To mark the 25th anniversary of Spidey ’94, here are 5 must see stories from the show!
Everyone has that thing in their history with Spider-Man which first introduced them to the character and, for however long, simply WAS Spider-Man as far as they knew.
For me and many other impressionable kids in the 1990s, Spider-Man the Animated Series was exactly that.
The show is far from flawless, and yet whatever else one might say about it, the show captured the essence of the character and his particular brand of superhero soap opera storytelling.
Soap opera though it may have been, there are a handful of episodes that I highly recommend you see if you never watch anything else from the show.
Hydro-Man
This episode posses perhaps the best animation of the entire show and showcases what the show was capable of when it its oft criticised animation pulled it all off.
Moreover its the best Hydro-Man story ever told in any medium ever.
Its also a Spider-Man story you wish existed in the comics as it really takes the villain and builds a story tailored to his powers and makes him both threatening and scary. Not simply because he is so dangerous and poses a massive yet fantastical threat, but because he is in this episode an outright stalker and it wouldn’t take much tweaking to render the story a more horrifying tale for older viewers were this not a Saturday Morning Cartoon show.
The episode also is a strong showcasing for Mary Jane and her relationship with Peter which is important to the show but more poignantly aptly illustrates how the show was unafraid to embrace the romance and soap opera that is a part of Spider-Man’s world.
Night of the Lizard
The first episode of the show was in terms of craft arguably it’s best outing. Not only is the animation great, but the story is deft in capturing the essence of Spider-Man’s character in another story that isn’t strictly from the comics but could have been.
At its core a monster/horror story, the episode lends pathos and humanity to Spidey, the Lizard and most of the other players in a solidly constructed story.
Turning Point
An unfriendly episode for new viewers unfortunately, but also unquestionably the best season finale the show ever delivered up until that point. Arguably the best season finale the show had in general, and at a time when those were uncommon for animated shows.
The episode possesses some good animation but most poignantly it finds a way to juggle a seemingly impossible challenge.
How do you adapt the Death of Gwen Stacy, without Gwen Stacy and without anyone dying because standard and practices wouldn’t let you?
The episode needs to be cut some slack for it’s resolution, however on a deeper more fundamental level it finds a way to hit the emotional gut punch of the story in spite of the limitations placed upon it.
The Goblin is built up as a true arch foe to Spider-Man here and a dangerous one at that. In fact this story swipes elements from 2 classic Lee/Romita Goblin stories as well as the most famous Goblin story ever, weaving them together seamlessly.
Spider Wars
The Season 5 and Series Finale is the most ambitious story of the whole show, arguably one of the most ambitious Spider-Man stories in history up to that point.
Spider-Man must team up with…Himself….to save the entire Multiverse from…Himself….
Spider-Verse before Spider-Verse, but infinitely superior, this story is loaded with fan service to the show and wider Spider-Man mythos in the form of alternate costumes for Spidey, a reference to the 1970s Japanese TV show, Gwen Stacy and so much more.
The story pulls together threads set up ever since the second season’s opening episode and is a subtle yet ingenious character study of Spider-Man showing him who he could be if everything went right and also if everything went wrong.
Through this we illuminate who OUR Spider-Man is and he self-actualizes through that realization too, content with who he is.
And the best part is he expresses that contentment to the two people who can truly complete his arc. One of them is Uncle Ben and the other is the greatest Stan Lee cameo of all time. The nature of this cameo is so supremely perfect I dare not spoil it for anyone who might never have seen or heard of it.
Special props also to Spider-Carnage as one of the best Spider-Man villains who was never in the comics because he truly IS Spider-Man.
The Alien Costume Part 1-2/Venom
Whilst this list accounts stories you should just see if you are a Spider-Man fan, honestly if you really just watch ONE story make it this one.
Everyone knows Venom and Spider-Man’s black costume. They are almost as iconic as Spider-Man himself, an indelible part of his mythology right?
Well, whilst these episodes didn’t create either, they redefined and popularized those redefinitions to the point where you can now never see any version of the alien costume or Venom untouched by the influence of these 3 episodes.
Forming a perfect trilogy wherein Spider-Man gains then loses his black costume only to then physically battle it as Venom, this episode dives into the darkside of Spider-Man and pushes him in a way he hadn’t been pushed before in the show.
You might like many versions of this story or of Venom in general, but this is the ultimate grand Daddy of them all!
With that I bid you all farewell, and hope that you join me in wishing a happy 25th anniversary to one of the best, and most important, superhero shows of all time!
Here is to the next 25 Spidey TAS!
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I think what the show did with Hydro-Man and the Venom Symbiote is about on the same level as what Batman TAS did with Mr.Freeze, taking relatively mediocre characters from the comics, and making them vastly more interesting. I kind of wish the show’s take on Hydro-Man could’ve been ret-conned into the 616 continuity like the Symbiote’s corrupting nature was, as is, he’s one of the more dull Spidey rogues in the comics.
Turning Point is probably the best episode of the show overall, I’m always amazed at just how much it manages to pack in, and it’s genuinely epic. It’s interesting how the show used the Green Goblin, he rarely really showed up next to a lot of the other villains, but it did always feel like an event when he did. The episode manages to sum up, in a very short period of time, just why he’s Spidey’s greatest enemy. I also think MJ being trapped in limbo instead of dying is pretty horrifying in its own way as it means that Peter knows she’s out there somewhere suffering, and can’t do anything about it.
Spider Wars was definitely my favourite take on a multiple Spider-People story until Into The Spider-Verse came along. Having the Spideys be teaming up to fight an evil version of themselves is such a great idea, and it’s done really well. Also, does anyone else really want the TAS Spidey to appear again in one of the Spider-Verse comics? It’d be simplicity itself to get him in there considering his show ends with him exploring the multiverse to look for MJ!, and they could even finally resolve that cliffhanger!
The show that made me a Spider-Man fan! I re-watched it not too long ago and think it holds up much better than some people have given it credit for. And I must agree that the “Spider-Wars” episodes were far better than the actual “Spider-Verse” story we got later on.
That Spider Wars series of episodes was difficult for me because it ended upon (finally!) Madame Webb’s telling Peter that the great evil she was preparing him for was now passed, and she says she will take him to the real Mary Jane. I had been waiting seeming ages for that moment, but I had no way of knowing at the time that that would be the very last episode. I was so disappointed. With Peter’s “Amen to that, dear lady. Amen to that,” it was all over. I absolutely loved that cartoon — every Saturday at 10 AM.
@hornacek
I can confirm that in the USM cartoon the symbiote did make people evil but it was a little different. From what I recall, whilst most iterations feature the symbiote involves it alternately bringing out the host’s darker impulses, removing their inhibitions, etc, in USM it was more like it simply took you over and turned you into Venom (teeth/tongue and all). In that sense it’s a little more like a werewolf transformation.
I’ve been told the symbiote in the current cartoon also acted like a kid of werewolf/horror transformation, but I’ve not been brave enough to stomach the show myself. It did bond with Peter though, I know that much, but whether it had other hosts before him I do not know.
Also the influence of this show on the perception of Venom and symbiotes as a whole is larger than even affecting other adaptations. Many/most fans, even ones who were there when the original Alien Costume Saga was happening in the 1980s, have retroactively rewritten their memories to be more in line with this show’s take. In Superior Spider-Man’s ‘The Darkest Hours’ storyline, it’s never questioned that Venom can corrupt Doc Ock and make him evil(er). And countless stories in canon have simply gone full steam ahead with the idea that symbiotes make their hosts evil, there wasn’t even a story where a big deal was made about them now being able to do that.
It’s like this show was so good everyone not only accepted their interpretation but in their heads decided it had always been like that. The actual first time we ever saw Spider-Man struggle with the symbiote in any way similar to this show was in ‘Web of Carnage’ during the Clone Saga.
The Alien Costume Saga’s effects are still felt today. Every* subsequent adaptation of Spidey getting the black costume and the birth of Venom have included the symbiote bringing out the worst elements of Peter’s personality – the 90s show created this. As Donovan once explained to Brad on the podcast, this was a creation of the cartoon: “In the comics the symbiote just took Peter out on patrol when he was asleep, using him like a prison cellmate.”
* Now that I think about it, not sure about the USM cartoon since it eventually had the symbiote bond with Flash for Agent Venom, a good guy, so maybe that symbiote didn’t make people evil. And did the current cartoon have the symbiote do this? Wait, did the current cartoon have the symbiote bond with Peter at all? Didn’t it go straight to Harry? Man, that show is so bad, it’s immediately forgettable.