It wasn’t too long ago that I gave great praise to the first two episodes of the new Ultimate Spider-Man show. I was there, defending it when it was getting bashed by the public. Now we’re nine episodes in, I may have to rethink my position. The show has lost all its charm and turned into a series aimed at 10 and under. The jokes aren’t funny, they’re just plain juvenile. However, my main problem with the show is that Spider-Man is treated with no respect at all. He’s treated like a joke, in the last episode it ends with him shouting “Ow!” “Ow!”Ow!” after getting bit by a two-headed llama from Asgard. Let us compare this to what is by far the best Spidey show, The Animated Series.

Think about this for a second. In the 90′s, shows aimed at kids were Batman The Animated Series, Spider-Man The Animated Series, Superman The Animated Series, among others. These shows were story based and relied heavily on what was going on. Spider-Man TAS will always remain timeless thanks to its mature script and great storylines. What has happened to this generation to make a show like Ultimate Spider-Man exist? Is this what they think kids want to see? Apparently this generation doesn’t care about stories anymore. This show is lacking intelligent writing. But how do you really know when it’s bad? I’ve heard that that one of the actual writers doesn’t even like the series himself! Apparently the new head of the Marvel animation industry thinks this is what kids want to see.

There’s already one kiddie Marvel show (Superhero Squad) we don’t need another one. I’m not saying this show is ALL bad, it’s fun and still Spider-Man. But the awful jokes have got to go. Spider-Man is my favorite character, his portrayal here has been disappointing. He doesn’t take petty revenge by locking Flash in a locker, it’s not in him. Spider-Man used to be a well-respected character, nowadays he seems to diminish. I’m sure the upcoming film will change that, but this show isn’t doing him any favors. Ultimate Spider-Man COULD be a great show if it really wanted to be, unfortunately I don’t see it changing anytime soon.

FROM AROUND THE WEB

S#*! TALKING CENTRAL

Matt

This guy is an idiot. Spectacular Spiderman is by far the best Spiderman show ever.
Julie

@Matt on 26 May 12, 2:25pm
Your comment is immature. The article writer clearly shows that he respects the show and doesn’t feel that it isn’t all bad. His original quote “I’m not saying this show is ALL bad, it’s fun and still Spider-Man.”

Moving on to my opinion which reflects his own (Which, according to Matt would made me an “idiot”), I feel that although this Spiderman show has well animation, but it really dumbs down Spiderman. It makes cutaway gags or jokes that are really uneccesary and it tries way too hard to be funny, even at crucial/serious moments at the show. I suppose I dislike this since I am pro-original stuff, but I don’t think all these random gags were part of the original comic this series was based off of. However I am aware that there are fans for the show which consists of younger viewers, but a character so important to the older demographic needs at least some dignity in a kid’s show.

alex T. Randolph

Read the post again. She was talking about Spectacular Spider-Man, the series that came directly before Ult. Spidey, and widely regarded as one of the best Spidey adaptations to date, who the reviewer didn’t even mention. Try to at least get what we’re talking about right before you start commenting on it.

Grantray Lawrance

Ultimate Spider-Man isn’t just bad, It’s an insult to the intelligence of the 10 year olds it was supposedly made for. And in an epic twist Marvel seem to be canceling the best animated series they have created in 15 years Avengers: Earths Mightiest Heroes.
Loeb is doing for Marvel TV what he did for the Ultimate Marvel universe. Destroying it.
Oh and Quesada has a message to all of those people who don’t like what he and Loeb are doing with Marvel at the moment. It’s two words, the first has four letters and begins with an F and the second word is off.
Joshua

Kids like dumb-ass, goofy cartoons man. The last generation or two haven’t really had anything with a long form narrative directed at them in any real capacity and instead have grown up on trite nonsense like chowder and fairy odd parents. Quite frankly, USM fits right in there with shows like those and sponge bob. Seriously, Saturday morning cartoons are dominated by shows about Japanese card games while the 24 hour cartoon networks are filled with nonsequiter shows that seem to be bent on trying to out weird the previous one. Marketing guys decided a long time ago that kids don’t need shows with plots.
anon

10 and under should tell you something…… It is a kid show not meant for adults.

Jay

Spiderman The Animated Series was also a kids show that most people watched from under 10, to their teenage years and beyond. Ultimate spiderman is just a shame. The little stops where peter talks are just cheap fourth wall jokes and spiderman is just made feminine in his sarcasm and wit instead of actually sarcastic and witty.