What They Say:
Get ready for hours of nonstop, super Spidey excitement as the world’s most famous web-slinging Super Hero returns in all 26 action-packed episodes from the hit series “The Spectacular Spider-Man™!” The line of Super Villains determined to take down Spidey seems never ending. There’s Venom, Electro, Dr. Octopus, Sandman and Rhino – just to name a few. These criminals are almost more than he can handle and the stress would be enough to send a lesser Super Hero over the edge, but it’s all in a day’s work for The Spectacular Spider-Man™!
The Review:
Audio:
The main audio presentation for this release is the 5.1 English mix which is encoded using the DTS-HD MA lossless codec. the series is one that doesn’t do a lot with the rear channels overall but does a solid bit of work across the forward soundstage. With a lot of webslinging going on and dialogue moving along with it, it moves across the stage in a solid way that captures the feeling of it well without going too far out. There’s a lot of opportunity here to do some fun stuff with the sound design but the limitations of it being what it is keeps it from really stepping out in a big way. That said, it definitely does some fun stuff here with solid placement throughout the show, good bass during the right kind of action scenes and generally keeps things moving along nicely. There’s a whole lot of standard dialogue to the show across a range of characters and situations and it definitely handles it all well with a clean and clear presentation that fits the source material well.
Video:
Originally airing in 2008 and 2009, the transfer for this twenty-six episode two season series is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.8:1 in 1080p using the AVC codec. The series is spread across four discs in a seven/six/seven/six format that allows two discs for each season. The show has plenty of space to work with and the end results are pretty solid overall. The series is one that works with a lot of bright colors and smooth animation throughout but it also shows some of the familiar issues that comes up with superhero animation. There’s a bit of banding to be had throughout the show, but it’s minor and not all that distracting when you get down to it. There’s a bit more in the way of jaggies along the way, but that’s something that bothers some more than others. Overall, there’s a lot to like with the show in its color and design and the detail of it overall, making it a transfer that captures the source material well, problems and all.
Packaging:
The packaging for this release uses a standard sized Blu-ray case that has a hinge inside to hold three of the four discs that it has. The release also comes with a slipcover that has raised elements to it whose artwork mirrors the keepcase artwork itself. The cover looks good, if a bit busy, as it’s a black background with lots of white webs across it while Spider-man pops out towards the viewer with his red and blue glory. The top of the cover has a good bit of text to it with the complete series listing and logo, but it just looks busier with the raised aspect of it. It definitely stands out and I’m glad it makes it clear that this is the complete series. The back cover unfortunately comes across as a bit cartoonier than the show itself is but it gives us a look at a lot of the main cast of villains that we get and a couple of good shots from the show as well. The premise is nicely covered and we get a clean listing of the discs extras. The rest is filled out with the usual pieces of logos and the like but nothing with a clean and easy to figure out technical grid which is always frustrating. No show related inserts are included nor is there a reversible cover.
Menu:
The menu design for the release is one that has its positives and negatives but generally works in a decent enough way. The design goes with a look that mirrors the front cover with webs against black in background while each disc uses different characters across it that gives it some color and pop. The first two discs go with a purple and yellow designed navigation strip along the bottom while the second goes for a green and yellow. The layout works easy enough and navigation is simple, but the way they design it is definitely problematic. When you go into episode, you get all the episodes without listing which disc they’re on. The same with the extras as it just lists them on every volume but they’re only on the fourth volume. It’s a cheap shortcut to designing four different menus but it ends up just being frustrating.
Extras:
The extras for this release are pretty simple and you wish there was more to it, but we get a fun behind the scenes piece that shows how the series is put together and some time in the booth. We also get a look at how the series was designed and animated and there’s a brief two minute music video which is amusing in its own way.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Having had a long history in enjoying the character of Spider-man since way, way back in the day, I always felt a bit bad about missing out on this series when it was broadcast. Cartoons in the US tend to get really bad broadcast schedules and I find it hard to care. Even more so when it comes to Marvel shows as there’s always something about them that just makes me think of them as cheap and not really trying to do anything special with it. This was reinforced when I tried out Ultimate Spider-man with its debut and it just proved to be too snarky, too much talking out to the viewer and a lot of other issues that made me give up after an episode or two. That kept me from trying this show, but also because it wasn’t available on Blu-ray until recently. With a lot of good word of mouth for this series, I picked it up on the cheap and ended up having twenty-six episodes of classic Spider-man goodness.
Spider-man really needs no introduction – especially considering how many times the origin story gets told – and this series pretty much does everything right out of the gate. In fact, the origin isn’t even told until near the end of the first season and done as a solid flashback piece that’s relevant to the struggle at hand. Instead, we get introduced to high school junior Peter Parker who has spent some time as Spider-man and is doing his best to balance being that and school. While he’s not quite as nerdy as the original Peter Parker was, we get more that it’s personality and interests that gets him labeled as that, especially since he’s pretty smart. While he’s doing very well at school, he also does some interning at Empire State University where he’s learning and working with Dr. Curt Connors. Add in that Gwen Stacey is an intern there as well and we get to see Eddie Brock working there, it’s a lively enough place. Particularly since Peter’s origin comes from there with the radioactive spider.
By avoiding the entire set-up aspect of the origin story, we instead just get into having Peter dealing with a variety of villains. There’s a good run of the original ones here and some of them get a bit origin time, such as seeing O’Hirn and Marko eventually becoming Rhino and Sandman through the manipulations of others. A good host of villains appear throughout the two seasons, from Doc Ock to Mysterio along with others that make up the Sinister Six like Vulture. Curt Connors naturally makes his move into becoming the Lizard and that provides some later problems since the discovery that he was injecting himself causes him to lose his lab. One of the big themes of the series is that people make choices and those choices have impact. And that’s shown regularly across pretty much of all of the characters, hero and villain or just your average person that’s interacting with all of them.
The central character is of course on Peter himself, especially as he tries to change the way people in school perceive him now that he’s finding more confidence in himself because of his abilities. He’s always interested in the popular kids and wants to be accepted by them, or at least acknowledged in a non-negative way. He has a lengthy history with Flash that’s shown later which is amusing, and he has a long lasting friendship with fellow nerd Gwen Stacey, though obviously she’s interested in more. But Peter keeps looking to the popular kids and it’s interesting to see how as time goes on that he eventually does win over Liz after she ends up dumping the football player she was with. This actually runs the course of the second season and it has some of the best emotional material, both for her and others, because the choices they make impact so many others. And it has additional issues as it goes on since the popular kids can’t understand why Liz is dating him and you also get Mary Jane eventually added to the mix and that just creates all sorts of high school dating drama. In a lot of ways, there’s a good bit of the usual back and forth dating aspects here that just feels grounded and real.
Each season has its own overall storyline going for it and that helps to lightly tie things together. It doesn’t take things out in a big way such as we’ve seen with more heavily serialized series, but it does help to give you the feeling of something more. The first season deals with Peter trying to find his way in the world, make money by doing photography for the Daily Bugle in order to help with the bills at home and cope with his school setting. But the villain side is that we see the steady formation of the Sinister Six, which is orchestrated by Tombstone as the big bad who runs organized crime here. But there’s also some solid connections with OsCorp as they’re putting together these powered individuals in an effort to find a way to militarize it and make a lot of money.
The second season is similarly defined but with more material involving the Green Goblin manipulating things. This has some interesting back and forth pieces along the way with who the Goblin is because there’s some nicely done uncertainty with it. The main thrust is that there’s a Master Planner orchestrating things that’s doing what he can to distract Spider-Man while he’s doing all sorts of other criminal enterprises in order to make money and expand power. There’s some good growth to the villains as it goes on with some coming back for a second round, including a fun piece where Spider-man gets to test out a new OsCorp prison that has everyone showing up for the most part. That makes for a fun episode near the end of its run as we get to revisit a lot of the characters. But the second season is focused more on the overall complications that Peter has to deal with in balancing his life and finding that he’s continually failing at it and letting people down while trying to do what’s right.
While most series tend to live or die on the title character, Spider-Man definitely does that but also lives far better by the supporting cast. Peter is the catalyst in many things that goes on, but it’s watching how the other characters interact with them that makes it work so well. They’re all realized well enough to make them engaging and wanting to see their lives more, lives that exist without directly involving Peter or Spider-man all the time. One of the things that really works well is that while we get the usual high school dating elements that comes into it, it’s given a chance to actually happen with Peter. Getting to spend time with Liz and to be a part of things he always wanted to be is really nicely done and it’s good to see how we get Liz and the others humanized because of it. There’s a lot to like with the dynamic that exists between all of the characters and that it doesn’t focus on solely one thing. When you bring Gwen into the mix and then Mary Jane as well, who truly doesn’t become a spoiler to things in a nice change of pace, it all moves, changes and has its ups and downs.
Another thing that I really liked with the show is that it didn’t try to radically rework any of the characters, at least outside of Venom since that obviously has to differ from the comics. We get a good range of characters, quirky costumes and personalities and all, and they run with it on a regular basis, team-ups and by themselves. But what I really liked is that while they were kept to their original selves, so much of the non-powered cast is pretty varied in their makeup. We get a good range of persons of color throughout it, which completely is necessary in order to be a New York City public school, and that just makes it feel all the more real. While there may not be any deep character stories devoted to their ethnicities, just the appearance makes a change from the usually white heavy series we get. Similarly, we get some good stuff about those with money and those without, seeing the struggles of those without money and what they have to deal with and the general hardships that highlights the differences. In most ways, it really does adhere to the core of the classic Spider-man stories with juts how human it is.
In Summary:
When people say that it was a tragedy that this series was killed in favor of Ultimate Spider-man, it’s easy to view that as a good bit of hyperbole. Sadly, it is true. It is a tragedy that this series was canceled as you can imagine that this should have had another two seasons at least to run to explore the characters more. What makes Spider-Man work is the balance between being the hero and being the young man that Peter is. The Spectacular Spider-Man hits those notes very well as there’s a lot to like about both sides. Each gets a solid amount of time and there connections between the two are classic comic book material. Spider-Man has a lot going on throughout it and you really do have to like all sides of it. With so many characters, so many subplots and side tangents that come about, we get a great mix of action, drama, teenage romance and humor that comes together in a fantastic show. This is the kind of Spider-Man you want to see and this set has hours and hours of it. Very highly recommended.
Features:
English DTS-HD MA 5.1 Language, French Dolby Digital 5.1 Language, Italian Dolby Digital 5.1 Language, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 Language, Portuguese Language, Dolby Digital 5.1 Language, Spider-Man Re-Animated, Stylizing Spidey, Music Video
Content Grade: A
Audio Grade: B+
Video Grade: A-
Packaging Grade: B+
Menu Grade: B
Extras Grade: B
Released By: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Release Date: April 22nd, 2014
MSRP: $45.99
Running Time: 590 Minutes
Video Encoding: 1080p AVC
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Widescreen
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Sony PlayStation3 Blu-ray player via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
