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"Night of the Sentinels"
'X-Men' episodes
200px A sentinel
Episode nos.	Season 1 Episodes 1-2
Written by	Mark Edward Edens
Production code	101-102
Original air dates	Part 1: October 31, 1992 Part 2: November 7, 1992

"Night of the Sentinels" is the two-part pilot episode of X-Men: The Animated Series. It was written by Mark Edward Edens and originally aired on October 31 and November 7, 1992. Both chapters of the episode were originally intended to premiere over the Labor Day weekend in September 1992, however were delayed due to production issues. Even when they were eventually broadcast many animation errors occured in both parts. Although these issues were later corrected when the network re-aired the pilot in early 1993.

Plot

Part one

The episode opens with TV news footage of a villainous mutant dubbed Sabretooth attacking police, indicating a time of unrest between mutants and humans. A mutant by the name of Jubilee, a member of the X-Men is registered by her foster parents under the Mutant Registration Act, which is designed to support mutants. Sentinels, a group of robots programmes to hunt mutants later attempt to apprehend her at the mall. However, her fellow X-Men whom are coincidentally shopping in the area are able to elude the Sentinels. Jubilee later awakens confused in the X-Mansion, having been rendered unconscious during the battle. She then leaves the mansion to visit her foster parents, although is ambushed by the Sentinels when she arrives. Before passing out, she notices familiar Henry Peter Gyrich alongside her captors. Meanwhile, the remaining X-Men discover that the group running the Mutant Registration Program intend to track down and eliminate mutants, rather than support them. Storm is assigned to lead Beast, Morph, and Wolverine into the Mutant Control Agency headquarters to destroy the registration files, whilst Cyclops, Gambit and Rogue patrol the outside. However they are ambushed by a large group of large soldiers.

Part two

The X-Men elude the soldiers and succeed in destroying the files. They are subsequently ambushed yet again by the Sentinels during their escape from the building. During the confrontation with the Sentinels, Morph is shot and furthermore presumed deceased by his fellow teammates. Beast is also injured before being electrocuted, ultimately captured and imprisoned. The remaining X-Men witness the President of the United States announce his consideration that the break-in counts as a counter-offense. He then closes the the registration under influence from Gyrich. Cyclops later visits Jubilee’s foster parents. Her foster father alerts Gyrich of Cyclops presence. Sentinels are then sent although the foster father regrets this when Cyclops explains that Jubilee was harmed by the toboys. Cyclops leaves and eludes a Sentinel that attempts to destroy him. The wounded Sentinel damages the electrical box and the electricity is altered on the base. At the end of the episode, Jubilee decides to remain at the X-Mansion and bids farewell to her foster parents.

Background

Production

Various elements from the episodes' plot are based upon the comic book Uncanny X-Men issue #14. Thus, the episode introduced the X-Men team similar in look and line-up to the early 1990s X-Men drawn by Jim Lee.

The X-Men introduced in this episode composed of Professor X, Cyclops, Beast, Jean Grey, Wolverine, Rogue, Gambit, Storm and Jubilee, as well as an original character, Morph. Morph is loosely based upon a shape-shifting character, from early X-Men comics, named Changeling. The character became so popular, that an alternate version of Changeling in the "Age of Apocalypse" comics run was named Morph. Morph was originally introduced in the pilot primarily because the writers planned a characters death in the shows debut, in order to hint how serious the show was. Changeling was chosen because of his past ties to the X-Men, as well as his deceased status in the comics. He was practically a blank slate, so the writers were free to do anything without really angering fans of the character. The name was changed from Changeling to Morph, since DC comics had the rights to the name Changeling at the time. (DC's Changeling is better known now as Beast Boy from the Teen Titans). The character of Morph's unexpected popularity prompted the writers to re-introduce him later in the series.

Beast's capture in the episode was intended to prepare the remainder of the first season, with Beast being excluded as a core character. His capture was also due to the characters articulate personality which fits with a court scene.

Cultural references

When Wolverine says, "Hey, Tin Woodsman I'm gonna send you back to Oz, in pieces!" Wolverine refers to the Tin Woodsman and Oz, from the L Frank Baum series of "Oz" books. When Beast says, "As Archimedes said when he discovered the principal of displacement... eureka!" Beast refers to the famous Greek, who actually did say "eureka" after discovering what is known today as Archimedes' principle. Also when Beast says, "Though I am always in haste, I am never in a hurry. John Wesley." Beast quotes the 18th century Methodist Church founder. If one looks on the screen of the computer Beast is typing on you will see that on the list of registered mutants John Wesley's name appears as one just as Beast completes quoting him.

Reception

At the height of the series' popularity, Pizza Hut sold two VHS tapes that featured "Night of the Sentinels (Parts 1 & 2)" and "Enter Magneto"/"Deadly Reunions". Also contained were round-table discussions between prominent names such as X-Men creator Stan Lee and 1990s writer Scott Lobdell.

The story of this pilot was also adapted in the comic book "X-Men Adventures (vol 1) #1-2". According to Marvel Animation Age this was one of the best episodes of the series.

References

• X-Men — Night of the Sentinels/Days of Future Past — Special Edition [VHS]. Buena Vista Home Entertainment.

External links

• "Night of the Sentinels, part 1 review". Marvel toonzone. Retrieved 2008-01-16.
• "Night of the Sentinels, part 2 review". Marvel toonzone. Retrieved 2008-01-16.

Category:X-Men television series episodes Category:X-Men (TV series) Category:Television pilots Category:1992 television episodes