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Spider-Man: The New Animated Series Episode Review
Episode #106, "Heroes and Villains"
Original Episode Airdate - July 11th, 2003
Adjacent to Empire State University, The Villeroy Towers, an urban high-rise tenement, is slated for destruction and the tenants have allied with ESU's student body in protest. The Villeroy Towers residents are at a disadvantage in this fight to save their home until an anonymous donor endows them with one million dollars. This generosity comes shortly after the theft of a pricey gem from the Metropolitan Museum. Spider-Man discovers the guilty party is a modern day Robin Hood named Turbo Jet armed with a homemade propulsion system who steals from the wealthy and gives to the poor. Still, stealing is stealing and Spider-Man and Turbo Jet go head to head. Making matters worse, Oscorp is the company behind the Villeroy's demolition - all in the name of progress - forcing Harry Osborn right in the center of this controversy. When Turbo Jet takes Mary-Jane Watson hostage during a rally, Spider-Man sets out to prove that Turbo Jet's good intentions are highly flawed.
Credits
Screenplay By: Morgan Gendel
Directed By: Tim Elered
Music By: John Digweed, Nick Muir and William Anderson
Animation By: Mainframe
Guest Starring: Harold Parino as Turbo Jet, Ed Asner as Officer Barr
Review and Media by Stu::
This episode is actually the first episode according to the DVD release,
despite the fact that The Party was the show's premiere in every country except Canada. This episode works far better
as a pilot, as for one, it's not completely riveted with cliches, and two, it does a better job fleshing out all the
characters, mainly Spider-Man himself. He was actually put in a bit of a compromise in the episode, one which I don t
recall ever seeing anywhere before.
It also had one of the funniest scenes in the entire show. Spider-Man deciding if he needed a new image for himself,
which cued one of the best one-liners of the series "I'm Spider-Man" complete with the pointy ears and Kevin Conroy
style voice. Absolutely brilliant.
Once again, the animation shines in this episode. Particularly the night scenes, we got some bad ass Spidey poses
with the shadows blanketing him in the alley. The whole scene demonstrates some very nice storyboarding work, as
did the fight scene in the mannequin warehouse. After seeing so many Spider-Man cartoons with crap animation,
it s nice to see him finally shine here. Whilst Spider-Man always looks good, whether he's fighting, swinging,
crawling etc, it's a shame the rest of the cast don't meet his standards.
Turbo Jet was a little lame. His design was simply odd, and his character was dull. His motivation was pretty good, but
his speech in the alley contradicts it. Why is he helping all the folks of Villeroy towers, then calling them "stupid"
minutes later?
The weakest point of the episode is the kiss between MJ and Peter. There really wasn't any need for it at all;
it felt cheesy and forced, especially when compared to the kiss in Laws Of The Jungle.
It didn't develop anything from it, and it really just felt like a 'what the hell. Let's have them kiss' moment.
Odd... very odd.
Not the best Spider-Man episode, but not a bad episode to begin with.
Screenshots
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