DVD Review
by Kevin Carr
| MOVIE: ***1/2 (out of 5 stars)
DVD EXPERIENCE: ***1/2 (out of 5 stars) STARRING Christopher Daniel Barnes as SPIDER-MAN/PETER PARKER Edward Asner as J. JONAH JAMESON Jennifer Hale as FELICIA HARDY/BLACK CAT Rodney Saulsberry as JOE ROBERTSON Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. as DOC OCK Rue McClanahan as MRS. HARDY Not Rated Studio: Buena Vista Home Entertainment Spider-Man Created by: Stan Lee and Steve Ditko Back to DVD Review Home |
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On the cusp of the release of “Spider-Man 2,” Buena Vista Home Entertainment has released four episodes of the ABC morning cartoon on DVD. “Spider-Man vs. Doc Ock” compiles the episodes in which Doc Ock, the villain in “Spider-Man 2,” appears.
Since I don’t watch the cartoon on TV (it’s on way too early for me to even consider this), and I’ve never been a big reader of the Spider-Man comics, most of my knowledge of the legendary webslinger comes from the recent 2002 film. So, one of the first things I noticed is that this is the old school Spider-Man who was bitten by a radioactive spider and uses homemade web fluid. (See, I remember a little bit from the old cartoons and television shows.)
Ultimately, this is a really nice comic book cartoon. In fact, this cartoon genre - even before the feature films - was the first place that actually got the comic book adaptations right. Going as far back as the 1960s, cartoons based on comic books generally captured the right feel. Of course, in the 60s, things were much more campy. After mainstream comics took a darker turn in the 1980s, it has only been the television cartoons that really captured their essence. For example, while Joel Schumacher was wasting our time putting nipples on a bat-suit, the “Batman” animated series was churning out some awesome episodes.
There have been some glitches in recent years to comic book cartoons, namely the short-lived “Spider-Man” series on MTV. This new version is much more traditional. While it uses some CGI effects, they’re not overdone and often unnoticeable. This new Spider-Man series has a good look and feel that made the “Batman” animated series so good.
The episodes on “Spider-Man vs. Doc Ock” include three parts to a four-part saga on the series in which Doc Ock plays only a peripheral part. The rest of the plot focuses on Spidey’s interaction with The Black Cat, a not-too-subtle knock-off on Catwoman. It also includes some cameos from the comic, including Kingpin, the Scorpion and the Vulture.
The keystone episode on the disc, which is the first one in the queue, tells the origin of Doc Ock and features him as the main bad guy (in a plot somewhat similar to “Spider-Man 2”). If you’re like me and the first time you ever heard of Doc Ock was when your Spidey-obsessed friend told you he would be the new villain in the upcoming film, this gives some nice background to the story.
I was never a big fan of television shows released on VHS back in the day. This was mainly because they often gave you only an episode or two. But with DVD, there’s so much more that can be offered in TV-show releases. This DVD doesn’t have extensive special features, but it has a nice sampling. The best feature is one of the 1967 classic episodes, “The Power of Dr. Octopus.” It comes with an introduction by Spidey co-creator Stan Lee, who admits the cartoon is really cheesy but invites the audience to just have fun.
Lee provides introduction to the new episodes on the disc as well, and he has a ten minute interview segment that allows him to philosophize about the zen of Spider-Man. Finally, there is an extended trailer for the upcoming “Spider-Man: The Venom Saga,” due out this winter. For someone like me, who never read “Spider-Man” but was intrigued by the Venom character that I saw on several covers while I was perusing the comic shops, it’s a great teaser.
In an industry where even the biggest film companies will do anything they can to latch onto the success of another, it’s nice to see a decent product hit the streets. Sure, “Spider-Man vs. Doc Ock” will never be a substitute for the $200 million “Spider-Man 2,” but it is a nice comic book adaptation even for the casual fan.
Specifications: Dolby Digital 2.0. Fullscreen (1.33:1). Animated menus. French and Spanish language tracks; English language subtitles for the hearing impaired.
