
And I remember a sort of "reverse" in "Young Justice" when they gave a spider-themed assassin a few "Spiderman" echoes in his dialogue.
Todd Jensen
posted @ Sun, Oct 13, 2024 7:36:48 pm EDT from 68.99.93.213
A Station Eight Fan Web Site
And I remember a sort of "reverse" in "Young Justice" when they gave a spider-themed assassin a few "Spiderman" echoes in his dialogue.
Todd Jensen
posted @ Sun, Oct 13, 2024 7:36:48 pm EDT from 68.99.93.213
Meant that to say Todd Jensen.
Antiyonder
posted @ Sun, Oct 13, 2024 5:29:15 am EDT from 68.119.3.1
676e0d> Also her last name Drew. Which is interesting cause Black Cat was originally to be the enemy of the original Spider-Woman Jessica Drew.
Antiyonder
posted @ Sun, Oct 13, 2024 5:28:35 am EDT from 68.119.3.1
A couple of other small thoughts on those last few episodes (and I'm going to need to watch them again; I realized when reading Matthew's commentary that I'd completely forgotten about Molten Man).
1. I remember smiling about Felicia's alias being "Selena"; the reference was an obvious one, and quite cheeky.
2. One of the little highlights of the final episode was the Osoorns' butler addressing the group: "Mr. Osborn. Master Osborn. Spiderman," as if the friendly neighborhood webslinger's presence in the room is an everyday occurrence.
Todd Jensen
posted @ Sat, Oct 12, 2024 8:28:43 pm EDT from 68.99.93.213
Carumbo- No, thank you. I wouldn't have thought about ranking the episodes on continuity if you hadn't done it with Gargoyles.
As for the relationships, this is a bit tricky. Greg mentioned Peter and MJ were endgame material and I also heard that Greg wasn't going to do "The Night Gwen Stacy Died" storyline. But here's where things get tricky. There are more than a few websites that state Greg wasn't going to kill off Gwen, what I can't find is any official word from the man himself saying he won't, it's all been unverified. Maybe that's something I should've asked about when last I saw him, I don't know.
But if was only in my previous rewatch that I saw that while Peter and Gwen are certainly cute together and are complimentary, Gwen herself is really passive when it comes to being open with her feelings. Yes, she does kiss him in the season 1 finale, but then she expects him to take the initiative with everything else. Even Mary Jane points out this isn't going to work because Peter's caught up in his own confusion over the kiss and he's also easily distracted. In the end I think their relationship would ultimately be a case of "wanting is better than having."
It's hard to gage that properly I'll grant you with just two seasons. But I think there's a good case for Peter and MJ. She's established in her second appearance that she's not interested in serious relationships, much like her comic counterpart. She dates but in a very no strings attached sort of way. But that changes when she and Mark both get closer to each other with their "not-relationship." And that's why she's so heartbroken when she can't stop Mark from backsliding into gambling nor stop him from turning into a supervillain. Combine that with her trying to push Gwen and Peter together when he was still dating Liz and Liz's life going down the drain at the end of the season...
Let's just say I think the events of the second season would end up pushing Peter and Mary Jane into being a bit more mature on how they handle relationships.
Oh, and Peter did briefly interact with Debra Whitman. But she's also depicted as being notable older than him (like with Betty) and mostly ignored him.
Matthew the Fedora Guy
Ain't nothing crazy 'bout me but my brain!
posted @ Sat, Oct 12, 2024 2:45:17 am EDT from 135.180.3.149
Fedora Guy - Kudos for completing the historical ratings.
The main thing I'd like to know about Greg's future plans for SpecSpidey is what were his long-term intentions about Gwen: on the one hand, her death is only slightly less iconic than Uncle Ben's, so it's hard to believe Weisman wouldn't try to tackle it at some point, one way or another - but on the other hand the show seems to present her (as far as I remember, so please correct me if I'm wrong) as Peter's only "serious" love interest among the several they introduce:
1)Betty is there, but the romance with Peter never actually starts - he hits on her a few times and that's it, with Ned Leeds being quickly established as her actual love interest.
2)Peter and Liz do get together, but that relationship is an unmitigated disaster from beginning to end.
3)Black Cat is there, but her and Peter never go beyond some light flirting (and she only appears a couple of times anyway).
4)MJ gets a comic-accurate introduction, but I don't think her and Peter ever go beyond a single date, and in Season 2 in particular she's busy with Molten Man.
5)Debra Whitman... exists; I don't remember, does she even get any interactions with Peter?
Gwen, on the other hand, is shown from the start as "the one that was always there if only Peter would notice her"; Season 1 ends with her and Peter kissing, and by the end of Season 2 they'd be ready to start an actual romance if it weren't for the various Goblin & Son shenanigans happening.
In short, the show seemed to be building towards them being each other's one and only, Goliath & Elisa style - so I wonder if Greg was going to say "screw the original canon, this is my adaptation and I can do what I want" or if he was going to somehow adapt the "Night Gwen Stacy Died" story and then make Mary Jane the main love interest; at the moment, I lean towards the former option, but what do you all think?
CarumboZabumbo
Noi siamo le creature della notte! Noi siamo... i Gargoyles!
posted @ Fri, Oct 11, 2024 7:04:58 am EDT from 87.14.155.211
Well this animated show looks interesting.
Jentry Chau vs the Underworld:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcZEh6NVcd0
On Netflix December 5th.
Antiyonder
posted @ Fri, Oct 11, 2024 2:10:44 am EDT from 68.119.3.1
MATTHEW - I noticed the reverse colors for Oberon and Titania as well - and I thought it truly appropriate that of Titania's four attendants, the one who specifically got into the play was Cobweb. One of those really appropriate allusions (another was at the end of Season One, with Venom writing "Guess Who?" in one of his webs. I'm certain that was intended as a nod to "Charlotte's Web". It makes you wonder what other classic spider stories would have gotten referred to if we'd gotten more seasons.) And Puck being linked to the Green Goblin feels also fitting, given that "Hobgoblin" was one of his nicknames, mentioned in the play (alongside Robin Goodfellow).
Todd Jensen
posted @ Thu, Oct 10, 2024 10:50:23 pm EDT from 68.99.93.213
Thanks, Todd. How the school adapted the play is one of my favorite bits of worldbuilding in the series, such as Glory's Cobbweb and Hobie's Puck being based on Spider-Man and Green Goblin respectively. Or the neat detail of Oberon and Titania's makeup being a reversed coloration of Gargoyles' Fairy King and Queen.
Matthew the Fedora Guy
Ain't nothing crazy 'bout me but my brain!
posted @ Thu, Oct 10, 2024 10:38:22 pm EDT from 135.180.3.149
MATTHEW - Thanks for the final instalment. I'll have to rewatch my DVD set of the series to refresh myself on a lot of the elements you mentioned.
Todd Jensen
posted @ Thu, Oct 10, 2024 8:34:24 am EDT from 68.99.93.213
Kind of slow this week, understandable all things considered.
But here's the last arc of the Spectacular Spider-Man, Drama 101. For the sake of fairness, I'm less judging this on the qualities of how it sets up the future (because we have no idea how things turn out) but rather a mix of what it sets up and how things wrap up.
Subtext- 8/10. The first part of the trilogy starts off pretty big with Goblin's takeover of the criminal underworld, Mark's tragic fall into villainy, Professor Warren happily jumping into villainy, and the beginning of the end of Peter and Liz's relationship. In a nice little call back to the first encounter with Electro, Spidey tries to stop the conflict the moment he finds out Molten Man is Mark and only really goes on the offensive once it becomes clear Mark isn't going to stop.
The other big conflict is the more personal one between Liz and MJ, it wasn't brought up but MJ was obviously trying to play matchmaker between Peter and Gwen and that has made things more than a little tense between them. This trial by fire and both of them trying to keep Mark from making things worse at least buries the hatchet for them. This whole arc is incredibly unkind to Liz and to have it start by her older brother turning into a supervillain is pretty heavy.
Opening Night- 10/10. We finally get to the promised performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream that's been built up since "First Steps" at it's pretty fun seeing which of the supporting cast of the show end up playing the main cast of the play. And after getting interrupted for the whole season, Hobie finally gets to talk and gets the last line of the episode. I do have to question Pete's wisdom of agreeing to test the Vault's security on the same night, especially considering his girlfriend is in it.
The decision to have Walter Hardy be the one who killed Uncle Ben (even unintentionally) was an inspired choice because it brings a lot of depths to a no-name character whose sole purpose is to push Peter into becoming a proper hero. It casts the Cat Burglar, a minor character whose most noteworthy thing about him being Black Cat's father, into a repentant con. And his decision to stay behind and Peter's decision not to forgive him cast a dark future for Cat as her and Spider-Man's relationship turns from flirtatious to hostile. There's a lot set up here that I wish we got to see more of; the Enforcers have no problem switching to Silvermane's side, Mark is now incarcerated and part of the system and Walter is left in the prison with a bunch of inmates who almost certainly want to get back at him for thwarting their attempt on Spider-Man.
Final Curtain- 10/10. You know, it's episode titles like this or "Endgame" that just invite early cancellation. This one closes out the season and finally puts an end to the mystery of the Green Goblin. I did like that Goblin took a page from Tombstone and used proxies until he felt the need to reveal himself personally, and that was only before he took precautions to keep the wallcrawler guessing, and to keep the audience guessing as well.
There's a strong sense of tragedy to this as Peter ends up breaking up with Liz and while it's meant to be in service to Gwen and Peter's now spoken affection for each other, the episode really frames the break-up with Liz as it being unfair for her. This episode also really shows the fullness of Harry's downward arc as a character. There were only hints that underneath his friendship with Gwen and Peter that there were problems with his attitude, but the end with him unwilling to see the monster his father was while manipulating Gwen to stay with him. Maybe if the show continued and if Harry got worse, we'd see that the fakeout of him in the Goblin costume was just a preview of things to come.
It is unfortunate that the series came to an end when it did because there's so many more avenues to explore. Norman still alive and no doubt planning his comeback, the Connors leaving for Florida with the lab now firmly in control of Miles Warren, who undoubtedly developed a taste for making supervillains. There's another vacuum in the criminal underworld, Mysterio and Chameleon are still on the loose, with the latter knowing a lot about Osborn's little secret. Gwen's now stuck in a bad relationship and Peter and MJ both dealing with bad breakups.
This concludes the Spectacular Spider-Man episode rankings. Someday I hope we can see the production bible of the show. But for now, there's always reruns.
Matthew the Fedora Guy
Ain't nothing crazy 'bout me but my brain!
posted @ Thu, Oct 10, 2024 4:24:38 am EDT from 135.180.3.149
I hope that any of you in Central Florida are taking good care of yourselves right now.
My local comic shop opened up preorders for the Winter Special on Monday, which was awfully good to see. Yey for progress, or something.
morrand - [morrand276 at gmail dot com]
posted @ Wed, Oct 9, 2024 7:46:21 pm EDT from 99.74.15.252
Fourth.
Matt - If we don't get a cover in the next couple of days, I think we can prepare for the next change of date; the fact that we already have a cover for the Winter Special may be indicative of what's actually coming out next.
CarumboZabumbo
Noi siamo le creature della notte! Noi siamo... i Gargoyles!
posted @ Wed, Oct 9, 2024 2:52:33 pm EDT from 87.14.155.211
It's Wednesday. Somebody's got to claim third.
Phil - [p1anderson at yahoo dot com]
posted @ Wed, Oct 9, 2024 10:29:38 am EDT from 50.192.123.171
Second.
Fresh October brings the pheasant,
Then to gather nuts is pleasant.
From "The Garden Year" by Sara Coleridge
Todd Jensen
posted @ Mon, Oct 7, 2024 8:34:30 am EDT from 68.99.93.213
First!
Feel like we need a preview of #4 or something this week.
Matt
"And, thus, given no choice, we waited..." - Alesand, "The Reach"
posted @ Mon, Oct 7, 2024 8:30:03 am EDT from 204.184.178.1