'Spider-Man Unlimited' Comes To Marvel Animation Age

[Stu]

Hey,

A few of you have been asking for this, and since I hope to one day have all of Marvel's animated shows on my site, here's an all new Spider-Man Unlimited site for all those who enjoyed the series. I hope you both like it.

Click on the banner (cheers Bird Boy!) to enter the site.

If you have any feedback or suggestions, please let me know.

Up Next: 24 Season 2 DVD Set Silver Surfer

[S.C.B]

Not really many suggestions to make (there's not much you can do with a show like Spider-Man Unlimited; a polished turd is still a turd, after all), but it's a great site that the perfectionist in me appreciates.

Maybe some interviews with someone behind the scenes? (If anyone admits to being part of this, that is). Hell, maybe they'll try and defend it, which would be good for a laugh.

[James]

There arse soome typoes Stew, yous neeed to reecheck some off yours sopelling. Stop drunjking when you workk. Yous end uppp wiv posts like thissss.

I feel sorry for Spider-Man: Unlimited. An example of when deadlines and legal demands create a special catalyst of problems that the writers failed to overcome. Don't get me wrong, the production are as much to blame as the problems they suffered. There WERE options. They took the wrong ones. Spider-Man is Spider-Man. Take him too far from his roots and he'll fragment. His roots aren't in where he is, but what he does. He's not a freedom fighter and that was the biggest mistake they made; creating a scenerio within a scenerio which wasn't Spider-Man.

[Dark Fact]

I remember that Fox Kids aired this show for three episodes in '99 before pulling it in favor of Monster Rancher repeats. It came back on a year later and completed its initial 13 episode run before it got yanked for good. I had the unfortunate pleasure of watching ALL 13 episodes and each episode just got more boring than the last.

This show did not reflect the intensity and "fun" that the previous 90's Spider-man series had. Not to mention that I'll never forgive Marvel for bastardizing the Green Goblin's image in that series.

[Anarky]

you actually want to remind people of this tripe!

[Shantosh9500]

At least its a whole lot bettter than Avengers United.

[veemonjosh]

There's a problem with the episode guide (hint: one of the episode's description is in another's).
Edit: Another problem is that Enter the Hunter and Cry Vulture have the same review.

[Arsenal]

For some reason, I have a soft spot for Spider-man Unlimited. I thought the show had potential, but was squelched by unreasonable production demands. Also, the Pokemon juggernaut denied the show any chance for growth. Truth be told, I think this show's first season is better than Iron Man and Fantastic Four, but it never received a second chance.

Oh yeah, the site's nice. A worthy way to spend a weekend.

[Shantosh9500]

I have to say Carnage looked horrible on that show. He is so skinny and how come he has white teeth? He is not supposed to have clean white teeth.

[Dark Fact]

And the Green Goblin isn't supposed to be some wise-cracking pencilneck wearing boxers.

Originally Posted by Arsenal

For some reason, I have a soft spot for Spider-man Unlimited. I thought the show had potential, but was squelched by unreasonable production demands. Also, the Pokemon juggernaut denied the show any chance for growth. Truth be told, I think this show's first season is better than Iron Man and Fantastic Four, but it never received a second chance.

I just thought the whole show had a bad premise. Spidey getting a new costume was kinda irksome but I thought putting him in a world run by anthropomorphic beasts was lame beyond words. Just my opinion though.

I also want to add that this wasn't the Ocean Group's best work either.

[Arsenal]

I just thought the whole show had a bad premise. Spidey getting a new costume was kinda irksome but I thought putting him in a world run by anthropomorphic beasts was lame beyond words. Just my opinion though.

The show's premise was questionable, no question; but I think there was some promise.

The premise, itself, taps into the "totem" idea of Spider-man's rogues. Many of his villains have an "animal" motif. For example, Scorpion, Dr. Octopus, Vulture, Rhino, Morbius (the vampire bat), and even Kraven (name a vegetable hunter) all are a play off of an animal or an animalistic quality. And despite Stu's distaste for the idea, I thought it was clever to make Electro an eel.

But this concept never reached fruition. Of the villains listed above only Electro, Kraven and Vulture were used; and of those three, only Vulture maintained my interest. (The Vulture as a bestial, civil rights protestor struck me as cool, very Michael Schwerner.)

This means some of Spidey's top-flight villains were unused, in a universe designed for their utilization. I wanted to see an Otto Octavius mollusk, a Scorpion with eight legs, and a Morbius that was more bat than man (perhaps, something indebted to Dr. Langstrom.)

I don't think the Manhatten Island of Dr. Moreau aspect was ever done right. And I blame the animation for that. The sets and character designs were never weird enough for me. And in the midst of all this weirdness, you have Peter Parker, someone who is used to being a freak--a mutation, an animal. Suddenly, he is important because of his humanity. Yeah, there was untapped potential here; but instead we received spotlight episodes on disinteresting human freedom fighters.

I liked the segregated undertones of the show, but I never thought the human characters (save Git) were likeable. They were too irritable and spent too much time raging against the system to be fun, and Spidey is all about fun (with a healthy dose of angst).

I think the Green Goblin's characterization was a daring choice, but we needed to see a payoff with his relationship with Dr. Yamada-Jones and Shane. The Goblin was able to learn Peter's identity. Let Peter learn that he was Shane's father. Once again, we have an interesting premise without development.

Spiderman Unlimited had some auspicious ideas: political subtext, racial commentary, interspecies love quadrangles, displaced heroes--the kind of stuff that made Homer legendary; but instead of fulfilling its promise, the show spun its wheels for thirteen episodes.

[Dark Fact]

Valid points. For that, the show could've worked if it had expanded on its darker themes but wound up becoming another "Spidey goes to world to battle oppresive overlord".

I also have to add that I did like the character designs and the placement of comic text and panels to give the show a comic book effect. Very creative!

[Stu]

The episode guide has been fixed and the correct review for Cry Vulture has been added. Apologies for the mistakes.

[Spider-Man]

While the show may not have been the best I thought it did have some neat looking designs. Is there a gallery anywhere of model sheets to look at. I see the occasional Spider-Man model sheet from this show pop up.

[Shantosh9500]

The Green Goblin here reminds me alot of Eduardo from Extreme Ghostbusters. Maybe because they are both voiced by Rino Romano.

[Antiyonder]

This cartoon was too bad. Sure compared to Spider-Man TAS it's a dud, but compared to some of the cartoons of today, it's a picasso in it's own right.

if there was a way one could watch said show, it would be very appriciated if one were to find out how.

Edited By Stu: No downloading talk please!

[Stu]

Welcome to Toon Zone, azul! Please have a re-read of the rules to see what we're not allowed to discuss, and I'm looking forward to seeing you post again!

To anwser your question, no, Spider-Man Unlimited doesn't air on TV anymore.

[spyke]

Besides a few decent episodes, the only other good thing about SPIDER-MAN UNLIMITE is that he actually got to punch people sometimes. Other then that, this show was crap.

Spider-Man Unlimited is my favorite show.