| This article is written from the Real World perspective |  |
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| Series | X-Men | |||
| Release Date | September 16, 1995 | |||
| Episode Number | 55 | |||
| Writer | Gary Greenfield | |||
Bishop, Shard, Wolverine, and Storm get one more chance to save the X-Men's leader, but they'll have to get through Nimrod to do it.
Contents
Story
Fitzroy has accomplished his mission, and Bishop's team are too late to save Xavier from the resulting explosion that wrecks the college. Just as Bishop is furious at Wolverine for costing them the mission, the coffee shop manager arrives with the police to capture them, but Storm summons whirlwinds to ward them off. Shard insists on going back to the future hoping that Forge and his time portal technology are still effective, though Wolverine wants to tap out. An assuring kiss from Storm convinces Logan to help Bishop and Shard save their future and they race back to 2055.
In the altered 2055, the time portal appears to be working when Forge now more machine than man spots Bishop's party. Greeting them as intruders, he sounds an alarm. As Wolverine silences the alarm, Bishop reminds the mechanized Forge that their resistance is humans and mutants against the Sentinels led by Master Mold. Shard reminds their comrade that he sent them back to prevent the assassination of Xavier, though Forge tells them traveling through time is forbidden. Storm tries to activate the time portal, but a new kind of Sentinel, Enforcers attack. The mutants fight an uphill battle against the Enforcer Sentinels and with Forge enslaved by Master Mold, he tries to reason with them. Shard works to help Forge remember his friendship with her comrades in another time. While Bishop and Shard have their coordinates to 1959, Wolverine defeats an Enforcer. The portal was damaged in the fight so Forge has to repair it before more Enforcers arrive.
With Master Mold now a tyrannical ruler of the 2055 world, Fitzroy reports his mission but Master Mold warns him of the time travelers he encountered as they will try to undo Master Mold's iron-fisted rule by saving Xavier. With the security around the time portal building down, Master Mold orders the four mutants to be killed. As Fiztroy and Bantam depart, Nimrod receives new orders to kill the two mutant pawns in their plan.
Four more Enforcers arrive to prevent Forge from activating the time portal. Though the mutants hold their own with Forge close to getting the portal online, Nimrod storms in and blasts Bishop with his energy. Though Bishop deflects it, the robot shields against it. Just then, Fitzroy comes in to protect Bishop and his allies from the Sentinels. Fitzroy gives Bishop a device to hopefully explain everything but is injured. Storm makes the jump to 1959, while Nimrod fires a blast as Wolverine which Shard takes for him. Because she is too weak to continue, Shard assures that if Bishop wins this time, she and Forge will be fine. Bishop and Wolverine leave Shard and Forge behind to die at Nimrod's hands.
Down to three, the team returns to 1959 outside Bard College where Xavier is to be killed by Fitzroy's bomb. Determined to prevent Shard's death, Bishop plays the recording made by Fitzroy. As Xavier flees from the coffee shop chaos, he encounters the current Bishop's three-man team with Wolverine's actions causing Xavier to faint. At the college, Xavier is curious about the time travel though he doesn't believe the danger to him. Reluctant, Xavier reads the team's minds to learn what will happen if he is killed before the X-Men are founded and that one of Fitzroy's allies want to stall them from completing their mission. Cindy appears in the lab questioning Xavier when Wolverine spots her to actually be Nimrod in disguise. The hero mutants fight against Nimrod taking off the Sentinel's arms and leaving him in pieces. As Nimrod quickly reconstructs, Bishop shoots out his time wristband leaving him lost to time.
Just then, Fitzroy arrives with his bomb set to go off in 1 minute and activates a shield to ensure Xavier is blown up by the bomb. When all hope seems to have feed, Bishop plays the recording the future Fitzroy made to convince him not to accomplish his mission. As the previous Bishop team arrives, Fitzroy is finally convinced to abort his mission. He lowers the field so Wolverine can throw the bomb to a safe distance. After it goes off away from Xavier, history is restored to its proper course while the previous Bishop team blinks out. At that, Bishop gives Fitzroy a stern warning not to attempt this stunt again, though Fitzroy steals some energy to leave Xavier unconscious, though he would be fine within a day.
As Fitzroy and Bantam go back to the future, Bishop admires how Xavier could mean so much to the X-Men. Wolverine and Storm know that with Xavier alive, the Age of Apocalypse is annulled and their wristbands last a couple of days. Bishop returns home while the Age of Apocalypse Storm and Wolverine share one last embrace before deactivating their time wristbands. With the timeline restored, Logan and Ororo continue their picnic though Xavier appears to be the only one who remembers the adventure Bishop undertook.
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Quotes
Trivia
Continuity
Cast
Goofs
Background
Reaction
Comic Book Resources ranked this episode and its predecessor as number twelve in the top fifteen episodes of the series. They said this was one of the finest multiple-episode stories and most ambitious. They said was made it stand out was how wildly imaginative they were incorporating time travel and alternate timelines while tackling serious themes.[1]
Comic Book Resources ranked this and its follow-up as the sixth top tear-jerking episode of the series. "What if a certain person didn't exist? The first two episodes of season four bring to fruition the question: What if Professor Xavier hadn't existed? Bishop, a time-traveling mutant, along with an alternate version of Wolverine and Storm discover the answer to that question. The trio must travel back to 1959 and prevent the assassination of Charles Xavier at the hands of Trevor Fitzroy, another time-traveling mutant commissioned by sentinel manufacturer, Mastermold. Not only do the trio have to deal with Fitzroy but they must deal with bigotry of the 1950s. Wolverine and Storm fend off racists against their interracial marriage. Meanwhile, they must convince a young Xavier about accepting his responsibilities. Wolverine and Storm must also carry their own responsibility of sacrificing their present-day marriage for humanity's brighter future."[2]
References
- ↑ The 15 Best Episodes Of X-Men: The Animated Series at Comic Book Resources
- ↑ Top 10 Tear-Jerking Episodes From X-Men: The Animated Series at Comic Book Resources
