Product Details

• Actors: Cedric Smith, Cathal J. Dodd, Lenore Zann, Norm Spencer, George Buza
• Writers: Chris Claremont, Dave Cockrum, Jack Kirby, John Byrne, Stan Lee
• Producers: Sharon Janis
• Format: Animated, Closed-captioned, Color, DTS Surround Sound, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Language: French (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (DTS 5.1)
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Universal Studios
• DVD Release Date: October 24, 2000
• Run Time: 109 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00004Y56F
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #63,856 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

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  Movies & TV > Action & Adventure > Series & Sequels > X-Men

• For more information about "X-Men - The Phoenix Saga" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Five episodes of the animated series on one DVD, The Phoenix Saga follows Jean Grey's transformation into the mysterious and powerful Phoenix. It's a tale full of internal conflict, feuding family members, and the sadness of sacrifice for the greater good. When Professor Xavier receives a psychic plea for help from an alien woman, he sends his X-Men on the next space shuttle to the Eagle One space station. They're greeted by a brute named Erik the Red, who's on a mission from Emperor D'Ken to destroy a rival's ship and take the M'Kraan crystal, which would give him unlimited power. The ship Erik the Red is supposed to destroy contains the emperor's sister, Lilandra, who is the one who established the psychic link to Professor X. Meanwhile, as Jean Grey pilots the shuttle back through the atmosphere to Earth, she is blasted by a burst of radiation that slowly changes her into Phoenix, the guardian of the M'Kraan crystal. The battle for the crystal becomes a battle for the safety of the universe. Family conflicts pop up throughout, from the sibling emperors, to Professor X fighting his half-brother Juggernaut, to Cyclops meeting the space pirate Corsair (who's actually his father). The action scenes at the end are not nearly as engaging as the story that sets them up, but stick it out because the final scene packs a wallop. --Andy Spletzer

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Writing - Excellent Storytelling - Good Characters, August 24, 2004

By	turtlex "turtlex" (PA USA) - See all my reviews

.
While these X-Men cartoons are not known for their outstanding animation, I can whole-heartedly recommend them for their storytelling alone.

The animation is acceptable - standard Saturday morning cartoons (not cgi, but animation).

If you've not seen the X-Men cartoons featured here, we are presented with this main group as the X-Men Team: Cyclops, Jean Grey, Gambit, The Beast, Wolverine, Julibee and Storm. And, of course, Professor X leads them. Rogue is around, but not in the first couple of episodes.

These combined episodes make a wonderfully told story. The characters are very faithful to their comic book counterparts, and have a depth that a lot of other cartoon characters lack. Be that praise for the comics or these episodes, matters not.

The DVD comes with few features. You're given the option of viewing all episodes or each episode individually. Please note - there are no chapters within each episode.

The sound quality was good and the voice-actors are effective.

It's the writing though, that lifts this series. It's a great story.

I recommend this DVD for the comic or cartoon fan. You won't be disappointed.

.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must-Have For The Fans Of The Animated Series, December 5, 2000

By	James Bullock (Georgia) - See all my reviews

"The Phoenix Saga" is the first DVD of the animated series...and what a great choice they've made! This DVD is a collection of the five-part series which tells the tragic story of the legendary Phoenix saving the universe from the evil Shi'ar emperor D'Ken. Unfortunately, the X-Men member Jean Grey is the Phoenix's host, which causes confusion among everyone, including her. In addition to this, Charles Xavier (Professor X) is psychically linked to D'Ken's sister, Llandra, bringing the battle to the planet earth. All this results into a war against good and evil that may cost the life of one of the X-Men. All that being said, the DVD looks great, of course. Since this was produced before Dolby Digital was commonplace, it is presented in two channel mode (stereo), but it does ok for Dolby Pro-Logic mode. The animation is a bit choppy in some places, but considering how fast they have to pump out cartoons, it's forgivable. One noticable difference is the changing of the voice-overs for some of the characters. The original cast seems to be intact, but the most obvious was that of Gladiator, the Defender of the Shi'ar throne. For those with copies of the original series on VHS, listen to the difference and you'll see what I mean. Otherwise, this is a must-have for the fans of the original animated series. Now if they'll only release, "The Dark Phoenix Saga"......

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Phoenix Saga rocks, but..., December 18, 2003

By	Spineshank155 "Cloud" (Waukegan, IL United States) - See all my reviews

Im glad they are starting to release DVD versions of Xmen. One problem though, why havnt they just released the seasons rather then just episodes here and there. Ive been a fan of the xmen for quite a while now.. to figure out that they should have entire seasons on dvd. Anyways if u never seen the original xmen series get this dvd. Its really cool.