World Spider-Man (1994-1998) Thread

[PeterBenParker]

Decided to make a thread dedicated to one of the best interpretations/adaptations of Spider-Man to this day.

I'd like to say a special thank you to John Semper Jr. for the amount of thought and heart the show had, along with the excellent character designs, voice acting, storylines, etc. etc.
Also a big thank you to Christopher Daniel Barnes whom is easily one of my favorite Spider-Man VAs and I'm glad to see he's still involved with the character to this day.

Leave any and all thoughts on the show in the thread.

 

[spiderman2]

This and spectatular are by far my 2 favorite Spider-Man shows ever. I give this a edge but I think if spectatular had lasted has long it would maybe be better. My 2 biggest issues are that Spider-Man could punch and also he got hurt to easy. It was like ever episode he would get hit once and then be knocked out lol. With that said still a great show and I wish it would come out on bluray or at least dvd.

 

[PeterBenParker]

This and spectatular are by far my 2 favorite Spider-Man shows ever. I give this a edge but I think if spectatular had lasted has long it would maybe be better. My 2 biggest issues are that Spider-Man could punch and also he got hurt to easy. It was like ever episode he would get hit once and then be knocked out lol. With that said still a great show and I wish it would come out on bluray or at least dvd.

Me too, man. Shame we don't have an official complete series set.

 

[ItchyWebShooter]

You can purchase the full series on iTunes. That's what I did lol.

 

[zeptron]

This is the show that introduced me to the majority of Spidey's world. I do have some flaws with it. I know a lot of hardcore and militant fans of the show tend to criticize more recent Spidey adaptations mainly because the character designs aren't drawn like how they are in Spider-man TAS. What I don't think that they understand is while the designs in TAS were more detailed, the actual animation of the show suffered as a result. Slow and stiff character movement, being drenched with stock footage and pretty lacking action sequences(combined with censorship issues).

The show also had a poor use of the villains. I mean Morbius(a C-list villain at best) ended up having more appearances than Norman Osborn's Green Goblin and Venom. And almost everything somehow ended up being connected to Kingpin. The only huge story arc that was actually Kingpin free was the Morbius episodes season. Even in the Venom three parter, he appears in two of the episodes. Doc Ock was the villain that probably suffered most from Kingpin's overuse. After his debut anytime he appeared he was working for Kingpin.

This is why the first season was my favorite one. Good strong episodes, good use of the villains who get to shine in their own episodes solo without being tied to Kingpin. Which is something we rarely got afterwards. Other than barely half a handful of villains, I can't think of any other villains from Season 1, that got their own chance to shine like that after the first season.

 

[ItchyWebShooter]

Season 1 was definitely the best. Ock suffered in this show. It took me years to discover just how effing awesome he really is. (Although his first appearance is pretty good).

 

[Vampfox]

Still the best Spider-Man cartoon in my opinion.
Why isn't the series out on DVD yet?

 

[ItchyWebShooter]

Still the best Spider-Man cartoon in my opinion.
Why isn't the series out on DVD yet?

I believe it's tied up with rights issues.

You can however purchase the series in its entirety on iTunes to stream. It may be available on YouTube and other streaming services as well, I don't know.

 

[PeterBenParker]

It's also on Netflix in its entirety.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

My favorite episodes are 'Night of the Lizard', 'Doctor Octopus: Armed and Dangerous', 'The Hobgoblin' two parts, 'The Alien Saga' (and the legacy it left behind, especially how it affected my favorite Spidey game), 'The Menace of Mysterio', 'Sting of the Scorpion', 'The Spider-Slayer', and 'The Insidious Six'.

I would argue that TAS is overall good, but only great in a few episodes. It tends to be highly overrated online IMO due to rose-tinted nostalgia glasses. It definitely had some awful, awful parts as well.

The worst part is Spider-Man not being able to fight Kingpin at all, what's up with that? Sure he kicked him once, tossed him another time, but most of the time he's just the fat man's squeezy toy.
Everything about Kingpin being semi-absolute authority over villains is awful, the most shining villain is probably Hobgoblin, before being captured by the Green Goblin.

 

[ItchyWebShooter]

My favorite episodes are 'Night of the Lizard', 'Doctor Octopus: Armed and Dangerous', 'The Hobgoblin' two parts, 'The Alien Saga' (and the legacy it left behind, especially how it affected my favorite Spidey game), 'The Menace of Mysterio', 'Sting of the Scorpion', 'The Spider-Slayer', and 'The Insidious Six'.

By far the pinnacle of this series is "The Alien Costume Saga" IMHO of course. Other great episodes are the aforementioned "Doctor Octopus: Armed and Dangerous", "Turning Point", and the multiversal Spider-Team-Up episodes, especially the last one. I like the rest of your list as well, but those take the cake for me for sure.

The worst part is Spider-Man not being able to fight Kingpin at all, what's up with that? Sure he kicked him once, tossed him another time, but most of the time he's just the fat man's squeezy toy.

Kingpin was definitely OP in this show.

Everything about Kingpin being semi-absolute authority over villains is awful, the most shining villain is probably Hobgoblin, before being captured by the Green Goblin.

I think the absolute worst example of this was Doc Ock. He went from so badass in "Armed and Dangerous" to a straight-up stooge. They neutered the character hardcore.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

By far the pinnacle of this series is "The Alien Costume Saga" IMHO of course. Other great episodes are the aforementioned "Doctor Octopus: Armed and Dangerous", "Turning Point", and the multiversal Spider-Team-Up episodes, especially the last one. I like the rest of your list as well, but those take the cake for me for sure.

'Turning Point' is great too.

Kingpin was definitely OP in this show.

I think the absolute worst example of this was Doc Ock. He went from so badass in "Armed and Dangerous" to a straight-up stooge. They neutered the character hardcore.

Too OP.
I remember moving on from that show early in the thousands, and finally reading Essential: Peter Parker The Spectacular Spider-Man book 3, egads, the difference between Ock in that show and what that older comic showed is remarkable, Ock holding a bomb in front of Kingpin, and Kingpin was terrified of Ock, I wondered why we didn't get something this remarkable in Kingpin being freighted in TAS.

Thankfully, TSSM gave us 'Gangland', and in it Ock fought Big Man until Spider-Man knocked him down, before moving on to Lincoln.

 

[ItchyWebShooter]

Too OP.
I remember moving on from that show early in the thousands, and finally reading Essential: Peter Parker The Spectacular Spider-Man book 3, egads, the difference between Ock in that show and what that older comic showed is remarkable, Ock holding a bomb in front of Kingpin, and Kingpin was terrified of Ock, I wondered why we didn't get something this remarkable in Kingpin being freighted in TAS.

Thankfully, TSSM gave us 'Gangland', and in it Ock fought Big Man until Spider-Man knocked him down, before moving on to Lincoln.

Yeah, the biggest flaw of this show IMO was making Kingpin OP and tying him into literally EVERYTHING. I mean, there was NOTHING evil going on without his fat @$$ being behind it all.

And yeah... Ock is a killer character in the comics. One of the best Spidey villains, top 3 with Green Goblin and Venom...he was done a terrible disservice in this show.

Gangland was amazing.t:

 

[zeptron]

Let's not forget how Kingpin easily breaking out of some restraints, yet those same restraints still manage to hold Rhino. Not sure if that was Kingpin being OP or poor writing on the writer's part.

The sad thing is about Doc Ock was that the Octobot two-parter was his chance to reclaim his arch nemesis status against Spidey, but this gets ruined once it's shown that he was working for Kingpin. Kingpin didn't even contribute to anything in these episodes other than showing that Ock wasn't acting alone and didn't do anything of worth. And thus he could have been removed completely from the episode with no serious change.

 

[ItchyWebShooter]

Let's not forget how Kingpin easily breaking out of some restraints, yet those same restraints still manage to hold Rhino. Not sure if that was Kingpin being OP or poor writing on the writer's part.

Not sure the two are mutually exclusive.

The sad thing is about Doc Ock was that the Octobot two-parter was his chance to reclaim his arch nemesis status against Spidey, but this gets ruined once it's shown that he was working for Kingpin. Kingpin didn't even contribute to anything in these episodes other than showing that Ock wasn't acting alone and didn't do anything of worth. And thus he could have been removed completely from the episode with no serious change.

Exactly, that's the kind of thing that really made this show's version of Octavius very forgettable and regrettable outside of his stellar first appearance.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

Yeah, the biggest flaw of this show IMO was making Kingpin OP and tying him into literally EVERYTHING. I mean, there was NOTHING evil going on without his fat @$$ being behind it all.

At least he had no involvement in Spider-Wars...
Two of his counterparts had their fat share.

And yeah... Ock is a killer character in the comics. One of the best Spidey villains, top 3 with Green Goblin and Venom...he was done a terrible disservice in this show.

Pretty much.
I wouldn't put Venom high among my favorite Spidey rogues, as important as he is.

Gangland was amazing.t:

One of the best episodes. t:

Let's not forget how Kingpin easily breaking out of some restraints, yet those same restraints still manage to hold Rhino. Not sure if that was Kingpin being OP or poor writing on the writer's part.

That is easily one of the biggest WTF moments in that show.

The sad thing is about Doc Ock was that the Octobot two-parter was his chance to reclaim his arch nemesis status against Spidey, but this gets ruined once it's shown that he was working for Kingpin. Kingpin didn't even contribute to anything in these episodes other than showing that Ock wasn't acting alone and didn't do anything of worth. And thus he could have been removed completely from the episode with no serious change.

But he was involved cause.... I don't know, the I6 deserted him at the end of that two parter, working back for him is unfitting in continuity.

 

[ItchyWebShooter]

At least he had no involvement in Spider-Wars...
Two of his counterparts had their fat share.

smh

Pretty much.
I wouldn't put Venom high among my favorite Spidey rogues, as important as he is.

I don't actually think Venom is in my top 3 either (can't decide really). I just mean from the general public point of view.

One of the best episodes. t:

Not that there is a bad one.

That is easily one of the biggest WTF moments in that show.

lol true

But he was involved cause.... I don't know, the I6 deserted him at the end of that two parter, working back for him is unfitting in continuity.

Exactly. It made Doc Ock look weak and was lazy writing.

 

[zeptron]

But he was involved cause.... I don't know, the I6 deserted him at the end of that two parter, working back for him is unfitting in continuity.

That was one of continuity errors the show had. The end of the I6 two parter had everyone dropping out of Kingpin's service only for some of them to be seen later on working for him and report to him in most things they do. With no explanation as to why. They just serve him.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

I don't actually think Venom is in my top 3 either (can't decide really). I just mean from the general public point of view.

That's what I said.

Not that there is a bad one.

That's one reason it's great.

Exactly. It made Doc Ock look weak and was lazy writing.

That was one of continuity errors the show had. The end of the I6 two parter had everyone dropping out of Kingpin's service only for some of them to be seen later on working for him and report to him in most things they do. With no explanation as to why. They just serve him.

And this is one the multitude of reasons holding me back from considering this show a great one, despite how much fun I have watching it.