Marvel fans it's been at least five or possibly even six months since I last spoke about an episode from any of the classic nineties Marvel animated TV shows and well I thought that i'd that right now by possibly spending the next few days talking about episodes from some of the classic nineties Marvel animated TV shows. and well better show to start if with the Spider-Man: The Animated Series. I will fully admit that I wasn't expecting either of the episodes that i'm basing this review on to be any good and yet I was honestly pleasantly surprised by how good these episodes truly where and so join me as I review episodes from the nineties Marvel animated series with the TV series itself being called either "Spider-Man" or is called just simply "Spider-Man: The Animated Series and the episodes in question are simply called "The Spider Slayer" and "Return Of The Spider Slayers" and so enjoy the review everyone.
The plot of these episodes is father and son duo Spencer and Alistair Smythe scheme to take down Spider-Man once and for all and it's up to Spider-man to stop them both before he ends up as a squished bug. In terms of what I thought about the plot of these episodes in all honesty the plot of these two episodes wasn't bad but at the same time this really didn't need to be a two part episode since you could have told the story of these two episodes in one episode but that's just what I think anyways and that's just in my very humble and as well as being in my very honest opinion anyways.
Starring in both of these two episodes are Christopher Daniel Barnes as Peter Parker / Spider-Man and Edward Asner as J. Jonah Jameson. Also starring in these two episodes are Linda Gary as Aunt May Parker , Rodney Saulsberry as Joseph Robertson and as Soldier number 4 , Jennifer Hale as Felicia Hardy , Hank Azaria as Eddie Brock and as Soldier number 5 , Patrick Labyorteaux as Flash Thompson , Gary Imhoff as Harry Osborn and as Soldier number 2 , Edward Mulhare as Spencer Smythe , Maxwell Caulfield as Alistair Smythe and as Soldier number 1 , Neil Ross as Norman Osborn and as Soldier number 3 , Sara Ballantine as Mary Jane Watson and finally we have Roscoe Lee Brown as Wilson Fisk / Kingpin.
In terms of what I thought about the acting that's featured in these two episodes in all honesty the acting that's featured in these two episodes is in all honesty really good and in very humble and as well as in my very honest opinion anyway and I say that the acting that's featured in these two episodes is in all honesty really good simply because I feel that's true. Since all of the actors that are starring in these two episodes do a really good job with their respective characters and in the cases of actors like Hank Azaria , Jennifer Hale and Linda Gary who are all voice acting legends and as such it makes sense that those three actors would turn in great performances in these two episodes but that's just in my very humble and as well as being in my very honest opinion anyways.
Doing the animation for these episodes and as well as the whole series is TMS Entertainment , Seoul Movie , Anima Sam Won and Koko Enterprises Company. Now I have no idea which one of these studios did the animation for these particular episodes but I do know that they did the animation for this show as a whole. In terms of what I thought about the animation that's featured / presented to us in these two episodes in all honesty the animation that's featured in these two episodes is alot better then what thought it was going to because nineties TV animation doesn't always hold up that well at least in my experience but no the animation that's featured / presented to us in these two episodes holds up really well with there being alot of really fluid movements for alot of the characters and the backgrounds (for the time that this episode was made and broadcast) look really good but that's just what I think anyways and that's just in my very humble and as well as being in my very honest opinion anyways.
For those that don't know these are the two episodes that introduce both Wilson Fisk / Kingpin and Mary Jane Watson into the Spider-Man: The Animated Series canon / world. However what I found to be interesting is that this show seemed to be possibly teeing up a relationship between Peter Parker and Felicia Hardy which is honestly a coupling / couple that I would have loved to have seen in this show simply because we've seen Peter and Mary Jane Watson be a couple for countless Spider-Man adaptations and as such it would have been nice if this version of Spider-Man didn't date Mary Jane Watson but instead chose to go out with Felicia Hardy but that's just what I think anyways and that's just in my very humble and as well as being in my very honest opinion anyways.
I will admit that I never noticed that this version of Spider-Man maintained Spider-Man's sense of humour and this is something that I personally have very mixed feeling about. Since on the one hand having Spider-Man make jokes in certain situations oddly makes alot of sense and is something that that character has done in the past but at the same time these episodes have Spider-Man tell jokes were a joke isn't needed like for example having Spider-Man make a joke while he's just been told that he has exactly one hour left to live which is something that Spider-Man would never do but that's just in my very humble and as well as being in my very honest opinion anyways.
Lets talk for a second about these episodes villains who are Spencer and Alistair Smythe , Norman Osbourne and Wilson Fisk / Kingpin. In my opinion these two episodes didn't really need four main villains if anything these two episodes just needed three villains since Alistair Smythes motivation is to get revenge on Spider-Man for the death of his father Spencer Smythe and as such you don't really need Norman Osbourne in these episodes since he adds nothing to either episode since you could have had Wilson Fisk / Kingpin be the one that's giving Spencer and Alistair Smythe the money that they need to build The Spider Slayer robots and as for Spencer Smythe I honestly liked that he wasn't evil since he was just trying to do the right thing by his son Alistair Smythe and that honestly made the death of Spencer Smythe and the turn to the evil side of things for Alistair Smythe all the more tragic but that's just what I think and that's just in my very humble and as well as being in my very honest opinion anyways.
Now then the combined total running time for these two episodes is forty minuets and five seconds and like I said at the start if this review these episodes didn't need there story to be told over two episodes. Since you could tell the exact same story in one episode with the first half of the episode dealing with the death of Spencer Smythe and the second episode dealing with the fall from the side of good of Alistair Smythe but I will admit that both episodes have some really good pacing in my very humble and as well as in my very honest opinion anyways.
Now then boys and girls since this is an action show after all and there is some / alot of action to be found in these very episodes it only makes sense that I now take the tie to talk about the actions that's featured / presented to us in these episodes and if i'm being honest the action that's presented to us in these episodes is really freaking good. Simply because the action that's presented to us in these episodes is really freaking exciting and I have to admit the action that's in "Return Of The Spider Slayers" actually had me on the edge of my seat because that's how good the action was in my humble and very honest opinion anyways.
Overall while it was very pointless to make these two episodes basically a two part episode since they have totally different stories there is alot of good to be found in both of these episodes. Now then boys and girls since i've talked about both if the good things in this episodes in this actual review and both of the bad things that are in this episode in this actual review both of these episodes get a combined score of a 7.5 out of 10 from me.
As for where I got the images that I used in this very review well I got all of the images that I used in this very review from the official Marvel Animated Universe fandom wiki page and nowhere else. Since I only went to the official Marvel Animated Universe fandom wiki page and nowhere else I have to no choice but to recommend that you guys use the official Marvel Animated Universe fandom wiki page if you want to use images from alot of the nineties Marvel TV animated TV shows and alot of the images that are on the official Marvel Animated Universe fandom wiki page are fairly high definition as well as being fairly high quality but that's just what I think and as well as being in my very humble and as well as being in my very honest opinion anyways.