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WEISMANSWERS 2009-05 (May)

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Clark Cradic writes...

Are there any particular Sagas you're hoping to intergrate with the Spectacular Universe? Like the Clone Saga, Six Arm Saga, Indentity Crisis Saga, or some combination?

Greg responds...

Yes.

Response recorded on May 14, 2009

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Anonymous writes...

why is Peter not trying to be with Mary Jane? Why is it Gwen? He married Mary Jane in the comics. He was in love with Mary Jane in all the other cartoons. He was with Mary Jane in the movies. Why is she not important here?

And why this stuff with Liz? Gwen/Peter/MJ should be the triangle. Not Liz.

And Mary Jane should be who he loves, not Gwen.

Greg responds...

Well, if you read the original comics, Gwen was his first real love, and his (much later) relationship with Mary Jane was a DIRECT result of their shared grief over her death. Betty was his first girlfriend, and Liz was someone else he was into as well for a considerable period of time. M.J. was always hot, but early on, she was never interested in being a one-man woman. That's just who she was. We're trying to be true to all that, and more. So have a little patience.

Response recorded on May 14, 2009

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Brad writes...

You answered my question about Morbius by saying that you could only confirm plans for Hobgoblin and Scorpion, but I guess what I really wanted to know was if you could actually use him at all? I've heard the 90's show had many problems clearing him for the network, not allowing him to use his fangs or say the word 'blood' (opting instead for suction cups in his hands and a desire for 'plasma'.)

Loved the first two seasons and particularly the framing devices used in the second (nice touch with the Opera), anxiously awaiting a season 3.

Greg responds...

No comment on Morbius. Thanks for the kind words.

Response recorded on May 14, 2009

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Bazell writes...

Glad this site is back up and running. I hope you got everything done that you needed during the hiatus.
Spectacular Spider-Man has been, well, freakin' spactacular. As a life long Spider-Man fan and current comic book reader, it is with an air of nerdy sophistication that I lend my compliments to all involved in the process.
Now that my nose is sufficiently brown:

I know that translations from one established medium to another require changes and adaptation, not only in terms of style but content as well. I don't pretend to know much about the official process of adapting a story into a new format, but watching many of these television shows and movies that are based on comic book (or novel) storylines that I am intimatly framiliar with often can leave me... wanting. Even in this current show, clearly many alterations of the original storyline have been made. Certainly some of the changes are for the purposes of pacing, keeping episode count down, updating things for modern audiences, etc. But other changes seem unneceassary in terms of such thing to the casual, yet involved, viewer like me. Now understand, I am in no way asking you to justify changes that have been made to a story I already know. If it was the EXACT same story, then I would know what's going to happen at all times. I am confident that changes you and your team have made have been for the purposes of telling the best Spider-Man story you could, so my question is this: what can dictate the changes you make? Also, I assume you must seek some sort of approval from Marvel or Lee/Ditko or someone... is that oversight strict, or are you given certain measures of freedom? Are there any changes you made that you regret? What aspects of the Spider-Man mythos did you consider sacrosanct beyond the obvious necessities about his origin story?

Thank you, as always, for the time you give us fans.

Greg responds...

SPIDEY SPOILERS!!!!!

Marvel approves everything. But I have to say, they've been great partners -- which of course to me means they seem to love what we're doing! ;)

Changes are dictated by all the things you mentioned above, but in adapting the property, we tried to follow what we came to call "The Five Cs": Make it Contemporary, Cohesive, Coherent, Classic and iConic.

When you lay eyes on any character for the first time, especially the villains, you want the viewer to say, "Wow, yes! That IS Doctor Octopus [or whomever]!" He has to be that iconic, that classic. But at the same time we want to make his look contemporary.

The same notion applies to storytelling. Over forty plus years of continuity (with ideas coming from Lee/Ditko, Lee/Romita and everyone since including Bendis' Ultimate Spider-Man and the Raimi movies, etc.), there's going to be a ton of interesting characters and story ideas, but there's also going to be considerable duplication, a false start here and there, conflicting interpretations, etc. Having the advantage of hindsight when looking at this wealth of material, we strived to make the show more coherent and cohesive than the original.

This in turn helps it feel more contemporary. Storytelling has changed over the last set of decades, and a modern audience is more sophisticated with more stringent expectations. For example, just having every villain (and your hero) created from random exposures to radiation is a bit tough to swallow... on many levels. So -- as arrogant as I know it sounds -- we try to improve on the origins, by weaving characters and plotlines together, by limiting the sources of where someone can get super-powers, etc. Likewise, we may combine two characters that overlap so much that they fulfill the same function. For example, Bennett Brant + Mark Raxton/Molten Man = Mark Allan/Molten Man, or it did for us, anyway. Doing this made things more coherent and more personal to Spider-Man/Peter.

Having said all that, it was EXTREMELY important to us that the characters remained Classic and Iconic in the writing as well as the visuals. I STUDIED these characters and all the source material intensely. I tried to get down to the core essence of each character, i.e. what made him or her who he or she was to the reader. Flash is a bully, who deep down is actually an honorable guy. He's a guy who starts out as Pete's nemesis (and ironically Spidey's biggest fan) and eventually becomes both a decorated war veteran and one of the few people that Pete can count on. We knew we were starting with High School Flash, but we wanted to plant seeds of the guy we knew he'd become.

On the other hand, I studied Shocker. Great powers. Fun battles. Iconic costume. Secret i.d. = a cypher. Yes, we know his name, but there's nothing about Herman that makes him special. So in an attempt to make our universe more cohesive and coherent, I combined Montana with Shocker. I don't make that decision likely, and I do get that this bothers some folks, but it really felt like it worked in the context of our series, and Marvel agreed.

Another example: The Green Goblin was introduced as a mystery. Stan and Steve kept us guessing as to who was the man behind the mask for years. That mystery seemed FUNDAMENTAL to the character. And yet we knew that the audience knew that Norman Osborn was the Goblin. So how do you create a fundamentally necessary mystery when the audience already knows the answer? The solution was misdirection. Many people still guessed or assumed that Norman was the Goblin, but some people were fooled (at least briefly) and because I was NOT above making Montana into Shocker, seeds of doubt were planted. There's been (thankfully) a lot of positive feedback on our second season finale. And many people said something along the lines of, "Even though I knew it was Norman Osborn, you still kept me guessing." That's exactly what we hoped would happen.

This, of course, is just the tip of the iceberg. There are many other examples. But it should give you something of a window into our very exacting process.

Response recorded on May 14, 2009

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Vaevictis Asmadi writes...

Hello Greg,

While I was looking in the GargWiki for information about the Olympians, I saw that you wanted to know the Ancient Egyptian name for the Egyptian pantheon.

The word which can be translated as "god" is _netcher_ or _netjer_, feminine _netcheret_ or _netjeret_, plural _netcheru_ or _netjeru_. TCH and TJ are just ways to spell the CH sound at the beginning and end of English "church," without confusing it with the German or Greek CH. As with every Ancient Egyptian word, the vowels were never written down, so the vowels in netjer and netjeru are speculatively added to make N-TJ-R and N-TJ-R-W pronounceable.

Netjeru refers to all the deities, including large numbers of minor deities who are servants to the greater deities, and who are often referred to in English as "demons" or "spirits." Netjeru sometimes also include other beings: deified mortals, the _akhu_ or souls of the dead, and divine beings like Ammut and Apophis that were not worshipped. Netjeru can also include the _bau_, which are "manifestations or emanations" send forth from a deity.

I do not know if netjer was also used to refer to gods of other religions, but I'm guessing it was.

What I have told you comes from Richard Wilkinson's "The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt." In my non-expert opinion this is one of the best books on Egyptian Mythology that I have seen for the non-specialist.

Greg responds...

Wow, that's seriously helpful, both the info and the reference book. I'm definitely buying that book! Thanks.

Response recorded on May 14, 2009

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Anonymous writes...

Hi...

Can we see th Chameleon in season three?

Can we see the Lizard in season three, too?

Will Sandman be back in season three?

Will Rhino return for a third season?

Do you have plans for Doc Ock be in more than one episode for season three?

Is Venom going to be back for season three?

Can Mysterio be back in season three?

~ Thanx

Greg responds...

And again, no comment. NO COMMENT on what's planned for Season Three, beyond the arrival of Hobgoblin and Scorpion. Those are two BIG spoilers. And I'm not giving out any others.

Response recorded on May 14, 2009

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BackLash writes...

Hello sir,

1. In episode 9 "The Uncertainty Principle, who was that "cheerleader" in the ping wig and green jacket, hanging out with Flash and the "girls"?
2. How come Montana is the Shocker in the show?
3. If there is later seasons, will Bluebird or Prowler make appearances?

Greg responds...

1. Uh... honestly, it's been so long since I saw that episode, it's hard to remember which guy was wearing the pink wig. Was it Rand? Kenny? Hobie? Tiny?

2. I've addressed this. Check the archives.

3. No comment.

Response recorded on May 14, 2009

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Branden Harvey writes...

The show is great. I LOVED both seasons (especally Final Curtain). I have a few questions:

1. SPIDEY SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If Norman framed Hary in The Uncertainty Principle, how come Harry was switching back and forth between himself and the Goblin persona?

2. SPIDEY SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In First Steps, how was Eddie able to make a web when he didn't have the symbiote on?

3. How long will it take after you get the ok for a third season to produce the season and make it available for television?

Thanks.

Greg responds...

SPIDEY SPOILERS!!!!!

1. Huh?

2. He created a web-shooter, since he had all of Peter's memories.

3. About ten months, give or take.

Response recorded on May 13, 2009

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Anonymous writes...

Hello Mr.Greg Weisman i want to give some compliments about Spectacular Spider-Man.
1.DOCTOR OCTOPUS.
Doctor Octopus is one of my favorite Spider-Man Villains(others are Venom,Green Goblin,Lizard And Carnage).I like him very much in your show.In 90's animated series he was good,but later was just henchmen for Kingpin like much villain in 90's show.In your show he is very cool and evil character.In all of his episodes best were Reaction And Shear Strenght(that's my opinion)and there he was 100 percent EVIL(Like he should be).I also liked how in Group Therapy he showed interested in Symbiote,and in Gangland he said that criminal empire should be run like a science.You should make storyline where Dock Ock wants to test Symbionte or Become Monster-Ock(Like one of Spider-Man Games) in Season 3 or 4.Also for some reason i think that he employed Chameleon to steal Symbiote in Persona.
2.EPISODE ARCS
Idea to make episode arcs In Spectacular Spider-Man was brilliant,and Big Three(Venom,Doctor Octopus,Green Goblin)has 2 their own arcs.Venom has Symbiote and Venom arcs.Green Goblin Got First Green Goblin Arc and Return of Goblin Arcs.Doctor Octopus has Master Planner Arc And Gang War Arc.And they are like Main Villains in your show and they done worse things than any other villain.I don't like that some fans are saying that some episodes are fillers,but i don't think that way.Good luck developing storylines in future.
And i have one question.Do you plan to add another crime lord to Spectacular Spider-Man?

Greg responds...

To me, none of our episodes are filler. Certainly, none were INTENDED as filler All serve multiple purposes and hopefully tell a great story. But I'm biased, obviously.

Response recorded on May 13, 2009

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Kyle Tonarella writes...

hey greg not really a queation just wanted to show you a video where the nostalgia critic added lyrics to the gargoyles theme.

enjoy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvnwv1L79AI

Greg responds...

Yeah, I'd seen that. But thanks.

Response recorded on May 13, 2009


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