Greg Bishansky writes...

"Shear Strength"

SPOILERS! (Gonna start marking them here)

And today, the Master Planner arc officially comes to a close. And what a close. As an old school Spider-Man fan, I've been anticipating this episode for a while. And it did not disappoint.

We open up with the identity of the Master Planner. None other than Dr. Octopus, and honestly, there is no way it could have ever been anyone else. And dammit, Ock was in top form in this episode. Loved him, and Peter MacNicol is terrific at making him sound so calculating and menacing.

So, Doc Ock's master plan, er, sorry, Master Plan, was to hijack the internet? The fiend! He wants to take away our access to free porn! That's just not right! Not right!

This episode rocked, and I mean more so than usual. Which for this show is impressive. This was straight Lee/Ditko, and I couldn't ask for any better. The action sequences were intense. The pacing was terrific, and the ending really pissed me off... and I mean that in a good way.

Nice to see George Stacy in the credits, and I liked his role in here. Yeah, he was cooperating with Ock, but I'd almost feel sorry for the good doctor if George got his hands on him first.

I really liked that Ock didn't get sent back to prison at the end of this. It gets tiresome when the villains constantly get thrown in prison and constantly escape. So Ock, Vulture and the Tinkerer are still on the loose. Electro and Mysterio are in custody. And where did Sandman, Kraven and Rhino go? For that matter, why wasn't Shocker among the Master Planner's "usual suspects" last time. Curious.

Spidey himself. It says something when I can both love and want to smack the protagonist. Loved him going Batman on Tinkerer. Really loved seeing him lift that huge weight, knowing that Gwen depended on him, and then... at the last moment in the episode. Oy. So close, so close, so close.

Peter, meet me at Camera 3

::Turns to Camera 3::

Look, I know Liz is hot, exotic and popular. But, four months ago this girl wouldn't even glance in your direction, and even if she was not an active participant in bullying you, she was definitely a witness. "Study with Petey, I'd rather fail." Remember that? Gwen is someone you've known for years, has always been your friend, and you know you care about. You've been such close friends for so long, you have a solid foundation to build upon. And yes, she's cute too. You have enough in common with her, and a history. You know you can trust her. Poor thing. Is there really any solid foundation with Liz? Really?

Okay, let's check in with our good friend, Stephen Colbert on this issue...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v661/gregx/Funny%20Pictures/1234135079058.jpg

Thanks, Stephen.

::Turns away from Camera 3::

Okay, tangent over. It's the mark of great writing when a TV show can get a reaction like that out of me. Good stuff. Great stuff.

Little tidbits I enjoyed. Mary Jane suggesting Gwen take Peter to Times Square to "see the ball drop" with a wink... I love the innuendos on this show. I also cracked up at the good doctor's "Evil Genius" coffee mug.

The best episode so far this season. Maybe the best episode of the series to date. And we still have nine more to go.

anonymous writes...

How do you find out if someone is a character you can or cannot use on your show, whether or not they are a Spider-Man character? Who do you guys have to ask to make sure you can use said character(s) on the show?

Since Kraven is mutated, does that mean we won't see Puma on your cartoon?

Also, I hope that the next time we see the Sinister Six that they all attack together like they did in "Group Therapy".

anonymous writes...

Hello,
I had some questions in regards to season two, since you're answering these questions...

*SPOILERS*

1 - I don't understand how Doctor Octopus could be the Master Planner. In the first two episodes of season two, Master Planner is heard talking with Tinkerer in the first one and Kraven in the second. In "Reinforcement", we saw Dr. Kafka treating Doctor Octopus and the Master Planner was seen in shadows on a video screen when he gathered the new Sinister Six together. At the end of that episode, Tinkerer uses Doc Ock's tentacles to break the seemingly cured Doctor out of custody. In the next episode, "Shear Strength", Doc Ock is revealed as Master Planner. I think I missed something. How was he able to contact them and then also watch them on the viewing screen? Did he somehow manage to sneak some equipment in to communicate with when he was in custody or what?

By the way, Master Planner's tease of a Sinister Seven -- oh, you know you HAVE to do that eventually! That'd be awesome!!

2 - I was a bit surprised to see that Electro, Vulture and Tinkerer were also a part of the "Shear Strength" episode. I was kind of hoping we'd get another solo Doctor Octopus story in season two. Any chance we can see just one solo Doc Ock episode in season three, with no Tombstone, no Hammerhead, no Sinister Six member(s) helping, etc.?

3 - So the Mysterio we saw in "Opening Night" was a robot, a fake. I'm confused. Does this mean that Mysterio broke out or had the Tinkerer help him escape at some point after Quentin Beck was seen in jail in "Identity Crisis", or was the Mysterio we saw arrested in the end of "Reinforcement" and put in jail always a fake? Man, you guys sure made Mysterio tricky on your show. I love it.

4 - I know that the Big Three villains for Spider-Man will likely return next season - Doc Ock, Venom, and Green Goblin (or in season three's case Hobgoblin ... or maybe both, with you guys we never know). Any chance we could see more of the other enemies too, like Hammerhead, the Shocker, Silver Sable and/or Molten Man?

Alex writes...

Hey Greg! I absoloutely love TSSM, and I would just like to know, do you have any HUGE plans for Spidey Villians such as Ock, Venom, etc in a 3rd season? That's if we do get a 3rd + season though, which I hope we will.

Thanks, Greg!

Steven writes...

Hi Greg, just want to say that the job you guys did on Spectacular Spider-Man( I remembered the hyphen ) was awesome. I've seen all the 26 episodes so I have one question.

I thought you were pretty good as Donald Menken. Definitely your best voice over work since "Nice Mask." But how did it come about that you were cast as Donald? Was it a budget thing or were you just messing around in the booth and someone thought you'd be perfect for it?

Martin writes...

Another question (they just pop up in my head). Is the Cletus guy in "Reinforcement" really Cletus Kasady? Because I heard that you dont like Carnage. Does this means that given another season(s), we wont see Carnage?

Ralde writes...

If you were to continue with a season 3 of spider-man, would you incorporate some of the more current Spider-Man storyline such as Dark Reign and the post-Brand New Day stories?

Arthur Jr. writes...

Hey Greg, to follow up on someone's question revolving around Beetle, he first fought the Fantastic Four in "Strange Tales" #123 before fighting Spider-Man in later issues. The Ultimate Marvel version of Beetle is depicted as a mercenary for the Latverians who had recently captured Venom to give to the Latverians. Though in the "Ultimate Spider-Man" video game, he was collecting "samples" to give to Doctor Doom (revealed in the special edition's concept art) for some Super-Soldier plot. The video game had Beetle already obtaining a vial of sand that came from the Ultimate Marvel version of Sandman.

As for Rose, the first one was Richard Fisk (you might know him as the Kingpin's son). The second one was a police officer named Sergeant Blume. The third one was a Daily Bugle reporter named Jacob Conover (who was loyal to Don Fortunado for saving his life earlier). If you plan Rose, how would you pull it off since you weren't able to afford the use of Richard's father for this series?

In a follow-up to my "Marvel Team-Up" comment, Spider-Man starred in most of the issues where he worked with heroes like the Fantastic Four, Namor, the X-Men, Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Doctor Strange, Hulk, Daredevil, Black Widow, Nick Fury, Tigra, Ghost Rider, Paladin, Hank Pym, Wasp, Falcon, Hercules, Howard the Duck, Ka-Zar, and even Doctor Doom to name a few. Though in one issue, Spider-Man worked with the cast of "Saturday Night Live" to fight Silver Samurai. If "The Spectacular Spider-Man" is successful and there are other season, there should be a season based on it where Spider-Man meets other heroes. I had this brought up since an interview you were in stated that Captain America wasn't defrosted yet, Tony Stark never was captured by terrorists yet, the Fantastic Four never got exposed to the cosmic radiation in the Van Allen belt yet, Professor X never founded the X-Men yet, and Donald Blake hasn't stumbled on a disguised Mjolnir yet. If you'd like, you can brush up on Spider-Man's various Team-Ups through this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvel_Team-Up

Dean writes...

I've become quite a fan of Spectacular Spider-Man recently, and would like to thank you for a great show. One thing that worries me though is it's future. If the show isn't picked up for a third season, would you consider continuing the story using the format of comic books, similar to what you have done with Gargoyles?

Roddy writes...

Question about "Accomplies" and Roderick Kingsley. Is this realy him or his brother? Because during the bidding, he acts like Roderick, but then, when he arrives to take the chip he's more like Daniel (I mean scared and stuff). Not to mention that in the closing credits it says only KINGSLEY. So which Kingsley we saw, Mr. Weisman?