Episode #21: Rover
Original Airdate - September 18th, 2009

In the future Professor X is trying to learn of the specific event that lead up to the war so Logan can try and stop them in the present. Bishops suggests they sneak into the original housing facility of Master Mold to collect the data storage from its last upgrade which might have clues. But the facility is heavily guarded by Sentinels and they would need a distraction. Bishop suggests Rover, an old model Sentinel that has been accompanying them since the Badlands. But Marrow refuses to lead him into a suicide mission for the sake of the Professor’s personal agenda. Bishop reminds her that he is the leader and she doesn’t have a choice. Once inside the facility they find the data storage core just as the exits seal shut, tapping them in. Bishop radios for Marrow who has taken Rover and abandoned the team. Rover turns back to help seeing the facility under attack despite Marrow’s pleas. Her teammates make it out alive with the core thanks to Rover’s heroic crusade. But soon more Sentinels arrive overwhelming Rover. He gathers the last of his robot strength to fight off long enough for Marrow to escape. The victory of the recovered data is bittersweet, the team lost a dear comrade and Marrow is especially upset. They successfully extract the info they were hoping to find and Professor X contacts Logan with news that he has eight days to stop the war that is to begin and that will push Jean to use her devastating powers. Meanwhile, Marrow slipped back to the facility to look for Rover. Finding his mangled metal body she becomes enraged and as more Sentinels bear down upon her she betray Professor X and tells them where Master Mold can find him.

Credits
Story by Greg Johnson, Craig Kyle, Joshua Fine
Written By Greg Johnson
Directed by Steve Gordon
Music by Dean Grinsfelder
Animation By Noxxon Entertainment

Voices
Steve Blum as Wolverine
Jim Ward as Professor X
Kevin Micheal Richardson as Bishop


Review: Arsenal - We return to Professor Xavier and his X-Men of the Future in this episode.

His crew—which consists of Bishop, Hellion, Vanisher, Marrow, Domino and a reconstructed sentinel named Rover—must steal Mastermold’s memory database. With it, Wolverine can know when the coming Armageddon is to occur.

Xavier’s future X-Men are much less developed than Wolverine and his crew. It makes sense. They’ve received much less face time. They also consist of more obscure characters.

Sure, Bishop, Marrow and Hellion each have their fans; but they don’t exactly stack up with Wolverine, Cyclops and Storm.

And the lack of characterization these Future X-Men (henceforth, known as FX-Men) receive contributes to this episode’s biggest fault.

The characters seem to act arbitrarily because we do not know them well. Marrow is constantly angry with Professor Xavier. Why? Because she’s mad at Professor Xavier. Bishop is callous to Marrow. Why? Because he’s callous to Marrow.

Hellion and Vanisher lack personalities. They are simply skill sets that are useful to the FX-Men. This is especially disappointing with Hellion. He was a wonderful character in the source material. His ego made him either inevitably the world’s greatest hero or villain. Here, he’s a generic telekinetic.

“Rover” isn’t a bad episode, but it does cost them some of the momentum they had gained with the last three installments.

I’ll give them this. Talking sentinel+Marrow=Adorable.



Screenshots:

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