The Spectacular Spider-Man Animated Series

[Pattern_Maker]

You know, the suit changing from being a dye job like Spider-Man 3 to being more like the classic symbiote suit over time was one of the better ideas. It never made sense that the symbiote would create it's own spider in the '94 series (since they didn't tie the origin to Secret Wars with Peter subconsciously taking inspiration from Julia Carpenter's Spider-Woman costume), and while the Spider-Man 3 outfit made more sense, it was pretty mediocre in design (though the black webs were a stroke of genius). This is before the spider on Venom's chest became known as the "symbol of Knull" (sorry all...I just really hate that retcon), so seeing the web pattern starting to disappear (removed from Spidey's torso in the Sinister Six episode) and the little spider on his chest start to open its legs outward to resemble the classic suit was a brilliant move.

Is it just me...or did Peter's male friends secretly hate him in this show? Eddie was pretty obvious when he became Venom and ranted about Peter having his "precious aunt and uncle" in the final episode of Season 1, but I started to notice minor things with Harry as well (like him trying to redirect attention to himself when people were shocked about Peter bringing Mary Jane to their school dance, or him getting mad at Peter for doing better than him in football tryouts).

With Harry, it was because of Norman treating him like a failure as a son and praising Peter, in his face for that matter. The parts with MJ and football were because Peter was slowing losing the nerd status that they both had.

Eddie, I think it began when Peter turned in the photos he took of his fight with the Lizard to the Daily Bugle, and then Connor's fired him (Peter). I can't remember what made Eddie hate toward Peter worsen prior to getting the symbiote though.

It's funny though, I think out all of the Spider-Man shows, and maybe media, that Spectacular showed Peter's job at the Bugle negatively impacting his life the most. He was in a situation of where he needed to make money to help Aunt May at the expense of losing his friends sometimes.

[WebSlingWonder]

With Harry, it was because of Norman treating him like a failure as a son and praising Peter, in his face for that matter. The parts with MJ and football were because Peter was slowing losing the nerd status that they both had.

Eddie, I think it began when Peter turned in the photos he took of his fight with the Lizard to the Daily Bugle, and then Connor's fired him (Peter). I can't remember what made Eddie hate toward Peter worsen prior to getting the symbiote though.

It's funny though, I think out all of the Spider-Man shows, and maybe media, that Spectacular showed Peter's job at the Bugle negatively impacting his life the most. He was in a situation of where he needed to make money to help Aunt May at the expense of losing his friends sometimes.

Eddie was always jealous of Peter like Mistah K88 said; he had his uncle and aunt while Eddie grew up alone. But he thought Peter turned out to be a decent guy, until the whole Bugle thing happened with the Lizard and the symbiote: Peter was "taking pictures" of the symbiote and it up and disappeared in Eddie's eyes, leading to the loss of funding which meant Eddie couldn't be kept on. He blamed Peter for seemingly being a decent guy but actually backstabbing him (again, from his point of view), and saw his own struggles as unfair due to his character. Really well done and subtle work by Weissman and Cook in my opinion.

[Voices From the Eyrie]

We do have an entire podcast dedicated to dissecting Spectacular Spider-Man. Odd-numbered shows feature in-depth interviews with Greg Weisman about each episode. Other guests that have been on include Vic Cook, Sean "Cheeks" Galloway, Josh Keaton, Vanessa Marshall, Ben Diskin, Andrew Robinson, Jennifer L. Anderson, Eric Vesbit, Daran Norris, Jennifer Coyle, Jamie Thomason, etc.

https://www.spidey-dude.com/category/spectacular-radio/

[Frontier]

Also was anyone else weirded out by Eddie's mouth stomach thing, i certanly was back then when i still wasn't reading comics.

I think Venom had a move like that in Marvel vs Capcom.

[TheCape]

I think Venom had a move like that in Marvel vs Capcom.

It wasn't a mouth-stomach thought, his entire upper boddy turned into giant mouth, a mouth with legs.

[PCN24454]

Eddie was always jealous of Peter like Mistah K88 said; he had his uncle and aunt while Eddie grew up alone. But he thought Peter turned out to be a decent guy, until the whole Bugle thing happened with the Lizard and the symbiote: Peter was "taking pictures" of the symbiote and it up and disappeared in Eddie's eyes, leading to the loss of funding which meant Eddie couldn't be kept on. He blamed Peter for seemingly being a decent guy but actually backstabbing him (again, from his point of view), and saw his own struggles as unfair due to his character. Really well done and subtle work by Weissman and Cook in my opinion.

Not to mention that he was about to get kicked out of college because he couldn't pay tuition. He needed a scapegoat for his problems. Classic Venom logic.

[Mistah K88]

With Harry, it was because of Norman treating him like a failure as a son and praising Peter, in his face for that matter. The parts with MJ and football were because Peter was slowing losing the nerd status that they both had.

The relationship with Peter and Norman was interesting, as Peter found Norman's praise and admiration creepy (which he mentions in season 2). I watched the first episode with my friend this past Saturday and noticed that Peter tried to kind of defend Harry and downplay himself (Things Peter said like"We help each other Mr O." and "I'm...more of a work in progress" in that first conversation we've seen between the two) Norman just twisted it to find some way to insult Harry. I will say that poor Harry almost never got a break. His dad liked Peter more than him, he had to use drugs to become popular...even his girlfriend wanted Peter (It seemed like Gwen was a hypocrite not wanting to be Peter's "runner up" but ended up pity dating Harry).

Eddie, I think it began when Peter turned in the photos he took of his fight with the Lizard to the Daily Bugle, and then Connor's fired him (Peter). I can't remember what made Eddie hate toward Peter worsen prior to getting the symbiote though.

The biggest moments were the Bugle incidents, but there were some smaller moments that would paint Peter in a negative light to Eddie, like witnessing Gwen getting upset when it appeared Peter lied to her regarding coming to their dance. Sometimes you would think Eddie was also white knighting for others (I think he went on a diatribe to Peter about him hurting others once [the Connors' and Gwen]), but when he was Venom and set his sights on destroying Peter he straight up attacked Gwen the first time and cost the Connors their control of their lab by stealing another vial of their Gene Cleanser the second go round...

It's funny though, I think out all of the Spider-Man shows, and maybe media, that Spectacular showed Peter's job at the Bugle negatively impacting his life the most. He was in a situation of where he needed to make money to help Aunt May at the expense of losing his friends sometimes.

This is an interesting point, I can't really think of many times the Bugle was a hindrance on Peter's life aside from Jonah being cheap.

[K7P5V]

It wasn't a mouth-stomach thought, his entire upper boddy turned into giant mouth, a mouth with legs.

I know, right?! IMHO, the animation quality for Spectacular Spider-Man really set a high standard...

[Speed Force League Unlimited]

Because I was bored and decided to watch something special in animation starring Spider-Man.

[Mistah K88]

After seeing Kraven again in his glory, I have mixed feelings about his mutation in the show. Is that something Kraven would do? ABSOLUTELY, but I think it was just done too early. The team behind Spectacular actually wanted to use Kraven in season 1, but Sony or Marvel said that Kraven should appear after Spider-Man gains some victories on his belt and had some notoriety...which actually makes sense and is a good call. They did have plans for Kraven specifically when it came to his mutation and those plans involved John Jameson, so one can only assume Man Wolf. It’s a shame that we will never know...

Also, this show had the best Miles Warren. Normally the Jackal is a character that I don’t care for at all, but I wanted to see more of him in this show. The blackmail scene with Curt Connors made me say “holy ****” back in the day.

[Batman Begins 2005]

I love The Spectacular Spider-Man. It's to Spider-Man as Batman: The Animated Series is to Batman. Out of all the comic book animated shows, TSSM is second only to B:TAS.

[PCN24454]

After seeing Kraven again in his glory, I have mixed feelings about his mutation in the show. Is that something Kraven would do? ABSOLUTELY, but I think it was just done too early. The team behind Spectacular actually wanted to use Kraven in season 1, but Sony or Marvel said that Kraven should appear after Spider-Man gains some victories on his belt and had some notoriety...which actually makes sense and is a good call. They did have plans for Kraven specifically when it came to his mutation and those plans involved John Jameson, so one can only assume Man Wolf. It’s a shame that we will never know...

Also, this show had the best Miles Warren. Normally the Jackal is a character that I don’t care for at all, but I wanted to see more of him in this show. The blackmail scene with Curt Connors made me say “holy ****” back in the day.

I love none of the villains felt like they were forced into the story.

Most other writers would’ve had Connors turn into the Lizard again by his second appearance.

[Pattern_Maker]

I love none of the villains felt like they were forced into the story.

One thing interesting about some of the villains is how well a bunch of them worked together and it was never them arguing that lead to Spider-Man defeating them.

Spectacular's version of the Sinister Six actually had each other's back and probably could have got the jump on Peter if it wasn't for Venom taking over his body while he was sleeping.

[Frontier]

I love none of the villains felt like they were forced into the story.

Most other writers would’ve had Connors turn into the Lizard again by his second appearance.

And didn't try and throw in every villain they possibly could like they were checking off a list like in Marvel's Spider-Man.

One thing interesting about some of the villains is how well a bunch of them worked together and it was never them arguing that lead to Spider-Man defeating them.

Spectacular's version of the Sinister Six actually had each other's back and probably could have got the jump on Peter if it wasn't for Venom taking over his body while he was sleeping.

Admittedly Peter faired better against the Six in season 2.

[TheCape]

And didn't try and throw in every villain they possibly could like they were checking off a list like in Marvel's Spider-Man.

Admittedly Peter faired better against the Six in season 2.

Well yeah, they attacked him in groups of two instead of six. Maybe because the battle in the park had then getting into eacth others way too much. Plus i think that they were supposed to be a distraction.