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SofiaBlythe2014 — Marvel's Spider Man Bomb (10/10/2017)

Published: 2017-10-10 10:01:16 +0000 UTC; Views: 5657; Favourites: 31; Downloads: 1
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Description Hey everyone. This is SofiaBlythe2014. My method for reviewing the show will be in bomb format. Let's begin.

1. Osborn Academy

Writer: Kevin Shinick

Director: Sol Choi

Date: August 26, 2017

Synopsis: "Norman Osborn creates Osborn Academy."

Here we are with episode 2, which helps build on the show's themes on friendship. Let's see why. This episode involves the unveiling of Osborn Academy after Harry's suspension from Horizon High. Norman Osborn is accepting applicants to the academy, but can only accept one of the last two remaining students, Herman Schultz and Clayton Cole. Peter is late for the unveiling when fighting off the Jackal, who's trying to steal Stark technology. Things go from bad to worse with the Jackal breaking into the Academy and Herman and Clayton turning against each other. This is an episode about the fragility of friendship, and seeing the worth in being friends with other. To elaborate, Herman and Clayton are best friends, and they only turn on each other when Norman Osborn encourages them to turn on each other for the prize. Early in the episode, during Peter's fight with the Jackal, he almost lets a helicopter crash, and Gwen Stacy, rather condescendingly, points out the easier solution that could've been done to save it more easily. Regarding Peter's situation, while Gwen is rather stuck up and blunt with him about how he (Spiderman I mean) messed up, it works since she's just telling it like it is, and is really good at environmental analysis. It helps that she acknowledges that Spiderman is trying his best, essentially acting his confident foil. This is a conflict that works for Peter since, while he is extremely intelligent, it's his social awkwardness that caused him to make this mistake. Regarding Herman and Clayton, it's been shown that their behavior is due to negative influence, and they just want to maintain their friendship with each other. The moral on seeing how friends can contribute is done pretty well, as I will go into detail. Jackal steals their technology, and they tell Spidey about its weak points. He then remembers the advice Gwen gave him, and uses it to help save everyone, and get back the technology. That's pretty sweet. Also, I did not see that twist ending coming.

2. A Day In The Life

Writer: Mike Fasolo

Director: Dan Duncan

Date: September 2, 2017

Synopsis: “Spider-Man must deal with Black Cat.”

Here’s a pop quiz for the audience. How do you take down a seemingly unstoppable and magical force? Make it work to your advantage. Let’s see why. This episode involves Peter juggling his school duties (working with Max Modell on Harry’s investigation, a project for Otto Octavius' class, meeting with Harry, and a study group with Anya and Miles) while also dealing with Black Cat. She breaks into Horizon High to steal the V-252 from the space program, and she affects Spidey with bad luck. Now he has to get the V-252 back while also trying to avoid bad luck. I find this episode has an interesting depiction of the “what goes around comes around” principle, mainly in how everything comes together bittersweet. The episode does a good job looking at Peter’s attempts to get himself together through both civilian and crime fighting life, mainly by analyzing the pros and cons of each situation. Regarding his crime fighting, he’s used to villains that are genetically enhanced in some form, not someone capable of manipulating luck. In his civilian life, things start to crack when he’s late for his group work and his project for Otto Octavius’ class, and nearly misses helping out Max Modell in proving Harry’s innocence. In this case, it’s a conflict that works. It establishes that, as brilliant as he is, he’s not a miracle worker. He’s just someone who wants be there for others, and can often make mistakes when having too much on his plate. As for Black Cat, I like her. She has the perfect mix of sultry allure, intelligence, and mischievous playfulness that makes her all kinds of entertaining. Her downfall is her ego, which is how she’s defeated. Spidey turns around her bad luck powers to work for him, but still adds a twinge of intelligence with his general knowledge. Things don’t go too well in regards to school work though, but at least his friends still like him, and the V-252 is safe. I’d say the bitter sweetness helps make this better.

3. Party Animals

Writer: Sterling Gates

Director: Sol Choi

Date: September 2, 2017

Synopsis: “Spider-Man must deal with the Rhino and Jackal at the school dance.”

Oh my! This was something! I’m going to head into heavy spoiler territory here. You’ve been warned. Anyway, this episode starts with Harry being proven innocent of the incident at Midtown High, and Horizon High decides to throw a dance to celebrate. However, things get from bad to worse when one of the students (Aleksei Sytsevich) gets hit with the Jackal’s special serum and turns into a genetically modified rhino. If that’s not the worst of it, Harry decides to stay at Osborn Academy. Now Peter, Gwen, Miles, Anya, and everyone must work to stop the Rhino. The best phrase to describe this episode would be “importance of being there”. First off, Gwen’s uncle in this series is Raymond Warren, the Jackal, who’s been doing what he can to climb to the top of the scientific world. Yikes! The reason for Harry staying at Osborn Academy is because of Norman guilt tripping him into staying because of everything he contributed to help him succeed. Whoa! This episode really piles on the tragedy quite effectively as we see things from three unique viewpoints. On Peter’s side, he just found out that a friend of his is related to a villain, which hurts Gwen even harder since he inspired her to pursue science as a passion. On Harry’s side, he wants to be his own person, but also recognizes what his dad does for him, and agrees to go back to the academy for his sake. Everything comes together flawlessly because of one word, “connection”. Both Peter and Gwen lost someone who inspired them to pursue science, while he and Harry both have to struggle with meeting expectations in their own way. What’s the overall message of the episode? “Be there for each other in times of tragedy”. If that’s not gut wrenchingly heartwarming, I don’t know what is.

4. Sandman, Symbiotic Relationship, Stark Expo

Writer: JT Krul (S), Kevin Burke & Chris Doc Wyatt (SR) , Kevin Shinick (SE)

Directors: Sol Choi (SR) & Dan Duncan (SE) (S)

Date: September 16, 2017

Synopsis (S): “Spiderman must deal with a sand based villain."

Synopsis (SR/SE): “Spiderman deals with the V-252 at school and at the Stark Expo."

If you’re wondering why I put all three into one slot, it’s because I feel that the episodes work better as a three part story rather than standalone stories. Let’s begin.

“Sandman” starts with Peter and friends hanging out at a beachside carnival while taking a break from preparing for the Stark Expo. A giant sandstorm rages over, and Peter goes to dowse it out. It turns out that the storm was caused by one Flint Marko, aka Sandman, who can’t fully control his powers, and is trying to connect with his daughter Keemia. However, she’s out for revenge when she thinks he left her when dealing with Hammerhead.

“The Symbiotic Relationship” continues off from that, with Peter utilizing the V-252 that helped him in his fight. However, he has a hard time trying to adjust to it, and becomes much more aggressive. To make matters worse, Norman Osborn frees the Vulture from prison, and they both plan to steal the V-252.

“The Stark Expo” has the class attending said expo with their inventions, and Tony Stark/Iron Man making an appearance. Things become worse when The Ghost comes to control all the tech when he feels Iron Man cheated him.

One thing all three episodes have in common is the element of desire, and how not to let it affect who you are, and what you stand are. Starting with Peter, obviously, he’s still struggling to balance his superhero life with his personal and academic life, though it’s explored a bit more here. Here, he’s cracking under the pressure of trying to perform, and while unintentional at first, he sees the Symbiote as a ways to cope with it and feel better about himself. In a sense, it acts like an addiction, which works in favor of the narrative since he’s just trying to catch a break, but the universe won’t let him, and he wants to know how. This also applies to some of the villains and heroes that he encounters.

For example, Sandman, despite a somewhat intimidating presence at first, is a genuinely nice guy whose mob connections make him want to make amends. The problem is how Hammerhead fed on Keemia’s fears and anxiety and made her violently turn against him. This arc works well since we see enough of both his intimidation and his softness to want to see him succeed.

Peter also has to deal with the idea of the Vulture now being a free man. Vulture here is interesting in that, even though he has a lot of screws loose, he just wants to make an impact on society, albeit through dark means, and Norman Osborn is the one who can give him that.

When it comes to Iron Man and the Ghost, the former has to deal with the dangers of being a both an icon and a role model , much like Peter in a sense, while the latter is pretty much if the symbiote were fully personified as vindictive and selfish.

Why am I going through all of this? It’s because each arc deals with trying to live up to something, showing both how to do it, and how not to do it. And so what do we learn from all of this? It’s best to never let desire or status cloud your judgement, and make the proper sacrifices in order to be there for others. Well, if that’s not profound, I don’t know what is.
5. Ultimate Spider Man & Kraven’s Amazing Hunt

Writers: Chris Cox (KAH) & Kevin Shinick (both episodes)

Directors: Dan Duncan (USM) & Sol Choi (KAH)

Dates:

September 23, 2017 (USM)

September 30, 2017 (KAH)

Synopsis (USM): “Miles gets superpowers.”

Synopsis (KAH): “ Spider Man and Miles are hunted by Kraven the Hunter.”

Well, since we have two Miles centric episodes, I figured reviewing both of them in the same slot would be the best choice to see how they work. Let’s see why.

“Ultimate Spider Man” has Miles being bitten by one of Raymond Warren’s spiders, and thus gaining powers like Spider Man. This bites him in the butt when he gets overconfident, and blabs his secret, putting his father and others in danger from the Smythes’ spider slayers.

“Kraven’s Amazing Hunt” has him and Spider Man being pursued by Kraven The Hunter, who owns a reality show where he hunts down dangerous creatures. He was apparently sent by Norman Osborn to get their specimens when the Spider Slayers failed. Miles starts to doubt himself when sprayed with a type of fear gas.

If there’s one thing I really like about these two episodes, it’s the mentor-student like relationship that Peter and Miles have, especially when, spoilers, the he finds out Peter’s identity in the Kraven episode. Regarding Miles, even before the incident, he’s always been shown to be the friendliest of the group towards Peter, and looking up to him for his skill and personality. This already adds a new level of depth to their conflict. It helps that his overconfidence in the first episode just stems from his childish naivety, while his anxiety in the latter, even without the gas, stems from a desire to make up for what he did.

As for Peter, I definitely do like how he’s much more adept to his super heroics. While he’s still maintaining the secret identity, he does realize the perks there are to being open with others, and there is justification to having a secret identity while still maintaining trust. People can use your secret identity to get something out of you, like with the Slayers and Kraven. Peter realizes this, and wants to make sure no one his hurt, adding more depth to his hero complex. It helps that he’s generally more aware of what comes with being a superhero.

As for our villains, Norman Osborn is bad. Raymond at least has some humanity with Gwen, the Smythes do appear to care for each other in a twisted way, and Kraven is just vain and manipulated. Norman is a smug snake who only looks out for himself, as evidence in deliberately shooting Harry’s confidence to get him to stay on his side. He’s pretty effective in his methods.

What ties everything together would be the moral thread throughout both parts on how being a hero is knowing how to look out for others. Have the right amount of confidence, and don’t let your ego blow up or confidence shot. Learn from your experiences. This is what makes these episodes for me.

6. Halloween Moon

Writers: Kevin Burke & Chris Doc Wyatt

Director: Sol Choi

Date: October 7, 2017

Synopsis: "People turn into werewolves on Halloween."

Have you ever wondered what would happen if you stuck to just one identity all your life? Well, here's an interesting exploration of that idea. This episode takes place on the night of the Halloween school dance, with John Jameson and Harry Osborn try out an experiment involving a lunar Crystal and gamma radiation. However, the experiment goes awry and turns John into a werewolf, dubbed werewolf. His scratches cause anyone affected to become a werewolf. Now Spiderman, Harry, and Gwen must work with the Hulk to stop him. However, Hulk starts becoming affected by the radiation, and becomes unstable. The episode provides an interesting idea when it comes to dual identities, mainly in how it's a juggling act, but both sides help balance each other. The thing that makes Hulk work as a character is that he can be an aggressive and boisterous fighter, but that he has his humanity as Bruce Banner to reel him in. The same logic can apply to Peter, where he feels more confident as Spiderman than Peter Parker, and that Peter can show him there's more. It helps that Hulk's resistance to his human side comes from a desire from trying to help. The ending is what puts it into perspective. Hulk turns into his human form, which helps make the antidote effective in turning others back to normal. That's why you need a human side. It can help you realize how important others are to you. This is just great.

Here is the cast for the episodes.

Robbie Daymond as Peter Parker/Spiderman

Max Mittleman as Harry Osborn

Laura Bailey as Gwen Stacy

Melanie Minichino as Anya Corazon

Nadji Jeter as Miles Morales

Alistair Duncan as Adrian Toomes/The Vulture

Josh Keaton as Norman Osborn, John Jameson/Man Wolf

Fred Tatasciore as Max Modell, Hulk

Ben Diskin as Flash Thompson, Spencer Smythe

Jason Spisak as Alistair Smythe, Scorpion

John DiMaggio as Jackal/Raymond Warren

Nancy Linari as Aunt May

Scott Menville as Otto Octavius

Cameron Boyce as Herman Schultz/Shocker

Yuri Lowenthal as Clayton Cole/Clash

Grey DeLisle Griffin as Felicia Hardy/Black Cat

Matthew Mercer as Aleksei Sytsevich/Rhino

Sofia Carson as Keemia Marko/Sand Girl

Travis Willingham as Flint Marko/ Sandman

Jim Cummings as Hammerhead, Ghost

Mick Wingert as Tony Stark/Iron Man

Alex Desert as Jefferson Davis

Troy Baker as Kraven

Kevin Shinick as Bruce Banner
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Comments: 3

Faban07 [2024-01-07 21:22:27 +0000 UTC]

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

shadowpump4567 [2017-10-11 00:46:54 +0000 UTC]

There are fans who hate this version of Spidey, as I was meh on Ultimate Spider-Man as it became more of a Teen Titans made show.  This show brought Black Cat back since Spectacular, as I hated Dan Slott for turning her back into a villain who now is a mob boss.  She had made friends with other Marvel heroes in which I wanted Spider-Man not being Tony Stark and be an urban hero as he was meant to be than also being an Avenger.  I liked the Fox Kids version as we got to see other characters than just the X-Men showing up for two episodes.  I would also like to see John Stemper be the writer to the new series and make it better, and to finally give Howard The Duck more screen time or his own episode than just cameos.

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

oboeshoes16 [2017-10-10 22:04:29 +0000 UTC]

Sounds worth watching.

👍: 0 ⏩: 0