TJ Blackwell and Jill Elizabeth dive into the complex world of Cable from X-Men: The Animated Series, a character that raises some heavy-duty philosophical questions about time travel and the weight of choices. Right off the bat, they ponder whether you’d go back in time to prevent a war if given the chance—classic Cable conundrum, right? As they reminisce about their first encounters with the character, they highlight how Cable’s gritty backstory adds layers to the superhero narrative, making him not just a guns-blazing badass but also a figure of introspection and moral dilemma. Their banter flows from discussing Cable's iconic look to the nuances of his relationships with other characters, particularly the tension between him and Bishop. By the end of this episode, listeners are left not only with a greater appreciation for Cable’s role in the X-Men universe but also with a craving to revisit the animated series that made him a household name. A deep dive into the complexities of time travel and moral dilemmas unfolds as TJ Blackwell and Jill Elizabeth dissect the character of Cable from the beloved "X-Men: The Animated Series."

The episode kicks off with a thought-provoking question about the ethics of time travel, particularly if one could go back to prevent the wars of the future. This sets the stage for their exploration of Cable, a character who embodies the struggles of navigating a tumultuous timeline filled with moral ambiguity. TJ and Jill reminisce about their personal introductions to Cable, with Jill reflecting on her first encounter through the recent interpretation in "Deadpool," while TJ fondly recalls Cable's iconic presence in "Marvel vs. Capcom 2." The hosts share laughs and insights, emphasizing Cable's evolution from a mere character to a symbol of deeper philosophical inquiries surrounding sacrifice and the greater good. Through witty banter and engaging dialogue, they bring to life the essence of Cable's narrative, illustrating how he challenges both his allies and the audience to question the implications of their choices in a chaotic world.

Takeaways:

• The podcast dives into the character of Cable from X-Men the Animated Series, exploring his origin and significance in the X-Men universe.
• TJ and Jill discuss how Cable's unique abilities, including his telepathic powers and cybernetic enhancements, influence his character development.
• The conversation highlights the complex narrative of Cable's relationship with time travel, raising philosophical questions about fate and choice.
• Listeners are reminded of the nostalgic impact of the X-Men Animated Series, which remains a beloved part of many people's childhoods.
• The hosts share personal experiences of how they were introduced to Cable, showcasing the character's enduring appeal across different mediums.
• TJ and Jill humorously debate Cable's design and how it reflects the 90s comic aesthetic, noting the character's iconic status in geek culture.

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https://systematic-geekology-shop.fourthwall.com/

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Check out all of our 'On Loop' series to date:

https://player.captivate.fm/collection/9e240d3d-6e05-46bc-870b-400afea1cb11

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Check out other episodes with TJ:

https://player.captivate.fm/collection/f4c32709-d8ff-4cef-8dfd-5775275c3c5e

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Don't miss any of Jill's episodes:

https://player.captivate.fm/collection/93b2d7c5-1f3a-4fdb-8d87-350f6ca167b9

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Systematic Geekology

Our show focuses around our favorite fandoms that we discuss from a Christian perspective. We do not try to put Jesus into all our favorite stories, but rather we try to ask the questions the IPs are asking, then addressing those questions from our perspective. We are not all ordained, but we are the Priests to the Geeks, in the sense that we try to serve as mediators between the cultures around our favorite fandoms and our faith communities.

If you could go back in time to prevent the war that you're fighting, would you do it? Today we're talking about cable from X Men, the Animated Series specifically. And we're just doing this as a part of our spring series.

It's called On Loop. It's just a bonus we're doing that releases only to the main feed. There's no YouTube.

Every Friday for six weeks, we're doing bonuses like this five times this year, we did one in January. We do one for spring. Now we have one for summer, Halloween, Christmas. And we're just kind of going through our favorite Time Loop stories.

And this ties into our annual theme of the faces behind us, kind of investigating how a character can be the face behind themselves. So we're talking about cable from specifically the Animated series X Men, which is. I don't know.

I feel like that's kind of when most people found out about cable. At least most people my age. That's when we found out about cable. I know. Like me growing up, cable was just kind of always an X Man, because I'm not.

Not very old. He was just always there for me. But I am T.J. blackwell. I'm gonna be one of your hosts today. And I'm here with the one and only Jill.

How are you doing?

Yes, I'm doing well. It's a good day.

It's a good day. It's 80 degrees for us here today, which I'm sure is, like, nothing for.

You, but it's winter here in Arizona. But I think we're sitting about the same. Maybe 85, 86 degrees. It's beautiful. Beautiful spring day here. Yeah.

Yeah. So let's get into it for you. When. When did you, like, you learn about cable? What was. How were you introduced to cable?

So I do remember watching X Men animated, but that isn't one of the storylines that, like, stuck in my mind. So the first Cable I think of is Cable. That was in Deadpool.

Like, Josh Brolin, that was my first, like, introduction, was like, wow, he's like a badass and he's good looking. This is cool character. And then I went back and watched animated series, and then I actually bought a couple of the comic books, X Men 97.

And then whatever the prequel was. I can't remember what it's called.

But, yeah, for me, my first real experience with cable as a character is from Marvel versus Capcom 2.

Okay.

Just because I love fighting games. I've always played fighting games. So I, like, I didn't read a lot of comic books. When I was little, my dad didn't read comic books.

There wasn't a comic shop, like, close. But we played fighting games. So Cable was awesome. He was super Strong in Marvel vs. Capcom and kind of. Kind of got me hooked.

And now Cable is just kind of awesome.

I feel like that's not really a really cool character.

It's not really an opinion, you know, Cable just is awesome. I'm pretty sure he's in the dictionary under the definition. He rocks, dude.

Cable, Rob Leafield, as not great of a comic artist as he might be, came up with the design and he was the inspiration from him was his favorite movie is the Six Million Dollar Man.

Okay.

And he just wanted someone really cool, so he based him off of Arnold Schwarzenegger from, like, Predator and Terminator. Yeah.

Yep.

Nailed it. That's exactly what Cable is, and he's awesome. So if we were. I don't know, your place, my place on the couch.

We just watch animated series X Men, and we just finished, like, a nice Cable episode. What do you.

What.

What's the first thing that comes to mind when.

Okay, so I'm going to think about. Because he's kind of in, like, two different storylines, but just the time fugitives. Is that what it is?

Yeah, Time fugitives, where it's almost like Cable versus Bishop and they're trying to stop this mutant virus from happening. Well, Bishop is trying to. Yeah, the techno virus. Trying to stop it from happening to save his future timeline. And then Cable gets in.

Is like, no, the virus has to happen. So if we just had watched that, I would be thinking there, and I would say to you, there's a lot of nuance here.

So are we talking about Cable versus Bishop, or is it Cable versus Apocalypse? And either way, I want Cable to win because as we've already established, he's awesome and he's a badass.

And I would be thinking he's really going to come into play down the road. And that computer that gets in his arm is like, the coolest thing ever.

Yeah. Yeah. He's so cool. I never knew what Cable's powers were growing up. And I think I probably say most people don't because, like, the.

The cyborg parts, that's not part of it. That has nothing to do with his mutation. It's telepathic. Like, I had no idea for so long.

And, like, the beams and stuff, like, that's not like, super cool energy blast. Like, it is technically, but it's coming from his mind that threw me off hard when I found out for the first time. But the.

The cybernetic parts is just from the techno virus.

Just super cool.

Just super cool. He's the coolest character maybe of all time. Definitely coolest character in the X Men most of the time world.

I would say, you know, a Nightcrawler is up there for me a lot.

I was just gonna ask, who competes with. Okay.

Nightcrawler, you know, a character with, like, a good Catholic guilt arc. That rocks. That rocks for me.

Okay.

But that's kind of what I'm at. You talked about it a little bit. You talked about him and Bishop and him and Apocalypse. So in animated series, Cable is from the year 39.99 or 39.

Yeah, 39.99. And he's fighting Apocalypse, who is trying to, like, kill all mutants or the entire world.

I don't know.

His name's Apocalypse for a reason.

Right. And he says he's inevitable. Yes.

Yeah. And he is kind of. Cable sure doesn't get the job done. At least not. Not then.

Yeah.

Or like in. In. In the show, which is before I was born. And that's so cute. We get, like, a really cool, you know, juxtaposition of Cable's life.

What he sees as his life is 39.99 trying to save the world and him interacting with the X Men, like his father, Cyclops, by the way, if you don't know who Cable is, it's Cyclops's son. Super cool Cyclops, and Madeline Pryor's son, Cable Nathan Summers. That's who we're talking about. And it's just awesome.

Every time he shows up, it doesn't matter what it's for. If he's coming to try and kill Bishop, if he's coming to fight Bastion, you know, but. Yeah. What? Like, to you. What. How do I want to say this?

What makes Cable important?

Well, I think it's this for, like, I'm just going to pick one of the storylines. So Cable versus Bishop.

It's this idea of, like, Cable just wants to destroy the timeline that will lead to, like, you know, the destruction of his future, where Bishop's goal is to, like, preserve the timeline. Right. Would you say that's pretty accurate?

Yeah, that's right.

So I think the importance of him is, like, that we are, like, asking that question, like, is your life and your people more important than, like, all life and all people? And how do you proceed? And then you can, like, take that into other situations.

I just think it opens up some, like, really big philosophical questions, and that's how I see Cable's role in the X Men, is to have us ask those bigger questions.

Yeah. Yeah. His meta narrative, definitely.

Yeah.

Like, he's so good at it every time. And they've kind of rehashed that a lot with Cable. Like, that is kind of his role in Deadpool. It's like he's.

Yep, exactly.

And it does. It does end. It has got a pretty good ending. Cable, like, stays in the present timeline.

Yeah. It doesn't go back, you know, to,.

Like, personally make sure that his family has a better life. And that also lets Deadpool have his. His time device, whatever. Whatever they call it, which is hilarious. Super funny. It's.

It's hard to talk about Cable and not just think, oh, he's so cool. Oh, he's so cool. Oh, he's so cool.

Well, even his guns are cool. Like, he has the coolest weapons. I. I don't know. He is cool. And then he is. And he has, like, compassion, too.

Like, he's not just like, oh, I'm like a robocop. You know, like, there's a moment where, like, he could kill Bishop, but he doesn't. And even the computer is like, why were.

Basically, why were you holding your punches? You could have eliminated the threat right then and there and gone back.

And he was like, well, he's actually here trying to do the same thing I'm trying to do. This could be a little more nuanced than it looks like. And the computer's, like, not logical.

Yeah. And he.

He's so good at portraying the human viewpoint, which, you know, some of the X Men are pretty inhuman, but most of them are just, you know, girls and guys. And it's Cable, this cyborg, who is the one who's like, hey, I'm just saying they're people we shouldn't.

You know, they have their own lives going on. It's just do that for fun. Yeah, but he does. He can set that aside when it's time to, you know, team up with Deadpool and just.

Just slaughter some people. He can do it. And that's great. We love. We love. You know, I don't know. We love some slaughter. We love some slaughter. Just put it that way.

We love some slaughter. And I think cable plays such a. It plays everything so straight.

Yeah.

That it works really well. Like, if he's, you know, partnered up with Wolverine, it's hilarious. He's partnered up with Deadpool. It's hilarious. Sparking with Cyclops.

It's kind of. Kind of weird. It's kind of weird. You know, just because he doesn't know.

Right.

I don't think. I don't think so. He definitely knows sometimes. Like, there's got to be a couple of books where he knows, you know?

Yeah.

But to my knowledge, I haven't read.

Them, but I'm sure there are.

Yeah. I'm sure they exist.

And then we also get, like, dad, Right. The whole reason he's trying to save this timeline is because of his son Tyler. Like, he wants his. Him to be alive and for his life to be good.

Yeah.

Which I don't know, is just emotionally poignant because I know, at least in the Animated Series, he's spending time with his dad, and Cyclops has no idea. He just doesn't know.

Yeah. It's kind of cool.

It's kind of cool. His little boy Nathan, is this absolute bad, powerhouse monster. Like, he's. I don't know. I would tell him personally if I was capable. Okay.

I know I'm your son, right? Boom. Robot arm. I'm your son. But I live in 3,999, you know? You know, almost 3,000 years from now.

Yeah. Okay.

I have a question. No big deal. Don't worry about it.

That was it. That was my question. So he gets, like, pulled through the time portal. Right. And that's why he's living in this, like, way, way, way distant future.

Okay.

Yep, yep.

And I know initially, like, when they wrote Cable the first time for his first book in, like, the 80s, like the late 80s, he wasn't supposed to be Nathan Summers. That just kind of happened. Like, they wrote Cable. Super cool, badass dude. And then later they were like, that should be Nathan's son.

We should make that Cyclops son. That would be fun.

Okay, cool. There's a tie in. Okay.

Yeah. And then later, they were like, oh, Madelyn Pryor, that's actually a clone of Jean Grey.

Yeah.

Which. Which explains the telekinetic power. So it's all above board. It all checks out. Classic 90s comic book shenanigans.

Is there anything, though, about Cable in the Animated Series that you don't like?

Certainly not his costume. Not his design. Love, love, love. I'm trying to think. I don't know. What about you? Maybe you can spark something.

If I had to say anything. I just don't like blue and yellow as a combination. Like, it's fine, you know, it's X Men. They're gonna wear blue and yellow.

I just think other color combinations are better. Could be a lot worse. Blue and yellow looks good. I just. They're better ones to me.

I live in South Carolina, so I have to see orange and purple together all the time.

Oh, yeah.

That sucks. So it's not that bad.

It doesn't even seem on the color wheel like that should go together.

Yeah, it doesn't. And they all just pretend it does a lot. Most days it's pretty annoying.

And it gets worse the closer you live to Clemson, in case you were wondering if you're listening to this and you know some Clemson fans, it's worse where I am, I promise. Clemson's like 40 minutes away. They're everywhere. And they pay with $2 bills on game days. And it's weird. Yeah. Weird tradition.

Oh, for luck.

Yeah.

Okay. Okay, cool.

Which, I mean, it's cool tradition. You know, most of them can't do it anymore because $2 bills aren't nearly as common as they used to be.

We keep them. I don't know if it's like an Italian thing, but my father in law always gets $200 bills.

I think he does it like around New Year's and he gives them to us to give our employees all of our, like however many kids they have, they get that many two dollar bills and then our kids always get them.

Yeah.

It's funny.

Yeah. I. I had a collection. No one gives me twos anymore. I used to have a collection.

I hid him in a stuffed animal, you know, like a little rolled up stack of tubes.

As. As one does.

Yeah, as one does. Yeah, he had a little tear in the. In his ankle. Just like slip them right in there. Pretty sure I lost it and the money. So lesson learned.

But Cable's inspiration of himself. Cable always grows. He never, he never leaves with the same perspective he came in with unless he was just correct. Which happens sometimes. It happens.

But he being that, you know, vehicle for perspective that he is, often requires him to change and understand what is different himself. So I think he does it really well. I think he's perfect for it.

And it's a really convenient way to have a character that you only want to appear sporadically. Where's Cable at? Oh, he's in the future, he's fighting Apocalypse. Duh.

Yeah. And then he just, like, pops in, joins the team, adds some cool nuance, like you said.

Grows, like he has an arc in every time he's there, and then is like, peace out.

Yeah.

Yeah. It's actually really, like, brilliant design.

Yeah, it's. It's just. It's kind of funny. It's like, oh, I gotta go back and fight Apocalypse. Sorry, guys.

It's strange.

It's definitely strange, TJ. I just can't, like, think about it too much or my head will explode. I have a really hard time with time travel stuff.

Yeah, me too. I haven't done it yet, which might be part of the hang up, but one day. Yeah, he never.

He never, like, talks about, like, he'll come, do whatever, fight Bishop, fight Bastion, and he'll leave and he'll come back, but he never, like, gives you an update, you know?

No, we actually don't know what his world is like.

Yeah, it's like, hey, here's what changed after last time. So either nothing changed or his timeline or. Yeah, well, if nothing changed, his timeline is immutable and can't really stop it.

So why does he keep going back? You know?

Well, to. Yeah, well, go back. Like, go back to, like, 97 and 25.

No, why does he go back to the future?

Oh, because his kid's there.

Yeah, but, like, bring him.

True. Maybe there's some rule that he can't. I don't.

I'm sure that won't work. Yeah, he's a smart guy. I'm sure that wouldn't work. But, you know, just in case Tyler would enjoy the past. Meet Grandpa.

Exactly. Hang with the X Men.

Yeah. Like, the X Men are dead, by the way, in 39.99. I'm pretty sure they're all dead. Cable's not even an X Man.

He's Cable, you know, Then he has his own team. He has X Force. Which, like, why was really funny that Deadpool made the X Force in the movie. That was hilarious to me. But they do also. Sorry.

Cable and Deadpool are an awesome duo. I love it when they do that. They do that a lot in the Marvel ultimate alliance game. They always have a little synergistic combo. There.

It's a fun detail. Games are awesome. Not enough gamers. Systematic ecology.

Oh, I wish I could help you out.

Yeah, it's okay. I'll suffer. Christian does, though. We just don't talk about them, you know, for some reason.

Anyway, if you were trying to get someone to watch the Animated Series, what would you say?

How would you get them to, oh, I did this. So I can tell you my real life experience. My husband came in and was like, what are you watching?

Sort of in a judgmental way, but mostly in a curious way. And I was like, the animation in this show reminds me of he man.

And that was a cartoon I watched when I was like a little, little kid Saturday mornings. And that was all it took. Then he was like, I'm intrigued. And he sat down and watched the Good and evil. I think it's.

I don't remember what that storyline is called, but something good and evil. And there's like, four parts, and that's cable's big part in season three of X Men Animated.

And it was just like, the cool animation and the nostalgia of it. I think people should watch.

Yeah, it's definitely where.

Even if you haven't seen it, listen, there's a good chance, if you're listening to this, that you've seen X Men 97 and not the actual original series. I get it. It looks awesome and it's really fun. But it is fun.

You got to check out the original because it is just like, the pinnacle of Saturday morning cartoon.

Yes, it really is. Absolutely.

Exactly. Like, in your mind's eye, you think Saturday morning cartoon. You walk into the living room, there's Cyclops in this art style. It's perfect.

It's up there for me with, like, GI Joe and, like, how much it belongs on your TV on Saturdays.

Yeah. On a Saturday morning. Absolutely. I do want to say about animated series, and this is also true in the comic books. Like, Storm is so cool.

And not only does she use her powers in, like, the best way, but she always says something super wise as she's releasing, you know, may the thunder of justice rain down on you. Like, she's just very cool. And I feel like they lose that in the live action.

I mean, I love me some Halle Berry, but she's just not developed in the same way she is in the Animated series. And I had forgotten that by rewatching, X Men 97 was like, oh, yeah, Storm's my favorite. I forgot.

Yeah, she's so cool. Even in. Even in Civil War, which I think personally there's a few character assassinations in Civil War, but Storm's not one of them.

She gets married to Black Panther and their wedding rocks. And like, Nelson Mandela is there, Dizzy Gillespie's there. It's awesome. They just take a little break from the holes shebang.

And there's like, here's Storm and Black Panther Spider. There you go. There's a little fun for you. And it is probably my favorite part of Civil War. It's up there.

Yeah. It's so cool.

It's so cool. So just, just, just to recap, there's no reason not to like X Men, the Animated Series.

We've determined that for a fact, you know, point blank, period. No further discussion needed there. So everyone needs to watch it. That's. That's what you take away from, from this. Also, cable at top.

At least top 10 coolest characters ever.

Top three.

You know, like, I'm trying to be top 3x men definitely. Easily top 3x men, definitely. But I mean, like, characters all time top 10, I'll give them that.

Okay. Okay.

Off the top of my head, I can't think of nine characters that I are just instantly like, cooler than cable. But if I had to, I maybe could. That's. That's kind of what I'm thinking.

Okay.

Not really relevant. Just I feel like that's important to get out there into the world. But we've already talked about it a little bit.

The way that cable turns your perception on yourself, makes you question these things about yourself, really is his greatest strength. As cool as he is, as much as he's the cool guy, he's also a great tool for introspection.

And that's one of the things that make us love cable and make himself influenceable by himself. And also, literally, that's what he's trying to do. Like, that's his actual mission, is to do exactly that.

So if you were going to be stuck in a time loop with any one of your friends or family members, we're going to start wrapping it up with this. Who would you want it to be and what movie or show would you be watching on repeat this scenario.

Oh, my gosh. I feel like this answer is gonna change. Like, it just depends on the week that you ask me right now. I like to rank my kids, like 1, 2, and 3.

And then I have some bonus kids. Sometimes I throw those in there too. But right now, my son is my favorite kid. He's just been doing things right. He's like kissing my butt. I like him.

Yeah.

So I'm Gonna. Yeah, he's a good kid. He's 19. So I'm gonna pick my son Jack, and we can be in a time loop and we're gonna have to watch a comedy.

And this might make me like, the worst mom ever, but the last show that we watched that we just, like, loved was or movie was the Interview.

Someone at work told me they watched the interview yesterday.

It's so inappropriate. I feel like it's making a round again because we keep having these discussions about, like, movies that couldn't be made today.

But I'm watching the interview with my son Jack, and we are cracking up and we are just laughing at the satire of world politics.

Yeah.

Over and over.

There's. There's a lot to be said, not only about the interview. I don't think the interview could have been made the year it was made. They just did it.

Remember, it created, like, a huge diplomatic rift.

Yeah, it was a big deal. But there's a lot of answers for this. Like, a lot. My first thought was, like, me and Josh and we're watching Groundhog Day until.

We figured you're in a time loop about a time loop. Yeah, that's good, Joshua.

I just think that'd be funny. Yeah. I've known Josh for like 19 years.

Okay.

Yeah, I've known Josh as long as you've known your son.

Okay. Yep.

Isn't that crazy?

It is.

My camp counselor, I like to tell people he groomed me into podcasting. Yeah. Sorry, Josh, but I think my favorite answer that I've been able to think of is me and my dad and we're watching Rawhide.

Oh, good. Yeah.

You know how many episodes there are of Rawhide? We might not even finish it before we figure out how to get out of the time loop.

Uh huh. You know, so many seasons made back when there used to be just like 28 episodes a season or something. Crazy, right?

Yeah. Yeah. Rawhide is stupid long. But let us know, listeners, what your answer would be. Who are you time looping with? Figure it out. Get back to us.

You can't say back to the future. That's cheating. You probably can't say Groundhog Day.

That's cheating. I think. Yeah.

You know, it's too easy. But rate and review the show wherever you listen. Super helpful for us. Gets us out there, gets us more popular.

Check out the show notes for a playlist of this whole series, the spring series, you know, on loop. Super fun. And if you have to go, you know, 3,000 years into the past, just be careful. Be careful. Maybe spread the news.

Maybe carve Systematic Geekology into a rock somewhere would be helpful for us. And if you do that, let us know so we could. We can compensate you for that. That seems fair. You do have to prove it.

Hopefully get it in a museum somewhere. But thank you for listening. We'll miss you.

We love you.

You and see you next time.

See you next time.