The Spectacular Spider-Man: The Complete First Season Review (Spoilers)

[matt_zimmer]

The Spectacular Spider-Man: The Complete First Season

I am both impressed and frustrated with the first season of The Spectacular Spider-Man, the newest animated take on the Marvel Comics superhero. Impressed because, for the most part the series has the best dialogue of any superhero cartoon since Justice League Unlimited. And frustrated because this version of Peter Parker is unlikable and truly hard to root for.

I get that Spidey is young in this version (it takes place during Peter's high school years) but Parker is portrayed as SO insensitive and clueless that it's very hard to like him out of costume. Both Static Shock and Batman Beyond had teen heroes you could root for. Here, Peter is so often a jerk (albeit usually of the ignorant variety) that I wish I could reach through the screen and throttle him at times. Gargoyles' Greg Weisman is behind this show so I'm a little surprised that the characters are so unlikable.

Considering a good chunk of the tail end of the season features Spidey in the black alien costume I was originally inclined to give him a TINY bit of slack. Unfortunately what I've seen of the second season so far indicates that this is simply the way the writers PLANNED to portray Peter and they have no intention of changing it. Sigh.

This could be a GREAT cartoon. The animation is spiffy and the voice cast are all great. The stories are diverting too. But without characters who you can sympathize with there really is no getting around the fact that this series is a bitter disappointment for both Spider-Man and Greg Weisman fans.

Best episodes of the year are the Lizard spotlight (Natural Selection) and the finale of the Green Goblin arc (The Uncertainty Principle). Worst episodes are the sour Interactions and the derivative Intervention. Season Overall: ***1/2.

Survival Of The Fittest: A fine debut episode that probably rocks so hard because of the Gargoyles references and the fact that Keith "Goliath" David voices the Big Man for the first show. It's a shame Kevin Micheal Richardson replaced him but I have to admit Richardson is a nearly flawless sound-alike. ****.

Interactions: This is the beginning of the Spidey as a jerk phenom which is really galling because Electro didn't have to turn into a villain at all but Peter pushed him in that direction HARD. Lame. **1/2.

Natural Selection: Nice episode and probably the best of the season. They did Peter behaving badly RIGHT here because he didn't really have a lot of options and was forced to hurt the people he cared about. The dialogue is also particularly sharp this episode. *****.

Market Forces: Shocker is kind of a boring villain but I'm amused that this version is a redneck. ***.

Competition: John Dimaggio (Bender on Futurama) is absolutely great as the Sandman. I wasn't really feeling the football try-out subplot but I think the show feels the need to kill time with the high school stuff. ****.

The Invisible Hand: Liked the way Spidey defeated Rhino here. I've always thought Mary Jane had one of the lamest introductions in comics history and the fact that the cartoons keep trying to ape is practically verbatim is lame. More Peter jerkiness: who does a loser like him think he is to judge someone sight unseen on their looks? No-one is beating down his door at school (at least not yet). ***1/2.

Catalysts: Like this version of Green Goblin a lot. Steve Blum (Wolverine and the X-Men) is terrific and I liked the confrontation between Spidey and Tombstone at the end. ****.

Reaction: I think Peter MacNicol does a fabulous Doc Ock but other than his voice the character needs work. I don't buy the nebbishy lickspittle going psychotic within seconds of being fused to the tenticles for one second. And his costume (compared to the old show) is completely bland. ***.

The Uncertainty Principle: I'm trying to decide if all of the obvious hints that Harry was the Goblin were stupid or clever. It could easily be argued stupid because people who saw them would have known it would be Harry three episodes early. Clever because they were SO obvious that you almost thought they were red herrings to throw you off Norman Osborne's scent so it was a surprise after all. I'm leaning toward clever but I not discounting stupid completely. Also loved Spidey teaming up with Tombstone. ****1/2.

Persona: Like Black Cat (Battlestar Galactica's Tricia "Six" Helfer! Yowza!) but I think Chameleon is one of Spidey's lamer villains and was especially disappointed to see him without Nick Fury. ***.

Group Therapy: I saw the revelation of Spidey being asleep during the battle coming but it was still such a clever twist that I enjoyed it anyway. For people who know Venom is coming, having the Symbiote defeat the Sinister Six so easily just made his upcoming battle with Eddie Brock look that much tougher. ****.

Intervention: Hated this episode. I hated it because it followed WAAAYYY too close to the movie's mythology for me to enjoy it. This is supposed to be a seperate continuity and I hate to think that Weisman feels the slightest need to keep the show recognizable to newbies. **.

Nature Vs. Nuture: Decent season finale but making Venom the Big Bad of the season was a mistake. It should have been Gobby or at the very least, Doc Ock. Venom's a cool character but he isn't Spidey best baddie and shouldn't have been played like he is during the first season. Goblin is Spidey's biggest foe and the series (like the 90s version) is giving him short shrift. Still, Gwen kissing Peter at the end of the episode was very sweet. ***1/2.

Spider-Man: Re-Animated: Cool featurette. I especially liked seeing the faces behind all of the voice actors. *****.

Stylizing Spidey: I think the creators believe this show is better than it actually is. ***1/2.

The Spectacular Spider-Man Trailer: Where was the music video that was promised in the trailer? ***.

DVD Menu: Lame. Static and no music. At least there is episode selection. *1/2.

Comments

[90scartoonman.livejournal.com]

This show is still a tough one for me. I'm loyal as heck to the 90's series, but after Unlimited and TNAS, it's refreshing to see a Spider-Man cartoon that doesn't use a gimmick (yeah, Peter was only in high school for about 40 issues in the comic and didn't meet Gwen or Harry until college, but this show does borrow a lot from Ultimate Spider-Man, which is a great book). It's pure Spider-Man, and I love it for that. It does have its flaws, though, and I agree about Peter's personality even though I think they got Spider-Man completely right (compare this to Maguire's wooden, angst-leaden Spider-Man in the movies).

Natural Selection - Agreed. This hit all the right notes, it gave Peter a serious choice to make without having it being too depressing.

Market Forces - I guess it says something about the Enforcers if they have to be made more interesting by making one of them into a Spider-Man villain who isn't all that interesting.

Competition - I wonder if they purposely had Sandman refer to his "Big Score" once DiMaggio was cast.

The Invisible Hand - Whoa, whoa, whoa, you think MJ's intro in the comics is lame? Why? Villains tend to make dramatic entrances, heroes (particularly from the 1960's and before) aren't that amazing, but as far as supporting characters go, MJ's introduction is unsurpassed. Especially with the build-up and the fact that her presence really did shake Peter's world.

Reaction - I think they sort of had to make Ock immediately nuts or else it would take too long to develop. His look is...all right...but I've sort of lost a taste for what he wore in the 90's cartoon as well, it's too "action figure battle armor" like.

Uncertainty Principle - I thought it was too obvious to be Harry (plus the thing with the dance didn't seem to ad up to me), so I assumed the clues were red herrings. Whoops.

Intervention - Kind of sucks it was so movie-like, but I thought all the stuff with Uncle Ben was gold.

Nature vs. Nurture - I get they didn't want to overuse Green Goblin, so rather than drag him out until the finale, they did a middle of the season for him, but I agree that Dr. Octopus would've worked better. Really, Venom is riding fan hype because he is a lot cooler than villains created 25-30 years before he was, but he doesn't have that much substance (hence why this show and others keep trying to give Peter and Eddie some kind of history).

[mattzimmer.livejournal.com]

Competition: I doubt that had anything to do with it. Other than the title, "Big Score" wasn't a Bender catchphrase or anything.

The Invisible Hand: I've always found Mary Jane kind of lame and her introduction is a part of that. It's just so sixties and corny.

Reaction: I like the action figure look because... I like action figures. :D

Uncertainty Principle: There's a fine line between clever and stupid and I can't tell which side the "twist" is on.

Nature Vs. Nurture: Why didn't they want to use Green Goblin so much? Was he really used that sparingly in the comics? Venom is cool and lame at the same time. Cool because of the concept and lame because he's overtaken some MUCH better villains in popularity.

[90scartoonman.livejournal.com]

Probably not, but it's nice to dream though (afterall, that's what Mr. Sandman does).

I find my next two comments strange and in complete contrast to each other, but I love Mary Jane (favorite love interest ever, even more than Lois because MJ was never Peter's "one and only") and I like the sixties and corniness. Having said that, though, I think making an intellectual like Dr. Octopus dress up like an action figure rather than a scientist to be too corny (it's fine for guys like the Vulture, though).

I get the feeling this show wants to turn Norman into a real villain and threat to Spider-Man, but they want a slow progression of it. They have to do more to establish his mentor relationship to Peter and his lousy relationship with Harry.

The Green Goblin in the comics was interesting because he was used quite sparingly...Norman died in 1973 and didn't come back until the mid-90's (not sure how long Harry was active for, but he died in the early 90's). But now that Norman is back, he is full-on Spider-Man's archenemy and used constantly (although he's no longer the Green Goblin).

Venom kind of reminds me of Bane in a way. Flavor of the month when he was first introduced, he has a bit more staying power, but still can't top the classics.

[mattzimmer.livejournal.com]

Green Goblin: Did they retcon him having sex with Gwen Stacy? Cause that was squicky.

Venom: Doomsday too, I'd wager.

[90scartoonman.livejournal.com]

Ugh, yeah, that was gross. The writer didn't even want that to happen because the original plan was for the twins to be Gwen's and Peter's, but they decided not to do that at the last minute. That story isn't referenced anymore, though.

Oh yeah, during the 90's they had those extreme villains like Doomsday, Bane, and Venom (or even Carnage). Doomsday was just a mindless monster, though, so they couldn't make him an anti-hero like they eventually did with Venom and Bane.

[mattzimmer.livejournal.com]

Gobby: They need to retcon that stat even if they don't mention it anymore. They just pulled a major retcon on the Spidey-verse anyways (a bone-headed one no less) so there's no reason that has to stay canon.

Venom: I can't picture Bane as a hero, even an anti-one. What's that like, and what's the premise behind it?

[90scartoonman.livejournal.com]

Yeah, with Osborn as a major player, they should just clear up his past and get rid of it.

You know how venom messed up Bane in Batman Beyond? Well, that started to happen a lot sooner, so he not only kicked the habit, but cleaned out the drug dealers of Santa Prisca (he's basically from the DC version of Cuba). He's not exactly a hero now, more of a mercenary (running with Deadshot and a few others in a book called Secret Six), but he does have his own personal code and he seems to respect Batman and Gotham in his own way.

[mattzimmer.livejournal.com]

Bane: How is he that big a threat if he doesn't used Venom anymore? That was one of the most interesting aspects of the character.

[90scartoonman.livejournal.com]

He's still a big dude, and he can still lift most guys over his head and then break their backs over his knee. He was good as a villain, but I think he's good as a protagonist (not quite hero), even if they had to tweak him a bit. I guess he figures since Batman can do all that without any powers/enhancements, neither should he.

[mattzimmer.livejournal.com]

Weird. I guess that sounds interesting but I can't ever picture the DCAU Bane reforming. He's Big Bad and likes it that way.

[90scartoonman.livejournal.com]

True, there were many more Bat villains more likely to reform...Catwoman, Scarface, Two-Face, heck, even Killer Croc came close. But not Bane.

[mattzimmer.livejournal.com]

That's what I like about a lot of the BTAS villains: they were straddling the line between good and evil and that often made them more sympathetic. When the Riddler actually became a superhero in the later Batman Adventures comic I totally bought it because they still had him solving puzzles when he did it. The puzzles were the biggest part of his reason for being so having them have him do good instead of evil made sense to me. He was a great (and funny) ally to Batman.

[90scartoonman.livejournal.com]

Riddler is one of the best baddies that helps the good guys from time to time. The guy just likes to be challenged.

[mattzimmer.livejournal.com]

Yep. He was a great character in the Adventures comics. I wish Ty Templeton had been a writer for BTAS because he was pretty weak there.