Spider-man: The Animated Series (1994 - 1998)

I was a mild fan of [I]Spider-man: The Animated Series[/I] cartoon when it was on in the '90's - I saw a handful of episodes & felt it was decent. I would even go so far as to say it's the best animated version of Spider-man out there. I wish I had caught more episodes at the time, but I wasn't watching much TV back during those years. Unfortunately, it's very underrated these days & I don't see that it's discussed too much by comic book fans.

I have recently become interested in seeing the entire series on home video, and was looking to see if this was available. Unfortunately, though some episodes were on VHS tape years ago & though the all 5 seasons of the series have been released to DVD in parts of Europe (Region 2 DVD's), the whole series is not available on DVD/Blu-ray in the U.S. - other than select DVD's with some of the storylines.

Here's a link with more info.:

[url]http://marvelanimated.wikia.com/wiki/Spider-Man_%28TV_Series%29[/url]

It would be nice to see a boxed Region 1 Blu-ray set of all five seasons. Now that SM is especially "hot" re: the new film, I would hope the series would eventually be released on Region 1 home video - in it's entirety.

[QUOTE=ROM Spaceknight;3011213]It would be nice to see a boxed Region 1 Blu-ray set of all five seasons. Now that SM is especially "hot" re: the new film, I would hope the series would eventually be released on Region 1 home video - in it's entirety.[/QUOTE]

They did release new boxed sets of the previous movies (the Raimi trilogy in one pack, the Webb duology in one pack, and a set with all five), but nothing else, so I wouldn't be surprised if that's the full extent we get. None of the other Spider-Man cartoons got new releases either.

I have golden memories of this show. It aired largely on BBC ONE's [I]Live and Kicking[/I] programme along with [I]Rugrats[/I].

The now defunct Fox Kids channel we had even edited every chapter of the ''Six Forgotten Warriors'' storyline from the final season and aired them as a movie.

I really enjoy it...it did a lot of interesting things, perhaps most uniquely making Peter a college guy and thus capable of doing more than just the average teen fluff. Semper had some weird creative choices for the show (bitchy Aunt Anna, Felicia/Morbius, Electro and Chamelion are the Red Skull's kids), but the show was also ahead of it's time, with the prototype Spider-Verse story, and it's the only cartoon which depicts the wedding of Peter and MJ (though what happens after is daft), it also gives Jameson a more believable motivation for hating masked vigilantes than mere jealousy.

The show's version of "The Kid Who Collects Spider-Man" is...well...certainly ''different'', more action packed, and two parts long. Still stays faithful to the ending though.

This show remains one of the most hailed takes on the character to date, and [I]Peter Parker[/I] is an asshole in the first two seasons.

[QUOTE=Speed Force League Unlimited;3011758]This show remains one of the most hailed takes on the character to date, and [I]Peter Parker[/I] is an asshole in the first two seasons.[/QUOTE]

Without the symbiote?

[QUOTE=Speed Force League Unlimited;3011758]This show remains one of the most hailed takes on the character to date...[/QUOTE]

Agreed. The show rocked, and reminds me the most of the '70's/'80's Classic SM comics (ASM, PPTSSM, WOSM, etc.) more than any other cartoon out there.

Here's the opening intro.:

[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QfFFVAfOlg[/url]

[QUOTE=Miles To Go;3011343]I have golden memories of this show. It aired largely on BBC ONE's [I]Live and Kicking[/I] programme along with [I]Rugrats[/I].
[/QUOTE]Sure about that? I remember it was on GMTV's Up On The Roof. According to Wikipedia, it was X-Men, Fantastic Four, and Iron Man that were on Live & Kicking.

[QUOTE=Huntsman Spider;3012240]Without the symbiote?[/QUOTE]He only had that on for two episodes and I said two seasons, so yes.

Dude insulted a guy he saved, introduction to Eddie Brock is an insult to him by Peter Parker who also insulted both Robbie and Jonah in that one jab with a cocky attitude, and he broke into the house of Connors after thinking his professor was kidnapped. That's just the first episode.

[I]Sting of the Scorpion[/I] is the second episode, and in that one he hangs a thief a few storeys up and deserts him (and in Mysterio's episode he established that his webs dissolve in an hour), makes one of his pals shoot two missiles from his bazooka before webbing them, made fun of his boss, broke into his office, threatened to kill one of his employees, chose to kick and insult Scorpion when he had the time to press the nuclear reactor deactivation button.

In [I]the Spider-Slayer[/I] he fights the Black Widow robot inside the penthouse of Jonah Jameson, endangering more people by making it rick another pillar causing more damage by being cocky, and instead of going after the robot that kidnapped the guy dressed as him he takes his time to insult JJ in his house.

[I]Return of the Spider-Slayer[/I] has him insulting every single person he talks to other than his aunt May.

He's pretty polite in [I]The Menace of Mysterio[/I] and [I]Doc Ock: Armed and Dangerous[/I], a bit cocky and reckless in his second fight with Ock.

Takes Mariah Crawford to Robbie's place to keep her away from Kraven, he breaks into his friend's house, and inadvertently (I think he didn't really know his full skills, though the doctor informed him how dangerous he is) endangers him.

In [I]Day of the Chameleon[/I] he swung a woman to a nearby roof to save her from a helicopter, he has webbing strong enough to hold the chopper, but he opts to do what breaks the bones of a pedestrian and causes her internal bleeding, also possibly deserts her stranded on a roof. He left Stan Lee stranded on a roof in the final episode.


And that.. is his asshole counter in season 1.

[QUOTE=Digifiend;3012868]Sure about that? I remember it was on GMTV's Up On The Roof. According to Wikipedia, it was X-Men, Fantastic Four, and Iron Man that were on Live & Kicking.[/QUOTE]

Surprise surprise, Wikipedia is inaccurate. [I]X-Men [/I]and [I]Spider-Man[/I] aired on [I]Live and Kicking[/I] initially ([I]X-Men[/I] would eventually move over to [I]Fully Booked[/I]), but [I]FF [/I]and [I]Iron Man[/I] (aka the [I]Marvel Action Hour[/I]) aired on the Summer replacement block, which was just your standard CBBC continuity with Kirsten and Otis ([I]Incredible Hulk [/I]and [I]Ninja Turtles: Next Mutation[/I] aired on this block in later years)

If you go to Youtube and look up some [I]Live & Kicking[/I] tv spots from the Jaime and Zoe era, you can see Spider-Man included in the ''coming up this morning'' line ups

I did think it odd that Wikipedia also listed the third Marvel Action Hour show, the 80s Incredible Hulk, which would make sense in a standalone airing, since it makes it up to an hour on a channel without commercial breaks, but not when it's split up anyway as it would be on those Saturday morning shows and thus would have the Marvel Action Hour titles and Stan Lee links removed.

MAH was indeed on L&K though, in January 1996. Genome comes in handy, a pity it only has the BBC listings.
[url]http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/bbcone/london/1996-01-06[/url]

[QUOTE=Digifiend;3013995]Genome comes in handy[/QUOTE]

Indeed it does, in fact, the very next week on from the link you gave me saw Spider-Man aired on L&K.

[url]http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/bbcone/london/1996-01-13[/url]

I loved this series. It's too sad it ended with many unsolved cliffhangers. I wanted Spider and Madame Web bringing back MJ to home, to see what Miles Warren would have done with Spider-Man's DNA (possibly the animated version of classic Kaine) and several other things.

[QUOTE=Speed Force League Unlimited;3013360]He only had that on for two episodes and I said two seasons, so yes.

Dude insulted a guy he saved, introduction to Eddie Brock is an insult to him by Peter Parker who also insulted both Robbie and Jonah in that one jab with a cocky attitude, and he broke into the house of Connors after thinking his professor was kidnapped. That's just the first episode.

[I]Sting of the Scorpion[/I] is the second episode, and in that one he hangs a thief a few storeys up and deserts him (and in Mysterio's episode he established that his webs dissolve in an hour), makes one of his pals shoot two missiles from his bazooka before webbing them, made fun of his boss, broke into his office, threatened to kill one of his employees, chose to kick and insult Scorpion when he had the time to press the nuclear reactor deactivation button.

In [I]the Spider-Slayer[/I] he fights the Black Widow robot inside the penthouse of Jonah Jameson, endangering more people by making it rick another pillar causing more damage by being cocky, and instead of going after the robot that kidnapped the guy dressed as him he takes his time to insult JJ in his house.

[I]Return of the Spider-Slayer[/I] has him insulting every single person he talks to other than his aunt May.

He's pretty polite in [I]The Menace of Mysterio[/I] and [I]Doc Ock: Armed and Dangerous[/I], a bit cocky and reckless in his second fight with Ock.

Takes Mariah Crawford to Robbie's place to keep her away from Kraven, he breaks into his friend's house, and inadvertently (I think he didn't really know his full skills, though the doctor informed him how dangerous he is) endangers him.

In [I]Day of the Chameleon[/I] he swung a woman to a nearby roof to save her from a helicopter, he has webbing strong enough to hold the chopper, but he opts to do what breaks the bones of a pedestrian and causes her internal bleeding, also possibly deserts her stranded on a roof. He left Stan Lee stranded on a roof in the final episode.


And that.. is his asshole counter in season 1.[/QUOTE]

Wow, yeah, looking back on it . . .

The first season was awesome, but I really think that the show hit it stride in the third. I do think that there was a problem with certain villains getting more screen time than they deserve; we did not need that many Morbius episodes.

One neat thing about the show was how the chameleon didn't talk when he was in his true form. He only talked when he was disguised as someone else. It made him seem even creepyer than in the comics.