World "The Spectacular Spider-Man" Appreciation Thread (possible spoilers) - Part 1

[Thread Manager]

This is a continuation thread, the old thread is [split]377589[/split]

 

[GamerSlyRatchet]

I figured since Ultimate, SM: TAS, and the 60's show got their own threads, as well as the old board being shot down, I would open up a thread for discussion, criticism, appreciation, speculation on what could have been, etc., about Spectacular.

To start up the thread, Greg Weisman has recently cleared up exactly what the legal situation was that led to its cancellation:

http://www.s8.org/gargoyles/askgreg/search.php?qid=14223

 

[Spider-Aziz]

I saw the first three episodes of this again, and I couldn't help but immensely enjoy it. 112 episodes after this show came to an abrupt ending, and none of them gave me half as good a time as any episode of this show does.

You know, I also find it funny how this show has Peter Parker/Spider-Man competent in super heroics right out of the gate rather than growing into competency over time like every other adaption which has featured Peter in High School. Has this iteration of a Teenage Spidey had any moments where you would think "that's a rookie move/mistake?"

I love the competence so much, that I couldn't help but remember the first episode in this show while thinking of how much trouble USM had with Trapster, a normal guy with a glue gun.

I guess immediately assuming Electro was a thug coming out of the coffee shop with a mask is a rookie mistake.

 

[Mistah K88]

You know, I also think yelling to the Green Goblin that he knew he was Norman Osborn was a rookie move, as it made Norman pretty much throw the fight when he failed to kill Spidey, and race him to his house to come up with an alibi. he just happened to be lucky that Harry was passed out on the floor, or Spidey might not have bought whatever he was able to come up with.

I couldn't find a video for it but my vote goes to the Spidey vs Rhino fight in The Invisible Hand.

I remember when first watching the show, this was the action sequence that truly cemented the show as a well-animated, brilliantly choreographed action show for Spider-Man. The banter was top notch. Yeah, the Electro fights were pretty good and so was the fight with the Lizard in episode 3 as well as the Sandman and even the Shocker fights that proceeded this one, however imo the Rhino fight was on another level.

First, Rhino was the only villain to deduce that Peter Parker may have info on the whereabouts of Spider-Man because he is always getting pics of him when no other photographer can. IMO this added another dimension to Rhino--not just a dumb street thug, he could be smart and a formidable foe.

I loved how he was absolutely calm and even polite while walking to the Bugle and riding the elevator...he didn't smash through traffic on his way there and even asked nicely for assistance in hitting the right button on the elevator. Once the doors opened though he begins to tear the place up, lol.

And the reason for Peter hurrying to get the Bugle was great--he wasn't going there to suit up cause he got wind of the Bugle under attack, which would have been a likely candidate in the writing dept as these shows usually go for that type of scenario. No, instead he's swinging as fast as he can to try and stop Aunt May from ruining his chances with Betty. Brilliant.

JJJ covering for Peter was a nice touch in the face of danger and added some depth to his already great characterization.

Once the fight started I loved how it was one long continuous action sequence that changed sets several times throughout. It went from the Bugle to the street to the side of a building several blocks away to the inside of a fitness shop and then finally into the sewer. Most action scenes in the previous episodes were limited to one maybe two locations per fight and were usually divided up into two different encounters within the episode.

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You know... A lot of people got hurt in Rhino's rampage. I'm kind of glad that Spidey acknowledged that he needed to get Rhino in a big open area for public safety.

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Short but sweet, Hammerhead was a BEAST in Accomplices. I know people don't like to see Spider-Man have his ass handed to him by non powered people, but I can see why this guy is a second in command.

 

[Sarcastic Fan]

Finishing "Shear Strength" to prepare for the interview portion of Spectacular Radio's review of "Shear Strength." This one was packed. Greg Weisman, Jennifer Coyle, and Jennifer L. Anderson as our guests.

Should hopefully be up sometime within the next week.

 

[UltimateWebhead]

Looking forward to it!

 

[Sarcastic Fan]

Spectacular Radio Episode 33: “Shear Strength” With Greg Weisman, Jennifer Coyle, & Jennifer L. Anderson

Greg, Zach, and Kristin welcome back Greg Weisman, Jennifer L. Anderson; and introduce the episode director, Jennifer Coyle, to the podcast. They discuss adapting the classic “Master Planner” storyline, villain group dynamics, George Stacy and Commissioner Gordon, along with an assortment of other topics.

http://www.spidey-dude.com/?p=5317

 

[Venom 1988]

Spectacular Radio Episode 33: “Shear Strength” With Greg Weisman, Jennifer Coyle, & Jennifer L. Anderson

Greg, Zach, and Kristin welcome back Greg Weisman, Jennifer L. Anderson; and introduce the episode director, Jennifer Coyle, to the podcast. They discuss adapting the classic “Master Planner” storyline, villain group dynamics, George Stacy and Commissioner Gordon, along with an assortment of other topics.

http://www.spidey-dude.com/?p=5317

Keep them coming lol

 

[2kt09]

Guess who's back, back again

Spoiler

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[GamerSlyRatchet]

Spectacular Radio Episode 33: “Shear Strength” With Greg Weisman, Jennifer Coyle, & Jennifer L. Anderson

Greg, Zach, and Kristin welcome back Greg Weisman, Jennifer L. Anderson; and introduce the episode director, Jennifer Coyle, to the podcast. They discuss adapting the classic “Master Planner” storyline, villain group dynamics, George Stacy and Commissioner Gordon, along with an assortment of other topics.

http://www.spidey-dude.com/?p=5317

Ooh, looks like we learned something about Liz.

For real, though, I do enjoy learning new bits about the show and the characters. Thanks again!

Guess who's back, back again

Spoiler

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I appreciated how Stretch moves around the city in the final scene. Pretty appropriate for this thread.

 

[Mistah K88]

Have we seen any small or large influences from Spectacular Spidey show up in either movies, comics, or other animated series?

I guess I asked this question before the movie came out, but would Montana in Homecoming being Shocker (#1) count as a direct reference to this cartoon? I mean why Montana of all people?

 

[GamerSlyRatchet]

I guess I asked this question before the movie came out, but would Montana in Homecoming being Shocker (#1) count as a direct reference to this cartoon? I mean why Montana of all people?

I'd think so.

I'm pretty sure Electro from Amazing Spider-Man 2 also took some cues from how he was portrayed in Spectacular, from the accident that gives him his powers to the containment suit.

 

[UltimateWebhead]

This is isn't TSSM news but...Victor Cook, the co-creator of TSSM, has a new show called Stretch Armstrong and the Flex Fighters that starts this Friday, November 17th on Netflix. It features the voice talents of Scott Menville, Steven Yeun, and Ogie Banks with TSSM actors Keith David and Josh Keaton also playing supporting roles.

I've been following Victor on Twitter and the show looks promising. Anyone else gonna check this out?

 

[GamerSlyRatchet]

Mhmm. I've been missing out on animated superhero action and I've practically finished watching all of Justice League Action, so I'll check it out.

Apparently they're having a lot of TSSM voice actors in there. In addition to those Keaton and David, there's Clancy Brown, Kelly Hu, James Arnold Taylor, and Miguel Ferrer (RIP).

 

[2kt09]

Outside of DC, there isn't currently any notable 2D superhero action-driven shows. Although, I do like the action in the new Spidey show every now and again.

This is isn't TSSM news but...Victor Cook, the co-creator of TSSM, has a new show called Stretch Armstrong and the Flex Fighters that starts this Friday, November 17th on Netflix. It features the voice talents of Scott Menville, Steven Yeun, and Ogie Banks with TSSM actors Keith David and Josh Keaton also playing supporting roles.

I've been following Victor on Twitter and the show looks promising. Anyone else gonna check this out?

lol, I posted the teaser trailer in here.
Nice to see the same character designer as well.

 

[Mistah K88]

You know I'm going to check it out... When it comes to superhero cartoons...the only thing I can stand to watch now is Justice League Action whenever it happens to be on (or binge watch it on demand).


I happened to come across the Season 2 threads while looking for something else. It's always nice to look back at our thoughts and feelings when the show was airing... ALL the mentions of torrents and all that...It was THAT good that some of us were trying to watch it at ANY MEANS NECESSARY.

Blueprints
http://forums.superherohype.com/showthread.php?t=309087

Destructive Testing
http://forums.superherohype.com/showthread.php?t=317760

Reinforcement:
http://forums.superherohype.com/showthread.php?t=318110

Shear Strength
http://forums.superherohype.com/showthread.php?t=318461

First Steps
http://forums.superherohype.com/showthread.php?t=319282

Growing Pains
http://forums.superherohype.com/showthread.php?t=319240

Identity Crisis
http://forums.superherohype.com/showthread.php?t=319267

Accomplices
http://forums.superherohype.com/showthread.php?t=320323

Probable Cause
http://forums.superherohype.com/showthread.php?t=320739

Gangland
http://forums.superherohype.com/showthread.php?t=321015

Subtext
http://forums.superherohype.com/showthread.php?t=321156

Opening Night
http://forums.superherohype.com/showthread.php?t=321228

Final Curtain
http://forums.superherohype.com/showthread.php?t=321240


Who was the Green Goblin?http://forums.superherohype.com/showthread.php?t=302666

 

[UltimateWebhead]

Mhmm. I've been missing out on animated superhero action and I've practically finished watching all of Justice League Action, so I'll check it out.

Apparently they're having a lot of TSSM voice actors in there. In addition to those Keaton and David, there's Clancy Brown, Kelly Hu, James Arnold Taylor, and Miguel Ferrer (RIP).

Yeah, I'm definitely feeling a big time quality drought with current animated shows. Marvel Spider-Man sucks. I finally finished watching all the episodes that have been released...in short, it's a watchable version of the USM cartoon.

Anyway, Stretch should be good. I've got faith in Victor Cook to deliver a good product.

Outside of DC, there isn't currently any notable 2D superhero action-driven shows. Although, I do like the action in the new Spidey show every now and again.



lol, I posted the teaser trailer in here.
Nice to see the same character designer as well.

Oh, sorry, I didn't see your post.

I think once you find people that you enjoy working with, whether it's about having fun or knowing they are in the same page as you with making a good quality show/product, you wanna keep working with them. So, it doesn't surprise me that Victor is bringing along cast and crew from TSSM into his latest project. I'm really looking forward to Stretch and like I said above will hopefully cure the drought I'm feeling with animation.

 

[2kt09]

I'll say if you guys are really in need of an animated superhero fix, Trollhunters is probably the closest thing to a genuine Spidey show.

 

[GamerSlyRatchet]

Victor Cook posted a few days ago a video of the first encounter between Spider-Man and Rhino on Twitter. However, there's a small scene that was cut and was supposed to be in the extended DVD releases before getting canned.

I'll say if you guys are really in need of an animated superhero fix, Trollhunters is probably the closest thing to a genuine Spidey show.

I've watched that. I have some issues with the writing and story at times, but it's generally fun and has some good CGI for a TV series. It's getting not only a second and third seasons, but also a couple of spin-off shows and a shared universe between them, so that's pretty cool.

 

[Mistah K88]

That bullet part is new... I don't know why Sony didn't release the full product when it came to the DVDs. While it may seem insignificant to the grand scheme of the episodes, small things like that add to the episode greatly. This one, while not a game changer like Shocker being extracted from the Sinister Six arrest via Ox and Fancy Dan, is still interesting enough where it added some extra oomph to the episode. I hope that more of the cut scenes show up in the future.

Also...it makes me wonder on S&P's strict gun policy. They were able to get away with it most of the time in BTAS on the reason of the majority of the guns in that show were outdated Tommy Guns that would REALLY A.) be hard to get a hold of and B.) would look really stupid shooting lasers. They really stopped caring sometimes as there were plenty of times that regular pistols and handguns were used. I'm wondering what difference it made... Also, did they start adding blades to the list of things that can't be seen on children's television recently? As while I haven't seen things in their entirety, I remember seeing Kraven having a laser blade in Ultimate, and I'll admit that I haven't seen too much Marvel's Spider-Man to care, and I remember Kraven prior to his mutation having straight up machetes in this series.

You know...something I found funny is that both Spectacular and the Amazing film duology had kept a couple mothers alive who were pretty much dead and buried prior to us meeting the rest of the family with Emily Osborn and Helen Stacy...and in Amazing they even added family members with Gwen's brothers.

 

[GamerSlyRatchet]

I think it depends on the channel and the circumstances. I remember Cartoon Network was getting lax about guns in more recent DC cartoons, with Batman: The Brave and the Bold and Young Justice using regular guns and bullets. Even Regular Show had a shoot-out between animatronics. But then the Aurora shooting happened in 2012, and Beware the Batman had its guns censored at the last minute. You could even tell it was very late in production, since the first episode refers to bullets, even though the "gun" fired lasers.

Ironically, I thought some of the ammo used in Spectacular, like the spiked pellets, would be way worse and more damaging than a regular bullet. I also recall regular guns being used, but the sound effects made them sound like lasers.

 

[2kt09]

Seeing the tease for the upcoming Miles Morales centric flick just added more confirmation that Sony should have never relinquished tv rights to Spider-Man. There's just something about Spider-Man and animation wherein SPA manages to get the best people and story involved.

 

[Mistah K88]

I will say that Sony's animated Miles movie does answer the question about animated movies... So MAYBE there's hope that they could get this universe back running (I know there isn't, as this series is nearing a decade since it's cancellation. but still...it'd be better than Sony trying to produce Kraven and Mysterio).

Also, some of the more "original" looking designs of the villains have some base somewhere in Spider-Man media...

Vulture's red and black suit is based off of his Marvel Knights design, with a little more red of course.

 

[Mistah K88]

I thought the Pumpkin Bombs of this show was a wholly original design, but after research that is NOT the case... They are actually based on the Pumpkin Bombs from the Spider-Girl series

I think I've mentioned this before, but the basis of the Green Goblin's costume design in this series ALSO comes from the Spider-Girl universe. Like Vulture's costume, alterations are made here and there, but it is basically the base of the design.

Greg also answered my questions... I have to give him credit, as I've read a lot of the questions people ask him about random MINOR things on Young Justice and it's like "OMG WHO CARES?!"

Hi Greg,
While wading through all these Young Justice topics, I must ask a couple things about Spectacular Spider-Man.
1.Confirmation of characters.
So as you know, you and your team decided against creating original characters for the show. EVERY named person had to be from the comic books, even if alterations were made to their race (Ned, Kenny, Kingsley, Debra, Fancy Dan, Ox, Liz, Mark, the Warren bros. etc.) or gender (Mayor Waters). However there are a few characters that you confirmed who they were, but we didn't get to see too much of them since their role in Peter's life had yet to be realized (Jason Ionello, Tiny McKeever), and would have been more active in Season 3, which is a shame we never got. We also got some fun characters like Dilbert Trilby (Bugle obituary writer in comics, newscaster in Spectacular), Matthew Resnick (Officer murdered in "Maximum Carnage", Vault warden in Spectacular) and Trina (barista/cashier in "Brand New Day" and the same in Spectacular)
That said, there are some characters that we never got names for and just need a confirmation that they are who we think they are. We have Hammerhead's chauffeur, who we believe is Myrna, who in comics is Hammerhead's moll from Gerry Conway's "Gang War" arc.
Another character you mentioned is Eddie's roommate at the Empire State University dorms. You mentioned that his name was "Josh something", and he was indeed from comics. The only Josh that we were able to find was Josh Kittling, Randy Robertson's friend in college during Stan Lee's "Crisis on Campus" with students protesting and a plot to steal the Lifeline Tablet. He was a black student during the racially charged late 60's early 70s [when the comic came out])
Now the question is, are we correct about Myrna and Josh? And are there any other characters from comics that who we've seen, but weren't didn't have their names said in the show (much like Tiny, Jason, Myrna and Josh), if so, who were they? Or if you just provide names, I'm sure we could find them.
2.Ned
So as you know, Ned would have gotten much more screen time in season 3. However, it was mentioned that there was ground work with him and Betty laid out in season 2 that was recorded, however it was cut as there were time constraints and the scenes weren't all that important in the scope of things happening in Peter's life. So out of curiosity I must ask what those scenes consisted of? Simple things like Ned flirting with Betty, or starting to have a romance (kind of like Flash and Sha-Shan's scenes but Betty being more receptive to Ned's advances), or was there anything deeper than that? Also what kind of person is Ned? How would you describe him in Spectacular? In comics, he wasn't too much of a character, but just got wrapped up in a major storyline WAAAY after he was introduced, but I'm curious to know your thoughts on Ned Lee(ds). Not to ask what your plans were for him in a hypothetical season 3, but more along the lines of how you described Betty (being someone who can handle someone like Jonah with ease).
3.Character ages
While I think that it wasn't as thoroughly thought out as Young Justice (like the exact dates they were born and all that), I am curious about the ages of a few characters. Don't worry; I'm not going to ask their EXACT ages and blood types, but generally a ball park. We know most of Peter's circle is 16 (Liz, Harry, Gwen, etc.) with Flash turning 17 in the series, Kenny and Rand being high school seniors (which would put them at 17-18), Eddie being a college freshman (which would put him at 18-19), Betty being 20, Debra Whitman being graduate student age (which would put her in her early to mid-20's), I can assume Norman is in his early to mid-40's, with my assumption that May, Vulture, Tinkerer, Silvermane, being in the same generation (Maybe late 50's early 60's?) However, who I'm interested in is Electro… clearly he's older than Pete's high school crew, but he's also clearly younger than someone like Ock, whom I assume in his late 30's to early 40's. I can only assume that Spectacular Maxwell Dillon is in between Eddie Brock and Debra Whitman's ages… So would I be correct about Max?

1. I won't confirm or deny Myrna. You're correct about Josh. Otherwise, I'm not providing names beyond what was in the show.
2. The Ned and Betty stuff was flirtatious and perhaps a bit more than flirtatious. Beyond that, I'll leave Ned to your imagination.
3. Basically, yes. Max was in his mid-twenties when he became Electro.

He won't confirm or deny Myrna (I'm wondering about the secrecy, it's not like she had a major role in the comics...heck maybe not even minor)...but I believe she's one in the same.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

That's an amazing find with the design of the Green Goblin.


This year will mark the 10th anniversary for this greatness. I'll finally watch it from start to end after years of abstaining from watching more than 4 episodes.