Episode #40 - Goblin War!
Original Airdate November 16, 1996

When Dr. Ohn's Time Dilation Accelerator falls into the wrong hands all the criminal minds of the city vie for the portal technology. Peter and Mary Jane are celebrating Felicia Hardy's engagement to Jason Macendale when Spider-Man overhear plans for a major heist!

Credits
Story By: John Semper
Written By: Robert N. Skir & Marty Isenberg, Mark Hoffmeier and John Semper
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, Mark Hamill as The Hobgoblin/Jason Macendale, Neil Ross as Norman Osborn/Green Goblin, Roscoe Lee Brown as The Kingpin, David Warner as Landon and Jennifer Hale as Felicia Hardy.

Review: This episode saw not one, but 2 great villains return in style. Since their debut, the goblins have been some of Spider-Man’s most popular villains, and it was great seeing them animated together. They weren’t simply thrown together for the hell of it, as it was Norman who created the Hobgoblin, so it was awesome to see it all coming back to haunt him. It also seems Norman was the only person alive who knew who the Hobgoblin was. I've always thought The Hobgoblin was at his best when no one knew who he was. This series did a great job of building up the mystery. I'd have preferred it if they hadn't introduced Macendale at all beforehand, or better yet, introduced him and have Hobgoblin be someone completly different.

Neil Ross was once again great as The Green Goblin. The scene with the mirror was so cool. He had quite clearly fighting the Green Goblin since he last changed, and with The Hobgoblin and Kingpin once again coming back to haunt him. I thought we never saw enough of the Goblin in this show, so many stories, so little episodes! I think this version of The Goblin is arguably one of the best we've ever seen. They got just about everything right with this version. Introducing Norman first may have been one of the smartest desicions the writing crew ever did. It's unfortunate that thier version of Harry as The Green Goblin didn't cme anywhere near living up to this version.

While it was a little disappointing that the moment The Hobgoblin was unmasked, the Hobgoblin became nothing but a little wimp. I realise they were paving the way for The Green Goblin to be the main villain, but it was too much of a 180. For such a great character, he recieved a dismal send off. I'm pretty sure that Hobgoblin didn't have any of Norman's enhanced strength and such, but still, as soon as Green Goblin appeared, Hobby was beaten like a child. Animation wise, the episode ranged from consistent to very good. There was always a little more effort put into The Green Goblin episode, visually. The storyboarding was fine, the use of repeated animation wasn't too bad and the music was very good. Voices were once again brilliant. Barnes, Hamill and Ross were delivering throughout. I can't recall a single poor performance from any of them throughtout the series. This was such a good arc. I think Hobgoblin is the coolest villain in this show, so it was pretty disappointing how he ended up here. But, it did a great job of building up to the series best, Turning Point.