World The Ultimate Spider-Man Animated Series Discussion Thread - Part 3

[Spider-Aziz]

I think Spectacular gets way too much love as well for the reasons you mentioned. With the benefit of hindsight, I've also come to see the that the flaws of the TAS were more prevalent than I perceived as I was enjoying its original run. There have been a few good Spider-man 'toons (S&HAF was another one), but there has never been a truly great one. It's time that changed.

I have not heard a peep about Greg Weisman before watching his show, and not only does the titular character live up to the adjective describing him in the title, the show lives up to it to, it holds very well in story telling.
It could have been greater if it had time for the rest of its story to be released, but it certainly is the only Spider-Man cartoon that is great, the rest are not even good, not even the highly admired 90s cartoon, which is at best decent.

Based on some posters here claiming that the show had improved in seasons 3 and 4, I did end up watching a handful of episodes from those seasons but imo there was NO improvement. Yes, I suppose there was less 4th wall breaking but honestly, that was the show's least problematic issue.

The characterization of Spider-Man improved, he became less of an annoying whiny wuss with asinine mistakes and obnoxiousness like he displayed in the episodes 'AWESOME', 'For Your Eye Only', and 'Hawkeye'.
The smaller appearances of White Tiger and Nova reduced their roles as annoying characters significantly.

 

[TheVileOne]

Again, not trying to sway your opinion, but the majority disagree. TSSM is not only great, it's one of the best superhero toons ever IMO...and many others.

Rated as a top-5 ever here.


Also here.

And top 10 here...

Ranked NUMBER 2 of 25 superhero TV shows all-time right here--that includes animation and live action.

And lo and behold, USM is nowhere to be found if you click through any of these links.

Rankings are just opinions.

 

[Lantern Venom]

Again, not trying to sway your opinion, but the majority disagree. TSSM is not only great, it's one of the best superhero toons ever IMO...and many others.

Rated as a top-5 ever here.


Also here.

And top 10 here...

Ranked NUMBER 2 of 25 superhero TV shows all-time right here--that includes animation and live action.

And lo and behold, USM is nowhere to be found if you click through any of these links.

I know it's popular, but the characters looked like dolls instead of people. That stopped the series from being truly great, and being abruptly ended didn't help. TAS had far superior character designs, but the animation was clunky at times, and the severe limitations on the violence hindered it even further. It also missed the mark.

USM's problem wasn't on the visual side. It might well be the most aesthetically pleasing Spider-man 'toon. Yet the show's storytelling was unfocused, so it fell short of what it could have been as well.

Don't misunderstand me. I've enjoyed all of these 'toons to varying degrees, but I wouldn't put any of them on the level of A: EMH, X-men, or Batman: TAS.

 

[PeterBenParker]

I know it's popular, but the characters looked like dolls instead of people. That stopped the series from being truly great, and being abruptly ended didn't help. TAS had far superior character designs, but the animation was clunky at times, and the severe limitations on the violence hindered it even further. It also missed the mark.

USM's problem wasn't on the visual side. It might well be the most aesthetically pleasing Spider-man 'toon. Yet the show's storytelling was unfocused, so it feel short of what it could have been as well.

Don't misunderstand me. I've enjoyed all of these 'toons to varying degrees, but I wouldn't put any of them on the level of A: EMH, X-men, or Batman: TAS.

I can agree with all of that. One of the things I've disliked about SSM was its visuals which is something I gave praise to both TAS and USM. Heck, I even liked Unlimited's style as well as TNAS. Shame either of those didn't continue and double shame that the original idea for Unlimited was nixed.

That said, SSM is still my favorite cartoon and I have a lot of love for TAS as well.

 

[ItchyWebShooter]

Rankings are just opinions.

Of course they are. I'm just trying to illustrate that you are clearly in the minority, despite what you've been trying to claim.

 

[TheVileOne]

Of course they are. I'm just trying to illustrate that you are clearly in the minority, despite what you've been trying to claim.

I'm fine being in the minority. It's still the most successful Spider-Man TV series of all time with the highest episode count.

 

[ItchyWebShooter]

Just for the record, success is defined by much more than duration but that's a whole other can of worms.

 

[ItchyWebShooter]

Just for the record, success is defined by much more than duration but that's a whole other can of worms.

Quick addendum to illustrate this point:

The Cincinnati Reds are the oldest, longest-operating team in baseball. They've been around for longer than anyone else. Does that make them to most successful? Of course not! The Yankees are the most successful team in the history of baseball.

Similar logic can be applied here although it's admittedly more subjective. The clear majority, however, still swings toward TSSM as being more successful in regards to acclaim, popularity, and favor.

 

[TheVileOne]

Just for the record, success is defined by much more than duration but that's a whole other can of worms.

What do you call Ultimate Spider-Man other than a success? Where each season the ratings just kept getting higher?

 

[Spider-Aziz]

I'm finally preparing a list of the worst episodes this show had to offer (and I'll be honest, I still enjoy the series), and I'm not yet done with season 1, but I can state with confidence that 4 episodes of this show are really bad.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

I remember the show being considerably better than what I'm watching.
How come all his team could not touch him once even while he's not using webshooters in the Sinister Six, but in a one on one session with Iron Fist he's overpowered by Danny? And it's a later episode.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

This show is hard to binge watch.

It took me a month or less to binge watch all 155 episodes of the 2003 TMNT series, even with the faults that started to appear starting with season 4, I thoroughly enjoyed watching all 7 seasons of it.

This show is a different kind of beast. The bad episodes are REALLY bad, the problems it has about misplaced 4th wall gags, Peter explaining his jokes to the audience, Spider-Man constantly bragging about being fantastic as a superhero even when he blunders, too much reliance on teammates...

I still enjoy it for what it is, there are good things to appreciate about it, but binge watching is the most difficult thing to do.

 

[Spidey_62]

This show is hard to binge watch.

It took me a month or less to binge watch all 155 episodes of the 2003 TMNT series, even with the faults that started to appear starting with season 4, I thoroughly enjoyed watching all 7 seasons of it.

This show is a different kind of beast. The bad episodes are REALLY bad, the problems it has about misplaced 4th wall gags, Peter explaining his jokes to the audience, Spider-Man constantly bragging about being fantastic as a superhero even when he blunders, too much reliance on teammates...

I still enjoy it for what it is, there are good things to appreciate about it, but binge watching is the most difficult thing to do.

Yeah, I feel ya. I think the 4th season was definitely the best one, it cuts back on the childish humor and becomes just kind of mindlessly enjoyable superhero action with not a ton of depth but is fun to watch. Even the 3rd season was mostly rough for me. Then beyond that the rest of the show is just a slog, I can't believe Marvel made it and was proud this was their first in-house Spider-Man cartoon.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

Yeah, I feel ya. I think the 4th season was definitely the best one, it cuts back on the childish humor and becomes just kind of mindlessly enjoyable superhero action with not a ton of depth but is fun to watch. Even the 3rd season was mostly rough for me. Then beyond that the rest of the show is just a slog, I can't believe Marvel made it and was proud this was their first in-house Spider-Man cartoon.

The Spider-Verse arc in season 3 is quite easy to watch.

I really wish they got a better voice than Drake Bell, he's a part of what makes it difficult to binge watch.

 

[Zant]

The Spider-Verse arc in season 3 is quite easy to watch.

I really wish they got a better voice than Drake Bell, he's a part of what makes it difficult to binge watch.

The sad thing is Drake voicing Spiderman on Avengers EMH was pretty good, but on Ultimate Spiderman its unbearable. That just sums up both shows.

I literally stopped watching the Guardians of the Galaxy show because of Starlord's beyond annoying man-child voice. Its that bad.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

The sad thing is Drake voicing Spiderman on Avengers EMH was pretty good, but on Ultimate Spiderman its unbearable. That just sums up both shows.

I literally stopped watching the Guardians of the Galaxy show because of Starlord's beyond annoying man-child voice. Its that bad.

Spider-Man appeared in 3-4 episodes of that good Avengers animated series, that helps. I still wish they were allowed to hire Josh Keaton instead.

I did not watch GotG cartoon, still uninterested.

 

[Spidey_62]

Spider-Man appeared in 3-4 episodes of that good Avengers animated series, that helps. I still wish they were allowed to hire Josh Keaton instead.

I did not watch GotG cartoon, still uninterested.

They did and Josh recorded lines for all of the episodes he appeared in but they dubbed over his lines with Drake Bell. Absolutely unnecessary and dumb. Marvel cartoons just haven't been that special since 2012.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

They did and Josh recorded lines for all of the episodes he appeared in but they dubbed over his lines with Drake Bell. Absolutely unnecessary and dumb. Marvel cartoons just haven't been that special since 2012.

I forgot that they made him record dialogue for his debut episode at least. Josh voicing Spidey and interacting with the likes of Cap and Shellhead is a dream I still hope to see realized.

 

[UltimateWebhead]

The Spider-Verse arc in season 3 is quite easy to watch.

I really wish they got a better voice than Drake Bell, he's a part of what makes it difficult to binge watch.

Exactly. The show's antics may have been more tolerable if the voice acting for Peter/Spidey was actually good. Instead he sounds like a hyper, whiny kid--so harsh on the ears.

I remember trying to watch episodes of this show and do mini-reviews...so difficult lol. Just trying to get through one episode was hard enough, forget about trying to watch multiple or binge watch. Yuck.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

The 10th anniversary of this TV show is the day Morbius gets released, this is kinda funny.

I just told this to my brother who doesn't like this show, and he expressed sympathy towards this show.

 

[TheVileOne]

This show got a bad rap. It wasn't perfect, but it told a good story over several seasons. Sometimes I think it did go too heavy on comedy and silliness, but I enjoyed Team Awesome and Spider-Man teaming up with different heroes. Also got Doc Ock as a formidable adversary.

Marvel got the TV rights back to Spider-Man and wanted to produce their own Spidey products. This was the result.

I mean we lost a lot of good Marvel shows over the years. Wolverine and the X-Men as well, which was also awesome and killed before its time. That was a greater tragedy.

 

[UltimateWebhead]

USM I think would have been a better show had they took a more balanced approach. They went so hard with the comedy. And not just that it was comedy but bad comedy, like, really bad. It made the show unwatchable. Couple that with bad writing, voice acting, direction, etc. I tried many times to sit and watch the show. Many times I found it an absolute chore to make it through one episode let alone multiple. I have not watched the final season though I've heard they improved much of what made the show intolerable. I just honestly have no desire to waste any more of my time.

 

[Herofan]

With the benefit of hindsight, I've also come to see the that the flaws of the TAS were more prevalent than I perceived as I was enjoying its original run. There have been a few good Spider-man 'toons (S&HAF was another one), but there has never been a truly great one. It's time that changed.

It occasionally is a little too kiddie or sci fi-y (though I do generally like sci fi anyways) but I think those are pretty minor flaws and it is much more impressive how all-audiences rather than kiddie it generally was, it still is a great adaptation and show.

the severe limitations on the violence hindered it even further.

I think the biggest villains (Venom, Green Goblin, Kingpin, maybe Hobgoblin) still felt intense dangerous adversaries (Vulture and Hydro-Man were also impressive) and it was impressive that the showmakers managed to portray that despite the limitations.

As I've said before, it's ironic that TSSM was a better adaptation of Ultimate Spider-Man than was USM.