Spider-Man: The Animated Series
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Spider-Man was an animated series featuring the Marvel comic book superhero Spider-Man, which ran for five seasons (65 episodes) starting November 1994 and finishing January 31, 1998. The series was written by John Semper Jr and produced by the Marvel Films Animation. It is reported to be the most accurate TV adaptation of the famous superhero. This incarnation of Spider-Man stands out because the narrative was focused on drama instead of action like most cartoons of the period. Many episodes were written past 65 but only 65 were animated.
The series tells the story of a nineteen year old Peter Parker at his first year at Empire State University, and his alter-ego the Amazing Spider-Man. As the story begins Peter has already gained his powers, is single and a part-time photographer for the Daily Bugle. The show features most of the classic villains from the Spider-Pantheon, including the Green Goblin, The Lizard, the Scorpion, Doc Ock, Mysterio, The Rhino, Venom, Carnage, The Kingpin, The Shocker, The Vulture, The Chameleon, and The Hobgoblin. Over the course of the series the single Peter Parker will have to contend with the romantic interests of Mary Jane Watson, Felicia Hardy and her alter ego, The Black Cat.
Marvel's previously successful X-Men: The Animated series was produced by Saban, but Marvel had ambitions to release multiple animated series' based on their franchises under a newly formed in-house company, Marvel Films Animation. Spider-Man was the first and only series to fly under this banner. The show was cancelled by Fox despite high ratings as a result of wanting their animation projects to be exclusively done with Saban, and not Marvel Films Animation. A two episode finale was quickly scripted and animated to give some form of closure to the series. Marvel Films Animation was subsequently shut down. Marvel conceded and Saban produced a sequel to this series, Spider-Man Unlimited in 1999, but was met with low ratings and cancelled after one season.
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Creation
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Stan Lee, Avi Arad, and Bill Kerstetter are the executive producers of the show. Stan Lee as one of the creators of Spider-Man had quite an interest in seeing Spider-man portrayed faithfully from the comic books. Lee claimed to check "every premise, every outline, every script, every model sheet, every storyboard, everything to do with putting the show together." To ensure the stories were told faithfully, Lee and producer John Semper recruited writers who had experience from the comic books to work on scripts, among them was Gerry Conway and Marv Wolfman.
Producer Bob Richardson desired to give the show a "contemporary live-action feel" by merging CGI and traditional animation. Richardson described the outcome to be more "NYPD Blue than The Smurfs."
One of the obligations of working with Fox was to make the show educational by introducing weighty issues that could be resolved that is appropriate for children. Semper argues that Spider-Man is more adapt at this because the show takes place in real world New York making it able to tackle problems "closer to home."
Animation
To reproduce the New York's style background illustrators undertook a large amount of visual research, using photo archives from above New York, particularly rooftops. Maps were consulted for references and buildings were faithfully reproduced. It has been reported that when the animation cel depicting Manhattan's Pan Am Building were scrapped after being complete because the California-based art staff learned the Midtown landmark had gotten a new sign more than a year earlier.
The animation staff were directed to populate the city with cars and crowds on the street level. Semper believed that was one of the limitations of earlier Spider-Man animated projects.
Originally Marvel Films planned to make the backgrounds completely CGI while Spider-Man 'webslinged' around New York, yet due to budget constraints were forced to use traditional cel based animation while occasionally using CGI backgrounds.
Censorship
By 1994 heavy censorship was being enforced by Fox because certain shows like Power Rangers were being banned for excessive violence in some countries. So in a bid to make Spider-Man: The Animated Series as politically correct as possible the producers of the show were instructed to abide by their extensive list of requirements. Some of these included;
- Not mentioning "Death", "Die", "Kill" or other words with a strong negative meaning.
- No realistic looking guns.
- All projectiles weren't allowed to use bullets but had to fire colorful bright lasers.
- Spider-Man was not allowed to hit anyone with his fist.
- No crashing glass.
- No children in peril.
- Ensuring Spider-Man when he lands on rooftops, doesn't harm any pigeons. [1] (http://hometown.aol.com/drg4/semper.html)
Release Availability
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Spider-Man was one of the most popular shows on Fox Kids, ranking with and even above other hits such as Power Rangers, Digimon, and X-Men. Even after the series ended, it still had an impact on the entertainment industry, boosting sales of myriads of Spider-Man merchandise and popularity.
Despite the fact that this particular series was produced over a decade ago, the success of the Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2 movies has sparked more interest in new fans, allowing it to continuously run in reruns thanks to it's new owners: Disney. Notably the episodes air in their order of production, not Fox's original airdates. Therefore, the reruns are all in the correct order.
Select episodes have previously been released on VCD by Magnavision Home Video.
Selected episodes are available on DVD and VHS;
- The Venom Saga released 7 June 2005
- Spider-Man vs. Doc Ock released 29 June 2004
- Daredevil vs. Spider-Man released 11 February 2003
- Return of the Green Goblin released 29 October 2002
- The Ultimate Villain Showdown released 30 April 2002 during the run of the Spider-Man movie.
Critical acclaim
Writer / Producer John Semper Jr. won an Annie Award in 1995 for "Best Individual Achievement for Writing in the Field of Animation" for the episode "Day of the Chameleon".
Spider-Man: The Animated Series was nominated for an Image Award in 1996 for "Outstanding Animated/Live-Action/Dramatic Youth or Children's Series/Special."
Spider-Man: The Animated Series was the top rated animated show in Germany, Portugal and Spain.
In the UK the premiere episodes averaged 2.5 million viewers.
In early 1996, the show was launched in Hong Kong, Indonesia, the Philippines, Australia, Israel, Mexico, Russia, Scandinavia and South Africa, and it became a hit in those countries as well.
Credits
Produced by
- John Semper - producer / story editor / lead writer
- Avi Arad - executive producer
- Stan Lee - executive producer
Original Music by
- Shuki Levy
- Joe Perry - theme
Art Department
- Michael Swanigan - storyboard
Sound Department
- Elliot Anders - supervising dialogue editor
- Jay Bolton - music editor
- Mark Ryan - music editor
Voices
- Christopher Daniel Barnes as Spider-Man/Peter Parker
- Sara Ballantine as Mary Jane Watson
- Edward Asner as J. Jonah Jameson
- Linda Gary as Aunt May Parker (I)
- Rodney Saulsberry as Joseph 'Robbie' Robertson
- Roscoe Lee Browne as Kingpin/Wilson Fisk
- Jennifer Hale as Felicia Hardy/Black Cat
- Gary Imhoff as Harry Osborn/Green Goblin
- Maxwell Caulfield as Alistair Smythe
- Nick Jameson as Morbius the Living Vampire/Michael Morbius/Richard Fisk
Trivia
- The series is notably lacking an origin episode to explain how Spider-Man got his powers. This was done because the series was expected to premier along side the Spider-Man feature length film in 1994 written by James Cameron. The film script included an origin story and to prevent redundancy the Animated series did not include it.
- In episode 1.08 "The Alien Costume Part 1", after acquiring a shape shifting costume, Peter Parker suggests he looks like the "guy from Aerosmith." Joe Perry, the lead guitarist for the band Aerosmith, composed the theme song for the show.
- The title of episode "I Really, Really Hate Clones" and "The Secret War" is a reference to the infamous "Spider-Clone Saga" and "Secret Wars" storylines which ran through the comics with much fan criticism.
- Fox aired episode 1.01 "Night of the Lizard", months before the other Season 1 episodes as a special sneak preview.
- In the comics, the Insidious Six are called the Sinister Six.
- Of the six members of the Insidious Six, only two of the members of the Sinister Six make it into the team's roster: Doctor Octopus and Mysterio. The Shocker, The Chameleon, The Scorpion and The Rhino substitute for the Sinister Six's absent members - Sandman (who doesn't appear in the series at all), Electro (named Max Dillon in the comics, but shows up in season five as Rhienholdt Kragov, the step-brother of the Chameleon and the Red Skull's son for the series), The Vulture (who joins the Six to take Mysterio's place in Season Five) and Kraven the Hunter (the step-brother of the Chameleon in the comics).
- The cast of the X-Men Animated Series were flown to Los Angeles from Canada for their respective roles in episode 2.04 "The Mutant Agenda."
- The season 2 episode "Blade the Vampire Hunter" which originally aired on February 3, 1996, marks the very first appearance of Whistler, Blade's mentor. The character was originally created for the movie, Blade (1998), and has never appeared in the comics by Marvel. This episode predates the movie's premier by over two years.
- The character Lewald that appeared in episode 2.04 "The Mutant Agenda" is named after the story editor on the X-Men cartoon (Eric Lewald).
- The character Madame Web is voiced by Stan Lee's wife, Joan Lee.
- In 3.02 "Make a Wish" the little girl asks if Spider-Man is from a dying planet whose parents sent him as a baby on a little space ship, clearly referencing DC Comics character Superman.
- After the terrorist attacks on the USA of 11 September 2001, ABC Family heavily edited the episode "Day of the Chameleon" to remove the World Trade Center, buildings, parts of the New York skyline, a helicopter crashing into a building, as well as exploding and falling to the ground below, among other shots. This resulted in the first scene virtually implausible to comprehend as it was originally intended. Dialogue was re-looped to match the new, shorter, version. Also, some production credits from the episode are missing as well, due to their being on screen during the omitted footage.
- Syndicated versions of the pilot episode, "Night of the Lizard", omit a sequence in which the Lizard accidentally slams into his wife with his tail when turning.
- Fox originally aired many of the seasons out of order.
- The show's original plan never included the Green Goblin. Norman Osborn was originally going to become the Hobgoblin until the idea was scrapped by Stan Lee's intervention.
- Aunt May was originally going to have a cat named Warren.
- Voice actor Julie Bennet replaced Linda Gary as Aunt May because Linda died.
- This series used a novel system of one large story arc per season developed by John Semper. As a result each of the individual 65 episodes (starting with season 2) were called "chapters."
- Martin Landau was the voice actor for The Scorpion but after he was won an Oscar, he no longer was available for later episodes, and was replaced by Richard Moll.
Merchandising
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Three comics were produced on the Spider-Man: The Animated Series;
A number of video games were also produced:
- Spider-Man: The Animated Series for Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo.
- Spider-Man Cartoon Maker by Knowledge Adventure.
Electronic versions of classic Spider-Man comics were released by Marvel that included Narration by Christopher Daniel Barnes and featured animation and theme music from this series.
Novelisations of select episodes were also released.
A extensive toy line that ran over 8 series and included a staggering amount of play sets and vehicles.
There was a wide variety of themed merchandise produced such as lunch boxes, cereals, clothing etc.
Quotes
- Spider-Man: How do you DO this?
- Madame Web: Transcend time and space? It's simple, I practiced.
- Spider-Man: [talking about the bomb strapped to his wrist] No, no take it back. It clashes with the color of my costume.
- Tombstone: Come down here and fight like a man!
- Spider-Man: I don't suppose I could convince you to come up here and fight like a spider.
Goofs
Season 1
05 - The Menace of Mysterio
- Peter sure did finish his pancakes quickly.
13 - Day of the Chameleon
- Agent #1 jumps out of a chopper, and her hair remains still.
- When Peter is sneaking around the vents in S.H.I.E.L.D., he sees men being trained. They are wearing different uniforms from other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, and are the ones the men of the Kingpin wear.
Season 2
15 - Battle of the Insidious Six
- When searching for Spider-Man and Silvermane, Shocker's costume had been ripped open by the Rhino however appears later wearing an intact one.
- When the Insidious Six decide to split up, Doc Ock's tentacle is back to broken in the long shots, although it is fixed in the close-ups.
17 - The Mutant Agenda
- Gambits eyes are colored like a normal person, instead of the usual black-instead-of-whites.
19 - Morbius
- Morbius was fully clothed as he awoken from being comatose the entire day at the hospital.
20 - Enter The Punisher
- When Spider-man first saw the Punisher, he jokingly tried to guess his name (skull-man, the skull, bonehead, etc.) because of the Punishers logo. However the punishers logo was obscured by the jetpack he was wearing.
21 - Neogenic Nightmare
- Morbius's hair changes from blue to black back and forth 3 times.
23 - Ravages of Time
- The cords tying Spider-Mans change pattern several times throughout the same scene.
- The hole blasted into the Mega-Slayer chest disappears then reappears.
Season 3
29 - Make a Wish
- Spider-Mans costume after being ripped by the laser when being washed up on the beach the suit is fixed, then later is shown to be ripped again.
32 - The Rocket Racer
- When Robert jumps up and kicks the thug, his rocket suit is on but when he lands on the ground, he's out of it.
- When Rocket Racer calls for his board, after getting stuck underneath an elevator you can see his feet on it before he jumps on it.
34 - The Man Without Fear
- When Daredevil is in Richard Fisk's house, the shot of his natural radar is the same from when he was in the warehouse.
38 - Venom Returns
- Carnage calls Dormammu 'flame headed' but he has not yet met Dormammu.
41 - Turning Point
- When the Green Goblin opens up the vortex at the end, Spider-Man is unaffected by its gravity since he can stick to the ground. When the Hobgoblin used it against him, Spider-Man had a hard time getting a grip on the sidewalk.
Season 4
49 - The Return of the Green Goblin
- Throughout the goblin glider changes from, small to big.
Season 5
58 - The Price of Heroism'
- A couple of scenes are shown out of order. During the S.H.I.E.L.D. attack, Captain America and Spider-Man are being held at gunpoint by the Chameleon while the Red Skull works. They manage to get loose and start fighting. The scene then goes back to Electro's battle with S.H.I.E.L.D., and he destroys their headquarters. Our point of view then returns to the doomsday machine, where Spider-Man and Captain America arrive and are ambushed by the Skull and Chameleon.
63 - Doom
- When Doom teleports the heroes to New Latvia, the scene that is shown is taken from "Arrival". You can see Spider-Man, The Fantastic Four, and the Lizard, which is a goof because they are already at New Latvia.
- During his final encounter with the heroes, Dr. Doom isn't wearing his helmet, then is later shown to be wearing it.
Episode list
Season 1
- Night of the Lizard: Written by Gerry Conway
- The Sting of the Scorpion: Written by John Semper
- The Spider Slayer: Story by John Semper
- The Return of the Spider Slayers: Story by John Semper
- The Menace of Mysterio: Written by Marv Wolfman, Stan Berkowitz and John Semper
- Doctor Octopus Armed and Dangerous: Story by John Semper and Brooks Wachtel
- The Alien Costume (part 1 of 3): Story by Avi Arad and Stan Lee
- The Alien Costume (part 2 of 3): Story by Brynne Stephens and John Semper
- The Alien Costume (part 3 of 3): Story by John Semper, Jan Strand and Mark Hoffmeier
- Kraven The Hunter: Story by John Semper, Jan Strand and Mark Hoffmeier
- The Hobgoblin (part 1 of 2): Story by John Semper and Stan Berkowitz
- The Hobgoblin (part 2 of 2): Story by Stan Berkowitz
- Day of the Chameleon: Story by John Semper
Season 2
- The Insidious Six (Neogenic Nightmare Part I): Story by John Semper
- Battle of the Insidious Six (Neogenic Nightmare Part II)': Story by John Semper
- Hydro-Man (Neogenic Nightmare Part III): Story by John Semper
- The Mutant Agenda (Neogenic Nightmare Part IV): Story by John Semper and J.M. Dematteis
- Mutants' Revenge (Neogenic Nightmare Part V): Story by John Semper and Michael Edens
- Morbius (Neogenic Nightmare Part VI): Story by John Semper
- Enter The Punisher (Neogenic Nightmare Part VII): Story by John Semper and Carl Potts
- Duel of the Hunters (Neogenic Nightmare Part VIII): Written by John Semper
- Blade the Vampire Hunter (Neogenic Nightmare Part IX): Story by John Semper
- The Immortal Vampire (Neogenic Nightmare Part X): Written by John Semper and Meg McLaughlin
- Tablet of Time (Neogenic Nightmare Part XI): Written by Mark Hoffmeier, Stan Berkowitz and John Semper
- Ravages of Time (Neogenic Nightmare Part XII): Written by Mark hoffmeier, Stan Berkowitz, and John Semper
- Shriek of the Vulture (Neogenic Nightmare Part XIII): Story by John Semper, Gilles Wheeler and Evelyn A-R Gabai
- The Final Nightmare (Neogenic Nightmare Part XIV): Story by John Semper and Sandy Fries
Season 3
- Doctor Strange (Sins of the Fathers, Chapter 1): Story by John Semper
- Make a Wish (Sins of the Fathers, Chapter 2): Story by John Semper
- Attack of the Octobot (Sins of the Fathers, Chapter 3): Story by John Semper
- Enter the Goblin (Sins of the Fathers, Chapter 4): Story by John Semper
- The Rocket Racer (Sins of the Fathers, Chapter 5): Story by John Semper
- Framed (Sins of the Fathers, Chapter 6): Story by John Semper and Mark Hoffmeier
- The Man Without Fear (Sins of the Fathers, Chapter 7): Story by John Semper and Mark Hoffmeier
- The Ultimate Slayer (Sins of the Fathers, Chapter 8): Story by John Semper
- Tombstone (Sins of the Fathers, Chapter 9): Story by John Semper
- Venom Returns (Sins of the Fathers, Chapter 10): Story by John Semper
- Carnage (Sins of the Fathers, Chapter 11): Story by John Semper
- The Spot (Sins of the Fathers, Chapter 12): Story by John Semper
- Goblin War (Sins of the Fathers, Chapter 13): Story by John Semper
- Turning Point (Sins of the Fathers, Chapter 14): Story by John Semper
Season 4
- Guilty (Partners in Danger, Chapter 1): Story by John Semper
- The Cat (Partners in Danger, Chapter 2): Story by John Semper
- The Black Cat (Partners in Danger, Chapter 3): Story by John Semper
- The Return of Kraven (Partners in Danger, Chapter 4): Story by Meg McLaughlin
- Partners (Partners in Danger, Chapter 5): Story by John Semper
- The Awakening (Partners in Danger, Chapter 6): Story by John Semper
- The Vampire Queen (Partners in Danger, Chapter 7): Story by John Semper
- The Return of the Green Goblin (Partners in Danger, Chapter 8): Story by John Semper
- The Haunting of Mary Jane (Partners in Danger, Chapter 9): Story by John Semper and Virginia Roth
- Lizard King (Partners in Danger, Chapter 10): Story by John Semper
- The Prowler (Partners in Danger, Chapter 11): Story by John Semper
Season 5
- The Wedding: Story by John Semper
- Six Forgotten Warriors - Chapter 1: Six Forgotten Warriors: Written by John Semper
- Six Forgotten Warriors - Chapter 2: Unclaimed Legacy: Written by John Semper
- Six Forgotten Warriors - Chapter 3 : Secrets of the Six: Written by John Semper
- Six Forgotten Warriors - Chapter 4 : The Six Fight Again: Written by John Semper
- Six Forgotten Warriors - Chapter 5 : The Price of Heroism: Written by John Semper
- The Return of Hydroman - Part 1: Story by John Semper
- The Return of Hydroman - Part 2: Story by John Semper
- Secret Wars - Chapter 1 : Arrival: Written by John Semper and Karen Milovich
- Secret Wars - Chapter 2 : The Gauntlet of the Red Skull: Written by Virginia Roth
- Secret Wars - Chapter 3 : Doom: Written by John Semper, Mark Hoffmeier and Ernie Altbacker
- Spider Wars - Chapter 1 : I Really, Really Hate Clones: Story by John Semper
- Spider Wars - Chapter 2 : Farewell, Spider-Man: Written by John Semper
See also
External links
- SpiderFan.org - Unofficial Spider-Man Web Page (http://www.spiderfan.org/shows/tv_90s/index.html)
- Spider-Man: The Animated Series (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112175/) at the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)
- Interview with John Semper about Spider-Man:The Animated Series (http://hometown.aol.com/drg4/semper.html)