|
Review by Amazing Spidey, Media by Kolbar
Episode #44 - The Cat Written By: Sean Catherine Derek Music Composed By: Shuki Levy and Kussa Mahchi Animation Services By: Toyko Movie Shinsha (TMS) Guest Starring: Christopher Daniel Barnes as Spider-Man/Peter Parkr, Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. as Doctor Octopus, Jack Angel as Nick Fury, John Phillip Law as The Cat, Nita Talbot as Anastasia Hardy, Rachael Davies as Agent X and Steven Jay Blum as Brace Huntington Review: After a 3-year plus wait, we are finally introduced to the Black Cat, having only seen her as Felicia Hardy beforehand. As one of the few comic book characters I was aware about before I saw the end of the show, it was interesting to see how they would finally introduce her. I felt it would be too difficult a transaction to see her become a super villain, even as a 9 year old. Luckily, so did the show’s writing staff.I especially liked how the show linked her origin to that of Captain America’s. The super soldier formula subplot was great motivation for Kingpin. The series did have a few episodes which featured Kingpin in which his presence simply wasn’t needed. This episode, however, was not one of them. Her introduction was handled especially well, specifically the relationship with her long last father, who was being held by SHIELD. Given the number of times she’d been kidnapped or attacked by some super villain, it also defied logic she would become just another clown in spandex for Spider-Man to fight, so they had her learn that with great power comes great responsibility. I thought this was a very clever move. Whilst it’s true she did get annoying in several episodes, her debut was good, arguably her best episode. It wasn’t until we got more Morbius episodes that I felt the show started something of a downward spiral. Hale herself did manage to create another, seperate voice from Felicia, only her 'superhero' voice came across as really arrogant a lot of the time. BC's design wasn't too bad, but it usually suffered from some terrible colouring. This season was easily the worst looking of the whole 5. The Kingpin naturally was involved here and he actually helped the plot move along nicely instead of simply being in the way, or there for the hell of it, like he does in some episodes. Doc Ock on the other hand, was more or less wasted here. What could’ve been a great sequel to his connection with the Hardy’s from Dr. Octopus: Armed And Dangerous was quickly forgotten about, and he became a hired mug. Aside from kidnapping Felicia, he didn’t actually do anything in this episode. Doc Ock is wasted yet again. Despite some dodgy parts at the beginning of the episode (him spinning around the flagpole may be the laziest use of animation this should did), the animation in this episode was almost the quality of that of the first season. Spider-Man himself looked awesome throughout! Whilst this wasn't too bad an episode, it's conclusion overshadowed it. Screenshots: 
 
 
 
 
 
 |
