There’s been no shortage of Spider-Man cartoons over the years. From 1967 to the present day, we’ve gotten our fair share of the web-slinger on Saturday mornings. Today, I’d like to dive a bit deeper into arguably the most interesting Spider-Man cartoon to ever air. One that has been repeatedly ignored because of its clear downsides, but still, one with lots of promise and potential. One with a phenomenal story, promising characters, and a mature, gritty tone.  I am, of course, talking about the first and only 3D CGI-animated Spider-Man cartoon to ever scar—er, I mean grace—our eyes: Spider-Man: The NEW Animated Series! (it’s new, guys.)

A lot of people actually grew up with this iteration of Spidey. It was sandwiched between Spider-Man Unlimited, which aired in the late 90s, and Spectacular Spider-Man, which aired a decade later. All three shows bring something unique to the table, but none of them look as strange as this one does in retrospect. Even Unlimited’s weird retro style seems rather normal compared to this CG mess. It’s hard not to talk about. Frankly, this show has aged poorly in terms of the visuals. It almost gave me flashbacks of Foodfight! for a second; I swear, that movie is like Vietnam in my head. CGI was still in its burgeoning age at this time, and even full feature films hadn’t mastered the intricacies yet. In 2003, the closest comparison would have been Finding Nemo. And that film had millions of dollars and a giant Disney conglomerate behind it. For average shows like this with lower budgets, it would be at least half a decade before they would even look tolerable. Spider-Man: The New Animated Series looks cheap: there are often no textures in characters or the mise-en-scène, and the movements look robotic and unnatural at times. But look, this was the first experiment regarding this whole concept, and without shows like this, there may not have been a framework for later series to carry the mantle.

To be fair, there are aspects of the visuals I find appealing. Spidey’s suit, for instance, is amazing in this style. There’s a nice reflective sheen to it that looks really nice, especially during the swinging scenes. Because of how easy lighting is in CG animation, the different colors and lighting elements in this show add a layer of atmosphere. There are tons of blues, greens, and reds present in many shots that add depth and make it look more lively.

The show’s storyline consists of only 13 episodes, mostly episodic, aside from the two-parter arc we get towards the end. Each episode pins the audience against a separate villain while we balance it with Peter’s relationships and the whole nine yards. The short season ends with a two-parter called “Mind Games,” delving into an Eastern-European duo that mind-controls Peter into thinking he told MJ his secret identity and that she was killed by Kraven the Hunter. It actually ends with Peter hurting the people he loves so badly that he gives up on Spider-Man altogether and throws his suit into the river, walking away. This is NOT the ending I was hoping for this show because it was clearly a cliffhanger in need of revival, but as it stands, this 20-year-old show was left on a bittersweet note. The show also clearly foreshadows Harry Osborne turning into Green Goblin, as every time he sees Spidey there’s a quote about how he’s a “murderer.” I can see how everything was set up for a pretty sick second season. Maybe a movie wouldn’t hurt to wrap things up two decades later. It’s even crazier when you find out they actually had good ratings but MTV just didn’t want to make it anymore. I swear, if I had a nickel for every Spidey show that ended prematurely, I could make J. Jonah Jameson a rich man! Batman never got treated like this in any of his shows, it sucks to see.

At least there are some good villains in this show! We get a bunch of big players from the start, including this super badass-looking Electro, this old lady assassin ninja with a magic sword, and this OTHER lady assassin ninja with an even cooler background. Even Kingpin gets an awesome portrayal here. Although, sometimes the villains will be hyped up to be really epic, but then are completely nerfed in their battles with Spidey, which can make what are otherwise exciting fight scenes feel drab and underwhelming. 

The main cast of characters is also really well done here, especially Peter, Harry, and MJ. Harry is a blonde rich kid here and his banter with Peter is really in tune with his comic book self. I love watching Spidey shows where they aren’t all 13 years old, for God’s sake. The back-and-forth banter between them feels more like college-aged dudes and refreshingly comes off as natural-sounding and not cringey. Mary Jane is also really nice here, and her characterization isn’t too flanderized in any particular aspect like it was in the Sam Raimi trilogy, for example. Not to mention Peter himself: the perfect blend of nerdy, cool, and heroic. This show was supposed to be a continuation of the first Raimi film, but I always saw it more like the Andrew Garfield Spider-Man archetype. The trio work great together, and this was probably the most realistic trifecta of these three in an animated Spidey show, that I’ve seen anyway.

The voice actors also bring a lot to the table, especially Neil Patrick Harris as the Webhead himself. Lisa Loeb also does a great job as Mary Jane and Ian Ziering as Harry. It’s definitely believable that these characters are continuations of those of Tobey Maguire, James Franco, and Kirsten Dunst from the 2002 film. We do get a J. Jonah Jameson, but he’s just an empty husk of a Jameson without J.K. Simmons. There’s no Aunt May, sadly, but realistically, how much would we really be missing with the Granny version? What’s she gonna do anyway, get kidnapped by Kingpin 100 times? 

This show didn’t give a flying $#%& about the censors and was probably the most adult Spider-Man show to ever come out. This makes it even more timeless; I enjoyed it as a kid and I’m gonna continue to enjoy it, except now I’m in on it! I find myself saying that often about shows from the early 2000s: shows like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003), Teen Titans, or Ben 10. I love that era of cartoons. I’ve always seemed to prefer it to the 90s, and even to the 2010s when I was a kid. Batman: The Animated Series and other mature plots gave birth to the gritty feel of all these early 2000s shows. It gave the writers the liberty to bring the world of comic books to TV, rather than watering down and sugarcoating the source material. 

This show definitely had its fair share of dark moments and touched on plenty of more mature themes that added more depth to the characters. This may have made it stand out among other Spidey shows, as diverse as they were in terms of tone, which is why it’s been largely overlooked in recent years. Everyone always swoons over Spectacular, and for good reason, but in my opinion that show is completely overrated when you compare it to how UNDERrated this show is. Even in animation: while this show looks like Tin Toy on crack cocaine, at least it takes risks and liberties that shows like Spectacular don’t. This show utilizes color, has vibrant fight scenes, and features saturated and well-lit atmospheres. When a show like this gets overlooked and ignored due to technological shortcomings, that’s a real shame that needs to be addressed. 

This show was also cut short, unceremoniously, as MTV decided that even though the ratings were high compared to other shows in the same time slot, the series didn’t fit in with its other programming, for reasons we just discussed. Director Brandon Vietti stated that had the series gone on, he would have used the villains Mysterio, Vulture, and more of Kraven. Sad to see, but at least it got its chance to shine in those short thirteen episodes and prove that this kind of story and art style is at least possible and worth a shot. You love to see a crew get their hands dirty and prove a concept, even if it’s cut short in the end.

No other cartoons in recent memory have stood out to me as uniquely as this show, and not just for its visual peculiarity. Something about this series feels special, and it’s definitely worth checking out.