SPIDER-MAN: THE NEW ANIMATED SERIES

Spinning out of the mega-success of Sam Raimi's SPIDER-MAN movie came a new collaboration from MTV, Sony Pictures and Mainframe Entertainment: a new 3D SPIDER-MAN animated series with a look that hasn't been seen before. While the use of computer graphics imaging (CGI) to create cartoons has revolutionized the animation world and launched such companies as Mainframe and Pixar into the limelight, Sony's SPIDER-MAN: THE NEW ANIMATED SERIES adds a new concept to the mix, that being the use of lighting and shading on the characters and their world to give it an even more realistic look. This process, known as cel shading, is used to spectacular success in the new series because of the intrinsic dynamic nature of Spider-Man's world. Just as CGI was able to show movie audiences a photo-realistic look at a human being leaping and swinging through the buildings of New York City, the CGI SPIDER-MAN show is able to use cel shading to bring a sense of greater movement and action to the visual story. In short, SPIDER-MAN looks like one of Marvel's comic books except it moves, and quite beautifully at that.

After its initial run on MTV was concluded, Columbia TriStar has now packaged all thirteen episodes of the show's first (and possibly only) season on a two-disc set. If you weren't able to catch the show on the music video channel (and really, hasn't it been more about shows like SPIDER-MAN and less music videos these past few years?), this DVD is a great opportunity to look for yourself and see what it's all about. The writing team for SPIDER-MAN was able to pick up where Raimi's movie left off and continue the story of Peter Parker and his two best friends, Mary-Jane Watson and Harry Osborn, as they attend college. As Peter tries to sort out his feelings for MJ and juggle his friendship with Harry (who hates Spider-Man), he's also out saving the city from supervillains and trying to snap photos for his boss at the Daily Bugle. Storywise the episodes are above-average for animated fare; the writers were able to inject their own creativity and develop new villains for Spidey to face while also using a limited selection of established bad guys from the comic books. While this may have been due to Sony restricting the amount of villains for the show so as to leave a door open for future live-action sequels, the results paid off quite well. Even with appearances from The Lizard, Electro and The Kingpin, the new villains are as interesting as the ones who've been around for a couple of decades.

But it's the show's action sequences that are dynamite. Here the Mainframe team was able to knock it out of the ballpark and show off how their creativity and their technology can be combined to revolutionize action cartoon making. The action sequences with Spider-Man take full use of the environment, with fluid spinning, pans and turns making full use of the foundation that Raimi's movie constructed. Taken on this level, SPIDER-MAN is literally comic book come to life. Great stuff.

If you were already a fan of the show, or if you're a budding animator or someone thinking of a future in television animation, the commentary tracks on this set elevate it to a must-have for your collection. Led by co-executive producer Audu Paden, each of the 13 episodes has its own commentary track, with each episode featuring a different selection of the team that made SPIDER-MAN happen. For fans of animation, the tracks are pure gold. Pilot writer Brian Michael Bendis is on the first one to talk about how he got involved with the series; co-creator Stan Lee is on three of them (including the two-parter season finale); and Neil Patrick Harris is on a pair. The amount of talent on a specific track ranges somewhere from three to six people, and the roster is made up of multiple writers, producers, directors, the show's character designer, animation director, editor, American composer, even the Sony creative exec that oversaw the production of the series is included. I don't know whether it was the producer of the DVD or Audu Paden that assembled this wide selection of creative personnel, but it's a wonderful treat (and let's face it, a rarity among animated TV on DVD.) If Warner Bros. were ever to begin thinking seriously about assembling BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES onto DVD, the producer of that project would do well to look closely at what was accomplished on the SPIDER-MAN voice commentaries and try to replicate it.

The set's additional bonus material includes an option where "Spider-facts" will appear from time-to-time on screen to provide factoids or trivia about the show. While engaging to read, there didn't seem to be enough of these. An outtake reel presents four "bloopers" from scenes in the series, a la the outtakes from Pixar's BUG'S LIFE or TOY STORY movies. Four featurettes provide over an hour's worth of material showing us interviews about facets of the series' production, from an overall perspective to a closer look at the music for the show. You can also examine the character models used to create background characters, look at production artwork and test footage from early in the show's development, and see how all the elements of CGI are layered to create a scene. There's quite a bit more here than what I expected to find, and it's all worth a look.

While these 13 SPIDER-MAN episodes haven't produced tales as memorable as those from the last cartoon series that shook the world of animation (that being WB's BATMAN: TAS), it's not a disappointment either. Visually the look and style of SPIDER-MAN is amazing, and is the show's biggest asset, but the commentary tracks and additional bonus material raise the bar for supplemental features for all animated shows on DVD. For fans of Spider-Man or CGI cartoons, this one's worth owning and not renting.