I always wondered why they went with the idea of making Scott into the angry loner and Wolverine into the badly fit leader. Then I realized that it wasn't just because of ratings. Professor X needs someone who is a brutal guerrilla fighter who doesn't mind getting his hands dirty to defeat the government gone wild. Cyclops is still needed because he needs to channel his rage over Jean's abduction into a weapon against the enemy. The X-men in this series, basically, are X-force.
A bit of Fridge Horror that hit me while watching the episode "Badlands." Before Genosha got annihilated by the war, it was an island nation of the African shore of the Indian Ocean. Afterwards, it's surrounded by a desert. Is it just me, or did the war between humans and mutants completely evaporate the ocean!?
Another bit of Fridge Horror again. Part of Spiral's backstory in the comics involves a Stable Time Loop where she helped Mojo torture a black-haired woman named Rita Haywood, who had the nickname "Ricochet Rita"—into becoming Spiral herself and at one point involved Rita becoming a figurehead for a ship. Well, when Spiral and the Reavers made their debut, there was a black-haired woman whom Spiral called "Ricochet" strapped as a figurehead of the boat they used...
Yet another bit of Fridge Horror. When Silver Samurai kidnapped the X-Men, Tildie is nowhere to be seen in the episode which begs the question: Did Silver Samurai kidnap Tildie too? Keep in mind that Tildie is a child...
Many of the future X-Men in this series have similar roles to the films Days of Future Past Future Team.
Wolverine, Bishop and Professor X are present in both the series and film.
Just how old are the original 5 founding X-Men? Angel, Beast, Cyclops and Jean Grey all look and sound like they're at least in their late 20s or early 30s, yet Iceman appears to be no more than 18, young enough it seems that he can crush on Kitty Pryde without it being creepy.
Were Jean and Xavier using their telepathy to manipulate Cyclops into being the former's boyfriend and the latter's tin pot little soldier? Years of telepathic manipulation might have caused some unforeseen damage to his already fragile psyche that might have seriously messed up his emotional growth, resulting in his dysfunctional personality and behavior. It would also explain why Xavier shows absolutely no real emotional attachment or concern for Cyclops's welfare and would also explain how Jean can get away with casually showing little to no real emotional connection with him. Seriously, for the few minutes of screen time she has where she's not suffering from amnesia, Jean treats Cyclops more like a dog she found in an animal shelter that she has to keep on a leash so that he won't bite anyone than a boyfriend she genuinely loves and cares about - because deep down she really just doesn't seem to.
In the pilot, Jean blows Wolverine a kiss on his way out while she's angrily arguing with Cyclops. At first, one figures that as usual Jean and Wolverine are soul mates and that darn Cyclops is in the way again - until everything blows up and Jean disappears. Cyclops then spends the rest of the series obsessed with finding Jean while Wolverine... shows no real interest in whether or not she's still alive or trying to find her, much like the other X-Men, who appear to have given Jean up for dead. Then after Breakdown, we learn that Wolverine had only been there for one night, just long enough to hit on Jean before she goes up in smoke, so it actually makes perfect sense that Wolverine does not actually care about finding Jean because they barely knew each other.
