The Spectacular Spider-Man "Growing Pains" Talkback (Spoilers)

[Stu]

Finally! A superhero J. Jonah Jameson can be proud of!

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The Spectacular Spider-Man
Episode #19: "Growing Pains"
Original Airdate - July 20th, 2009

Venom is back and framing Spider-Man. Meanwhile, alien spores infect John Jameson, increasing his size, strength and mass. J. Jonah Jameson convinces his son to become a super-hero to capture Spidey.

Comments?

 

[Pepperidge]

Has anyone seen the ads for this episode? I certainly hope they feature a lot of Venom.

Also, the title should be "Growing Pains", not "Pain".

 

[Nygma]

I saw a promo for it but it just showed Venom, and gave a vague explanation of Spidey having identity problems, and Colonel Jupiter yelling about how there can't be 2 Spider-Man's.

Personally I was hoping they would show the ending scene to this episode To really hook people in to watching it.

Disney XD is doing a lousy job with the episode promos for the show, as the promos don't give viewers a very engaging hook to get viewers to watch. All they feel like are simple reminders saying new episode on Monday without going the extra mile to get old/new viewers to tune in.
Compare Disney XD's episode promos to Kids WB's promos for the show. And its pretty much night and day in how to get an audience to tune in.

Its been said plenty of times, but Disney XD needs to stop micromanaging its promotion of the show just because they're afraid it might make their precious Aaron Stone and/or Zeke & Luther look bad.

 

[M.O.D.O.K.]

It's even worse if you didn't even put the ad AT THE END of the last new episode, as it should be. I thought it was a major screw-up, and it really bothered me. If this show doesn't get great ratings, Disney XD has itself to blame.

 

[jph139]

Wow - just when you think they've done their best, they do even better.

I mean, this episode was a hit from every angle! John Jameson as a superhero is a great twist... and the ending, seeing him snapped in a mental hospital, is probably the darkest character ending this show's ever done. He's a good guy - a GREAT guy, as we've seen - and he goes absolutely insane.

Thanks to Venom, of course, who makes an awesome return. He's almost a background character and it works perfect; an omnipresent danger that haunts Spidey's life. He'll kill a building full of people just to ruin Spider-Man's reputation. Seeing Eddie's fall from grace really puts him ahead of, well, ALL other interpretations of the character.

The drama intercuts were... interesting, to say the least. The last few episodes of this season are named after Drama stuff, so I'm betting it's hinting towards that. And I'm loving the new coat of paint on Flash nowadays - in a sense, he's even lamer than Peter, and that's a position no one wants to be in. And Harry calling dad... great character moment, there. Can't wait to see where they go with that.

And the ending? Yeah, if I wasn't hooked before, that would have got me. I'd say the Spectacular Spider-Man is one of the best cartoons of the decade, no doubt - it'll be a shame if it doesn't get a third season.

 

[cradleman]

I'll be honest and say this is probably my 2nd least favorite episode of the season, mainly because Colonel Jupiter was kinda stupid. There was just no reason for A. Him being like he was and B. for thinking the way he did, even if the darn spores were "altering his thinking." And where did the spores come from? I liked Venom in this one, but Identity Crisis is really where he shines.

 

[Gokou Ruri]

Definitely didn't feel the Colonel Jupiter stuff either. It was too over the top, extremely silly, and ultimately amounted to filler. That time could have been better spent going into Venom tormenting Spider-Man, or even the already overdone high school drama stuff. His inclusion made the Venom stuff seem too sparse and rushed.

 

[cradleman]

Definitely didn't feel the Colonel Jupiter stuff either. It was too over the top, extremely silly, and ultimately amounted to filler. That time could have been better spent going into Venom tormenting Spider-Man, or even the already overdone high school drama stuff. His inclusion made the Venom stuff seem too sparse and rushed.

I can't believe it, but i actually agree with you.

 

[Wonderwall]

I really like this episode for whatever reason. I suppose I like the Col. Jupiter stuff. Sometimes filler can be good and I felt this was. I can understand the lack of Venom though.

 

[Rick Jones]

Poor Johnny. You can't help but feel sorry for the guy. If Jonah's wife knew that he put the hero idea into their son's head, she'd probably kill him.

 

[R-Taco]

Definitely didn't feel the Colonel Jupiter stuff either. It was too over the top, extremely silly, and ultimately amounted to filler. That time could have been better spent going into Venom tormenting Spider-Man, or even the already overdone high school drama stuff. His inclusion made the Venom stuff seem too sparse and rushed.

I wouldn't consider it filler at all, with how it ended him up completely insane and affected Jonah's life.

I loved this one, personally. The ending speaks for itself, but this little gem stands out as one of the funniest in the series:

Voice In Burning Building: "Get lost!"
Spidey: "I'm afraid I can't do that Mr......Parrot."

It could have been really lame, but Josh Keaton's delivery is what sold it.

 

[Chaos Yoshi Mage]

I loved this episode. For pretty much all of the reasons above except possibly more so. This episode wasn't filler to me, more like potential set-up for a future villain. How does an episode with a HUGE cliffhanger and a a decent chunk of character development qualify as "filler?"

 

[Master Toon]

I applaud this series for giving their characters some common sense. How come Spidey goes from regular costume, to black costume, to regular costume to black costume with a huge bulge with a different fighting style? The end was very surreal with Venom revealing Peter's secret. I wonder how this is going to turn out.

Spoiler

According to what I've seen on Wiki and Tv.com it's not a dream sequence. The secret is actually out. Which makes me wonder how they'll make everyone forget. The Beyonder?

 

[M.O.D.O.K.]

I'ts official people: the **** has hit the fan.

Venom returns, and begins his complex plan to ruin Spider-Man by posing as him, and comitting crimes to frame him and make everyone in New York hate him, while Spidey struggles to clear his name. In symbiote-related news, astronaut John Jameson absorbs space spores that make him super strong and gain mass. He uses his new abilities to become Colonel Jupiter, a new superhero that helps Spidey. However, thanks to the spores (and foul play by Venom), he becomes insane, and attacks our hero. Spidey zaps him with electricity, defeating him. But John is still insane, and is incarcerated in Ravencroft. As J. Jonah's hatred for the web-head continues, Venom comes to the Daily Bugle and reveals that Peter Parker is Spider-Man, ending the episode in a cliff hanger.

Another solid episode of the show. The Colonel Jupiter stuff was cheesy, but it was on purpose, and the ramifications of it will no doubt lead to Jameson's hatred of Spider-Man. The Shakespeare sections are not as good as the video camera clips from last week, but were still good. The high school side-story was also good, with Flash still going after Sha Shan, Gwen reluctantly dating Harry Osborn, and Mark Allan becoming interested in MJ. The only weak part of the episode was John's sudden metamorphosis in the Connor lab. That really came out of nowhere.

A lot of funny one-liners in this one. Spidey saving Mr. Parrot, Flash mixing up his AB3's (if anyone noticed it), and Jonah calling the spores "sporks". Also, anyone noticed Stan Carter's approval of the black-suit Spidey? Or Dr. Warren being a huge jerk to Connors at Ravencroft? That just reeks of foreshadowing!

Overall, not as good as last week, but still fun. Can't wait to see the cliffhanger resolved next week!

4.5/5

NEXT WEEK: The secret's out! Venom has outed Spider-Man's secret identity, and Peter Parker's already-chaotic life becomes filled with more chaos. Now, Spidey is forced to dodge the vile Venom and vicious papparazzi as he figures out a way out of this.

 

[Manhunter]

This is a sign I have too much free time. I've compiled a list of the characters and the plays each quoted:

Glory-Macbeth
Kenny-Othello
Sha Shan-Richard III
Sally-Hamlet (horribly; though thankfully DXD apparently replaced it with one by Harry)
MJ-Hamlet (and infinitely better than Sally)
Liz-Measure for Measure
Flash-Hamlet
Harry-Henry IV, Pt. II

 

[AdamYJ]

Also, anyone noticed Stan Carter's approval of the black-suit Spidey? Or Dr. Warren being a huge jerk to Connors at Ravencroft? That just reeks of foreshadowing!

Wait, that cop was the Sin-Eater? I didn't know that. Also, I figure with the big role Dr. Warren's been given in the show, I figure we'll see the Jackal before long.

This was a really good episode, in my opinion. We've yet to see one of Jameson's "anti-Spidey" plots go belly up in a big way yet on this show (no spider-slayers as of yet). And here we have one that does it in a HUGE way, affecting the life and health of his only son. I'm actually surprised they went with the Jupiter Suit story. When John is cast as a villian, you'd think they'd go straight for the Man-Wolf. I like that they included this little nod to a more obscure bit of Spidey canon. Venom is proving to be a very effective nemesis here. Also, I like how the little drama interludes reflected the main story or things about the characters.

Coming out of this episode, I realize there are so many characters to feel bad for. I feel bad for the Jamesons and all they're going through. I feel bad for Gwen, because she's dating a guy whose whole life seems to be an attempt to impress his father. I feel bad for Sha Shan for having to put up with Flash. I feel kind of sorry for Flash because it's hard to finally run into the one thing in life you want but really have to work to get for the first time. I even feel kind of bad for Hobie Brown because he never gets to say anything. No, really. Anyone ever notice that anytime Brown is about to say anything on this show, he gets interrupted? I wonder if that's intentional.

 

[cradleman]

Hobie Brown not speaking became a running gag during the production, according to Weisman. so, yeah, it's intentional.

 

[Anwar]

Well, I've had my problems with Venom this entire show (seriously, Eddie did not have enough reasons to hate Peter) in that Brock is more or less just the symbiote's pawn and not an actual integral part of Venom. But this was still an enjoyable episode with Venom just doing what he should have done years ago in the comics.

The Shakespeare stuff was okay, though Sha-Shan herself doesn't seem to have much characterization other than "the girl Flash can't get" and Gwen is too much of a forgive-and-forget type (seeing how she was basically the one most abused and ignored by Harry when he was on the green).

Ironically, they ended up doing the story I thought they were going to do last season. I assumed that they were going to do the "Super-Jameson" story after "Uncertainty Principle" with the symbiote infecting John and making him into Colonel Jupiter. Then when Peter defeats him the symbiote leaves John for Spidey. Here it's the same story lifted from the comics with the spores and everything, only it's Venom making John go after Peter and not a fake bank robbery.

 

[AdamYJ]

Hobie Brown not speaking became a running gag during the production, according to Weisman. so, yeah, it's intentional.

Oh, okay. Well, it'll be great practice for him so that he can someday silently prowl the city streets. That is, if they decide to do that with him on this show.

Honestly, while I appreciate all the little nods to past Spidey lore, sometimes I wonder how many are just little "nudge-nudge" moments and which are meant to turn into something else. So far in terms of things on this show that were just tossed out there include: Hobie Brown (aka the Prowler) on the football team, Cletus Cassidy (aka Carnage) in Ravencroft wearing a Santa hat, Morris Bench (aka Hydro-Man) as a demolitions expert and Stan Carter (aka the Sin-Eater) as a NYC cop. The things on the show I'm pretty darn certain will turn into something are Miles Warren becoming the Jackal and something to do with Liz's brother Mark. Maybe not out-and-out Molten Man, but something along those lines.

 

[ShadowStar]

I'll be honest and say this is probably my 2nd least favorite episode of the season, mainly because Colonel Jupiter was kinda stupid. There was just no reason for A. Him being like he was and B. for thinking the way he did, even if the darn spores were "altering his thinking." And where did the spores come from? I liked Venom in this one, but Identity Crisis is really where he shines.

What do you mean? He was like that because of the spores that had hitched a ride on the symbiote; he touched the symbiote at the end of "The Uncertainty Principle", so all of the spores transferred to him, and only to him. Sure, his transformation seemed sudden since this was his first appearance since that episode, but there was a good explanation for it.

And there actually was a pretty good reason for his behaviour towards Spiderman. He thought that if Spidey was genuine, he would explain himself to the police and make it clear that he wasn't responsible for the fire. Spidey made a run for it instead, since he didn't want to be backed into a corner and unmasked by the police (who would want to know his true identity). Obviously, that made Colonel Jupiter suspicious, and when Venom attacked him in the black costume, he lost it, thinking that that was Spidey. The spores, the paranoia and the stress made him lose his marbles.