todd s
Senior HTF Member
- Joined
- Jul 8, 1999
- Messages
- 7,132
I found this review from a poster at www.toonzone.net He eased my fears of a big cut & paste job and that the episodes are still put as episodes. Here is the review:
"Morbid curiosity - that was the sole reason I considered picking up this DVD especially after reading that the Mouse House had did a cut and paste job to what is easily one of my favorite cartoons of all time. When I found it released early at my local Wal-Mart for $14.44 I couldn't pass it up - much like we slow down when there is an accident I had to purchase this disk.
Let me say one thing - I was wrong.
That might be the only time I ever admit to it but imagine my surprise when I opened up the DVD and found a chapter listing stating which episodes were on the disk. The chapter sheet features the cover art for the front and back of the DVD and the disk is just a picture of the Spider-Man face reflecting back the Green Goblin. When I put the disk in I found something else to be amazing - no forced trailers, something Buena Vista home video is notorious for. The menu opens with a bunch of screen caps of villains flashing onto the screen and eventually leads into the city with a still Spidey in mid crawl on the side of a building.
Starting the movie will lead you to the long opening theme for the Spidey toon and only has one change - an added "The Ultimate Villain Showdown" label under the Spidey logo. By now you probably want to know what is on the disk - the episodes go in order - "Make a Wish", "Attack of the Octto Bot", "Enter the Green Goblin", and "Rocket Racer". This is also known as Chapter 2,3,4 and 5 in the Sins of the Fathers story arc. The transfer was very well done but a little slow at times - altho this is more than likely the animation and not the transfer. The episodes still contain the original title cards and at the end of the first three episodes flow directly into the next episode, avoiding the end credits until the end of the movie.
The special features include the 1967 Origin of Spider-Man toon with an intro by Stan "The Man" Lee. There is also a Stan's Soapbox feature which is about 20 mins long and features Stan talking about the creation of Spidey and some other details of the Marvel U. As a fan boy I found this feature very enjoyable and even got a couple of chuckles out of Stan. There is also another feature that allows you to watch commentary by Stan before each episode - once again, great stuff. Another feature is a Villains Gallery that allows you to select either Venom, Doc Ock, the Hobgoblin or the Green Goblin and get a complete bio of the character. Each villain has at least two clips that show some aspect of the character as well as Stan's thoughts about the character. The final feature was a sneak peek section - featuring Spy Kids 2, Snow Dogs, Digimon and a couple others that I can't remember right at the moment.
Conclusion - Overall I think the disk is really worth the pick up and was very happy that Disney hadn't pasted together a new movie and followed a story arc from the series. While the DVD had a lot of features I wish there had been an easter egg with Sins of the Fathers Chapter 1 but overall this DVD comes with a lot more extra features than the X-Men DVD's that were released by Universal. Hopefully sales will be good on this disk and we'll see Disney release season sets. An added note to Disney - make Origin of the Silver Surfer your next attempt.
-Joe!"
I had preordered it because if it doesn't sell. We will never see more episodes. But, it is the double edge sword. If you buy a cut & past episodes. That is how Disney will think we want them. Luckily, they seem to be still in episode form.
"Morbid curiosity - that was the sole reason I considered picking up this DVD especially after reading that the Mouse House had did a cut and paste job to what is easily one of my favorite cartoons of all time. When I found it released early at my local Wal-Mart for $14.44 I couldn't pass it up - much like we slow down when there is an accident I had to purchase this disk.
Let me say one thing - I was wrong.
That might be the only time I ever admit to it but imagine my surprise when I opened up the DVD and found a chapter listing stating which episodes were on the disk. The chapter sheet features the cover art for the front and back of the DVD and the disk is just a picture of the Spider-Man face reflecting back the Green Goblin. When I put the disk in I found something else to be amazing - no forced trailers, something Buena Vista home video is notorious for. The menu opens with a bunch of screen caps of villains flashing onto the screen and eventually leads into the city with a still Spidey in mid crawl on the side of a building.
Starting the movie will lead you to the long opening theme for the Spidey toon and only has one change - an added "The Ultimate Villain Showdown" label under the Spidey logo. By now you probably want to know what is on the disk - the episodes go in order - "Make a Wish", "Attack of the Octto Bot", "Enter the Green Goblin", and "Rocket Racer". This is also known as Chapter 2,3,4 and 5 in the Sins of the Fathers story arc. The transfer was very well done but a little slow at times - altho this is more than likely the animation and not the transfer. The episodes still contain the original title cards and at the end of the first three episodes flow directly into the next episode, avoiding the end credits until the end of the movie.
The special features include the 1967 Origin of Spider-Man toon with an intro by Stan "The Man" Lee. There is also a Stan's Soapbox feature which is about 20 mins long and features Stan talking about the creation of Spidey and some other details of the Marvel U. As a fan boy I found this feature very enjoyable and even got a couple of chuckles out of Stan. There is also another feature that allows you to watch commentary by Stan before each episode - once again, great stuff. Another feature is a Villains Gallery that allows you to select either Venom, Doc Ock, the Hobgoblin or the Green Goblin and get a complete bio of the character. Each villain has at least two clips that show some aspect of the character as well as Stan's thoughts about the character. The final feature was a sneak peek section - featuring Spy Kids 2, Snow Dogs, Digimon and a couple others that I can't remember right at the moment.
Conclusion - Overall I think the disk is really worth the pick up and was very happy that Disney hadn't pasted together a new movie and followed a story arc from the series. While the DVD had a lot of features I wish there had been an easter egg with Sins of the Fathers Chapter 1 but overall this DVD comes with a lot more extra features than the X-Men DVD's that were released by Universal. Hopefully sales will be good on this disk and we'll see Disney release season sets. An added note to Disney - make Origin of the Silver Surfer your next attempt.
-Joe!"
I had preordered it because if it doesn't sell. We will never see more episodes. But, it is the double edge sword. If you buy a cut & past episodes. That is how Disney will think we want them. Luckily, they seem to be still in episode form.
