Spider-Man: The Animated Series "Kraven The Hunter" A ShortReview

It's been quite a while since I last spoke about anything from the classic Spider-Man: The Animated Series. Well with Kraven The Hunter just about to be released this seemed like the perfect chance to kill two birds with one stone and so then join me as I review the episode that sees Spider-Mn come face to face with Kraven for the first time with the episode in question being called simply just "Kraven The Hunter" enjoy.

The plot of this episode is Spidey has to protect a professor who is being harassed by her exboyfriend who is more animal then man. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad as it eas the kind of plot that you'd find in this show and to be fair this episode does the most with what very little plot that there is to begin with but that's also the issue as this episodes plot isn't all that strong of a plot to begin with with the plot of this episode also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. 

Starring in this episode is Christopher Daniel Barnes as Peter Parker / Spider-Man and Ed Asner as J. Jonah Jameson. Also starring in this episode is Linda Gary as May Parker , Sara Ballantine as Mary Jane Watson , Jennifer Hale as Felicia Hardy , Rodney Saulsberry as Joseph Robertson , Gregg Berger as Sergei Kravinoff / Kraven The Hunter and Susan Beaubian as Mariah Crawford.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. With the actors from this show that you expect a really good performance from giving us exactly that but that's also the issue as this episodes could have been so much more better then what we got as all you have to is look at Batman: The Animated Series more specifically the episode "Heart Of Ice" which on paper could have been a really bad but due to how good that shows cast was they turned in great performances but here this episodes actors just seem lost on what to do acting wise with the acting that's in this very episode also being helped by the fact that this episodes script is just so good that all this episodes actors really have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance really will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very episode.

Doing the animation for this episode is TMS Entertainment , Seoul Movie , Koko Enterprises Company and Anima Sam Won. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt about the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad as it did look really good but at the same tome tho it was also lacking that extra special something to make it standout and feel different from all of the other animated superhero shows that were bring made and airing at the time but to this episodes credit when we do see some really solid looking animation it is something really does stand out because of how good that it was.

This was the first episode of the show to feature the character of Kraven The Hunter. With this episode giving us a good look at his backstory with him being a big game hunter who was forced into becoming a tour guide when hunting animals became illegal where he then fell in love with Mariah but only became the way that he is when after he was attacked Mariah was forced to give him an experimental drug which cure and heals all injuries but over time slowly turns you more animalistic which is a really good backstory for the character as it perfectly explains how the character became the way that he is in a way that feels real but givin that this is a comic book show then the makers of the show really should have leaned into aspect of the show and just had alot of fun not only with the character himself but also his backstory.

For some reason even tho the show is named after him Spider-Man himself barely has an impact on the plot of the episode. As Mariah was already working on a cure to give Kraven in the first place and when he's tasked with tracking her down by Kraven Mariah herself just goes straight to Kraven and heck it could even be argued that having Spider-Man in the story makes the story worse as its due to him that Robbie finds himself being kidnapped by Kraven all of which makes it feel like that Spider-Man was forced into this plot when not having him in the story wouldn't affect the actual plot of the episode with Spider-Man feeling more like a side character in an episode of his own show.

Now then this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly nineteen minuets and forty nine seconds. Which is a solid running time for this episode to have but at the same given that alot of shows from around this same period usually had twenty two minuets it is still odd to see an episode have less then twenty minuets with this having the add on effect of making things like Kraven and Mariah falling in love feel rushed when it's something that would have been better told if the episode took its time in telling there romance like instead of having Kraven's backstory told in one go have it be told over the course of the episode as that would then make us the audience really care for there romance and have it play into whatever Peter is going through thus actually giving us a reason for Spidey actually being in this episode but I really will admit that this episode really does have some really good pacing to it tho.

So now then as this is an action show that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. As the episode really dies have some really good action scenes like having Kraven and Spidey fight each other on the side of a building which is a good idea and even there final fight is good in parts but the issue is tho us that the action on the whole despite having a few bright spots can also at times be really dull to look at as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least 

Overall while this wasn't the best episode of this show its also not the worst one either as there is a clear love for the characters and that world really seen all throughout this episode in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this episode in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very episode really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 7 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from the official Marvel Animated Universe fandom wiki page , the official SpiderMan Animated fandom wiki page , the official Sony's Spider-Man Universe fandom wiki page and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very episode that I used in this very review being the really great the official SpiderMan Animated fandom wiki page really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very episode with alot of them being better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on the official SpiderMan Animated fandom wiki page are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.

Spider-Man: The Animated Series "Make A Wish" And "Attack Of The Octobot" Review

The Marvel Animated Universe was a universe that was dead for many decades and yet now thanks to X-Men '97 being as a good as it was it's back in the public eye once again. With one of the characters that cameoed not once but twice on the show also really being one of the many characters that got given his own show in the nineties and it's also a show that I really haven't really talked about for really sometime now and so then join me as I review the episodes that technically introduce us to Madame Web with the episodes in question being called simply just "Make A Wish" And "Attack Of The Octobot" enjoy.

The plot of this episode is when Spider-Man accidentally blows up a science building during a fight with Doctor Octopus he finds himself down on his luck and must get some advice from the most unlikely of sources. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in these episodes well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in these very episodes was in all honesty not that bad with the plot of both episodes doing a good job of showing us a more vulnerable side to Spider-Man as well as showing us just what the character means to those around him without it being side out loud and while the plot of "Make A Wish" is basically just Spider-Man's origin story but cut down it was still a fun plot to see play out in this with this episode also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Starring in these episodes is Christopher Daniel Barnes as Peter Parker / Spider-Man and Stephanie Eustase as Maria Taina Elizando. Also starring in these episodes is Efrem Zimbalist Jr. as Otto Octavius / Doctor Octopus , Joan Lee as Madame Web , Dimitra Arliss as Anastasia Hardy , Ed Asner as J. Jonah Jameson , Sara Ballantine as Mary Jane Watson , Rodney Saulsberry as Joseph Robertson , Scott Cleverdon as Michael Pingree , Roscoe Lee Browne as Wilson Fisk / Kingpin , Marla Rubinoff as Liz Allen , Patrick Labyorteaux as Flash Thompson , Michael Rye as Farley Stillwell , Linda Gary as May Parker , Bob Richardson as Bernard O'Brien , Anne-Marie Johnson as Mousie and Majel Barrett as Anna Watson.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in these episodes well then in all honesty  in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in these very episodes was in all honesty really good. With all of the shows cast turning in some really good performances in both of these episodes which really isn't all that surprising given who is starring in these episodes as alot of the cast in both of these episodes are a bunch of really good voice actors with even Christopher Daniel Barnes pretty much being the voice of Spider-Man and it's not hard to see why as he really does turn in a good performance in this episode with the acting in these episodes really being helped bu the fact that the script for both of these episodes being so good that all these episodes cast have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help the acting in these very episodes.

Doing the animation for these episodes is the legends and the greats that are currently over at TMS Entertainment. Now the interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in these very episodes well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in these very episodes was in all honesty not that bad but that's also the problem as the animation in both of these episodes wasn't all that good either as alot of the animation just looks flat and rather uninteresting to look but while the 2D animation isn't that good it's aged alot better then the shows signature use of very early 3D CGI animation which has aged like milk as it just looks ugly and has dated horribly which is not the episodes fault as there wasn't the technology there to make good looking 3D CGI animation with the 2D animation not having an excuse for looking as bad as it was as X-Men: The Animated Series which came out around the same time has alot better animation then what we mostly got in both these episodes and this show as a whole.

These are episodes are technically the first appearence of Madame Web as while she does appear in the previous episode it's a silent cameo near the end of the episode. Where as in these two episodes she plays a part of the episodes with her being the one to send Spider-Man to Maria in the first place as a way to prepare him for something that will happen later on in the shows run which is a great use of the character as it shows us just how smart this character is as she knows everything about Spider-Man without seeing him and thankfully these episodes don't go into her backstory as that is something that could ruin the mystic of the character by giving away to much of how the character was before she got her powers where as now we the audience have the chance to make up our own backstory for the character and the chance to work out just what her backstory might be in the first place with this being helped by the fact that this episode really does give us a great use for the character as she only appears a vert small handful of times and that's really it which is a great way to us a character like this at it allows the episodes to still focus on Spider-man and yet at the exact same time introduce this new powerful character as well.

In what was a shocking move is the fact that this episode has a shockingly dark ending even for a nineties superhero animated series. As it's revealed at the end of "Attack Of The Octobot" that the kid helping to cheer Spider-Man is dieing of a terminal illness and that seeing Spider-Man was the one thing that she wanted to do before she died that right there is not only such a mature plot twist to have in your kids show but it's also one of the more darker plot twists that the Marvel Animated Universe would have as while this universe is known for having dark plot lines almost none of them involve a kid dieing and yet even tho the show rather rightfully doesn't show Maria dieing nor does it show us Spider-Man finding out that she's dieing it's still a dark plot twist to have and while it's something that would have been made all the more emotional if Spider-Man did find out the very next day that she died it works more by leaving her fate up in the air and it also makes it all the more shocking as well as for all we could know she could have died mere moments after Spider-Man drops her of at home where as that would be something that would have been taken away from us if we did find out that she ultimately died. 

The main villain of these episodes is Otto Octavius / Doctor Octopus who is a good villain but in this episode he's treated more of an afterthought. With us not even finding out why hes going after Spider-Man this time around all we know is is that he;s working with Wilson Fisk who is funding his research into creating the Octobot and yet we don't find out why he's targeting Spider-Man and while the main focus of the episodes might be Spider-Man and Maria you still need to give just as much attention to Doctor Octopus as while he is a great villain in any form of media by not giving him a reason for attacking Spider-Man this time around all your doing is making him come of as an afterthought like you suddenly realised that you need a villain in this episode superhero cartoon and so you just quickly wrote in the first one that you thought of and called it a day and that's enough for a character that is one of if not the most iconic Spider-Man villain as all that does is make the writing of the episode come across as being lazy when we know from the incredible twist at the end of the episode second episode that that really is far from being the case.

Now then these episodes has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly twenty minuets and twenty one seconds for Make A wish and twenty minuets and twenty one seconds for Attack Of The Octobot. Which is pretty much the bogstandard running for this series to have and to be fair these episodes really doe make great use of that running time even tho Make A Wish is mostly made up of scenes of telling us Spider-Man's origin story with the main plot of bot of the episodes not really getting alot of focus in that episode which does make sense as the plot really isn't that thin with episode two making betting use of that running time as it was all about moving the plot of the episodes forward in a way that made sense where as episode one was mostly all about setting up things that would be paid of in episode two that's not to say that episode one is an episode that you can skip tho as this is where we do get hinds to Maria's fate but I will admit that these episodes really do have some really good pacing to both of them tho.

So now then as this is na action show that means that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in these episodes well then in all honesty i in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in these very episodes was in all honesty not that bad. As this show in particualr wasn't really all tat known for having great looking action in it as it was more known for having good drama instead and to be fair both of these episodes do have some really good action in both of the episodes with us getting lots of chances to see Spider-Man do what he does best and do so in some really creative looking action scenes and it's during the action scenes in these episodes where the animation really does come alive as it's where we get alot of the best looking animation in both of these two episodes and it's also where we get to see just how fun this show really could be when it at it's best as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Overall this is a solid introduction to the Madame Web character as even tho we don't get alot of screen time with her as a character just from these first two episodes it's quite clear as day that she's going to be treated alot better then what she was being treated like in the Madame Web movie in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all o the good ad as well as all of the bad things that in these very episodes in this very review and as such that really does mean that these very episodes really doe earn theme selves a combined grand old score of exactly a 7 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very from the official Spider-Man Animated fandom wiki page , the official Sony's Spider-Man Universe fandom wiki page and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from these very episodes that I used in this very review being the really great the official Spider-Man Animated fandom wiki page simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from these very episodes and are really of course on the official Spider-Man Animated fandom wiki page are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.

X-Men '97 TV Series SPOILER FILLED Review

I think that it's fair to say that both Marvel and Disney have had a terrible year last year with alot of there films and TV shows either flopping badly or being at best very divisive. Well there was one show released near the middle of this year that has proven that with the right creative team that actually knows and are fans of the source material that both Marvel and Disney can indeed put out some worthwhile content and so then join me as I give you mt SPOILER FILLED review of the show that was so much better then what it really had any right to be with the show in question being called simply just "X-Men '97" enjoy.

The plot of this show is one year after the supposed death of there leader Professor Charles Xavier the X-Men find themselves in a new fight one which sees them come into contact with an old enemy. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very show well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very show was in all honesty really good with the plot of this show being so good that at times it really does feel like the plot of the movie but only it was done as a TV show and while the above synopsis might not be the best representation of the shows plot it is the best way to describe the plot of the show without going to much into spoilers as the plot of the show really does takes so many twists and turns that nine times of ten you really don't see coming with the plot of the show also being really entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Starring in this show is Ray Chase as Scott Summers / Cyclops and Cal Dodd as James Howlett / Wolverine. Also starring in this show is Lenore Zann as Anna-Marie Raven / Rogue , Alison Sealy-Smith as Ororo Munroe / Storm , George Buza as Dr. Henry "Hank" McCoy / Beast , A.J. LoCascio as Remy LeBeau / Gambit , Holly Chou as Jubilation Lee / Jubilee , Jennifer Hale as Jean Grey and Madelyne Pryor / Goblin Queen , Matthew Waterson as Erik Lehnsherr / Magneto , Gui Agustini as Roberto Da Costa / Sunspot , Christopher Britton as Nathaniel Essex / Mister Sinister , Adrian Hough as Kurt Wagner / Nightcrawler , J.P. Karliak as Kevin Sydney / Morph , Ross Marquand as Charles Xavier / Professor X , Gil Birmingham as Daniel Lone Eagle / Forge , Eric Bauza as Sentinel , Ron Rubin as President Robert Edward Kelly , Catherine Disher as Val Cooper , Chris Potter as Nathan Summers / Cable , Lawrence Bayne as Carl Denti / X-Cutioner , Alyson Court as Abcissa , Theo James as Bastion , Martha Marion as Emma Frost and Moira MacTaggert , Todd Haberkorn as Sebastian Shaw , Gavin Hammon as Bolivar Trask , Courtney Taylor as Callisto , David Errigo Jr. as Mojo and Gladiator , Abby Trott as Spiral , Josh Keaton as Steve Rogers / Captain America and Mike McGill as Thaddeus Ross.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very show well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very show was in all honesty really good. With all of this shows cast members turning in some really good performances which really isn't all that surprising as alot of this shows cast are reprising their roles either from the original show or from other X-Men TV shows and would therefor thus now what kind of performance would best suit there character in any given situation and the shows new actors more then hold there own when it comes to acting against alot of the returning cast members with Holly Chou being a very suitable replacement for the great Alyson Court as Jubilation Lee / Jubilee and Matthew Waterson making for a great replacement for David Hemblen as Erik Lehnsherr / Magneto with the acting in this show really being helped by the fact that the scripts for this show are just so good that all this shows cast have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this show.

Doing the animation for this show is Happy Tiger Animation and the legends and the greats that are currently over at Studio Mir. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about e actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very show well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual animation that's actually featu4ered / presented to us in this very show was in all honesty phenomenal with the animation in this show taking inspiration from anime by having a very anime aesthetic to it but done in a way that the animation in this show can also look like that it was made in the nineties as well with this shows animation looking alot better then other animated shows out there right now as despite this show being pretty much a more mature take on the X-Men characters it has animation quality that is up with Avatar: The Last Airbender interms of it's quality which is something that you don't see not only in adult animation but in animation as a whole as alot of animated shows are there just to be product fodder for whatever network is releasing them and because of that the animation does indeed suffer yet with this show the animation is just top level and is a good example of just how good animation really could be and as well as the fact that not all animation has to be just for little kids.

SPOILERS START HERE!!!!!!!!!!  

It's safe to assume the best episode of this show it's easily the shows fifth episode "Remember It" as it's an episode that takes the show in a completely different direction. As until that point it seemed like that the show was going to be about Magneto trying to do good and earn the teams trust and yet by the end of the episode we find out that actually the show is about mutants just trying to survive and that sometimes they can have a very bad day with this episode being a good example as it's something that effects not only this episode but the remaining five episodes of the show which is such a smart move as something like this would've most likely been the focus of one episode and then never mentioned again in the original show only being brought up every once in a while and yet because of what happens in this episode it effects episodes seven , eight , nine and ten with it only being brought up at the very end of episode six which is such a smart move as it now allows us to see what alot of the mutants of the world thought about this truly dreadful attack that saw thousand if not hundreds of thousands of mutants die.

One of the things that this show kind of became known for was for it's cameo's from characters in the wider Marvel Animated Universe. With this final episode being no different as we get to see Iron Man , Captain America , Cloak & Dagger , Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson among others and while these cameos are fun to watch it was getting to the point where it was becoming distracting as all they ended up doing was pulling you out of the episode instead of keeping you invested in the final episode of the shows first season while the cameos are fun to see they should've been done a bit more sparingly just to make them feel alot more special or just have them appear in the important episodes of the show as that would make the world feel alot more bigger then what it actually is instead of taking time away from the shows main characters  which has the add on effect of making it shocking when they reveal that Magneto is actually evil again something which was never hinted it and thus comes out of nowhere when it happens in the shows eighth episode and heck the character doesn't even have a plan with him wanting to end the world just for the sake of ending the world all because of the fact that he believes that it was humans that launched the attack on Genosha.

Something else that feels like wasted potential is the fact that in episode seven the show shows us a much more darker side of Rogue. With the show making it seem like that she's going to be somewhat of a villain with her even leaving the team in episode nine to join up with Magneto and yet the show just straight up drops it in episode ten with the team now fully trusting Rogue again even tho just a few minuets ago she tried to kill them and as a result of that is the fact that we end up with what could have been a good idea feel wasted as the very idea of seeing Rogue be a bad guy even if it was just for a few short episodes of season two would have made sense from a storyline perspective given everything that she goes through in this first batch of episodes and yet the show drops that idea and that plot line of her trying to cope with the death of Gambit for no reason when that is a plot line that really should have been resolved by the end of this final episode as it would have brought closure to that characters character arc.

Now then the episodes of this show have / had an exact grad total running time of roughly twenty seven minutes with this final episode having the longest running time of the whole entire series with this episode being forty minuets and three seconds. With the final episode really deserving that long running time as it really does have more then enough there interms of plot to really cover that large amount of running time and it really did need to have that large of amount running time as it had so much story to wrap up and it wouldn't be able to do that if the episode was thirty minuets long and with the extended running time it allows the makers of the episode do alot more emotional stuff which is what they do with Scott , Jean and Cable as both Scott and Jean say what they think is going to be there final goodbye to there son as they think that there going to die and that is a moment that would have most likely been cut out of the episode if the episode had a much more short running time but I will admit that this episode really does have some really good pacing to it tho.

So now then as this is an action show that means that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very show well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very show was in all honesty really good. With the action in the show really benefitting from the shows animation as the animation in the show makes the action in the show just leap of the screen with the episodes animation rather rightfully getting alot of the shows best animation and as a result of that is the fact that the we get a bunch of action that all look really good with them also having some really cool moments in alot of if not all of the shows action scenes and it's during those action scenes were we get to see just what it is that each members of the team get to bring to the team with even Jubilee getting her time to shine as well in alot of the shows action scenes something which very rarely if ever happend in the original series and yet it happens in this one and it looks so good along with alot of the shows many action scenes in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

SPOILERS END HERE!!!!!!!!!! 

Overall this show is so much better then what it really had any right to be as it's a good example of how to do a sequel series that is both really respectful to the original series and those characters and yet at the same time introduce this incarnation of the characters to an audience that perhaps wouldn't have watched the show growing up in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very show in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very show really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 9.5 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from the official Disney fandom wiki page and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from these very episodes that I used in this very review being the great the official Disney fandom wiki page simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from these very episodes and are really of course on the official Disney fandom wiki page are really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.