Friday, July 26, 2013

Old School Lane's Nickelodeon Tribute: The X's

The last Nicktoon to debut in 2005 is another one that also didn't last very long. Just like Catscratch, it only lasted for 20 episodes and has been hugely forgotten by many people. The cartoon is none other than The X's, which debuted on November 25, 2005.



The show is about a family of spies consisting of a man named Mr. X, his wife Mrs. X, their older teenage daughter Tuesday X, and their younger son Truman X trying to live normal lives. However, an evil organization named S.N.A.F.U. (Society of Nefarious and Felonious Undertakings) led by Glowface try to take down the X's so they can, you guess it, take over the world.



Each episode had the X's coping with life without being spies. But for some reason or another, Glowface always interrupts them. Together, the X's use their gadgets and fighting to take down the villains from S.N.A.F.U. They also meet another spy family simply known as the Y's or the Y's Guys, who wants to take down the X's so that they can be the major spy family to take down S.N.A.F.U. While the X's are completey different from one another, they're still a family.



Just like Catscratch, The X's is one of the shortest lasting Nicktoons having only 20 episodes. It was cancelled on December 13, 2006. Also just like Catscratch, it's hugely forgotten by many people and has faded into obscurity. In fact, shortly after the show ended, Nick.com removed the show's content and videos off the site. It hasn't aired on Nickelodeon since, but it still continues to air in Mexico. In my opinion, it's very generic and underwhelming. The X's really tried to get into the hype of The Incredibles and the Spy Kids series with it being a family of secret agents trying to take down villains while living a normal life. The characters aren't even that special either. The X's personality is predictable with Mr. X being a good spy, but a bumbling idiot not knowing about how to deal with everyday things such as knowing his own name and how to interact with other people. Mrs. X reminds me of Maddie Fenton from Danny Phantom and Elasticgirl from The Incredibles with her being a tough, a good mother, and kicking ass when fighting the villains. Tuesday is your typical teenager wanting to fit in and Truman is the smart kid who builds the gadgets while being sarcastic and goofy. The villains are mostly forgettable with typical world domination or taking down the X's plans and nothing else.

Unlike Catscratch, I don't recommend checking out The X's. Most people don't remember this show and there's a reason why. With a groundbreaking show like Avatar: The Last Airbender debuting at the same year, a show trying to copy off what's popular at the time and do nothing else unique will blend into the background. That's what The X's pretty much is. You're not missing out.



That's all for now. Tune in next time as we conclude 2005 with the next Nickelodeon movie Yours, Mine, and Ours. 




 Hope to see you around Old School Lane soon. Thanks for reading.

-Patricia

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