A few years before the wildly successful and very well made "X-Men" movie, there was a TV version that bombed. "Generation X" was pretty much the same show though the characters they focused on were mostly different from the ones in the movies. In both cases, mutants are distrusted by the masses and unregistered mutants are being rounded up by the authorities. However, there's a mutant academy and many of these folks are being spirited off to this school where they'll learn to channel their skills and use them to fight evil.
So why didn't they green light the series? Well, I don't think it was because the public wasn't ready for such a show. To me, the problem is the very limited appeal of the show based on its style. While made in 1996, it looks right from 1984 with a strong New Wave style. The colors, music, lighting and look of the show look very dated and very 80s. The show also seemed focused towards teens only. Additionally, and this is what bothered me the most, the camera angles were annoying just to be annoying! Askew angles abound...and it jut makes it look cheap and kind of stupid! Add to that some occasionally poor writing and a bizarre character played by Matt Frewer (I think he was channeling Max Headroom a bit too much here) and you'll understand why the show was a flop and didn't get off the ground. After seeing this pilot movie, I am certainly glad they never made more.
