Ultimate Spider-Man "Back in Black" Talkback (Spoilers)

[Webbed-Wonder]

Its pretty much like Teen Titans. I was 13-16 during the shows run. But that's not the important factor. The show used DC characters with a heavy anime influence. I like DC and anime. Win-win. Its basically the same complaint, "oh noes....dey buchered our saykred IP with lamenessss". Yet what about BTBTB? Old school throwback that I bet many Bat-fans 20s/30s did enjoy. But of course there were those who just weren't feelin it. Maybe it was the campy nature. Who knows.

No, Teen Titans and Batman: The Brave and The Bold were actually good shows. The difference being this show isn't, imo. I love having a different take on something, with characters like Spider-Man and Batman it is something you get treated to a lot as a fan.

I tried to have an optimistic outlook on Ultimate Spider-Man before its premiere, and I'm trying to give this show a fair shake but I feel it talks down to me as a viewer, that's something Teen Titans did not. I don't need to have every single thing that happens on screen explained to me wasting screen time because we are watching the show, aren't we? It's a matter of show, don't tell.

Characterization is all over the place, one episode Spider-Man is a competent but somewhat inexperienced young hero, the next he is an irresponsible hot-head who is very unlikeable and annoying as a protagonist. There is no solid direction, Spidey is on a team? Then put him with the team, most episodes so far the whole team is either ignored, or when they do appear, they are all scratching at each others throats.

That brings me to the controversial humor, which is very insincere and overbearing. Most jokes just unfortunately don't land. Spidey's trademark wit visualized may have been a good idea on paper, but he just acts more like Deadpool or Zack Morris than Peter Parker with his constant 4th wall breaking talking to the audience and stopping time.

Rant is done, sorry.

 

[TheSkeletonMan93]

This was hard to sit through.

I actually felt myself turning stupider the more I watched this.

If this if Jeph Loeb's stunningly amazing future of Marvel cartoons, I think I'll pay more attention to DC's Young Justice and whatever else they're broadcasting now.

 

[dmxx116]

After two so so at best episode of Ultimate Spider-Man now we back to same old crap again,

This is not so very good episode of Ultimate Spider-Man at all.

 

[Mek]

... Man, y'all seem to have "No Fun Allowed" signs plastered everywhere.

Honestly, I don't care that this show is stupid*funny. I quite like it, actually. Given all the grimdark crap all over the place, I'll gladly take a show like this any day.

 

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

... Man, y'all seem to have "No Fun Allowed" signs plastered everywhere.

I LOVE fun, though. That's why I don't like this show.

 

[Medinnus]

... Man, y'all seem to have "No Fun Allowed" signs plastered everywhere.

Honestly, I don't care that this show is stupid*funny. I quite like it, actually. Given all the grimdark crap all over the place, I'll gladly take a show like this any day.

I like most of the character designs (although Dragon Man was almost unrecognizable - looked more like a griffon, which is my favorite mythical beast, so I didn't really mind), even if the Wizard looks like a 1970's pimp (insert gratuitious Hypno-Hustler joke here),

Unfortunately, for me the "stupid*funny" is lacking the "funny" part, and the pain of the idiocy doesn't make the pretty pictures worth tuning in. Now AEMH from last week? That's comedy gold!

 

[firefoxprime]

No, it isn't. When stuff got serious in that show, IT GOT SERIOUS. You didn't hear Beast Boy crack jokes during the season finale against Terra, like "I guess she got STONE COLD" when she got turned to stone or "Hurr durr, that's gotta hurt" when Slade fell in lava.

Also, I'm 19. I'm a bit younger, VERY flexible in taste. I still hated this.

Dude, relax. I compared Ultimate Spidey to Teen Titans in the sense that both series recieced heavy flack from the fanbase due to "de-railing" from previous perceptions of their beloved characters. Teen Titans had the heavy anime influence, that turned off many fans. US has the cut away jokes and teen hero team ups. Not to mention those "still" jaded by Sony with USS.

 

[Medinnus]

Dude, relax. I compared Ultimate Spidey to Teen Titans in the sense that both series recieced heavy flack from the fanbase due to "de-railing" from previous perceptions of their beloved characters. Teen Titans had the heavy anime influence, that turned off many fans. US has the cut away jokes and teen hero team ups. Not to mention those "still" jaded by Sony with USS.

Except that in the case of Teen Titans, at least the jokes were funny... humor that succeeds mitigates much. Humor that falls flat... is just flat.

 

[Antiyonder]

Mod Note: The discussions have been moving away from the episode recently, so I suggest moving discussion of the series in general here:

https://www.toonzone.net/forums/showthread.php?293396-quot-Ultimate-Spider-Man-(Animated-Series)-quot-News-amp-Discussion-Thread-Part-5-(Spoilers)/page10

I plan to comment there myself as well.

 

[Spider-Man]

“Back in Black” isn’t as bad as people are making it out to be. Save for some of the cutaways I actually enjoyed the episode. I thought the story was pretty good even though it did have plenty of holes. I found the team not believing the new Spider-Man was Venom was odd given that half of the team was possessed by the Venom symbiote a few episodes ago. Still I thought this was an enjoyable episode with some great action scenes and really nice animation. The Venom design, all of them, were really nice looking too. It was nice for the focus to fall away from the team and more on Spider-Man and his supporting team. The show still suffers from some logic leaps that can get frustrating but I’m still enjoying it. It’s not appointment television at all, nor do I get upset if I ever miss an episode, but whenever I catch it I still get a good chuckle or two out of it.

I really enjoyed the ‘Superfriends’ riff and the ‘vampire sneeze’ gags.

 

[Christopher Glennon]

I couldn't buy the concept of this episode. The public was too willing to accept Venom for no reason, SHIELD and Spidey's teammates were useless, and Peter's concern for Harry wasn't as prominent as it should've been.

That said, the Doop cameo cracked me up.

BTW, after watching the latest Avengers, am I the only one who PREFERS Chi Mc Bride's Fury over the EMH voice for Fury?

I kinda do.

Its basically the same complaint, "oh noes....dey buchered our saykred IP with lamenessss". Yet what about BTBTB? Old school throwback that I bet many Bat-fans 20s/30s did enjoy.

That's because Bat-Mite actually came out and addressed the audience to tell us this version of Batman is as valid as any other, and considering Batman's history and the wider DC Universe, he's right. This is my least favorite interpretation of Spider-Man, and he doesn't even bother to break the wall to defend himself.

If this if Jeph Loeb's stunningly amazing future of Marvel cartoons, I think I'll pay more attention to DC's Young Justice and whatever else they're broadcasting now.

You very much should.

 

[ShadowBlinky]

Also JJJ's sudden admiration for the BLACK SUITED Spidey and Flash's sudden rejection of Spider-Man in favor of Black Suit Spidey. Ugh.

Maybe they think the black costume makes more sense. What DO the colors red and blue have to do with a spider, anyway??

 

[Rick Jones]

I didn't think this episode was all that bad besides the JJJ/SHIELD stuff but I just didn't find myself caring this time around. Venom is still a villain I don't much care for but when the threat is played up, he can be kind of fun. This was something I felt with the "Venom" episode where the situation was kind of done with some horror elements but it just seemed like generic conflict here even when including something as abstract as that black/yellow fight sequence. Maybe it would have helped if they'd built up the Harry/Norman drama and held off on Harry becoming Venom . I hope the next Venom appearance will be stronger and I also hope that they don't wait forever before bringing Aunt May back into the mix.

This episode's cutaways once again made me wish they'd limit themselves a little more with these things though and weren't tossing in as many as they could fit in. There's stuff I liked but when I see stuff that runs a little too long (It Came From Outer Space), inappropriately placed (Venom Cooties), or repetitive ("You just had to tell everybody"), it can kind of kill the enthusiasm.

 

[The Dark Lord]

Maybe they think the black costume makes more sense. What DO the colors red and blue have to do with a spider, anyway??

Black = Evil. That should've pushed JJJ to rant more about Spidey being a public menace, like in SSM and the Raimi films.

BTW, after watching the latest Avengers, am I the only one who PREFERS Chi Mc Bride's Fury over the EMH voice for Fury?

I'm with you, though I think Dean Redman from Iron Man: Armored Adventures is the best voice for an Ultimate Nick Fury in an animated adaptation.

 

[RoyalRubble]

Best part of this episode was the Super Friends-like fantasy sequence. Or at least that's the part I liked the most. It was just so unexpected, even for a show with a lot of cutway scenes and gags like this one. Other than this, the other gags didn't really work and I really didn't think the "You just had to tell everybody" scene had to be shown twice. Maybe if the second time they would have altered it with other instances or villains it would have been better, I don't know. Also, all the jokes surrounding Spidey's cold just weren't funny to me. Especially the often mentioned term of "Vampire Sneeze" they had the characters say throughout the episode.

Action scenes were good, except for some awkward cut-scenes mixed in with them which kind of ruined the mood. What I liked the most was that as in "Exclusive", Spidey was the only hero who got to fight in this episode. It makes more sense, seeing as Venom is one of his most powerful enemies. Having Harry Osborn as Venom was a pretty good idea but seeing as the character hasn't really been developed enough on the show, there isn't really any drama added to this episode. And hearing Venom speaking with Harry's voice didn't make him any more threatening.

Can't really understand why everyone in the city was so willing to trust Venom as a hero. Especially J. Jonah Jameson, who still considers Spidey a threat. That was pretty ridiculous. And the fact that Spidey is the only one on the "team" who notices he is the same villain they fought back in the episode "Venom" was just silly. All the other heroes saw back then that the symbiote could possess anyone, so I don't see why they couldn't accept the fact that this is a new Venom and not some new superhero. And I still don't get why Harry wanted to become a superhero in the first place.

Kind of interesting that Venom is still inside Harry at the end. Here's hoping that the next Venom episode will be executed a little better than this one, though I sincerely doubt it will be. Overall, it was a decent episode but whenever I hear Venom will appear in a Spider-man show I would normally expect more than what we got this time. And a story that would make at least some sense. I'll give this episode some extra points for including a cameo of Doop during Spidey's fantasy sequence.