Spider-Man: The Animated Series Episode Reviews

The Hobgoblin, Part One
Review by Stu, Media by Kolbar

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Episode #11 - The Hobgoblin, Part One
Original Airdate: May 20th, 1995

Norman Osborn hires the the Hobgoblin to take out Wilson Fisk, but when he fails Osborn fires him. To get revenge on Osborn, Hobgoblin changes sides and kidnaps Norman's son, Harry, for the Kingpin.

Credits:
Story By: John Semper
Written By: Larry Brody
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, Ed Asner as J. Jonah Jameson, Neil Ross as Norman Osborn, Mark Hamill as The Hobgoblin and Roscoe Lee Brown as The Kingping

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Review: Once again production troubles come into play with this series. Anyone who's read any Spider-Man comics in his or her lifetime will know the Green Goblin debuted over 20 years before the Hobgoblin did. However, it went the other way in this cartoon; it would be another two seasons before The Green Goblin appeared. The reason behind this is one left from an apparently clueless previous producer, which couldn't be changed as once again, toys where being produced, and money was being made. No one is quite sure why the previous producer made Hobgoblin come first, but I personally thought it was very, very cool.

This didn't leave a huge plot hole in the series, far from it, the introduction of a new Goblin later came across flawlessly, The Hobgoblin angle benefited it all. It worked as a prelude to Norman becoming the Green Goblin, and set up Peter learning that Wilson Fisk was actually The Kingpin. It probably helped that The Hobgoblin is arguably the coolest villain in this entire show. He had a great design and an outstanding voice in Mark Hamill. Easily one of the best, as far as Spidey's rouges gallery goes.

The Aunt May in a coma is nothing new, as it's been done in the comics hundreds of times, but the reason behind it was especially lame, as she went into a full coma because his room was a mess. Even though she just saw her nephew attacked by a Goblin on a glider, she gets shocked over his room. After a party no less. This show did a horrible job with Aunt May, on the odd occasion. She truly was the one supporting cast member with the weakest development.

The animation in the fight in the air between Spider-Man and The Hobgoblin shined, especially some of the explosions. Whilst this episode was simply a set up off what was to come in part two, it did it very well. I especially liked how Norman was portrayed in this episode. It gave us a great build up to him eventually becoming The Green Goblin.

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