This article is written from the Real World perspective

Spider-Man: The New Animated Series, also known as Spider-Man and MTV Spider-Man, is the fifth animated series to feature the character of Spider-Man following the 1967 series Spider-Man, 1981's Spider-Man, Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, 1994's Spider-Man, and Spider-Man Unlimited. The series aired on MTV from July 11th, 2003 to September 12th, 2003.

The show was inspired by the Ultimate Spider-Man comic line. Though, after the success of the first Spider-Man film, the show was reworked to follow that continuity. Subsequent series The Spectacular Spider-Man and Ultimate Spider-Man would become progressively more influenced by the Ultimate line.

The word "New" was added to the title to differentiate itself from Spider-Man, which is commonly called Spider-Man: The Animated Series.

Story

The story follows the death of Norman Osborn. Peter Parker, Mary Jane Watson, and Harry Osborn attend Empire State University. Peter and Mary Jane try to establish a relationship together though without success. At first it is because of Peter's superhero duties, but later it is because Peter begins dating Indira Daimonji. Meanwhile Harry craves revenge on Spider-Man, whom he blames for the death of his father. Peter faces the usual assortment of villains such as Lizard, Kraven the Hunter, and Electro while trying to maintain a job and his studies. However, 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.

The series ended on a cliffhanger with Peter giving up his superhero life. The theoretical next season would obviously had seen him return to duty, but the series was cancelled.

This series featured a far more mature version of the character than typically seen on television for any animated comic book adaptation. Throughout the series, characters are clearly killed, rather than the usual ambiguous disappearance, and several characters are strongly implied to have had sex.

Background

When Sony Pictures Entertainment got the film rights to Spider-Man in 1990, part of the deal included having their own animated series that would use the same source material as the films. This meant that the in-production series that followed Spider-Man had to be completely restructured becoming Spider-Man Unlimited. Unlimited was originally going to be crudely animated adaptations of the early comics, known today as motion comics, to be a cheaply made series made for contractual reasons. This show prevented that series from using the same stories and Unlimited had to drastically and constantly change the premise of the story.[1]

The series executive producer was Brian Michael Bendis who wrote Ultimate Spider-Man and later worked on the animated series Ultimate Spider-Man. It was produced for Sony Pictures Televison who had purchased the film and television rights to the character. Sony held the rights throughout The Spectacular Spider-Man but returned them to Marvel Entertainment when The Walt Disney Company purchased Marvel as they wanted to retain the film rights.

Initially it was inspired by and an attempt to adapted the Ultimate Spider-Man series. The success of the movie caused the series to change to more closely follow the film.

Artwork for the original pitch showed for classic Spider-Man villains Rhino, Doctor Octopus, and Vulture.

Peter was designed to be less of a geek and more hip in order to fit with the network. Likewise, the character of Aunt May was not included, except in photographs, as there were fears an older character would put off the younger target audience.

The producers found that the more relaxed standards of MTV allowed them more creative freedom than usually allowed for a Saturday morning cartoon show.

Every cellphone in the series was a style available then from Sony Ericsson and the ringtones were from Nokia.

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 Mysterio, Vulture, and more of Kraven.

Episodes

The series only lasted thirteen episodes, the same length as Silver Surfer, Spider-Man Unlimited, and The Avengers: United They Stand. The series began airing on July 11th, 2003 and ended on September 12th, 2003.

Spider-Man aired out of production, and chronological, order. "The Party" was the first to air, though it takes place eighth in chronology. The order was corrected for the DVD release.

Ironically, "Mind Games, Part Two", the series finale, aired the same day as the announcement of Spider-Man 2, which also featured Peter giving up his life as Spider-Man as a subplot.

Cast

Many of the villains that Spider-Man faced were original to the series, though closely related to existing comic book characters. Talon is based on Black Cat, Turbo Jet on Rocket Racer and/or Blue Streak, Shikata on Elektra, and Pterodax on Vulture.

Only five comic book villains appear in the series: Electro, Lizard, Kingpin, Kraven the Hunter, and Silver Sable. The X-Men are mentioned once by Peter, the only other comic book character reference. One more possible reference is someone with the username "GS122", which would most likely be a reference to Gwen Stacy who died in Amazing Spider-Man issues #121 and #122.

Indira "Indy" Daimonji, voiced by Angelle Brooks, was created specifically for the series, in a role as Mary Jane's rival similar to Gwen Stacy.

Several voice actors were prominent singers such as Lisa Loeb, Eve Jihan Jeffers, and Rob Zombie.

Edward Asner and Rino Romano were cast as Officer Barr and Muang, respectively, due to their roles in previous Spider-Man series. Asner played J. Jonah Jameson on Spider-Man while Romano played Spider-Man on Spider-Man Unlimited. Romano's casting was an in-joke since Christina mistakens Muang to be Spider-Man. Jennifer Hale, Black Cat on Spider-Man as well as Mary Jane Watson and Lady Vermin on Spider-Man Unlimited, plays a reporter.

Michael Clarke Duncan reprised his role as Kingpin from the live-action Daredevil film, even though that film was from Sony's rival 20th Century Fox. Coincidentally, The Walt Disney Company would later purchase both Marvel Entertainment and Fox.

Edward Asner, Keith David, and Clancy Brown all went on to play on The Spectacular Spider-Man as Ben Parker, Tombstone, and George Stacy respectively. Michael Clarke Duncan went on to voice Groot on Ultimate Spider-Man.

Crew

Animation

The computed generated imagery was produced by Mainframe Entertainment, best known for ReBoot and Beast Wars. ReBoot was the first series to be completely animated using computers and this was Marvel's first using this technique. Previous series X-Men, Iron Man, Spider-Man, and Silver Surfer used traditional animation with computer generated elements. Subsequent series Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes and Iron Man: Armored Adventures would also be computer generated while others would use the earlier technique of combining the two.

This presented some problems as they were unable to render a large number of characters on screen at once, or many different character models. Spider-Man would often have the same cuts and damage in different episodes. The producers said that the cuts were always under the top character layer.

The look was designed to appear like traditional cel animation to look more appealing. The design was to appear closer to the Ultimate Spider-Man comic incarnation.

Neon signs were often used in night scenes to invoke a film noir feeling.

Mary Jane Watson's hair is shorter than the comics or previous series as it was difficult to have long, flowing air. This is also why Kraven does not have his signature lion's mane vest but instead a leather jacket. Peter was originally was supposed to wear baggier clothing to hide his muscles and costume but this presented problems, similar to Mary Jane's hair, so they were made tighter and form-fitting.

Many character models were reused for others, with usually just a change of outfits. For example, Frank Elson is a reworked version of the twins from "Flash Memory".

Trailer

Continuity

The series was designed to follow the events of the first Spider-Man movie. Events of the film are referenced, such as Harry Osborn accusing Spider-Man of killing his father, the climax of the movie. It does not follow the movie series continuity, however, since Dr. Connors is apparently killed in the series but is alive in the second and third films.

Also, the series title used the same font style as the film.

Additionally, Michael Clarke Duncan returned as the Kingpin from the Daredevil film, despite being made by 20th Century Fox.

Reception

Spider-Man received mixed though generally good reviews. Critics generally appreciated the show's tone, praising a more mature comic book show. The animation was widely lauded as one of the best looking animated series.

Critics were divided on the villains and other original characters. Many expressed their desire to see the character's vast rogue gallery and supporting cast shown rather than series-exclusive versions. Others felt that all the characters worked despite their originality. Though it was pointed out that few returned, with a villain-of-the-week feel, and many were disappointed that fan-favorites like Lizard and Electro were killed. Several critics were confused as to why Indy was introduced rather than Betty Brant or Gwen Stacy.

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.

The series has a 8.5 on TV.com, 7.0 on the Internet Movie Database, and four stars on Amazon.

Legacy

In 2010, Neil Patrick Harris joined alongside fellow Spider-Man voice actors Dan Gilvezan, Christopher Daniel Barnes, and Josh Keaton to voice the main Spider-Man in Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions. Harris was nominated for Best Performance by a Human Male in the Spike's Video Game Awards.

Home Release

The series featured four volumes and one complete series releases released on VHS, DVD, and UMD.

Releases include: