Many of you who read this will have probably seen, or at least heard of the spider-man movies. The movies that were put out were financially successful, and two out of the three were really good movies (the third being the odd one out). Given this information you would assume that a fourth installment was well on its way. However, Sony (the company with the rights to spider-man) announced that they will be re-booting the franchise in 2012 with a new director, new story, and a new cast. Sony pictures has attributed this re-boot to the resignation of director Sam Raimi, who resigned because he felt that he could not meet the company's deadline without sacrificing artistic integrity. So why did Sony simply not hire a director that could meet the deadline? They had a full cast, writers, and producers yet, they decide to re-boot everything because the director resigned? Surely a movie with such a famous character (in an era of great interest in super hero movies) would draw many good directors to the project. More importantly, why did Sony decide to scrap what they've done so far and start over? There are many answers to these questions, and many reasons for them, I choose to believe the one that makes the most sense to me as a devoted spider-man fan. Sony screwed up. Badly. They brought the films to a point where it did not make sense to continue the storyline. Don't believe me? Just look at the ideas they were coming up with:
(entry taken from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider-Man_in_film )
"that Anne Hathaway would play Felicia Hardy, though she would not have transformed into the Black Cat as in the comics. Instead, Raimi's Felicia was expected to become a brand-new superpowered figure called the Vulturess."
The Vultress? It's like they are trying to piss off the fans.
Furthermore, with Marvel Studios putting out great movie after great movie,the pressure was on Sony to make a truly classic spider-man film, something that they could not accomplish by continuing the mess they created. In this mini series I will break down exactly why Sony could not continue the story they wove, where I think Sony made critical mistakes, how they can correct them, and what this ultimately means for spider-man.I will preface my breakdown with a bit of my own background on the topic. I am a big fan of super hero movies, super hero TV shows, and super hero comics. I do not particularly favor Marvel Comics over DC comics, I am just a sucker for cool heroes. One of my favorite characters in the comics world is Spider-man. I have read a fair amount of the comic (including the 'Amazing', 'Spectacular', 'Web of Spider-man', and 'friendly neighborhood' series). I watched the much loved 90's cartoon, and all three of the movies. In addition, I watched another (more recent) cartoon about spider-man titled: 'Spectacular Spider-man'. I begin my critique of Sony's handling of spider-man with this particular television show, which will be part one of this series.
'Spectacular Spider-man' debuted in 2008 on the WB Saturday morning cartoons block, and it shined. The show had cartoon elements to appeal to a young audience, it had enough action to appeal to the casual audience, and it had brilliant story telling that appealed to the die-hard audience. If you search any spider-man website on the internet and read about what people thought of this show, you would be convinced that the show truly was 'spectacular'. To understand why the cartoon was great, you need to understand what made spider-man great in the first place. Its a story about a guy with little friends, no parents, and no luck. When given a great gift he takes things for granted and inadvertently causes the death of his uncle. Ridden by guilt he decides that from that day on, he will do everything he can to atone for his mistake. Peter Parker is an underdog by every definition. He can not catch a break and when he does it backfires on him. This is what makes him so compelling. We want him to succeed, we cheer for him, and we want his life to turn out OK. 'Spectacular Spider-man' understood this concept and presented it perfectly.
The show outlined Peter's struggles of being spider-man through superior story telling. Out late fighting crime? He would crash and fall asleep in class the next morning, causing his Aunt and teachers to be worried. Finally getting the courage to ask a girl out? He got rejected and ridiculed and can't even use his powers to lash out at his bullies. Saves the city? Gets shunned by his few friends because they thought he ditched them. The few details of the cartoon that I just listed tell us that the writers knew exactly how to handle the character and where they were taking the story. Character development rarely occurs in cartoons but this one had it. the writers would gradually introduce characters and integrate them with the story lines they needed to be in. For example, the show introduces Dr. Connors, we find out that he is doing research on limb re-growth, we find out that Peter is an assistant at his lab, and we get to meet his family. All of this is established before the doctor becomes the lizard. This makes the confrontation with the lizard more meaningful, as we are somewhat attached to the character already, and realize that it actually matters whether or not he returns to normal. The best part about this is the fact that the show does not devote an entire episode to having us meet Dr. Connor's family. What the writers did instead was introduce them when Peter was stopping by the lab on his way to another destination.
Basically, you had to watch previous episodes to keep up with the main plot, which was developed very smoothly as the season went on. This provided the show with the ability to really organize everything and control the pace and plot development. Reoccurring characters also mattered; if a character was introduced it was significant. The writers also brought back a host of classic characters that were omitted from the 90's cartoon and the movie series. These characters included Liz Allan (Peter's first crush), Gwen Stacy (his first true love), and Captain George Stacy (Gwen's father, police captain, and one of the few people who worked out spider-man's identity on his own). The inclusion of these characters separates this show from the others, simply because it sticks to the original spider-man story and does not try weird new ideas (Vultress anyone?). If you still are not convinced about the show, just watch this short clip (most important part starts at 4:10)
We see spider-man save the day, make a few wise cracks, and make some money so he and his Aunt can get by. Only to be fired from his job, and face criticism from his friends. He is so distraught by the turn of events that he contemplates getting rid of his powers. The dialogue he delivers is pure brilliance and could only have been written by someone who truly understood the character.
By now, you probably have noticed that I have done nothing but praise the show. The show was made by Sony studios. In an article where I am apparently supposed to be criticizing Sony why would I devote so much writing to convincing you that what Sony did with the show was nothing short of brilliant? Because Sony cancelled the show after episode 26. Did it have bad ratings? No, in fact it had very good ratings due to its mass appeal to various audiences. In fact, it also received some accolades including a nomination for: Best Story-boarding in a Television Production. Did key writers resign? No, everyone who worked on the show was very enthusiastic and looked forward to continuing with the show. Was the show becoming stale and running out of ideas? Greg Weisman and Victor Cook the supervisors of the series had planned to finish the story in 65 episodes, meaning that they had a detailed vision for the story. So what gives Sony? You destroyed the one thing you had going for your spider-man ownership by cancelling this show. Why not listen to fans and see that you finally got it right. I had hopes that this show (released after spider-man 3) would signal a change for the better, but now there is no hope. This cancellation is just one of the major mistakes Sony has made with spider-man. A character that they had ownership of and could have done some really great things with. Now they have opened the door for Marvel to kick their ass. In part 2 I will detail mistakes that were made with the movie editions and talk about a few more things.
To be Continued
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Spidey is my favourite hero. Always has been, always will be. Loved the 90's cartoon more than anything on TV.
ReplyDeleteI also liked Spectacular Spiderman. The clip you linked to was full of emotion and character development. Good choice.
I agree with you. Always thought that Spidey was the most interesting character because his successes always come with a cost and he is a perennial loser (even though he has super powers).
Keep writing about Spidey, and I'll keep reading ;)