Pryde of the X-Men - Model Sheets, Storyboard and Cels

 

X-Men: Pryde of the X-Men (commonly known as Pryde of the X-Men) is an animated television pilot originally broadcast in 1989 on the Marvel Action Universe television block, featuring Marvel Comics’ mutant superheroes the X-Men. The pilot aired infrequently in syndication, and was later released on video. It later served as the basis for Konami's X-Men arcade game.

History: The title is a pun on the name of Kitty Pryde, the youngest of the X-Men. The series that this episode was intended to launch never materialized; Marvel Productions would have to go back to the drawing board for 1992’s X-Men. Funding for this pilot actually came from the budget for RoboCop: The Animated Series. Instead of making a 13th episode of RoboCop, Marvel Productions decided to use their funding to have Toei Animation produce the animation for this pilot. The pilot itself is most specifically influenced by issues #129-139 of Uncanny X-Men.

Shortly after this pilot was delivered, Marvel started having financial issues (New World Pictures, who purchased the Marvel Entertainment Group or MEG from Cadence Industries in 1986, sold MEG in January 1989 to the Andrews Group) and stopped work on just about everything but Muppet Babies. This pilot effectively marked the end of the Marvel animated universe created by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises/Marvel Productions, which began with Fantastic Four (1978) and continued with Spider-Woman (1979), Spider-Man (1981), Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends (1981) and The Incredible Hulk (1982). The X-Men themselves had previously guest starred in several episodes of Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, although that particular series isn't necessarily in the same continuity as "Pryde of the X-Men".
 
Fan Reaction: The reaction from fans to the pilot is generally mixed. Although praised for its high quality animation, Fans simply felt that the pilot for the most part, came across as too campy for a comic (especially under the guidance of John Byrne and Chris Claremont) with often dark and adult oriented themes like X-Men. The on-screen action sequences had to be severely curtailed for a children's cartoon show, and the episode only superficially deals with the sort of social issues often dealt with in the comics, such as isolation, intolerance, racism and bigotry. Furthermore, purists were not fond of the way certain characters were portrayed in the pilot. For instance, Kitty Pryde was seen in their eyes as coming across as too much of a whiny damsel-in-distress (although this may have been intended to be the start of her character arc, eventually evolving into a stronger, more mature heroine). Fans also found it confusing to see the White Queen be portrayed as a member of the Brotherhood of Mutants.This Brotherhood was a mix of Magneto's group (with the inclusion of Toad) and Mystique's (with the inclusion of Pyro and the Blob) along with the previously unaffiliated Juggernaut and White Queen. Most importantly, fans were upset at the sound of the traditionally Canadian Wolverine, speaking with an Australian accent. This casting error seemed to stem from a brief run-through of the script in which, mockingly, Wolverine calls the traditionally Australian character Pyro, a dingo. In the final version, however, Wolverine calls Toad a "dingo" rather than Pyro.

According to Rick Holberg (as taken directly from the book X-Men: The Characters and Their Universe), storyboard artist and finalizer for Pryde of the X-Men and Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends: 

I ended up being the voice director on the show, and I was forced to use the Australian version of Wolverine (which coincidentally, foreshadowed the casting of Australian actor Hugh Jackman in the live-action X-Men film), because all of this Australian stuff was popular at the time - the Mad Max films, "Crocodile" Dundee, and so on - it was going to turn out (in the comics) that Wolverine was an expatriated Australian. The direction of the character however never got beyond the plotting stages and Wolverine remained Canadian in the comics.

Tie-in Comic: In 1990, Marvel published a graphic novel titled X-Men Animation Special, an adaptation of Pryde of the X-Men that featured film images of cel animation from the cartoon rather than original art.
 
Tie-In Video Game: In 1989, X-Men: Madness in Murderworld (also known simply as X-Men) was released for DOS, Commodore 64, and Amiga computer systems. It was developed and published by Paragon Software in 1989 and featured the cast of Pryde of the X-Men. It was a side-scroller with puzzles set in Murderworld. A limited edition comic book was included.

In 1990, LJN released The Uncanny X-Men for the Nintendo Entertainment System, featuring a near exact lineup of the team from this cartoon, only swapping out Dazzler for Iceman. The game received negative reviews from gamers and critics, and was named one of the worst superhero games of all-time by 1Up.com.
 
In 1992, Konami produced an X-Men arcade game based on the Pryde of the X-Men pilot. The player chooses one of six X-Men: Cyclops, Colossus, Wolverine, Storm, Nightcrawler, or Dazzler. Their objective is to stop the villain Magneto from wreaking havoc on human civilization. They must fight through an army of hundreds of human-sized Sentinels and supervillains such as Pyro, Blob, Wendigo, Nimrod, The White Queen, Juggernaut, and Mystique. Later, Magneto kidnaps Professor X and Kitty Pryde, prompting the heroes to go on a rescue mission. The heroes fight their way to Island M and ultimately to Magneto's base on Asteroid M, where the final battle with Magneto takes place.