I'm a woman in my 30s and watched this show as a child. This was my first exposure to comic book characters; Spiderman will always be my favorite character. I found this show on Disney+ and it is just has wonderful as when I originally experienced it. The story-lines are captivating, Peter Parker is quick-witted, and the animation is detailed for a 90s cartoon. Speaking of story-lines, I'm noticing that this show must have been big inspiration for live-action movies to follow in the next 10-20 years. Obviously, most Spiderman stories stem from canonical comic books, but a lot of scenes are visually similar to Raimi's Spiderman and even current Marvel Studios Spiderman movies. For example: scenes from the Mysterio episode, Doc-Oc episode, Black Spiderman episode, and the episode showing Spiderman's origin story. This is further evidence that ideas just get recycled. And wow, J. K. Simmons really was a great choice for J. Jonah Jameson; he has very similar mannerisms to Parker's animated boss.
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gani040124 January 2020
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Terryfan22 January 2015Spider-Man The Animated Series came at the time when comic book superheroes were getting well done well told animated shows.
True believers will agree that this series did Spider-Man justice for not only it's impressive animation style but for staying true to the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.
Marvel had many shows based on their comics on Fox Kids and the two that stick out the most to me are Spider-Man and X-men.
Many of the series episodes were inspired by the comic books like Venom saga and the six armed story line.
So props for the makers of this show for making it where kids can watch it but adults can enjoy it as well.
They really got some good voice actors to play the characters like Christoper Daniel Barnes was the right choice for Spider-Man and his alter ego Peter Parker.
Jennifer Hale, Sara Ballantine, Edward Asner, Roscoe Lee Browne and many more did very well with their characters as well.
The Animation for the show is very impression for the the 90s with hand drawn animation and some camera tricks where you get the feel of actually swinging with Spider-Man.
The villains for the show are many favorites from the fans like Kingpin, Scorpion, The Lizard, The Green Goblin, Venom, Carnage and many others.
The voice acting helps with fine writing tell the story of episode as they play into the next one.
Marvel hit a home run with one of the flagship characters for their brand.
Overall if you're a True Believer and a fan of Marvel you will enjoy this classic -
gamerzach715 January 2012I woke up early pretty often to watch re-runs of this show, and cutting a little sleep was definitely worthwhile. This show is a perfect edition to the spider man universe. Every episode has strong animation,a clever and compelling story, suspense you will enjoy, plenty of action, and often a twist you don't see coming. Character emotion is a little weak, but gets the job done. The show usually leaves off in one episode to continue in the next, and this is surprisingly fun. Guest stars from other marvel stories are sometimes brought in to stir things up. When a kid grows up, this is something they will look back on.
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SonicBoom779 July 2008Really, this is my favorite cartoon of all time. Growing up as a small kid watching it everyday when coming home from school i quickly became a huge fan of the series and Spider-Man himself, if i hadn't had seen this series i would probably never had been a Spider-Man fan. Every episode was amazing they always had a great cliff hanger, great story, great characters, great voice actors and great animation. The Venom Saga was easily my favorite storyline i remember watching all the time on VHS after receiving it as a Christmas present, the storyline was amazing, i didn't read the Spider-Man comics to know the origin of the Symbiote but this TV Show told it better as far as staying in Spider-Mans world.The Storyline was very dark and scary if only the Spider-Man 3 film had followed the symbiote story it would have made more sense and been better but the storyline was pure incredible, Peters dark side was unique and scary. Venom quickly became one of my favorite villain to ever step into the Superhero world. The series didn't have the character of Gwen Stacy but i was totally fine by, i didn't discover her character until years later. The Green Goblin was always my second favorite character of the show his design was perfect and his character was perfect as well and he delivered one of the most amazing evil laughs i have ever heard. The series didn't feature much Electro so that disappointed me because he is my favorite villain ever believe it or not. I always enjoyed The Black Cat and Spider-Man episodes mainly because i enjoyed the love relationship storyline a ton, i enjoyed it more then the Peter and MJ story lines likely because Black Cat was like Spider-Man a lot fighting crime. If you are now in your teens and are a die hard Spider-Man fan it is likely because you grew up watching this series, like myself. This series is very special to me and it will always remain my favorite cartoon series ever. 10/10
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smint13 July 1999I've seen all those other Spidey cartoons, and as hilariously bad as they are, they're painful to watch; however, this version of Spider-Man has the most accurate representation of the character Peter Parker/Spider-Man and all his friends and enemies.
The animation is interesting to look at, the story is quick-paced and exciting, and the dialogue has corny jokes and puns which are hilarious. They've even used the lesser-known villains, such as the Spot! Now THERE's an indication of a really good cartoon show.
It's a shame they had to end it due to legal problems. Will the world ever learn? -
TheLittleSongbird19 April 2010As a 17 year old female, I really love this series. Then again, I am very fond of Superheroes, and I consider Batman:The Animated Series as one of the best cartoon series ever made. This Spiderman series is simply brilliant, with great voice acting, good writing, above average animation and gripping and faithful story lines. And I also love the characters, Spiderman is always likable, but I loved the villains, Kingpin, Dr Octopus, Green Goblin and Venom were all great. Plus the theme tune is very memorable.
Overall, I love Spiderman. It is a great series to watch, and it is great as an adaptation as well. 10/10 Bethany Cox -
dee.reid6 June 2008This is probably the best animated series of Marvel Comics' Spider-Man during the 20th century. I saw "Spider-Man" whenever I could on FOX Kids during its short run on television during the mid-1990s. If you've read the comics since "Amazing Fantasy #15" (Spidey's August 1962 debut), then there's no need to retell the story, but I'll do it anyway: Peter Parker is a shy high school student who gets bitten on the hand by a radioactive spider at a science exhibit. The spider-bite gives him a vast array of spider-like abilities, which he then uses to fight crime after the murder of his beloved Uncle Ben by a burglar. Fans also know that Parker's life wasn't easy, as both Peter Parker and Spider-Man: his relationships with the people he was closest to suffered (like with best pal Harry Osborn and - eventual - wife, Mary Jane Watson), and he became desperate for cash after Uncle Ben's death so he had to take a job as a photographer for the Daily Bugle to help support his widowed Aunt May - all this while fighting crime as tights-wearing wall-crawler Spider-Man.
Anyway, the animated series "Spider-Man" is fantastic, a more-than-faithful adaptation of the comics. A lot of classic villains appear here, my favorite of which is Dr. Octopus, as well as my favorite Spider-Man character (other than Spidey himself), Venom - he's just the coolest anti-hero in the Spider-Man Universe!
I just wish this show would hurry up and come to DVD soon.
10/10 -
jschroeck9216 July 2012I grew up watching this series and I loved it. I was always looking forward to watching this when I came home from school back in the 90's. Its perfect with great story lines, well-based off of the original comics. The only thing that was missing was Gwen Stacy but I was perfectly fine with that. The creators did a great job. I only wish someone could make a new Spiderman TV series, just as good as this one, with well drawn characters (not the stupid Japanese anime crap) that the children of our generation today could love Spiderman as much as I did.
The villains in this series are amazing, my favorite is Carnage. If you actually compare this series to the original comics, it is actually so close to being exact. That's what people want! They want a classic Spiderman based off of the original comics. Not like the crap movies that have Toby McGuire in them. He is a terrible Peter Parker. This series is totally worth it. Check it out on Netflix. -
Spider-man and X-men. There was nothing more a kid needed in the time of the 90s. Between Uncle Ben's sage-like advice and Nightcrawler's Piety, it's a wonder we all didn't revert back to the 1950's.
This show was a marvel of animation when it came out. In the spirit of Hollywood, cartoons coming out now are much blander and boring than what once was good, like this. The blended CGI which it was famous for was unique, and really helped to show New York in a "real" fashion (to us kids.) The story line can't be beat. While the comics go much deeper and have much broader character ties, this cartoon does the same thing as X-men and brings it to a realistic level that you can watch, and understand, without having to dig through comics to see what the hell just went on and who's who. Whereas the movies of both franchises have simple stories and characters (but big special effects), and the comics have HUGE stories and unlimited characters, the shows are a perfect zen of the two.
The best part of the whole series is easily the voices. The voices brought this show from the comic pages to the small screen. Christopher Daniel Barnes will always be Spider-man to me. Edward Asner (JJJ) and Jim Cummings (Shocker.) The absolute best is Roscoe Lee Brown as the Kingpin. The role was made for him.
The end of this show was really perfect, they redid the clone saga (which caused a HUGE upset in the comics) and gave it a much, much happier (and plausible) ending. Scarlet Spider is still there and he still kicks, along with Madam Web and the Beyonder. Spider-Carnage is also there, as evil as ever. Spider-Carnage's character represents a lot of hatred and malice that can be found in each and every person. The end of the series always gives me a sad/happy nostalgia.
This is one of the greatest shows ever made. Hands down. -
alember198323 September 2007I watched this show every Saturday morning along with X-MEN in the early to mid 90's. I am watching season 1 through 5 now, and watching it brings me back to being a preteen again. But, watching it now makes me think how good of a show it was even if it was marketed towards kids. I think if it had a little darker tone and more violence it would be a perfect comic book to animated comic book series/show. I'm just saying, if it wasn't a kids show.
Anyways, I like how they take all the original stories from the original Amazing Spider-Man comic books and they do a very good job with bringing the stories to life. Even the new Spider-Man movies don't capture Peter Parker and Spider-Man like this show does. In the movie, they need to make Spider-Man more sharp and witty like he was in the comic books. But, for the show, it kicks ass. I think if you like Spider-Man, adult, kid, or whatever age you are. You will probably enjoy it. -
m-ozfirat3 April 2016I remember this series when it aired in 1996/1997 and I enjoyed it making those years memorable. The start of the show was good introducing Spider-man and the many villains he encountered especially the Kingpin. The comic book is especially well adapted to the Television series, though I think Kingfisher comics would of kept it more conventional and coherent.
The story lines and most of the characters were well written in to the scenario of the series, though I thought the animation was to digital it would of been more original had it been traditional anime art styles. His relationship with his girlfriend and his exciting job as a photographer was also compelling. The music was good and so was the introduction to the show. As a teenager I loved it and it kept me entertained
The elements I didn't like was that towards the end the series dragged and the evolution of the series developed to slowly rather then reaching a final conclusion on his experiences as Spider- man and Peter Parker on how he matured and synthesised the two in to an auspicious ending. A few of the villains were also vile to enjoy the show i.e Venom. -
btimmfan23 September 2015This is the best Spider-Man animated series ever made. It is also one of the best superhero animated series ever. The story arcs were epic and unpredictable, Spider-Man had the perfect personality and voice in Christopher Daniel Barnes, and nearly every major character in the Spider- Man mythos made an appearance. Also, the majority of the character designs were great to look at and had a very realistic look to them.
It is not a perfect show. There was a lot of reused animation (scene cuts from previous episodes reused in later episodes). Sometimes it would fit and look alright, and other times it was pretty obvious. Also, even though some things were toned down for being a children's show, I never got the feeling or impression that anything was lacking (even in later viewings as an adult). Anyway, I seriously doubt there will ever be another Spider-Man show that comes close to the quality of this one. This IS Spider-Man. -
stefanozucchelli16 January 2022Good series with interesting episodes even if they are too tied together. If you missed one you will struggled to understand what is happening. The graphic style is a bit heavy and all the characters seem to have the muscles that want to get out of the shirt but otherwise it's a cartoon worth seeing.
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Watching a videotaped replay of about 8 various 1994-1997 Spider-man cartoons made me realize why I couldn't stomach it when it first came out.
I'm from the old school, where the 1967 Spider-man cartoon was the best and still remains the best. (I won't get into the psychedelic version which is terrible - give me traditional villains please.)
The acting in the new stuff is lousy, read off a sheet with either no feeling or overacting. Paul Soles, where are you now? This guy was the best at voice acting for Spider-man. No one comes close. Watching Secret Wars, a great idea for a cartoon mini-series, made me wince. Dr. Doom sounds like a comedy version of Bela Lugosi. In a scene with Red Skull and Doc Ock, Red Skull has no German accent while Ock is heavy Russian! The old Marvel comic hero series from 1966 had much better voice acting. Iron Man sounded like he was wearing an iron mask, Captain America sounded authoritative not like some teenage kid. Paul Frees as the Thing in the 60s was the best Thing ever. The old voice actors were pioneers and there will never be anyone like them. Ever hear Mel Blanc's son? No way can he replicate his dad.
The animation is clunky. Okay, so they have all the fancy character shadings and nicely painted backrounds. Sometimes you can say more with less movement if more movement looks bad. Sometimes when you let the computer take over the movements they become robotic. I really don't think any of these animators know what in betweeners are.
The stories are badly written, and some of the lines they give the heroes are horrible. Why, for example, when heroes are teamed together for the first time they start fighting with each other? In Secret Wars, it was a lame excuse that got them in disagreement. I can see if the hero was dark, unknown and mysterious - like the Punisher, but why the Thing and Iron Man can't hold their tempers with each other is ridiculous, then the Torch joins in. This is just another of the later comic trends to get heroes to square off at each other for a few seconds because 'everyone' wants to see that stuff. Give them a better reason to fight and maybe it can be pulled off, but "Hey what are you doing here" and "You don't tell me what to do" are LAME reasons. Another badly written scene is in The Wedding where Harry Osborne unmasks himself to spoil Peter's wedding. That whole scenario was awful.
Last, but certainly not least, is what another critic calls Juvenile Violence - meaning no punches at all. In Secret Wars, the Lizard carefully ducked the Thing's charge. But the Thing punches the bad guys across an entire block in the comics. He must simply revert to lifting heavy things and subduing a bad guy by grabbing hold of him in the cartoons. Sure, these cartoons were not made strictly for us adults but for kids under 12. That's why they can't have punching, because mommy and daddy don't believe in that type of violence. But you can blow things up, these cartoons will include that. As a kid before political correctness came in fashion I saw cartoons punching each other. What's wrong with a punch to the chops? Is there really less violence in the world today because those slick and crafty new cartoons took out the punch? I find this the most insulting of all when I watch the new stuff. They've written out "the punch' because we could all hurt ourselves.
Kids, enjoy these cartoons all you want, I've seen enough.
3/10 rating -
mikeyd070224 December 2018This is the Spider-Man I grew up with. Probably the best on screen adaptation of the character, villains, and story arcs I've ever seen to this day along with great originality as well. They somehow found the perfect balance. No cartoon in 25 years has been able to replicate what this show did.
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Animany9431 July 2017I have watched a lot of animated renditions of Spider-Man and this is the only one which still holds up to this day. The Spectacular Spider- Man (2008), which is a great show too, captures a lot of this show's strengths, but not all of them. The voice acting, the animation, the characters, everything is well executed. Perhaps you can point out some flaws yourself, but I can't find any. Okay, honestly, the frequently occurring CG backgrounds can be distracting at times, but aside from that nothing sticks out.
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generationofswine4 August 2019This actually lives up to the hype that people are throwing at it today. The only thing that comes close to reviling it was Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends.
It was amazing, the action was great, the story telling was great and fit the character perfectly, especially circa 90s Spider.
And, let's face it, the production values are out of this world compared to the cartoons that you get today.. and the stories are deeper and less condescension to children than you would ever find today.
It ran for 4 years, 94-98, and it dropped at the very end, it dropped at the end of that era where cartoons assumed that Children could understand things, and didn't talk down to them.
It was absolutely wonderful -
I remember waking up early to watch this show. Looking back it had some of the best story lines and a great voice cast, the characters and story lines were true to the comics; I grew up watching all the Marvel animated shows and this could easily rip apart all the other rubbish shows that are aired today.
I absolutely loved the theme song and the 'spidey sense' was so cool;the action sequences were very entertaining. This show however was different to the other 90's Marvel shows, it had guest appearances from every heron in the marvel universe. For those who don't want to read the comics to find out about the characters; just watch this show; the best episode is probably the Captain America episodes it has great character development; the voice actors do a fine job.
My first exposure to Spiderman, great times. -
zurdulla21 June 2019The best Spider-Man. The main advantage of this cartoon is that it raises social themes and is far from stupid.Great soundtrack and not children's stories .It is a pity that the end is unknown. I would like to see season 6. This cartoon will stay in my heart for a long time...
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Alot of people complain about the animation in this show. While it was rather poor in spots, it had some good CGI backgrounds of cityscapes, which looked neat. And then there's the story: AWESOME!! So what is the animation is spotty, people read Lord of the Rings even if the edition is 25 years old, water stained, and smells of dank basement. I loved the stories about Venom, they showed real moral dilemmas. It was on par with the spectacular X-Men show of about the same time. Fox should put a definitive DVD collection out of this, X-Men, and maybe EEEKstravaganza.
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angryshark-6803412 August 2022The 1994 Spider-Man: Animated Series is without a doubt the best Spiderman cartoon to date. Seasons 1-3 are a masterpiece and about as good as any Batman Animated Series season. After rewatching the whole series as an adult you can see the influence the how had on the Sam Rami films and the many other Spider-Man films after. It's the 2nd best animated series ever and even better than Batman Beyond which I am a big fan of. I would've rated the show a 10 but seasons 4 and 5 seems to drag on and get boring and there are some very cheesy moments in this show that are almost cringe worthy. Overall I rate this show a 9/10 and I'll stand by that. If your looking for the best Spider-Man cartoon this is the one.
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jboothmillard27 May 2005No this isn't the brilliant live-action movie, but when I was younger I used to watch this very good hi-tech cartoon about a very popular super hero from Marvel Comics. The show always started with a short intro to how Peter Parker became the hero Spider-Man. The only difference between this and the movie is that Spider-Man uses web cartridges instead of them coming out of his wrist. But, this was quite a good show to watch occasionally. The villains were very good, especially The Green Goblin. One episode I saw that I never understood was the one Green Goblin sucks himself and Mary Jane Watson (Spidey's fancy) into a portal. I never saw the second part until two years later, but I still didn't get it. The only villain who was hard to get used to was the Kingpin, I mean, what did he do apart from sit in a chair. If you loved the movie, then maybe you'd like this. Quite good!
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zackeryburgedd18 July 2011This is the first superhero cartoon I ever watched and I will always remember it. As I mentioned in my Justice League review when I was a kid I was into superheroes. This is what got me into. This was the reason I am a comic book fan. It introduced me not just to Spider-man,Mary Jane, Aunt May and other characters, but it introduced me to Spider-Man's rogues gallery. Villains such as Doc Ock,Mysterio,Shocker,Rhino,and the Green Goblin would be part of my childhood. When my friends and I would play Spider-man I would always be the villains and since no one else wanted to be the villain I had to pretend I was all of them and it was fun! The show also did a good job of introducing other superheroes like Blade,Dr.Strange,and the Punisher. Overall this is a classic. Even though I was only a baby when show was still going on, I saw re runs of the show which was a big impact on my childhood. And made me into the person and I am to say. All I have to say is with power comes great responsibility.
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I_Am_The_Taylrus18 May 2007SPOILERS
Since I have recently seen Spiderman Three, I have decided to look back at all the good times with Spideyman, this being one of them. Okay, I am being a bit creepy, but it does not matter. This was one of my favorite television shows when I was just a little boy. When I watch it now I still enjoy it, but not as much as I did nine years ago. Okay, let's talk about the show, shall we? First of all, the animation. The animation is slick and stylish, and it has a 70's feel to it, which is perfect for this. The villains look how you pictured them. Spiderman's swinging is animated perfectly, and New York is great.
Here is the basis of this Spiderman cartoon. When you look at it, it is pretty much like the comics. This tells about Peter Parker, who is bitten by a spider and gains supernatural powers. This tells about when he becomes the hero we all know and love, Spiderman! This tells about his battles with such infamous Marvel villains like Doctor Octopus, Green Goblin, Mysterio, Kraven the Hunter, Lizard, Venom, the symbiote suit, and more. Well, the suit is not technically a villain, but it does make the best episodes, the Alien Costume I, II, and III. Anyway, this also talks about Peter's love life Mary Jane Watson, and when he marries her. I have not seen every episode, so I will not give anything else away, but you get the idea. If you read the comics, you should have no problem understanding this. This is a good cartoon, not the best, but very fun. I am not going to talk about this cartoon anymore, because that would be scary.
7/10
Recommended Movies: Spiderman. -
Aqua_Fresca5 June 2012I'm not going to lie, Spider-Man: the Animated Series was one of my favorite cartoons growing up. It was a delightful contrast to Batman: the Animated Series, and while I did enjoy the colorful animation and sarcastic humor, this is one cartoon in a long line of many that just doesn't hold up very well. Specifically, in the case of Spider-Man, it's nearly unwatchable.
To cut straight to the point, what ultimately does Spider-Man in for me is its excessive content and horrendous pacing. Every episode feels like it tries to pack too much into 20 minutes, and the pacing doesn't give anything room to breathe or settle. Each episode shifts between multiple scenes relentlessly, employing shoddy transitions that make everything feel like its running together. From the change of scenery it's obvious when a scene change has been made, but it doesn't feel that way, often coming across like one big scene that has trouble deciding when to end.
Another thing that really bothered me is how artificial the emotional side of the show could be. Whenever certain tragic moments would come up, their emotional impact would either be diminished because of the bad pacing, or would be devoted to for all of ten seconds in order to explain why a character decides to go from A to B.
For example, in the Man-Spider saga when Punisher is about to kill Peter, a doctor with the means to help cure him convinces the Punisher not to by literally summarizing his origins in a couple seconds, even complete with a split-second shot of a tear running down his face. It's a moment that exemplifies this aspect of the show for me, because A) it takes this emotional part of a character's life and reduces it to a simple plot point, and B) it shows just how intimate the show was willing get with its characters.
It's all of these factors together that really turn Spider-Man into a chore rather than enjoyment, and while I understand that the show's desire is to create silly, escapist entertainment for children, it just doesn't translate into a high quality product, and had the crew worked harder then the result might've been a show that would've been worth watching, at the least.