Comments for "Spider-Man Unlimited" series?

[Arjun]

This summer, Jetix (in India) started showing episodes of Spider-Man Unlimited a little after prime time, and I caught a few episodes of it, and I've found it good in some aspects, and unsatisfactory in some others, notably Spidey's costume. The first full episode I've seen is that one involving X-51 a.k.a. Machine Man, which is a name I remember since I read it in a comic from the 1970s. It was quite an interesting episode, though not one I'd set aside everything for, though this is possibly the only appearance of X-51 in television.

The character designs and backgrounds are quite impressive. They have a lot of shading, detail and depth, and yet the animation is quite good in some epsiodes. The way some characters are written, notably John Jameson, wasn't so interesting, likewise, the whole idea of conflict on Counter-Earth between humans and humanoid 'mutants' was a bit hard to get used to. The High Evolutionary was a bit difficult to take seriously, and I'm sure many would agree on that. The good thing, though, was one episode where Vulture, a Spider-Man enemy, was an ally, and these enemies-turn-allies stories are quite interesting.

The one major drawback of this show, however, was the costume. It looks ugly, and way off anything that has appeared in the comics- be it the Scarlet Spider (I never liked it much, anyway) or his original costume, the Black Costume alien or even that armoured costume from Web of Spider-Man #100. I wonder, were they trying to sell action figures or just getting bored of what is an all-time favourite design? The costume changes were an interesting aspect, and it got the developers of the next Spider-Man show interested, as we saw similar costume changes there.

This is possibly one of Marvel's weirdest TV shows, alongside Silver Surfer (who isn't one of the more famous Marvel characters) and Avengers (without the Big Three), but not repulsive, or even one to just get bored of, like some other Marvel shows. I'm aware that the abrupt ending of the show has upset many fans, and we know what went wrong, but it was decent while it lasted, though the shows before it were still better.

 

[SpideyFan914]

I agree aside from your costume commentary. I think the reason they changed the costume was to say, "This isn't Spider-Man, so don't expect it." Of course, most people just ignored them and expected Spider-Man, hence why so many people hate it. I know that some people have legitimate complaints, but that was probably the mob mentality....

 

[Stu]

The mandate from Marvel was that they weren't allowed to use the 'classic' Spider-Man for thier series - whether or not they meant the costume or not is uncertain. If you remember, in the first episode, Spider-Man's costume isn't it's traditional red and blue - it's red and black, and the eyes are yellow.

 

[Rick Jones]

I thought that the costume felt a lot like a cross between the Spider-Man 2009 suit and the old red and blues. That was one part of the show that I never had any problem with. but then again I can have pretty different taste. My favorite Spidey costumes were the black symbiote costume and the Ben Reilly costume, though it looks pretty 90s now. I liked the way some things looked on the show ( Peter's character design, some of the art direction, etc) but the High Evolutionary and the Knights of Wundagore just never had any appeal to me. An entire Spider-Man series centered around them and this Counter Earth seemed a bit much. If this show was just an extension of the previous one, using the style of this series rather than the style of the older series, that might have been pretty cool personally.

 

[SpideyFan914]

I don't look at the series as being in TAS continuity at all. There's too many things going against it. For one thing, Venom and Carnage were, um, not trapped in limbo. Plus, they had slightly different powers. And not to mention that they were allies! And then look at Electro - if they were redoing Spider-Man's most basic villains from TAS then they wouldn't have chosen Electro. He appeared once!

 

[clownkingofcrime]

I normally love dark looks to animated series, especially for ones like Batman TAS or Gargoyles, Fox usually does a good job at doing that. But for a Spiderman cartoon it does not fit too well. Spiderman Unlimited could of still been good with the dark look, but I think this is no Justice League Unlimited or The New Batman Adventures, this is a crappy loose continuation of Spiderman TAS after most of the Marvel Animated Universe had been developed. Fox Kids was close to its cancellation. This series ended up doing terrible (with I think like one season most likely not two). This series does focus a lot on Venom and Carnage though, which is kind of cool to see a lot of.

 

[SpideyFan914]

I normally love dark looks to animated series, especially for ones like Batman TAS or Gargoyles, Fox usually does a good job at doing that. But for a Spiderman cartoon it does not fit too well. Spiderman Unlimited could of still been good with the dark look, but I think this is no Justice League Unlimited or The New Batman Adventures, this is a crappy loose continuation of Spiderman TAS after most of the Marvel Animated Universe had been developed. Fox Kids was close to its cancellation. This series ended up doing terrible (with I think like one season most likely not two). This series does focus a lot on Venom and Carnage though, which is kind of cool to see a lot of.

This proves my point that many people are simply stuck on the idea that it has to be like other Spider-Man series even though they clearly weren't aiming for that.

 

[ShadowStar]

This proves my point that many people are simply stuck on the idea that it has to be like other Spider-Man series even though they clearly weren't aiming for that.

Well, it does take time to get used to and appreciate something that's radically different from the stuff you're used to watching. Incidentally, I thought Spiderman Unlimited was OK, but I'd never call it excellent. It just wasn't that exciting or compelling, and while it was an interesting spin on things, it doesn't come close to the level of entertainment of other superhero cartoons.

 

[maczero]

I decided to give the show another chance after ignoring it when it first premiered. It's not bad. Not crazy about the High Evolutionary and his furries but it had some other things going for it - darker storylines, the updated costume.

Does anyone get the impression that this was originally planned as Spiderman 2099 but then was changed it at the last second?

 

[Webbed-Wonder]

Does anyone get the impression that this was originally planned as Spiderman 2099 but then was changed it at the last second?

That's exactly what happened. I wish we would have gotten that instead of what we wound up with; would have had much more potential. I've heard the only reason why it was changed was because it wouldn't have been about Peter Parker and that nobody knew who Miguel O' Hara was.

 

[Kaveh77]

That's exactly what happened. I wish we would have gotten that instead of what we wound up with; would have had much more potential. I've heard the only reason why it was changed was because it wouldn't have been about Peter Parker and that nobody knew who Miguel O' Hara was.

Whos Miguel O' Hara

 

[Webbed-Wonder]

Whos Miguel O' Hara

Spider-Man 2099.

Case in point.

 

[SpideyFan914]

That's exactly what happened. I wish we would have gotten that instead of what we wound up with; would have had much more potential. I've heard the only reason why it was changed was because it wouldn't have been about Peter Parker and that nobody knew who Miguel O' Hara was.

Oh.
Well, then, that clearly would've eliminated a lot of the complainers....

 

[maczero]

Oh.
Well, then, that clearly would've eliminated a lot of the complainers....

Is that sarcasm?

 

[SpideyFan914]

Is that sarcasm?

I meant because if they Spider-Man 2099, people wouldn't have went in expecting it to be same old same old.

 

[Rick Jones]

There would have still been complaints though. That's the one thing you can always count on.

 

[kow626]

i go n2 evry new series wit an open mind. i saw spidey unlimited durin its 1st run n loved it. really good series. very disappointed dat it never finished da 1st season 2 wrap things up considerin a 2nd season wasnt gonna happ. so we're eternally left wit da cliffhanger. i understand sum peeple r stuck on red, black, n blue. but if dey can put dat aside n open their minds 2 sumthin diff, den they'll njoy dis as much as me n other peeple did.

 

[sdp]

Just finished the show today and it left me with a mixed opinion.

Its an awesome concept and has great things going for it but also a bit on the boring side.

I personally LOVED the design. The new spiderman costume was very cool. The whole comic book design they were going for was also great. And the darker theme/colors/designs were great.

Post apocalyptic counter-earth is a good idea. However I don't like the High Evolutionary and his animal race. I tried to but didn't. Only thing I didn't like.

I really liked Dr. Naoko Yamada, she was done great. I would have especially loved to see more of the love triangle of Peter/Naoko/Green Goblin. I mean wow it was done a little bit and would have probably been expanded in the second season. Not to mention that love triangle is kind of wrong for a kids show that made it even better.

The "mummy" guy was cool, he was underused. The red head girl rebel seemed interesting you can see the second season would have explored more her relationship with the High Evolutionary. The tiger guy seemed cool but he was barely used at all. Weird since he is prominent in the opening. I'm sure in a second season he would have been more important. The animal girl that has a crush on spiderman had potential but was not used at all....shame. The goat guy was lame why did he get used so much? John was a boring character but at least we got to see the manwolf. The JJ Jonah like character was boring they should have done something different...

Venom and Carnage seemed handled wrong until we get to Venoms episode. I really liked Venom after that. The counter-earth version of spider villains were meh. Green Goblin was good. Vulture was basically the same as GG except he wasn't as interesting since he wasn't the husband of the Doctor...Electro was lame.

Overall the show had a great premise but most of the episodes are a bit on the boring side, which is a shame. It did have good episodes though and seeing spidey in the symbiote costume again was awesome. I would have definitely liked a second season since it could have built up on stuff it started to on the first season, not to mention the finale with the symbiotes released would have been interesting.

I don't look at the series as being in TAS continuity at all. There's too many things going against it. For one thing, Venom and Carnage were, um, not trapped in limbo. Plus, they had slightly different powers. And not to mention that they were allies!

I definitely count it as in continuity.

The show obviously takes place a while after TAS ended. Its not that far off for Venom/Carnage to have escaped limbo. Powers were not that different, the only big one was the whole liquid form which you can explain that its because they have been with the symbiotes for so long. They were allies in their first episode together, no reason why they couldn't have been allies later and put their differences aside. Especially after Eddie Brock is basically gone and only Venom remained.


The re-telling of the symbiote storyline was basically the TAS version with some very slight tweaks that can easily fit in TAS as things that happened off screen. Not to mention Brock basically makes a reference how he can't be separated from the symbiote anymore which fits perfectly with his last appearance.

Biggest continuity error is that the the High Evolutionary is the one from regular earth and his appearances in X-Men showed him robotic. Which isn't that hard to explain since both his appearances in X-Men were slightly different not to mention he was basically doing the same thing in X-Men.

 

[Azrayel]

When I was younger I disliked the whole idea very much. But when I tried to re watch it on Disney XD it wasn't as bad as I thought. Just the whole High Evolutionary plot did not get my attention. Maybe if the Evolutionary went to the other earth, teamed up with Spiderman's real bad guys and are taking control of both worlds would have gotten my attention.

Also the ending was a real cliff hanger to me. Why? Well because we didn't get to see how the war ended, we didn't see if Peter and John went back to earth or whatever. So yeah those were my thoughts on this show.

 

[Stu]

The rumour goes that Spider-Man 2099 was scrapped due the outrage that someone else other than Peter Parker had become Spider-Man in the comics (another attempt to make Spidey single) and everyone quickly turned to hating Ben Reily. (Depiste how bloody cool his costume was!)

Personal opinion on the show? I thought it failed miserably. Making the website for it was one of the most sole crushing weekends I've ever had!