JC on: Spider-Man

Well, MTV made us wait 8 months before 'Spider-Man' could finally hit the air. Here's to hoping that after the first season, they don't make us wait as long for a 2nd.

The opening episode introduces us to a revamped Electro. Max Dillon (Ethan Embry, 'Dragnet' has been rebooted as a college student, just like Peter Parker (Neil Patrick Harris) and friends. We start with a kidnapped Max being led around blindfolded by some frat rats. However, in an effort to save himself, Max manages to get the car started, but can't keep it in control. Spider-Man shows up to save him. Because he was blindfolded, however, Max can't identify his kidnappers, which comes back to haunt him later.

The next day, Max meets with the same boys, not knowing they're the ones who abducted him the night before, and they invite him to a party that night. They taunt and tease him some more, shooting him with paint guns and such. Max leaves, and is by chance struck with a lightning bolt during a rainstorm. Oh, Max goes Carrie on everyone, but the kicker is that he's been transformed into an electric man. The inevitable battle with Spidey follows, and when the webhead tries to ground Max, the electric youth dissolves and flows into the cable, leaving Spidey to assume that Max is dead. He'll be back, though, if the last scene with the street light is any indicator.

Episode 2 introduces us to a female version of Kraven the Hunter (after a fashion), Shivaka (sp?) (Gina Gershon), hired by a wealthy filmmaker/collector to capture Spider-Man. The guy's also bankrolling a movie project that Mary Jane (Lisa Loeb) has just passed a screen test for. When Spidey proves to be more than a match for the huntress, she decides it's better to kill him, and ends up killing her employer. MJ unwittingly discovers the carnage, leading to a final battle. Turns out Shivaka's sword gives her power, and when Spidey breaks the sword in two, Shivaka dissipates into nothingness. Oh, wow.

Next week's 1st episode will feature the Lizard, and other familiar foes, such as Kraven himself and Kingpin, are on deck. Brian Michael Bendis is one of the executive producers, and the concept appears to be merging movie continuity (Harry still blames Spidey for his dad's death) with the Ultimate Spidey series. The 3D computer graphics may look great for video games, but Mainframe has done better CGI work on their own series, such as 'Beast Wars' and 'Reboot'. But, hey. We've waited 8 months, so I guess it's all good. Grade: A.

J. C. Gilbert

I caught the 2nd episode.............possibly the most painful cartoon I've treated myself to in quite some time. The dialogue was ATROCIOUS, and the CGI was disappointing (these are the guys who've done Reboot and Beast Wars/Machines - so they've seen better days)

A Mainframe-animated Spiderman series?! Swingin'!

BTW< Beast Wars wasn't Mainframe's own; it was a contract job for Hasbro. My votes for best-looking go for Beast Machines and War Planets/Shadow Raiders, however.

Terrence Briggs, who's glad to see MF hasn't folded after Heavy Gear Peace to you...

It's funny, because I was thinking the same thing about the dialogue. One example was when Shivaka had Spider-Man caged, the line she says while approaching him was funny (sort of like 'Bring it on.' Throughout this episode more than the first, I kept thinking I've heard all these lines elsewhere and was wondering where the realistic Brian Bendis dialogue went. I'm going to guess Bendis contributed to the stories and someone else did the dialogue.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed both episodes for what they were and the animation did not really bug me, but the dialogue was extremely cliche and bad. The Harry Osborne relationship is way off but does match the relationship setup in the movie. Mary Jane is okay if not cliche herself. Peter Parker is more confident and secure than I would have imagined, but overall his character seemed okay. He's definitely presented as joe average here, not an outsider geek like he is in the original stories.

The only other goofiness was having Shivaka walking down the street in the middle of the day surrounded by normal people, wearing her tight outfit and having her sword strapped to her back.

Overall, I did enjoy these shows however.

Beast Wars was the first one that popped into my head. Wasn't Beast Machines, the follow-up, also a contract job for Hasbro? Speaking of contract jobs, I think they've done another one, as another Mainframe entry, Hot Wheels Highway 35 World Race, just debuted on Cartoon Network. I'll have a review of that up on alt.tv.cartoon.network and rec.arts.animation later on.

J. C. Gilbert

........................> J. C. Gilbert

Weren't they one and the same? Different titles for different markets?

Well, I watched the first ep and recorded the second. The plot and dialogue didn't bother me so much, but I really didn't care for the computer-animation at all. The bodies seemed rather stiff and they had that 'breathing' look which makes them always be moving slightly... as though they're breathing, but it just comes off as fake to me. Just for a comparison, I like the animation on 'X-Men: Evolution' much better. That being said, there was one scene which I did think was very cool, and that was at the club... it had some an interesting color scheme that I thought was neat. And because it's a Spidey cartoon, I'll keep watching!

can anyone explain how MJ knew the info needed by SM so he could win - i couldn't figure out the 'it's a long story' response4 by MJ...

She saw an old Shivaka sitting in the courtyard, then Shivaka takes out the sword, prays, and becomes young. I wouldn't have made that guess myself, but hey.

Well there was also the fact that she became young as the sword passed down her face/body... as in at one point her hair was black again but the lower part of her face was all old-lookin'.

: he saw an old Shivaka sitting in the courtyard, then Shivaka takes out :the sword, prays, :and becomes young. I wouldn't have made that guess myself, but hey.

thanks, i was in the other room, listening during that part of the episode and so missed the clues.