Spider-Man Unlimited

The comparisons to Batman Beyond are obvious and plentiful. Especially in the scene when Terry--uh, Peter, first puts on his technosparky outfit. The music, too, is clearly "inspired" by the pseudo-Nine Inch Nails soundtrack of BB. But there were some differences between the two series. Not all of them good. While paying "homage" to Batman Beyond is all well and good (it IS the best animated series on the air), it doesn't go far enough. Why do these ripoffs insist on copying the surface elements without addressing the true problems with most Marvel cartoons? Third rate animation and stilted readings of badly written scripts. It's a shame, too, because the Marvel Universe has such a rich tapestry from which to draw.

What do they give us instead, though? Beat, yesterday's-news villains Venom and Carnage, in (who would have even thought it possible?) worse designs than they've EVER had in any medium! As an added bonus, no explanation is given for their actions, their motivations, or even their existence. If you're not already well-versed in their (utterly dull and irrevelant) story, you'd be lost as to their presence here, except that they're obviously bad guys. Hell, everything in this episode is obvious.

The plot, such as it is, is this: Earth officials discover Counter-Earth, a duplicate of Marvel-Earth, on the other side of the sun. A probe is launched by Earth and destroyed before entering Counter-Earth's atmosphere. Earth, represented by astronaut John Jameson, is outraged. Jameson is sent to Counter-Earth, and Carnage and Venom, working together for unknown (and certainly, never-to-be-explained) reasons, hitch a ride on Jameson's rocket. Spider-Man tries to stop them, and fails. He's blamed by the entire world for Carnage and Venom's actions, and retires from web-slinging.

Strangely, Peter Parker appears to be married to Mary Jane Watson, even though at the conclusion of the last Spider-Man series, she was lost to him and he was just beginning a quest to find her. This lack of continuity is emblematic of the pilot as a whole: each character appears to be living in a world all his own, unrelated to the characters around him. There is no genuine interaction, no feeling that this is a genuine world we're getting a glimpse into, and no feeling that action shave any consequences other than the obvious need to advance the plot. The episode has an empty feel to it as a result.

Peter Parker ends up in his new costume (never really explained) and hijacks a rocket to Counter-Earth. There is not one reaction shot of any kind to Spider-Man's announcement that he and Peter Parker (!) are going to Counter-Earth. This adds to the disembodied feel of the episode.

Spider-Man arrives on Counter-Earth, and quickly discovers it is inhabited by anthropomorphic animals known as the Knights of Wundagore.

The Wundagore story in the comics never really interested me, and it fails to do so here. The episode ends on a cliffhanger: will Spider-Man be killed? Hmm. I can't wait to find out next week!

The sad part is, I LIKE the concept of Spidey on Counter-Earth. It certainly gives the creators a chance to do something new and different with an established Marvel character, without really messing with the established Spideycartoonaverse continuity.

But I'm afraid, once again, the creators of a Marvel cartoon are not up to the task they've been assigned. It doesn't bode well for the Avengers cartoon, I fear.

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