The Spectacular Spider-Man Animated Series

[Kevinroc]

Deb was "crazy." She was a secretary at the biophysics department at ESU. She was able to figure out Peter was Spider-Man (which makes her smarter than most people Peter interacts with), but was later convinced that this was a sign that she was delusional.

(Comics have... a bad history with how they write out love interests.)

[Lukmendes]

Deb was "crazy." She was a secretary at the biophysics department at ESU. She was able to figure out Peter was Spider-Man (which makes her smarter than most people Peter interacts with), but was later convinced that this was a sign that she was delusional.

(Comics have... a bad history with how they write out love interests.)

Was pretty ridiculous that a therapist said to Peter that he must show up to her, be dressed as Spider-Man and unmask, and the shock would make her go back to normal. Peter said this was a ridiculous from comic books, but later decided to reveal his secret identity to her, and then she went back to normal and moved out of the city. Yeah, comic books lol.

[Mistah K88]

With Harry, It could honestly be argued that he's in those classes because of his monetary status... Speaking of the Osborn family, I'm very curious to know what was her deal?



They kept Emily alive because they felt that out of the trio, the one who's single parent didn't need to be alone was Harry (which is funny as they decided Gwen was the one who's mom had to be alive in Amazing Spider-Man), now granted...I do think that a large part of Emily being here is that Norman had to "die" in the series. However they did have plans for her... Do we know anything about her in comics or is she a blank slate? I have a feeling she knew of her husband's extra curricular activities.

[Frontier]

With Harry, It could honestly be argued that he's in those classes because of his monetary status... Speaking of the Osborn family, I'm very curious to know what was her deal?



They kept Emily alive because they felt that out of the trio, the one who's single parent didn't need to be alone was Harry (which is funny as they decided Gwen was the one who's mom had to be alive in Amazing Spider-Man), now granted...I do think that a large part of Emily being here is that Norman had to "die" in the series. However they did have plans for her... Do we know anything about her in comics or is she a blank slate? I have a feeling she knew of her husband's extra curricular activities.

I don't think it's ever been clearly defined, but it seems like her death is part of what messed Norman (and as a byproduct Harry) up so much.

[KCJ506]

I still think it's a shame how a great show like this gets dismissed by some people simply because they don't like it's art style and assume it's for kids only because of it. And if someone actually has arguments that's not about the art, they often just try to compare everything to Spider-man TAS and not judge the show by it's own merits.

And in regards to Emily Osborn, IIRC Greg Weisman said in an interview that she was just as bad as Norman is. And that after his "death", her true personality would have emerged. He wanted her to be voiced by the actress that voiced Demona in Gargoyles.

[Master Planner]

Sometimes i wish that Weisman could release in public all the plans he had for this show, especially the Hobgoblin introduction. Hell,he manage to use the Green Goblin mystery and made many people doubt about Norman Osborn being the Green Goblin. Also,as a Doc Ock fanboy,this show probably did the best with Otto in any medium outside of comics.

[Mistah K88]

Deb was "crazy." She was a secretary at the biophysics department at ESU. She was able to figure out Peter was Spider-Man (which makes her smarter than most people Peter interacts with), but was later convinced that this was a sign that she was delusional.

(Comics have... a bad history with how they write out love interests.)

It's funny, Debra is one of those girls that they seem to kind of write off her ever having a relationship with Peter... in the 90's animated series she had no attraction to Peter; and I don't see her having one in this series provided it were to continue, as she is a graduate student in her early 20's while Peter is 16 going on 17. I DO however wonder who they would have gotten to voice her, as normally the go to for a black female voice is Cree Summer, who is already voicing Glory. Debra Whitman was one of the characters who had her race changed in this series.

I still think it's a shame how a great show like this gets dismissed by some people simply because they don't like it's art style and assume it's for kids only because of it. And if someone actually has arguments that's not about the art, they often just try to compare everything to Spider-man TAS and not judge the show by it's own merits.

Yeah, I'm an odd case who actually likes the art style...then again I also preferred most of The New Batman Adventures sleek designs over Batman the Animated Series designs (give or take a couple exceptions [why Riddler...why?!]). I think the stylization gave the show its own identity...which I feel more superhero animated series need to do...as while I like Phil Bourassa's art style, when every DC animated property uses it (especially when not in the same continuity) it starts to lose it's uniqueness. Interestingly, that almost happened with Timm's DCAU designs when they used it for an unrelated project (Brainiac Attacks).

Though it would be interesting to see the character designs used when they don't have the restrictions of them having to actually move.

And in regards to Emily Osborn, IIRC Greg Weisman said in an interview that she was just as bad as Norman is. And that after his "death", her true personality would have emerged. He wanted her to be voiced by the actress that voiced Demona in Gargoyles.

This is actually interesting to me, and a nice change of pace from the abusive father, docile mother trope. Since Norman doesn't have the excuse of Emily's death to kind of explain his cold behavior and indifference toward Harry, I can see Emily being kind of a jerk too. She didn't seem concerned when Norman told Harry that football wasn't his strong point, and didn't show up at Harry's play (we knew where Norman was, and why Harry was missing, but Emily had no such blockades to keep her from going to Harry's school for the play...probably didn't even realize that he was "missing"). I'm definitely curious to know where they would go with her. We know Norman had to "die" in order to make room for the Hobgoblin in Season 3, so she would be Harry's primary parent until Norman's eventual return. I do still think she was in on her husband trying to muscle his way into organized crime...and someone has to keep Norman up to date while he's incognito, especially with someone like the Hobgoblin ripping him off.

[Frontier]

I still think it's a shame how a great show like this gets dismissed by some people simply because they don't like it's art style and assume it's for kids only because of it. And if someone actually has arguments that's not about the art, they often just try to compare everything to Spider-man TAS and not judge the show by it's own merits.

Frankly, comparing this show to Ultimate Spider-Man and Marvel's Spider-Man, I think this show's character designs and animation still stands out on top.

But that's just me...

[KCJ506]

Frankly, comparing this show to Ultimate Spider-Man and Marvel's Spider-Man, I think this show's character designs and animation still stands out on top.

But that's just me...

Eh that's fair. I never was too picky about visuals myself. I just think the people I mentioned were kinda spoiled by TAS's art style and don't seem to understand while it resembled the comic look, it's actual animation suffered as a result with it's slow and stiff movement and heavy overuse of stock footage. Whereas Spectacular's more simplistic style allowed for much more smooth movement and helped provide much better choreographed fight sequences.

[Celgress]

With Harry, It could honestly be argued that he's in those classes because of his monetary status... Speaking of the Osborn family, I'm very curious to know what was her deal?



They kept Emily alive because they felt that out of the trio, the one who's single parent didn't need to be alone was Harry (which is funny as they decided Gwen was the one who's mom had to be alive in Amazing Spider-Man), now granted...I do think that a large part of Emily being here is that Norman had to "die" in the series. However they did have plans for her... Do we know anything about her in comics or is she a blank slate? I have a feeling she knew of her husband's extra curricular activities.

I've always been curious if the show writers had any longer-term plans for Emily, aside from being window dressing. Like Harry (within 616 Canon and the Rimi Movies being Norman's son) being the wife of the Green Goblin would not be an easy cross to bear. Perhaps she would crack and turn into an version of Menace? Who knows for sure. Still, it is fun to speculate.

[Frontier]

Eh that's fair. I never was too picky about visuals myself. I just think the people I mentioned were kinda spoiled by TAS's art style and don't seem to understand while it resembled the comic look, it's actual animation suffered as a result with it's slow and stiff movement and heavy overuse of stock footage. Whereas Spectacular's more simplistic style allowed for much more smooth movement and helped provide much better choreographed fight sequences.

I have a lot fond memories and feelings associated with S:TAS but even I would be the first to admit that the animation could generally leave a lot to be desired.

[Mistah K88]

One thing that you could say about this show is that some characters were underutilized. This is mainly because their lives didn’t intersect with Peter’s much yet. However, I won’t blame the show for that as it didn’t have time to get to everyone as it was cancelled as it was getting to them; for example the cast of the Daily Bugle sans Jonah. There were small scenes with Ned and Betty that were cut due to time constraints during the second season, but you could bet that they would have gotten more spot light shown on them in season three with the Hobgoblin showing up.

When it comes to Robbie, his unique situation with Tombstone was planned to be brought up. I mean for Tombstone, if things went similarly in comics (with a few alterations, like Tombstone being a bit smarter), it is kind of a natural progression. Robbie’s inaction to expose Lonnie Lincoln when they were younger allowed Tombstone to rise up from some thug to becoming a crime boss; one that is seen in the public eye as a benevolent philanthropist giving back to his community. While it can be argued that L. Thompson Lincoln is very similar to a traditional Wilson Fisk, I'm sure that Robbie’s “Uncle Ben moment” would have been the thing to give Tombstone more depth in the same way that Kingpin's family drama did. With the “Gang War” only really getting started and Tombstone being knocked down from his perch, I’m sure that Mr. Lincoln’s past would have started to resurface. Y’know speaking of their relationship, when was the last time those two interacted in the comics?

When it came to Peter’s school there were some characters that were THERE, but didn’t really get to do much. The football players Jason Ionello and Tiny Mckeever would have been expanded on, as characters like Kenny and Randy would be graduating high school and moving out of Peter’s circle/ life for the moment. I’m kind of curious to see what they had planned for them. I personally don’t see TOO much but hey who knows…
When it comes to the Hobgoblin storyline, I’m curious to know how they would have pulled it off since they borrowed elements from that in their Green Goblin mystery (namely having a dupe set up, an alternate way of dealing with the Goblin formula [drinking vs inhalation], and escaping to the islands). Now granted, the Hobgoblin mystery was the Green Goblin mystery on steroids, with more players involved, and in this series Norman was kind of sloppy with his cover-up as he just happened to get lucky a couple times and STILL managed to link the Green Goblin to himself by framing his son; thus having to do things out of sight as if Spider-Man saw so much as a jack-o-lantern, it’s back off to the Osborn household. This fact would probably bring Emily into the fold a bit more as from Spidey’s point of view when another goblin shows up, the first people to investigate would be the Osborn family and Donald Menken. I can see Kingsley setting people up as fall guys in advance rather than at the last minute, and people who have no relation to himself or his company at that. Ah what could have been… (a thought...Kingsley's profession being changed from fashion designer to perfume mogul would give him some background in chemistry, which would actually make him perfecting that formula make more sense)

[Frontier]

One thing that you could say about this show is that some characters were underutilized. This is mainly because their lives didn’t intersect with Peter’s much yet. However, I won’t blame the show for that as it didn’t have time to get to everyone as it was cancelled as it was getting to them; for example the cast of the Daily Bugle sans Jonah. There were small scenes with Ned and Betty that were cut due to time constraints during the second season, but you could bet that they would have gotten more spot light shown on them in season three with the Hobgoblin showing up.

When it comes to Robbie, his unique situation with Tombstone was planned to be brought up. I mean for Tombstone, if things went similarly in comics (with a few alterations, like Tombstone being a bit smarter), it is kind of a natural progression. Robbie’s inaction to expose Lonnie Lincoln when they were younger allowed Tombstone to rise up from some thug to becoming a crime boss; one that is seen in the public eye as a benevolent philanthropist giving back to his community. While it can be argued that L. Thompson Lincoln is very similar to a traditional Wilson Fisk, I'm sure that Robbie’s “Uncle Ben moment” would have been the thing to give Tombstone more depth in the same way that Kingpin's family drama did. With the “Gang War” only really getting started and Tombstone being knocked down from his perch, I’m sure that Mr. Lincoln’s past would have started to resurface. Y’know speaking of their relationship, when was the last time those two interacted in the comics?

When it came to Peter’s school there were some characters that were THERE, but didn’t really get to do much. The football players Jason Ionello and Tiny Mckeever would have been expanded on, as characters like Kenny and Randy would be graduating high school and moving out of Peter’s circle/ life for the moment. I’m kind of curious to see what they had planned for them. I personally don’t see TOO much but hey who knows…
When it comes to the Hobgoblin storyline, I’m curious to know how they would have pulled it off since they borrowed elements from that in their Green Goblin mystery (namely having a dupe set up, an alternate way of dealing with the Goblin formula [drinking vs inhalation], and escaping to the islands). Now granted, the Hobgoblin mystery was the Green Goblin mystery on steroids, with more players involved, and in this series Norman was kind of sloppy with his cover-up as he just happened to get lucky a couple times and STILL managed to link the Green Goblin to himself by framing his son; thus having to do things out of sight as if Spider-Man saw so much as a jack-o-lantern, it’s back off to the Osborn household. This fact would probably bring Emily into the fold a bit more as from Spidey’s point of view when another goblin shows up, the first people to investigate would be the Osborn family and Donald Menken. I can see Kingsley setting people up as fall guys in advance rather than at the last minute, and people who have no relation to himself or his company at that. Ah what could have been… (a thought...Kingsley's profession being changed from fashion designer to perfume mogul would give him some background in chemistry, which would actually make him perfecting that formula make more sense)

I think it was just nice to see those characters at all, even if they didn't play as major a role as they normally do.

I mean, we didn't get to see Robbie in a Spider-Man cartoon again until the current one, and his appearance was still basically a cameo. We haven't even seen Jonah or Mary Jane yet.

[Ironfist99]

Does Spidey breaks fourth wall by saying " my fans expect certain amount quippage in every battle" ?

[9th.]

I still think it's a shame how a great show like this gets dismissed by some people simply because they don't like it's art style and assume it's for kids only because of it. And if someone actually has arguments that's not about the art, they often just try to compare everything to Spider-man TAS and not judge the show by it's own merits.

And in regards to Emily Osborn, IIRC Greg Weisman said in an interview that she was just as bad as Norman is. And that after his "death", her true personality would have emerged. He wanted her to be voiced by the actress that voiced Demona in Gargoyles.

I'm pretty much guilty of that but I watched it anyways. I didn't realize how good it was until I saw the SM toons that came after.