I should probably admit right off the bat that I grew up watching Spider-Man: The Animated Series from the 90s, because I’m sure it colors my perception of it in some capacity. I was born in 1992, so this show was on right during my most influential years, and I fell in love with it at a pretty young age. In fact, I don’t think it would be a stretch to say that it was this show that made me a huge fan of Spider-Man (who is my favorite superhero), and really got me into superheroes as a whole. This show was pivotal in shaping my interests, and made me really fall in love with a whole genre. Call that “nostalgic bias” if you want, but I think any show that was able to do that for a kid is a pretty big deal.

I’ve watched a bunch of Spider-Man cartoons since then, but I’ve always used this series as my basis of comparison, and for me the other ones just never held up. Granted, I haven’t watched a lot of the newer ones from the past 10 years or so (although I do plan to at some point), but even then I have a pretty high standard of what a Spider-Man show can be because of this cartoon. I recognize that part of the reason these other shows haven’t held up as well is because of my attachment to the 90s series, but I do also think that this show was just something special. So, I decided to put that idea to the test and give this show a re-watch, now that the whole series is on Disney+.

Season 1 is kind of a different beast from the rest of the series (at least from what I remember…I’ll see how the rest of it goes as I continue to rewatch), but it did lay a lot of the groundwork that influenced the direction that the rest of the series decided to take. This is the “classic introduction” season, basically. Most of the episodes are self-contained storylines, featuring Spider-Man taking on a different villain from his famous rogue’s gallery. Most of these episodes give an origin or backstory for the villain, and so this season kind of just tackles Spider-Man’s introductions to a lot of these villains, before really playing with them in future seasons.

I like this style for a different reason than the rest of the series, because this feels the most classic. It pays a lot of homage to classic Spider-Man comic storylines, and it’s a great introduction to the character for anyone that isn’t totally familiar with him. It gives a lot of framework for who the character is, and what villains he’s up against. The downside is that you don’t get a lot of overarching plot lines, but I think it’s fine because this is actually a pretty good emulation for how the original Amazing Spider-Man comic went. A lot of the earlier issues were just one-off self-contained stories, before introducing multi-issue story arcs later on in the run. At the time of writing this, I’m a few episodes into season 2, and I can already tell that they’re trying to adopt more of the continuous storyline style rather than the episodic one that season 1 has.

And don’t get me wrong, season 1 does have some multi-episode storylines, it’s just that for the most part it’s one-off episodes. The season is 13 episodes long, and among them there are two 2-parters, one 3-parter, and then the other six are just one-off episodes. It might be unsurprising to point out that the multi-episode arcs are the more interesting ones, but the show was definitely trying to find itself here. The standout is definitely the 3-part Venom storyline. I do definitely like the one-off episodes too, but some are better than others. I think my favorites are the ones with Mysterio, Kraven the Hunter, and Chameleon. Either way, while I like these episodes for their ability to introduce audiences to Spider-Man’s classic villains in a great way, I am happy that the series decided to adopt a more continuous nature for future seasons.

I think my favorite thing about this show, though, is just how well it nails everything that the Spider-Man character is. While I’ve been fine with alternate takes on the character over the years, this is a truly classic representation of the character, and already after only rewatching one season of this show, it holds up for me as being one of the best adaptations I’ve ever seen of the character. It nails Spider-Man’s quips and sarcastic attitude, and puts his spider powers to full use. Peter Parker’s life is also made just as interesting, with the classic love life struggles that we’re used to seeing for the character. Two of his love interests are present in this season, Felicia Hardy and Mary-Jane Watson, and it’s fun to see him interact with them.

I have no way of telling you how the series would feel for someone that didn’t grow up with the show. You’d have to just try it for yourself to know that. I can definitely admit that part of the reason I’ve been loving this rewatch so much is just because it brings me back to my childhood, and that nostalgia feels so good. Every time the theme song comes on, I get so pumped up. And then as I experience these moments again that I remember from my childhood, I’m just filled with such a sense of joy. Still, even though I do feel nostalgia while watching the show, 20 years is a big gap of time between when I last watched the show, so I would definitely be able to admit if the show didn’t hold up or wasn’t as good as I remember. However, I don’t feel that way at all. If anything, I have an even greater appreciation for this show now. While the first season definitely takes some time to find itself, I still think that this is one of the best TV adaptations of the character.

4/5