I recently read this classic two-part story in X-Men 141 and 142, cover-dated for January and February 1981 (but on spinner racks in stores in the fall of 1980). I've never been a huge X-Men fan, though I do prefer the original team (Angel, Beast, Cyclops, Iceman, Marvel Girl) to the more popular team from the 70s and 80s with Wolverine, Nightcrawler and Storm. But while I've heard plenty about this particular story, I've never actually read it before.
The super-quick rundown: The story starts in the far-distant future of...2013. The Sentinels run America and are threatening the rest of the world; they've killed off almost all the superheroes and villains, mutant or otherwise, and mutants are forced to live in camps. A small group of survivors from the X-Men have a desperate plan to send one of their number back in time and stop the events that led to this grim dystopia. That one is Kate "Shadowcat" Rasputin, wife of Colossus. The plan is successful, and Kate's mind is sent back in time to possess her younger self, who just happens to be the newest recruit of the X-Men. She tells the current team what is about to happen, and they rush to DC to stop the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants from killing Senator Kelly, Professor X and Moira McTaggart, which is what triggered the really bad future. While the X-Men are fighting the Brotherhood (led by Mystique and consisting of Pyro, Blob, Destiny and Avalanche), in the future the X-Men are trying to infiltrate and shut down the Sentinels base inside the Baxter Building. It...does not go well for them. Even Wolverine gets killed in this one. But in the present, the X-Men do stop the assassination. At that point, we don't see anything more in the future; all we do see is the aftermath of the assassination attempt, which sees the US Government start up the secret Project Wideawake, which is of course related to dealing with 'dangerous muties'.
John Byrne plotted this story out; Chris Claremont wasn't really into this, so Byrne got co-plotting credit to go along with his outstanding artwork. Byrne never intended for this to be anything more than this two-part story; the question of what happened in the future was left unanswered. Maybe that timeline was erased, or maybe it was an alternate timeline that still continued on; Byrne's preference was that it just vanish.
Of course, Marvel went back to this well time and time again. The mutant hysteria thing was always at the forefront of Marvel Comics throughout the 80s and 90s, even in books that didn't have anything to do with mutants (such as the Avengers or Spider-Man). One of the characters from this story, Rachel Summers, would reappear later on as a time-traveling hero. And, of course, one of the most popular X-Men movies was based on this storyline, although it was set in the early 70s rather than the early 80s, and Wolverine was the star (naturally).
So, what did I think of it as a story? Well, it was a grim tale of power gone amok and what happens when the government sets loose super-powerful AIs with adaptable robots that can kill any opposition. It's bad. Very bad. And the future X-Men did not fare well in their efforts; all but Rachel and Kitty are dead by the end of it before the timeline is changed, and as I said, we don't learn their fates at all once the present X-Men succeed in their efforts to stop the assassinations. I've never been a fan of grim stories, really. But the desperate plan to change the past and the contrast between the child Kitty Pryde and the woman that possesses her is well done. The X-Men are just as I remember them; Wolverine is a savage who isn't afraid to kill; Storm is a new leader, unsure of her position and abilities. Nightcrawler and Colossus are heroic enough, and Angel was always my favorite anyway. Professor X doesn't have much to do in this except learn that the possessed Kitty is telling the truth, and get knocked out by Mystique.
As I said, it's a classic story, and I think it works well as a standalone story. I don't think they needed to revisit it so often, although I won't lie and say it was unexpected. It was a very popular story at the time, and popular comic stories always get a boatload of unnecessary sequels, prequels, and expansions. It's just the way of things. So, as a story I'll rate this a solid 8 out of 10; as the beginning of an endless parade of mutant hate stories, I'll drop it to about a 6.
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