Episode No.: 1
Main Characters: Scott, Jean, Kurt, Todd, Xavier
Other Characters: Duncan, Paul, Wolverine, Sabretooth, Storm, Mystique
The Synopsis: Starts with cheerleaders� er, cheering at a Bayville game. Then pans to Duncan, but of course you don't know it's him yet. Jean is taking pics on the sidelines as Scott plays with a coin in the stands. You then see Todd sneaking back to steal some cash. Dunk and friends follow him. Scott's coin falls beneath the bleachers and he and Paul notice Todd's stealing. The footballers start beating him up until Scotty interferes. They talk until Dunk throws Todd into Scott and Scott starts fighting. Duncan gets really pissed and his glasses get knocked off, destroying the stand. Jean looks like she's shocked; you're meant to think she didn't know about Scott's powers.
The cops are talking and Duncan is hauled off in an ambulance. Jean gets Scott's glasses and puts them back on for him. Jean then runs over to chat with Duncan, who's concussed and doesn't remember anything. Xavier rolls up in some car and does a mind whammy on the cops so they think it was a burst water main. Todd and Scott start talking and Todd thanks him before eating a fly. Xavier chats to Ororo.
Storm and Xavier arrive at the train station, to meet up with Kurt. Cut to Logan on his bike, stopping in at a gas station. He sees the headlines about Scott's explosion and buys the paper before cutting open a bottle of water and freaking out the guy. Sabes appears briefly.
Scott and Jean, meanwhile, are having bathroom turn difficulties. Xavier pulls them aside to meet Kurt. Scott's briefly freaked by Kurt's hands and Xavier reminds him of his own mutation. Kurt shows them his own power and Jean and Scott are suitably awed.
Todd is playing with his shoelace until being called into the principal's office. Raven asks Toddy about Scott and orders him to check it out, freaking him out royally with a weird transformation.
Kurt is shown his room, and Xavier gives him his image inducer. He's very pleased, needless to say. Kurt also finds him X-Men uniform
The next day at school, Scott and Paul chat before Paul leaves for the cafeteria and Todd confronts Scott. Todd uses his tongue to take Scott's glasses. They're slimed covered, but Todd gives them back. Todd's really laying on the 'let's be friends' act pretty thick.
An alarm goes off in Xavier's office and he approached Cerebro. It's picked up Todd's mutation. Scott and Xavier talk on the phone and Kurt approached cerebro. Xavier explains it to him. Xavier mind-contacts Storm and tells her to 'audition' Todd.
Todd approaches the gates of the Institute and Storm causes her namesake. Todd gets a bit freaked, which is expanded on when bolts of lightning nearly fry him. He makes it into the Institute, however, only to meet up with Kurt. They insult eachother and start fighting.
Xavier eventually appears, confirming Todd is a mutant and offering him a place in the X-Men, but he's a real bitch about it. Todd and Kurt 'port into the Danger Room and the defense systems are activated. Xavier alerts Scott and Jean and they don their spandex. Kurt and Todd are panicking like hell by now, and Todd screams a really funny scream. Scott and Jean come to the rescue and everything's fine until Kurt decides he knows how to shut the machines off� and sends them all berserk. Storm saves the day. Todd runs away, although encountering Wolvy, but he lets him pass. Kurt tries to leave, and 'ports near the Blackbird. He and Scott have a nice little heart-to-heart and Kurt agrees to stay on with the team. Raven gets extremely pissed at Todd, but then Magneto gets pissed at Raven. Go figure.
My Rating: 7/10
Well, I've seen worse pilots, but I've also seen better. None of my favourite characters (Lance, Risty, Kitty, Sabretooth) except for Scott were actually in it (well, there was a 2-second flash of Sabes, but�). What amazes me is that DUNCAN is actually the first character to appear in the season, unless you count that cheerleader.
What I liked:
Scott and Jean were acting extremely normal; that's what I like to see. Jean working for the school paper was a nice touch.
Toddles was so cute ^.^
Kurt was nice and insecure. It would've sucked if he's been all practical-joker the whole time. :P
Paul and Duncan. I liked this ep because it showed that they all have interaction with normal students; Scott hangs with Paul, Jean hangs with Duncan and, later, Taryn� very nice indeed.
Kurt and Todd fighting. VERY fun
What I disliked:
Even at this early stage, Xavier is being a jerk. He didn't audtition Kurt, Kitty, Evan or Rogue, so why did he 'audition' Todd? Like you can't tell he's a mutant, what with the three foot tongue. :P
Wolverine. He does jack crap throughout the whole ep, then at the end shows up and is all macho-man.
So, if Duncan was concussed and taken away in an ambulance, why the hell is he at school the next day? When I got concussed, I didn't attend school for, like, a week.
Storm was really annoying. Much too lapdog-ish. I would've thought Oh-she-with-the-motherly-personality would disagree just a little bit with attacking poor little Todd.
Not enough Sabretooth
Magneto looked like some kind of crappy sculptuer at the end. Less on the mystery, more on the flat-faced.
Now that I think about it, Magneto hasn't ever since expressed any kind of feeling about any of the BH, let alone Todd, so why is he sticking up for Todd now?
Quotes:
"What are you, some kinda ratty plush toy?" Todd (to Kurt)
"Dude, just don't hassle me about my shades and we'll call it even." Scott
"C'mon, I'll show you where they hide the sodas," Scott