Spider-Man: The Animated Series Episode Reviews

Hydro-Man
Review by Stu, Media by Kolbar

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Episode #16 - Hydro-Man
Original Airdate: September 16th, 1995

Mary Jane's old boyfriend begins stalking her. He has a new ability to transform his body into water and is furious over Mary Jane's relationship with Peter Parker. As his rage builds up, Hydro-Man becomes more and more dangerous. Spider-Man swings into action to protect Mary Jane and defeat the jealous ex-boyfriend.

Credits:
Story By: John Semper
Written By: Jim Kreig
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, Rob Paulsen as Hydro Man and Sara Ballantine as Mary Jane.

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Review: Hydro-Man is one of the C-grade villains from the comic that the series was known for using. There where plenty of other villains I'd rather have seen, but this was an enjoyable episode in its own right. It felt very much like an episode from the first season, as it wasn't part of the season's big arc, it was just a filler. I really think the episode was mis-placed. I think it would have worked better as an episode to break up the "Neogenic Nightmare" story, preferrably somewhere in between the Morbius and Tablet Of Time episodes, rather than taking the main story to a hault before it really got started

The villain was nothing especially remarkable. He's never been one of the big villains in the comics, and he wasn't shown as a big threat here either. Visually, he was a great villain. His civilian design (for lack of a better term) was a little lame, but his powers made for some of the best visuals the show has seen. Especially that one shot of a shocked Spidey punching his hands right through Hydro-Man's chest.

It served its purpose for later episodes, introducing MJ to Spider-Man and it deepened the connection between Peter and Mary Jane some more. The highlight, however, had to be the animation. TMS came through again, especially with Hydro-Man's water morphing powers and Spidey's swinging. It was a fun way to pass 20 minutes, but after the last episode's awesome finale, it was a disappointing follow up. The ending was well done, and actually showed MJ to have some intelligence. I especially liked Hydro Man's death scene. This is the part where I make a snipe remark about how this episode is much better than the other one to feature Bench... don't pretend you didn't know it was coming!

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