Spider-Man: The Animated Series Episode Reviews

The Insidious Six
Review by Stu, Media by Kolbar

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Episode #14 - The Insidious Six
Original Airdate: September 9th, 1995

In order to finally kill Spider-Man, the Kingpin hires the Insidious Six (Doctor Octopus, Scorpion, Chameleon, Shocker, Rhino and Mysterio) to take him down. Farley Stillwell also creates Neogenics, which starts taking away Spider-Man's strength. After losing his powers, Spider-Man is captured by the Insidious Six.

Credits:
Story By: John Semper
Written By: John Semper and David Lee Miller
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, Linda Gary as Aunt May, Efrem Zimbalist Jr as Dr. Octopus, Jim Cummings as The Shocker, Don Stark as The Rhino, Richard Moll as The Scorpion, Greg Berher as Mysterio and Roscoe Lee Brown as The Kingpin.

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Review: The hardcore comic fans will know that this two-parter is an adaptation of The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1 where he faced Dr. Octopus, Kraven The Hunter, The Sandman, Mysterio, Electro and The Vulture. It's different in this cartoon, for several reasons. 3 of the villains had yet to be introduced. At this point, 2 of them were completly banned from appearing on the show. Kraven was no longer a villain in this show. The censors thought the name "Sinister Six" sounded too evil, and demanded that the name be changed to something more child friendly.

That comes close to the part where they play the scenes in the wrong order in Six Forgotten Warriors as the stupidest thing ever. I don't think I've ever heard of anything so stupid in all my life.

The opening scene was a nice recap of where he is in his life right now, and shows that the disease he's caught is not to be taken lightly, being how he almost died and all. I thought him losing his powers as only a starting point to the disease was a great way to build up suspense as to what was to come. This was before the days of the internet ruining every plot twist, no, back in the day, the only way to learn what was about to happen was to watch the damn thing. Hell, most of the time, I never knew who was going to appear, nevermind what they were planning to do.

Yep, I remember the good ol' days well. How I miss them...

The breakout scene was well done. Some of my favorite villains, such as Mysterio, Shocker and Doc Ock where part of the line up, and it was cool seeing them all again. I always liked how some of the members originally showed resistance to join the group, especially Doc Ock claiming he had no interest in a life of crime anymore, and only wanted to continue his research.

The ending was a great one, with a powerless Spidey left to fight the six of them. It ended with a very powerful image of the 6 of them coming towards him, and Spidey with a petrified look on his face. A very good ending, to say the least. Part two certainly had a lot to live up to.

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