THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN: A fitting name!

[Anwar]

Yeah, and that's a problem because Movie Harry was one of the only sympathetic, likable Harrys in all of Spider-Man (the other being the MTV Spider-Man Harry and Harry in the current comics). During the Globulin Green story in S1 and the stuff he got up to as S2 made me want to beat the jerk up, heck I can almost understand Norman's attitude...

 

[Admiral_Young]

Yes Harry's characterization is somewhat disappointing in the animated series...and of course MTV Harry was supossed to be Movie Harry as MTV Spider-Man being a loose continuation of Spider-Man 2. In fact I think if they actually established this as a rule and continued the series into Spider-Man 3 it would have been successful. I hated MTV Spider-Man and loving The Spectacular Spider-Man. I assume that everyone here is going to be picking up the complete first season when it comes out later this month?

 

[Christopher]

"First Steps," written by Kevin Hopps, directed by Kevin Altieri:

Hey, an actor in-joke. Sandman, played by John DiMaggio, is repeatedly going on about his "big score." As in Futurama: Bender's Big Score, a reference to DiMaggio playing Bender.

And more new characters getting added, including Sha Shan. In the comics, she was a woman Flash met in the Army in Vietnam, which of course has been retconned or ignored thanks to the comic-book sliding present. There's also the drama teacher St. John Deveraux, a familiar name, though I can't place it. Probably a supervillain.

Interesting the way they riff on Sandman's reform from the comics. At first, it seems like it's just a ploy when he pretends to listen to Spidey, but then he's nice to that little girl on the beach. So it was hard to tell where they might be going. It builds up to him still being a thief but one with morals, using his powers to save lives -- while also making his getaway by faking his death.

The explosion thing was implausible, though; given that the tanker was already ruptured open, I don't think the burning oil could've built up enough pressure for an explosion and would've just burned and given off lots of toxic black smoke.

The birthday-party videos were fun moments, with surprisingly cartoony animation, not the sort of thing I expect to see from Altieri. But it was good cartoony animation.

And nice reveal at the end about Pete's Brock/Venom sightings. Although I'm disappointed to see Venom back again so soon. That character is more effective the less he's used.

 

[CaptainCanada]

There's also the drama teacher St. John Deveraux, a familiar name, though I can't place it. Probably a supervillain.

He stalked MJ in the late 80s (or possibly early 90s).

 

[Anwar]

That was Jonathan Caesar, St John Devereaux was the Director of the "Amazing Lobster-Man" movie MJ was shooting early in JMS' Amazing Spider-Man run.

 

[Christopher]

Oh! Usually their characters are from older periods of the comics history.

 

[Anwar]

Actually, Sally Avril herself wasn't in the original comics (she was, but as an unnamed extra in the background). She was made a real character by Kurt Busiek in the "Untold Tales" series from the 90s.

TriCorp and Doctor Twaki are from recent stories as well.

This is from all the Spideyverse.

 

[Gojirob]

"First Steps," written by Kevin Hopps, directed by Kevin Altieri:

Hey, an actor in-joke. Sandman, played by John DiMaggio, is repeatedly going on about his "big score." As in Futurama: Bender's Big Score, a reference to DiMaggio playing Bender.

And more new characters getting added, including Sha Shan. In the comics, she was a woman Flash met in the Army in Vietnam, which of course has been retconned or ignored thanks to the comic-book sliding present. There's also the drama teacher St. John Deveraux, a familiar name, though I can't place it. Probably a supervillain.

Interesting the way they riff on Sandman's reform from the comics. At first, it seems like it's just a ploy when he pretends to listen to Spidey, but then he's nice to that little girl on the beach. So it was hard to tell where they might be going. It builds up to him still being a thief but one with morals, using his powers to save lives -- while also making his getaway by faking his death.

The explosion thing was implausible, though; given that the tanker was already ruptured open, I don't think the burning oil could've built up enough pressure for an explosion and would've just burned and given off lots of toxic black smoke.

The birthday-party videos were fun moments, with surprisingly cartoony animation, not the sort of thing I expect to see from Altieri. But it was good cartoony animation.

And nice reveal at the end about Pete's Brock/Venom sightings. Although I'm disappointed to see Venom back again so soon. That character is more effective the less he's used.

Not only was this a delightful ep, but as an oldies fan, two touches I LOL over :

When Sandman appears before the little girl, she asks : "Mr. Sandman?" and he replies 'Yesss?" and then, as Pete leaves the party to go fight Sandman, the radio he heard the news on says : "And now a golden oldie by The Chordettes..." whose big hit was, of course, Mister Sandman.

 

[Anwar]

Also, that thing he wanted to steal from the museum was the Urn of Morpheus. Morpheus is the main character of Neil Gaiman's "The Sandman" series.

 

[Christopher]

Actually, Sally Avril herself wasn't in the original comics (she was, but as an unnamed extra in the background). She was made a real character by Kurt Busiek in the "Untold Tales" series from the 90s.

TriCorp and Doctor Twaki are from recent stories as well.

This is from all the Spideyverse.

Well, yes, of course, I'm aware they're drawing from throughout the history of the comics -- otherwise Venom wouldn't be there, obviously, nor would Dr. Kafka, Tombstone, and various others. And I do know full well that Sally Avril was created by Busiek as a character retconned into Peter's high school days. I was just saying that they're drawing heavily from earlier decades, so if I see a character I don't recognize, it's generally more likely that he comes from an earlier era than from something as recent as JMS's run. Particularly given that Deveraux was a really minor character in the JMS comics. I think he was only in two issues, maybe three, and in his first two issues he's in only two pages each.

When Sandman appears before the little girl, she asks : "Mr. Sandman?" and he replies 'Yesss?" and then, as Pete leaves the party to go fight Sandman, the radio he heard the news on says : "And now a golden oldie by The Chordettes..." whose big hit was, of course, Mister Sandman.

Ohh! Duh! I was wondering about that line on the radio.

I have to wonder, though -- do radio stations ever actually interrupt music programming to give news reports about ongoing crises? Maybe that would've been a valid trope back in the '30s or '40s, but I think there are so many different radio stations these days that a station concentrating on music isn't likely to bother much with news. Since Pete was in the backyard at the moment, maybe it would've made more sense if he'd overheard it from next door, say -- although it's presumably January at this point, so I doubt any neighbors would have their windows open or be sitting on the back porch.

 

[Gojirob]

Also, that thing he wanted to steal from the museum was the Urn of Morpheus. Morpheus is the main character of Neil Gaiman's "The Sandman" series.

Great catch! My mind flashed upon all the wanna-be mystic artifacts like the stone tablet Silvermane and Fisk fought over in the 90's TAS, but that was perfect. Of course, for Sandman refs, nothing beats the Sandman/Hellblazer issue of Sandman, wherein Johnny is bombarded by every musical ref ever made, and prolly a few I missed. I'll have to re-read--prolly has a ref to Flint Marko, somewhere.

If a third or beyond season emerges, would anyone here want to see some MU visitors--those that aren't claimed by other animations? If they could do a voice reunion of some old Spideys, that'd be great too.

 

[Anwar]

I personally hope that if they ever do a flashback story about the Parkers and the Brocks that Richard will be voiced by Christopher Barnes (90s Spidey) and Eddie Snr will be voiced by Hank Azaria (90s Venom).

And the "Tablet of Time" story with Silvermane and the Lizard was actually from the comics first.

 

[Gojirob]

I know it was. But I thought it might be a cue from 90's TAS, rather than the Sandman ref I failed to get.

BTW, and I may have mentioned this before, an ep of 'Alice' had Mel, dressed as a superhero for a costume party, stop a robber voiced by Dan Gilvezan, the voice of the 80's animated Spidey!

 

[Christopher]

"Growing Pains," written by Nicole Dubuc, directed by Mike Goguen:

Interesting choice, to intersperse segments with the students on stage doing Shakespeare quotes that fit the subsequent scenes. And only gradually revealing what's going on, though it was pretty easy to guess it was theater auditions.

And did you notice that guy operating the spotlight -- the way he was looking at Mary Jane? I bet they're going to do the stalker story.

The revelation of John Jameson's superpowers is rather abrupt, and left me wondering if I'd missed an episode. Another case of this show's tight storytelling not quite working as well as usual. Otherwise, though, a nice story, and a nice inversion of the usual superhero team-up dynamic -- first they get along, then they fight! Nice to see someone giving Spidey a fair shake from the start, though of course the "sporks" had to take over his mind. Not quite a werewolf, but close.

And "Colonel Jupiter" made the bionic sound effect when he jumped! Priceless! And fitting, since he's an astronaut, like Steve Austin.

I'm annoyed that they did the cartoon cliche that a fall from any height is survivable so long as a superhero catches you. Realistically, the sudden stop should be just as lethal either way. But I'm willing to buy that John's suit was some kind of antigrav thing that cancelled their momentum.

And how about that surprise ending? That was... very surprising. Wow. I can't wait for next week.

 

[Anwar]

About time Venom just did the obvious thing with what he knows (and by this point, he's the only one who knows). The Shakespeare thing was a tad predictable seeing how this is Weisman, I mean it would be a little surprising if he used les Miserables for once.

The "Colonel Jupiter" story is how I thought they were going to introduce the symbiote in Season One: I figured he'd get infected with the symbiote and that would be what turned him into Colonel Jupiter. Then when Spidey stops him, the symbiote jumps ship and bonds to Peter instead with Peter unaware of what's happened until later.

 

[Christopher]

It turns out this episode was a fairly close adaptation of Amazing Spider-Man #42, albeit with Venom added. The original issue followed a pretty similar plot, except Spidey was suspected of bank robbery for a different reason. And the name "Colonel Jupiter" wasn't used. (And I'm annoyed that they kept the '60s grasp of science, talking as though Jupiter were a world with a surface you could walk on.) This isn't the first time they've adapted part of ASM #42, though, since that's the issue that ends with the famous "Face it, Tiger, you just hit the jackpot" scene where we meet Mary Jane for the first time.

 

[Gojirob]

It turns out this episode was a fairly close adaptation of Amazing Spider-Man #42, albeit with Venom added. The original issue followed a pretty similar plot, except Spidey was suspected of bank robbery for a different reason. And the name "Colonel Jupiter" wasn't used. (And I'm annoyed that they kept the '60s grasp of science, talking as though Jupiter were a world with a surface you could walk on.) This isn't the first time they've adapted part of ASM #42, though, since that's the issue that ends with the famous "Face it, Tiger, you just hit the jackpot" scene where we meet Mary Jane for the first time.

Another good take on ASM 42 is featured in What If, Volume 1, #46, featuring a take on Uncle Ben being the one who lived. The storyline ties up with its AU version of that issue's events. Since I personally got so sick of the countless What If's wherein everyone died/was corrupted or what have you, this one's premise and take on all this was a breath of fresh air. This one and 'What If The Age Of Apocalypse Had Never Ended?' were ironically part of just a handful of stories that ended happier than mainstream. That latter one, BTW, had a good in-joke : The warrior Gwen of the AOA hooked up with Quicksilver, whose name is essentially the same as that of her 616 boyfriend. And presumably, she was spared her brainless pity-bedding of Norman.

 

[Anwar]

Yeah, the guy who wrote "What if May died and Ben lived?" was the same one who wrote "What if Peter stopped the Burglar" and became this egomaniac superstar. Nice to see someone show that peter is just as flawed as any other person and without Ben's death, he could easily have NOT been a hero.

 

[coolghoul]

"First Steps," written by Kevin Hopps, directed by Kevin Altieri:

Hey, an actor in-joke. Sandman, played by John DiMaggio, is repeatedly going on about his "big score." As in Futurama: Bender's Big Score, a reference to DiMaggio playing Bender.

And more new characters getting added, including Sha Shan. In the comics, she was a woman Flash met in the Army in Vietnam, which of course has been retconned or ignored thanks to the comic-book sliding present. There's also the drama teacher St. John Deveraux, a familiar name, though I can't place it. Probably a supervillain.

Interesting the way they riff on Sandman's reform from the comics. At first, it seems like it's just a ploy when he pretends to listen to Spidey, but then he's nice to that little girl on the beach. So it was hard to tell where they might be going. It builds up to him still being a thief but one with morals, using his powers to save lives -- while also making his getaway by faking his death.

The explosion thing was implausible, though; given that the tanker was already ruptured open, I don't think the burning oil could've built up enough pressure for an explosion and would've just burned and given off lots of toxic black smoke.

The birthday-party videos were fun moments, with surprisingly cartoony animation, not the sort of thing I expect to see from Altieri. But it was good cartoony animation.

And nice reveal at the end about Pete's Brock/Venom sightings. Although I'm disappointed to see Venom back again so soon. That character is more effective the less he's used.

This kinda continues with something that I've noticed in some comic villains stories - where the villains also have a heart. (They tried it in a memorable Silver Age Luthor story over in DC-land - where he gets out of jail and plans something and his henchmen wonder what awesome Supes-foilin' plot, their Boss is dreaming up and it turns out Lex has a nice side too ... not spoilin' further since I really liked that story.- send me a pm if you can't place it still). I remember this treatment being done on Doc Ock - (where he has a girlfriend) and also on The Rhino (where he gets friendly with a blind kid or something). There's also something similar that happens with Bizarro and some kid who can't see too. Anyways, I'm a sucker for the "Awww" stuff for the super-villains.

Btw, it did become a little ludicrous how big the Sandman becomes on the beach. You can't just add mass like that. Anyways - these are comics

I was wondering what was going on with all those Venom hallucinations that Peter seems to be having.

I am amazed actually by how much story they can pack into a 22 min episode. The trend I am seeing is that most of these eps seem "substantial" inspite of not going into too many two-parters.

 

[Christopher]

Btw, it did become a little ludicrous how big the Sandman becomes on the beach. You can't just add mass like that. Anyways - these are comics

Actually it makes more sense when Sandman does it than when, say, Banner turns into the Hulk or Hank Pym becomes Giant-Man. At least in Sandman's case, it's understood that he's taking the sand from the beach or construction site or whatever and adding it to his body mass. It's not extra mass appearing out of nowhere in violation of physical law; it's just adding more material from a clearly identified source.