ays the animated broadcaster at the beginning of
Mutant X: "A teen-age girl falls six stories and walks away unscathed. A man bursts
into flames with no signs of burns. One thing's for sure, it's getting weirder
out there every day." But that's only the beginning for this new syndicated series
about what happens when nasty government types experiment with the genetic
code.
In "The Shock of the New," the first episode of the two-part series premiere,
a woman named Emma (Smith) runs through a crowd and bumps into a thief named
Brennan (Victor Webster). Suddenly, in his mind, he can see and feel her fear.
She runs off, finally ending up in an empty street. Terrified, she looks behind
to see her pursuers close behind.
Out of nowhere, two people with amazing powers appear and take on the bad guys.
The woman, Shalimar (Victoria Pratt), seems to have the speed and power of an
animal. The man, Jesse (Forbes March), can make himself solid or intangible at
will. They dispatch her pursuers and save Emma, quickly whisking her away to a
mountain stronghold called Sanctuary.
Sanctuary is the headquarters of Mutant X. The group is led by a mysterious
man named Adam (Shea), who tells her she was being chased by men from
Genomex, a biotech firm that was responsible for secret government experiments
which played god with the genetics of 1,000 unsuspecting people. Now,
those "children of Genomex" are evolving and discovering they have
extraordinary and terrifying powers. Beyond that, they are being hunted by
the Genetic Security Agency, a group which seeks to either turn them into operatives
or kill them. Adam and his organization, Mutant X, are dedicated to rescuing and
protecting these new mutants from the forces that would control or destroy them.
Emma is confused, and isn't sure what to do. She tells Adam she doesn't have
any powers, and she doesn't understand why they are after her. In the meantime, Brennan the thief is about to discover his power over electricity may
not be able to help him when the GSA sets its sites on him, and Genomax
security chief Mason Eckhart (McCamus) has plans of his own involving the
direction the biotech firm should take in recovering and utilizing these
special "children." When Emma takes off, Adam suddenly finds himself in a race
to reach these new mutants before it's too late.
A familiar dip in the gene pool
It seems mutants have never been more popular. It's been just over a year
since the release of the film The X-Men, and now syndicated TV and
Marvel Studios step up to offer Mutant X, a TV series about genetic
experimentation, not genetic evolution, and that seems to be the fine and
timely line that's been drawn between the two. The two stories are quite
different in many ways, and Mutant X should quickly establish itself as
a separate entity.
Mutant X is filled with action, special effects and cool camera
shots, and the series tackles the themes of genetic experimentation and
government conspiracy almost as though it created the concepts. What lifts
the series above normal fare is the acting by veteran character actor John
Shea and the able young cast. They are clearly the strength of the series.
McCamus is especially effective as the evil GSA security chief who just
happens to look a lot like Andy Warhol.
The series opener, "The Shock of the New," provides a fairly good
introduction to the series as it draws the black-and-white lines between the
GSA and Mutant X. We discover what each character's power is and what their
initial motivations are. While the characters are fairly well drawn, Mutant
X is a bit too down to earth.
However, where Mutant X falls down is in a misguided attempt to copy
Matrix-style action with the use of slow motion and pounding music. The
music is annoying and the slo-mo is used for just about everything the
creators want to emphasize. If the creators of Mutant X are going to
copy a style, it'd be nice if they did it well.
