Spider-Man: The New Animated Series (also known as MTV Spider-Man) is an American-Canadian animated television series based on the Marvel comic book superhero character Spider-Man. The series is a loose continuation of 2002's Spider-Man film directed by Sam Raimi, completely ignoring the events of Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 3. The show was made using computer generated imagery (CGI) rendered in cel shading. It ran for only one season of 13 episodes, premiering on July 11, 2003, and was broadcast on MTV and YTV. Eight months later after the series finale, episodes aired in reruns on ABC Family as part of the Jetix television programming block.
Series overview
The story follows the events of the first Spider-Man film. Norman Osborn is dead. Peter Parker, Mary Jane Watson, and Harry Osborn attend Empire State University. Peter and Mary Jane try to establish a relationship without success. Peter's superhero duties, and later his involvement with Indira Daimonji, interfere with his romance with Mary Jane. Harry craves revenge on Spider-Man, whom he blames for the death of his father. Peter faces an assortment of other villains including the Lizard, Kraven the Hunter and Electro while trying to maintain a job and his studies. He faces two psychic twins that ruin everything in the wallcrawler's life, causing Peter to give up being Spider-Man and try to live a normal life.
Cast and characters
Main characters
- Neil Patrick Harris provided the voice of Peter Parker/Spider-Man, a superhero, an Empire State University student and photographer for the Daily Bugle. Peter confronts with the desire to use his incredible, spider bite-derived powers to do good, he finds it hard balancing his responsibilities of being a superhero with schoolwork and his romance with Mary Jane Watson.
- Lisa Loeb provided the voice of Mary Jane Watson, a student at Empire State University and model/actress. She is the on-and-off girlfriend of Peter Parker, but also seems to still hold some affection for Peter's alter-ego, Spider-Man.
- Ian Ziering provided the voice of Harry Osborn, the son of the late industrialist Norman Osborn. He attends Empire State University along with his friends Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson. He seeks revenge on Spider-Man, whom he blames for his father's death.
Recurring characters
- Angelle Brooks provided the voice of Indira "Indy" Daimonji. An amalgamation of Gwen Stacy and Betty Brant, she is designed as a single character only for the series. Introduced in "Tight Squeeze", she is often described as a foil for Mary Jane and Peter's romantic interest at the Empire One Television Studio. The character showed an intense, flamboyant, and unabashed affection for Peter Parker, pursuing him publicly to MJ's consternation.
- Keith Carradine provided the voice of J. Jonah Jameson, the Daily Bugle newspaper publisher. Consistent with his appearances in the comics and films, Jameson spent most of his appearances berating Spider-Man and adding political spin to his activities, usually in front of Peter Parker. Jameson is so passionate about this that he even appears on a competitor's news broadcast to denounce Spider-Man.
Guest characters
Production
Development
Spider-Man: The New Animated Series was initially supposed to be an adaptation of the Ultimate Spider-Man comics. However, after the success of Spider-Man, the show was reworked to follow that continuity. The series was produced by Brian Michael Bendis, who wrote on Ultimate Spider-Man comics, for Sony Pictures Television, who had purchased the film and television rights to the character. The computer-generated imagery (CGI) was produced by Mainframe Entertainment.
Peter Parker was originally supposed to wear baggier clothes to hide his superhero musculature, but cost-effective difficulties with the CG format prevented folds from being put into his everyday attire. As a result, Peter's street clothes were redesigned to be close-fitting and contemporary, while still managing to hide his physique (and the costume he wore under his clothes) as Spider-Man. The character of Aunt May was not included in the series (except for a photograph in Peter's bedroom), because MTV executives feared that the appearance of any elderly people would deter their target youth audience from watching.
The producers found that the more relaxed standards of MTV allowed them more creative freedom than usually allowed for a Saturday morning cartoon show.
Cancellation
MTV decided that the ratings for the series were insufficient to warrant a second season, leaving the series to end on a cliffhanger. Director Brandon Vietti stated that had the series gone on he would have used the villains Mysterio, Vulture, and more of Kraven.
Episodes
Due to various production delays, the episodes aired out of the correct scripted order. This caused some confusion with audiences regarding the chronology of the series. For example, "The Party" originally aired after its sequel "When Sparks Fly". The DVD releases feature the episodes in the correct order. Each episode has a montage at the end of which states "Next Time On Spider-Man"
Reception
The series received favorable reviews from critics. In 2004, the series was nominated for an Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Television Production while "Keeping Secrets" got a nomination in Outstanding Storyboarding in an Animated Television Production.
Home video
The complete series was released on DVD as Spider-Man: The New Animated Series: Special Edition on January 13, 2004. Four separate DVD volumes containing three episodes each were also released from 2004 to 2005. The entire series was licensed by Marvel and Sony to DigiKids/Sentimental Journeys, who re-edited the footage from many episodes into one feature, which is sold as a personalized DVD in which the purchaser's face is revealed under Spider-Man's mask.
References
External links
- Spider-Man: The New Animated Series on IMDb
- Spider-Man: The New Animated Series at TV.com
- Spider-Man: The New Animated Series @ Marvel Animation Age