Trivia / Spider Riders

• Acting for Two: Grasshop and his wife in English and Japanese; also in the English dub, Hunter shares a voice actress with the Oracle, Lilly and Queen Illuma.
• Adaptation Displacement: The first novel actually came out before the anime. But good luck finding people who know about the book when the anime is obscure enough.
• All-Star Cast: In the Japanese version. Most of the actors used were very popular at the time, if not famous. The main exception was Magma's seiyuu, who had no other anime roles, but was notable for performing both OP themes of Tsubasa -RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE-.
• Channel Hop: In Japan. From TV Tokyo to the cable channel Kids Station after the first season ended. It took 6 months to get to new content, because they started the show again from the beginning. Thus, episodes 27-52 premiered in Canada first.
  • In the US, the show initially aired on Kids' WB!, but its run on there didn't last long. It would eventually resurface in 2008 on This TV as part of the Cookie Jar Toons block where Spider Riders would ultimately finish its US run.
• Cross-Dressing Voices: Hunter and Lumen both had female seiyuu (while Hunter also has a female VA in the English dub, Lumen was voiced by then 14-year-old Cameron Ansell). On the other hand, Grasshop's wife is voiced by a man, who also voiced Grasshop himself.
• Executive Meddling: There was such hope that Spider Riders would get renewed for a second season that the much more conclusive plans for the second half were drastically changed. This would leave it open to continue in season two. Unfortunately, ratings were terrible and this never happened. See the What Could Have Been entry to learn more.
• Feelies: The Japanese DVD sets came with some cool stuff. The first set came with a booklet which included a staff interview, unused concept art, and a set of stickers. The second season came with a mousepad.
• Invisible Advertising: Hit with this in both the US and Japan. The former shoved it on Kids' WB! and kept pulling it and adding it back without warning, making it impossible to follow. In the latter's case, it never even made the TV guide sections in magazines like Newtype. It was so obscure that the first episode got incredibly low ratings when it aired, meaning few people bothered to try it in the first place.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: Although the dub is legally available online, it never got a full DVD release. The Japanese version was released completely in Japan on DVD, but if you want it subbed, fansubs are your only option.
• Uncredited Role: The voice cast for the English dub lists only the main cast, leaving the guest characters completely uncredited. Stags, despite his prominent role in the series is also left out for unknown reasons.
• Studio Hop: The rights to the series are currently owned by WildBrain due to their 2012 buyout and subsequent folding of Cookie Jar Entertainment.
• Urban Legend of Zelda: There is a rumor that Spider Riders has a second season which was only released in Japan. This is false, and likely spread because Spider Riders was aired as two separate "seasons" of 26 episodes each in Japan, as a result of terrible ratings when the first half aired.
• What Could Have Been: An original press release shown on Teletoon's site and later pulled revealed plans for an older version of the show. Some notable differences include Aqune being the reincarnated Spirit Oracle, exploration of her past (she was exiled from her home for helping Buguese, who was injured), Buguese's origins as an artificially created Insector, Corona seemingly being the daughter of Queen Elma/Illuma, Hunter getting a chance to return home, (yet choosing to stay), Mantid actually being defeated, and possible resolution to Hunter and Corona's romantic relationship.
  • The Directors Book, which came with the Japanese DVD release, also showed some cut ideas. Most interestingly, Sparkle had a very boyish appearance, and the writers admitted to changing her age around quite a bit. She went from being an infant, to mature and beautiful, to her current 8-year-old self. The book also stated that they considered rendering the Spiders in CG, but ultimately chose to use traditional animation.
  • Initially, Magma and Igneous' names were to be switched.

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