On November 19, 1994, Spider-Man: The Animated Series made its debut on the Fox Kids programming block on the Fox television network. Created by Marvel Films Animation and animated by Tokyo Movie Shinsha, the popular show ran for five seasons and has been a perennial favorite for animation and comic book fans alike.
At this year’s Stan Lee’s Comikaze Expo held in Los Angeles, the producer and head writer of the series John Semper Jr. organized a 20th anniversary cast reunion. In attendance were Christopher Daniel Barnes (voice of Peter Parker/Spider-Man), Sara T. Ballantine (voice of Mary Jane Watson), Gary Imhoff (voice of Harry Osborn), Patrick Labyorteaux (voice of Flash Thompson), Jennifer Hale (voice of Felicia Hardy), Gregg Berger (voice of Mysterio and Kraven the Hunter), and Rodney Saulsberry (voice of Joe ‘Robbie” Robertson). Ed Asner (voice of J. Jonah Jameson) was unable to attend in person, but made a recording that was played during the panel that was reportedly a huge hit with the crowd.
Semper, who hasn’t talked much about the series since it ended in 1998, said at the Comikaze panel that he will be spending much of the next year discussing and honoring the show. He’s created a Facebook tribute page along with a website and the first of many upcoming YouTube podcasts about the making of the TV series. If you’re a fan of the show, I highly recommend you check these pages out.
Semper also announced during the Comikaze panel that he is working on a new animated series that features all of the primary voice cast of Spider-Man: The Animated Series. The new project entitled War of the Rocketmen is an action-adventure series set during World War II. Semper is hoping to raise funds through crowdsourcing to produce the series.
Here’s the official synopsis:
During World War II, they were a secret squadron protecting the skies of America from spies, saboteurs and other agents of destruction. They employed a top-secret technology that allowed a man to defy gravity with the aid of a futuristic jetpack. They were the ROCKETMEN, and theirs was a battle that no history book has yet to record. But when a band of fliers armed with a similar Nazi technology threatens to invade the U.S.A., a secret war ensues that threatens freedom and democracy. And as airmen take to the skies to stage this battle of the millennium, thus begins the…WAR OF THE ROCKETMEN!
Make sure to check out the War of the Rocketmen Facebook page and website, where you can sign up to be notified when the crowdsourcing part of the project begins.
Sources: ComicBookMovie.com, Hollywood Reporter
Animation Fascination 