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| The Spectacular Spider-Man |
Today Patrick is going to
look back at the ill-fated and surprisingly good SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN
Cartoon. Over the next few weeks he will look at all the episodes giving his
views on them. Today he reviews episode 1 Survival Of The Fittest.
WARNING SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!
When I was small I watched the original Spider-Man cartoon. When I heard
about this one I decided to check it out and see what it was like. I have to
say I was pleasantly surprised.
The episode starts off with Peter Parker as Spider-Man after a summer
fighting crime. Peter is revelling in his new found powers and manages to stop
a robbery from two goons which he has done regularly over the summer. We see
Spidey play and toy with them and we get that trademark Spidey wit. What Spidey
doesn’t know is that he is being watched by a big bad. Cut to the opening theme
tune.
It’s a strong and confident start from a show I had never heard about
until recently. The show gets that you know the origin story and that we don’t
want to see it from the start all over again. Spider-Man’s origin is as well
known as Batman’s or Superman’s and doesn’t need to be given to us again. We get
straight into the heart of the story.
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| Spidey in spectacular form. |
May and Peter have little or no money and Peter takes it upon himself to
make money for his family. Peter wants this to be a year of change and when he
arrives in school nothing has. We see him interact with his friends Harry and
Gwen and we see him being shot down by a cheerleader and bullied by Flash
Thompson and his friends. All standard Peter Parker stuff but it’s done in a
great way. It touches on all the good points about Spider-Man and it does it
short and snappy.
The Spider-Man of the story takes place when Adrian Toomes attacks
Norman Osborn for stealing his flight tech suit idea. Toomes becomes Vulture and
he and Spidey have a sky battle that eventually lead to Osborn being saved. The
pace of the episode is fast and fun. The trademark humour of Spidey is never
far away. Eventually the climax of the story takes place between Spidey,
Vulture and the Enforcers, a group of henchmen set on Spidey from the big bad
at the start of the show. Spidey of course wins this battle, with a little
difficulty but we see the resourcefulness of the character and we see that despite
not being the finished article Spider-Man is still an effective hero.
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| Some of the character we meet are well conceptualised |
There is another story in the mix where Peter gets an internship with
Dr. Curt Connors. He and Gwen get the internship and there they meet Connors,
his wife and Eddie Brock. We are let known that Brock and Peter have a strong
friendship but that has been put hold since Brock has gone on to college. Peter
thinks this may be his chance to earn money but his hopes are dashed as he
finds out that it isn’t a paying gig.
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| Josh Keaton who voices Spider-Man |
There is a lot packed into the 20 or so minutes in this first episode
but that is the brilliance of the show. It’s face and confident enough to give
old fans what they want and new fans enough to go on that they won’t be lost. We
get to see Peter interact with all the main characters. I think Josh Keaton is
the perfect choice for Peter/Spider-Man. He balances the naivety of Peter and
the confidence of Spider-Man really well. I also like that Peter is a teenage
and he looks that way even. The animation style is one that I liked and I think
that was one of the reasons I stated watching in the first place. I can see
however why other people may not like it as much. It’s hard to tell where the
story is going to go but I can see a nice story arc developing already. The other
voices actors do a good job of supporting Keaton, but it’s hard to see any
standouts as of yet.
All in all I fell like this is a great start and I encourage Spider-Man
fans old and new to check it out if they can. I myself am looking forward to
the next few episodes. All of which I will review here. As for episode 1 it’s a
great start!
4/5.
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