Worst Spider-Man Cartoon?

[Stu]

Hey,

Stemming from the Ultimate Spider-Man News Thread, many believe that Ultimate Spider-Man is the worst representation of Spider-Man in animation.

Spidey has said many ups and downs on the small screen from 67 up until the recent Ultimate Spider-Man and everything in between. Everyone has their own favourites and episodes that they would sooner never lay eyes on again, so what about you? Which do you think is the worst Spidey show ever?

Image courtesy of Marvel Animation Age​

 

[The Talon]

This picture sums up a good percentage of why I find it to be the worst Spidey cartoon.

 

[Gold Guy]

As underwhelming as Ultimate can be....worst show? Nah. That honor goes to the ugly CGI show and that weird Japanese live-action series. Seriously, we got that, and not an anime? Man...

 

[Dsneybuf]

The two episodes I saw of Ralph Bakshi's run on Spider-Man had some of the worst animation, humor, and voice acting I can recall for a Marvel cartoon this side of The Marvel Super Heroes or The Avengers: United They Stand.

 

[Medinnus]

As underwhelming as Ultimate can be....worst show?

Yeah, not even close. The episodes where they stay away from the idiocy of Loeb's myopic "vision" - ie writing down to the audience, unfunny 4th wall chibis, teen Iron Fist and Luke Cage, and of course the Loeb therapy NINO (Nova In Name Only) - range from decent to quite good.

 

[Rick Jones]

This is a little tough for me since I'm the kind of moron that can find redeeming qualities in any Spidey cartoon, no matter how bad, but Unlimited is still my answer. I don't even hate the show but I've always had a bias against this premise and its execution was just so boring. It lacks any of the dynamism that makes Spidey Spidey. It seems like the sort of story that could possibly make for a decent and focused 3 episode arc but having Spidey run around an alien planet filled with manimals for an entire series was a pretty bad idea, especially when it's handled so blase.

 

[Wonderwall]

Yea I think Unlimited is the one where I can't find many things nice to say about it. The funny thing is that around the same time Batman Beyond started as well and was also a radical departure from the norm and it was just so much more awesome, so the concept itself of Unlimited wasn't bad but the execution was just so...whatever. Designs were ugly too with that thick black smear everywhere. I did kinda dig the intro though.

 

[Rick Jones]

Yeah, I like that intro as well. It's the first positive that comes into mind when I think of the series.

 

[CyberCubed]

Was the 13-episode MTV cartoon any good? Given it was canceled in only one season and had ugly CG I'm guessing yes.

The 1967 Spiderman is also painful to watch now for obvious reasons.

 

[webmonkey44]

i liked the 13 episode mtv series. A second season would have been good. irrespective of the art style....spiderman unlimited on the other hand was disappointing to say the least.

 

[Dsneybuf]

I didn't watch Spider-Man Unlimited, because the only Fox Kids shows I watched at the time consisted of Digimon and Power Rangers. Kids' WB! (namely Pokemon, Batman Beyond, and Men in Black: The Series) took up the rest of my Saturday morning back then.

 

[suss2it]

I liked the MTV series, probably because it was the first Spidey cartoon I watched all the way through. Neil Patrick Harris was also a really good Spider-Man. I think it's main downfalls were being tied to the movies and therefore couldn't use Spidey's biggest villains and the CGI. College aged Parker and that life was really fun to see, I don't remember too much from the 90s series but did they spend any significant time showing Peter's college years?

As for the worst, probably Unlimited. I got a really underwhelming feeling from the episodes I saw. Also the 60s and 80s series are also really ugly to look at so I've never given those shows a fair chance.

 

[Wonderwall]

MTV Spider Man has always had a special place because it came out when I was in my later high school years and so I guess it "spoke to me"( barf ) also my girlfriend at the time was a big fan of it and it was a show we watched together late Friday nights on YTV. That was during a time when YTV wasn't just Nick Canada although the transition had started. The animation could be hit and miss but the action was usually really good and I ended up knowing some people that had worked on it after I had started animation training so that's an added wrinkle. I was aware of some of it's limitations even then, like the lack of comic villains, but I should probably give it a rewatch to see how well it's aged or how unwell it's aged. The latter seems to be far more common for Spidey toons unfortunately.

60s Spider Man is always a hoot to me, at least the first batch of episodes. When the already limited money ran out and he started fighting green people and acid trips it got a lot harder to sit through. Still I always laugh at it or with it so I'm entertained. I have never seen much of his 80s output. Amazing Friends I've seen a bit of but not a lot and I didn't even know there was one before that until I first stumbled on these forums

 

[TheAmazingJustin]

This picture sums up a good percentage of why I find it to be the worst Spidey cartoon.

No idea how, but okay. Care to give an explaination?

 

[The Talon]

The fact that instead of just using any of the many teen characters Marvel already has, they just decided to de-age adult characters, some who were older than Spidey to begin with.

BTW, I never saw Spider-Man Unlimited, so I'm not sure if that's the true worst show.

 

[webmonkey44]

I liked the MTV series, probably because it was the first Spidey cartoon I watched all the way through. Neil Patrick Harris was also a really good Spider-Man. I think it's main downfalls were being tied to the movies and therefore couldn't use Spidey's biggest villains and the CGI. College aged Parker and that life was really fun to see, I don't remember too much from the 90s series but did they spend any significant time showing Peter's college years?

As for the worst, probably Unlimited. I got a really underwhelming feeling from the episodes I saw. Also the 60s and 80s series are also really ugly to look at so I've never given those shows a fair chance.

The Mayhem of the Music Meister and Doctor Horrible Neil Patrick Harris? seriously?

 

[Wonderwall]

If you're asking if that was NPH as Spidey, then yes that was him. He was pretty good too.

 

[TheAmazingJustin]

The fact that instead of just using any of the many teen characters Marvel already has, they just decided to de-age adult characters, some who were older than Spidey to begin with.

BTW, I never saw Spider-Man Unlimited, so I'm not sure if that's the true worst show.

Marvel's de-age characters before and they certainty have not gotten this much dislike. Spider-Man really isn't even a teenager anymore in the comics, so even he got de-aged. Everybody ages and gets older in the comics so progressively it is harder to return them to being young. You could only have so many issues of Spider-Man before he graduates.

 

[hobbyfan]

Ultimate is a suck-fest, and you can blame that on Jeph Loeb (& 9 Stories). Period.

Unlimited wasn't that bad, it was just limited in airings because Fox didn't give it a chance. That Saban produced it and the Avengers cartoon that year might've been part of the problem.

The 1994 series was fine, the '81 solo series didn't get to as many homes as Amazing Friends did, but was pretty much the same. The '67 series improved, IMPO, with Bakshi taking over.

The 2003 Empty-V series wasted the talents of Neil Patrick Harris, Lisa Loeb, et al, because, like Fox, Empty-V screwed it over, holding it until a summer release when it was due the preceding fall.

 

[TheAmazingJustin]

Ultimate is a suck-fest, and you can blame that on Jeph Loeb (& 9 Stories). Period.

9 stories?