New "Ultimate Spider-Man" Animated Series Coming to Disney XD For Fall 2011? - Part 3

[SpaceWay2009]

7th episode, actually.

[WOLVERINE25TH]

Watched today's on a lark. At least the manic behavior was curbed tremendously from the premier. There were a couple funny jokes, although the Spidey vs. Hulk moments were a little too Looney Tunes for my taste (two different kinds of comedy, not interchangeable).

Will this be enough to get me to watch regularly? Doubt it. I like the animation, but the way the show is approached is really putting me off. And I'm surprised at that considering both Dini and Man of Action are attached. Now, if it was JUST Bendis, I'd believe it easily.

[dodgers2213]

Meh episode, I've seen a better Hulk doing cooler things in EMH. This hulk did nothing special in this episode
I was happy to see no chibi Spiderman crap or excessive cutaway gags

[craigdbfan]

I really enjoyed this episode. I hadn't seen an episode since the first two but I really liked this one with the Hulk.

There were some really great moments between Peter/Spidey and MJ.

[Sebastos]

Latest episode was great.

[Swordmaster]

Best episode of the show so far, which wasn't really saying much. Wasn't dreadful, though, so it's a step up. Was not a fan of how slim Hulk was, though.

[rogue trooper]

Not since one of the episodes of "Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends" had we seen Spidey and The Hulk together in tv animation, and in that one they really didn't have any significant screen time together. I very much enjoyed the unsteady team-up!!

[<(o_o)>]

Originally Posted by Swordmaster

Best episode of the show so far, which wasn't really saying much. Wasn't dreadful, though, so it's a step up. Was not a fan of how slim Hulk was, though.

He mostly looked like he was based off of the 2003 Hulk design especially in the face.

[Scarecrow_King]

This episode annoyed the hell out of me. uh, how many times did Spider-Man swing Mary Jane out of danger, just to have her jump back into it? Learn your lesson, *****. Plus the stupid news report camera the entire ****ing episode. And some of the most repetitive "I'm not a menace! The Hulk is actually a good guy!" dialogue ever.

And where exactly was the rest of the "team?" Something as big as the Hulk tearing up Manhattan, you'd think they would've at least shown up when Fury did.

One of the better episodes, but still utter ****.

[Lunar_Wolf]

This episode wasn't too bad.

No team mates made it better from the get go.

Hulk's didn't look great, but I enjoyed this take on him nonetheless.

Peter and MJ shared a nice moment or two which made this show actually feel like a Spider-Man show.

I didn't like the camera POV.

Spider-Man showing off constantly in front of the camera while people were in danger, bugged me, no pun intended.

This show suffers from character overload. I mean how long has it been since we saw Nova?, Coulson?, Aunt May? Too many central characters with no purpose and too much of a gap time between appearances. This was the first real MJ appearance and probably the last for a few episodes. The show needs to narrow down on some characters and develop them; show Harry being tempted with the Venom, show me the other team members struggling with life, show me Aunt May dealing with the loss of Ben etc

[AF3619]

Originally Posted by Iron Fist

Latest episode was great.

I think because it was Spiderman with no team except for the Hulk , you know what i mean , i hope to see more spiderman solo episodes

[Dread]

"ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN" is now 7 episodes deep, and it might be a fair statement that the show has gradually improved in every episode. The pilot was dreadfully atrocious, with the second episode only slightly better. The previous episode and this one, however, bring things up to the level of "average". This episode, "EXCLUSIVE", succeeds mostly because the format reduces the amount of nerve wrackling, tone shattering animation antics the show can do, which keeps the story mostly grounded.

Spoiler!!! Click to Read!:

In this show, Mary-Jane Watson (Tara Strong) is the one who seeks a journalism career at the Daily Bugle, not Peter Parker. That not only flies in the face of the comics, but in every media adaptation ever. Quite why this show has chosen to do so is a mystery. I presume that because Peter/Spidey is busy with SHIELD, they decided tacking on a career as a freelance photographer would be a bit much. Or, they decided Nick Fury would be wary of allowing someone with media ties to enter a top secret agency like SHIELD. Or, the show's writers and producers could think of nothing else to do with MJ in a show where Spidey doesn't rely on her or Harry as much for the supporting cast as this one, so it gives her something to do. At any rate, it was while looking at the credits at the start of the episode that I perhaps gleamed why this show is the way it is - too many cooks in the kitchen. The sheer volume of producers, executive producers, consulting producers, story editors, writers, and so on numbers more than the starting line on a football team. While many TV shows are like this, this show seems to be more so than others - which may explain the lack of focus, vision, or consistent tone. This is a show where an entire TEAM of some 4-6 writers are collectively considered a single producer/editor/whatever.

At any rate, this show sees MJ attempt to win a contest to become part of the Daily Bugle - a plot we've seen done better by Spidey in "SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN". Of course, every plot in this show was done better by that. In any case, this means the gimmick of the episode is 90% of it was filmed from her camera and her POV. This means there are less moments where Spidey freezes the show sitcom style, no Spider Angels or Devils, no weird fantasy moments, and the episode is FORCED to maintain a consistent tone. And guess what? It works a lot better that way. That isn't to say this is a masterwork; just a work which is more consistent from start to finish. I'd argue one of the most annoying parts was MJ's "sign on" at the start; there's some Brian M. Bendis dialogue translated to the small screen, folks - ain't it "innovative"?

The plot is basic, as they all are. MJ scores an "exclusive" interview with Spider-Man, which if memory serves came up in "VENOM". What was that about Jeph Loeb hating shows with continuity? Oh, that's right, I think he just hates shows with continuity which he himself didn't exclusively produce from the inception. At any rate, despite the disapproval of his SHIELD chums, Spider-Man does give her an interview. Unfortunately, in the middle of it the Hulk (played by Fred Tatasciore as usual) bounds into Midtown and starts his usual smashing. While Spider-Man is unable to stop or reason with the lug, he eventually figures out that the Hulk is really battling an "invisible energy monster" - Zzzaxx (or however it is spelled), who is only visible via night-vision lenses or when he absorbs enough energy. A villain with this gimmick may have seemed more amusing if Living Laser hadn't done it in "IRON SPIDER", and this continues the trend of no actual Spider-Man villains appearing besides Venom (Norman Osborn and Doc Ock are just background plotters for now). Spider-Man has to cooperate with the brutish Hulk as well as avoid getting blasted by SHIELD to stop the menace. Once the "overload him" plan is in effect and someone mentions to throw in any and every electronic device, one can guess what will happen. Fortunately, because this is a show which avoids harsh moral lessons, MJ still gets her video made and still wins the contest - albeit awkwardly.

The trend of Spider-Man having passive aggressive concerns for the lives of his friends continues to stagger me. In the pilot, Spider-Man thought noting of endangering the lives of his pals as well as his entire campus roster by encouraging a food fight with the Fearsome Four - which resulted in Harry getting zapped and hospitalized for a day or so. In this episode, Spidey makes only token attempts to get MJ out of the direct line of fire and at one point ENCOURAGES her to continue to film and risk her life even when MJ has finally had enough and wants to flee for safety. While the ending does hint at some consequences for this, it turns out alright and I don't think Peter regretted it here. While Spider-Man's jokes are more annoying than funny most of the time - and they're not helped by his tendency to attempt to oversell or explain them - the lack of crazy animation stuff is helpful. The Hulk himself is in his child-persona and has the modern Romita Sr. style character design that Spidey has; thus he's not massively huge but still very big. The camera gimmick did get somewhat annoying since the awkward cuts are by design; it seems deliberately tacked on to spice up what may have been a duller episode. Also, things may have gone smoother if the heroes suggested to the cops to employ night-vision. The plot of battling a monster nobody else could see could actually be nuanced, but this show is too simple for that so ZZzzrraaxx is visible for the final act.

At this point Drake Bell is not winning me over as Spider-Man. I think they went for TOO much of an obnoxious kids feel for the character, and the result is him being obnoxious to the audience. It reminds me of some of the awful casting choices chosen for Spidey in some recent video games. As for the Hulk, he had a few good lines but has more to do and say in "AVENGERS: EARTH'S MIGHTIEST HEROES". Without the other SHIELD heroes to balance out Spidey, his full annoyance factor is on display even without the animation antics or audience monologues. However, without that there was some occasional sense of danger, which is something this show has rarely achieved.

Overall, this is a middle of the road, grade C, 5 out of 10, 2 stars out of 4 episode like the last. While it is improvement from the pilot, that doesn't say much. This show exists to remind me that in all my criticisms of "YOUNG JUSTICE" on other forums, that show at its worst is still better than this one at its best. This episode made me feel that this show seems to genuinely wish to be like one from the 1980's, when expectations were lower and times were simpler, and where a show could destroy the 4th wall yet still be taken seriously. The problem is that the 1980's ended 23 years ago and both expectations and audiences have changed. While "BATMAN: BRAVE AND THE BOLD" also attempted to channel that "magic", it also had more wit, more successful humor and satire, and more awareness. Granted, I also lost interest in that show midway through Season 2 and never looked back. As much as I criticized "WOLVERINE & THE X-MEN", that show kept me coming back for more.

"ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN" has gotten better, but not to the degree that I'd recommend it to anyone besides the most die-hard Heroes For Hire fan. Instead it's merely become more tolerable to endure in my own attempt to watch as many episodes of this as I did of the far more horrid "SPIDER-MAN UNLIMITED" in 1999-2000 and thus maintain my "geek stamina" score. It is a show which seems to wish to introduce fans to a universe instead of characters, and often doing a dull or dumb job at both.

[Spider-Aziz]

Spider-Man Unlimited is a better show

4 episodes in was Venom, 8 episodes in will be Venom again
I hope they don't bring him back for any episode, not 12, not again

[SpaceWay2009]

Originally Posted by Lunar_Wolf

This episode wasn't too bad.

No team mates made it better from the get go.

Hulk's didn't look great, but I enjoyed this take on him nonetheless.

Peter and MJ shared a nice moment or two which made this show actually feel like a Spider-Man show.

I didn't like the camera POV.

Spider-Man showing off constantly in front of the camera while people were in danger, bugged me, no pun intended.

This show suffers from character overload. I mean how long has it been since we saw Nova?, Coulson?, Aunt May? Too many central characters with no purpose and too much of a gap time between appearances. This was the first real MJ appearance and probably the last for a few episodes. The show needs to narrow down on some characters and develop them; show Harry being tempted with the Venom, show me the other team members struggling with life, show me Aunt May dealing with the loss of Ben etc

I strongly agree. What's the point of including those characters if they aren't going to serve a purpose other than to be included in the series?

[Sebastos]

Preview for this Sunday's episode, Venom returns:

http://marvel.com/news/story/18700/ultimate_spider-man_episode_8_preview

[TheVileOne]

I thought this was a good episode. It's a quippy Spider-Man, isn't that what people want? I don't get the damage.

[Webhead2006]

Sunday's new usm was a okay episode. First it was good for not having the totally stop and cutaway moments. There was just puns and silly cheese. Which is how I rather future episodes do that. We don't need the 4th wall breaking and all that. Second a decent hulk appearance and his vo was good. Some sweet fights with hulk and spidey and the energy being. The other plot of the episode with mj doing a interview with spidey to help get folks to stop thinking he is a menace was good too. I liked we got to have a solo spidey adventure. Overall no major complaints for the episode.

[Spider-Aziz]

o_-
I still don't like adding more energy to energy man, the more I see that, the dumber it feels

[Webhead2006]

Its a sound plan hasn't spidey used that on shocker/electro before in comics?

[nogap87]

Ok episode. Far from perfect but it wasn't too eye roll-inducing. I pray to God that Drake Bell has nothing to do with Spider-man outside of this series. The only complement I can give him after 7 episodes is that he's a perfect fit for this version of Peter Parker.

[SpideyForPrez]

Originally Posted by Iron Fist

Preview for this Sunday's episode, Venom returns:

http://marvel.com/news/story/18700/ultimate_spider-man_episode_8_preview

I hate when someone writes: "I am Venom" instead of "WE are Venom". Venom is not singular, it's an alien and a host!

Don't know why that always bothers me so much.


Haven't been able to find last Sunday's Hulk episode online yet. A PM link would be greatly appreciated.

[dodgers2213]

It's annoying as all hell not to use "we". There's no excuse

[Dread]

Originally Posted by Iron Fist

Preview for this Sunday's episode, Venom returns:

http://marvel.com/news/story/18700/ultimate_spider-man_episode_8_preview

Sounds like the Venom symbiote returns and bonds with Flash Thompson, and Spidey has a cold for the episode.

Yeah, Venom calling himself "I" and not "we" is weird, but frankly if that's the ONLY dumb, illogical, silly, or inaccurate thing this episode does, we'll get off light.

Let the record show that Venom is not only the only actual Spider-Man villain to be featured as a combatable villain in this series (as well as the first), he's the only one to reoccur. Yes, Osborn and Ock are there, but they're background plotters. To think that actual Spider-Man villains being a rarity on Spidey's own show would be a thing.

[Spider-Aziz]

Originally Posted by Webhead2006

Its a sound plan hasn't spidey used that on shocker/electro before in comics?

It was sound, until he drained the energy for the whole block. And I will quote Jameson from the "Slippery Dr. Von Schlick" episode in the 60s cartoon

He coulda blown the city

[DawnWarrior]

Okay guys, you've watched more episodes than I have, so level with me: I just watched ep3, "Doomed." Is that the absolute worst episode of the show so far, or is it pretty typical fare? If it is the worst, just how much worse is it than the others?