Spider-Man: TAS "The Hobgoblin, Parts 1 & 2" Talkback (Spoilers)

[James Harvey]

Discuss this fan-favorite Spider-Man: The Animated Series two-part episode!

Episode #11 - The Hobgoblin, Part 1
Original Airdate - May 20, 1995
Norman Osborn hires the the Hobgoblin to take out Wilson Fisk, but when he fails Osborn fires him. To get revenge on Osborn, Hobgoblin changes sides and kidnaps Norman's son, Harry, for the Kingpin.

Episode #12 - The Hobgoblin, Part 2
Original Airdate - May 27, 1995
Spider-Man goes after the Hobgoblin after he attacks Aunt May and kidnaps Harry Osborn. He forms an alliance with Norman Osborn and unknowingly becomes allied with the Kingpin as well. After rescuing Harry, Spider-Man finds himself in an all-out no-holds-barred fight to the finish with the Hobgoblin.

Comments?

[Brainiac]

Just how awesome is this two-parter?

[czyznyck99]

I usually watch these episodes from the VHS release, the action scene between the end of Part 1 and the very start of Part 2 goes much more smoothly.

The Hobgoblin rules, a villian who has no reason to care for anyone but himself. He wants money and power, and will not hesitate to knock off anyone in power to do it. I was happy that Spider-man finally took something personally, to the point of blindly going after the Hobgoblin.
Now I like Part 2 more than Part 1, because this episode was all about the villains. Hobgoblin's had enough of playing second fiddle, so he decides to topple everyone, the Kingpin, Osborn and Spider-man.

The theme about choices sounds hokey at first, but I like it. Everyone in this episode made a bad choice, and it came back to haunt them. The Kingpin trusted the irrational Hobgoblin, and it almost cost him his empire. Osborn made the mistake of ignoring his son, Spidey made the mistake of blindly pursuing the Hobgoblin. The Hobgoblin became too arrogant after his well-thought skeem to power. I love this episode.

Later.

[screw on head]

Today ABC Family airs this episode of Spiderman TAS.

Episode #12 - The Hobgoblin, Part 2
Original Airdate - May 27, 1995

When Aunt May is slightly injured by one of the Hobgoblin's pumpkin bombs during the kidnapping of Harry, Spider-Man enters the fray with a vengeance. After several battles, the trail leads Peter to Oscorp and Harry's own father.

Comments?

[Stu]

This 2 parter whooped ass, in everyway.

Even the very start, a simple shot of Hobgoblin putting his mask on, was a great way to begin the 3 season long mystery as to who was behind The Hobgoblin.

It also involved The Kingpin in the series a little more, which was great to me, as he's one of my favourites. The Norman trying to kill Kingpin sub plot was unfortunatly all but ignored after this episode.

It was nice to see Spidey genunily hate the villian, for injuring his Aunt May (which, in the end, turned out to be a poor joke) but Spidey dealing with Osborn was a great angle.

And to quote the dearly departed

The Hobgoblin rules, a villian who has no reason to care for anyone but himself. He wants money and power, and will not hesitate to knock off anyone in power to do it. I was happy that Spider-man finally took something personally, to the point of blindly going after the Hobgoblin.

Hobgoblin was probably the coolest villian this show had to offer, and to top it off, Mark Hamill did his voice. Spot on

*****

[oranthal]

I think it is somewhat funny that the Hobgoblin's bombs actually have pumpkin faces on them. What's the logic behind that? Hmm, I'll make some bombs, and make them so it has pumpkin faces on them. Huh?

[Spider-Man]

Even the very start, a simple shot of Hobgoblin putting his mask on, was a great way to begin the 3 season long mystery as to who was behind The Hobgoblin.

It's a shame this sweet subplot would also be horribly fumbled along the way. We get forcefed the answer in the end, and it comes with no emotional impact whatsoever. He just turns out to be some guy that Felicia is dating. Who cares?

Still, I thought this was a great opening storyline. I thought Spider-Man was really at the top of it's game during the first season, before stumbling pretty badly in the remaining arcs. This story was really enjoyable, enjoyable enough to make me forget the Green Goblin should've been introduced first.

[Stu]

I watched my tape of this episode last night, and I find I never realised how much I love this episode, specifically, The Hobgoblin character.

Hobgoblin's had enough of playing second fiddle, so he decides to topple everyone, the Kingpin, Osborn and Spider-man.

Exactly, he's using his new found powers to get exactly what he wants, money and power. Hobgoblin was a brilliant character in this series, perhaps the best villian the show had to offer.

I also noticed that the fight scene between Spider-Man and Hobgoblin in crime central is paticullary brilliant, ironically, when I first watched this episode as a kid, most of it wass cut, mainly due to the razor sharp discs.

Stupid Aunt May subplot aside, it also had a brilliant voice over from Mark Hamill at the end.

Shame how the Hobgoblin story concluded, he deserved so much more than playing second fiddle to The Green Goblin

[Kolbar]

I loved this episode, mainly because I think this was the first one I ever saw of the series. Well, Hobgoblin is the best villain the series had. He had the best design, voice, and weapons. I'm glad he appeared a lot in the series, but they should have had him be caught in at least season 4, so we get to know Macandale more.

The writing was fantastic for this episode. Kingpin must have had the stupidest line when he said something about flying high enough or fast enough to avoid a trip to the next world. What the heck is that supposed to mean. Hobby's laugh was spot on when he reacted to that line.

One good thing was Harry wasn't really annoying as he would usually be in this episode. Flash, although he said only a couple of words was rather annoying.

HOBGOBLIN: "How did you ever get your reputation?"
SPIDER-MAN: "Must have been the tabloids."

[Mad Mod 49]

This aired today on ABC Family, it was awesome.

Everyone seems to be praising the Hobgoblin himself...mind if I join in? Seriously, I too think he's one of the show's best villains. Mark Hamill is, as always, great and the Hobgoblin's character was especially cool here. He double, triple, and QUARDRUPEL crossed everyone in a brilliant manner, all in order to further his own evil desires.

In fact, just thinking about this always makes me remember that John Semper hates Hobgoblin, which angers me alot. Everything he said about the Hobgoblin in the interviews up at Marvel Animation Age is, to be blunt, BS. It's hard to believe he could say one of the show's best advesaries is a "useless, boring character". Semper just seems to think that Hobgoblin should, as Stu put it, "play second-fiddle to Green Goblin". Ironically, as a kid I thought Hobgoblin was better than Green Goblin in this show. And guess what? I still do!

Five out of Five for the entire two-parter.

[Miyamoto Musashi]

Norman wanted to have the glider and the Hobgoblin equipments back, but Hobgoblin knew how to respon well to his former employer. The second part is an excellent sequel 5/5 for both episodes

[dmxx116]

Numerous Spidey fans consider it a mistake to bring the Hobgoblin on the stage before the original and badder Green Goblin. It is too late to change things now, but no matter if it was a mistake or not, it was one of the best things that could have happened to this show.
First of all, the Hobgoblin's design was awesome, and the great animation the first few episodes had was back. With an impressive arsenal of weapons, a brilliant voice actor and a design this good, the Hobgoblin was probably the best animated villain on the show. Plus, his appearance on the show will lead to numerous sub plots, including the long-awaited appearance of the Green Goblin on the show, much later, as well as a fantastic Goblin War.
This episode was a good one, both animation wise and story wise. Having the Kingpin involved with the Hobgoblin and his conflict with Osborn was a brilliant move. All this will lead to most of the major events which will occur all throughout the show. The sub plot of the Peter saving Wilson Fisk (the Kingpin, but Peter doesn't know that yet) will be re-visited much later on the show. Almost everything that happened in this episode will be useful for later stories. The fight between Spidey and the Hobgoblin was simply outstanding. The animation once again shined, as it used to. All the explosions featured in this episode were breath taking. Having Aunt May in a coma because of the Hobgoblin's attack was a nice move, as it helped develop Peter's character. If the Hobgoblin wasn't after Spidey, his Aunt May wouldn't have been in danger now. He is determined to stop the Hobgoblin, and finds him at OsCorp, plotting with Osborn how to double-cross Fisk.
The episode ends with a cliffhanger, but the next episode seems promising enough. After a prologue like this one, the next episode will feature the fight between Spidey and the Hobgoblin. Overall, this episode had it all. The animation was good, the voice acting was great, and the story was brilliant.