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DVD - Spider-Man Vs Doc Ock
Review And Scans By Amazing Spidey
Buena Vista releases its 4th Spider-Man: The Animated Series DVD on June 29th, as a well timed cash in to Spider-Man 2.
The villain in this DVD just happens to be the villain in the feature film.
Unlike Disney’s previous Spider-Man releases, these episodes don’t form a mini-movie; its 4 random episodes, most of which
don’t have a lot to do with Dr. Octopus at all. He appears in the 2-part Black Cat story, but is hardly the central
character.
Despite the iffy selection of episodes, the ones chosen are entertaining. My favorite would be
Dr. Octopus: Armed and Dangerous, which did a fantastic job of introducing Dr. Octopus, and had one of the best fight
scenes the series ever did, despite censor limitations. It also had a nice, slower pace compared to the rest of the
episodes of the show. The animation was provided by TMS and was beautiful throughout.
The other 3 episodes are enjoyable. Partners is a little weak, and simply doesn’t fit in here. It has nothing to do with
Doc Ock at all! I would’ve loved to see the 2 Insidious Six episodes included, but it wasn’t to be.
The features are the more or less the same as the ones on the previous Disney DVDs. Fans will be pleased to know a new
menu is included, but it’s nowhere near as cool as the old one. The inclusion of the 60’s episodes is mind boggling,
seeing as Disney is releasing all of the episodes on the same day! I still don’t understand why we couldn’t have seen a
Doc Ock episode of Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends on the disc, seeing as how many fans have been clamoring for a
DVD release for a long time. The first episode is a good example of what to expect from the
Spider-Man: The ’67 Collection DVD. The second features Spider-Man fighting Icemen from Poland. Pretty much explains it
all.
Stan Lee’s Soapbox is pretty much the same as the previous releases. For some reason, it isn’t as interesting as the
Daredevil or Green Goblin Soapbox’s but its Stan “The Man” Lee! Everyone loves to hear from the Spidery co-creator!
He talks about the creation of Dr. Octopus, and how difficult it is to come up with original characters.
Pretty interesting stuff, since Stan created most of Marvel Comics characters. However, this stuff simply wouldn't compare
to hearing Semper's comments on the episodes. I know the chances of hearing his thoughts on the episodes are almost non-existant
but still, hopefully one day Disney will make the effort.
To round the disc off, there are trailers for a Special Edition DVD of Aladdin, a hilarious trailer for Disney’s
The Incredibles, and The Venom Saga, the next Spider-Man: The Animated Series DVD. Also shown is a sneak peak, which is
basically the 3 part Alien Costume story shown in roughly 3 and a half minutes. It was cool to see, and left me
looking forward to the DVD.
Overall, if you are a Spidey fan of any kind, I think you’d enjoy this. If you’re not, there’s plenty here for you to enjoy.
The main problem is there simply isn’t enough. The show deserves better than random episodes whenever a cash in opportunity
is available. Hopefully Disney will realize this soon and give us the box sets the series truly deserves.
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