SPIDER-MAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES had its premiere on the FOX KIDS network on November 19th, 1994. It was unique as being the first real attempt to bring the Spider-Man of the original Marvel Comics to the TV screen in animation while retaining the exact same spirit and integrity of its original source.
Spider-Man: TAS became the number one show for children during its initial five season run. And with 65 episodes completed, by the time it ended, it was and still is the longest-running Spider-Man TV series ever created.
This ground-breaking series was executive-produced by Stan Lee and Avi Arad. The supervising producer was Bob Richardson. The series was produced by John Semper Jr. and the production coordinator was John Cawley.
This web site was created and is curated by JOHN SEMPER JR. who, in additon to being the producer, was the sole head-writer and showrunner of the series. He also developed the series for television.
ABOUT JOHN SEMPER JR.
John Semper Jr. has been developing, writing and producing television and film for over twenty five years, with a special emphasis on children’s television and animation. His extensive and extremely varied writing and story-editing (head writer) credits include multiple episodes of such classic and well-known animated shows as Scooby-Doo, Smurfs, The Jetsons (Hanna-Barbera Productions); My Little Pony, The Moondreamers, (Marvel Productions); Duck Tales (Disney); Alvin and the Chipmunks (NBC Productions); and many others. He produced, story-edited and wrote the Fraggle Rock animated series for Jim Henson Productions and he co-created the original, live-action Dog City, also for Jim Henson.
Mr. Semper is probably best known for his work as both producer and head writer on Spider-Man: The Animated Series, the hit action-adventure animated series for Fox Television, based upon Marvel’s pre-eminent super-hero character. Mr. Semper worked directly with Spider-Man's creator, Stan Lee, in bringing this popular character to the TV screen. Mr. Semper's script for "Day of the Chameleon" was nominated for an Annie Award, the animation industry's highest honor.
He subsequently received an Emmy nomination for his work at Warner Brothers Television Animation as story-editor and writer for the successful series Static Shock based on the D.C. Comics character.
Mr. Semper’s feature film writing credits include the live-action comedy Class Act, released by Warner Brothers.
Fans of Japanese anime director Hayao Miyazaki have appreciated Mr. Semper’s English language scripts for the Disney-released feature films Laputa: The Castle in the Sky and Kiki’s Delivery Service.
Mr. Semper’s pre-school children’s television show credits include the puppet series Puzzle Place for P.B.S., which he helped develop, and the long-running, popular Jay Jay the Jet Plane, currently airing on P.B.S., for which he served as developer, writer, executive story-editor and producer. Several of his stories featuring the Jay Jay characters have been adapted into children's books.
In the interactive computer software field, Mr. Semper has written for Disney (“The Hercules Interactive Storybook”), Knowledge Adventure (“The X-Men Cartoon Maker” and “The Spider-man Cartoon Maker”), Broderbund and LucasArts Entertainment.
Mr. Semper also worked personally with George Lucas developing projects for the George Lucas Educational Foundation.
Mr. Semper lives in the Los Angeles area where he continues to develop and write numerous projects for television and feature films. He is a member of the Writers Guild of America, The Animation Guild, the Motion Picture Editors Guild and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.