The Spectacular Spider-Man Animated Series

[Revolutionary_Jack]

Let me repeat what I said before,

I am fine with Spectacular Spider-Man being 2 seasons. I don't need additional 2 seasons though obviously if it happens it would have been great.

[Snoop Dogg]

Spectacular's ending is great.

[Frontier]

Spectacular ended fine, it's just the problem was there so much more they could've done than they ended up doing.

It joined the likes of Green Lantern: The Animated Series, Beware the Batman, Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, and Wolverine and the X-Men of shows that had so much more potential for future stories.

[Kaitou D. Kid]

I don't think it needs to continue either, but I'm curious how Weisman's statement that it can "never ever ever" legally happen is true now that Sony is making animated Spider-Man films, which he wanted to do anyway.

My guess is that it won't happen for reasons other than legality:

1. Sony doesn't think TSSM animated films would be as profitable as what ITSV is making.

2. TSSM films would adapt a lot of the same stories and villains as the MCU Spider-Man films and might therefore hurt the live-action films.

[Frontier]

I mean, nothing necessarily needs to continue but I feel like Spec has more reason to continue than other shows because it was pretty clear the creators weren't done.

[Spidey_62]

Honestly the thing the show with the less satisfying end was the MTV one lol (it's good, it's just way more of a bummer than Spectacular's), I wish that would get picked up again in fantasy land but it's probably the same kind of problem Spectacular has.

[Mistah K88]

I don't think it needs to continue either, but I'm curious how Weisman's statement that it can "never ever ever" legally happen is true now that Sony is making animated Spider-Man films, which he wanted to do anyway.

My guess is that it won't happen for reasons other than legality:

1. Sony doesn't think TSSM animated films would be as profitable as what ITSV is making.

2. TSSM films would adapt a lot of the same stories and villains as the MCU Spider-Man films and might therefore hurt the live-action films.

I'm not sure about that last point...Spectacular has already covered the bases that the MCU has yet to reach (Flash, Osborn family, Doc Ock, Sinister Six, Venom, etc). MAYBE Scorpion is in the cards for the MCU, but I'm sure it will have nothing to do with J. Jonah Jameson in comparison to Spectacular, in which I see Jonah DEFINITLEY being involved with how his son ended up in the series. The MCU already wasted Hydro-Man in Far From Home as one of Mysterio's illusions. Also you know good and well that MCU Ned will NOT be a Hobgoblin. A lot of the storylines and villains that I see Spectacular using require a set up of established characters and themes (which they have done) where the MCU still has to establish those themes and characters.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

The Spectacular Spider-Man in terms of a series on high school Spider-Man with a serialized longform story of interlinked arcs was fully achieved at the end of Season 2. The only way forward is to send Peter at college which I don't believe Weisman had planned for Season 3.

All the story arcs set up at Season 1
-- Green Goblin is Norman Osborn mystery.
-- Harry Osborn and Peter's toxic friendship.
-- Peter and Gwen's on-off relationship.

They all got a resolution, not a positive happy resolution granted but one entirely true to how those characters evolved in the comics at the time. And considering that Quesada (who had control and overview on the animation department until his recent demotion) was adamant about featuring High School Spider-Man exclusively going forward there was no way Disney/Marvel would have allowed Weisman to continue in any form. If Weisman returns to Spectacular's continuity under Disney it would in effect retouch and revisit the things he established and not break new ground.

As for whether Spectacular is the BTAS of Spider-Man cartoons, I would say that it has shown much skill, but it's not Jedi.
--Batman the Animated Series, especially in concert with TNBA, Batman Beyond and later JLU and the movies...that is a complete adaptation of Batman, you watch that and you would say "That's all of it, every variation, crinkle, and beat of Batman his supporting cast, and his major villains is covered here".
-- Whereas Spectacular Spider-Man is merely an adaptation of Peter in high school when the vast overwhelming majority of his stories feature him as an adult. The complete adaptation of Spider-Man would theoretically take Peter on a Life Story-esque trajectory, (1 season of high school, 2 seasons of college, 1 season of grad school, and last two seasons of marriage). The only adaptation that shows Peter with any amount of completeness are the two Peters we see in ITSV.

On the whole, I think we should simply say about Spectacular, "It was too good to last" and we also need to accept that traditional superhero animation for TV is for the forseeable future a done thing. Maybe someday it will be back, who knows.

I don't think it needs to continue either, but I'm curious how Weisman's statement that it can "never ever ever" legally happen is true now that Sony is making animated Spider-Man films, which he wanted to do anyway.

1) Weisman probably doesn't have the agent, the resume, and the contacts to work in the ITSV level playing field. He's spent all his career on TV animation and writing, and he's always been "cult level" and not mainstream. If anyone at TV has a chance to convince Sony to do these kind of animation it would be Bruce Timm.

2) The Sony animated Spider-Man films is going to be its own thing and not something that seeks to be tied to a cartoon show that went off the air in the 2000s.

[Frontier]

I think the show wraps up satisfactorily in its own right, but wouldn't you have wanted them to take on more of the mythos then they got to do? When they obviously already had ideas to do so? They didn't seem to have trouble adapting college stuff for Peter's high school years, so I don't think that would've been an issue with season 3.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

I think the show wraps up satisfactorily in its own right, but wouldn't you have wanted them to take on more of the mythos then they got to do?

Not if they weren't going to send the characters to college and age them.

If there is to be a sequel I want it to be the TNBA to Spectacular's BTAS. TNBA used the break to age up characters and create changes and maintain a sense of time passing.

They didn't seem to have trouble adapting college stuff for Peter's high school years, so I don't think that would've been an issue with season 3.

Adapting college to high school stuff makes sense if you plan to eventually age up Peter and you want to foreground stuff that would be important over a longer period of time but if they are going to keep doing that then it'll get Smallville very soon very fast.

I am forgiving Spectcular plenty for being the first Spider-Man cartoon in high school, as it is...which through no fault on its own over the last decade has beent this moustrap jammed shut on Spider-Man, leaving him eternally writhing and struggling past his teenage years.

[Frontier]

Not if they weren't going to send the characters to college and age them.

If there is to be a sequel I want it to be the TNBA to Spectacular's BTAS. TNBA used the break to age up characters and create changes and maintain a sense of time passing.

Adapting college to high school stuff makes sense if you plan to eventually age up Peter and you want to foreground stuff that would be important over a longer period of time but if they are going to keep doing that then it'll get Smallville very soon very fast.

I am forgiving Spectcular plenty for being the first Spider-Man cartoon in high school, as it is...which through no fault on its own over the last decade has beent this moustrap jammed shut on Spider-Man, leaving him eternally writhing and struggling past his teenage years.

I mean, they were planning to age him in real time and send him off to college so I feel like it's a moot point.

I guess they theoretically could do a time-skip for a revival, because Weisman now loves his time skips .

[Mistah K88]

Adapting college to high school stuff makes sense if you plan to eventually age up Peter and you want to foreground stuff that would be important over a longer period of time but if they are going to keep doing that then it'll get Smallville very soon very fast.

Eh time was clearly passing in Spectacular. If they were going to keep him in high school forever they wouldn’t have done the combination of both making sure seasons, holidays, and birthdays pass, as well as made sure to note they were in a specific year of high school. While he wouldn’t have gone to college in the series as they planned to have the final episode of the 5 season series take place during his high school graduation, we definitely wouldn’t have one of those situations where there’s 5 Christmas themed episodes but the characters still are in the same year the series began.

[Kaitou D. Kid]

Weisman talked multiple times how the last episode of the show would have been Peter's graduation and then the series would have continued through direct-to-video animated films like Bruce Timm's.

I'm not sure about that last point...Spectacular has already covered the bases that the MCU has yet to reach (Flash, Osborn family, Doc Ock, Sinister Six, Venom, etc). MAYBE Scorpion is in the cards for the MCU, but I'm sure it will have nothing to do with J. Jonah Jameson in comparison to Spectacular, in which I see Jonah DEFINITLEY being involved with how his son ended up in the series. The MCU already wasted Hydro-Man in Far From Home as one of Mysterio's illusions. Also you know good and well that MCU Ned will NOT be a Hobgoblin. A lot of the storylines and villains that I see Spectacular using require a set up of established characters and themes (which they have done) where the MCU still has to establish those themes and characters.

They're pulling from the same source material, though (616). I know that so is ITSV, technically, but that one is primarily fixated on Spider-Verse stuff while both the MCU and TSSM are focused on the daily life of Peter Parker.

[Spidey_62]

That tag on the back of his shirt probably would have been tucked in on episode 65 as well haha. I remember reading that once.

It's funny thinking about how no Spidey show has done that transition from high school to college. It's always one way or the other. Even the 90s show started with him in college and he stayed in college through the end despite being married and feeling a lot older than he probably was.

[Mistah K88]

Spectacular is one of the only Spider-Man series that I know of where the “It’s Always Spring” (with the exception of a Christmas episode) trope didn’t seem to apply. As the Mysterio and the Kraven episode had snow but took place before Christmas.

That tag on the back of his shirt probably would have been tucked in on episode 65 as well haha. I remember reading that once.

It's funny thinking about how no Spidey show has done that transition from high school to college. It's always one way or the other. Even the 90s show started with him in college and he stayed in college through the end despite being married and feeling a lot older than he probably was.

Did Peter graduate High School in the Ultimate cartoon? I have heard people say it happened, but it was never really clear.