Spider-Man: The Animated Series Episode Reviews

Spider-Wars, Part 1: I Really, Really Hate Clones
Review by Stu, Media by James Harvey

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Episode #64 - Spider-Wars, Part 1: I Really, Really Hate Clones
Original Airdate - January 31st, 1998

Spider-Man is transported into another dimension by the Beyonder where he finds the Green Goblin and the Hobgoblin detonating a bomb in the Daily Bugle building. While chasing after the Goblins, Spidey is intercepted and attacked by Spider-Carnage. But before any damage could be done, the Beyonder transports Spider-Man to Madame Web's base where they reveal that there are five other Spider-Men in different dimensions, all trained to save reality from destruction!

Credits
Story By: John Semper
Written By: James Krieg, 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 Parker/Spider-Clones, Mark Hamill as The Hobgoblin, Neil Ross as Green Goblin, Roscoe Lee Brown as The Kingpin and Ed Asner as J. Jonah Jameson.

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Review:
After waiting three years for Madame Web to explain this big mysterious battle that she's been training Spider-Man for, it's finally explained! Peter is transported to another ruined dimension for which he is responsible. I thought they'd have a hard time topping "Secret Wars" for a big battle, especially after hyping it for three years, but they pull it off flawlessly.

Spider-Man bands together with a host of different Spider-Men from throughout the muultiverse and, frankly, they're pretty cool. Whilst some they did seem to reek of "TOY AD!" they actually work together pretty well. I especially liked the arrogance of the Armoured Spider-Man, who almost came across as lame, arrogant spin on Iron Man. All he needed was the moustache and we could've had a great little take on The Golden Avenger. The Six-Armed Spider-Man was a great throwback to "Neogenic Nightmare," whilst Octo-Spidey came across as little more than an action figure ad (but it worked, since I own an Octo-Spidey figure ... it was one of the cooler Spider-Man variants this show's toy line had).

The animation in this episode was superb. Considering that there was so many Spider-Men to animate, they did a fine job, with very little reused animation. Considering this is the last time we'd see them, it was nice to have them handled properly. The animation doesn't live up to the likes of "The Alien Costume" or "Night Of The Lizard," but it's still some of the best this show ever did.

And I have to say, I got a big kick out of seeing The Scarlet Spider animated. This episode didn't do anywhere near as bad a job as what the comics did to him by the time they finished "The Clone Saga" arc and he appeared perfectly likeable here. It was one of the episode's highlights.

This episode gave us so much, too, as it made a point to revisit some characters before the final curtain call. We got to see Green Goblin, Hobgoblin, Kingpin, Smythe, Jonah and Robbie for one last time. This show did a pretty good job with most of the villains, and it was nice to see them one last time along with some of Spidey's supporting crew. I could've done without The Spot's cameo though. It brought back too many painful memories.

The big villain of the episode - an evil, twisted, Carnage-infected Spider-Man - was absolutely superb and a great choice. It keeps the scale big but still makes it personal. He didn't really do much until part two, but I loved having an alternate version of Spider-Man that was a villain. Considering how much the comics' Spider-Carnage was a bit of a letdown, I absolutely loved what they did with him here.

The ending with Man-Spider was grabbing Spider-Man and Scarlet Spider was especially cool, since it emphazed how Spider-Man needs to overcome himself to save the day and served as a great cliffhanger leading to the series finale.

Screenshots:

Part One