Attack of the Octobot
First Aired: May 11th, 1996
Synopsis: Having defeated Spider-Man, Doctor Octopus takes him away using his car, but unbeknownst to him, Taina gets in the back. Octopus uses his neuro-neutraliser ray to eliminate Spider-Man's memory, which lets Octopus convince Spidey that they're working together. Fortunately, Spider-Man's spider-sense convinces him not to unmask in front of Octopus. Seeing what's happened to Spider-Man, Taina runs off to find help, and after being taken to a police station, ends up convincing a taxi driver named Mousie to help her save Spider-Man, since he saved her from a mugger in the past. Spider-Man and Octopus attack a foundry, and while Octopus fights the foundry's robo-tanks, Spider-Man manages to steal an alloy. They're followed to the foundry by Mousie and Taina, and Taina briefly gets the chance to talk to Spider-Man. Unfortunately, although she tries telling him that this isn't who he is, Spider-Man ends up running off with Ock again. Taina and Mousie decide to go to the only person they know who can help them: J. Jonah Jameson.
Jonah latches on to the idea that Spider-Man's working with Doctor Octopus, and reports the story as him doing so willingly. With that idea a failure, Mousie contacts other taxi drivers across the city, and they form a network across the city that lets her track down Spider-Man and Octopus again, this time as they're stealing the Argon-Matrix laser from last episode. Mousie gets captured by the villains, but she tries convincing Spider-Man to remember who he is. It's not until Taina, with the help of the taxi drivers, bursts into Ock's lab and talks to Spider-Man that he finally does regain his memory. Taina then uses Doctor Octopus's headband to control his new Octo-Bot and get it to capture him, which leads to him being arrested. Afterwards, Taina is taken home by Spider-Man, and when she asks to know his real identity, he unmasks for her. He leaves, but it's revealed that Taina is actually in a hospital for terminally ill children. Afterwards, Spider-Man is contacted by Madam Web, who mysteriously says that he's got a job to do for her.
Miscellaneous Notes:
- This episode is loosely based on Amazing Spider-Man #56. As with last episode, Taina's storyline is based on Amazing Spider-Man #248.
Review: First thing's first: I'll give the episode props for making Taina terminally ill, like Tim Harrison from the comic. I could have seen the writers balking at doing so, and while you could argue that it's a little ambiguous, come on. It's a small change, but having it that Spider-Man's going out of his way to make a child happy before they die is a lot stronger and more heartwarming than if he was doing so solely because they were a big fan of his (which isn't to say that there's anything wrong with the latter).
As for the Spidey working alongside Ock stuff...eh, it's alright. It'd probably have more impact if there was a sense that we'll get some payoff to what Ock had planned, or if someone other than Jonah believed that Spider-Man was a criminal, but it's alright enough. Taina being the one who's able to snap Spider-Man out of it is a nice touch though, although it is a little repetitive to have her tell Spider-Man that what he's doing is wrong multiple times, and to have him say each time, "I...almost remember...but...why?!"
The oddball of the episode is Mousie, who is likable enough, but who has a strong Jamaican accent which I honestly can't decide whether it's offensive or not. Her backup squad of other taxi drivers is nice enough I guess, but the general inclusion of them is left-field enough that I almost wonder whether there was an exciting new line of taxi toys that needed to improve their sales. None of it's bad, it's just not what I would have gone for if I'd been writing this episode.
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