10 Weird Things From "Pryde of the X-Men"

Pryde of the X-Men's VHS release.

Many of us have fond memories of Fox Kids' X-Men cartoon from the early 1990s, but interestingly enough, that wasn't Marvel's first attempt at getting the beloved mutant superheroes onto the airwaves. In 1989, Marvel Productions (the studio behind shows like Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends, Muppet Babies, G.I. Joe, and Transformers) created a X-Men pilot known as Pryde of the X-Men.

While the show never made it past the first episode, it managed to inspire Konami's memorable beat 'em up arcade game and has remained a notable little piece of Marvel media history. It's quirky nature makes it well worth watching. Anyway, the proof is in the pudding; here are 10 weird things from Pryde of the X-Men!

Tell 'em Spider-Man sent you...or else.

First of all, the VHS release opens with a bizarre commercial wherein a live action Spider-Man tells us the importance of voter registration. You even see him signing a form of his own. The whole ad is done up in spooky lighting. Even spookier music drones on in the background. This isn't at all the sort of mood that comes to mind when I think of wacky 1980s X-Men adventures, but with Pryde of the X-Men, it strangely manages to fit.

Do it till you get it right! The Hula Hoop Dance-Off isn't winning itself!

After the goofy theme song winds down, the episode opens up with Magneto being held captive by random army dudes. How even? And further more...how even?

Okay, that's two votes for Chinese. How many hands for tacos?

We quickly hear that Magneto's team has been oddly renamed "The Brotherhood of Mutant Terrorists" here. Perhaps Marvel Studios was hoping to rekindle some of the magic from G.I. Joe's Cobra organization.

The video store let me rent another cartoon like this once. I still have the nightmares.

Dazzler's Danger Room training simulation is a battle against freaky tentacle monsters. Yeesh.

Looks like Target had another 2 for 1 mascara special.

Going back to the earliest Dave Cockrum illustrations, Nightcrawler's face is usually depicted with shadows around the eyes. The character model here took the idea a bit too far. At all times, he has what looks like a large v-shaped domino mask. It's a bit nitpicky to point out, but it still seems odd.

Crikey!

The most memorable bit of weirdness from Pryde of the X-Men is Wolverine's voice. After a script mix-up, the famously Canadian character was given a stereotypical Australian accent. It's the sort of thing you can never get used to even after hearing it a hundred times.

Sometimes you just gotta hug it out.

The "showdown" at the Deep Space Observatory begins in spectacular fashion. Colossus saunters up to the Blob and gives him the sweetest little hug you'll ever see. D'aww.

Not the face! Not the face!

It appears Weird Australian Wolverine is the type to reel back in horror when being scolded by day 1 trainees.

The Dazzler thinks The Dazzler's headband is looking especially dazzling today.

Dazzler refers to herself in the third person at one point. It feels like the kind of silly "info dump" writing you often see to help viewers learn who a new character is in a comic book.

Help you guys save the world? Nah, I'm good.

After besting Toad, Wolverine elects to just freakin' stand there while Cyclops, Colossus, and Nightcrawler continue on. Juggernaut, Blob, and Magneto are still ahead. If they succeed, a giant comet will plummet to Earth and wipe out a majority of the human population. But hey, it's probably best to stand back and guard the pile of rubble.

Whew! There's your list of 10 weird things from Pryde of the X-Men! There are plenty more where those came from, including continuity gaffes, hammy writing, and even a small moment where Professor Xavier seems to raise his leg! Outside of the animation, it seems the rest of the production may have been a bit of a rush job. If you haven't watched it, feel free to spot your own bits of weirdness via this full-episode Youtube upload:

Allow me to close out by saying that my intention here is not to completely trash Pryde of the X-Men. It does have a very formulaic story and the staff's understanding of the X-Men characters seems a little shaky at times, but I liked it just fine upon watching the VHS as a kid. Outside of hopefully getting picked up as a series, I'm sure entertaining kids was pretty high on Marvel Productions' list of goals. It had a similar feeling to many of their other shows however, most of which were waning in popularity as the 1980s closed out. Perhaps this inability to really stand out is why the show never made it past the pilot. Either way, Pryde of the X-Men is an oddity that will always be fun to occasionally revisit.

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