Season’s Thoughts

Whoa! Spider-Man got aged down again in his new show on Disney+. Not going to lie, the thirty-one minute runtime intimidated me at first. Despite this, the episode didn’t feel like a thirty-one minute long pilot. Grab your web shooters and let’s swing through Episode 1 of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.

First impression: the art style. This was jarring for me when I looked at promotional materials for the show. I don’t dislike it, but it does take some getting used to. There were a few scenes at the beginning of the show depicting Peter getting ready through animated comic book panels, which was cute. I hope they do more of this in future episodes.

In the opening paragraph, I mentioned the runtime. I anticipated the spider bite scene to be at the end of the episode, but they wasted no time getting into it. The opening sequence of Peter getting ready/being late on his first day of school dragged a bit. He spent a lot of time telling Aunt May how much he appreciated her, which was heartwarming, but I don’t think it warranted two separate scenes within the first ten minutes. There were several characters who got introduced right off the bat, some of whom will likely become villains later on down the line. I won’t name drop, but there is a major Spider-Man villain who gets introduced at the end of “Amazing Fantasy.”

One last thing before I let Skye take the wheel—toward the end of “Amazing Fantasy,” real-world problems were showcased. The most notable examples are Lonnie getting followed by a cop on his walk home and someone who stole cash after losing their job. I won’t hang on this for long, I appreciated the inclusion of these moments. It makes the show more grounded.

Skye’s Take

Thank you for the stirring introduction, Season. I must say, after watching the first episode of this new Spider-Man series, I was pleasantly entertained. For the most part, it seemed to combine both old and new concepts we’ve seen in Spider-Man stories before. In the process, it created a world that looks familiar yet still feels fresh.

Regarding Season’s comment on the animation, I thought it was good with some noticeable imperfections. Overall, it’s pleasing to the eye, but it isn’t as good as Into or Across the Spider Verse. Part of me wonders if the animators were attempting to imitate that style by blending hand-drawn and CG animation similar to what those films did.

Despite that, this show proved to me that it was on the right track. The action was energetic and well-paced. We were introduced to a bunch of characters, but each of them seems likable with room to grow. Even the voice acting was pretty solid. There were some notable exceptions with some of the extraneous characters, but what can you do? If I were to harp on anything: the jokes aren’t that funny. The jokes got no more than a chuckle out of me, but comedy is subjective.

I’ll piggyback off another of Season’s comments. While I’m not opposed to including a moment like Lonnie getting racially profiled in a kid’s show, the moment comes out of nowhere. Suddenly, we’re supposed to feel bad for a character we barely know, and it comes across as Disney just trying to earn brownie points with minorities. Disney has a history of pandering to minorities on-screen, while behind closed doors, it’s a different story. If this story beat returns, I may have different thoughts.

Ultimately, this was a good start to a (potentially) good series.

Thank you for reading. If you’d like to dive deeper into Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, here’s a link to the Secrets (Easter Eggs) page for the first two episodes.