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The Spectacular Spider-Man is an Americananimated television series based on the superherocharacter published by Marvel Comics and developed for television by Greg Weisman and Victor Cook. In terms of overall tone and style, the series is based principally on the Stan Lee/Steve Ditko and Stan Lee/John Romita Sr. runs on The Amazing Spider-Man, with a similar balance of action, drama and comedy as well as a high school setting. However, it also tends to use material from all eras of the comic's run and other sources such as Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy and the Ultimate Spider-Man comics.^[1]

The Spectacular Spider-Man premiered on March 8, 2008, during the Kids' WB programming block of The CW. The series aired its second season on Marvel's sister network Disney XD in the United States and ended its run on November 18, 2009. The entire series was broadcast in Canada on Teletoon. Although a third season was planned, the series was cancelled before production could begin due to legal problems between Disney (who purchased Marvel during the show's run) and Sony Pictures Television (who created the series).

• 1Synopsis
• 3Cast
• 5Production

Synopsis[edit]

The two seasons of the series are each set during a semester of Peter's high school years, with season one running from September to November and season two from December to March.^[2]

Producer Greg Weisman has stated that the show's theme is 'The Education of Peter Parker.'^[3] In keeping with this theme, each of the series arcs is named after courses of study: season one's arcs are Biology 101, Economics 101, Chemistry 101 and Psychology 101, and season two's arcs are Engineering 101, Human Development 101, Criminology 101 and Drama 101.^[4]

Season 1[edit]

The first season features Peter Parker beginning his junior year at Midtown Manhattan Magnet High School, having only been bitten by the genetically-modified spider and acquired his powers and alias as Spider-Man in recent months. While harassed at school, particularly by football star Flash Thompson, he is close friends with classmates Gwen Stacy and Harry Osborn. In order to help support his Aunt May after the death of his Uncle Ben, Peter gets a job as a freelance photographer at the Daily Bugle, owned by the loudmouth, irascible, egotistical, and gruff publisher J. Jonah Jameson, by obtaining pictures of his alter-ego in action so he could carry out a smear campaign against Spider-Man that has, at least temporarily, turned much of the city against the hero. Peter and Gwen are also given junior lab assistant positions under Dr. Curt Connors at Empire State University, where they join their friend and mentor Eddie Brock. As Spider-Man uses his powers to fight against petty crime, he gains the attention of the Big Man who orchestrates crime in New York City, with attention initially drawn to his fights with the Enforcers, Vulture, Electro and the Lizard. With the help of Norman Osborn, his chief scientist Dr. Otto Octavius and criminal Hammerhead, the Big Man (alias of crime lord Tombstone) oversees the development of a project to create 'supervillains' designed to distract Spider-Man from other crimes and stop damaging his profits. These new enemies include Sandman and Rhino, both petty criminals who regularly fell victim to Spider-Man. However, the Big Man's plans become greatly complicated when the mysterious Green Goblin enters the picture. Throughout the first season, the other opponents are introduced are Black Cat who has a crush on him, Shocker and Chameleon. Quentin Beck and Phineas Mason appear as Chameleon's associates. After the Green Goblin is vanquished, Spider-Man's symbiote black suit makes an appearance, eventually leading to Eddie Brock's transformation into Venom.

Season 2[edit]

Peter Parker's life becomes significantly more complicated as he finds himself torn between Gwen Stacy and Liz Allan, both of whom have confessed their feelings for him; he eventually chooses Liz. Norman Osborn takes on the role of Peter's mentor, pulling strings to re-establish his job as Dr. Connors' lab assistant, as well as overseeing the installment of the conniving Dr. Miles Warren into the ESU Labs. Meanwhile, as Spider-Man, Peter encounters new villains Mysterio and Kraven the Hunter, leading him to investigate the activities of a mysterious new crime lord known as the 'Master Planner'. When the Master Planner's first scheme fails, Spider-Man is faced with a three-way gang war between the Planner's super-villain forces, the Big Man's established order, and the old guard of Silvio 'Silvermane' Manfredi's family. Peter's search for Eddie Brock also leads to the return of Venom, who attempts to expose Spider-Man's secret identity and remove his powers. Finally, when the three major crime lords are arrested, Spider-Man once again goes up against the Green Goblin, who is once again bent on eliminating the wall-crawler once and for all. The series ends with a cliffhanger due the show ending before a third season could be produced.

Other new characters introduced in the second season include Calypso, Sha Shan Nguyen, Silver Sable, Roderick Kingsley and Molten Man. Quentin Beck and Phineas Mason return as Mysterio and the Tinkerer respectively.

Characters[edit]

The timeline of the original Spider-Man story-arcs has been condensed and reconfigured in order to include classic and important characters who originally appeared much later. Characters such as Mary Jane Watson, Gwen Stacy and Harry Osborn are depicted not completely as direct equivalents to their older counterparts from the comics, but rather as characters who evolve into their established roles from the comics. The series also sports a very wide supporting cast. Every named character who appears in the series, even very minor characters, is based on a character who appeared in the original comics, Ultimate Spider-Man series (such as Kenny Kong), or film series (such as Bernard Houseman). The series also incorporates a number of villains from different eras of the Spider-Man universe, almost all of whom are introduced as regular characters in first episodes before they transform into established villain identities (an example is Eddie Brock, who was introduced at the very beginning of the series, but only became Venom in the season 1 finale).

Cast[edit]

Main cast[edit]

• Josh Keaton - Peter Parker/Spider-Man
• Benjamin Diskin - Eddie Brock/Venom
• James Arnold Taylor - Harry Osborn, Fredrick Foswell/Patch
• Lacey Chabert - Gwen Stacy
• Alanna Ubach - Liz Allan
• Kevin Michael Richardson - L. Thompson Lincoln/Tombstone/Big Man (subsequent episodes), Principal Davis
• Daran Norris - J. Jonah Jameson, John Jameson
• Vanessa Marshall - Mary Jane Watson
• Steven Blum - Green Goblin, Chameleon, Blackie Gaxton, Dillbert Trilby, Seymour O'Reilly
• Joshua LeBar - Flash Thompson
• Andrew Kishino - Kenny Kong, Ned Lee
• Clancy Brown - Alex O'Hirn/Rhino, George Stacy, Ox (first episode)
• Alan Rachins - Norman Osborn

Additional voices[edit]

• Thom Adcox - Phineas Mason/Tinkerer
• Ed Asner - Ben Parker
• Deborah Strang - Aunt May
• Dee Bradley Baker - Dr. Curt Connors/Lizard
• Irene Bedard - Jean DeWolff
• Jeff Bennett - Montana Brice/Shocker, St. John Devereaux, Bernard Houseman
• Xander Berkeley - Quentin Beck/Mysterio
• Angela Bryant - Calypso
• Max Burkholder - Billy Connors
• Robert Costanzo - Sullivan Edwards
• Nikki Cox - Silver Sable
• Jim Cummings - Burglar (1st Time), Crusher Hogan
• Keith David - L. Lincoln Thompson/Tombstone/Big Man (first episode)
• Grey DeLisle - Betty Brant, Sally Avril
• John DiMaggio - Flint Marko/Sandman, Hammerhead
• Charles Duckworth - Hobie Brown
• Robert Englund - Adrian Toomes/Vulture
• Bill Fagerbakke - Morris Bench
• Miguel Ferrer - Silvio Manfredi/Silvermane
• Crispin Freeman - Max Dillon/Electro
• Elisa Gabrielli - Ashley Kafka
• Brian George - Aaron Warren, Miles Warren
• Dorian Harewood - Dr. Bromwell
• Tricia Helfer - Felicia Hardy/Black Cat
• Kelly Hu - Sha Shan Nguyen
• Clyde Kusatsu - Ted Twaki
• Phil LaMarr - Fancy Dan/Ricochet, Robbie Robertson, Randy Robertson
• Stan Lee - Stan
• Eric Lopez - Mark Allan/Molten Man
• Jane Lynch - Joan Jameson
• Peter MacNicol - Dr. Otto Octavius/Doctor Octopus
• James Remar - Walter Hardy/Burglar (2nd Time)
• Kath Soucie - Dr. Martha Connors, Anna Watson
• Cree Summer - Glory Grant
• Danny Trejo - Ox (subsequent episodes)
• Courtney B. Vance - Roderick Kingsley
• Eric Vesbit - Sergei Kravinoff/Kraven the Hunter
• B.J. Ward - Mayor Waters
• Greg Weisman - Donald Menken
• Thomas F. Wilson - Stan Carter

Crew[edit]

• Greg Weisman - Supervising Producer/Story Editor/Writer
• Victor Cook - Supervising Producer (Season 2)/Supervising Director
• Diane A. Crea - Producer
• Eric Vesbit - Associate Producer
• Wade Wisninski - Associate Producer
• Dave Bullock - Director (four episodes)
• Kevin Altieri - Director (four episodes)
• John Diaz - Production Manager
• Kevin Hopps - Writer
• Matt Wayne - Writer
• Andrew Robinson - Writer
• Randy Jandt - Script Coordinator/Writer's Apprentice/Writer
• Jennifer Coyle - Director (six episodes)
• Sean 'Cheeks' Galloway - Lead Character Designer/ Character Supervisor
• Jamie Thomason - Voice Casting Director and Dialogue Director
• Meagan Healy - Production Art Supervisor
• Brian G. Smith - Production Art Supervisor
• Ben Maloney - Production Assistant
• Sherrian Felix - Production Coordinator
• Jennifer L. Anderson - Post Production Assistant
• Sean Herbert - Animation Clerk

Production[edit]

A new Spider-Man animated series was announced in August 2006 along with Sony Pictures TV's new direct-to-DVD division, Culver Entertainment, that would produce it with 13 half hour episodes. The series was planned for a 2007 release on DVD while international distributing to TV channels including Sony's.^[5] The DVD format was to be four discs with three episodes each. Greg Weisman and Victor Cook developed the show.^[6]

The Spectacular Spider-Man was announced by Kids' WB Senior Vice President and General Manager Betsy McGowen on June 18, 2007 as being picked up and slated for an early 2008 premiere by the Kids' WB! on The CW. Weisman and Cook were assigned to the series at the time as supervising producer and producer/supervising director, respectively. The art style of the series is more simplified than in previous incarnations but retain their iconic elements. This choice was made to ensure Spider-Man would move as he should and replicate the fluidity from Sam Raimi's movie incarnation.^[7]

The series was produced by its television animation studio, Adelaide Productions (due to Sony's holding of the Spider-Man film franchise rights) with Hanho Heung-Up Co., Ltd.,^[8]Dong Woo Animation and MOI Animation, Inc. contributed some of the animation for this series. The title sequence for the show was directed by Victor Cook with the theme song written and performed by The Tender Box.^[8]

Weisman has stated that in adapting the comics for the show, the producers 'tried to follow what [they] came to call 'The Five Cs': Contemporary, Cohesive, Coherent, Classic and iConic.'^[9] 'The advantage of hindsight' allowed the show to be 'more coherent and cohesive than the original' comic continuity, which contains 'considerable duplication, a false start here and there, [and] conflicting interpretations.'^[9] Weisman studied all of the characters to find their 'core essence,' and the show often combined characters and storylines when necessary for the sake of coherence.^[9] For example, Flash Thompson was found to be 'a bully, who deep down is actually an honorable guy,' while Shocker was found to be an 'iconic costume' with no character, so he was combined with Montana.^[9]

The Spectacular Spider-Man debuted on March 8, 2008 with back-to-back episodes, 'Survival of the Fittest' and 'Interactions', under the banner 'Spectacular Saturday'.^[10] The series debuted under a cloud as The CW had just indicated that the network would end its kid's block for a brokered outsourced block. While Culver had already started producing the second season.^[11]

Cancellation[edit]

Greg Weisman was hoping to reach 65 episodes.^[12] 26 episodes of The Spectacular Spider-Man were produced in total.^[13]

The series stopped production with a renewal dependent upon the ratings for season 2 on the U.S. Disney XD channel and the sales of the DVDs.^[14] If the third season were to have gone ahead, producer Greg Weisman stated that Carnage, Hobgoblin, Ghost Rider, Hydro-Man, and Scorpion would have made their appearances as well as planning to cast Marina Sirtis as Emily Osborn's voice.^[15] On September 1, 2009, the television rights for Spider-Man were returned to Marvel by Sony. At the time, President of Marvel Animation Eric Rollman further stated that 'no decisions have been made either way' regarding the fate of the series.^[16]Newsarama reported that the series' cancellation occurred just after The Walt Disney Company acquired Marvel Entertainment in December 2009.^[17]

On April 13, 2010, Marvel announced that a new series loosely based on the Ultimate Spider-Man comic book storyline would air on Disney XD in the fall of 2011, which actually aired on April 1, 2012.^[18][19] The same day the new series was announced, Weisman told IGN: 'I've heard nothing directly from Marvel, but I think the Ultimate Spider-Man announcement makes it fairly clear that Spectacular is over.'^[20] Marvel Animation and Sony also commented on this to Marvel Animation Age, confirming that the series had ceased production.^[21]

Weisman would later write that in 2009, in exchange for concessions on the movie rights, Sony had relinquished to Marvel its license to produce television works that used Spider-Man and associated characters, but had retained ownership of The Spectacular Spider-Man series and all of the production elements created specifically for it, such as character designs and storylines. Therefore, neither Sony nor Marvel could continue production of the series, as each lacked some of the essential rights to do so. Additionally, at approximately the same time that Sony returned the Spider-Man television rights to Marvel, Marvel was acquired by The Walt Disney Company.^[22][23]

Future plot events[edit]

Due to cancellation, many storylines never came to fruition. In season three, Curt would have been in Florida and working on a cure for Electro^[24] and a planned DVD Spring Break movie would have been set in Florida between season 2 and 3, as well as movies between season 3 and 4, and between season 4 and 5.^[25] Scorpion and Hobgoblin^[26] were confirmed villains for season three, in addition to Carnage and Mister Negative.After the initial 65 episode series plan and movies, Weisman wanted to produce DVD sequels covering Peter's college years^[27] and his eventual marriage to Mary Jane.^[28]

Reception[edit]

The series was released to critical acclaim. Before the series premiere, Matt Sernaker of ComicsOnline interviewed some of the Spectacular Spider-Man development team at WonderCon 2008 after a preview screening and stated: 'This new Spider-Man series truly is SPECTACULAR... surpasses all of the previous incarnations with ease. If you are a Spidey fan you will not want to miss this.'^[29]

Early in the series' run, Alan Kistler of ComicMix called the series 'one of the best superhero adaptations I've ever seen (and trust me, I've watched more than anyone will probably consider reasonable). It's fun, it's smart, it's mature, it's witty and every episode leaves me wanting more.'^[30]

In an article entitled '8 Reasons to Watch Spectacular Spider-Man', Reggie White, Jr. from Spiderfan wrote: 'If you aren't watching The Spectacular Spider-Man on CW Kids' WB, you are missing out on what is quickly becoming one of the greatest Spidey cartoons of all-time.'^[31]

Stu from Marvel Animation Age writes in his review of the series: 'At time of writing, The Spectacular Spider-Man stands as Marvel's finest animated effort and surpasses most of DC's finest efforts – the only shows in Spectacular's league really, is Batman: The Animated Series itself. With more episodes, it may just surpass it.'^[32]

IGN stated that Greg Weisman 'has only cemented his reputation for quality television animation with his work on Spider-Man.'^[33] IGN also named The Spectacular Spider-Man the 30th in the Top 100 Best Animated TV Shows in January 2009, outranking both the 1990s Spider-Man cartoon and Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends.^[34]The Spectacular Spider-Man was awarded Best Animated Series in both 2008^[35] and 2009^[36] with the series' version of the main character being named TV's Best Hero in 2008.^[37] Subsequently, it was placed second in the Top 25 Comic Book TV Shows in 2011.^[38]

Outside of comic resources, Variety highlighted that 'although seemingly conceived largely to push a new line of Hasbro toys... the soon-to-fadeout Kids' WB (on the CW!) delivers a credible new version of 'Spider-Man,' emphasizing his relatable headaches as a 16-year-old superhero.'^[39]

TV Guide listed the series as one of the sixty greatest animated series of all time.^[40]

Home media[edit]

The series was initially developed so that each three to four episode arc could be edited together into a feature-length home video release. The first DVD for the show, entitled 'Attack of the Lizard', followed this plan with the first three episodes edited together to form a stand-alone story with additional footage. The region 1 version was released on September 9, 2008.^[41]

This release strategy changed with the region 1 release of the second and third DVDs of the series on March 17, 2009. Originally promoted with the titles 'Rise of the Supervillains' and 'The Goblin Strikes' respectively, these releases were revised to feature the televised versions of the episodes and were ultimately released as numbered volumes. Since then, retailer stores have stopped releasing 'Attack of the Lizard', and have replaced it with volume 1. Volume 4 was released in region 1 on April 28, 2009, in the same format.

'The Spectacular Spider-Man: The Complete First Season' DVD was released in region 1 on July 28, 2009.^[42]

DVD volume 5 was released in region 1 on November 17, 2009.^[43] DVD volumes 6 and 7 were released on February 16, 2010. DVD volume 8 was released on April 27, 2010.^[44]

The first 4 volumes that comprise season 1 for region 2 have been released with volumes 3 and 4 having been released on August 23, 2010.^[45] The remaining 4 volumes comprising season 2 have not been released on DVD in the U.K.

Seasons 1 and 2 of the series are available to buy in the U.K. and U.S. from the iTunes Store (360p); both seasons are also available to buy in the U.K. from the PlayStation Store (480p), Amazon Video (SD/HD) and Google Play (SD).

In promotion for The Amazing Spider-Man 2, it was announced that The Spectacular Spider-Man would get a Blu-ray release containing all 26 episodes. It was released on April 22, 2014.

Syndication[edit]

On June 14, 2013, Saban Brands announced that they had acquired the broadcast rights to air the series on Vortexx on The CW for the Fall 2013-14 season, marking its return to The CW since the conclusion of the first season aired on June 14, 2008.^[46]

The series officially started airing on Vortexx on August 17, 2013 and it ended on September 27, 2014.

Toys and merchandise[edit]

Hasbro released a toy line of action figures in March 2008.^[47]

McDonald'sHappy Meals celebrated their 30th Anniversary with The Spectacular Spider-Man toys in February 2009.^[48][49][50]

In February 2010, Burger King included The Spectacular Spider-Man toys in its Kids' Meals toys range.^[51]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

1. ^Interview with Greg Weisman (Part 1) by Sean Elliott:Archived June 22, 2008, at the Wayback Machine March 7, 2008
2. ^Interview with Greg Weisman (Page 3) by Eric Goldman: June 27, 2008
3. ^SDCC 07: The Spectacular Spider-Man July 27, 2007
4. ^Ask Greg June 3, 2009
5. ^Schneider, Michael (August 2, 2006). 'Sony drives new disc biz'. Variety. Retrieved May 20, 2019.
6. ^Elliott, Sean (March 4, 2008). 'Symbiotically Bonding With 'Spectacular Spider-Man' Producer Victor Cook - Part 1'. If Magazine. Electric Entertainment. Archived from the original on January 2, 2010. Retrieved May 20, 2019.
7. ^Baisley, Sarah (June 18, 2007). 'The Spectacular Spider-Man Title of New Marvel Series for Kids WB! on The CW'. Animation World Network. Retrieved May 20, 2019.
8. ^ ^abWeisman, Greg (March 9, 2008). 'Ask Greg: Spectacular Spider-Man 101 credits'. Station Eight. Retrieved May 20, 2019.
9. ^ ^abcdAsk Greg May 14, 2009
10. ^Ball, Ryan (March 6, 2008). 'Spider-Man Begins, Batman Ends on Kids' WB!'. Animation Magazine. Retrieved May 20, 2019.
11. ^Lowry, Brian (March 6, 2008). 'The Spectacular Spider-Man'. Variety. Retrieved May 20, 2019.
12. ^Ask Greg (Weisman): May 03, 2008
13. ^Press Release For Upcoming 'The Spectacular Spider-Man' DVDs, Season Two Updates by James Harvey: January 30, 2009
14. ^'Update as of January 2009'. S8.org. 2009-01-29. Retrieved 2012-05-16.
15. ^Ask Greg (Weisman): March 24, 2009
16. ^IGN: November 1, 2009
17. ^Pepose, David. 'ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN: The Animated Series, Disney XD 2011'. Newsarama. April 13, 2010.
18. ^'Marvel Animation Age'. Marvel.toonzone.net. 2010-04-13. Retrieved 2012-05-16.
19. ^SuperHeroHype (2010-04-13). 'Animated Ultimate Spider-Man Coming to Disney XD'. Superhero Hype. Retrieved 2012-05-16.
20. ^Goldman, Eric. 'Ultimate Spider-Man Comes to TV'. IGN. April 14, 2010.
21. ^'Marvel Animation Age'. Marvel.toonzone.net. 2010-04-15. Archived from the original on November 4, 2013. Retrieved 2012-05-16.
22. ^Ask Greg (Weisman): February 09, 2012
23. ^Ask Greg (Weisman): August 31, 2009
24. ^https://s8.org/gargoyles/askgreg/search.php?qid=11749.Missing or empty |title= (help)
25. ^https://s8.org/gargoyles/askgreg/search.php?qid=19596.Missing or empty |title= (help)
26. ^https://s8.org/gargoyles/askgreg/search.php?qid=11017.Missing or empty |title= (help)
27. ^https://s8.org/gargoyles/askgreg/search.php?qid=10446.Missing or empty |title= (help)
28. ^https://s8.org/gargoyles/askgreg/search.php?qid=10930.Missing or empty |title= (help)
29. ^'WONDERCON COVERAGE: Spectacular Spider-Man'. Archived from the original on 2011-07-08.
30. ^'Review: 'The Spectacular Spider-Man' Animated Series'. ComicMix.
31. ^White, Reggie (2008-04-15). 'Rave : 2008 : 8 Reasons to Watch Spectacular Spider-Man'. SpiderFan.org. Retrieved 2012-05-16.
32. ^'Marvel Animation Age - Spectacular Spider-Man (2008)'. Marvel.toonzone.net. 2009-11-18. Retrieved 2012-05-16.
33. ^var authorId = '56857231' by Eric Goldman. 'The Spectacular Spider-Man's Past and Future'. Tv.ign.com. Retrieved 2012-05-16.
34. ^'IGN - 30. The Spectacular Spider-Man'. Tv.ign.com. Archived from the original on 2012-06-03. Retrieved 2012-05-16.
35. ^'IGN TV: Best Animated Series 2008'. Bestof.ign.com. Retrieved 2012-05-16.
36. ^'TV Best Animated Series 2009 - Spectacular Spider-Man'. Bestof.ign.com. Retrieved 2012-05-16.
37. ^'IGN TV: Best Hero 2008'. Bestof.ign.com. Retrieved 2012-05-16.
38. ^'IGN's Top 25 Comic Book TV Shows - TV Feature at IGN'. Tv.ign.com. Retrieved 2012-05-16.
39. ^Lowry, Brian (March 5, 2008). 'The Spectacular Spider-Man TV Show Review'. Variety.
40. ^'TV Guide Magazine's 60 Greatest Cartoons of All Time'. TV Guide. September 24, 2013. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
41. ^TVshowsonDVD.com by David Lambert:Archived 2008-07-02 at the Wayback Machine June 28, 2008
42. ^TVshowsonDVD.com by David Lambert:Archived 2009-05-22 at the Wayback Machine June 18, 2009
43. ^TVshowsonDVD.com by David Lambert:Archived 2009-09-11 at the Wayback Machine September 8, 2009
44. ^[1] February 25, 2010
45. ^'Play.com'. Play.com. Retrieved 2012-05-16.
46. ^'Vortexx on The CW Unveils New Action Adventure Programming for 2013-'14 Slate - Business Wire'. 14 June 2013.
47. ^Comics Continuum by Rob Allstetter: December 2, 2007
48. ^'McDonald's Happy Meal website'. Happymeal.com. 2010-02-22. Archived from the original on 2012-05-25. Retrieved 2012-05-16.
49. ^India Infoline News Service:Archived July 20, 2009, at the Wayback Machine February 09, 2009
50. ^McDonald's Advertisement @ Dailymotion^{[dead link]}
51. ^'BK Kids' Meals Toys'. Club BK. Burger King Corporation. Archived from the original on January 26, 2010. Retrieved February 2, 2010.

External links[edit]

The Spectacular Spider Man Movie

• The Spectacular Spider-Man on IMDb
• The Spectacular Spider-Man at TV.com

Spider-Man has been doing whatever a spider can on TV ever since the late 1960's. To date, there have been no fewer than eight animated series to star the wall-crawling hero. Sometimes he slings solo, and other times he teams up with fellow heroes to battle evil and scarf down Aunt May's wheatcakes. Some of these shows have been better than others, but all have tried to put their unique spin on this iconic hero.

With Spidey returning to theaters this week in The Amazing Spider Man 2, The Spectacular Spider-Man finally being released on Blu-ray, and Ultimate Spider-Man continuing to do well on Disney XD, now seemed like the perfect time to examine all the Spider-Man-themed animated series so far, ranking them from worst to best. Keep in mind, we're focusing on the shows specifically starring Spider-Man, not ones he's guest starred in like Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes or Spider-Woman.

The Spectacular Spiderman Season 1 Download Torrent Full

Lifespan: 13 episodes (1999-2001)

By the late '90s, Marvel's Saturday morning cartoon renaissance had pretty well come to an end. Kids were more interested in their Pokemons and Digimons than costumed superheroes. Spider-Man Unlimited was an attempt to shake up the formula and deliver a drastically different take on Spidey. This was partly based on necessity, as a new deal between Sony and Marvel prevented Fox and Saban Entertainment from using many of the traditional Spider-Man elements. Unlimited served as a vague sequel to the much more popular 1994 series (another element not in its favor), with Spidey being transported to Counter-Earth to aid John Jameson and a group of resistance fighters (including heroic versions of Green Goblin and Vulture) against the High Evolutionary and his genetically modified Bestials.

Unfortunately, while Spider-Man Unlimited earns points for originality, its execution left a lot to be desired. The animation was lousy, and the voice acting worse. The tone was odd and often unnecessarily dark. Despite a soap operatic storyline that required fans to view each episode in chronological order, there was a surprising lack of character development. And in the end, the show was so different from the traditional Spider-Man mythos that it barely felt like a Spider-Man cartoon at all.

Despite Fox only commissioning one 13-episode season, it wasn't until 2001 that the final episodes actually aired. And to add insult to injury, the show ended with an unresolved cliffhanger, just as its predecessor did.

Lifespan: 52 episodes (1967-1970)

The original Spider-Man animated series will always have a special place in the hearts of Spidey fanatics, if only because of its ridiculously catchy theme song. Aside from that iconic tune, the show is best remembered today for its lovably clunky animation and as fodder for many an Internet meme.

The show is also interesting in how fundamentally it changed between the first and second seasons. The first season was produced by Grantray-Lawrence Animation, resulting in a show pretty faithful to the early Stan Lee/Steve Ditko Amazing Spider-Man comics. Many of Spidey's iconic villains and supporting characters of the day put in appearances. Though the production values were higher than those of The Marvel Super Heroes (wherein the episodes basically consisted of crudely animated comic book panels), Spider-Man still featured rudimentary animation and often reused stock footage. To further save time, the animators only drew the webbing on Spidey's gloves and mask.

Watch The Spectacular Spider Man

After Grantray-Lawrence went bankrupt, the show was passed onto Krantz Films, with legendary animator Ralph Bakshi taking control. As you might expect based on Bakshi's resume, the latter two seasons took on a distinctly darker and more psychedelic tone. Unfortunately, the budget was slashed even further, necessitating the removal of Spidey's villains. The budget was so slim that at one point, Bakshi even reused elements from another of his animated projects, Rocket Robin Hood.

The '67 series isn't great, but it has a certain goofy charm. Any hardcore Spider-Man fans owe it to themselves to check out a few episodes, if only for curiosity's sake. And the theme song of course has stood the test of time... 'Catches thieves just like flies!'

Lifespan: 26 episodes (1981-82)

The 1981 Spider-Man series is perhaps one of the wallcrawler's lesser-known forays into animated television. Blame that on the fact that it aired around the same time as the more popular Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends. But Spider-Man's advantage over its sister series was that it offered a much more traditional and holistic take on the Spider-Man franchise. The series was inspired heavily by John Romita Sr.'s art style and the general look, feel, and character lineup of the 1970's-era Amazing Spider-Man comic.

If crude by modern standards, the animation and storytelling were certainly a huge step up from the 1967 Spider-Man. In particular, many episodes did a good job of capturing the troubled, unlucky quality of Peter Parker's life. The series is also notable for being the first Spider-Man project to attempt long-form storytelling, with a conflict between Spidey and Doctor Doom playing out over multiple episodes.

Lifespan: 24 episodes (1981-83)

Where one 1981 Spider-Man animated series offered a traditional take on Spider-Man's world, this show -- despite sharing a lot of the same character designs, including for Peter Parker -- took a much different approach. Suddenly, the eternally unlucky Spidey was joined by two other superhero partners - Iceman and Firestar. The latter character is easily the show's most lasting contribution to the Marvel Universe. Firestar was initially created as a stand-in for Human Torch, whose TV rights were tangled up elsewhere at the time (hence why he was also replaced by H.E.R.B.I.E. in the 1978 FF cartoon).

The show cast the three heroes as college students and roommates. While occasionally they would team up to battle traditional Spider-Man rogues like Chameleon or Electro, more often the heroes would cross over with other Marvel mainstays like the Avengers and X-Men. It was one of the first Marvel TV projects to really take advantage of the shared universe. While campy at times, the show managed to counter that quality with some solid dramatic material at times, taking great pains to explore the origins of Peter Parker, Bobby Drake, Anjelica Jones, and other characters at different points.

Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends also boasted some pretty impressive vocal talent, including soon-to-be Transformers mainstays Dan Gilvezan and Frank Welker as Spider-Man and Iceman, respectively. The show even featured narration by Stan Lee, though that material tends to be omitted in syndication nowadays.