Well, here we are. I can now say that I've watched the entirety of one of the most popular Spider-Man cartoons, and honestly, the general opinion on the show is pretty accurate - there are definitely some bad episodes and ideas here, and more than a few that I'm indifferent to, but of the series I've seen so far (for this blog), I'd easily say that this is the most consistently enjoyable. Part of that is no doubt thanks to the show doing a fairly faithful and consistent job of adapting the comics, but even when it tries its own thing it's often fairly successful - I'll happily call this show's take on Hydro-Man the best out of any continuities, including the comics.
It's not like it's just limited to Spider-Man, either - I was surprised by how much both of the 1980s series ended up using the Marvel Universe cast, but they often felt like they'd been arbitrarily thrown into the episodes they were in (looking at you, Medusa) for the sake of it. Here, whenever we've got a guest star - Daredevil, Captain America, Doctor Strange, and more beyond just them - they're inserted into the episode naturally and they're written in a way that's true to their characters. If this was your first exposure to the Marvel Universe, then I can't say it's a bad one to start with.
I was also quite pleased by the way the show handled continuity, compared to the ambitious but ultimately disappointing attempt of the 1981 series, and the pretty stock-standard take of the other series (ie. assume there's no continuity unless it's being brought up within the episode itself). Unfortunately the writers bit off a bit more than they could chew with the season-long arcs - Neogenic Nightmare was stretched out a bit too long, and Sins of the Father and Partners both tried for thematic arcs which didn't really land - but smaller bits of continuity, like the rise and fall of Alistair Smythe, or Peter's relationship with Mary Jane, really worked well and felt like they paid off if you stuck with them.
So, where were the parts that the show failed, then? I was expecting the somewhat more toyetic nature of it to be something of a failure, but honestly, half the time you don't notice how it's affected the show - if I didn't know that Hobgoblin was added in before the Green Goblin to sell toys, I'd have just assumed that the writers were subverting expectations. When the show fails, it's more by its own faults, such as the above-mentioned season-long arcs, or a bizarre writing choice like making Electro the Red Skull's son.
Some final notes and fun headcanons that I'd like to share:
- We never see Shocker with his mask off, and we also never see him in the same place as Ned Leeds. As far as I'm concerned, it's conclusive evidence that they're one and the same.
- In the one episode when an article is shown to be written by Ned Needs, Robbie is the one who supposedly wrote the article, and is being threatened by Tombstone for it. I figure Ned Needs is his alias for when he wants to write an article but keep his name out of the paper for whatever reason, and it was inspired by the Daily Bugle's top reporter.
- Robbie's also mentioned to have, like, four or five wildly different jobs in his past. He also has contacts in Russia, so I'm assuming that he's secretly been a Russian spy all this time. Those past jobs were either lies he's telling now to explain the skills he got as a spy, or they were cover jobs he had to work to get closer to his targets.
- In spite of Spider-Man promising to do so, he never ended up chasing Shocker to the ends of the earth.
Anyway, those are some of my overall thoughts on Spider-Man: The Animated Series. I'm going to finish off my thoughts on this series with a list of the top ten and the worst ten episodes, so that you, the intelligent reader, know what to look forwards to and what to avoid if you decide to check out this series.
Top Ten Best Episodes
- Framed: Daredevil's appearance here would be fantastic enough as-is, but the episode intrigues us by starting in media res, gives us a fair mystery, and has an absolutely fantastic fight between Daredevil and Spider-Man. Absolutely brilliant stuff.
- Enter the Green Goblin: It's hard to recreate what made the original mystery of who the Green Goblin was so interesting, but this episode makes a really solid attempt and provides us with a really good interpretation of the character. It sets up the final episodes of the season fluidly and also gives us a great Peter Parker moment where he briefly considers making Harry look bad, but realises that he can't do that to his friend.
- Goblin War: The Hobgoblin had been around for a while at this point, so solving the mystery of who he was while setting up the Green Goblin as the more dangerous villain in one fell swoop was a great choice to make.
- Battle of the Insidious Six: How do you improve on a classic Spider-Man story? Combine it with a different, just as good Spider-Man story, giving you the strengths of both of them. The introduction of Silvermane here is also done well, with him completely tricking Spider-Man into thinking he's an innocent guy being harassed for no reason.
- The Insidious Six: Neogenic Nightmare ended up limping to the end a bit, but setting it up to look like a simple adaptation of Spidey's first annual before revealing it was something more was a brilliant way to open both the arc and the season.
- The Wedding: The disappointment of some ambiguity surrounding the Green Goblin and an army of robots aside, this is a pretty fun episode. Kingpin, Spider-Man, and Black Cat teaming up to save Peter's wedding? A surprise appearance from Scorpion, and the redemption (kind of) of Harry Osborn? I'm sold.
- Hydro-Man: I've said it before and I'll say it again: this series' take on Hydro-Man, re-imagining him as an abusive ex-boyfriend of Mary Jane's, is absolutely brilliant, and this episode shows how a character with a one-note personality can be made compelling and interesting
- The Return of Hydro-Man, Part 1: I'm not going to defend Black Cat randomly showing up, Mary Jane being trapped on an oil rig for roughly a whole day, or her incredible plot to make red smoke, but the strength of Hydro-Man as a villain manages to outweigh those weaknesses. He's just that good.
- The Spot: Realising the potential the Spot has with his powers is one thing, but making him a reluctant villain who's trying to get out from the Kingpin and work on his own makes him incredibly sympathetic and fun. Bonus points for setting up not just the end of this season, but essentially the entire series, through the Spot's dimension research.
- The Alien Costume, Part 3: While the interpretation of how the symbiote affects Peter, from previous episodes, may be more influential, this episode does a great job of showing why Venom's such a dangerous and cool villain. He's defeated in a well-written way, too, which is always appreciated.
Top Ten Worst Episodes
- The Lizard King: Hot mess, or hottest mess? You'd be forgiven for thinking this was a lost script from the 1967 Spider-Man series, between the stupid race of Lizard people and their stupid gladiatorial arena.
- Secret Wars, Chapter 1: Arrival: Secret Wars is a fun comic, but the way to adapt it is not to give the Beyonder even more nonsensical motivations than in the comics and then spend half the episode with the heroes fighting giant worms.
- The Return of the Spider Slayers: I had completely forgotten that this episode existed, then I saw the name and immediately thought "The toy advertisement episode!" Even if it weren't an incredibly boring episode, it aired right after another Spider-Slayer episode, one which was much better, so it was already shooting itself in the foot.
- Enter the Punisher: How do you screw up a good, simple plot like "The Punisher mistakenly goes after Spider-Man"? You give The Punisher a bunch of gimmicky weapons and waste our time with some incredibly boring fights.
- The Immortal Vampire: I want to like Blade, I really do, but he's so angry all the time and hooking up with Terri Lee so randomly that I just can't get into this version of him.
- Blade, the Vampire Hunter: After the previous episode cured Peter of being Man-Spider, this was the point where Neogenic Nightmare really felt like it had worn out its welcome, especially with the Morbius plot which had been built up for a while still not resolved by now. Blade isn't any more likable in his introductory episode, either.
- Return of Kraven: While I did like this show's interpretation of Kraven as an actually decent guy, this episode threw a lot of it out the window by having him act like a prick for no reason other than to draw out the conflict. There's ways to make bad communication between characters work, and this episode doesn't do it.
- Rocket Racer: I defended this episode when I first saw it, and while I don't think it's as bad as any of the above episodes, I can't deny that it does need some improvement. If Rocket Racer had had some more appearances, even, it would make this feel like an introduction, but it ultimately ends up being fairly pointless.
- Six Forgotten Warriors, Part Five: The Price of Heroism: Electro's hard to get right, I'll give you that, but randomly making him the Red Skull's son who is apparently over fifty years old and spends most of the episode fighting SHIELD isn't really a good direction to take the character. Oh, and that price of heroism mentioned in the title? Don't even worry about Cap; he'll be saved once the Beyonder shows up.
- The Vampire Queen: Oh, you thought you could get away with not appearing on this list again, Blade-focused episode? Admittedly, Blade's more tolerable in this episode, and it gets Black Cat out of the picture right when she was being built up as a major player, but I still don't really care that much about what happens here.
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