Tuesday, May 7, 2013

On DVD: Daredevil Vs. Spider-Man (1995)

Here's one for the caveat emptor file.

In between the DVD release of 2002's "Spider-Man" and the theatrical debut of "Daredevil", Disney issued a DVD compilation taken from the 1994-98 Spider-Man series that aired on Fox. However, the first mistake was putting emphasis on someone who was only in half of the episodes used, that being Daredevil.

"Daredevil vs. Spider-Man" collects 4 episodes from season 3's serial, "Sins of the Fathers", in which Peter Parker (Christopher Daniel Barnes, "The Brady Bunch Movie") is framed by Richard Fisk, son of industrialist Wilson Fisk, aka the Kingpin, for stealing government secrets. Fisk needed a fall guy, but, in hindsight, he picked the wrong guy. DD & Spidey clash briefly, but then unite upon realizing the Fisks intend to eliminate them both. DD only appears in 2 chapters, and after that, two more parts of the arc are shown, presumably the last two, featuring Tombstone.

Also included is a 1995 episode of Fantastic Four, part of which was posted earlier, and a 1968 Spider-Man episode with Kingpin, produced and directed by Ralph Bakshi. Another mistake is that the year given for "King Pinned" was 1966, which of course was not the case.

Here's a sample of the episode, "The Man Without Fear":



Being a Disney release, there are teasers & trailers for the following movies: "Pirates of the Caribbean", taken from the Disney Channel.

"Inspector Gadget 2", with French Stewart in for Matthew Broderick as the cyborg sleuth.

"Atlantis: Milo's Return".

"Treasure Planet".

"Bionicle".

Disney would be better served to reissue "Sins of the Fathers" as a stand-alone DVD set, so fans can see the whole story. The haste to cash in on "Spider-Man"'s success actually serves as a detriment to the DVD in hindsight.

Rating: C.

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