Forgotten Television: Spawn the Animated Series

Al Simmons (Keith David) was betrayed by a friend and murdered while on a mission as a black ops government assassin. Due to his life as a killer, he is sent to hell but makes a deal with the devil to allow him to return to the mortal plane so he could be re-united with his wife, Wanda (Dominique Jennings).  But he was deceived and although he does return to Earth as a Hellspawn, a soldier in hell’s army, his body was not restored, and he returns five years after his death confused and with little memory of his previous life.  His wife remarried Al’s best friend Terry (Victor Love / Michael Beach) who she has a daughter with.  Spawn sticks to dark alleyways as he attempts to regain what he lost when he died, he is urged to do horrible acts of violence by a demon known as Violator who takes the form of a short overweight clown.  Spawn continually struggles to fight the evil within him as he battles human enemies as well as ethereal beings from Heaven and Hell who are at war with each other.  Along the way, Al receives help from Cogliostro (Richard Dysart) who appears as a disheveled old man, but in reality, was a Hellspawn as well and learned to fight the demonic tendencies within.  Spawn must learn how to survive in a world he no longer belongs to and yet not give into the darkness that comes with being an agent of the Devil.

Spawn: The Animated Series also known as Todd McFarlane’s Spawn or simply just Spawn was a very adult animated series that aired on HBO from 1997 to 1999 running for three seasons with each season consisting of six episodes ending with a total of eighteen.  The program is based on the Image Comic’s character of the same name created by Todd McFarlane, who was executive producer on the series as well.  It was one of two adult animated programs produced by the short-lived animated division of HBO, Spicy City being the other.  The series garnered mainly positive reviews and even won an Emmy Award in 1999 for Outstanding Animation Program (Longer Than One Hour). But the animated series was overshadowed by the less well received live action movie that was also released in the summer of 1997 and had a bigger marketing push.  The animated series is praised for its complex storyline, multidimensional characters and stunning visuals but many believe it was a bit too dark and violent.  The live action movie had to be watered down to appeal to a more generalized audience and to retain a PG-13 rating where the animated series was free to be truer to the source material.

I saw the Spawn movie in the theater and watched the animated series in its initial run on HBO and if you compare the two, then the animated series is far superior.  The overall storytelling is better, the characters are more developed, and the visuals are amazing.  I also remember not minding the over-the-top violence and gore or any of the other more adult aspects of the series, but when rewatching it, I was a little put off by the bleak and immensely dark tones that wreak of hopelessness.  I guess in my old age I am looking for more hope than hopelessness.  The writing on the series is still very good.  Season one has a more continuity driven story, where seasons two and three move into a more episodic framework.  The second season is often believed to be the strongest of the three with the final animation work being done in Japan with a more anime style and new writers coming on board.  Overall, the entire series is a beautifully crafted and well written show with dark and brooding overtones that cover very adult themes.