Spider-Man: The Animated Series was one of the best animated shows around in the 1990s. In a sea of animated series such as Batman: The Animated Series, and X-Men, the John Semper Jr. show stood out.
Since Spider-Man was such an iconic comic character, the show became an instant classic. Semper himself tried to stay as true to the source material as much as possible. Unfortunately, the show was abruptly canceled, and the head writer finally revealed the reason behind it.
Spider-Man: The Animated Series set the bar for storytelling
Stan Lee created a number of legendary characters during his lifetime, and Spider-Man was one of them. The web-slinging Peter Parker became an instant hit with comic book lovers. Therefore, when John Semper Jr. replicated Lee’s brainchild, it made fans very happy.
Spider-Man: The Animated Series held its own against other heavyweights in the animated series genre. The series ran for 5 seasons, premiering in 1994, before abruptly coming to an end in 1998.
Much like Batman: The Animated Show, Semper’s show stood out for translating the plot from the pages of the comic book for television. This does not mean that the show creator was not jealous of the Batman series because it was not as heavily censored as the Spider-Man series.
The series gained a bit of infamy for its censorship policies. However, Semper always felt that the news around its policies was blown out of proportion. Moreover, Marvel did not have much creative control over the TV series, as it was almost on the verge of bankruptcy.
The series also popularized the rogue gallery of the superhero, in addition to fleshing out the protagonist’s character. Therefore, when the series had to be canceled, it left many disappointed.
Why was Spider-Man: The Animated Series canceled abruptly?
Spider-Man: The Animated Series ran for 5 seasons with a total of 65 episodes. The show was supposed to be renewed for a sixth season, but instead came to an untimely end.
With the show axed, certain plotlines were never resolved, and no answers could be provided to the questions the previous seasons had raised. There were rumors that the possible reason was that there had been a falling out between executive producer Avi Arad and the head of Fox Kids, Margaret Loesch. Semper Jr. took to Facebook to clarify that the reason for the show’s cancellation was that there was not enough funding.
“Fox contracted for 65 episodes and that’s exactly what we did. Fox hated Avi almost from day one, so nothing much changed there. It didn’t help, but it wasn’t the reason we were not picked up for more episodes. New World, who actually produced the show, had gone out of business, so there was nobody to pay for whatever costs Fox wouldn’t cover. And most shows rarely even made it to 65 episodes, so the feeling was we were done and that was enough. Spider-Man wasn’t ‘canceled’. It ran its full course,” he wrote on the social media site (via Geek Outpost)
Marvel has revived X-Men: The Animated Show as X-Men ’97. Perhaps there is still hope that Spider-Man: The Animated Series’s plot will be continued in the future.
