Customer Reviews

Spider-Man: The New Animated Series (Special Edition)

5 star:		(49)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

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.

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.

One Word...AWESOME!!! I was a bit skeptical at first, it being on MTV and all, but I was impressed. I've been a big fan of spider-man since I was like 4 or 5, and I got to see all the reruns of Spider-man and His amazing Friends(ok, it was just ok...), and the original 1968 series.

When they came out with the SPIDER-MAN THE ANIMATED SERIES show, I was excited with the premiere episode in December with the Lizard. Then Feb 4th of 1994 I was pumped. The show ended on a clif hanger. The that horrible show, SPIDER-MAN UNLIMITED came on...Oh, the animation was ok, but the plots, the characters, Venom and Carnage in general, were HORRIBLE!!!, thank goodness it only lasted like 41-43 episodes. I watched it, but I was kinda freaked out by all that went on in it, being like Marvel didn't even have a hand in the series...

It's been a few years since it ended, and after the Spidey movie came out, I couldn't wait for something else to come out...then, this past Summer, SPIDER-MAN came out on MTV(the horror something like that on MTV, but I dealt with it...)...MAN THIS SERIES ROCKED!!!, I mean it was GREAT!!!...by the time the series ended, at the end of September, early October, I was like, WHAT, THAT'S IT?!...I was bummed out, and then like a week or so later, I looked up what would become of it, and lo, and behold, IT'S COMING OUT ON DVD!!!! I can't wait to get it on DVD!!!.

This series is gonna be great when they get the second season rolling. I thoroughly enjoyed the first season, and the animation was a bit wierd at first, but I got used to it in like 3-5 minutes, the cell shading is great, I like that it's like watching video game-type graphics, and the stories are great...I MEAN, WITH THE GREAT BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS WRITING THIS, HOW CAN IT BE BAD!!!?!?!? He is a great writer, being his older series and his newer work in the new ULTIMATE UNIVERSE...I think this series is really gonna stick this time, with an actual Spider-man Comic book writer writing it, instead of someone just pulling stuff from the comics, or just out of thin air. That's why I think Spider-man 2 the movie is gonna be better than the first(well, how much better do you want it other than organic web fluid, but hey, beggars can't be choosers...)...J. Michael Straczynski lending a hand with the movie, I think it'll be so much closer to the comics than ever before, which for some people, might be bad, but for me, I'll be a happy person...lol

So, Kudos to this DVD, I'll be waiting for with baited breath for it's arrival...and until Batman runs off with Wonder Woman, Make Mine Marvel!!!

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.

When I ask people if they remember this version of Spider-man from Mtv, most of them usually(and here I'm guessing) just shake their heads. But if you haven't seen this shortlived hit, you need to experience it. This version has more of a comicbook feel to it because it was geared toward an older audience. Young adults, I believe. But it felt more real than any other animated version I've been introduced to. I grew up watching the animated series seen on Fox and that will always be my favorite, but until they release that on dvd, like they're ever going to, we have this to enjoy. And in this version, Spidy gets to punch out the villains as much as his heart desires. That's one thing the creaters of the 1994 animated series were forbidden to do... To allow Spidy to throw a punch because those were the days when all that antiviolence stuff was going on.
But anywho, this set features all 13 episodes from the series. I only wish that more had been created. That's the problem with American animated series today. Too many people enjoy Anime and don't give stuff like this a chance anymore.
We get to see such clasic villains as the Lizard, Kingpin, and Electro. New but interesting villains include the Terradax organization, and a few more surprises as well. So you'll enjoy this series if you purchus it. The audio commentaries are great too. So check it out!

Spider-man the new animated series is the next best thing to the Spider-man movie series - if you liked the movies, you will probably really dig this too. For a TV series, the CGI animation is awesome, allowing Spidey to summersault across the sky at breathtaking speeds and look incredible the whole way through. It's true, it does look like a video game sometimes, but it works really well for this series, and the end result overall is very impressive - Spidey's never been able to move like this before in any other of his TV hits. The stories tend to be good too, although some are certainly better than others. This series is made more for adults than for kids, sporting blood, death and violence where appropriate. Rob Zombie does the voice for the Lizard - one of the best stories here. The music for the show is done by John Digweed and Nick Muir, both legendary trance/techno DJ/producers, which means the show has rocking electronic trance music as its theme - a very nice touch which displays how seriously the quality of this series was taken. This special edition of the animated series contains all 13 episodes from the entire 1st season. If you like *anything* about Spider-man, buy these DVDs - you won't regret it - they rule!

I didn't see this series while on TV... not an MTV fan... but I like Spider-man, loved the movies and read the comics, so I bought it. Very glad I did!

It took just a little while to get used to the graphics, but then I found myself really getting into the stories. Sure, the stories and situations are different from the comics, but the characterization of Peter/Spider-man is spot on. I think this series captured his angst and personality as Peter and his wit and agility as Spider-man. His abilities have never been more accurately portrayed. Awesome to watch.

The only downer is that the cliffhanger at the end is never to be resolved as the series only went for one season. Very sad. I would have LOVED to have seen more of this!

BTW - I'm female, and over 30, so even though the target audience here is younger, this series, like Spider-man himself, can be enjoyed by all generations.

Spider-Man: The New Animated Series (2003), which aired on MTV nearly four years ago, was a fun, witty, and well-written animated series. Visually, the show sets itself apart from not only all previous incarnations of Spider-Man's animated adventures, but also other animated series made for television as well. The computer animation on the show purposefully looks 2-D, a computer generated effect called cel-shading in computer generated imagery (CGI), created a moving comic book panel feel to the show. This really gives the show an interesting and unique look. Set non-canonically after the first Spider-Man movie, we see Peter, Mary-Jane Watson and Harry Osborn in college, attending Empire State University. Peter, of course works as a freelance photographer at The Daily Bugle. In addition to his obligations at the Bugle, he also shoot videos of city news events for Empire One, a spoof of the real world, New York One (NY1), a local New York cable news channel (to my knowledge, not being a native of the state of New York). Harry, not taking his father's death so well, yet not written as psychologically unstable as he is in the movies. As a self-professed "trust fund baby," he is independently wealthy, inheriting his father's succesful and productive company, to which he owns a controlling interest in. A big flirt, hiding a bitter and angry young man inside who harbors an intense hatred for Spider-Man. Mary Jane, the strong willed and girly love of Peter's life. She is aggressive in her amorous intentions towards and for Peter, confiding in Harry about some of her love/lack of love issues with Peter.

The action in the series is nicely choreographed. Flexible and malleable, Spider-Man moves with a grace, swiftness and uncanny agility, much like what he exhibits in the comics. One of my favorite sequences in the episode titled "Head Over Heels," shows Spider-Man routinely moving from one crime in progress to another, stoping each crime, saving people, then pausing to non-chalantely write his thoughts on a small note pad. Half the time he is barely looking at the people he is fighting or saving. A puzzled and perhaps curious man, after being saved, slowly tries to catch a glimpse at what Spider-Man is writing down on his note pad. Before the man gets close enough to read it, Spider-Man, seemingly without noticing the gentleman, quickly leaps up and away off camera. Dispite its light-hearted moments the series contains many more dark ones. Dealing with obesession, greed, honor, and lonliness, this series was no doubt in my mind, written for mid-teens and up.

Why is Spider-Man: The New Animated Series worth watching you ask? Besides the aforementioned reasons, I'd like to add to the list of praise for this series - great voice acting.
The voice acting for one is superb. Neil Patrick Harris's voice fit the character of Peter Parker perfectly, nerdy and insecure. While when Spider-Man, confident and witty. The ability of the animators to express such a wide range of emotions utilizing a finite facial palette and body language via motion capture was masterful. What makes this series so good and makes it worth watching is the subtle nuances of the character's voice talent, facial expressions and body language. Some notable actors and music artists lent their voices to the animated project. Michael Dorn, Michael Clarke Duncan, Rob Zombie, Eve, Jeffrey Combs and Mr. Excelsior! himself, Stan "The Man" Lee.

Mainframe Entertainment, the company that brought us the first ever computer animated TV show, Reboot was responsible for the computer animation and effects series. Ironically, Spider-Man: The New Animated Series was already in early production before work on the 1st movie was realized, contrary to popular belief. The commentary on the DVD notes that much of reason and inspiration for the show's conception was due to the success of the Ultimate Spider-Man comic book written by Brian Michael Bendis and penciled by one of my favorite artists, Mark Bagley. Speaking of the commentaries section, they can be a bit dry at times, but are very educational as far as how truly in-depth and multi-layered the creation and production process was for an animated series of this caliber. Many behind-the-scenes elements mirror live action movie productions. Due to budget and time constraints, watching the series, you will notice many of the same characters walking around town doing different things and envolved with different events around the city. Not that that is completely unrealistic, especially when the story and events revolve primarily around the Empire State University campus. Another anomaly about the show is the fact that the order in which the episodes aired on MTV differs from the order in which they are presented on the DVDs. For example, the "original" and first episode that aired, ends up being episode 8 on the DVD.

Unfortunately, Spider-Man: The New Animated Series lasted for but 1 season of 13 episodes available in this complete two-disc set. For some reason, this DVD is not available through conventional retail channels. Having tried several different brick and mortar retailers with no success, it appears this is only available online. This show was definitely a sleeper, existing under the radar of many Spider-Man fans that I know. So wake up and buy it today if you are so inclined.

Don't listen to those nerds who are soooo into the Spiderman mythology that they can't see that this is great stuff. The stories are cool, the music and animation are great, and if you're even the least bit of a Spidey fan, you'll love these discs.

Let me only say this-this show is a wonder to watch.I am over forty years old but to see Spider-Man with such movements and bodylanguage and the fantastic filmed fight scenes gives me goosebumps.There are so much worse animated shows(all the other Spidey Shows are for an adult viewer horrible),that it is great to see what CGI can do on Dynamics.With Batman and Roughnecks this will stand on his own for decades.Go on make more seasons,there is so much animated trash out there,it is time we get something that is worth to watch!