| This article is written from the Real World perspective |  |
| This article is written from the Real World perspective | |
| Spider-Man: The New Animated Series | |
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| Beginning date | July 11, 2003 |
| End date | September 12, 2003 |
| Number of Episodes | 13 |
| Original Channel | MTV |
| Previous Series | X-Men: Evolution |
| Next Series | Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes |
Spider-Man: The New Animated Series, also known as Spider-Man and MTV Spider-Man, is a Non MAU series, and the fifth animated series to feature the character of Spider-Man. The series aired on MTV and YTV.
The word "New" was added to the title to differentiate itself from Spider-Man, which is commonly called Spider-Man: The Animated Series.
Production
The series Executive Producer was Brian Michael Bendis who wrote on Ultimate Spider-Man. It was produced for Sony Pictures Televison. Initially it was inspired by and an attempt to adapted the Ultimate Spider-Man series.
The character of Aunt May was not included, except in photographs, as there were fears an older character would put off the younger audience.
Every cellphone in the series is a style available then from Sony Ericsson and the ringtones were from Nokia.
Story
The story is designed to follow the first Spider-Man film. Events of the film are referenced, such as Harry Osborn accusing Spider-Man of killing his father. It does not follow the movie continuity, however, since Dr. Connors is apparently killed in the series but is alive in the second film.
The story follows the death of Norman Osborn. Peter Parker, Mary Jane Watson, and Harry Osborn attend Empire State University. Peter and Mary Jane try to establish a relationship together though without success. At first it is because of Peter's superhero duties, but later it is because Peter begins dating Indira Daimonji. Meanwhile Harry craves revenge on Spider-Man whom he blames for the death of his father. Peter faces the usual assortment of villains while trying to maintain a job and his studies. However, he faces two psychic twins that ruin everything in the wallcrawler's life, causing Peter to give up being Spider-Man and try to live a normal life.
Cast
Spider-Man was voiced by Neil Patrick Harris, Mary Jane by Lisa Loeb, and Harry Osborn by Ian Ziering. Peter was made to be more hip and less of a geek to fit in with the network.
Indira "Indy" Daimonji, voiced by Angelle Brooks, was created specifically for the series, in a role as Mary Jane's rival similar to Gwen Stacy or Felicia Hardy from Spider-Man.
Several voice actors were prominent singers such as Eve, Rob Zombie, and Loeb.
A number of well known actors and figures made cameo appearances. Stan Lee, Kathy Griffin, Michael Dorn, Michael Clarke Duncan (reprising his role from Daredevil), John C. McGinley, Rino Romano (Spider-Man of Spider-Man Unlimited), Ed Asner (J. Jonah Jameson of Spider-Man), and Cree Summer (She-Hulk of The Incredible Hulk) were some notable appearances.
Only four comic book villains appear in the series: Electro, Curt Connors, Kingpin, Kraven the Hunter, and additionally Silver Sable. The X-Men are mentioned once by Peter, the only other comic book character reference. One more possible reference is someone with the username "GS122", which would most likely be a reference to Gwen Stacy who died in Amazing Spider-Man issues 121-122.
Animation
This series was the first Marvel animated series to be completely animated by computers. Previous series used either all cel animation or a combination of the two. Though the design was made to look like cel animation.
This presented some problems as they were unable to render a large number of characters on screen at once, or many different character models. Spider-Man would often have the same cuts and damage in different episodes. Mary Jane Watson's hair is shorter than the comics or previous series as it was difficult to have long, flowing air. This is also why Kraven does not have his signature lion's mane vest but instead a leather jacket. Peter was originally was supposed to wear baggier clothing to hide his muscles and costume but this presented problems, similar to Mary Jane's hair, so they were made tighter and form-fitting.
The computed generated imagery was produced by Mainframe Entertainment, best known for ReBoot and Beast Wars.
The design was to appear closer to the Ultimate Spider-Man comic incarnation.
Continuity
There are numerous references to the first Spider-Man film, mostly the kiss between Mary Jane Watson and Spider-Man and Harry Osborn believing that Spider-Man killed his Norman Osborn. This was because the series was intended to follow the series, though it is not in the film's continuity since Dr. Connors is killed in the series and appears in the second and third films.
Also, the series title uses the same font as the film.
Episodes
The series only lasted thirteen episodes and ended on a cliffhanger.