SpiderFan89 writes...

Greg, congratulations for your Spider-Man series. I watched the two seasons and as everybody else, I want more. but I'm not gonna ask season 3 questions because:
A) you wont reveal anything
B) by the time you answer this we will know if there's going to be another season

so:
1) have you watched the other new Marvel shows - Wolverine & The X-Men and Iron Man - Armored Adventures? if so, what do you think of them?
2) theres been speculation that Teletoon (Spectacular Spidey's Canadian home) may step in to save the show. is that a possibility, or the fate of the series depends entirely on Disney XD?
3) can you use Jack O'Lantern and The Punisher?
4) which Spider-Man games have you played?

thats for now.

AJC writes...

Based on season two of Spectacular Spider-man, the character Debra Whitman appears to be quite aloof and unsympathetic (when she stood in the background as miles warren basically took over the connors' lab and fired them). What was the reasoning behind this characterization and how is this bringing out the essence of the character? Sorry if I am being analytical.

Alex writes...

Hi, Greg.

Have you ever had the chance to watch any episodes of Gargoyles or The Spectacular Spider-Man on another language (German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, ...)? If so, which did you enjoy the most/least?

Pete writes...

Before I begin i just wanna thank you for the best superhero animated series EVER!!!!
Now, with that said I would like to ask...
1.) If you were to ever use any other hero in the marvel universe who would it be?

2.) Did you like the fact that Harry was Hobgoblin in the Ultimate Spiderman Comics?

3.) Are you a fan of the Crime Master? (The crimelord that was in about two comics with the goblin then killed off.)

4.) Season 1 and 2 were both incredible, none of the episodes were below 8 out of 10, but something is bugging me...Norman's alive just like in the comics, were you trying to respect the comics or were you not aloud to keep him dead.

5.) Quuestion four leads me to another question, can you name some of the things you are not aloud to do on the show?

6.) Finally, when, not if WHEN, season 3 gets commisioned will you announce it on this site.

Thanks for your time and the best anime series out there:)

Aldrius writes...

**Spider-man spoilers***

***Seriously***

Ramble: Child Development 101

Okay, so last season I thought the Symbiote arc was pretty good, I didn't really like Eddie that much, but I thought that the take on the Symbiote was interesting. My only real complaint was as with most symbiote stories (in Ultimate, in the other Animated Series), we didn't go long enough thinking it was just a regular costume. (Though I guess that'd be kind of pointless with most people knowing it's an alien.)

I find the theme of this arc hard to pin down. Psychology made sense last season as we were sort of looking into the motives and histories of Eddie Brock and Peter Parker and how they contrasted with one another. But here? We're not really getting a deeper look into Eddie or Peter's history beyond the first episode. I suppose to a degree the major theme is people with power they cannot yet handle or control. (Jameson and his spores, Sandman and his beach, Eddie and the Symbiote.) Which is of course, a big part of growing up.

Anyway, overall while reinforcement was my least favourite episode, this was probably my least favourite arc of the series. Most of the B-plots were always more interesting than what Venom was up to. I really loved the Sandman plot, I thought there could have been more information involved in the relationship between the Master Planner and the Big Man. I also vastly preferred the personal stake Jameson had in the Colonel Jupiter episode. And the third episode had some fun with people considering whether Peter could be Spider-man.

I have a theory about Norman's "No." but I'll chose to keep that to myself until I review Drama 101. The Conner's perspective is interesting, and I kinda like that they suspect, Aunt May's reaction is okay, but I'm still disappointed Peter has never told her. (And that's something I still don't really get. I guess he doesn't want to worry her, but it still seems irresponsible.) Stacy's reaction is of course, awesome. There are so many series and movies out there where the police are made out to be incompetent and completely incapable of foreseeing or preventing even the smallest of crimes, nice to see that subverted here. Stacy is actually a detective.

The use of the gene cleanser was an interesting choice, but a lot of wasted potential in the last episode again, I feel. Kind of like Reinforcement, I think a re-balancing between action and the villain's reaction to Peter Parker would have been apt (that one fight with Venom seemed to go on for a really long time for me). Though that's a tricky bit of writing to pull off, as I also find it difficult to justify why somebody like say, Tombstone (or even Beck really) wouldn't get rid of Peter just in case he was Spider-man.

Other than that, I liked the use of different soliloquies for each part here. Made for nice little bits of character development. While Gwen hooking up with Harry is almost as foolish as Peter hooking up with Liz. Bah, teenagers.

Overall, like I said, not my favourite arc, but overall much better upon reflection. I enjoy Venom somewhat, but still feel like there's something missing with the character. His motives make sense, but I think I just find them too petty to be invested in them. And Venom comes across as too much as a petulant child for me to find him scary beyond his first appearance.

Matthew writes...

When the DVDs for Spectacular Spider-Man were being talked about (prior to the release), the plan was for the arcs to be combined into "movies" and would feature cut material as well as stuff like gunshots. The first release followed this format. The episodes smoothly transitioned into each other and there were added scenes (as far as I know, only the scene with the cop shooting at the Lizard and Flash hitting Pete in the crotch with a water balloon). Now, when the following 3 volumes were released, this format was changed. The episodes were separate and the gunshots were still lasers. No apparent added scenes were present.

I just saw an early solicitation for the upcoming series set and it made no indication on whether or not the set would include extra scenes or actual gun sounds. I was just wondering if you have any idea if these will be uncut episodes or not.

Also, I've been curious, in "Group Therapy" when Black Costume Spidey fights the 6 for the second time Rhino gets shocked by Electro and Rhino's mouth moves, almost like he's trying to say something. Was his line removed? Or was this just part of the animation? It's been bugging me a lot and I just wanted some clarification.

Thanks for the time. The show is amazing. I was actually at Wondercon when you premiered the pilot of the show and ever since then I was a HUGE fan of your take on the Spidey mythos. I can't wait for the second season to air in the US and I have my fingers crossed for a 3rd season (as well as a 4th and 5th!)

gary writes...

i would like to say thank you for creating the best superhero animated series of all time...second, this is a question, i know you can't and won't reveal any future plans for the series but can you answer this, i know fox had a hellofalot things the 90's series couldn'y do like punch...PUNCH, obviously this series doesnt have as much problems but, finally my question, is carnage to dark for the series, along with morbius biting people, and how about the death of gwen and george stacey stories? thanks

Aldrius writes...

****Spectacular Spider-man season 2 spoilers***

***Avert your eyes!!***

Ramble: Engineering 101

These reviews are taking me forever to write out, I don't really have that much to say about each individual episode so I'll just write the reviews about arcs instead.

Here we have Engineering 101. I really liked this arc, I think. The mystery was kinda absent and hard to follow, but of course I think establishing that the Big Man is not necessarily Foswell, Shocker is not Herman Shultz and 'Harry Osborn is the Green Goblin' made it so that we could believe it might be someone else.

I think I just found it too silly to believe that Dr. Octopus' arms were the Master Planner. Which is what it seemed like you were going for. The mystery also was given too much breathing room, there wasn't enough called into question. Though I guess that was true of the 'Big Man' mystery as well, it didn't seem like as much of a... mystery? If that makes sense. But maybe that was just because I didn't know that Foswell was the Big Man in the comics, so I had no real suspects. (Unlike the Master Planner arc where I had one, maybe two suspects with the Chameleon.)

At first I didn't really enjoy this arc that much. Reinforcement is probably my least favourite episode in the entire series. There wasn't a whole lot of plot development and outside of the first five minutes and the last two minutes, nothing really changed or progressed. I also didn't feel the action, while exemplary as usual, made up for this fact. I find the gigantic robotic dragon...especially puzzling.

Blueprints and Destructive Testing were fun diversions that introduced new villains while connecting them to the overarching plotline of the Master Planner. I actually liked Kraven's design as a 'mutant' and I thought it made his character development a whole lot more visceral. Though I hope to see some more depth injected into this in *crosses fingers* season 3. I definitely don't agree with many who want to see this change reversed, however.

Warren is an interesting creature, I don't know a lot about his character from the comic. But he makes a good enough anti-Dr Connors with his experimenting for money and his carrying a handgun around wherever he goes.

Really nice direction by Kevin Altieri here, especially with the scenes in the lab. It's so cool that he got the threat of a handgun into a scene without having to make issue with standards and practices. And there was this one great shot focusing on the lion's eyes. I love scenes where people square up against eachother without actually fighting, and merely one-up eachother with their demands. They're so much more interesting than actual fights.

Calypso was also very cool. Another character I hope to see more of in the future, though it's strange to me that she just disappeared. The drum motif that accompanies her is also very cool, and gives the character a sense of power that I appreciate.

Shear Strength is very cool, though. It was nice to see the Vulture and Electro taking up major roles in this episode, giving certain villains their own spot-light episode to accompany the major sinister six episode. This is also where I (and I believe the rest of the fandom) began our secret love affair with George Stacy. The guy was cool last season in Persona and Nature vs. Nurture, but here he's sticking it to a super-villain to ensure his daughter's safety, and who doesn't love that?

The end to this arc is both disheartening and interesting. I kind of like Liz, though she's... really wrong for Peter. Good for her for sticking up for herself anyway, though Gwen really could and should have done the same beforehand.

Overall a pretty rocky, but overall good arc, I enjoyed it immensely and hope to see more in the future!

Clark Cradic writes...

Was the Norman Osborn right before and after the accident that created Doc Ock Chameleon?

Akeem M. writes...

I have to congratulate you on the success on The Spectacular Spider-Man series. Season 2 Spoilers ahead! Good job on letting the villains like Ock and Norman use big words. I found out that Norman had no idea that Harry was drinking the green after he mentioned that it was "more serendipity" that he found Harry there after mentioning that he happened to find "Norman Osborn" witnessing a Green Goblin theft. It was genious, I applaud you for making people look up words.

Fredrick Foswell obviously knew that Mr. Lincoln was the "Big Man" during the events of the episode "Gangland". Now when initially asked by Peter about this, he tells the teenager that Mr. Lonnie Thompson Lincoln is a good man and is not a criminal. Why was that? Now I beleive that Foswell is a good man and isn't a reporter/crime lord like his comics incarnation. I can only assume that he didn't want this child going out to investigate it and getting killed.

Will they EVER catch Mysterio? Also, I want to know ouside of the aftermath with Tinkerer in "Blueprints", have we even SEEN the real Quentin Beck as Mysterio? Does Spider-Man catch the robots? I tend to think that when he speaks it is really him (Spider-man catching him in "Blueprints" and "Reinforcements", and Beck's prison appearance in "Identity Crisis") because when he is revealed as a robot, he has some kind of blank stare...so I guess he escaped out of prison off screen after "Identity Crisis". Am I right?

Does anyone outside of the Osborne family, Pete, Gwen know about Norman's "hobby"? I assume not because I'm sure that being a supervillain/crime boss is looked down on in the world of business and Oscorp will be asking for a bailout...

Henry Goeldner writes...

Hello Mr Weisman, an Australian fan here curious about quite a number of things pertaining to your most excellent adaption of the Spiderman mythos. Hypothetical questions in fact.

You have stated previously that you had wished to use Kingpin in some form and still hope to. If you could use Kingpin, for season three or hopefully even a season four (or five, six, seven, it deserves that much at least) would you have Daredevil make an appearance as well? What of other costumed adventurers, both major and minor? If you could use any Marvel hero, which would you incorporate into your highly entertaining series?

Say for instance, Prowler?

Forrest writes...

Do you know when The Spectacular Spider-man Season 1 box set will come out, some people say it will come out this summer. Do you know a release date for it? And will there be a Season 2 box set?

Mo writes...

Guess what? More Spidey questions!

1) Exactly how did a Goblin costume tailored for Norman Osborn convincingly fit Harry Osborn?
2) Is Spider-Man at all wanted for the attempted murder of Otto Octavious in "Group Therapy"?
3) Did nobody put together the disappearance of the Symbiote, Spider-Man being at the scene of the crime and him wearing the black costume?
4) Will Spider-Man at all appear in season 3?

Thanks again!

Forrest writes...

Hi Greg,
I'v been watching Spectacular Spider-Man on Disney XD, and its always on when Im at school. And its never on agine, do you think you can change the time from the morning to the afternoons. So there can be more viewers for the show, so third season could come out.

Tanner writes...

If the third season of the Spectacualr Spider-man does come out, when will it come?

Natan writes...

Hello Greg!

Will you be doing audio commentaries for the season sets of Spectacular Spider-Man?

I have currently have the individual volumes and I have to say that the special features are very disappointing to say the least. Are you involved with the distribution of the DVD's at all? Do you know when fans can expect the sets to be released? I hear it might be this July.

It would also be fun if there was a sort of pop-up video or trivia special feature that tells you all the little references to the comics from each episode. I love how every little supporting character plays a part in this show and how they are all existing characters in the comic book world - even ones obscure as Sha Shan (I don't think anyone even realizes that she is an actual character in the comics!).

Also, will you be attending San Diego Comic Con this year?

Thanks.

AL writes...

Hi Greg,

First I just want to say congratulations on creating what many have dubbed "the definitive Spider-Man show". Spectacular Spider-Man is such a wonderful show. Everyone working on the show has just done such an amazing job. Thanks for all the hard work.

I know you are still awaiting a third season to be picked up. I've read a lot of concerns from fans about how the show might never get more than 26 episodes. This is pretty irrational since it's still too early to know, but there is always a chance that a third season may never be picked up. So my question is, IF the show does not continue with a third season or IF the show is canceled (let's hope not!) before it reaches your target 52 or 65(?) episodes, do you think it's possible to continue the story in a different medium? For example: as a comic book series. Or, could the show continue as a series of straight to DVD movies, like what you planed after the entire series ended?

Thanks! Crossing my fingers for Season 3!

Mo writes...

More Spidey questions!

1) Regarding JJJ: I think Daran Norris does an amazing job in the voice role, but i'm wondering if you ever considered having J.K. Simmons reprise the role.
2) With John Jameson, why did you choose him to fill the role of a rival hero? And why did you make Colonel Jupiter rather than, say, Man-Wolf?
3) The influence of Stan and Steve's work, the Ultimate line and the films is clear in the show. Did earlier Spider-Man programs influence it at all?
4) Regarding Green Goblin: Did you ever consider using the Ultimate demonic design or the movie's armored design or did you always want to use the classic Halloween costume look?
5) If you had to choose, who has been your favorite villain on the show?

Once more, I thank you.

AJC writes...

Does Walter Hardy know Spider-man's identity?

Clark Cradic writes...

If you had been able to use Kingpin in the series, would have used something similar to his designs from the 90's animated series or the Daredevil movie? Would you still have cast Kevin Michael Richardson in the role?

Martin writes...

In "The Invisible Hand" Foswell tells Peter "rumor is that Big Man aka L. Thompson Lincoln is some kind of a crime lord" after which Spidey goes to confront Tombstone. How does Spidey know that Big Man is in this tall building (the one he goes to)?

David Blyth writes...

Hi Mr. Wiesman

As a folllow-on from something asked of you by "Anonymous" on the issue of growth and evolution in Spider-Man , I would like to, first, argue that the Spider-Man series you have been working on isnt "pinned down" by the problems the comic version of Spidey faces. You have placed Peter, MJ, Gwen, Harry and others into the most innocent kind of "hell" on Earth, High School.

Long before girls fell off bridges, long before clones and long before Peter realized MJ was the love of his life and married her, you don't have to worry about "resetting" there because that only affects the characters outside of High School...where readers expect them to act grown up and responsible for one another, and when they act like rank adolescents as they do in BND (my opinion), or heck, ever since the last ten years worth (Spidey's never recovered since 1999, again, my opinion)

Spider-Girl has now been running for eleven years, with another good few years left in the tank (I don't know how long Tom intends to tell it, right now the word is "indefinatly"), yet Tom recently admited if he so much as fought for an animated series, he'd be shot down. I find this incredibly tragic and disheartening.

And yet...look at what D.C accomplished ten years ago with Batman Beyond.

Terry McGuiness may only have had the golden rule of syndication ("Get 65 and DIE") one movie, and one episode of JLU, but it says a great deal about the higher-ups at WB to risk three years worth on character growth on someone new, whilst balancing that with remarkable doses of growth for Bruce Wayne and Barbera Gordon to that extent than, say, three more years of "The New Batman Adventures"

Hell, let's argue LOONATICS. Done CORRECTLY, this would have made Loony Toon characters DRAMATIC...key word there is "done correctly" of course, but premises like that are ones any writer can eat up with a spoon...again, WB risked it, suceed or fail.

Likewise you have put a lot of risk into Spectacular Spider-Man that has paid off, so maybe it's not a case of marketers being afraid of "growth and change", maybe it's more a case of certain groups being behind the times and just not living in the here and now.

Time will tell. Right now, I like to think those people KNOW that we need something new. Nothing lasts forever.

Not even the relevancy of the "Modern Myth".

My question: Why is it easier for something like Batman Beyond to be favoured over something like Spider-Girl?

Martin writes...

you said that you already have overall plan for season 3. does this mean everything from the begginig to the finale is in your head, including what characters and villains will appear?

Branden Harvey writes...

I'll rephrase my question since I confused you the first time (my fault, of course, not yours):

In The Uncertainty Principle, when Harry was "revealed" as the Goblin, he was switching back and forth between himself and the Goblin persona right in front of Spider-Man and Norman. Since Harry was never the Goblin, what was going on there?

Arthur Jr. writes...

1. To be honest Greg, I may have to agree with Daran Norris doing Man-Wolf if included. I even wonder if Daran can pull of the Man-Wolf vocal effects though.

2. Still, I would recommend Frank Welker and Dee Bradley Baker if another bunch of werewolves (i.e. the Lobo Brothers) were included in a future season. I don't know if you heard of them, but outside of Eduardo Lobo knowing Glory Grant when she worked as a secretary for J. Jonah Jameson, the Lobo Brothers were in a gang war against the Kingpin.

3. I was wondering if you read an earlier comment about Sally Avril later becoming Bluebird in the comics. What is the year that the TV series takes place in since it wasn't specified in the show?

4. As an added bonus, I was wondering if a future season would include the Sinister Syndicate since you already have the Sinister Six and the Enforcers on the show? That which was made up of Beetle (who not only fought the Fantastic Four and Iron Man before becoming a founding member of the Thunderbolts), Hydro-Man, Rhino, Boomerang, Speed Demon, Leila Davis (the getaway vehicle driver before becoming the second Beetle), Blacklash (an Iron Man villain), Constrictor (who was a member of the Serpent Society), Scorpia (she started out as a minion of Silvermane), and Shocker. I don't mind if this is answered as a "No comment."