Product Details

• Actors: Josh Keaton, James Arnold Taylor, Joshua LeBar, Ben Diskin, Dee Bradley Baker
• Directors: Dan Fausett, Dave Bullock, Jennifer Coyle, Troy Adomitis, Victor Cook
• Writers: Andrew Robinson, Greg Weisman, Kevin Hopps
• Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 encoding (US and Canada only)
  PLEASE NOTE: Some Region 1 DVDs may contain Regional Coding Enhancement (RCE). Some, but not all, of our international customers have had problems playing these enhanced discs on what are called "region-free" DVD players. For more information on RCE, click here.
• Number of discs: 2
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: July 28, 2009
• Run Time: 300 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (51 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B002A5EBLW
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,267 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "The Spectacular Spider:Man: Season 1" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

This adventure finds our hero tackling more Super Villains both old and new, including Chameleon, Venom and the Sinister Six: Electro, Doctor Octopus, Vulture, Sandman, Rhino and Shocker. While these criminals are almost more than Spidey can handle, his real struggle becomes an internal one. The stress is enough to drive a high school Super Hero over the edge, but making mistakes and learning lessons is all in a days work for the Spectacular Spider-ManTM!

• Product Measures: 0.5 x 5.5 x 7.5

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Spectacular Spider-Man, July 6, 2009

By 

Reconnecting To My Childhood "Time Won't Let ... - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Spectacular Spider:Man: Season 1 (DVD)

This 2-Disc DVD set will collect the complete first season of The Spectacular Spider-Man. Episodes will be in Widescreen Anamorphic Video with Dolby Digital 5.1 Sound. The first season is made up of the following 13 episodes:

Episode 1 - Aired: 3/8/2008
Survival of the Fittest
An elderly scientist named Adrian Toomes plans his revenge against Norman Osborn after accusing him of stealing his flying technology. Donning his own flying suit, Toomes takes to the skies to enact his revenge and it's up to Spider-Man to stop him. Peter is concerned that Aunt May is running out of money. He tries to make money for the two by making a deal with J. Jonas Jameson that if Peter can get pictures of Spider-Man in action, Jameson will pay Peter money.

Episode 2 - Aired: 3/8/2008
Interactions
An electrician named Max Dillon becomes the supervillain known as Electro after a freak accident and it's up to the Spectacular Spider-Man to stop his rampage. Meanwhile, Peter tries to tutor the popular Liz Allen.

Episode 3 - Aired: 3/15/2008
Natural Selection
Peter Parker and Spider-Man both must learn to own their choices when decisions made by Dr. Curt Connors transforms Pete's mentor into The Lizard.

Episode 4 - Aired: 3/22/2008
Market Forces
Peter Parker has to choose between helping Aunt May pay the bills or buying a camera to further his career. Meanwhile, Montana (the Big Man's Enforcer) becomes the stunning Shocker to fulfill his responsibility: eliminating the Spectacular Spider-Man.

Episode 5 - Aired: 3/29/2008
Competition
Peter Parker and Harry Osborn try out for the football team and become a little obsessed with going for the glory. Flint Marko, newly transformed into the Sandman, is out for glory too- at the expense of our Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man!

Episode 6 - Aired: 4/12/2008
The Invisible Hand
Flint Marko's former partner, Alex O'Hirn, becomes the Rhino.

Episode 7 - Aired: 4/26/2008
Catalysts
Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson go to the Midtown High Fall Formal. Meanwhile, the Green Goblin tries to take down L. Thompson Lincoln.

Episode 8 - Aired: 5/3/2008
Reaction
Tired of constantly being pushed around by others, the timid Otto Octavius has his robotic arms permanently attached to his back and becomes the deadly Doctor Octopus.

Episode 9 - Aired: 5/10/2008
The Uncertainty Principle
Spider-Man is pitted against the Green Goblin and Tombstone, while Colonel John Jameson attempts to land a damaged space shuttle.

Episode 10 - Aired: 5/17/2008
Persona
The Chameleon is out to blacken Spider-Man's name. The master of disguise loots the city while borrowing Spidey's look, forcing Peter Parker to get help from Black Cat.

Episode 11 - Aired: 5/31/2008
Group Therapy
Six of Spidey's toughest enemies band together to get revenge, as the Sinister Six!

Episode 12 - Aired: 6/7/2008
Intervention
Spider-Man realizes the alien suit is ruining his life and tries to get rid of it. Unfortunately, it has grown too attached to Peter, and doesn't plan on leaving him.

Episode 13 - Aired: 6/14/2008
Nature vs. Nurture
With Aunt May out of the hospital, Thanksgiving coming and the alien suit gone, Peter's life is finally getting better. However, the Symbiote has survived and found a host within the vengeful Eddie Brock. Now Spider-Man must face this monster, named Venom, a creature that knows everything about him and will stop at nothing to get revenge.

Special Features said to be included in this set are so far two featurette's,
Spider-man: Reanimated
Stylizing Spidey

This is a very interesting and well done animated series take on Spider-man, my only personal issues with it were already mentioned by another reviewer who noted the mishandling of the character Eddie Brock. Previously he had been in competition with Peter Parker to get photo's of Spider-man which lead to his eventual hatred of the two when he continually failed. Here they try to make him a friend to Peter and rather than have them share the commonality of being young photographers they make him a lab assistant. In the end this first season works well overall though and should please any spidey fans.

41 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A generally spectacular debut, though with some flaws., June 14, 2009

By 

Sean Curley (Charlottetown, PE, Canada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Spectacular Spider:Man: Season 1 (DVD)

Spider-Man, one of Marvel's earliest comics characters, has been the backbone of Marvel's animated efforts almost since the beginning. Though starting later than other 1960s animated series, the 60s Spider-Man is the only one of those shows that anyone really remembers (in great part because of the theme song). A number of others followed, most notably "Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends" in the 1980s and the 1990s show (the one that I myself grew up with). Following the latter show's end in 1998, Spidey animation went into a bit of a rut, with the outright bizarre "Spider-Man Unlimited" and the MTV "Spider-Man" faiing to capture the magic. This is the first season (13 episodes) the latest very successful effort, overseen by Greg Weisman, the visionary creator of "Gargoyles", one of the classics of 1990s children's animation. Spoilers follow.

In a departure from previous media adaptations that immediately gives the series something distinctive to operate with, Weisman chooses to set the series during Spider-Man's high school years. The most notable previous versions were set during his young adulthood (in university, for example, in the 90s show). For the main cast of students, Weisman draws on both the cast of the actual high school era in the comics (1962-65) (Liz Allan, Flash Thompson) and various characters from the subsequent John Romita era in college (Gwen Stacy, Harry Osborn, Mary Jane Watson); the adult cast is a kaleidoscope from every era in comics. Minor characters abound, and, indeed, Weisman has boasted that every character is from the comics (though, in several cases, that just amounts to pasting a character name on top of an unrelated concept). All the regulars are present, though not all of them from the start.

The season is structured quite elaborately (and masterfully), mixing the qualities of a standalone episode, a mini-arc, and a season-long arc. Most episodes will introduce at least one new villain (most of them having appeared previously in their civilian guise). Among those featured: Doctor Octopus, the Vulture, the Rhino, the Shocker, and the Sandman. Behind the scenes, major figures jostle for control of the New York underworld, originally controlled by the mysterious Big Man (who, thanks to "Daredevil" licensing, is not who long-time fans will expect him to be).

Our lead, Spider-Man, voiced by Josh Keaton, is rendered remarkably well. Keaton is at least as good as Christopher Barnes on the 90s show, and he has more realistic dialogue (much less in the style of the suffocating narration of 1960s comics). Peter is an extremely relatable character, something that is the goal of all versions of the character; he learns lessons (and, unlike in many cartoons, he doesn't forget them in time for the next episode), but not in a cloying way. The supporting cast is generally excellent (Daran Norris is perhaps a bit too manic as JJJ; I prefer Ed Asner's 90s version; Alanna Ubach as the now-Puerto Rican Liz Allan takes some time to nail down exactly what sort of accent the character has), with standouts including Peter MacNicol as Doctor Octopus, Joshua LeBar as Flash, and Alan Rachins as Norman Osborn.

So, with all this said, why, you ask, is it only rated four of five? The answer is three words: Eddie Brock/Venom. This is the only area in which the series falls flat on its face, disappointingly so given both its track record and the 90s Venom. Eddie Brock is introduced in this version of the show as Peter's close friend, now working as a lab assistan to Dr. Curt Connors. For much of the season, the show spends quite a bit of time giving Eddie legitimate misunderstandings about Peter's behaviour (generally caused by his activities as Spider-Man), things leading to a break with his former friend. Then, in the final episodes, Eddie's personality changes completely, becoming a proto-supervillain before even getting the symbiote. Eddie and the character of Venom just collapse under the weight of Eddie's nonsensical motivation. Jarring, given how even the thugs like Rhino are handled better. Disappointing, because Venom's actual fight scenes, like all such scenes on this show, are well-done, and the plot preceding it with Peter getting the symbiote and having his personality warped, are extremely well-done. Had Eddie made more sense, this might have been the definitive version of the Venom story, but the 90s show's version (from which both this and "Spider-Man 3" draw much) still holds that title. The problem, I guess, results from Weisman aiming to take Brock as a character to a more personal level, but falling short; the core of Brock's character, his refusal to take responsibility for the consequences of his own actions, is lost.

This is not, by any means, a deal-breaking flaw. This remains the finest superhero animation in quite a while, one highly recommended (and the second season is even better). I'm glad that Sony has given us proper DVD sets, though only after doing the expected ripoff releases with smaller DVDs.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Spidey rocks!, December 30, 2009

By 

zuzu - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Spectacular Spider:Man: Season 1 (DVD)

Bought this for my 5 yr old. This is the only spiderman I will let him watch. Does have violence - fighting and such - but no shooting. No one dies. Some scenes seem to me a little scary - but by far - the only spiderman suitable for his age. And now I have to get season 2 just to see what happens next!