Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.0

The Spectacular Spider-Man: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie Review

When they say "high" school, they don't mean up amongst city buildings in a spider suit.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman May 10, 2014

If this isn't most every young boy's dream -- other than, maybe, his favorite supermodel spread naked on his bed -- then nothing is. The Spectacular Spider-Man tells the story of Peter Parker, a high school brainiac and nerd who also happens to spend his evenings battling crime around New York City as Spider-Man, the web-slinging superhero who can't leap tall buildings in a single bound but who can swing around them like nobody's business. The animated program, spanning two seasons and 26 episodes that run around 23 minutes apiece, puts together an impressive roster of characters, scenarios, winks, and nods from the comic book series on which it is based, while also taking some cues from the trio of Sam Raimi-directed films from the 2000s. The series proves rather well-rounded, one that would serve as an excellent, though maybe not proper -- that's more the job of the comics -- introduction to the character and the wider world around him, or for veterans a quality composite look into the life and times of the teenage Peter Parker and all of the friends, enemies, super villains, and daily routine grinds that define his life.

Spidey.

Peter Parker (voiced by Josh Keaton) seems like an average, everyday high school nerd. He's a whiz in the classroom, has an eye for photography, and is the sort of kid who looks forward to the end of Summer vacation and the start of school, even if, when he gets there, he spends more time stuffed in a locker than he does settled into his classroom seat. He's good friends with fellow brain Gwen Stacy (voiced by Lacey Chabert) and a billionaire's son named Harry Osborn (voiced by James Arnold Taylor). Peter's life takes a turn for the better when he and Gwen are assigned a prestigious internship with acclaimed scientist Dr. Curt Connors (voiced by Dee Bradley Baker), and it takes a turn for the surreal when he's asked to tutor the beautiful jock-magnet Liz Allan (Alanna Ubach). If only they all knew the truth, that truth that behind the nerdy veneer is a genetically altered mutant capable of slinging webs from his wrists and apprehending bad guys with relative ease. Peter's alter-ego and superhero identity is none other than the mysterious Spider-Man, subject of wild speculation and always making the front page of Peter's employer, the Daily Bugle. Throughout the series, as his personal life evolves, Peter finds himself in confrontation with a number of enemies, including Vulture, Lizard, Green Goblin, and Electro.

More than fighting crime, The Spectacular Spider-Man tells the story of a young man caught up in a complex web of life, liberty, and his own brand of law enforcement, battling injustice and a host of super-villains while trying to maintain the status quo in his civilian life as a smart but invisible high school student. While learning to use rather than abuse his superpowers, the show depicts Peter traversing the figuratively difficult halls of high school. Though he excels in the classroom, his social life leaves much to be desired. His struggles to exist in the ever-changing ebb and flow of the high school scene, to adapt, to be noticed for the right reasons, to find himself while keeping his alter ego a secret creates the bulk of the dramatic tension and emotional pull the series has to offer. While it never explores too deeply, it gets under the surface and takes a fun yet oftentimes honest look at the challenge of duality and Peter's efforts to reshape his rather puny social life with the growing confidence, sense of self-worth, and physical strengths he unearths under the mask while also folding his ordinary life qualities into the extraordinary superhero.

Unlike the movies, The Spectacular Spider-Man enjoys a greater deal of freedom, not simply the freedom to explore more complex arenas through the relatively inexpensive animation realm compared to pricy digital effects and the demands of a major Summer blockbuster type of movie but the freedom to fold in a wider swath of characters and lore. The series features a host of characters, many of whom will be familiar to even the most casual Spider-Man fan, some of whom will only be known by the most ardent Spidey connoisseur. The show never loses focus, though, even as the roster expands, the stakes increase, and the daily complications of Peter's high school life grow even more complex. The show doesn't simply draw on all available to it, it immerses itself in all the franchise has to offer while still maintaining that air of accessibility. Much of the show is devoted to rather repetitive action scenes, but it's in the characterizations and in the drama away from the action or, at least, the drama influenced by the action, where it excels.

The voice actors do a quality job in conveying both the broad story and universe strokes while digging deeper to more fully explore and develop the characters. While it's a challenge, at first, to rise above the shadows of the Raimi movies and the greater series history, it doesn't take long for much of the cast to evolve into character and define as well as any before them the innermost voices and souls that inhabit them. Likewise, the show is nicely animated and well written, understanding of its purposes in exploring Peter's duality but also paying attention to the details around him and filling in the universe with broad strokes and nuance alike in the effort to get the show as true to its roots as possible while also giving it a slight makeover for 21st century audiences and expectations. In most cases, the show succeeds. Its biggest drawback is its rather repetitive action, but it's frequently presented in a context of the bigger ideas and deeper story and character lines that help keep it from feeling like action for action's sake.

The following is a disc-by-disc listing of the included episodes.

Disc One/Season One, Disc One:

• Survival of the Fittest: Original air date: March 8, 2008.
• Interactions: Original air date: March 8, 2008.
• Natural Selection: Original air date: March 15, 2008.
• Market Forces: Original air date: March 22, 2008.
• Competition: Original air date: March 29, 2008.
• The Invisible Hand: Original air date: April 12, 2008.
• Catalysts: Original air date: April 26, 2008.

Disc Two/Season One, Disc Two:

• Reaction: Original air date: May 3, 2008.
• The Uncertainty Principle: Original air date: May 10, 2008
• Persona: Original air date: May 17, 2008.
• Group Therapy: Original air date: May 31, 2008.
• Intervention: Original air date: June 7, 2008.
• Nature vs. Nurture: Original air date: June 14, 2008.

Disc Three/Season Two, Disc One:

• Blueprints: Original air date: June 22, 2009.
• Destructive Testing: Original air date: June 22, 2009.
• Reinforcement: Original air date: June 29, 2009.
• Shear Strength: Original air date: July 6, 2009.
• First Steps: Original air date: July 13, 2009.
• Growing Pains: Original air date July 20, 2009.
• Identity Crisis: Original air date July 27, 2009.

Disc Four/Season Two, Disc Two:

• Accomplices: Original air date: October 7, 2009
• Probable Cause: Original air date October 14, 2009.
• Gangland: Original air date October 21, 2009.
• Subtext: Original air date November 4, 2009.
• Opening Night: Original air date November 18, 2009.
• Final Curtain: Original air date November 18, 2009.

The Spectacular Spider-Man: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Spectacular Spider-Man: The Complete Series swings onto Blu-ray with a proficient 1080p transfer. The 1.78:1-framed image offers a satisfying, clear, and nicely defined collection of visuals, with largely even lines and only infrequent, yet still numerous examples of, jagged edges. Light banding is also frequently visible in the backgrounds. These issues aside, however, the image offers a fairly robust and substantial viewing experience. It's clean and well defined, benefiting from the increased resolution, stability, and clarity afforded to it by the muscle of the 1080p transfer. Colors are nice, not particularly numerous and subtle but showing good accuracy on everything from bright Spider-Man red and blue to the calming yellows in Aunt May's kitchen. It's a relatively simple animated transfer, suffering from the usual issues these sorts of images faces but also reaping the rewards of the 1080p power.

The Spectacular Spider-Man: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Spectacular Spider-Man: The Complete Series spins together a good, even DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. It's nothing remarkable in the grand scheme of things but certainly a proficient, enjoyable listen. It features a good, wide stage, one in which there's plenty of room for high-flying, web-slinging action. The track provides plenty of fun directional effects during its action scenes, many with a noticeable whoosh and, elsewhere, with commendable weight and power to more intense moments. Music is nicely spaced and robust, playing with solid clarity and attention to detail. There's little in the way of enveloping and mood-defining atmospherics, but the track never feels hollow or inorganic. Dialogue is presented solidly with natural volume and center-front placement.

The Spectacular Spider-Man: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Editorial: It's time for Sony to drop its television show menu system in which all episodes and all supplements are listed on every disc in the set, with "please insert disc X" displayed when an episode or supplement not included on the inserted disc is selected. The problem becomes doubly difficult on a release like 'The Spectacular Spider-Man: The Complete Series" that's divided into two seasons. The physical discs are labeled "Disc One," "Disc Two," "Disc Three," and "Disc Four," while the player and the Blu-ray engineer read them as "Season One, Disc One," "Season Two, Disc Two," "Season Two, Disc One," and "Season Two, Disc Two." When one inserts "Disc Three" or ("Season Two, Disc One") and selects one of the three listed supplements, the user is prompted to "Insert Disc 2," which one may very likely be led to believe is the disc labeled "Disc Two," not the disc labeled "Disc Four." It makes no sense to list everything from a set or series on every disc in the first place, and mislabeling discs, or at the very least a failure to communicate between the engineering department and the disc pressing and disc art departments, only leads to further confusion. Listing episodes and supplements in a more traditional manner -- disc-by-disc -- is the best approach moving forward.

The Spectacular Spider-Man: The Complete Series contains all of its series-related supplements on "Disc Four" or "Season Two, Disc Two," depending on which one the user chooses for package classification (they are also listed on "Disc Three" or "Season Two, Disc One" but are not actually included on that disc). "Disc One" or "Season One, Disc One" contains previews for Angry Bords Toons and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (they are also listed on "Disc Two" or "Season One, Disc Two" but are not actually included on that disc).

• Spider-Man Re-Animated (SD, 14:06): A look at story construction, the writing process, voice casting and acting, character qualities, episode coloring, animating in Korea, and post-production work. The piece also takes viewers into voice recording sessions and storyboard construction.
• Stylizing Spidey (SD, 8:18): An examination of the importance of detailing the character, writing for a broad audience, altering aspects of the franchise but remaining true to the spirit of the original, keeping original characters rather than introducing new ones, lifting stories from the comics, animating the series, and more.
• The Spectacular Spider-Man Music Video (SD, 2:34).

The Spectacular Spider-Man: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Spectacular Spider-Man: The Complete Series doesn't break new ground or redefine a franchise, but it's a fun, filling effort, a fast-paced affair that crams a lot of activity into two seasons and paints a fairly satisfying portrait of the greater Spider-Man universe and, more important, what it means to live in it, for Peter and for all of those around him, from his dearest friends to his most hated rivals. A product of excellent source material, a quality vision for the series, and strong voice acting, The Spectacular Spider-Man proves itself a program suitable for newcomers and comic book veterans alike. Sony's four-disc Blu-ray release features solid video and audio. Supplements are few but interesting. Recommended.