What I’m Watching: Spider-Man (90s Cartoon)

Yes, you can hear the theme music

With no sports to keep us entertained, I’m sure we have all dipped into the deep cuts of the many streaming services we all subscribe to. There’s only so many times you can re-watch “Tiger King.” Luckily, The Last Dance is helping but waiting a whole week to watch the next episode has become a foreign feeling for most of us. To help fill those hours in between work Zoom meetings and Trump giving out incorrect medical advice, I’ll try to give you suggestions on what to binge next. First up is the Spider-Man cartoons from the 90s. It first premiered in the fall of 1994 and is currently available on Disney Plus.

Does It Hold Up?

I went into this without having seen any episodes since the original run in the 90s. Just a few random clips here and there. My appetite for Spider-Man cartoons has been filled with many iterations of the wall crawler over the last 20 years. But this one will always hold a special place in my heart as it introduced me to Spider-Man. Either way, I was not sure how it was going to hold up as I binged through the series in 2020 as someone in their early 30s as opposed to a 7 yr old in the mid-90s.

The series lasted 65 episodes and was structured much different than other cartoons. The episodes seemed like they were ripped straight from the comics and this added a lot to their quality. Instead of one episode stories, they were told over multiple episodes, similar to comic story arcs. Something I definitely appreciated more this time around. Its a definite plus if you plan on binging the series as you can watch one arc and it will usually be an hour of your time. On the flipside, the “one more episode” feeling will be high if you want to finish the arc before calling it a night.

DC or Marvel? For me, it has always been Marvel and the 90s cartoons of X-Men and Spider-Man are a big reason why. Both series but especially Spidey, do a great job of having cameos from fellow Marvel characters. This went the full range from having Wolverine try to kill Spidey to having Matt Murdock aka Daredevil defend Peter Parker. It served as a great introduction to the world of Marvel and solidified my preference. The cameos keep the series fresh as not every episode features the same supporting characters. There’s only so many times I can keep seeing Spider-Man save MJ or Aunt May.

The animation isn’t amazing but it holds up. I appreciate Marvel’s attempts at early CGI, even if it was used sparingly. Character designs were similar to their comic counterparts in the early 90s. Don’t be surprised to see a white Nick Fury instead of the Samuel Jackson version in the MCU. The dialogue falls in the same space of being good enough. It is a kids show from the mid-90s so don’t expect anything great and prepare yourself for some corniness. But like I said, its fine and does not take away from the enjoyment.

The series gets 2 thumbs up from me. It was an enjoyable trip down memory lane. Especially if you like any of the MCU films (which are also on Disney+).

What have you been watching?