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WEISMANSWERS 2009-05 (May)

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Greg Bishansky writes...

My mistress with a monster is in love.
Near to her close and consecrated bower,
While she was in her dull and sleeping hour,
A crew of patches, rude mechanicals,
That work for bread upon Athenian stalls,
Were met together to rehearse a play,
Intended for great Theseus' nuptial day.
The shallowest thickskin of that barren sort,
Who Pyramus presented in their sport,
Forsook his scene and entered in a brake.
When I did him at this advantage take,
An ass's nole I fixèd on his head.
Anon his Thisby must be answerèd,
And forth my mimic comes. When they him spy,
As wild geese that the creeping fowler eye,
Or russet-pated choughs, many in sort,
Rising and cawing at the gun's report,
Sever themselves and madly sweep the sky;
So at his sight away his fellows fly,
And at our stamp here o'er and o'er one falls;
He murder cries and help from Athens calls.
Their sense thus weak, lost with their fears thus strong,
Made senseless things begin to do them wrong,
For briers and thorns at their apparel snatch:
Some, sleeves -- some, hats; from yielders all things catch.
I led them on in this distracted fear
And left sweet Pyramus translated there,
When in that moment (so it came to pass)
Titania waked, and straightway loved an ass.

"Opening Night"

*** SPIDEY SPOILERS ***

Okay, two of my great loves have been combined. Spider-Man and William Shakespeare. And, our first episode personally scripted by Greg Weisman since "Intervention" back in the first season. You know it's a Weisman episode because of all the Shakespeare dialogue. You also know it's a Weisman script because of the cast of thousands. ;)

Okay, a new wing has been built at Ryker's Island called the Vault. Considering all the supervillains running around, it would make sense to finally give them their own wing. Not to mention Norman Osborn gets to make a profit off of it. He cranks 'em out and he locks 'em up. The perfect racket.

So, Norman somehow contacts Spider-Man and wants him to break out of the Vault to test security. And then is conveniently called away by Donald Menken... curious.

Meanwhile, at Midtown High, the production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is about to start, and Peter hasn't shown up to watch Liz. More than that, Harry Osborn, who was cast as Puck is missing also. Curious...

So, Norman Osborn and Harry Osborn are both no where to be seen, and the Green Goblin shows up to destroy Spider-Man. And, with an OsCorp Osberry, he manages to take control of security and free all the criminals and supervillains locked up. Bad news, Spidey, very bad news.

While this is happening, Black Cat breaks in to bust out her father, Walter Hardy aka the Cat Burglar. And, as we find out, the murderer of Uncle Ben...

Okay, I may as well discuss this since I know this is going to probably provide a lot of controversy, but, this is very well done. It achieved what "Spider-Man 3" tried to do, and failed miserably at. Either way, Peter still didn't stop him, he looked the other way, and his Uncle Ben paid with his life. This isn't like the movie where the Burglar was not the real killer and the Sandman was. If they had made that Burglar Flint Marko from the get go, I doubt that would have been as controversial.

Sam Raimi, if you're reading, take notes. Watch this show. This is how you do Spidey.

Okay, back to the episode. Among the prisoners are Montana, Ox, Fancy Dan, Rhino, Molten Man, a Mysterio robot, and Silvermane takes charge. Turns out Quentin Beck is still free after all... which was a big surprise.

Speaking of Mysterio, his Homunculi have really grown on me. They amuse me. I particularly enjoyed Jameson shouting out "I love these guys! They should have their own show!" Hmmm... winged creatures having their own show. I believe Weisman would call this an exercise in self indulgence. ;)

By the way, I enjoyed seeing Montana use a lasso. Yeah, it's dated, I don't want to see him use one again. But as a brief nod to the source material, it was fun.

And only Rhino could call Ox "pip squeak."

Did the Goblin ever bother to deactivate Mark's "curse?"

Well, Walter Hardy turns out to be a semi-decent man, as he wants to pay for his crime, stops the criminals from escaping, and remains behind as a prisoner. Black Cat is not happy about this. Period. Sorry, Cat/Spidey 'shippers. I think the ship has sailed for that now.

Although, on that note, it shouldn't be too hard for Felicia to figure out Spidey's identity now, considering how personally he took Ben Parker's murder. Assuming it even registered for her.

This episode was just beautiful. The action. The drama. The Shakespeare? Oh god, the Shakespeare. We need more of it in animation. You can never have too much Shakespeare.

My favorite moment is hard to pick, but... I loved the Green Goblin reciting Puck's monologue. Hey, the Green Goblin is a trickster, and Puck is the original. Gotta love it. That was a geekgasm.

"Up and down, up and down,
I will lead them up and down:
I am fear'd in field and town:
Goblin, lead them up and down."

Speaking of Puck, Hobie Brown finally speaks. About damn time, too. I loved his Puck costume and Glory's Cobweb costume.

Flash is still not a very good actor. Not a knock at Joshua LeBar, he is fantastic. I really think Flash has grown more this year than anyone else in the cast. Kudos for that.

So, the Goblin loses his temper and attempts to kill Spidey, but is driven off my both him and the Black Cat. Somehow, I don't see Cat doing him any more favors.

I guess we'll see soon if the Goblin messed up by revealing his return too soon. Yes, he nearly nailed Spidey, but he obviously went into that confrontation half-cocked. But, I am sure that next episode the gloves will be off. No matter who is under the mask, his (or her, it could be Emily) last name is Osborn. Spidey knows about that connection and will have to be eliminated.

One more episode to go. Spider-Man versus Green Goblin. I both eagerly anticipate it, and at the same time, I dread it. The show still hasn't been picked up for season three, and I don't want "Final Curtain" to be, well, the final curtain.

So, where was Harry? Who is the Green Goblin? What will happen to Peter and Gwen? If this is indeed the final curtain, then I am sure it will be a very memorable one.

*** SPIDEY SPOILERS ***

Greg responds...

Actually, Jonah's line wasn't a Gargoyles reference. I really would like to do an "HOMUNCULI" spin-off series. Three little robot monsters on the loose in the world. I think it would be great fun.

(You heard it here first.)

Response recorded on May 07, 2009


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