The Spectacular Spider-Man – The Complete First
Season (Marvel/Sony Wonder DVD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C- Episodes: C+
After
various single-DVD releases, Sony and Marvel Comics are issuing The Complete First Season of The Spectacular Spider-Man and the
latest child-safe version of the popular superhero adds up to a better show
than the CG animated offering a few years ago and is a decent introduction
series for young fans. Unfortunately, it
is not the character at its best and not up to the 1967 series, which by far
remains the best animated Spider-Man to date.
It is not
to say that this is dumbed-down versus the 1967 show or other versions, but
that it is made for younger fans since the character has become darker,
including some key comics with him. I
thought the versions of the villains here were not bad, but the art is
oversimplified to keep costs down and that can be annoying in itself. However, color schemes are a plus and the
show is not bad.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is pretty good color wise, but a little
softer than I would have liked it to be, as was the case with the previous
DVDs. The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is a bit
weaker in total here than it was on the Lizard feature, but the recoding is
good so it is not a problem. The only extras
are two featurettes: Sizzling Spidey and Spider-Man: Re-Animated.
- Nicholas Sheffo
