I always get a laugh from people who pretend to be shocked that someone would dare create an animated series intended to tout merchandise to children. Though the series “Yu Gi Oh” was god awful, many people pretended to be appalled that it existed solely to sell cards. Attention people: this has been common practice as far back as the late sixties. Some of the greatest and most beloved animated TV shows in America were created just to sell or market toys. “Transformers” was nothing but a massive toy commercial, for god sake. The nineties were littered with many attempts to create a marketable toy franchise, and there were as many memorable misses as there were hits.
For every “Pokemon,” “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers,” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” there was “Skeleton Warriors,” “Biker Mice from Mars,” and “Mutant League.” The concept for “Mutant League” was originally brought to the animated forefront to shill a video game from EA that was a hybrid of apocalyptic fantasy and sports. Basically you’re ugly, slimy, and sleek looking mutants who play sports for the fate of the world, I assume.
The show only lasted two seasons, forty episodes in total, and is remembered with mixed reaction from nostalgia buffs. “Mutant League” the animated series is primarily just an entire episode of actual staged animated football and basketball games while there’s an off-screen commentator named Bob Babble who lays down plays and footage for the audience. The entire story of “Mutant League” involves a group of sports stars who were turned in to mutants when radioactive waste turned the world in to a wasteland, so it’s a sham we never get much of what it’s like to be a mutant or exploring this wasteland as a whole.
Bones Justice is the protagonist of the movie who dons shades and enters the sports the team to learn the mystery of his father, while dominating the sport, as Zalgor Prigg attempts to dictate every sports event with his iron fist and evil betting. “Mutant League” is a fairly forgettable nineties entry in to the animation genre, in spite of being on television for two seasons. But the premise is altogether twisted and worthy of Troma in some respects. If you want to see mutant sports stars throwing down on the field, “Mutant League” has exactly what you need. By no means a nineties animated classic, “Mutant League” is a fun and creative animated tie in to a unique sports video game. I think this could even be cult movie fodder someday with some new and original monsters to offer fantasy and sci-fi fans.