The X's
♥ | This article is dedicated to Jansen Panettiere (September 25, 1994 – February 19, 2023, voice of Truman X), who died of cardiomegaly (having an enlarged heart) at the age of 28. |
The X's is an American animated television series created by Carlos Ramos for Nickelodeon. It centers on a family of spies who must conceal their identity from the outside world, but often have trouble in doing so. It was short-lived, with a single season of 20 episodes airing from November 25, 2005, to November 25, 2006.
Premise
A family of super agents must balance life as a spy family that must stop the evil Glowface (voiced by Chris Hardwick) and his minions from taking over the world and living life as a normal family. The family includes Mr. X, leader and father (portrayed by Patrick Warburton), Mrs. X, combat specialist and mother (voiced by (Wendie Malick), Tuesday X, team investigator and teenage daughter (voiced by Lynsey Bartilson), and Truman X, technology expert and younger son (voiced by Jansen Panettiere).
Why It's X-traordinary
- It has a retro style look of the 1950s and outlines that are not black, similar to The Powerpuff Girls.
- The family resembles the look of Family Guy, The Incredibles and American Dad!.
- Great characters such as Mr. X, Tuesday X, Glowface, Sasquatch, and Lorenzo.
- Excellent and decent voice acting.
- Home-Base does a lot of supporting for the family.
- Each episode has a lot of its development.
- Catchy theme song.
- "To the X-jet!"
- It's one of Nickelodeon's cult classics of the 2000s.
- The flash animation by Rough Draft Studios is pretty decent, and it's similar to many vintage cartoons of the 2000's.
- Each of the X family has their own personality.
- Mr. X the leader, father and the funny one.
- Mrs. X the combat specialist, fighter, mother and the tough one.
- Tuesday X the girly-girl, investigator, the daughter and the boy-crazy one.
- Truman X the nerdy tech expert and smart one.
- Great episodes, such as:
- "AAIIEE, Robot!"
- "License to Slumber"
- "Mock Tutors"
- "The Haunting of Home Base"
- "Truman X: Super Villain"
- "Theater of War"
Bad Qualities
- Nickelodeon poorly handled this Nicktoon as it suffered a lack of advertising, was pre-empted by other shows, and didn't rerun enough, even when it was moved to Nicktoons Network (Nickelodeon's death channel). The show was canceled a year later, and two episodes went unaired. It also doesn't have a full DVD release aside from Nick Picks 4 and 5 having one episode each. And sadly, there are no plans for a revival.
- The characters can sometimes be mean-spirited, stereotypical, and cliched, mostly Truman X. Seven Y is an unlikeable character as well.
- The animation and designs didn't age quite well.
- The lip syncing is bad at times.
- The colors tend to change each scene though this could be intentional and eye-catching. Notice Tuesday X's usual green hair will sometimes be blue, purple, or even red.
- Some bad episodes, such as:
- "Meddle Mouth"
- "Missing Home"
- "Live and Let Diaper"
- John Kricfalusi, creator of The Ren & Stimpy Show and known to have a bad record of directing his show, voiced a character named Bowling Alley Guy in the episode "Pinheads".
Trivia
- Although the X's are not prominent in mainstream Nickelodeon media, some X members make cameos as master models in different versions of Nicktoons: Attack of the Toybots.
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