Hey pplz! In my poll, u guys voted on me reviewing Spectacular Spider-Man first. How this will work is, after this blog, I'll review the 90's Animated series, then I'll review Ultimate, over to Unlimited, and ending it with "The New Animated Series" from 2003 (Which I just finished watching. Great series, sad ending ;-;). Anyways, let's take a look at today's review on the Spectacular Spider-Man tv show.
Spectacular Spider-Man ran from 2008 to 2009, with a stellar voice cast, including Josh Keaton, Steve Blum, Clancy Brown, and John DiMaggio. During the show's runtime, it featured a total of 26 episodes, each being named after some school course. The show featured some of Spidey's most iconic villains, including the Green Goblin, Doc Ock, Sandman, Electro, and more. The show puts Peter Parker in his junior yr of highschool, with him only have been Spider-Man for a few months to around a yr. Throughout the series, Peter is challenged with balancing his normal life with his crime-fighting career. The series keeps this as a known thing, showing that due to Spidey doing what he finds right, he ends up hurting someone else in Peter's life in some way. To make the review organized, I will split it up into four parts. Characters, music, animation, and story.
Characters
The show gives us a wide array of characters to grow with. You have Peter Parker (who is secretly Spider-Man "whaaaaaat?!"), and his two best friends, Gwen Stacy and Harry Osborn. Over the series' runtime, the gang expands, including Flash Thomson, Liz Allan, Sally Avril, J.J.J, Betty Brant, and MANY more. The series, while having a lot of characters, make sure that we don't spend too much time on each, rather getting short clips of what the characters are doing while Spidey is out fighting a baddie. This is a good idea, as it means we don't spend 10 minutes watching Flash's party, rather Spidey fighting against the Sandman while we get clips from his bday party.
Music
The music in this show is definitely spectacular. The theme is catchy, and gets stuck in your head easily, and each villain has some theme that makes the action scenes unique and fun to watch. One of my favorite themes is the Green Goblin's. The music that plays as Spidey frantically tries to defeat his worst enemy shows the danger and crazy hijinks the goblin is causing.
Animation
The animation of the show is hit-or-miss. You either love it or hate it. I personally love it, and I find it one of the best animation versions of a Spidey cartoon to date. The animation and character design has also gained a gigantic amount of respect from me. They earned that since I tried to draw the characters, and that ended up badly lol.
Story
Throughout the series, Peter grows to become a master at fighting the supervillains terrorizing New York. With the first episode featuring the Vulture, and ending with the climactic battle against the Green Goblin, Peter eventually also gets better at balancing his life, but not enough to save him from hurting his relationships. This is especially seen with Liz Allan. **Spoiler Alert**
In the episode, "Gangland", Peter is called to go "take pictures" of Doc Ock, Tombstone, and Silvermane, right during a Valentines Day date with Liz. He apologizes to Gwen, and then leaves, causing Liz to be hurt by his affection for Gwen as well, and after being abandoned. In the 3rd episode, where Spidey fights the Lizard, Spidey also gets pictures of him fighting the Lizard, sells them, and hurts his trust with the Connors. The story keeps us interested, giving us a reason to keep watching, with the growth in Peter/Spidey, and the growth in his friends and enemies as well (I still cry when Sandman is killed, despite knowing he isn't, but still...)
Conclusion
Spectacular Spider-Man is a great show, that features amazing voice acting, characters, music, animation, and an even greater story. If I had to improve on one thing, it would be *although cliché* the ending. The cliffhanger ending is a sad thing to watch, but it wouldn't be like that had the show gotten its 3rd season. Either way, I'm happy with what we got, and Spectacular will always be my favorite Spidey cartoon. Imo, this show is a 9/10, missing the 10/10 due to the cliffhanger ending. I know it wasn't their call, but no show is perfect. Anyways, next time we take a look at the 90's animated series, one of my favorite-turned-disliked Spidey cartoons. What are ur thoughts? Let me know! Anyways, that's all for now. Have a great rest of ur day, guys, and if ur going to have to be dealing with hurricane Dorian like I am, then I will keep u in my prayers. Ciao!
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