This review of X-Men ’97 has a caveat to it. This review is not intended for fans of the original series. I haven’t seen much of the original series, and it’s been a very long time since then. No, this review is for the people who are aware of the hype and want to watch X-Men ’97—but don’t know if they need the background context.
“Saturday Night” is a victory. Simply awesome. It has, within such a tiny amount of time, everything a long-term fan could want.
“Rolling With It” is a throwback episode. It’s so much like a Magnus Archives episode on purpose. You can easily draw parallels to so many other statements in delivery and pacing.
“Running On Empty” was different from the beginning. I’d grown used to the usual pattern. We check in on Sam and Alice, and then we cut to a spooky story. But this time, we go right into things with yet another new story template.
“Give and Take” is the most aggressive theory-baiting episode I think I’ve ever heard from this franchise. Maybe back in Archives, there was a dialogue passage that was purely meant to get the mind going, but I doubt it was this blatant.
I don’t know what to make of The Marvels. Oh, I watched it. I enjoyed it. And I even laughed at the scenes where I was supposed to laugh. But I can tell—even as my memory still holds—that this is a forgettable movie.
“Introductions” is so aptly named and so appreciated. I was waiting, waiting, waiting for something like this to happen. The Magnus Protocol gave us a solid core villain to enjoy.
“Personal Screening” made for a surreal episode to listen to, considering I’m also a movie critic. I can’t say it upped the dread or anything, but it was a little odd to listen to. Considering how many professions both series have featured, it’s actually slightly surprising that we’ve only gotten one writer character previously and only back in Archives.
“Taking Notes” was one of the hardest episodes to listen to, and not for a scary reason. “Making Adjustments” made me squirm. This simply irritated during sections of its runtime.
“Putting Down Roots” is firmly a middle-of-the-road episode of The Magnus Protocol—if I use the benchmarks of the previous series as a reference point. No big plot moments obviously occur, and the horror story likely isn’t introducing any returning characters.
“Making Adjustments” serves as a hard swerve from the first episode, moving the series back into more familiar anthology waters. I’m writing these as I listen, avoiding spoilers, so I knew I would get predictions wrong, but I still didn’t expect to have my first article contradicted this heavily.
It’s time. Two episodes of The Magnus Protocol have now been released, and if you know anything about me as a media person, you probably know my favorite horror franchise is The Magnus Archives. I’ve been eagerly awaiting this spin-off series for so long.
