IGN ranks all of Spider-Man's animated series

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http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/04/28/ranking-the-spider-man-animated-series-2?page=1

by Jesse Schedeen APRIL 28, 2014
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Spider-Man has been doing whatever a spider can on TV ever since the late 1960's. To date, there have been no fewer than eight animated series to star the wall-crawling hero. Sometimes he slings solo, and other times he teams up with fellow heroes to battle evil and scarf down Aunt May's wheatcakes. Some of these shows have been better than others, but all have tried to put their unique spin on this iconic hero.

Looking Back at Spider-Man's TV History

With Spidey returning to theaters this week in The Amazing Spider Man 2, The Spectacular Spider-Man finally being released on Blu-ray, and Ultimate Spider-Man continuing to do well on Disney XD, now seemed like the perfect time to examine all the Spider-Man-themed animated series so far, ranking them from worst to best. Keep in mind, we're focusing on the shows specifically starring Spider-Man, not ones he's guest starred in like Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes or Spider-Woman.

8
Spider-Man Unlimited

Lifespan: 13 episodes (1999-2001)

By the late '90s, Marvel's Saturday morning cartoon renaissance had pretty well come to an end. Kids were more interested in their Pokemons and Digimons than costumed superheroes. Spider-Man Unlimited was an attempt to shake up the formula and deliver a drastically different take on Spidey. This was partly based on necessity, as a new deal between Sony and Marvel prevented Fox and Saban Entertainment from using many of the traditional Spider-Man elements. Unlimited served as a vague sequel to the much more popular 1994 series (another element not in its favor), with Spidey being transported to Counter-Earth to aid John Jameson and a group of resistance fighters (including heroic versions of Green Goblin and Vulture) against the High Evolutionary and his genetically modified Bestials.

Unfortunately, while Spider-Man Unlimited earns points for originality, its execution left a lot to be desired. The animation was lousy, and the voice acting worse. The tone was odd and often unnecessarily dark. Despite a soap operatic storyline that required fans to view each episode in chronological order, there was a surprising lack of character development. And in the end, the show was so different from the traditional Spider-Man mythos that it barely felt like a Spider-Man cartoon at all.

Despite Fox only commissioning one 13-episode season, it wasn't until 2001 that the final episodes actually aired. And to add insult to injury, the show ended with an unresolved cliffhanger, just as its predecessor did.

7
Spider-Man (1967)

Lifespan: 52 episodes (1967-1970)

The original Spider-Man animated series will always have a special place in the hearts of Spidey fanatics, if only because of its ridiculously catchy theme song. Aside from that iconic tune, the show is best remembered today for its lovably clunky animation and as fodder for many an Internet meme.

spiderman-meme

The show is also interesting in how fundamentally it changed between the first and second seasons. The first season was produced by Grantray-Lawrence Animation, resulting in a show pretty faithful to the early Stan Lee/Steve Ditko Amazing Spider-Man comics. Many of Spidey's iconic villains and supporting characters of the day put in appearances. Though the production values were higher than those of The Marvel Super Heroes (wherein the episodes basically consisted of crudely animated comic book panels), Spider-Man still featured rudimentary animation and often reused stock footage. To further save time, the animators only drew the webbing on Spidey's gloves and mask.

After Grantray-Lawrence went bankrupt, the show was passed onto Krantz Films, with legendary animator Ralph Bakshi taking control. As you might expect based on Bakshi's resume, the latter two seasons took on a distinctly darker and more psychedelic tone. Unfortunately, the budget was slashed even further, necessitating the removal of Spidey's villains. The budget was so slim that at one point, Bakshi even reused elements from another of his animated projects, Rocket Robin Hood.

The '67 series isn't great, but it has a certain goofy charm. Any hardcore Spider-Man fans owe it to themselves to check out a few episodes, if only for curiosity's sake. And the theme song of course has stood the test of time... "Catches thieves just like flies!"

6
Spider-Man (1981)

Lifespan: 26 episodes (1981-82)

The 1981 Spider-Man series is perhaps one of the wallcrawler's lesser-known forays into animated television. Blame that on the fact that it aired around the same time as the more popular Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends. But Spider-Man's advantage over its sister series was that it offered a much more traditional and holistic take on the Spider-Man franchise. The series was inspired heavily by John Romita Sr.'s art style and the general look, feel, and character lineup of the 1970's-era Amazing Spider-Man comic.

If crude by modern standards, the animation and storytelling were certainly a huge step up from the 1967 Spider-Man. In particular, many episodes did a good job of capturing the troubled, unlucky quality of Peter Parker's life. The series is also notable for being the first Spider-Man project to attempt long-form storytelling, with a conflict between Spidey and Doctor Doom playing out over multiple episodes.

5
Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends

Lifespan: 24 episodes (1981-83)

Where one 1981 Spider-Man animated series offered a traditional take on Spider-Man's world, this show -- despite sharing a lot of the same character designs, including for Peter Parker -- took a much different approach. Suddenly, the eternally unlucky Spidey was joined by two other superhero partners - Iceman and Firestar. The latter character is easily the show's most lasting contribution to the Marvel Universe. Firestar was initially created as a stand-in for Human Torch, whose TV rights were tangled up elsewhere at the time (hence why he was also replaced by H.E.R.B.I.E. in the 1978 FF cartoon).

The show cast the three heroes as college students and roommates. While occasionally they would team up to battle traditional Spider-Man rogues like Chameleon or Electro, more often the heroes would cross over with other Marvel mainstays like the Avengers and X-Men. It was one of the first Marvel TV projects to really take advantage of the shared universe. While campy at times, the show managed to counter that quality with some solid dramatic material at times, taking great pains to explore the origins of Peter Parker, Bobby Drake, Anjelica Jones, and other characters at different points.

Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends also boasted some pretty impressive vocal talent, including soon-to-be Transformers mainstays Dan Gilvezan and Frank Welker as Spider-Man and Iceman, respectively. The show even featured narration by Stan Lee, though that material tends to be omitted in syndication nowadays.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/04/28/ranking-the-spider-man-animated-series-2?page=2

Ultimate Spider-Man

Lifespan: 52 episodes (2012-present)

Ultimate Spider-Man may well be the wallcrawler's most controversial animated project to date. It had the misfortune of replacing the much beloved Spectacular Spider-Man, after Sony transferred the Spider-Man TV rights back to Marvel. The series has found a respectable level of mainstream success, and will likely break Spider-Man '94's record for the most episodes fora Spidey during the course of its third season. But for many fans, the show's cardinal sin is that it simply isn't as good as Spectacular was.

Despite the title, Ultimate Spider-Man draws less direct inspiration from the Ultimate Spider-Man comic than its predecessor did. If anything, it's more akin to a modern revival of Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends. The ensemble focus is back, as a high-school age Spidey regularly teams up with Nova, White Tiger, Iron Fist, and Power Man as he learns the ropes of superhero-ing from S.H.I.E.L.D. Many of the traditional Spider-Man crew appear, but other Marvel heroes and villains frequently make guest appearances. The show also features elements of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with Agent Coulson working undercover as the principal of Peter's high school.

Ultimate Spider-Man - Hulk vs. Spider-Man
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Ultimate Spider-Man also places a heavy emphasis on humor, which has proven to be one of its weaker qualities. The frequent cutaway gags and fourth-wall bending dialogue often make Spidey seem more like Deadpool. In general, the tone of the show seems geared towards younger viewers at the expense of everyone else.

Maybe it's not fair to judge Ultimate Spider-Man as a follow-up to Spectacular. The show certainly has its merits and makes certain clever updates to the Spider-Man mythos. But considering the dream team of writers Marvel assembled for this project, including Ultimate Spider-Man comic scribe Brian Michael Bendis, Batman: The Animated Series writer/producer Paul Dini, and the Man of Action quartet, it's often frustrating that Ultimate Spider-Man isn't a stronger, more cohesive, and more dramatically ambitious show.

3
Spider-Man: The New Animated Series

Lifespan: 13 episodes (2003)

Back before MTV became the wasteland of 16 and Pregnant and Real World reruns it is today, the network boasted a surprisingly robust lineup of teen-oriented animated fare. And while Spider-Man might seem like an odd fit for MTV, the network's demographic allowed this series to skew a little older than the Spidey adaptations that had come before.

Initially conceived as an adaptation of the Ultimate Spider-Man comic, Spider-Man: The New Animated Series was rejiggered into a loose continuation of the 2002 Spider-Man film. That alone makes it something of a novelty among Marvels's animated TV projects. The show more or less picked up where the movie left off, with Peter Parker, Mary Jane Watson, and Harry Osborn attending Empire State University. The Peter/MJ romance was also complicated by the addition of a new love interest, Indira Daimonji. Perhaps not wanting to step on the toes of Sam Raimi's movies, the show only featured a handful of familiar Spider-Man rogues, including Electro, Kraven, and the Lizard.

Perhaps the series' strongest element was the fact that it focused a lot of attention on Peter's life outside the costume, particularly in terms of the aforementioned love triangle. The emphasis on character conflict was a nice change of pace. And the show featured some strong vocal talent, including Neil Patrick Harris as Spidey and Lisa Loeb as MJ. Michael Clarke Duncan even reprised his role as Kingpin from the Daredevil movie. The show's weakest element, on the other hand, was its cel-shaded CG animation style. If revolutionary at the time, the Playstation 2-quality animation doesn't hold up very well compared to more contemporary projects like The Clone Wars and Green Lantern: The Animated Series.

Unfortunately, not every one of MTV's animated series enjoyed the long life of Daria or Beavis and Butthead. Spider-Man: The New Animated Series joined Clone High in enjoying a brief, meteoric rise and fall on MTV in 2003. In the process, it became the third Spider-Man series in a row to end on an unresolved cliffhanger. But Spider-Man fans must have been used to that by then.

2
Spider-Man (1994)

Lifespan: 65 episodes (1994-98)

The success of X-Men: The Animated Series in the early '90s opened the door for an onslaught of Marvel animation on Fox Kids. Spider-Man joined the likes of Hulk and the Fantastic Four in returning to TV, though his was the only show to really rival the popularity of X-Men.

This Spider-Man series was heavily influenced by the late '80s/early '90s comics in terms of both storytelling and art style (hence why even characters like Vulture and Doctor Octopus were muscular and decked out in armor). As per the comics of the day, Mary Jane was presented as Peter's main love interest and eventual wife, and villains like Venom and Carnage played significant roles over the course of the series.

The show definitely had its quirks. While the animation was generally decent, the occasional segues into crude, computer-animated web-slinging sequences stuck out even in 1994. As with X-Men, there was also the constant specter of censorship that prevented Spidey from ever throwing a punch or villains from wielding anything more deadly than harmless laser pistols.

But despite those limitations, this Spider-Man series thrived in a way none had before it. Even more so than X-Men, the show tapped into the serialized nature of comic book storytelling, delivering complex characterization and long-form story arcs that played out across entire seasons. The show found time to dabble in many corners of Spider-Man's world, while also welcoming other Marvel players like the X-Men, Punisher, and Daredevil into the mix. And its a testament to the show's quality that after five seasons, it was canceled not because of low ratings but because of behind-the-scenes conflicts.

1
The Spectacular Spider-Man

Lifespan: 26 episodes (2008-09)

Was there ever any doubt as to which Spider-Man animated series would claim the top spot? Spectacular Spider-Man is the clear high point in Peter Parker's television career, and one of the best interpretations of the hero in any medium, comics, television, or otherwise.

In many ways, The Spectacular Spider-Man is Marvel's answer to Batman: The Animated Series. It drew in elements from many incarnations of the franchise, including the Ultimate Spider-Man comic, the early Stan Lee/Steve Ditko Amazing Spider-Man comics, and the Sam Raimi films. It combined those elements into a cohesive, streamlined whole, reflecting the best each had to offer while delivering a take on Spider-Man's world that felt fresh and original. The first episode alone features iconic rogues Norman Osborn, Otto Octavius, Vulture, Kingpin, the Enforcers, Eddie Brock, and Curt Connors. But rather than feeling cluttered, the show weaved Spidey's many enemies and allies together into one rich tapestry.

Producers Greg Weisman and Victor Cook were essential to the show's success. Weisman had already shown his knack for crafting elaborate, complex, character driven sagas with Gargoyles, and he brought that same approach to Spectacular. The show also featured one of the better vocal lineups of any Spider-Man series, with Josh Keaton becoming the definitive Peter Parker for many fans much in the same way Kevin Conroy embodies Batman. Even the art style, which was criticized early on for its simplicity, allowed the animators to focus on action and depict Spidey's frantic battles and fighting style in a way no series had before.

Sadly, Spectacular can be added to the list of Weisman-helmed shows canceled before their time. Despite a devoted fanbase, the show was given the ax after Sony ceded their Spider-Man TV rights back to the now Disney-owned Marvel. Less than half of the intended 65 episodes were ever produced. But as frustratingly incomplete as the saga might be, Spectacular Spider-Man truly lives up to its name. It will continue to serve as the gold standard when adapting any Marvel property to animation.

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