TV Show Info:
Writers: Greg Weisman, Kevin Hopps, Matt Wayne
Directors: Victor Cook, Troy Adomitis, Dave Bullock
Cast: Josh Keaton, Dee Bradley Baker, Irene Bedard, Jeff Bennett, Clancy Brown, Lacey Chabert, Keith David, Grey DeLisle, John Di Maggio, Ben Diskin, Robert Englund, Brian George, James Arnold Taylor, Deborah Strang, Kath Soucie
Rating: N/a
Studio: Sony Pictures
Release Info:
Original Air Dates: March 1, 2008-March 15, 2008
Season Air Dates: March 1, 2008-June 14, 2008
DVD Box Set Release Date: September 9, 2008
Online Availability: Amazon for $14.99
Episodes: Season One - Episodes #1, #2, and #3
I’m a huge fan of comic based television shows. I’m into all the Batman, Justice League, X-Men, and Superman cartoons. I just have never been a fan of Spiderman. So, when The Spectacular Spider-Man: Attack of the Lizard fell into my lap for review, I wasn’t exactly thrilled. Spidey just isn’t my guy. Give me a good old Dark Knight cartoon and I’ll be entertained thoroughly (as long as the story is good, of course!). I just don’t get the thrill of a guy who looks and acts like a spider. What’s so cool about spiders, anyway?
When The Spectacular Spider-Man started airing on the CW4Kids network, I didn’t watch it. My son is more into the 4KidsTV lineup, so he never saw this show either. Our family’s first exposure to this series was in the form of The Spectacular Spider-Man: Attack of the Lizard. Ok, now I know that cartoons are a bit fast paced these days, but they were fast paced back in the 80s when I was a kid. If you can’t keep up with a cartoon you shouldn’t be trying to review it!
I really liked The Spectacular Spider-Man: Attack of the Lizard. I recommended it to Ashtyn. I recommended it to my son, who isn’t a huge Spidey fan either. I recommended it to my nephew and all the other kids in my neighborhood. I don’t get why some reviewers think The Spectacular Spider-Man: Attack of the Lizard was choppy. Had I not known this was the first three episodes of the series, which started airing on television in March of 2008, I’d have thought this was meant to be a full length feature.
That being said, The Spectacular Spider-Man: Attack of the Lizard isn’t the Spiderman of the past. I recall the series I watched of Spidey in the 80s. This show actually follows Peter Parker as he discovers his Spidey powers. It’s fun, entertaining, and perhaps even a bit juvenile at times, but c’mon. It’s a cartoon! It’s designed for kids! I’m a big kid myself, so I get it. Adults (especially stuffy ones) just won’t get the allure of this show, but kids will, and that’s all that matters!
The Spectacular Spider-Man: Attack of the Lizard Plot
The Spectacular Spider-Man: Attack of the Lizard DVD presents the first three episodes of The Spectacular Spider-Man television series. These three episodes actually tell a full story and compliment one another nicely. I didn’t feel that these episodes were necessarily choppy or hastily put together. They had pauses that were, no doubt, for commercials, but any cartoon television series is going to have those types of breaks in the action. That’s the entire point of it being a television show!
The episodes that have been combined to make one full length feature are “Survival of the Fittest”, “Interactions” and “Natural Selection”. While the plot shifts gears a few times, it’s pretty easy to follow, nonetheless. The story begins with a high school student named Peter Parker (Josh Keaton). This high school junior has just realized that over the summer, he has developed powers. These make him the elusive Spiderman, who is really just an “urban legend” at this point. Peter is sure this is going to be a much better year than the last, but the jocks at school still see him as a nerd, not realizing he’s the Spiderman. Luckily, he has a few friends who make his solitary existence a bit more tolerable. This includes his best friends, Gwen Stacy (Lacey Chabert) and Harry Osborn (James Arnold Taylor).
In the first episode of The Spectacular Spider-Man, Spidey must take on a scientist named Adrian Toomes. Toomes has created his own flying ability to get revenge on Norman Osborn (Harry’s dad), as Osborn stole his original flying technology in the first place. Of course, Peter has other things on his mind that are almost more important than catching bad guys. Aunt May (Deborah Strang) is out of money, and she doesn’t want Peter to know. Of course, Peter makes it his mission to find the cash for her. This leads him to J. Jonas Jameson, to whom he suggests that Jameson pay him if he can get pictures of Spidey in action.
Peter has gotten a job at the laboratory where he first received the spider bite. He works with Gwen and some other people, including Eddie Brock, a jock that went to his high school a few years back. All of them work for Dr. Curt Connors (Dee Bradley Baker) and his wife, Martha (Kath Soucie) at the Empire State University laboratory. During a fluke accident at the lab, an electrician named Max Dillon is transformed into Electro, a powerful, electrically charged villain. While Dr. Curt tries to help Max, he accepts his fate and realizes that as Electro he holds all the power.
Peter must stop Electro, but he also has to make sure he does so while following Aunt May’s curfew rules. This puts a damper on anything Spidey related. Peter is still trying to get that picture to make money for Aunt May. He is also trying to tutor Liz Allen, a popular girl who doesn’t seem to take anything seriously.
With Electro messing up some vials at the lab that Curt Connors is using to try and regrow the arm he lost in the Gulf War, the doctor unwilling puts himself and everyone else at risk. He regrows his arm, but with a price he must pay. With the doctor transforming into The Lizard, Spiderman has more on his plate than a regular teenager should have to handle.
Storyline/Plot: 
Replayability:
Acting:
Directing:
Audio/Visual:
The Spectacular Spider-Man: Attack of the Lizard looks excellent! You can tell this animation is definitely comic book inspired. The colors are vibrant, the contrast of the animation is sharp, and there isn’t any color bleeding or glow. The 1.78:1 anamorphic transfer isn’t exactly typical for a cartoon series. That is what makes this quality so much better than your standard cartoon. I was impressed even if there were some minor instances of compression artifacts. To someone just watching this and not looking for flaws, these minor flaws won’t be noticeable.
The Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track far surpasses the audio track of a standard DVD cartoon transfer. Sony went all out when putting The Spectacular Spider-Man: Attack of the Lizard on DVD. The sound is dynamic with music, dialogue and sound effects filling out the speakers nicely. While this isn’t going to blow your mind like a Transformers soundtrack would, it’s definitely better than I expected to hear. This track offers closed captioning for the hearing impaired and subtitles are available in French.
Visual: 
Audio: [rating:]
Bonus Features:
The only bonus here is a music video. This is the Spectacular Spider-Man music video. It originally aired in theaters. It isn’t exactly awesome, but it is better than nothing. This is, perhaps, the most disappointing section of this DVD.
Other than that, The Spectacular Spider-Man: Attack of the Lizard only offers up trailers.
Bonus Features:
Bottom Line:
I don’t know why other reviewers didn’t like this. I really enjoyed The Spectacular Spider-Man: Attack of the Lizard. It is one of those cartoons that isn’t so cerebral that you can’t enjoy watching it with your kids, yet it is entertaining and engaging enough to appeal to a vast audience. While Spiderman purists won’t enjoy the liberties taken with the telling of this story (Gwen and Peter met at college, not high school, etc.), those of us who enjoy a good story will be able to get over those story changes. These kind of changes happen in comic books all the time. So, if you have a comic book based cartoon fan on your hands, pick up a copy of The Spectacular Spider-Man: Attack of the Lizard. Neither of you will be disappointed.
Overall Rating:
Technorati Tags: Spectacular Spider-Man, Attack of the Lizard, DVD Review, TV show, Kids WB, CW4Kids, Spiderman, Cartoon, Full Length Feature
Written by Dominick Evans - Visit Website
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Dominick is in his late 20s. He lives in Michigan with his life partner, Ashtyn, their 14 year old son Robert, and their Shih-Tzu, Oliver. Dominick is a writer and the head editor for both LI Kids and Literary Illusions. He enjoys composing music and is an aspiring director/screenwriter. In his free time he enjoys spending time with his family, playing and watching sports, playing video games, watching movies, and singing.
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