Marvel.com has recently streamed a "new" old animated TV series: Spider-Man Unlimited and I have decided to review it.
Series Information
Name: Spider-Man Unlimited
Seasons: 1 (13 episodes)
Release Year: 1999
Plot
This series was made to be a spin off to the Spiderman show in 1994. Hijacking a space shuttle to help up John Jameson against Venom and Carnage, Spider-Man ends up stuck on Counter-Earth, an Earth like planet in the same orbit on other side of the sun. There he finds a high tech society where humanoid animals, the beastials, rule under the leadership of the High Evolutionary, while humans are seen as second class citizens. And if that wasn't bad enough, Venom and Carnage are about, having their minds set on global domination through the help of the Synoptic - a hive-mind producing spores that turn people into its mindless slaves.
Review
Right off the bat, I am going to say that I just watched the first episode and I can't wait to finish this review so I can go watch the second episode. When I was younger (and Fox kids still existed) this show used to air, but I would ignore the show because I liked the original better, and for some reason I thought this was a joke against my favorite character. Like the plot description says this is a spin-off of the 90s original series, and it is.
The show begins with a discovery of a Counter-Earth, by accident John Jameson is taken there by Venom and Carnage's fault. Peter Parker as Spider-Man (In normal Red and Blue) tries to stop them but fails and ends up being blamed for this. Some time later Spider-Man is believed dead in a fire. Side Note: Apparently by now Peter and Mary Jane are married or living together, because for six months he lays low. Trying to redeem himself Peter gets involved in a space program so he himself can go and save John Jameson. He get's his new costume, and hijacks the shuttle and ends up stuck on the Counter-Earth.
Ok so enough of the summary, what's good and what's bad?
- I honestly don't like the new costume, the concept is fine and the colors are great but what the heck is Spider-Man doing with a spider web-made cape!?!
- The animation is not bad, (plus it's from the 90s) but whenever you see Spider-Man "flee" all the animation does is show Spidey the same somersault repeatedly.
- The shadows are not all good on this show. When MJ was in the scene you would see more black than red on her hair, and when Peter was around half his hair up was an orange-y color while the bottom half of his hair was totally black, it didn't matter if if was day or night, his hair would stay like that.
- You can't have Spider-Man without the internal monolouges, but on this show it was a bit overused. Things that the art explained itself, Peter would still narrate.
- There was a chase scene between Spider-Man and the Bestials that although it was good, it was still a little too long.
The Good
- Continuity-wise the show is good and there are a lot of hints of the Marvel Universe.
- When Peter hijacked the shuttle Nick Fury appeared to try and stop him.
- There were a lot of references of Reed Richards and the new suit he wears was even made by Mr. Fantastic himself.
- I remember when the X-Men wore their new costumes Professor Xavier explained that it was made by Richards as a nanotechnology suit made to fit the person's characteristics. In the show Spider-Man gave the same explanation as he started wearing the new suit.
- On Counter-Earth is basically this universe's Wundergore so there are humanoids and beastials and the High Evolutionary.
- I am a big fan of cliffhangers and if the cliffhanger isn't good then my interest in the story goes way down. This episode had a good cliffhanger, I'm not going to tell you what it is, but it was great, and if it makes me think "How is Spider-Man going to get out of this one?" then the cliffhanger is a good one. (Something I can't say about the recent Vulture story in ASM)
- Animation is good and the flow of the story (for the exception of the chase scene) is not at all slow. I mean in one episode six months of story passed.
So as you can see there the good outweighs the bad!
4 out of 5 - If you like Spider-Man then it’s worth a watch.
If you are a fan of the show or would like to give it a try watch it on Marvel.com (The link is above), and you would all be happy to know that his April there is a DVD release scheduled. So be ready to get it in DVD format!
So I'm out of here, have to see how Spidey get's out of this one in episode 2.
P.S. Please give me feedback. Tell me if you agree or disagree with me.
Also recommend what I should review next!
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