worked as a show.

The main thing I think would've helped is if the show were based on the X-men roster of the time, the Outback team.It definitely would've helped explain Wolverine's accent.

Dammit, Dazzler, are you still here?

This team was more hard edged than the team shown in "Pryde", even though four of the six X-men in that were on the outback team. At the time, the X-men had gone through a lot so I think this period of time would've made for an interesting show. Imagine this team on TV battling the likes of Mojo, the Marauders, the Reavers and Nanny.

Now, to get to the defending of "Pryde". It's been ridiculed because of how the X-men and the Brotherhood are portrayed and the simplicity of the story line.The biggest thing people tend to forget is that "Pryde" was a pilot, a standalone episode that is used to sell the show to a television network. That means any flaw presented may not have been permanent. Kitty Pryde may not have stayed annoying and whiny, Wolverine may have dropped the Scottish accent, White Queen may not have sounded like she finished smoking 4 cartons of Marlboros and Juggernaut...well, Juggernaut is awesome so no complaining about him here.

 Also, the animation for it was pretty good. From what I've read, it was pretty expensive, meaning Marvel had a lot on the pilot. One has to wonder if they could've stuck with for an entire shows run, as animation on shows in the 80s would go from excellent to not great within a couple of episodes.

So, I will always stand by "Pryde of the X-Men" being a good pilot that wasn't given a fair chance by neither networks or fans and that is a shame. Plus, any pilot that can produce one of the greatest Konami beat em' ups is badass in my book.