Spider-Man: The Animated Series | An ABS-CBN Animated Show Retrospective

Spider-Man: The Animated Series or simply Spider-Man was a US animated television series that aired on ABS-CBN during the 90s. Spider-Man The Animated Series was an American action animated television series based from the popular Marvel Comics superhero, Spider-Man. The animated series originally run from November 19, 1994 – January 31, 1998 on the Fox Network as part of its Fox Kids lineup in the United States. Let's take a look back on this nostalgic superhero animated series which aired on ABS-CBN during the 90s.

Spider-Man: The Animated Series - The Story
Spider-Man The Animated Series Plot

The show follows college student and Daily Bugle part-time photographer Peter Parker as he balance personal life and his role as a masked superhero Spider-Man as he protect New York from various forms of criminal and evil masterminds. Spider-Man: the Animated Series featured most of Spider-Man's classic villains like the Kingpin, the Green Goblin, the Hob Goblin, the Lizard, the Scorpion, Doctor Octopus, Mysterio, Shocker, the Rhino, the Vulture, Smythe, Tombstone, Hydro-Man, the Chameleon, Electro, Carnage and Venom. The show also featured various cameo appearances from other Marvel superheroes like the the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Nick Fury, Daredevil, Blade, the Punisher, Black Cat, and Captain America.

Spider-Man: The Animated Series Opening Theme
Spider-Man The Animated Series Intro

As a kid growing up during the 90s Spider-Man: The Animated Series was my first real introduction to Spider-Man as a superhero and ever since then I have followed every animated series that came after that. The cool thing about STAS (Spider-man The Animated Series) was the many story line that included various cameos of other Marvel characters. Here are two favorite story arcs featuring a great roster of other characters from Marvel: The episodes entitled "The Mutant Agenda" and "Mutants' Revenge" featured the friendly Neighborhood Spider teaming up with the X-Men which also was a popular 90s animated television series; and the Secret Wars arc where Spider-Man was tested by Madam Web and the Beyonder. This is where Spider-Man teams up with the Fantastic Four, Captain America, Black Cat, Iron Man and Storm against the villains Doctor Doom, Doctor Octopus, Lizard, Alistair Smythe, and Red Skull.

If my memory serves me correct, Spider-Man the Animated Series aired every Friday nights alongside Batman in ABS-CBN. Being nostalgic about the show, I re-watched the entire series last 2011 and all I can say that it still somehow holds up to today's standards, well for me that is. Although the series was a victim of heavy censorship of kids shows during the 90s which probably greatly affected the epic scale of the series, it still was an entertaining television adaptation of the popular Marvel superhero. Episodes or story arcs were still as grand (if not as epic) as I remembered them to be. There still were some pretty corny and bad episodes of the series and this is why I ranked STAS as the third of my best favorite US animated series from the 90s with Batman being the top, followed by the X-Men. My most memorable episode was the Venom story arc and remember making a comic strip based on Spider-Man the Animated Series on my spiral notebook back in my elementary school days.

What about you guys? What's your fondest memory, favorite episode, story arc, villain or cameo in the series? Share your thoughts about Spider-Man: the Animated Series on the comments section below:

Teks - The Iconic Filipino Card Game for Children

Teks was a coined term for a trading card game and the actual cards themselves popular amongst children that probably has started around the late 50s. The cards used in the game which was also called teks are very small, about a quarter of the size of regular playing cards first featured cartoon storyboard clips of local films complete with characters' dialogues and action sequences. Each teks are numbered which serves as indication to know what part the printed scene is on the series of scenes taken from an actual Filipino film titles or more popular television shows. It can be said that teks (cards) are the direct and unintended commercial byproduct of Filipino comics. More of a game for children, the teks was the very first form of trading card game for the Filipino mass.

Teks Game Mechanics
Teks Trading Card Game

The game relies heavily on betting which side will come up, and is decided by flicking the teks in the air. Some players slap the cards against each other in a high five for added effect. Players usually favor a specific card to use as the card they'll flip while all the other cards are basically act as betting currency.

Teks players use a method of counting the cards unique to the game: they count two cards for each numerical number said aloud, in a cadance that splits the spoken number's syllables in two. The odd card will be counted by a 'cha', meaning 'and a half', at the end of the counting.

Source: Teks

As a kid growing in the 90s I have been introduced to the first version of teks from the kids in our neighborhood. I usually watch them playing this obscure game, flicking the cards in the air then later looking at the results, the winners will receive a new set of cards to add to their already worn out (from being regularly flicked and handled) and almost ruined collection of teks.

I was not able to enjoy the teks like how most children in the neighborhood do. I can remember buying a text and just admiring the wonderful artworks featured in both sides of a single piece. Later in elementary school, the popularity of Japanese animation (anime) and other US cartoons have changed the contents of most teks offered at that time. The once was comics like panels taken from actual Filipino films and were reminiscent of traditional Filipino Comics were then (and up to now) replaced by colorful scenes or special images of the characters from the popular animated series at that time. The teks as a game has still the same mechanics. the only changed noticed in the 90s were the siz of each teks. I can still remember that each card pack cost one peso with three to six individual pieces available in each cards. Thinking that it would be a complete waste to just use the cards in a regular game of teks, I decided to just keep it in good condition inside a super elastic ice bag which then is placed in a shoe box. I started collecting teks from grade school all the way up to my high school days. Up to this day, I still have my collection of anime themed teks: Dragon Ball series (original Dragon Balls, Z, GT,), Ghost Fighter (Yu Yu Hakusho), Marvel Series, Zenki, Pokemon, Mojacko, Fushigi Yuugi, Slam Dunk, Sailor Moon, etc.

What about you guys? What's your fondest memory of playing teks? What Filipino or foreign titled teks have you played with? Share your thoughts and experience with teks on the comments section below: