The Spider-man animated series that
debuted from November 19, 1994 to January 31,
1998 was one of the highlights of my childhood. Sure, the animation was
standard 90’s animation that Marvel used for all its shows, in the style of
G.I. Joe, but the show felt smart. It created its own continuity and, for many
young fans, myself included, was a gateway into reading Marvel Comics.
While not as timeless or iconic as Batman:
The Animated Series, this show offered a modern, fresh window into the
Spider-man mythos. It was serious and compelling enough for older audiences but
still entertaining for little kids. It is obvious that the producers cared
enough to make the show dramatic and not just a formulaic or generic adventure
cartoon. The use of CGI for the backgrounds of New York City showed that they
were trying something different. I like the CGI segments, no matter how dated
they may look today. And, even though the series played fast and loose with the
comic book continuity, I appreciate the attempt to adapt some classic
storylines. The spirit of the Spider-man comics was captured (particularly the
comics of the 70’s and 80’s) with a 90’s flair.
The voice cast was stellar.
Professional actors and veteran voice actors were used. To this day, when I
read Spider-man comics, I am never able to separate Peter Parker’s voice from
Christopher Daniel Barnes. For my money, even more than any of the live-action
portrayals, Barnes delivered the most dramatic and best voice for our friendly
neighborhood wall-crawler. Other classic portrayals included Roscoe Lee Brown
as Wilson Fisk/Kingpin. That’s the voice I hear when I read his appearances in
Spider-man or Daredevil. Ed Asner is also great as J. Jonah Jameson. Efram Zimbalist
Jr. (the voice of Alfred on Batman) is the definitive voice for Doc Ock
as well.
The music is also memorable. The classic main
theme, a hard rocking composition performed by Joe Perry of the band, Aerosmith
gets stuck in my head for days when I hear it. Shuki Levy, Kussa Mahchi and Udi Harpaz were the composers of the
orchestral background score. The score is both fast paced, operatic and fun.
The show
sometimes featured guest appearances by some of Marvel’s other well known
superheroes.The most famous was the two-part crossover with the X-men show. The
other great guest spots are the two-part Daredevil episode (my favorite
episodes of the series), the episodes featuring The Punisher, the Doctor
Strange episode and the ensemble shows toward the end of the series’ run that
feature everybody from The Fantastic Four to Captain America.
The main problem with the show comes from a
perceived censorship by fans, whether true or not. There has been conjecture by many that the series
was heavily censored, even for a children’s television show. The series head
writer/producer, John Semper Jr., denies this. Some tampering, whether by
network heads or the Standards and Practices (S&P), has to be true,
considering the use of laser guns, in most scenes, in place of realistic
weapons, lack of realistic violence (Spider-man rarely throws a punch in
the show) and replacement words such as “destroy,” “end” or “obliterate”
for more threatening words like “death,” “murder,” or “kill.” Whether heavily
censored or not, the tone of this series is so melodramatic that any censorship doesn't really take you out of the stories they are trying to tell. Also, the censorship sometimes works to the show's advantage. The laser guns in place of real firearms gives the show a distinct look. And because they hardly show Spider-man punching, his use of other maneuvers for attack, like landing on villains from above, holding them from behind, or the various aerial kicks he uses, seem creative instead of restrictive. Not being able to directly reference death also gives the show a kind of gravitas because when death or murder is discussed, they dance around it as if it is a serious issue.
Of all the animated Marvel properties of the 1990s,
Spider-man was the best (though X-men is a close 2nd place). Some
fans may argue that the Spectacular Spider-man show of the early 2000’s is a
better show. While I do also love that show, and find it to be a better show at times, it's this series that I watch more often. I think this series looks better and, at least to me, seems much more like classic Spider-man. Maybe this show
shouldn’t have been any good, considering it was made for, or heavily marketed
with, a line of toys. And sure, it’s a little dated, watching it 25 years
later, but the series is just so fun and I lose myself in it every time I see
it. The real shame is that, as of this writing, it still hasn’t been released
in its entirety on any home media in the U.S. All in all, I love this series.
Spiderman: The Animated Series will forever be my favorite adaptation of the
webslinger outside of Sam Raimi’s Spider-man 2.
No comments:
Post a Comment