Product Details

• Actors: Edward Asner
• Directors: Brandon Vietti, Audu Paden, Sean Frewer, Vincent Edwards (III), Ezekiel Norton
• Writers: Morgan Gendel, Steven Kriozere, Rick Suvalle
• Producers: Morgan Gendel
• Format: AC-3, Anamorphic, Animated, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, NTSC, Special Edition, Widescreen
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (DTS 5.1)
• Dubbed: Portuguese
• Subtitles for the Hearing Impaired: 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 .
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: January 13, 2004
• Run Time: 30 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (113 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0000VCZLG
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #43,907 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "Spider-Man: The New Animated Series (Special Edition)" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

While fans breathlessly await the fate of the computer-animated New Adventures of Spider-Man (it remains in limbo after being dropped by MTV in 2003), they can enjoy all 13 episodes of its first season on this two-disc set, which includes a wealth of extras. Mainframe Entertainment (which created the cult Saturday morning series ReBoot) and writer/executive producer Brian Michael Bendis (the Ultimate Spider-Man comic) give the venerable story a spin by placing Peter Parker (voiced by Neil Patrick Harris) in college alongside pal Harry Osborn (Ian Ziering) and longtime crush Mary Jane Watson (singer Lisa Loeb). As usual, Parker/Spidey must conceal his secret identity while wrangling a host of foes, which are a mix of ones drawn from the comic book (The Lizard, Kraven the Hunter) and brand new enemies (Talon, voiced by rapper Eve). Spider-Man fans seem firmly divided into "for" and "against" camps over the animation, which beautifully captures Spidey's web-slinging, but often looks awkward when depicting everyday movement. Die-hard series viewers and Spider-Man/Marvel collectors in general will be pleased by the set, which includes behind-the-scenes featurettes and commentary by the creators. --Paul Gaita

Product Description

When a nasty bite by an irradiated spider endows teenager Peter Parker with miraculous, arachnid-like powers, his death defying heroism wins him admiration from those in need. But being a superhero has its drawbacks...especially when you're in college! As Peter gains the trust of his friends, the police call him a vigilante. But he meets the challenge by exercising his wonderful powers for the good of all. Multi-talented performer Neil Patrick Harris (Undercover Brother, Starship Troopers), television star Ian Ziering ("Beverly Hills 90210"), and singer-songwriter Lisa Loeb ("Cake and Pie"), lend their vocal talents to this thrilling, computer-animated version of the comic book classic and mega-hit feature film, Spider-Man.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

60 of 62 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Really unique version of the classic Spider-Man. September 5, 2004

By Thomas Anderson VINE™ VOICE

Format:DVD

I bought this DVD blind just because I wanted to see it and I've been getting into animation lately in my DVD collecting. Let me tell ya folks, this is a great series...for several reasons.

1) The CG animation, although a bit awkward at times with "regular" human movement and such, it really shines during the Spidey and villian "battles". Just the fact that the animation is all in 3D (put with a 2D look), allows the camera to do some really interesting things, from pans, to spins, to rotations, and fly-thrus, and of course, the ultra-cool slo-mo effects. This kind of camera control is something that just isn't possible in a traditionally hand-drawn cartoon.

2) The action sequences in general. This isn't your grandfather's Spider-Man. Much like Mainframe Entertainment's other CG shows, the action is much more mature than your ordinary animated show. By that I mean the fight scenes and the "chases" are much more intense and, shall I say, violent than anything else I've seen in a cartoon such as this. In fact, there's actually moments of blood from both Spidey and his enemies. And as some of you may know, blood is almost always a "no-no" for childrens' animated shows. So just with that, the viewer can easily tell that this show was made for a much more mature audience, which is always good in this circumstance, especially for comic book heroes.

3) The audio and video presentation. The video is presented in 1.78 anamorphic widescreen and is extremely sharp. Even looks good on a computer via DVD-ROM drive. And the soundtrack is recorded in both DTS and DD 5.1 (always a plus for any show, eh?) Also the widescreen presentation gives the show a bit of a epic cinematic feel to it. How many cartoons do you know that were created in widescreen?

4) The villians. The villians, some classic (with new looks), others new, were all great with maybe the exception of one, but that's to one's taste. I thought the Terradax group were awesome. Their suits and weapons were just too cool. And again, the maturity of the dialogue for the villians and actions are just what makes these villians great.

So with all that said, let's all hope that this series gets picked up by some outlet for another season or more. I'd love to see what the creators could do with the Venon and Carnage saga. Hell, even Doc Oc, Green Goblin, and Hobgoblin would be great. But can we get Parker out of college? Being almost 10 years out myself, I despise the college atmosphere anymore. Too many crazy activists and party animals.

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Ultimate Spider-Man: The Animated Series. 'Nuff Said. November 19, 2003

By Robert D Wilson

Format:DVD

This was the most perfect Spider-Man series of any yet made. Though it lacked the jazzy tunes of the original sixties series ;-), it far surpassed the convoluted mess that Marvel gave us in the early 90s.

With Brian Michael Bendis as an executive producer, how could this not be good? The visuals were excellent, lending a nifty neo-comic-book feel to the environments. The stories were inventive, coming up with some nifty new spins on classic pieces of the Spidey mythos. The best revision, of course, was that written by the not-infalliable-but-close BMB himself; taking the one-d villain Electro in a direction different from either the main or Ultimate comics stories but no less entertaining.

The Legion of Super Voice-Actors is in great form here: Neil Harris, Lisa Loeb, and Ian Ziering turn in performances that are almost always sonically superior to Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, and James Franco respectively. The guest stars shine, most notably Stan "the Man" Lee himself as Ezekiel (or whatever they called him, the guy who advised Peter to kill Kraven).

In short, if you're any sort of Spider-Man fan and you didn't catch it the first time around, I highly recommend purchasing the DVD of this series. It's something for everyone: a continuation of the movie in bite-size chunks, an animated adaptation of Ultimate Spider-Man, a way to get pumped for 2004's Spider-Man 2, and just a rollicking great cartoon all around. Five stars.

A single caveat: If you didn't know, this cartoon originally aired on MTV. With that sort of a target audience in mind, it should be no surprise that they made this series

UNSUITABLE FOR YOUNG CHILDREN.

If you're a parent who considered 2002's Spider-Man movie too intense for your child (as many, quite reasonably, did) this series is not a wise investment. Rather, find some of the other fine animated Spider-Man DVDs avaliable on Amazon.com- the ones you're looking for say (Animated), in parentheses, after the title, and are suitable for all ages.

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars not really for kids September 28, 2008

By A. Richards

Format:DVD

The series is entertaining for adults, however, you may not want to buy
this for kids. I bought it for my 9 yr old son. The story lines and animation
are good... but... lots of sexual innuendo. And some curse words. Why the
cursing is in there is beyond me. must be an MTV thing. but it ruins
the show for broad viewing. The sexual implications are also unnecessary but added in to entice hormone-overdosed kids.