Yes the 60's animated show created by the great Ralph Bakshi is indeed the first time Spider-Man has ever appeared on film and TV and yes I will be reviewing the two Pilot episodes.
THE THEME SONG
You remember hearing that Spider-Man theme song that goes "Spider-Man, Spider-Man, does what ever a spider can"? That's where it came from. Just like the Batman theme song to the 60's show, it's catchy while at the same time setting up that campy comic book tone. As for the animation in the intro, comparing it to Bakshi's future work it's not so good. However, it is a 60's cartoon for TV made to look like a comic book with a small budget so I guess I'll let it slide, but I hold no promises.I will admit I did like that the famous line"Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man" appeared on the lens of the camera after taking a picture and I love how he swings into the last shot before it fades out. Overall not a bad opening to the show and the theme song is pretty cool.
THE POWER OF DR.OCTOPUS
Spider-Man gets captured by Dr.Octopus along with The Daily Bugle's reporter Betty Brant. Dr.Octopus plans to destroy the city with hidden bombs under the city, can Spider-Man stop him...minor spoiler alert, NO HE FAILS!
Our main hero Spider-Man, I feared this as a child and now my fear has come face to face with me...Spider-Man is boring. First off his design as Peter Parker, he looks like he's in his 30's then being a young teenage adult. The hot design for Peter in the 90's cartoon looked better than this. His voice doesn't help either, he sounds like he's 40 or older. When we see him as Spider-Man, good god is his voice dull and wooden. It doesn't even come close to sounding like a young adult in a costume or something heroic, it sounds like the voice actor is doing a melodramatic crime drama on the radio. I know this is the first time Spider-Man has ever appeared in the media and that they're trying to develop him but I'm sorry when you're leading hero is suppose to be a young adult but sounds and looks like a man way past the age the character is depicted, it's completely out of place.
Next is our villain Dr.Octopus in his first ever appearance in the media. Even though his design is some what creepy and actually has a voice with personality, he still rubs off as bland and boring villain. The reporter Betty Brent who looks a lot like Mary Jane is bland and boy did I forget her fast. Finally my favorite supporting character, the Boss of the Bugle J. Jonah Jameson is he good, no I actually feel like the voice actor is holding back on him.The animation, while having a good comic book looking world it really looks bad. I mean the show "Scooby Doo" had better animation then this. It looks very stiff, very bland, very cardboard cut out looking and it's boring and dull. From the critic who was alright with an American James Bond in the characters first appearance in the media, this is a very boring and dull start for Spider-Man.
RATING 1/5
SUB-ZERO FOR SPIDEY
There's ice in New York City during the summer and every thing's frozen. Is Mr.Freeze the special guest villain? Actually no, Spider-Man is versing these weird frozen block like creatures and they kidnap Dr. Smarty. Can Spider-Man save him?
Watching this second installment to the series, I noticed something about the voice actor voicing Spider-Man.I can tell the actor is some what trying to sound young as Peter Parker but he quickly gives up and goes back to his boring roots. I also noticed that his Spider-Man voice is deeper from Peter's voice, I guess that would be kind of cool and could probably work but the disguised voice sounds more boring then heroic. The villains are threatening but very ridiculous looking and the plot twist to these characters don't redeem anything from what they done. The kidnapped victim Dr. Smarty, man can I careless for the character and his cry for help doesn't even sound like he's in trouble at all. Oh and the cameos of Betty Brant and Jameson, they're just as down played as they are in the first episode.
The animation has gotten a little better. I like that we see more of Spider-Man Web slinging, crawling on buildings and I like some of frozen effects but with that said, it's still boring. As a matter of fact, the animation is actually laughably bad. Whenever Spider-Man walks toward the screen, he gives the most awkward walk I've ever seen.When we see Peter at home putting on his costume, I can almost swear that Peter's skin color has darkened a bit. It's slightly better than the first one but it's still just as bad.
RATING 1/5
To my surprise the show has an outro theme song which is catchy but here's the surprise, it's actually better than the shows intro. We actually see Spider-Man fighting villains and swinging around the city, that's actually better than the intro we were given. I was actually more sucked in by the shows outro then intro. Why couldn't that be the intro?
OVERALL
I really want to like it or appreciate it for being the first time that Spider-Man has ever entered the media but it just doesn't work. This show is the best example of the main reason why I stayed away from Superheroes as a kid. It's boring, it's campy, it's dull, the characters and villains are bland and very one dimensional, the action and animation is not amusing and the fact that the show was done by the great Ralph Bakshi kind of hurts me inside. All that holds up is the theme song, that's it. Maybe the series will get better but based on these two episodes I don't know if there's any hope in me.
RATING 1/5
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