X-Men (TV series)
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X-Men is an animated television series which debuted on October 31, 1992 in the United States on the Fox Network as part of its Fox Kids Saturday morning lineup (see 1992 in television).
X-Men is Marvel Comics’ second attempt at an animated X-Men program, after the poorly received half-hour pilot “Pryde of the X-Men” was broadcast multiple times between 1989 and 1992. It is considered to be one of the most faithful animated series based on a comic book. The popularity and success of X-Men (along with Batman, which also debuted in the Fox Kids 1992–93 season) helped launch a number of comic-based animated series in the 1990s.
Background
X-Men was originally going to premiere over the Labor Day weekend in September; however, due to production delays, it was pushed to the end of October. The “Night of the Sentinels” two-part episode originally aired as a “sneak preview” even though it truly wasn’t ready for broadcast. So, there were many animation errors in these two episodes. The errors were later corrected when Fox re-aired the pilot in early 1993.
X-Men was one of the longest-lasting series on Fox Kids, second only to Batman: The Animated Series, its most acclaimed and successful to date.[citation needed] Despite its final new episode airing in late 1997 after five complete seasons, Fox did not remove the show from their line-up until 1998. The show is also one of the highest-rated and most-viewed Saturday morning programs in American history.[citation needed] During its peak years (1995 and 1996), the show was often shown weekday afternoons, in addition to Saturday mornings.
X-Men also stands as the longest-running Marvel Comics-based show, running for five seasons and 76 episodes. The second longest, Spider-Man: The Animated Series, lasted for five seasons and 65 episodes. Although produced by different animation studios, both series were set in the same animated universe, and the X-Men even made guest appearances on Spider-Man’s show. (The second X-Men animated series, X-Men Evolution, does not share this continuity.)
After the box office success of the live-action X-Men movie in the summer of 2000, Fox began airing reruns of the cartoon on weekday afternoons. This ended in early 2001. Soon after, ABC Family and Toon Disney, due to Disney’s buyout of all Saban Entertainment programs, began airing reruns.
