Thats a shame. Is that due to copyright issues with other characters under separate animation houses or something similar?
THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN: A fitting name!
- Thread starter Christopher
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The Kingpin specifically is because he's now attached to the Daredevil franchise because of the movie (which is particularly pointless, since nobody is ever going to make a Daredevil animated series; the only version of the character anyone gives a damn about is about ten shades too dark for a kids' show). Weisman has said that they were originally planning on a couple of guest heroes ("one and a half", I think he said), but they couldn't get them for various reasons, so it's just going to be Spidey.
I know, which is why I was surprised, but that's the word from Weisman, who would know.
This show airs on KidsWB that means that the first couple of eps will probably air at least five times beween now and December.
im sure it could be done again, it might be the more traditional King Pin, but that this series that isnt a problem.
The Enforcers' boss is the Big Man, their original leader from the comics; real name Frederick Foswell, a reporter at the Daily Bugle (JJJ mentions him by name in the first episode); he died in the late Silver Age as a result of a power struggle with the Kingpin, with the Enforcers continuing on without him, so he's a rather obscure character.
I liked the show, but I noticed a few things that just shouted "SMALLVILLE" at me. And not just the adventures of an iconic super-hero's high school days. More like:
Gwen Stacy = Chloe Sullivan, a nerdy blond obviously in love with the show's hero
Liz Allen = Lana Lang, long time supporting cast member whose ethnicity was changed for this show for no real apparent reason. (I won't go into her dating the BMOC football star, that was old Liz too)
Anybody else see this?
Gwen Stacy = Chloe Sullivan, a nerdy blond obviously in love with the show's hero
Liz Allen = Lana Lang, long time supporting cast member whose ethnicity was changed for this show for no real apparent reason. (I won't go into her dating the BMOC football star, that was old Liz too)
Anybody else see this?
TheCanon72
Lieutenant
So Liz Allen's change in skin color must be a plot point. 
Liz Allen can be latina, black, chinese, or whatever.
This show is ok. Its not as good as the MTV show. Better animation, better characters.
Liz Allen can be latina, black, chinese, or whatever.
This show is ok. Its not as good as the MTV show. Better animation, better characters.
Tommorow the lizard debuts
Natural Selection
Concept art
Kurt's wife looks like a grown up Kim Possible
Gwen's missing a hand and is passing transitionally through Mrs Connors in that cell shot.
Natural Selection
Concept art
Kurt's wife looks like a grown up Kim Possible
Gwen's missing a hand and is passing transitionally through Mrs Connors in that cell shot.
Wow, another good one. "Natural Selection," written by Matt Wayne and directed by Dave Bullock (Justice League: The New Frontier), takes on the Curt Connors/Lizard story, with a subplot of Peter trying to make money from Spidey photos, and adds some novel twists to both. It's neat to see Peter struggling to get the hang of taking pictures of himself. In the comics, it pretty much worked right off the bat, but here he's having a more realistic struggle to get it to work right. And it comes to a head in a rather painful way -- after Connors becomes the Lizard, Peter begs off, saying he has to get home by curfew, only for his friends and colleagues at Connors's lab to discover later that he was out taking pictures of Spidey's battle with the Lizard. So when Pete finally succeeds at getting his Spidey pictures in the Bugle, it's a Pyrrhic victory because it costs him his internship with the Connors and the respect of his friends. That was startling. And it's probably going to be a factor in turning Eddie Brock against Peter, setup for the Venom arc.
It was also a bit shocking when we got the inevitable scene of young Billy Connors trying to get through to his father through the Lizard rage, echoing what Peter had said earlier about how his dad would always care for him no matter what -- only for Lizzie to be totally unmoved and try to bite his kid's head off. That's a darker, more unsentimental twist than I would've expected for a show aimed at a young demographic. Far from easing Billy's fears of abandonment, that moment has probably traumatized him for life.
I also like the way the show continues to seed arc elements, with the "gene cleanser" developed to cure Connors offering the possibility of stripping Peter of his spider powers. He doesn't go through with it, but we see him tempted to give up his powers, and he saves the vial for later. I wouldn't be surprised if we're heading for a "Spider-Man No More" story somewhere down the road.
The action choreography is still fantastic. I love Spidey's clever, sassy action moves, like how he webbed the first two crooks to the lamppost and then added the final flourish of having the third crook on a long web that snapped him back and wrapped the webbing around the first two. This is the way Spider-Man would fight, with wit and imagination as well as great agility. As much as I liked Straczynski's Spidey comics, he did have a tendency to focus on Spidey's raw strength and power; I prefer this more Ditko-esque focus on Spidey's physical and mental acrobatics, his reliance on speed, skill, and ingenuity rather than brute force.
But speaking of brute force, I have an issue with the webbing. Several times, we've seen people tear through his webbing -- not just the Lizard here, but I believe Ox did so in the first episode, and Ox isn't even superhuman, just a big strong guy. In the comics, it's been said that nothing less than Hulk-level strength can tear through Spidey's webbing. The stuff this Spidey's using is much more fragile. And I also wonder about its longevity; why would Peter web that vial underneath his bedside table if the webbing dissolves in an hour like usual? Well, this is early in Peter's career; maybe he's using a different formula for his webs?
I'm also still not fond of the character design style. Eyes without pupils just don't look right to me. And while generally I believe that simpler character designs can allow for more expressive character animation, there are some design styles that are better at expressiveness than others, and I don't think this is one of them. I don't think the animation on Martha did a good job at all of conveying her feelings as she tried to get through to the Lizard/Curt.
Even with those small issues, though, this is still the best superhero show on the air right now. And from what I read online, I'm not in the minority in that opinion.
Well, not quite, since Kids' WB is ceasing to exist come September. But other than that, I'm sure there will be at least one rerun of each episode, since it's nearly half a year until then and there are only 10 remaining episodes slated to air on Kids' WB, with the back 13 of the season looking for another network to air on. They could air all 26 by then if they wanted to do it without reruns, but I guess that's just not the way TV works.
I wouldn't say that. Foswell was a major character from 1964-'67, first as the Big Man, then later as a reformed man who became the Bugle's top reporter (as well as a police informant in his disguise as "Patch"), before briefly turning back to crime and then dying heroically to save Jameson from the Kingpin.
Here, though, I wouldn't be surprised if they remade the Big Man into a surrogate Kingpin, to make up for their inability to license the genuine article. Although on the other hand, given what a central role the Kingpin played in the '90s series, they might prefer to avoid duplicating the same dynamic.
It was also a bit shocking when we got the inevitable scene of young Billy Connors trying to get through to his father through the Lizard rage, echoing what Peter had said earlier about how his dad would always care for him no matter what -- only for Lizzie to be totally unmoved and try to bite his kid's head off. That's a darker, more unsentimental twist than I would've expected for a show aimed at a young demographic. Far from easing Billy's fears of abandonment, that moment has probably traumatized him for life.
I also like the way the show continues to seed arc elements, with the "gene cleanser" developed to cure Connors offering the possibility of stripping Peter of his spider powers. He doesn't go through with it, but we see him tempted to give up his powers, and he saves the vial for later. I wouldn't be surprised if we're heading for a "Spider-Man No More" story somewhere down the road.
The action choreography is still fantastic. I love Spidey's clever, sassy action moves, like how he webbed the first two crooks to the lamppost and then added the final flourish of having the third crook on a long web that snapped him back and wrapped the webbing around the first two. This is the way Spider-Man would fight, with wit and imagination as well as great agility. As much as I liked Straczynski's Spidey comics, he did have a tendency to focus on Spidey's raw strength and power; I prefer this more Ditko-esque focus on Spidey's physical and mental acrobatics, his reliance on speed, skill, and ingenuity rather than brute force.
But speaking of brute force, I have an issue with the webbing. Several times, we've seen people tear through his webbing -- not just the Lizard here, but I believe Ox did so in the first episode, and Ox isn't even superhuman, just a big strong guy. In the comics, it's been said that nothing less than Hulk-level strength can tear through Spidey's webbing. The stuff this Spidey's using is much more fragile. And I also wonder about its longevity; why would Peter web that vial underneath his bedside table if the webbing dissolves in an hour like usual? Well, this is early in Peter's career; maybe he's using a different formula for his webs?
I'm also still not fond of the character design style. Eyes without pupils just don't look right to me. And while generally I believe that simpler character designs can allow for more expressive character animation, there are some design styles that are better at expressiveness than others, and I don't think this is one of them. I don't think the animation on Martha did a good job at all of conveying her feelings as she tried to get through to the Lizard/Curt.
Even with those small issues, though, this is still the best superhero show on the air right now. And from what I read online, I'm not in the minority in that opinion.
This show airs on KidsWB that means that the first couple of eps will probably air at least five times beween now and December.
Well, not quite, since Kids' WB is ceasing to exist come September. But other than that, I'm sure there will be at least one rerun of each episode, since it's nearly half a year until then and there are only 10 remaining episodes slated to air on Kids' WB, with the back 13 of the season looking for another network to air on. They could air all 26 by then if they wanted to do it without reruns, but I guess that's just not the way TV works.
I wouldn't say that. Foswell was a major character from 1964-'67, first as the Big Man, then later as a reformed man who became the Bugle's top reporter (as well as a police informant in his disguise as "Patch"), before briefly turning back to crime and then dying heroically to save Jameson from the Kingpin.
Here, though, I wouldn't be surprised if they remade the Big Man into a surrogate Kingpin, to make up for their inability to license the genuine article. Although on the other hand, given what a central role the Kingpin played in the '90s series, they might prefer to avoid duplicating the same dynamic.
I do like the serialized nature of the show, like how Connors' formula affecting him differently this time being the direct result of Electro messing up that particular vial in the last episode. Reminds me of how serialized the 1994 show was, and how each season was an entire arc unto itself ("Neogenic Nightmare", "Sins of the Father", "Partners in danger" etc).
Though I'm wondering if the gene cleanser will be used for "Spiderman no more" or their take on "Man-Spider", because there was a very similar moment in the old cartoon where he took a formula to remove his powers and instead it made him into Man-Spider.
Though I'm wondering if the gene cleanser will be used for "Spiderman no more" or their take on "Man-Spider", because there was a very similar moment in the old cartoon where he took a formula to remove his powers and instead it made him into Man-Spider.
I would; he's been dead since 1967. Modern readers/viewers would never have heard of him.
Except the "Man-Spider" thing was original to the '90s TV series, not part of the original comics stories (although a similar creature appeared in a 1998 Spidey comic, no doubt inspired by the TV story). It might, however, lead to some variant of the "Six-Armed Spider-Man" story (which was in the comics but didn't culminate in the Man-Spider like in the Semper series). However, I kind of suspect it's going to come into play somehow in the black costume/Venom storyline. I don't know how, it's just a suspicion.
That's assuming that "modern" readers don't read old comics, and I don't buy that as a general rule. Heck, I never read any Spidey comics until the '90s or so, but I've gone back and read the whole run of Amazing from the beginning. Copies of the Essential Amazing Spider-Man volumes reprinting the early years of the series are widely available, and the copies I got from the library were quite well-thumbed.
I wouldn't be surprised if during the course of the series run they modify the animation. Maybe they will add pupils in season 2
Take a look at early Spiderman TAS episodes with the anime eyes, particularly in "Night of the Lizard" then compare that to the last season animation.
It's like The Batman giving batman a more square jaw
The action is still nice and we get some funny lines
"hey if you start spinning webs i'm gonna sue!"
I actually find myself DVR'ing eps and liking them
Some do, sure, but a character who's been dead for 40 years and is never referenced anymore in the present cannot really be described as anything but obscure, especially since this is his first appearance in any other medium than comics.
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