World Spider-Man: The Animated Series

[Picard Sisko]

This page is to discuss Spider-Man: TAS which started in 1994.

Although Spectacular Spider-Man is my favorite, when I think of Spider-Man cartoons, the 90s series always comes to mind. Its so nostalgic.

I'd give it a solid rating of 8/10

 

[Morbius]

I absolutely loved this show (and still do)! It's so unbelievably memorable - even today, I'm humming the soundtrack!

It is strange how fast-paced each episode is though. That's something that only became apparent to me when I found the episodes on youtube fairly recently - never noticed it as a kid!

 

[Picard Sisko]

I think that each episode had so much going on that it was hard to pace it correctly. Things would happen really quickly just to get some information in there and have the story move on.

Spectacular Spider-Man basically took the idea of having big story arcs but the writers were able to pace the episodes a LOT better.

 

[Picard Sisko]

My favorite arc in TAS is the Venom Saga. Man, was that great or what? If they ever decide to adapt Venom to the big screen without going the Ultimate route, this is the way to go. John Jameson landing on earth with the symbiote attached to the shuttle.

 

[Morbius]

Easily the best for sure! Things did get crazy towards the end actually, with the 'Secret Wars', but I didn't appreciate it as much as I should have until I actually read the comics.

Interesting take on Electro too, right?

If Venom ever gets done in TASM series, i'm hoping they take some queues from this movie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YDYL6oECjU

 

[Picard Sisko]

Easily the best for sure! Things did get crazy towards the end actually, with the 'Secret Wars', but I didn't appreciate it as much as I should have until I actually read the comics.

Interesting take on Electro too, right?

If Venom ever gets done in TASM series, i'm hoping they take some queues from this movie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YDYL6oECjU

I loved the Secret Wars storyline, and I thought the final episode was cool with the search for Mary Jane.

Ha, I remember Electro. Red Skull's son.

 

[optimus2861]

I'll call it a 7/10 overall. The first season was the best. It stuck to Spidey and his world, generally had good animation and decently-paced, decently-written episodes. As the seasons wore on, the quality across the board suffered, and it started cramming in a lot more of the Marvel universe in rippingly-fast-paced episodes and plots. Some great moments in there, like the first Spider-Man/X-Men crossover.

For reference, Spectacular would get at least a 9/10 if not the full 10/10.

 

[Picard Sisko]

I wasn't crazy about season 2 since it focused on Morbius and the vampire side of Marvel.

 

[DarthDaveBanner]

The voice cast of this show is EXCELLENT. Nearly rivals Batman TAS. Heck I still read my Spidey in Barnes' voice!

 

[Morbius]

I wasn't crazy about season 2 since it focused on Morbius and the vampire side of Marvel.

Hey!

Kidding - I have to admit, they had an interesting take on the cross-species genetics there. The Neogenic Recombinator, remember?

 

[Picard Sisko]

The voice cast of this show is EXCELLENT. Nearly rivals Batman TAS. Heck I still read my Spidey in Barnes' voice!

I like Spider-Man TAS more than Batman TAS. IDK, I thought the stories were better (Batman never had those big story arcs).

Hey!

Kidding - I have to admit, they had an interesting take on the cross-species genetics there. The Neogenic Recombinator, remember?

Sorry man lol. I like Morbius in the comics, but I didn't like how he absorbed plasma from people (I understand it had to do with network restrictions... could not use blood).

Oh yeah, that Neogenic storyline

 

[ThePhantasm]

I loved watching this show when I was a kid. Now that I'm an adult I find some of the episodes are still very fun, others are too fast paced for my no longer hyper brain. Still, a great show - I had never really read any Spidey comics or anything before Raimi's Spider-Man movie, so it was purely memories of this show that got me hyped up for that first spidey film.

 

[bigdaddy313]

This show was awesome I gave it a 9/10 one point out due to the animation and FYI the show was canceled due to disagreements with management of Avila Arid (if that's the spelling lol) that Saban

 

[Spider-Gnome]

I know I really dug this show!

I taped every episode!

On Beta.

I really should transfer them to DVD.

 

[Picard Sisko]

I can watch the Venom Saga over and over again as if it were a made for TV animated film.

 

[Morbius]

I'm going to dig out my old VHS of the Venom saga from my parent's house some time.

I'm actually the only member of my comic-obsessed friends who prefer The Animated Series over the Spectacular Spiderman series. I'm not sure if it's just nostalgia winning there? I still get goosebumps when I hear that theme song! You know it was played by Joe Perry from Aerosmith? So cool!

 

[Tanin]

I loved this show. Despite having a cliffhanger ending.

 

[Picard Sisko]

I guess the only thing that really went unresolved was missing MJ. We can assume he finds her at some point since they are back together in the sequel series "Spider-Man: Unlimited."

 

[StarLord]

Between this, Batman TAS and the X-Men animated series, there hasn't been anything that has come close since.

I love all three shows and still enjoy watching episodes.

 

[zeptron]

I guess the only thing that really went unresolved was missing MJ. We can assume he finds her at some point since they are back together in the sequel series "Spider-Man: Unlimited."

They actually planned to have Peter find her in a sixth season. It would have involved him traveling to 19th century London where she would have been found and Carnage would have became Jack The Ripper.

 

[Picard Sisko]

Between this, Batman TAS and the X-Men animated series, there hasn't been anything that has come close since.

I love all three shows and still enjoy watching episodes.

I think Spectacular Spider-Man is superior in many ways though, but all three shows you mentioned are superb!

They actually planned to have Peter find her in a sixth season. It would have involved him traveling to 19th century London where she would have been found and Carnage would have became Jack The Ripper.

That sounds like it could have been cool. Too bad we'll never see it. There is a fan of the show that is making a fan film that concludes the series. IDK when it will be finished though since its taking forever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cH1G23QMN3U

 

[Venom75]

My favorite arc in TAS is the Venom Saga. Man, was that great or what? If they ever decide to adapt Venom to the big screen without going the Ultimate route, this is the way to go. John Jameson landing on earth with the symbiote attached to the shuttle.

I fully agree. I loved that! Also,if I'm not mistaken,that's the first time that the symbiote actually "turned" Peter evil. The symbiote had never done that in the comics.

 

[Shikamaru]

As much as I loved this show, I could not help but give it a 8/10 as opposed to a 10/10.

I loved the show as a kid. I still love it even today and consider one of the best Spider-Man products outside of the comics but there are two major flaws that it has IMO.

1) The censorship - This show has some of the most ridiculous censorship I've ever seen. It got to the point where they couldn't use words such as "sinister" or show broken glass. Many stories and characters suffered due to this, the biggest being Carnage.

2) Uneven use of villains and guest appearances - A lot of villains don't get time to shine and are pushed aside or are dumbed down, or even butchered (i.e. Electro). The few villains that are not and that do get to shine are often way too overexposed, especially Kingpin. There are also way too many characters from the Marvel universe. I would have preferred to see slightly more Spidey solo stories.

It is still a great show, but I don't think it fully holds up mainly due to those two factors.

Also, the Alien Costume saga was my favorite part of the show as well, even as a kid. In second place comes the Neogenic Nightmare saga from Season 2 and then the Secret Wars/Clone Saga from Season 5.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

I like the show, it's fun, I'd give it a 7/10
Problems:

1. The show has plenty of inconsistencies
2. Stock footage
3. Animation can be shoddy at certain moments
4. Color palette during day time needed more tan
5. Spider-Man size change
6. The ugly Spider-Sense background (does his sense move through another dimension or some crap?)
7. Madamme Webb treats him purely like a moron (especially in saying in the last episode "He is finally using his mind", like he never did that so many times before)
8. Spider-Man is weak (having a hard time holding Beast's cage)
9. The spider web suck under water (gas?)
10. Spider-Man needs to be saved whenever he is Kingpin's squeezy duck
11. Jameson had to save him when he was Scorpion's squeezy toy
12. The pun scene to electrocute Scorpion is much better in Spider-Friends
13. Carnage (I don't mind him in some comics, but he got animated)
14. Dr. Strange and his villains (like Iron Man says: "I HATE magic")
15. Hydro-clone MJ (how did Miles get her DNA?)
16. Miles plan to clone Spider-Man from a piece of his costume (body oil carries DNA?)
17. Kingpin does everything. Octavius scared him $#%^less in comics, why does he suck here?
18. MJ sucks in the Morbius arc, she's a complete *****, a needy cheat
19. Felecia sucks in the Morbbius arc as well
20. Anna Watson sucks, that old goat needs to suck it
21. Norman Osborn sucks (just see a flying guy, be scared like a little *****. I love Weisman and co for their great improvement of every character in TSSM animated, especially Norman and Toomes)
22. The voice of Green Goblin sucks
23. Electro's origin sucks (though he never had a satisfying origin, this Electro is a boring character overall)

With all that, I'm serious about the 7/10. With 65 episodes there is a lot of good to be found in this show

65, we could have the proper end to TSSM animated last year if not for studios conflicts . Denied the rest of the best Spider-Man show ever

 

[zeptron]

Yeah, I have to agree with the complaints of how overused Kingpin was. It made the other villains suffer. Especially Doc Ock. Ock is a leader of man, not a follower. Kingpin even stole his thunder by creating the "Sinister" Six. The only time he had any real dignity was his debut episode. That episode even gave the impression that he could operate on his own rather than being a glorified Kingpin stooge.


The Ottobot two parter was Ock's chance to reclaim his arch nemesis status, but it gets ruined when it's shown that was working for Kingpin. Kingpin didn't even attribute to anything in that episode other than showing that Ock wasn't acting on his own.