Nightcrawler in Television
Posted: Tue May 28, 2013 7:26 am
So we've all seen Kurt in some form in the comics, but in television he has been equally as relevant. Maybe far less so recently, but most of Marvel's TV-franchise's focus has been on the Avengers.
I recently went back and watched all of X-Men: Evolution... which was a struggle. Going back years later, it was hard to sit through some episodes.
However, X-Men the 90's animated series is even more difficult to swallow. Thankfully though, the Nightcrawler episode (conveniently titled: "Nightcrawler") is actually not the worst-written '90's animated cartoon I've seen and far from the hardest to watch episode in this series.
The characters are all... well... in character. Rogue's voice and Logan's voice always irritated me, Logan's "Geerrarrowwarrorr!" especially is frustrating. Remy's suave accent is now very clear to me...
He's Hermes from Futurama.
The episode is rather humorous, Gambit gets wiped out in a ski-to-pine-tree-exploration-of-personal-space during a ski-expedition/demon hunt (guess who the demon is?) in... the Alps? I guess?
It's clearly Germany, and group gets saved by Nightcrawler and the brothers of the abbey that Kurt is holed up in. The episode actually boldly touches (admittedly lightly) upon subjects such as religious portrayals of wrong and right (a mutant who appears as a demon taking up the cloth, and other similar motifs throughout), religious relationships with those who feel lost or guilty (Logan's guilt for the years of blood on his hands), and women's roles in the church (Rogue's place in the abbey).
What's frustrating is these super powered characters are pretty much time-and-time-again duped or physically one-uped by monks who aren't exactly in rip-roarin' shape.
But the voice work is great for Nightcrawler. His accent is awesome, the voice-acting is of the quality of the Batman animated series (which is widely regarded as having the best animated voicework in this time period), and the script seems like it got treated by some real professionals.
It reminds me of a Justice League episode. Despite the coincidences, the flubs in animation (Rogue's hair goes all brown in one quick shot), and lame puns put into the writing--mostly out of an attempt to target young audiences, the episode actually sticks out as really great. And poignant. Even Remy struggles with "the wicked looking" appearance. Kurt's lines in this episode makes for great development of the character and Logan's doubt and faithlessness creates a fun dichotomy.
Unfortunately, it ends all well and great for Logan, which is unsatisfactory and unappearsing for long-term fans of the character who enjoy his struggle and don't really see how he can just find faith in a single evening with Nightcrawler.
What are some of your favorite Kurt-TV-appearances? Did you enjoy this episode of "X-Men" the animated series? (season 3 episode 18, by the way, if you're looking it up on Netflix or something).
I recently went back and watched all of X-Men: Evolution... which was a struggle. Going back years later, it was hard to sit through some episodes.
However, X-Men the 90's animated series is even more difficult to swallow. Thankfully though, the Nightcrawler episode (conveniently titled: "Nightcrawler") is actually not the worst-written '90's animated cartoon I've seen and far from the hardest to watch episode in this series.
The characters are all... well... in character. Rogue's voice and Logan's voice always irritated me, Logan's "Geerrarrowwarrorr!" especially is frustrating. Remy's suave accent is now very clear to me...
He's Hermes from Futurama.
The episode is rather humorous, Gambit gets wiped out in a ski-to-pine-tree-exploration-of-personal-space during a ski-expedition/demon hunt (guess who the demon is?) in... the Alps? I guess?
It's clearly Germany, and group gets saved by Nightcrawler and the brothers of the abbey that Kurt is holed up in. The episode actually boldly touches (admittedly lightly) upon subjects such as religious portrayals of wrong and right (a mutant who appears as a demon taking up the cloth, and other similar motifs throughout), religious relationships with those who feel lost or guilty (Logan's guilt for the years of blood on his hands), and women's roles in the church (Rogue's place in the abbey).
What's frustrating is these super powered characters are pretty much time-and-time-again duped or physically one-uped by monks who aren't exactly in rip-roarin' shape.
But the voice work is great for Nightcrawler. His accent is awesome, the voice-acting is of the quality of the Batman animated series (which is widely regarded as having the best animated voicework in this time period), and the script seems like it got treated by some real professionals.
It reminds me of a Justice League episode. Despite the coincidences, the flubs in animation (Rogue's hair goes all brown in one quick shot), and lame puns put into the writing--mostly out of an attempt to target young audiences, the episode actually sticks out as really great. And poignant. Even Remy struggles with "the wicked looking" appearance. Kurt's lines in this episode makes for great development of the character and Logan's doubt and faithlessness creates a fun dichotomy.
Unfortunately, it ends all well and great for Logan, which is unsatisfactory and unappearsing for long-term fans of the character who enjoy his struggle and don't really see how he can just find faith in a single evening with Nightcrawler.
What are some of your favorite Kurt-TV-appearances? Did you enjoy this episode of "X-Men" the animated series? (season 3 episode 18, by the way, if you're looking it up on Netflix or something).