Read + Write + Report
Home | Start a blog | About Orble | FAQ | Blogs | Writers | Paid | My Orble | Login

Spectacular-Spiderman-Attack-of-the-Lizard-Review

October 21st 2011 02:03

Spectacular Spiderman Attack of the Lizard - Review








Review:



If you haven’t seen the Spectacular Spider-Man, you’re missing one of the best cartoons on television. I said it. I’ll lay that on the line. This may be the best off-the-page Spider-Man. Ever. The 1960’s version is great as a spyglass back into history. The series in the 80’s was fun and introduced me to both Spider-Man and the X-Men. Praise them! The one in the 90’s was good, but for any of you that saw the last season, you know that the people only had a passing inkling of what Spider-Man was even about. He was in a parallel universe with animal people and . . . by Cthulu, it makes my nose bleed just thinking about it. This new series, however, it a blast. The first DVD collects the inaugural three episodes in a collection dubbed ‘The Spectacular Spider-Man: Attack of the Lizard’. The action is stellar. It captures both the grace and manic speed of Spider-Man in a way that only the best moments of Spider-Man 3 did. For those of you familiar with the comics, this has more in common with ‘Ultimate Spider-Man’. It doesn’t adhere to any particular version of Peter Parker, instead creating a young hybrid that borrows liberally from everything that’s come before it, and fills in the gaps on its own. It’s a teenage Peter Parker, and while it thankfully spares us yet another iteration of his origin, the entire Spider-Man experience is still very fresh. It strikes a good balance between the life of Peter and his alter-ego, giving us some moments of both genuine tension and humor. The way it all plays out is tied together in a very small-world fashion, even more so than the Ultimate line does. Considering many of us know where all of this is going, it at times feels a little too convenient. Then again, it wraps it all up in a neat package, keeping the ongoing storyline from seeming haphazard.

Although I didn’t mind it, the art is exaggerated to a degree that might be off-putting to adults. It definitely has a Saturday morning flavor to it and while yes, this is for children, it doesn’t alienate people over the age of 13. I found it fun and colorful. Whatever Korean sweatshop they farmed this out to did a great job. All of this sounds good and well, right? Marvel serves up this fine sipping tequila, but what do they do with it? They serve it to us in a paper cup. This disk is the equivalent of one of those wax cones you get at the water cooler. A great cartoon, but a package that is infuriating. You see, at the time of this DVD release, the entire first season has aired. I haven’t seen it all yet, but what I have watched has been engrossing. Marvel has something good on their hands here, but they release only the first 3 episodes and string them together as if it’s some half-assed feature. The banner at the top exclaims ‘FULL-LENGTH ANIMATED ADVENTURE.’ It’s lazy and it’s greedy. This is one of the most egregious examples of double-dipping I’ve seen in a while. Make no mistake, this is not a feature length animated film about the Lizard. There’s an episode with the Enforcers and the Vulture, then one with Electro, and in what’s obviously the third episode, there’s the Lizard. While the troubled Dr. Connors is in all of tThe episodes, it’s not even close to a solid narrative. Those gold-digging bloodsuckers. Any time Warner Brothers comes out with a DC animated series, we get a feature packed box set for every season. Marvel just tosses out bullshit smattering of episodes here and there, if we’re lucky. To this day, there are only a few semi-rare disks for the X-Men and Spider-Man series of the 1990’s. I’ve heard that this series is about to be presented with it’s own boxed set. You know, after this release, that really doesn’t make me feel any better. This disk is a shameless cash grab. For the special features there is a music video. That’s it. It’s a catchy if unremarkable theme song performed by the suggestively named ‘The Tender Box’. The video itself is little more than an extended title credits sequence. Was anyone even trying here? If you’re willing to overlook the sanctity of canon, this is a vibrant, new, if familiar, version of your favorite wall-crawler. Canon’s been tread roughshod upon for a while now. Get used to it, fanboys, and enjoy this. It’s lite, but not sugar-coated. While it’s not up to the benchmark of Batman: The Animated Series, this is exceptional Saturday morning fare.


Grade - B (plus) - Worth your time. Watch this show, just not on this DVD. The series deserves better.
23
Vote

   
subscribe to this blog 


   

   

[ Link ]
Posted By: Omar - Category: No Category
Related Posts:

Add A Comment

To create a fully formatted comment please click here.


CLICK HERE TO LOGIN | CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Name or Orble Tag
Home Page (optional)
Comments
Bold Italic Underline Strikethrough Separator Left Center Right Separator Quote Insert Link Insert Email
Notify me of replies
Your Email Address
(optional)
(required for reply notification)
Submit
More Posts
December 2011
5 Posts
November 2011
38 Posts
October 2011
53 Posts
Older Posts
4305 Posts dating from July 2006
Email Subscription
Receive e-mail notifications of new posts on this blog:
0
[ View Blog Summary ] [ Create A New Post ] [ Add A Comment ]

Omar's Blogs

1300 Vote(s)
0 Comment(s)
33 Post(s)
99 Vote(s)
0 Comment(s)
2 Post(s)
Moderated by Omar
Copyright © 2012 On Topic Media PTY LTD. All Rights Reserved. Design by Vimu.com.
On Topic Media ZPages: Sydney |  Melbourne |  Brisbane |  London |  Birmingham |  Leeds     [ Advertise ] [ Contact Us ] [ Privacy Policy ]