Another week rolls around, and this means another week of X-cellent super hero action via X-Men ’97. The cartoon series – a continuation of X-Men: The Animated Series – is proving popular with audiences and this week the show reaches episode five.
The title of this week’s episode is ‘Remember It‘. And for those keeping track, the previous episodes included ‘To Me, My X-Men‘ (E1), ‘Mutant Liberation Begins‘ (E2), ‘Fire Made Flesh‘ (E3), and ‘Motendo/Lifedeath: Part One‘ (4).
As with the previous instalments of the show, ‘Remember It‘ is loaded with references and in-jokes related to X-Men: The Animated Series, as well as the wider X-Men universe. And as with previous weeks, I’ll be taking a look at those references with a run-through of what you might have missed.
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Roll credits
First up, and as usual, the opening credits have been tweaked to include two new scenes. The first of these scenes is a shot of Cable and Apocalypse, which makes reference to the four-part (epic) X-Men: The Animated Series storyline, ‘Beyond Good and Evil’.
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Genosha? I hardly know her!
The second credit tweak is a scene featuring Gambit and Nightcrawler on the island of Genosha. This scene is a nod to the characters who will appear in this episode, rather than a specific reference to a past storyline.
Gambit did previously visit the island of Genosha in the X-Men: The Animated Series episode, ‘Slave Island’, but Nightcrawler did not feature in that episode.
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News in brief
Onto the episode now, which opens with a news report from Trish Tilby. Fans of the X-Men comics will recognise Trish, as she was first introduced into the comics back in 1986, via the pages of X-Factor (vol 1 issue #7 to be exact).
This is Trish’s first on-screen appearance in X-Men ‘97. However, if you are following the X-Men ‘97 tie-in comics, which tell a story set between the events of X-Men: The Animated Series and X-Men ‘97, then you’ll know she appeared in Issue #1.
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Beauty and the Beast
As part of the news report, Trish interviews the Beast, who appears very complimentary and a touch flirty. In the comics, Trish and the Beast once had a romantic relationship.
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Sauron
During another section of the news report, Trish interviews Jubilee. During this brief segment, Jubilee makes reference to “vampire dinosaurs”.
This comment is a nod to the life force-stealing villain, Karl Lykos, aka Sauron. Sauron appeared multiple times in X-Men: The Animated Series, being introduced during the Savage Land storyline in the show’s second season.
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Been there, done that
After the news report, Gambit, Magneto, and Rogue set off on a trip to the island nation of Genosha, which plays a prominent role in this episode. During the trip, Gambit makes a comment about the island being renovated since his last visit.
As noted earlier, Gambit visited Genosha in the episode, ‘Slave Island’. He was held captive on the island, along with Storm, Jubilee, and various other mutants, meaning it wasn’t a pleasant experience.
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Mutant wonderland
As Genosha is reintroduced, it is clear the island is now home to many mutants, including some characters that comic book fans will recognise such as Glob Herman and Pixie. Leech – a character previously seen on X-Men: The Animated Series and X-Men ‘97 – is also amongst the mutants.
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Madelyne Pryor
One of the most recognisable faces on Genosha is Madelyne Pryor. For those with super short memories, Madelyne is a clone of Jean Grey, who appeared in the first three episodes of X-Men ‘97and transformed into the Goblin Queen in Episode Three.
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Nightcrawler returns!
And the familiar faces continue, with the re-introduction of fan-favourite mutant, Nightcrawler! The character (teased in the credits) previously appeared in X-Men: The Animated Series, initially via the episode ‘Nightcrawler’.
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Dazzle me
Other mutants seen on the island include Multiple Man, Exodus, Boom-Boom, and Dazzler. Those who read the X-Men ‘97 tie-in comic will know that Dazzler recently appeared in Issue #1 of the comic.
Dazzler has also appeared in X-Men: The Animated Series and was briefly referenced in Episode Four of X-Men ’97. During the episode, Mojo mentioned that Dazzler was busy, which is true, as she is currently partying on Genosha.
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Marvel Girl
Back at the X-Mansion and Trish Tilby continues her news report with an interview featuring Cyclops. During this scene, Trish refers to Jean Grey as Marvel Girl.
Although Jean is predominantly known as Jean Grey in this animated X-Men universe, Jean has previously gone by the name Marvel Girl. The X-Men: The Animated Series episode, ‘The Fate of the Phoenix’ made reference to this.
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The Inner Circle
As the action switches back to Genosha, more familiar faces appear, including Moira MacTaggert, Banshee, and Callisto, as well as members of the Hellfire Club/Inner Circle, Emma Frost and Sebastian Shaw. All of these characters previously appeared on X-Men: The Animated Series.
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Magnus
During a discussion with the above mutants, Madelyne refers to Magneto as Magnus. This is a name Professor Xavier often used for Magneto in X-Men: The Animated Series, and is taken from Magneto’s real name Erik ‘Magnus’ Lehnsherr.
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A Rogue’s tale
Speaking of Magneto, in this episode it is revealed that Rogue and the Master of Magnetism spent some time together in the Savage Land. All of this is shown via a flashback sequence, which gives a brief overview of their relationship.
None of their time together in the Savage Land has previously been documented on screen, and this was NOT a storyline from X-Men: The Animated Series. However, this whole flashback sequence does include a brief scene featuring Rogue’s foster mother (a disguised Mystique), which is a nod to The X-Men: The Animated Series episode, ‘A Rogue’s Tale’.
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Savage
Rogue’s outfit seen during the Savage Land flashback sequence is a nod to the comics, as seen here on the front cover of The Uncanny X-Men issue #274 (published in 1991).
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A blast from the past
As more familiar faces appear (including Archangel and Marrow), the time-travelling mutant, Cable pops up with a garbled warning of impending doom. Cable’s message is interrupted when he is pulled back through time, but before he disappears he calls Madelyne, ‘mom’.
Cable is the older, future version of Nathan Summers, aka the son of Madelyne and Cyclops. The baby version of Nathan was taken into the future at the climax of Episode Three.
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Say what?
Now onto the most shocking sequence in this episode, which includes a mutant massacre on Genosha. During this scene, the mutants are attacked by Sentinels, with many killed.
At the climax of the massacre, Gambit destroys a Sentinel, but not before uttering the line “The name’s Gambit, mon ami. Remember it.” This line is a nod to a similar line used by Gambit in the X-Men: The Animated Series episode, ‘Reunion: Part Two’.
‘Remember It’ is also the title of this episode, which features Gambit heavily.
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Extinction now
The massacre storyline featured in this episode is a reworking of the Genosha genocide in the comic book storyline, ‘E is for Extinction‘. This storyline appeared in the pages of New X-Men in 2001, and saw the villainous Cassandra Nova orchestrate a Sentinel attack on the island, killing almost all of the mutants on Genosha.
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A change of pace
And finally, as the episode closes and the credits roll, the end credit music changes to a more sombre version of the X-Men theme. This change in music is to reflect the devastating scenes which have taken place in the episode, including the death of countless mutants.
This is the first time either X-Men: The Animated Series or X-Men ‘97 has altered the music to reflect the events of an episode.
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