Well I've reviewed like all of the Spider-Man movies that were made in America, so why not move onto the animated stuff? Then I remembered that the one I grew up with as a kid has aged horribly and wasn't much appreciated at the time either, so I decided to give this one a go... enjoy!
Although the show received heaps of praise, it was cancelled before it made it to a third season. Only making 26 of the originally planned 65 episodes. And it was cancelled to be replaced by the truly awful and critically panned 'Ultimate Spider-Man' as Marvel attempts to water down, simplify and ultimately ruin every animated adaptation they have because you know, if it's for kids it has to be patronising and stupid! Wait no...
Spectacular was praised for how much it cared for Spider-Man fans, called fun, smart, mature, witty and just all around probably the best superhero adaptation since Batman: TAS.And what did I think of The Spectacular Spider-Man? Well let's dig in and find out!
Spectacular's animation is great, since it is no longer limited by human beings and no longer has to look convincing, it can just capture Spidey's agility as true to the comics as physically possible. And thanks to this great sense of speed, fluidity and motion, the action scenes are consistently thrilling and really capture that superhero feel, they are well staged, choreographed and directed. The same can't be said for the art style itself though...I got used to it eventually like I did the Justice League or Earth's Mightiest Heroes but why do these sort of cartoons always look so cheap and ugly? The art style just doesn't...fit, Spectacular is a straight faced, mature cartoon as much about life and all the things that come with it as it is fighting super villains, so the goofy cartoony aesthetic is really contradictory to its overall tone.
The biggest problem (getting this out of the way) is Spectacular's pacing. Spectacular has four major plots, each being things you'd think an entire season (as in a 22 episode, forty minute a piece season - not a thirteen episode, twenty minute a piece season) would explore, so yes as you can imagine they go by way too quickly to have any real impact or satisfying conclusions. I mean in just this one season, Spider-Man loses all his friends and two of them become super villains for Christ's sake. I mean sure this is built up through the show, but they take up their persona and get defeated by Spider-Man in the space of about two episodes each. It's always the conclusions which are rushed, for some reason. Also everyone he has ever defeated over the season comes back to try and kill him at one point, and nope, this isn't the closing part of the season either. And while this is all going on, they do the Venom plot balanced in a high school drama with a mystery subplot about 'The Big Man', Spectacular is a big, rushed mess of a show.The show tries to both create self contained stories and an internal continuity all at the same time and this is fine in itself but it's very difficult to tell the origin of a villain, have them come to terms with what they've become and have a face off with Spidey all in twenty minutes, without it feeling rushed. You could sum up whole episodes with 'OH MY GOD I'M A MONSTER! Now I have a costume and a name! Oh I lost...'. That is like an entire movie cut down to a third of the size. Overall this one, thirteen episode, twenty minute a piece season tells enough story to fill four or five seasons of a normal television show. And I totally get the want to get in as many villains as possible but I just think if they cut the amount of villains in half and gave each one twice as much screen time, it would be more satisfying - especially if they had two seasons to cement themselves before it all comes together and especially if they had one finale, not like five half finished ones.
I mean a majority of the season is dedicated to 'The Big Man', as he teams with Norman Osborn and creates super villains to distract Spider-Man, this is fine in itself and for the most part it is well paced, but then in the space of like two episodes, Spider-Man learns The Big Man is involved, learns who he is and then...that is that, no final showdown, just oh right you're him...cool. Couldn't you have spread this out a little better? I mean make up your mind, show. Then in like the final six episodes we changed focus three times again, that is right, three arcs in six episodes that could easily take up a whole normal season in themselves, you're moving too fast, it's all falling flat.The whole romance aspect takes much more of a back seat than it did in Webb's film, although there are cute little bits dotted throughout I don't think we ever get a proper romance scene between Gwen and Peter except maybe a kiss right at the end. I guess there was no time between all the information being dumped on us.
Surprisingly despite being a 'kids show' it still deals with things that really aren't for kids. Like Aunt May struggling to pay the bills now Uncle Ben is dead. The villains actually try to kill people. Hell there is even a heart attack sub plot.. The show deals with concepts such as ageing, taking control of ones destiny, absent parents, death (including the idea of a parent dealing with the concept of their child dying before them), what it means to be human, the desperation to save, peer pressure, drugs and most importantly, love and friendship. Although can we really stop with the Connors subplot of wanting his arm back? It's stupid anyway, but in this he has a robot replacement, so who cares?What is nice too is that Spectacular is full of consequence, although at first it's presented as fun and cool, Peter Parker's life continues to swell and ultimately burst as the season goes along and really shows us how difficult trying to be a superhero and a teenager at the same time can be. Peter will fail a few times before the season is over. Peter will bite his tongue a few times before the season is over. Peter will lose friends and come across as an asshat. And Peter will, ultimately, be forced to make decisions, that aren't perhaps the most obvious.There are moments of happiness, it isn't all bleak and depressing, but it is mainly pretty dark stuff. Challenging stuff for a child's cartoon about a guy who can walk on the ceiling.
Sadly though, that doesn't save the show from the usual cartoon issues, especially in censorship. I mean sure Spider-Man is allowed to punch in this one, at least and the violence doesn't seem to have been 'kidified' (I mean Spidey really takes one hell of a beating, multiple times, before the season ends) but that doesn't stop being a slightly more violent version of 'well I have a big rip in my shirt, that means I am really hurt' bullshit. They also have that bullshit where they live in a real world, yet no one has a gun. I mean they may look like guns, they may even fire bullets but they go PEW PEW like a laser with a bright laser flash effect. We also get other such stupid weapons as taser shotguns. I like how censorship allows people to be stabbed and cut, as long as it only rips their clothes even though the actual violence itself is just as extreme as in anything else, there is just no colour red. But for a gun to actually look like a gun, sound like one and fire bullets? Won't anybody think of the children?! You know, despite the fact that being really in many senses less violent and less regularly available and they won't bleed anyway. I just don't get cartoon censorship, I get we can't show our kids like organs falling out and sex and drugs and have people saying cunt and all that but the censorship in this show is just so pointless, if a kid took a knife from the kitchen draw and imitated some of Green Goblin's stuff, he could really hurt someone with the belief from the show that all it does it tear his clothes, if he took his water pistol and pretended to shoot someone, no one would get hurt because he can't just stumble across a real gun in the house. I just don't get what the hell the censorship is trying to achieve.A major change in this show comes in the form of the villains, mainly that as it isn't just an hour and a half movie, it's able to have a lot of them and a lot that weren't in the movies. Electro, Chameleon, Black Cat, Rhino, Shocker, Hammerhead, Vulture - these are all classic Spidey villains that never made it into the films. A major similarity is the show is almost more about the villains than it is Spidey himself, with every other episode focusing on an origin for a new enemy. Plus, it has a really tight, internal continuity, nearly every action has an effect on another and the same can be said for villains, you can trace back every villain into the last one. And don't worry Spider-Man fans who've only seen the movies, they may look a little different but Green Goblin, Doc Ock (who is so cute in this, aw!), Sandman, Venom and The Lizard all make an appearance. There are also others I won't spoil and I'll let you discover for yourself.
The origins are actually quite frightening too at times, for a kids cartoon anyway. It almost feels like Spectacular has a hatred for science, which is always used to either create weapons or turn people in monsters and ironically is how Spidey always wins. Electro is born from a horrible accident and must face the loss of his humanity. Connors starts regressing into a lizard and if I was eight this probably would have scared the shit out of me. Marko is placed in a horrible experiment and has a fucked up transformation sequence before he becomes the Sandman, with the people who turn him into the monster quite happy to just accept he died when he first falls apart. Rhino is the next stage in Osborn's plan for an army of superhuman mercenaries, creating twisted experiments and not caring if the subjects live or die. And Doc Ock's origin is actually quite heartbreaking and so on. Spider-Man's origin is one of the last ones we see, appearing in episode twelve of thirteen episodes. And is basically a shot for shot animated remake of how the movie interpreted his origins from the comics. Shame they couldn't have tried something new like the Amazing movie did.The voice talent in this show is excellent, it's basically a who's who of familiar voices from across cartoons to the point where if I listed every name you may recognise in this show, it'd take up the whole review. So concentrating specifically on the hero, Josh Keaton really captures Spider-Man/Parker perfectly, I'd actually argue he's a much better Spider-Man than either Garfield or Maguire, even if he is just a voice.
And ironically, J. Jonah Jameson may actually be my favourite character, with the biggest emotional and drama set pieces generally centred around him, making him one of the most moving and powerful characters on the show. I don't think the scene of him waiting and expecting his son to die is one scene I will soon forget.Oh also, Spectacular has one of the worst opening themes I have ever heard, I swear they must use this at Guantanamo - just hearing it at the start of every episode, when you're watching multiple a day to get the review done, is enough to make you want to give up secrets, horrible, annoying noise.
So do I recommend it? It's nice to watch a cartoon not strangled by the fact it is one but really it's the show itself that lets it down. It has great stories to tell with great characters to tell it with but the pacing is just all shades of awful and there are moments of stupid carton censorship. I honestly preferred this show when it was called Batman Beyond - that had much better focus and a much more fitting aesthetic and I'd sooner recommend that over this. But overall Spectacular is a mature, grown up superhero drama that gives great action to the eight year old's watching and great drama to the adults watching it with them. So if you've already seen Batman Beyond and have no other shows to watch with your kids currently, you can do worse than giving Spectacular Spider-Man a shot.
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