Spider-Man: TAS "Kraven the Hunter" Talkback (Spoilers)

[James Harvey]

Discuss this Spider-Man: The Animated Series episode!

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Episode #10 - Kraven the Hunter
Original Airdate - February 18, 1995

Spider-Man finds himself caught between Mariah Crawford, a doctor from Africa, and Kraven, a man who has stalked her all the way to America. An accomplished hunter, Kraven gained animal-like abilities when he ingested a cure to save his life, but the side effects are causing his behavior to be erratic and violent. Spider-Man works with Mariah Crawford to find a cure and save an innocent man and the people around him.

Comments?

 

[Brainiac]

I thought this was a good episode, like the rest of the eps from season one. I liked how Kraven misinterpreted that Robbie Robertson was in love with Dr. Crawford. The whole idea that he had no idea what was going on was great. Also, the sad irony of Peter's life, that by bringing the two lovers together (Kraven and Dr. Crawford), Peter once again loses with Mary-Jane (and Felicia Hardy). 4 stars!

 

[Spider-Man]

ABC Family aired this episode today! It's the introduction to the Krave character, and it's a pretty enjoyable episode. The flashback scene in the episode is well done, I think, and the climax is handled pretty good, as well. Speak up, Spidey fans!

 

[Stu]

Probably the weakest of season 1 but I had previously read the Spider-Man Adventures comic of this so I knew what happened. Having said that the episode was ok, the highlight of which was the animation. The story of Spider-Man The Animated Series life - when it was good it was damn good! As Brainiac said one of the better parts of this episodes was Robbies involvement - as with most Spider-Man The Animated Series episodes it involved someone in his personal life becoming involved in his superhero affairs - the part he hated most about being Spider-man. It will be intersting to see if the new Spider-Man cartoon can live up to this one. I highly doubt it, it has big shoes to fill

Speak up, Spidey fans!

Yes please do. There HAS to be more than 3 of us here!

 

[czyznyck99]

I still can't get over the mistake of Robbie living by himself in an apartment in Season 1, and then have a family in a nice house in Season 3. It's too weird. But the episode was good anyway. The whole lover's spat that caused the mess was actually funny to me. At least Kraven quoted poetry unlike Tarzan.

Later

 

[Spider-Man]

I still can't get over the mistake of Robbie living by himself in an apartment in Season 1, and then have a family in a nice house in Season 3. It's too weird. But the episode was good anyway.

Maybe he was having family problems then!

I never noticed this until you pointed this out, and this is quite a glaring error. It's something that can be easily written off, yes, but it's still quite a big continuity error, unless Robbie has his own little hide away apartment.

 

[Kolbar]

Today, ABC Family airs this episode of Spider-Man: The Animated Series at 10:00am ET.

Episode #10 - Kraven the Hunter
Original Airdate - February 18, 1995

Spider-Man finds himself caught in a deadly triangle with a doctor from Africa named Mariah Crawford and the man who has stalked her all the way to America...Kraven the Hunter. The two met on safari in Africa, when Dr. Crawford saved Sergei Kravenoff's life with a native potion. But the medicine had a strange side effect: Kraven developed enhanced powers causing him to menace any in his path, human or beast. Dr. Crawford fled Africa, accepting a research position in New York, but Kraven followed. When Spidey prevents Kraven from kidnapping the good doctor, Kraven misinterprets the web-slinger's intentions towards Dr. Crawford. Kraven vows to begin his greatest hunt...for the man who stole his love's affection!

Comments?

 

[Weibart]

I've always enjoyed this ep. There were a few plot twists I didn't expect, like Spiderman taking Dr. Crawford to Robby's apartment, and then Kraven takes Robby hostage after following her scent. I like Kraven's keen nose I guess, which allowed for some interesting developments . I also enjoyed Kraven crashing the party and demanding Spiderman to show himself.

I didn't notice this before, but in the flashback sequence, Dr. Crawford pores the serrum directly on Kraven's wounds rather than poring it in his mouth. My first reaction was that maybe the censors didn't want Kraven to actually swallow the serrum. Though, poring it directly on his wounds makes sense as well. I wish Kraven had some sort of visible wounds on himself after fighting with the animals, but you get the idea when his clothes are torn.

All in all, this episode was a worthy introduction to Kraven. He has some great appearances in the future as well.

 

[Toon Capone]

I'm just gonna say this Kraven's portrayal on the cartoon was weak.

Kraven was a villain it wasn't a potion that caused him to act that way. The portion he used in the comics is what gave him his enhanced powers. He orginally came to New York to hunt Spider-Man on the suggestion from the Chameleon.
Another thing I wished those two had a connection like they did in the comics.

Very lame episode.

 

[Miyamoto Musashi]

An enjoyable episode
4/5

 

[DawnWarrior]

I'm just gonna say this Kraven's portrayal on the cartoon was weak.

Kraven was a villain it wasn't a potion that caused him to act that way. The portion he used in the comics is what gave him his enhanced powers. He orginally came to New York to hunt Spider-Man on the suggestion from the Chameleon.
Another thing I wished those two had a connection like they did in the comics.

Very lame episode.

Yeah, Kraven turned to the side of the angels way too easily on this show, like so many other villains.

Remember in Season 2 when Dr. Crawford calls Kraven to find Man-Spider? Imagine, just for a second, that Kraven was still a bad guy at that point. If it was up to him to track down our beloved mutated Pete, wouldn't that mean the situation was far more desperate, thus adding to the suspense? Just a thought.

 

[Hypestyle]

...interesting.. too bad they could have never adapted Kraven's Last Hunt..

...and did a later syndication episode with Kraven remove a reference to the 1993 WTC bombing?

 

[Trevor]

Marvel just posted this episode on their website:

http://marvel.com/news/moviestories.9539.Watch_Spider-Man_~op~1994~ep~_Ep~dot~_7_Now~excl~

 

[Rick Jones]

For some strange reason, I always found Kraven to be pretty cool. The comic adaptation of this episode was one of my first introductions to the series and to the character of Kraven and I remember thinking that it was pretty cool. No matter how mediocre I may find some of the later seasons of this show to be, I still love season 1 to death.

 

[Trevor]

For some strange reason, I always found Kraven to be pretty cool. The comic adaptation of this episode was one of my first introductions to the series and to the character of Kraven and I remember thinking that it was pretty cool. No matter how mediocre I may find some of the later seasons of this show to be, I still love season 1 to death.

Well, here's to hoping that Disney will release this series next year on DVD. I've got this episode on an old Telegenic VHS tape, but it would be nice to see a higher quality transfer from either the original film negatives or the Betacam SP (or 3/4 tape) Master that was made back in the 1990's.

 

[Spike Spiegel]

No matter how mediocre I may find some of the later seasons of this show to be, I still love season 1 to death.

When Disney does eventually release the show on DVD, I think I'll only buy seasons one and two. I really did like Neogenic Nightmare...

 

[Hypestyle]

side note... Kraven apparently was featured in the 1960's Iron Man series, teamed up with the Chameleon..