El Hombre Araña: La Serie

This new Spider-Man series was very creative and the acting voices were pretty good. I remember I didn't miss any episode. I also remember watching this series all the time before a highschool football game and was just always fixed on it. The mini series was just incredible. I wish these directors could make more. Hopefully they will. The graphice were for sure better great and of course better than the older series. I think everything in this series beat out the older version. I was really happy that they made something like this since I'm a big Spider-Man fan. This was great to look at and hopefully they will make more in the future. But for now I guess they can give it a rest since after the Spider-Man 2 release.

9.5/10

I was very impressed with this show when I first viewed it on MTV. As a Spider-Man fan, I was intrigued by the changes made here with the characters from Spidey's comic history, but find them all acceptable. Of course, after I found out the Ultimate Spider-Man comic team was responsible for the series, that explained the changes.

I have no problem with the series at all except one. I hear it may not be continued. As Mr. Damien says in the Shikata episode, "Why in the hell not?" This series really captures the spirit of Spider-Man and the animation dazzles, in my opinion. If MTV is not going to continue the series, then I would sincerely hope that another network will. It would be a shame to have this die a premature death.

Hi all. Relatively new Spidey fan (the Straczynski run), and long time animation fan here. First off, like many, I was afraid of the idea of a Spider-Man cartoon being on MTV, for fear they might needlessly make the characters more "hip" and "cool" (see: X-Men: Evolution, and comic book Ultimate X-Men) to appeal to those darn kids nowadays. Thankfully, this show does not do that. What it does do is break most of the censoring that has held back dramatic effects in cartoons for a while now by allowing characters to bleed and die, and given Spidey a form of animation that perfectly captures him. Now, while some may be taken aback by the cel-shaded look of the show, I must say I find it works well for the effect (then again, I am one who took to Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker's graphics without a complaint - make of that what you will).

One minor complaint I have of the show, however, is needless recasting the parts of the characters with so-called more "respected actors" like Neil Patrick Harris, when the people who did the voices for the series of the early nineties and several of the video games still work perfectly. I find it just a bit of a cheap ploy to mistakenly get what the producers may see as "real talent". While i'm not complaining on NP Harris' part (he's good, but he's no Christopher Daniel Barnes), does Lisa Loeb really need to be Mary Jane? And Eve playing the Black Cat was woefully miscast, her voice and animation contrasting way too much and taking me right out of the mood the show had set. Now while Rob Zombie as the lizard I can kind of understand, it just seems like MTV is using the "Music" in it's name to cast musicians in the show gratuitously. Please, don't use famous people for cartoons when their voices will pull you out of the moment when lesser-known voice and character actors can pull you in, and keep you there.

But, that medium sized, rarely appearing quibble aside, this show has great promise. Aside from trying to have "hip" voice actors, the show doesn't bother trying to appeal to any target demographic outside of the one that just wants a great Spider-Man cartoon. And, with Brian Michael Bendis on board producing and writing, saying no is nothing easy to do. Even if it means committing a minor sin by turning on MTV, it's worth it.

This cartoon was awesome, especially for a show that utilizes so much computer-generated imagery skillfully combined with traditional hand-drawn animation. "Spider-Man" is everything a reader of the original Marvel Comics created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko could want - everything they could ever want - on hyper-drive. "Spider-Man" comes to us from comic book artist Brian Michael Bendis, who has received some pretty strong accolades for his work on Marvel's recent "Ultimate Spider-Man" title.

As a reader of Spider-Man comic books, the new animated series "Spider-Man" features one adrenalin-charged action sequence after the other, and then slows down to focus on the characters and their personal matters, which is what the original Spider-Man comics did to completely change the game after the character made his debut in "Amazing Fantasy #15" in 1962. And this show also features one of the best electronic soundtracks I've ever heard for a cartoon (too bad it's not for sale anywhere).

As we find in this series, which is more or less a follow-up to "Spider-Man" (2002), Peter Parker (Neil Patrick Harris) is now a promising student at Empire State University, together with gorgeous, on/off would-be girlfriend Mary Jane Watson (Lisa Loeb) and rich-boy best pal Harry Osborn (Ian Ziering). Peter divides his time between hitting the books as Everyman Peter Parker and hitting the streets as New York City's favorite wall-crawling vigilante superhero Spider-Man.

In "Spider-Man," a slew of familiar characters get brilliant, hyper-stylized makeovers, including Wilson Fisk/The Kingpin, Kraven the Hunter, The Lizard and Electro, plus some new villains including a Japanese samurai swords-woman, a trio of high-tech ex-KGB terrorists, and a Robin Hood-esquire would-be costumed crime-fighter.

And "Spider-Man" also features some pretty high-priced voice talent, including Michael Clarke Duncan (who played The Kingpin in 2003's "Daredevil"), Ethan Embry, Eve, Gina Gershon, and comedienne Kathy Griffin. This show is something that comic fans have been waiting for, since the animated series that aired in 1994 is no longer in production. This "Spider-Man" has been on hiatus for four years now; when's he coming back?!?

10/10

After being burned by how the two Fox Kids "Spider-Man" cartoons were cut short before the plot lines were resolved, I was ready for a whole new incarnation of the wise-cracking webslinger in the red-and-blue pajamas.

At first, I was dismayed when I learned the entire thing was going to be done in computer animation. Come on! I didn't like the computer animation in neither the Spider-Man nor the Hulk feature films. I'll be scourged if computer animation will ever capture human motions as fluidly and as flawlessly as either live action or cell animation. If this series is going to be saved, it would have to be by the virtue of the story lines.

Luckily, it delivered in that avenue. Unlike the earlier incarnations of Spiderman on television, the writers either focused TOO much on pointless dialogue which can easily be conveyed through the actions of the characters, or as in the 1994 version, a lot of action (good) but a lot of superfluous dialogue was crammed in as well (bad). Here, they understood that the TV show does NOT always have to resemble a d**m comic book and actually utilized the cinematography offered through this medium (as well as the appropriately requisite dialogue) to convey the constant drama that is the dual life of Peter Parker/Spider-Man. Plus the fact that they take "liberties" with the language and themes by virtue of it being broadcast on Empty-V is an added bonus.

Speaking of the cinematography, the dizzying exhilarating web-slinging action almost makes up for the religious use of computer animation. The 1994 Spider-Man was enhanced by computer animation during the action sequences, so you can't really blame these people for taking the genre to its logical conclusion. Yet the characters still have that robotic feel to them, a major drawback to the CGI world that must be resolved before it's fully accepted.

The show still looks promising, and I will definitely place this among the shows to watch - a statement that is rare considering the channel it's being shown on.

*** out of **** stars.