A Station Eight Fan Web Site
Ask Greg Archives
Spectacular Spider-Man, The
Archive Index
: « First : « 100 : « 10 : Displaying #163 - #172 of 1206 records. : 10 » : 100 » : 1000 » : Last » :
Posts Per Page: 1 : 10 : 25 : 50 : 100 : All :
Paul writes...
I think you once hinted that you 'didn't get enough episodes' to do a musical episode of The Spectacular Spider-Man. Was a musical episode part of your 5 season plan? And if so, which season did you plan to include it in: 3, 4 or 5?
Greg responds...
I don't think I ever hinted that. Coming up with a legit story excuse to do a musical episode is usually the biggest challenge. Puck would have made a great excuse on Gargoyles, but it's harder to figure out how to do that on SpecSpidey. Nevertheless, we had an index card on my board for the run of the show that said, "Spectacular Spidey - The Musical". It was mostly a joke, but if I could have figured out a solution...
Mike writes...
How was it working with Peter MacNicol? What brought him to mind when it came to playing his characters from Young Justice & The Spectacular Spider-Man? Do you plan to work with him again when possible?
Greg responds...
I love working with Peter. He's a consummate professional, who makes constantly interesting choices. I've been a fan of his since Dragonslayer, and have loved his various T.V. work. Though I had never worked with him before, I suggested him for Doctor Octopus in Spectacular Spider-Man, because I thought he could capture both sides of the Doctor Octavius we were creating, i.e. the shy, nervous man we first meet, and the megalomaniac he becomes. That worked out so well, that I knew he'd give us a great Professor Ivo on Young Justice and a great Tseebo on Star Wars Rebels. I'd work with him again in a heartbeat. Just need a show. ;)
Jack Johnson writes...
Hi Greg,
I noticed that, in one of your previous posts, you answered a fan question by including a schematic of your "pie-in-the-sky" fantasy for the Spectacular Spider-Man (including how you wanted to do movies, certain numbers of seasons, etc. to tell your intended story with a specific road map) and I was wondering if you would do the same for Young Justice (I'm not asking for spoilers or specific details, just information such as how many seasons you would have done, if you would have, like with Spider-Man, done movies or spin-offs, etc.).
Greg responds...
We didn't have the same kind of "Business Plan" for YJ as we had for TSS-M. But we had definite plans for a Season Three and many, many, many story lines for either the show or the comic.
Paul writes...
Hi Greg, I know that one of your goals on The Spectacular Spider-Man was to increase the ethnic diversity in Spidey's cast of characters.
With that in mind, why did you change Rhino from (presumably) eastern-European (since his name in the comics was Aleksei Sytsevich) to American (or Irish-American, since his surname became O'Hirn)?
I felt like it went against what you were trying to accomplish by mixing things up with characters like Liz Allen and Ned Lee(ds).
Greg responds...
We felt we had enough Russian villains without adding Rhino. At some point you gotta wonder why all these Russian natives hate Spidey. It made sense in the Cold War context that Spidey - and much of his rogue's gallery - was created in. Made less sense in a modern context.
The O'Hirn name came from the comics; we didn't create it. I seem to recall it was an alias Rhino used at some point.
For good or ill, it had nothing to do with my desire to add diversity. Again for good or ill, all I did was trade one caucasian male for another. A wash.
Anonymous writes...
First of all, I'd like to thank you for two great seasons of Spectacular Spiderman. I haven't loved an animation this much since BTAS; the character development, story and animation were all of a high standard.
Now onto the questions.
1. In regards to Spectacular Spiderman's cancellations due to complications, did you or anyone part of the creative team attempt to ask Sony or Marvel to reconsider their decision?
2. With the upcoming Bluray release of all 26 episodes of Spectacular Spiderman, do you think sales and new reception may be able to persuade Sony or Marvel to continue production for a Season 3, and perhaps more?
3. Did the ratings and/or toy sales for Spectacular Spiderman impact its eventual cancellation or was it purely based on specific ownership rights?
I really appreciate you and your partner's work on Spectacular Spiderman, and your contribution and willingness to interact withe community.
Thank you.
Greg responds...
1. Yes. But at the time, it was almost corporately impossible.
2. I think it's unlikely. But I hope I'm wrong. And certainly if it sell poorly, that'll doom it for sure.
3. Mostly the latter. Our ratings were stellar during Season One on Kids WB. Less stellar during Season Two on Disney XD, though I believe there were extenuating circumstances to explain that. Toy sales were okay but not great, which didn't help either. But mostly it had to do with Marvel having the rights back to make an animated Spidey series, but Sony still holding the rights to the specific Spectacular version.
Jordan writes...
1. In the spectular spider-man what would've been the legal status/civil rights of mutants?
2. Did you have any idea for magneto backstory in the spider-man story?
Greg responds...
1. Early days in the Spectacular version of the Marvel Universe. First someone would have had to have heard of mutants.
2. Nothing specific. There were no plans to bring him in back in the day. Did have plans for Professor X, Cyclops and Beast.
SBluemonkey writes...
Hi Mr Weisman
Out of curiosity, given your response about handling Spectacular Spider-Man's school term timeline here: http://s8.org/gargoyles/askgreg/search.php?qid=19596
One of my favorite things about Spectacular was the approach to episode names (along with everything about the show), each individual episode serving as the "Lesson Plan" for a "Subject". Biology 101, Economics 101, Psych 101 etc.
Since you were planning on factoring M³'s scheduled breaks and other holidays into the show, if more episodes had been possible would they have factored into the name scheme as well as other or "Advanced subjects"? As an example if the movie hadn't gone through would season 3 have started with "Spring Break" before moving onto the next subject? And later on would there have been "Winter Break" or "Fathers Day" episodes in between Peter's senior year subjects?
Greg responds...
The short answer is yes. I like title schemes. I wouldn't have abandoned this one.
Presto writes...
So I asked Jeph's assistant about what went down. Would Sony have been able to negotiate Spider-Man's animation rights had they shown evidence to Disney that the show had a viable audience and keep the show on the road? I mean did Sony even try to appeal on that matter or did they just outright give them up.
Greg responds...
I don't pretend to know what went on behind closed doors at a level WAY above my paygrade. All I know is that Sony gave the animation rights to Spider-Man back to Marvel. Sony, however, retains the rights to the specific version of Spidey that we did on the show (those stories, those designs, etc.). Marvel was never likely to pay Sony to do a show with MARVEL's signature character, when Marvel had the resources (and desire) to do their own version. Add in the fact that Marvel was purchased by Sony's competitor Disney, and the problem is exacerbated.
Avi writes...
Hi Greg, How are you? You may know me from twitter as I tend to have converstations with you at times.
1. Spectacular Spider-man has gotten me into Spider-man. Other than Stan Lee's run, what Spider-man stories do you recommend? I have Kraven's Last Hunt, Death of Gwen Stacy, and all of Lee/Ditko, and will get the rest of Lee's run with Romita soon. Just wanted to get your thoughts on which Spidey stories to buy as you are a big Spidey fan.
2. Did you like the Peter/MJ relationship from the comics? I ask because some writers accuse that relationship as causing sales and quality of Spidey titles to drop, so I wanted to hear your opinion.
3. Since you said you are now working on the third book in the Rain series, did you get the green light for the third book or are you just working on it, in hopes it will be greenlit?
Thanks and hope everything is well!
Greg responds...
1. I can't pinpoint things for you. Might have been able to when I was in the thick of writing/producing SpecSpidey, but that was years ago. I always start at the beginning and work my way forward.
2. I like how some writers/artists/editors handled it. Didn't like how others did. It's all about execution.
3. I have not gotten a green light from St. Martin's Press on Masque of Bones (i.e. Rain of the Ghosts, Book Three). And I have NOT started writing it. I have begun doing some of the research.
Presto writes...
I am meeting with Kaitlin Dahill Jeph Loeb's assistant. Anything I can say which would help the Spectacular Spidey cause in any way?
Greg responds...
I doubt it.
Marvel Entertainment has its own Spidey show now, which is doing VERY well. They don't need Spectacular. Plus they couldn't do Spectacular without paying Sony for the rights to it. And you can imagine how enthusiastic they'd be to pay Sony to do Spidey.
: « First : « 100 : « 10 : Displaying #163 - #172 of 1206 records. : 10 » : 100 » : 1000 » : Last » :