The Marvelous 90s in Marvel Cartoons
- Thread starter MovieBob
- Start date
Bob, I'm going to sound like a huge nerd when I say this, but here it goes.
I Loooooooooooooooove the 90's Spider-man. Yes, it's censored. Yes, it's cheesy. Yes, the animation budget is so cheap that Spidey is constantly exiting out of the same basement window all the time. I don't care I love.
To me, Christopher Daniel Barnes was always THE VOICE of Spider-man/Peter Parker to me. I just loved hearing him talk and he just had the right amount of snark in this voice.
Also this.
Yeah, I know it's cheesy, but boy, that passion!
I Loooooooooooooooove the 90's Spider-man. Yes, it's censored. Yes, it's cheesy. Yes, the animation budget is so cheap that Spidey is constantly exiting out of the same basement window all the time. I don't care I love.
To me, Christopher Daniel Barnes was always THE VOICE of Spider-man/Peter Parker to me. I just loved hearing him talk and he just had the right amount of snark in this voice.
Also this.
Yeah, I know it's cheesy, but boy, that passion!
My first real exposure to the Spider-Man universe came from the 90's cartoon, and I particularly liked it. The Hobgoblin was one of my favorites, and his Joker-heavy characterization worked particularly well since they got Mark Hamill to play him.
But I also really liked Venom. I know, I know: he's the archetypal 90's bad-boy antihero who's supposed to be so embarrassingly dated today. But to somebody who didn't even know who Venom *was* before the animated series, I like the fact that they played up Eddie Brock's resentment of Spider-Man. Throughout the entire first season, Eddie was consistently humiliated by Spider-Man, to the point where I'd thought he was just the token comedy relief punching bag, and felt kind of sorry for him. When they turned him into a supervillain, I thought it was a compelling and understandable backstory. I never got Venomed-out, like people who read the comic books apparently did, so I still like the character.
But I also really liked Venom. I know, I know: he's the archetypal 90's bad-boy antihero who's supposed to be so embarrassingly dated today. But to somebody who didn't even know who Venom *was* before the animated series, I like the fact that they played up Eddie Brock's resentment of Spider-Man. Throughout the entire first season, Eddie was consistently humiliated by Spider-Man, to the point where I'd thought he was just the token comedy relief punching bag, and felt kind of sorry for him. When they turned him into a supervillain, I thought it was a compelling and understandable backstory. I never got Venomed-out, like people who read the comic books apparently did, so I still like the character.
Bob you need to do a video or article on how exactly Batman:TAS got made. Looking back on how low quality the animation was for Kids cartoons I find it difficult to imagine how Batman which had at the time movie level animation for every episode got green lit with all its super dark themes (for a kids show). It didn't wear moral messages on it sleeves and it told some complex stories with some interesting villains. HOW DID THAT HAPPEN!? It can't just be because Tim Burtons bad man did well.
I'd love you to do something like this for the Transformers cartoons. Go through them one by one giving the same kind of analysis of them. Curious to hear your take on the Armada/Cybertron/Energon arc series. Yeah Armada started poor and the Transformer designs weren't great but I thought it got really good as the series progressed.
Either way, keep up the good work!
Either way, keep up the good work!
Yeah, I have fond memories of that Spider-man cartoon.
It introduced me to Spider-man as a character.
I read comics before that but mostly European stuff. American Superhero comics were much more difficult to come by though in Finland at that time, and I gave up on trying to follow Spider-man comics pretty quickly.
It introduced me to Spider-man as a character.
I read comics before that but mostly European stuff. American Superhero comics were much more difficult to come by though in Finland at that time, and I gave up on trying to follow Spider-man comics pretty quickly.
Oh man, that is some pure nostalgia. I loved these shows as a kid, as well as the DC animations, and can honestly say that without them I wouldn't know much about superheros. As silly as they may be now, I still prefer them in a lot of ways to the current run of superhero movies.
Edit: Did anyone else have problems disentangling Marvel heroes from DC heroes as a result of all the 90's animated series? I didn't exactly understand intellectual property laws when all this was going on, so I was always confused by the lack of Batman/Spiderman crossovers.
Edit: Did anyone else have problems disentangling Marvel heroes from DC heroes as a result of all the 90's animated series? I didn't exactly understand intellectual property laws when all this was going on, so I was always confused by the lack of Batman/Spiderman crossovers.
Same here, I always looked forward to watching this when I could. The cartoon had some much introspective moments, was it on the nose? Oh yeah but dammit if it didn't put things in perspective. and at least Spidey had a "Happy" ending.Ne1butme said:
I remember the Spider-Man cartoon well, particularly the Neogenic Nightmare series which was basically David Cronenberg for kids. The bit that sticks in my head was when Peter mutated into a giant Lovecraftian spider creature and the episode just ended there, with no inkling that he would ever turn back (at least to my ten-year-old mind).
I really hope that he talks about the current (or more recent) Marvel animated shows, because i grew up with a loved Wolverine and the Xmen, and the Spectacular Spiderman might be one of my favourite shows ever
Scorpid said:
Go rewatch the DCAU it did not have theatrical film animation quality they used plenty of shortcuts. It was the aesthetics and writing that made the show.
Personally I much preferred both these marvel cartoons to B:TAS, as a kid I found it too slow paced if it wasn't a Joker episode it was only with the Justice League and Batman Beyond entries did I really start to enjoy the DCAU.
I really recommend people check out Comics alliance review of the entire X-MEN cartoon. It's mostly humorous and I found some parts to be laugh out loud funny.
Here is a link: http://comicsalliance.com/tags/x-men-episode-guide/
EDIT: The spider-man cartoon was my first official introduction to the character (I caught the ocassional old cartoon but not very frequently). As flawed as the show is today, it's still the biggest reason I'm such a huge spidey fan.
Here is a link: http://comicsalliance.com/tags/x-men-episode-guide/
EDIT: The spider-man cartoon was my first official introduction to the character (I caught the ocassional old cartoon but not very frequently). As flawed as the show is today, it's still the biggest reason I'm such a huge spidey fan.
1994 Spider-Man is my favorite superhero cartoon of all time. Yes, I love it more than DCAU. Yes, I love it more than Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003 (although it is a close contender). Yes, the cartoon was frequently censored and reused animation like there's no tomorrow, I just don't care. The story is what made this show and it managed to just 'get' Spider-Man perfectly. He wisecracks, he has problems, he has love interests, he struggles with money, et cetera. No other cartoon managed to get good ol' Peter this well. It also has a good version of Venom, nice version of the Sinister Six (dubbed here the Insidious Six) and Kingpin was a great villain. Not mentioning how it introduced me to lesser known Marvel heroes like Daredevil and the concept of shared superhero universe.
I was a big fan of both the X-men and Spider-man series and, well, they were quite bold for what they did as kids shows.
X-men's first episode straight up KILLS one of the X-men members (of course he gets "better" in later seasons), while Spider-man's often had pretty downbeat endings as well.
I was a pretty big romantic, so I remember trying hard to tape the episode of when Peter proposes to Mary Jane. Still my favorite couple in comics.
X-men's first episode straight up KILLS one of the X-men members (of course he gets "better" in later seasons), while Spider-man's often had pretty downbeat endings as well.
I was a pretty big romantic, so I remember trying hard to tape the episode of when Peter proposes to Mary Jane. Still my favorite couple in comics.
You totally didn't mention the kick ass opening themes for either show. I'm not sure exactly who did X-Men but Spider-Man's was done by Joe Perry of Aerosmith. Maybe you don't care about stuff like that but opening themes (or their lack) can draw people in fairly well and it helps if it is a good theme. Spider-Man's theme was all kinds of 90's awesomeness, X-Men's was mysterious and dramatic and both fit their respective shows. Ignoring that as even a small factor in why they were good shows and well liked is kinda... well I expected better out of you.MovieBob said:
I saw the pilot episode of the X-Men animated series, a two-parter that ends with one X-Man dead, one in prison and one tortured offscreen, and I was instantly hooked. Now that's gritty and edgy and 90s! The whole first season was a seamless story arc featuring all the best villains (Magneto, Mystique, Sentinels, time travel), permanent consequences, and plenty of drama. Unfortunately, the show went off the rails very quickly in season 2, as they moved into PG-rated retreads of comic storylines that really don't make any sense without their tragic elements. (Fun fact: The animated version of the Phoenix Saga features writer Chris Claremont's original ending, where Jean Grey is de-powered by Professor X instead of dying. It is way, way worse in this version.)Trishbot said:
One minor correction for Bob: The X-Men cartoon didn't ditch the "kids in school" angle, the comics had done that already several years ago. By 1992, Jubilee really was the only school-age kid on the team. Marvel re-introduced the school theme years later to coincide with the live-action movies and to restore some semblance of normalcy to a series that was going increasingly off the rails.