The SmarK DVD Rant for Daredevil v. Spider-Man
– Let me tell ya — no one ever accused the marketing people at Disney of not knowing when to cash in on the hot new trend. When Spider-Man originally came out in theaters in 2002, they released a collection of episodes from the animated series. When it came out on DVD in November, they released their own take on it, with a collection of Green Goblin-themed episodes. And with the release of Daredevil into theaters this week, they have released their third “best of” compilation, in the form of “Daredevil v. Spider-Man”.
Of course, the immediate problem is that Daredevil only actually appeared in two of the show’s episodes, leaving them with another 40 minutes to fill up. The solution was to simply pull four episodes in sequence from the show’s superb second season (“Sins of the Father”) and use that as the set this time around. Personally I’d prefer if they’d just release the damn seasons in sets already, but I imagine with the success of these that’ll come around eventually. Makes me wish I didn’t get rid of the entire VHS collection of the series when I switched to DVD in 1999.
For those new to the series in general, many people feel that the Spider-Man animated series (which ran on FOX from 94-98 over a total of 65 or so episodes) was one of the best on-screen representations of the spirit of the comics ever seen, even moreso than the movie. Combining sharp animation with cutting-edge computer backgrounds and a fairly complex serial format that was largely foreign to cartoons at the time, Spider-Man had both enough action for the younger set and enough good writing for adults. Unfortunately, the show’s G-rated nature meant that certain silly liberties had to be taken with the writing — you couldn’t say “kill” or “murder”, for instance, and no one used standard bullets in their weapons. Everything was instead futuristic (and poorly aimed) laser pistols. Odd that such an advance in weaponry would come at the cost of a simple gun sight, but that’s the cartoon world for ya. And no one ever died — they “disappeared” or “were never seen again”. But those mature enough to read between the lines could tell what was being implied, so no biggie.
The Film:
“Daredevil v. Spider-Man”, as noted, contains four episodes (6-9) of the “Sins of the Fathers” story arc of season two. For the most part, they are self-contained and don’t require much in the way of explanation, although everyone seems to have flashbacks on a daily basis in this universe anyway. The episodes are as follows:
– “Framed!” Starting with Peter Parker being convicted for an unspecified (but apparently serious) crime, he is quickly kidnapped from his prison transport by Spider-Man? His lawyer, Matt Murdock, thinks something is up, however, and soon finds that Peter’s dream job working as a tech guy for Wilson Fisk and son Richard may be a front for something much more insidious. In the guise of Daredevil, Murdock breaks Parker free from his captivity, and after the usual Marvel “wacky misunderstanding that leads to a fight” situation, they resolve their differences and team up to go after the Kingpin. Daredevil’s origin is recapped here, and is pretty much word-for-word out of the comics and exactly as presented in the recent movie.
– “The Man Without Fear” On the same side now, Spider-Man and Daredevil go after Kingpin. Meanwhile, Kingpin tells his own origin, relating how he wanted to be a bigtime hood to impress his father, but got betrayed by him when the chips were down. Working together, the heroes uncover a conspiracy leading through the federal agents who arrested Peter Parker in the first place, and after tons of action the bad guys are brought to justice. An angry Kingpin decides to fire handicapped lackey Alistair Smythe in order to have a scapegoat for his loss. See, now they could have kept Daredevil around by having Smythe sue Kingpin for wrongful termination and hiring Matt Murdock as his lawyer. Oh well, their loss.
– “The Ultimate Slayer”. Continuing on from where the last ep left off, Smythe decides to go to Spider-Man in order to escape Kingpin’s wrath, but is discovered and transformed by the insane Dr. Landon into a mutated robot creature bent on destroying Spider-Man (can’t say “kill”, remember). This leads into another subplot about father-son angst, as Spider-Man learns that Kingpin has been keeping Smythe’s father (presumed dead in the first few eps of the series) alive and in stasis all along. The Frankenstein monster turns on its maker, and good triumphs again as a result.
– “Tombstone”. Another father-son episode sees Robbie Robertson’s son joining a gang in order to make a point about how daddy is never around because of work. This leads Spider-Man into conflict with recurring enemy Tombstone, who turns out to be Robertson’s old running buddy from school, gone bad, in a flashback so reminiscent of the Joker’s origin that even Spider-Man makes a joke about it late in the episode. In the end, the solution proves not to be violence, but simply Robbie proving to his son that he’s the most important thing in his life.
Four really entertaining episodes from the high point of the series make for a quality release, much like the previous two in the series. Again, I really wish they’d just release a box set with everything already (with only 65 eps, all it would take is three two-disc sets), but for fans of the animated series, you can’t go wrong here.
The Video:
Looking about as good as it’s gonna good here — a nice clean transfer direct from the original masters, as colors are very bright (as is fitting for a cartoon) and there’s no apparent grain or damage. It’s TV, so it’s obviously full-frame.
The Audio:
Again, just a dump of the original broadcast stereo, so it’s good ol’ Dolby Digital 2.0, and a good-sounding 2.0 at that. The stereo is used to fullest advantage as befitting an action-oriented cartoon.
The Extras:
As usual with these discs, you get two bonus episodes and Stan Lee’s soapbox.
– First up, a classic Spider-Man cartoon from 1966, “King Pinned”, introduces Kingpin for the first time. I personally have no fond memories of that early series, but lots of people still get nostalgic for it.
– Next, another Daredevil cameo, as he makes a truly pointless guest appearance from an episode of the absolutely PUTRID Fantastic Four cartoon that was made to cash in on the success of the Spider-Man series. This crap is on par with Super-Friends for lazy, substandard animation and writing, as colors are flatter than Mena Suvari and every action is preceded by the character dramatically yelling out the patently obvious. Example: Trapped in a elevator rigged to explode, a timer appears counting down from 15 seconds, which prompts Reed Richard to exclaim “He’s rigged the elevator to explode in 15 seconds! We’ve got to get out of here!”, thus wasting 7 of those 15 seconds. I mean, you’d think “We’ve got to get out of here!” would be kind of IMPLIED. Super-Friends used to do the same thing all the time, and when THAT abomination comes out on DVD in April, you’ll get an earful from me on that subject, fear not. The sad thing here is that Dr. Doom is a brilliantly written and acted character wasted in the Saturday morning equivalent of Suddenly Susan. They would have been better served just sticking another couple of episodes of Spider-Man here, or, say, a test pattern. God knows the dialogue would be more engaging in that case.
– Finally, the highlight of the DVD is “Stan Lee’s Soapbox”, as they basically ask Stan to talk about Daredevil for 15 minutes and the result is a man who obviously loves his work giving amazing insight into the creation of the character and what makes him tick. Anyone with the slightest love of comics can’t help but be mesmerized by Stan and his boundless passion for the medium. He also provides introductions to the episodes if you select them individually through the Bonus Materials menu. I wish they would get him to record commentaries for the episodes one of these times, too.
The Ratings:
The Film: ***1/2
The Video: **1/2
The Audio: ***
The Extras: ***
