Spider-Man: The Animated Series Episode Reviews

The Wedding
Review and Media by Stu

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Episode #53 - The Wedding
Original Airdate - September 12, 1997

Peter and Mary Jane are getting ready for their wedding, but their plans are interrupted when The Scorpion kidnaps Aunt May. To make matters worse, Harry Osborn shows up as The Green Goblin at the wedding with the intent of marrying Mary Jane before Peter does. With a little help from Black Cat and the Mega-Slayer (controlled by Kingpin), Spidey may just get through his wedding day unscathed!

Credits:
Story By: John Semper
Written By: John Semper and Meg McLaughlin
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, Maxwell Caulfield as Smythe, Neil Ross as Norman Osborn/Green Goblin, Richard Moll as Scorpion, Gary Imhoff as Harry Osborn/Green Goblin, Jennifer Hale as Black Cat and Roscoe Lee Browne as The Kingpin.

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Review: It's a big episode that works in some regards, and others not so much. The episode itself is entertaining enough but suffers from one or two needless characters and the main villain is once again a little bit of a joke. Considering how interesting the comic version of Harry Osborn as The Green Goblin was (The Spectacular Spider-Man #200 immediately springs to mind), this version was such a let down. I found 'normal' Harry to be as dull as church. A ugly design, a terrible voice and flat characterisation places Harry as one of the worst of the series' supporting cast ... and he was even worse as a villain. His supervillian voice lacked ... everything that Neil Ross brought to the role and made Harry come across as really, really annoying.

It was nice seeing The Black Cat again. It's cool that she attended Peter's wedding but there a lot of other characters that should've been left out. Smythe and Scorpion, appear yet again and don't really add anything to the story. Both characters just kind of fizzled out the more they appeared in the show, and this episode is an example of just that.

Other than that, the episode was entertaining enough. It doesn't come close to being one of the series' best - and maybe it should've been given its the wedding of Peter and MJ - but it's not one of it's worst.

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