The Marvelous 90s in Marvel Cartoons

[Darth_Payn]

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 remember that one vividly. The episode (one of them) after that had The Punisher (fuck yeah! The Motherfuckin' Punisher!) chase down the mutated* Spider-Man and one of Spidey's scientist friends helping him find a cure calls out the Punisher on his act.
I also liked how they brought in Daredevil/Matt Murdoch, as one the best friends Spider-Man could ask for, since they both count The Kingpin as a shared nemesis. I forgot if they tried to have Elektra and Bullseye on that show, but I could not fathom how they would be toned down to be "kid-friendly" and still stay true to the comic originals. Then again, Black Cat was a regular character...






*As part of the shared universe I believe existed among the '90's Marvel toons, Spider-Man went to the X-Men to find a cure for for what was happening to him in that arc, and Prof. X says they don't "cure" anything, but teach how to control it. Maybe the X-Men knew he wasn't a real mutant.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

I own the entire X-Men series on DVD. I love that show. Every Saturday morning, my entire family (yes, even my parents) would set down in front of the T.V. and we'd all wait for the new episode. And those two-or-three parters? Oh man, those were murder. Having to wait a whole week was tough.

Loved Spider-Man too, and when the X-Men showed up in it (with the same voices!!) I was in love. And then the series ended without wrapping up THE MOST IMPORTANT PLOT POINT IN THE ENTIRE SERIES!!!!! Don't say you're going off to find Mara Jade. SHOW US THAT YOU FOUND HER, DAMMIT!! To this day that still ticks me off.

 

[CrazyGirl17]

I remember these shows! Haven't seen 'em in years, but I still remember liking them.

Of the two, Spider-man the Animated Series is probably my favorite. Yes, the censorship was annoying, and the show ended on a goddamned cliffhanger... but it was still enjoyable. The stories and great voice cast didn't hurt either.

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.

Actually, the opening to X-Men the Animated Series was done by Ron Wasserman, who brought us the kickass opening to Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers. So yeah, he had a place in 90's kids shows.

 

[Sonicron]

I loved that Spidey cartoon, it was one of the best reasons to get up early on a Saturday. Yeah, it was plagued by a lousy animation budget and really cheesy writing, but I loved it anyway. How could I not? I actually learned how to read with Spider-Man comics (among other things), and seeing the defining comicbook hero of my childhood on screen was the very definition of magic for me.
Oh yeah, and I actually enjoyed the 90's era as a whole - hell, I actually have a Hellspawn tattoo on my shoulder. Maybe it's something the readers of serial comics suffer from, but I never grew to dislike Venom or Carnage, and they're still my favourites from Spidey's roster of bad guys.

I only watched the 90's X-Men show when I was in my early 20s, so I can't look back on that show with the benefit of nostalgia, but that's also a good thing. Aside from crappy animation most of the show still holds up today when boiled down to simple, yet significant socio-political main themes wrapped up in super-powered brawls involving appealing archetypal characters.

I guess Bob is going to cite the 90's Iron Man cartoon as one of the 'failures', but I'd like to jump to its defence pre-emptively by reminding fellow nostalgia buffs of one thing: That show had an absolutely awesome intro sequence!

 

[Osaka117]

Despite growing up on 90s cartoons I somehow managed to miss X-Men AND the entire DC animated universe (this has since been rectified). However I religiously watched 90s Spiderman, and still vividly remember the characters, plot lines, and voices despite not watching it since it went off air. I actually haven't finished watching 90s X-Men, but when I do I recon it's time to give Spiderman a rewatch.

 

[shiajun]

Once again, somehow I feel weird for actually for having enjoyed (and still enjoy) watching the X-men cartoon. Frankly, although a bit sanitized in some parts (and those retched Jubilee centric episodes) I think they did well with the big arcs, and actually needing the "previously on...", meaning series wide continuity. Comic fans will love their million details, but the series did a very necessary pruning of the mess they tend to get into. I did want more Angel and Nightcrawler, and more than one tiny Psylocke cameo. I proudly have them all on DVD. Also, Gambit's attitude was spot on, something that more recent comic writers have a hard time getting right (nevermind the third person references). The only thing that grated me was how Wolverine focused it became at times. In my mind it marks the start of that overuse and overexposure of a character that was cool but now just makes me roll my eyes.

Batman's cartoon dark edge actually remind me of the recent (and currently very dead or in limbo) Tron:Uprising. The animations is absolutely stunning, better than tons of movies, the soundtrack follows the whole Daft Punk style, plus some throwbacks to the 80's sounds, some cheesy but overall excellent writing and pacing. For a "kid's" show every episode has at least one character being derezzed -which is just an euphemism for killed, and sometimes rather dramatically- which is some serious death rate for any series. If you didn't get to watch it when it first aired (because, of course moving around airing times, including midnight on Sunday, will bring in the audience), hunt it down and watch it. It does end on a huge cliffhanger. Maybe Disney will revive the series if Tron 3 goes into production, but since the whole team has gone off to other projects, I doubt it.

 

[shintakie10]

I remember loving those X-Men and Spiderman when I was a kid. I recently started rewatching them though and I honestly couldn't do it, which is a shame because I know I'd still enjoy it if I watched it. The problem is, for me, old animation is just so ugly its hard to get past.

Best example of somethin I adore I can't watch anymore? Gargoyles. Fuck I love Gargoyles. The soundtrack they use is amazing and the storylines were (generally) great. But the animation. Oh god the animation. I don't know how my mind was able to make me think those were fluid movements before, but by god are those not fluid movements.

Back to topic! Between the two, I think I can still force myself to watch Spiderman while X-Men is just too hard to get through imo. Its hard to pinpoint why exactly, but it might have somethin to do with X-Men having some amazing television tied to it since the original run (Evolution, Wolverine and the X-Men) which makes the original feel as dated as it is. Spiderman, on the other hand, hasn't really been all that great in the television department. It got another run in the 90's which was so awful it got canned after 1 season. There was that really really bad one where he gets sent into space and ends up on that planet with all the anthro people oppressing the humans. Then there was the Ultimate series that recently came out which was good, but lacked any sense of forward movement since almost none of the storylines had anything to do with one another.

 

[Zarbear]

Spider-Man: TAS was the first TV show I remember being obsessed with. I was nine at the time and it was compelling as hell to me. I'd read a smattering of Spidey comics up until then (whatever I could afford with an allowance) and I was amazed to see these characters come to life every Saturday morning.

One of the best features of the show was it's awesome cast. You have Christopher Daniel Barnes doing a great job at being Spidey and narrating the show. Then you got actual TV god Ed Asner playing the shit out of J. Jonah Jameson. And finally you have a very young Jennifer Hale (pre-Lutece pre-Sheperd pre-all of that) as Felicia Hardy/Black Cat. There's several more here I haven't mentioned, but trust me when I say there was a dearth of talent behind the mics of that show.

Oh OK one more: David Hayter a.k.a. Solid Snake was Captain America in this!

I guess Bob is going to cite the 90's Iron Man cartoon as one of the 'failures', but I'd like to jump to its defence pre-emptively by reminding fellow nostalgia buffs of one thing: That show had an absolutely awesome intro sequence!

Quite true, but you're forgetting the much crappier 1st season intro for the much crappier 1st season of that show:

 

[RTR]

Oh man that Spiderman show was my JAM back in the day.

 

[Magmarock]

Bob you're going to hate me for saying this, but I think The Amazing Spiderman movies follow the 90s show pretty well.

 

[vid87]

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.

All these years later and that scene is still a gut-punch of drama, courtesy of Prince Eric

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Daniel_Barnes

 

[WickedLordJasper]

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.

I just want to say: the recaps on this website are awesome.