Episode #62 - Xavier Remembers
Original Airdate - February 3rd, 1996

Xavier's concussion leads to more problems than a simple headache...

Credits
Written By: Stephanie Mathison
Music Composed By: Shuki Levy
Animation Services By: AKOM

Review: This episode stands as one of the show�s lesser episodes, but there are some great moments in here. The Shadow King is a villain who I�ve always thought to be incredibly boring, and a psychic battle between him and Xavier is something I�d never care to see. His inclusion in the episode was necessary of course, but after a strong beginning, I thought he basically came in and ruined the episode.

My favourite scene in the episode was undoubtedly the nightmares that were projected into the X-Men�s minds. A great use of continuity, it was plain creepy seeing Sinister mocking Cyclops and he grabbed a presumably dead Jean. Cyclops was undoubtedly my favourite, but I thought Jubilee�s nightmare of having the Sentinels come and take here away in the night was an excellent visual, especially as it�s what the whole premises of the show is about, The X-Men fighting for a world so that mutants won�t have to worry about being killed/kidnapped simply because they are mutants.

I thought Wolverine�s nightmare of Sabertooth was a little lame, if only because we�ve seen Wolverine hand Sabertooth his ass dozens of time in the show. Given how well this show�s version of Wolverine was developed, I think they were more than capable of given him a much better nightmare. Ironically enough, X-Men: Evolution had the exact same situation where they had their worst nightmares projected into their minds. Overall, I think this one is better, but again, Wolverine (who had visions of his Weapon X experience) was better portrayed.

There was one really cool sequence in this episode, aside from the dream sequence. We got a few cameo appearances from The X-Men in their original costumes, even Wolverine in the John Romita Sr. version!

The ending visuals were an eyesore. Shadow King doesn�t have the best of designs, but the astral fight was simply difficult to keep up with. The white outlines on a black sky simply didn�t work with AKOM�s animation, and the whole sequence was simply ugly. A daring move by the storyboard artists, no doubt, but one that unfortunately didn�t pay off.

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