"Powers Revealed"
Episodes Included: "Beast of Bayville"; "Adrift"; "On Angel's Wings"; "African Storm"
Month Released: February 2004
Average Price: $10 (U.S.)
DVD Extras: Stan Lee: The Original X-Man; Inside Xavier's Institute; X-Men: Evolution- Beginnings Trailer
Packaging: The artwork for the cover of the DVD box is actually pretty good; it's of the virtual grid that was featured prominently in the Danger Room scene in "African Storm", with a large picture of Storm's head with her eyes glowing above it. Then the main teenage X-Men (minus Jean, for some reason) plus Wolverine (of course) striking various poses as they attack... something that you can't see. Nightcrawler's and Spyke's faces are definitely off to the point where they look ugly, but the rest of teh artwork is top-notch. Far off in the distance, there's also a blue silouhette of Bayville. Very eye-catching, and nicely done. On the back, it gives you the basic run-through (in a somewhat corny manner) of the premise beyond X-M:E, and it also tells you what's inside the DVD (although it doesn't give any short descriptions of the included episodes this time; just their titles). The inside cover has a big pic o' Cyclops, with printed scenes from each included episode, and the DVD itself has a picture of good ol' Beast on it. Overall, not bad.
Stan Lee: The Original X-Man: As you can probably tell from the title, this extra is a talk with Stan Lee, the original creator of the X-Men comic books, and what he thinks about X-Men: Evolution. It's a pretty sizable extra- over eight and a half minutes long- and it's pretty interesting. Stan Lee is a fun guy to listen to, and he'll crack the occasional funny as he's talking. He starts off by going through the idea of the X-Men, and does a spotlight on each of the original characters he created that has a prominent role in the show- Professor X, Cyclops, Beast, and Jean Grey. Then he talks about some of the other characters- Nightcrawler and Wolverine- that he didn't create, but wishes he did, and why he loves those particular characters so much. (Nightcrawler for his... really odd appearance and way of covering it up, and Wolverine because of his overall character.) He talks a bit about Magneto and why he's one of Stan's favorite characters, and ends on a serious note by talking a bit about the symbolism of the X-Men- an oppressed minority, etc. It's really a great extra, and worth listening to.
Inside Xavier's Institute: Okay, piece of advice- do NOT judge this extra from the first ten seconds. Basically, this is a make-believe advertisement video cassette (y'know, like those kinds you get if a certain college wants you...) for the Xavier Institute. It starts out with the voice of a typical way-too-enthusiastic salesman talking about the Institute, but after about 10 seconds there's that record skip that's come to signify "Wha...?" and Wolverine hops in and guides you on a REAL tour of the Mansion in his usual gruff, no-nonsense tone. He highlights all the major rooms in the Mansion- the main hall, the Danger Room, the kitchen, the facilities, etc, and then explains their mission. Wolverine's gruff voice is a little hard to listen to for five-and-a-half minutes straight, though- perhaps having the adult X-Men switch off during the tour would have been better, or maybe just using Xavier's calmer voice. But still, it's not bad, and you get to see some good paintings of rooms in the Mansion.
X-Men: Evolution Beginnings Trailer: Don't let the different title fool you- this is the same exact "advertisement for DVD Season 1" trailer that was on the Season 1 DVDs. As such, it's a pretty unwelcome and lame "extra", as it's just a commercial (although a somewhat cool one at that). Meh.
Last Words: Although the episodes in this DVD set aren't exactly the cream of the Evolution crop (with the exception of "On Angel's Wings"), four full episodes and 14 minutes of extras for $10 isn't that bad of a deal. The Beginnings Trailer is pretty lame, but the Stan Lee interview is great, and the Institute tour is decent. My main beef with this DVD is the disappearance of the Episode Introductions with Boyd Kirkland- it kind of makes the DVD lose a bit of its individuality, as these extras could really be applied to any other DVD and it wouldn't make a difference. Plus, I like to hear what the producers and writers themselves have to say about a particular episode. I'm not sure why there aren't any introductions- maybe Kirkland and Johnson were too busy working on their next TV series, or all of the allotted budget was blown on getting Stan Lee to sit down for nine minutes and talk- but I hope it isn't a permanent thing. Still, a fairly good DVD buy.
Overall Rating: 7/10 Good