Spider-Man: The Animated Series Episode Reviews

Goblin War!
Review and Media by Stu

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Episode #40 - Goblin War!
Original Airdate: November 16th, 1996

The Green Goblin and the Hobgoblin clash over Dr. Ohn's Time Dilation Accelerator. Meanwhile, Peter and Mary Jane are celebrating Felicia Hardy's engagement to Jason Macendale when it is revealed that Macendale is in fact the Hobgoblin!

Credits:
Story By: John Semper
Written By: Robert N. Skir & Marty Isenberg, Mark Hoffmeier and John Semper
Music Composed By: Shuki Levy and Kussa Mahchi
Animation Services By: Toyko Movie Shinsha (TMS)
Guest Starring: Christopher Daniel Barnes as Spider-Man/Peter Parkr, Mark Hamill as The Hobgoblin/Jason Macendale, Neil Ross as Norman Osborn/Green Goblin, Roscoe Lee Brown as The Kingpin, David Warner as Landon and Jennifer Hale as Felicia Hardy.

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Review: This episode saw not one, but two great villains return in style. Since their debut, the Goblins (both Green and Hob) have been some of Spider-Man's most popular villains, and it was great seeing them animated together. They weren't simply thrown together for the hell of it, as it was Norman who created The Hobgoblin, so it was awesome to see it all coming back to haunt him. It also seems Norman was the only person alive who knew who the Hobgoblin was. I've always thought The Hobgoblin was at his best when no one knew who he was. This series did a great job of building up the mystery. I'd have preferred it if they hadn't introduced jASON Macendale at all beforehand, or better yet, introduced him and have The Hobgoblin be someone completly different.

Neil Ross was once again great as The Green Goblin. The scene with the mirror was so cool. He had quite clearly fighting The Green Goblin since he last changed, and with The Hobgoblin and The Kingpin once again coming back to haunt him. I thought we never saw enough of the Goblins in this show - so many stories, so little episodes! I think this version of The Green Goblin is arguably one of the best we've ever seen. They got just about everything right with this version. Introducing Norman first may have been one of the smartest desicions the writing crew ever did. It's unfortunate that their version of Harry as The Green Goblin didn't come anywhere near living up to this version (more on that later).

While it was a little disappointing that the moment The Hobgoblin was unmasked, he became nothing but another stooge. I realise they were paving the way for The Green Goblin to be the main villain, but they really shove just Hobbie to the side. I'm pretty sure that The Hobgoblin didn't have any of Norman's enhanced strength and such, but still, as soon as The Green Goblin appeared, Hobby was beaten like a child.

Animation-wise, the episode ranged from consistent to very good. There was always a little more effort put into The Green Goblin episodes, visually, and this is no exception. The storyboarding was fine, the use of repeated animation wasn't too bad and the music was very good. Voices were once again brilliant. Barnes, Hamill and Ross were delivering throughout. I can't recall a single poor performance from any of them throughtout the series. This was such a good arc. I think Hobgoblin is the coolest villain in this show, so it was pretty disappointing how he ended up here and how it affected him going forward. Still, this episode did a great job of building to the next episode, arguably the best of the series, "Turning Point."

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