X-Men: Evolution "Retreat" Talkback (Spoilers)

[Bird Boy]

Discuss this new episode!

http://x-men.toonzone.net/gallery/images/27-21.jpg

Episode #27 - Retreat
Original Airdate - February 16, 2002

Feeling claustrophobic in the Mansion, Beast takes some of the kids deep into the Redwood National Forest for an Earth Science study, where he assumes they'll be alone.

Comments?

[Figaro]

I love X-Men: Evolution, but I gotta say that this episode is going down as one of my absolute favorites. Beast is my favorite character, and it's nice to see an episode where he is the focus and gets to experience some real action. The animation was great in this one, and check out those expressive eyes! The scene in which he finally reveals his ability to speak to the doctor was priceless.
By thy side,

Figaro

[DR. BELCH]

It's taking me a while to get used to this new Beast. Maybe his name lends him to a feral interpretation, but still, I always saw him as a regular guy with a lot of body hair, rather than a Bruce Banner type who alternates between rational and brutish (except he looks the same either way). I don't recall him ever being depicted with monkey feet or exhibiting apelike mannerisms (e.g. swinging from trees) in the comics (though I haven't read any in a while).
Also, note he's always called "Mister" McCoy. In the comics and the Fox series, he's a doctor. I suppose they're taking a liberty with this interpretation, in order to have him teaching high-school rather than college (the one thing that continually niggles me is that h.s. is the hub of the series)--but doe he ever find a way to overcome his mutant handicap and earn his doctorate? There is the hologram watch proposal, which he's rejected twice now....

[Web Head]

Well if they can alter continuity to put Cyclops and Jean in high school while keeping Wolverine an adult (thus ending the love triangle) I don't think a non-DR. Beast is that bad. He probably just stopped at his Masters. Or maybe he was taking classes to get his doctorate and teaching at the same time, i.e. he would have eventually become a Dr, but he went furry first.

And I have seen Beast swing from trees and such before, both in comics and the Fox series.

[oranthal]

they could still have the love triangle conflict except that there might be complaints from parents.

Originally posted by Web Head
Well if they can alter continuity to put Cyclops and Jean in high school while keeping Wolverine an adult (thus ending the love triangle) I don't think a non-DR. Beast is that bad. He probably just stopped at his Masters. Or maybe he was taking classes to get his doctorate and teaching at the same time, i.e. he would have eventually become a Dr, but he went furry first.

And I have seen Beast swing from trees and such before, both in comics and the Fox series.

[DR. BELCH]

oranthal :
they could still have the love triangle conflict except that there might be complaints from parents.
I was expecting, when Jean and Logan were watching Blob's performance in his debut ep, some dang fool to ask the guy, "Hello, sir! And are you and your daughter enjoying the show?" Not sure exactly how Logan would react, but I'm sure it wouldn't be pretty.

As for Beast...I do recall him jumping powerful high in the comics (once with young Jubilee on his shouders), but not swinging about...and in the Fox series he was arrested and spent much of season one as a political prisoner (later pardoned by Sen. Kelly, who in this continuity would be his former boss...yes, the stories do get miserably tangled, don't they?) Maybe Beast is just two or three credits short of his PhD...might be a nice end-of-season substory to see Charles help him settle that issue and officially become Dr. McCoy.

[Regault]

Originally posted by Figaro
I love X-Men: Evolution, but I gotta say that this episode is going down as one of my absolute favorites. Beast is my favorite character, and it's nice to see an episode where he is the focus and gets to experience some real action. The animation was great in this one, and check out those expressive eyes! The scene in which he finally reveals his ability to speak to the doctor was priceless.

By thy side,

Figaro

Beast's always had prehensile feet.

The thing that miffed me was that they quickly turned him into lame blue-haired Beast instead of normal classic Beast. IMO, the blue hair was something added so he'd fit in with the general gaudiness of the other 70's Avengers.


Now, on with the show:

What I liked:
Rahne Sinclair had a dang sexy voice. She also finally used her transitional form.
Roberto's powers were true to the comic. Even though they didn't do anything to emphasize that Sunspot's probably one of the only superheroes to have super strength without super toughness.
"It looks like we have ourselves the real McCoy."


What I didn't like: (Highlight for Spoiler)
Bobby's cryokinesis acted strangely. It created ice in the air above the water, but he didn't freeze the water directly like the situation called for. He created a dam in midair, then dropped it into the river. Also, he could have just frozen the water around the cage and it would have floated.

They mispronounced Rahne's name. Horribly. Its pronounced "Rain", not "Raw-knee". I can accept the hair because as character alterations go its not nearly as bad as Shadowcat changing from the comic's genius girl to a valley chick, or Boom Boom going from Harley Quinn in "Bada Bing" to "Joker Henchman" in Joyride, but mispronouncing Gaelic and Celtic names deeply annoys me.

Any minute with Spyke on the screen is a minute better spent with any other character on the show. Including Duncan and Principal Kelly.

[Rogue LeBeau]

Hi! I'm new in this forum!
Although I haven't seen this episode in a while, it's still one of my favorites. Mostly because my favorite character, Rahne, gets to actually put in a word or two. It seems as if the whole season they had her and Roberto on mute.
I kinda like seeing how the characters act when they're not in battle or at school.
Magically appearing black leotard? Hmmm, that IS wierd.

Hi Wolfsbane! Welcome. I'm kinda new here too. :)
Yeah, I like Retreat, too.. even if my favorite character, Rogue, didn't show up. I like it because is shows the new recruits, and I think the new recruits deserve some more screen time. And I agree. Rahne's nice, and she looks great with Roberto. :p

[Lyranfan]

While this episode was not really a stellar one, it did have it's good points

Likes:

1) Bobby actually doesn't get yelled at by Scott for a change - I like them both but the writers seem to enjoy having Scott tear Bobby a new one whenever they're together. :shrug: Okay, so Scott wasn't really around this episode but I was glad to see Bobby 'ream free' Though they do seem to have Hank on his case - which works better for me then the Scott/Bobby dynamic.

2) Rahne and Roberto Speak! Too bad the flirting here never surfaced again - darn 23 minute limit

3) I agree with Sandoz - I like the idea that Kitty jumps in to help out Hank but it was corny and cheesy the way it came off

4) I actually like the way Spyke suffered through being the city kid in this episode. It reinforced the fact he needed to be on this trip in the first place. And of course, Kitty is the one to help him out with the calomine lotion.

Dislikes

1) The corny jokes around the sasquatch watchers were pretty funny but the hunters were just too one dimensional.

2) the beginning - Hank running around and being all out of control - this is not how I imagine or remember the 'Beast' character behaving - but that could just be me.

[Sandman]

I will have to go on memory for this one since I didn’t see it last night.


Good Stuff: Rahne speaks! Then she flirts with Roberto! Kitty calls her Ronnie. Then she changes into a werewolf!

Bad Stuff: Everything else without Rahne.

Evan + Woods = more lame city kid comedy. It was barely tolerable in Survival of the Fittest. They probably should have used Jubilee and Ray instead of Kitty and Evan. Neither of them added anything. I noticed that Kitty really suffers as a character without Kurt or Lance around. Evan is still just Evan. Might as well go for the whole New Mutant theme with Ray and Jubes.

The Kitty helps Beast understand was so corny. The only thing sillier was the villainous hunters. I love TAS and Ultimate Beast, but I am not a fan of Evo Beast. He’s duller than dish detergent. Did he really need two starring episodes in season 2? This was the only episode that Scott never appeared in. After Adrift, Scott apparently learned to pick his episodes more carefully. I think I would have rather watched an entire episode of Toad tap dancing or Gambit reading from Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations than this.

This episode asks the question. If Bigfoot were really bright blue, wouldn’t we have found him years ago?

Roberto:"The first five samples will be like cake, and the others will be like icing, and I love icing!"
Rahne:"I thought you put on some weight."

[Wolfsbane]

Yay! :) The played my favorite episode. I've been waiting for weeks to tape this one and guess what happens? The tape runs out halfway through the episode. What luck. :rolleyes:


Rahne speaks! Then she flirts with Roberto! Kitty calls her Ronnie. Then she changes into a werewolf!Good to be hearing from a fellow Rahne and Roberto fan. They FINALLY gave those two some character development time. I'm surprized the vioce director didn't catch Maggie Blue O'Hara when she said 'Ronnie.' :eek: It's pronounced 'Rain!' Rain I tell you! I was really buggin over that. :sweat:

I think I would have rather watched an entire episode of Toad tap dancing or Gambit reading from Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations than this.They're making us read that story now at school and it is soooo boring. Although Gambit reading the story might be a little entertaining.

This episode asks the question. If Bigfoot were really bright blue, wouldn’t we have found him years ago?What do you mean? What else would be light blue and look like bigfoot?

I liked the whole city-boy theme they seem to always place upon Spike everytime they're wilderness-bound. I just like how he reacts to different situations involving nature. (poison ivy, misquitoes) Or maybe I just like watching him suffer, I don't really know. :shrug:
I also think the bigfoot hunters were too cheesy to be taken seriously. Was that banjo music they'd play in the backround really necessary?
I'm pretty sure I had more to say but I'm drawing a blank at the moment...

[Movie06]

It's an okay episode. It does its share of problems, mianly because of the execution of the episode.

[Trevor]

This episode just started on the DVD now, and I'm already up to the point where Evan gets poisoned by poison ivy (or is it poison oak?).

It's different seeing a Beast-centered episode on this series. Infact, aside from the cross-over episode with Spider-Man, I don't think there were any Beast-centered episodes in the 90's series. Or if there were, the episodes were not the memorable ones.

[FlawedCoil82]

This episode just started on the DVD now, and I'm already up to the point where Evan gets poisoned by poison ivy (or is it poison oak?).

It's different seeing a Beast-centered episode on this series. Infact, aside from the cross-over episode with Spider-Man, I don't think there were any Beast-centered episodes in the 90's series. Or if there were, the episodes were not the memorable ones.

"Beauty And The Beast" was from the second season of the 90's series and featured him. Even though I didn't like it when I was younger, now I can really appreciate it as one of the best episodes story-wise. Also after the second season, Beast was pretty much featured in every episode, much moreso than Gambit, Rogue or Jean Grey were. He was also the only team member featured throughout the entire Phalanx storyline.
Jack