Spider-Man Unlimited: After Watching

Before watching Spider-Man Unlimited, I commented that I wasn't very optimistic about it, and most of my praise for it was to do with the art style and with a hopes about the premise that I wanted to work out. I've finished the series now, and while it definitely isn't my favourite series, I can confidently say that overall, it's...okay.

One of my criticisms of the premise was that personally, I like my Spider-Man to be pretty grounded, and taking him into space and to another world completely wrecks that. Yeah, once he's on Counter-Earth there's an attempt at grounding him there by giving him a photography job with the Daily Byte and a place to stay with Doctor Naoko Yamada-Jones, but that doesn't change the fact that the world he's on is filled with bestials, flying cars, and machine men. I know that the Marvel Universe is itself pretty fantastic (seriously, how many alien species does it have? How many secret, hidden societies can their world fit?) but a good Spider-Man story makes you forget that without losing its ties to the wider world.

It's a bit of a pity, because the writing was pretty solid when it was focusing on the human rebellion or something unique to that world (I'll never forget you, electric eel Electro!) If Spider-Man never travelled to Counter-Earth and the story was instead just about the rebels trying to take down the High Evolutionary, I think we could have gotten a pretty decent series out of it, and there wouldn't have been that lingering sense of "okay but this isn't what I really want to see the protagonist doing." The show's at its worst when it's trying to tell Spider-Man stories - see the awkward attempt at giving Counter-Earth its own Green Goblin mystery, and pretty much everything that Venom and Carnage do - and at its best when it's focusing on its own unique aspects.

I'm feeling conflicted about whether or not to praise the show. On the one hand, when it's bad it's really not worth it, but when it's good it does feel like it's something that you haven't seen a lot of (at least, I hadn't, in terms of the premise. More cyberpunk cartoons, western culture!) It's just...Spider-Man can do so much better, and I'm honestly struggling to think of the moments where it was his actions that really had me enjoying the show and feeling excited. As I said above, this would be a great show if Spider-Man wasn't in it, but he is, so you kind of have to take the good with the bad. Sorry, Spidey; that's just the way it is.

A few final dot points, and then I'll move onto the best and worst episodes so that you, the intelligent reader, know what to look forwards to and what to avoid if you decide to check out this series.

• I didn't talk about them much, but Naoko and Shane were great characters, even if the show seemed indecisive about whether or not Naoko was supposed to be Peter's love interest. They were frequently likable and level-headed.
• I kind of forgot about Lord Tyger until the last few episodes, when he started appearing again, and I also really liked him - he was the only member of the Knights of Wundagore who was somewhat sympathetic to the humans. I realise that it would have killed a lot of the conflict, but I wish that he'd been in the show a lot more than Sir bloody Ram.
• Okay, so maybe I'm undermining myself here since I like the Venom movie's interpretation of Venom, but still, this is easily the worst version of Venom and Carnage I've seen yet. They're boring, inconsistent, significantly changed from the comics version without any sign as to what they can and can't do, and their overall plan is dumb (and also not really explained).
• If you want to do a mystery as to who a character's real identity is, the way to do it is not to drop incredibly obvious hints and then keep playing it up as a mystery. Looking at you, Green Goblin.
• This show's interpretation of Kraven is mostly what you'd expect, but I'm going to reiterate what I mentioned in the review of that episode: the idea that the herbs and stuff he takes are going to lead to an early death but he's okay with that is an amazing interpretation of the character. Seriously, someone at Marvel, please steal this idea and incorporate it into the comics.
• The cast all died in the final episode and you can't convince me otherwise
  

Spider-Man Unlimited Episode Thirteen: Destiny Unleashed

 Destiny Unleashed

First Aired: March 31st, 2001

Synopsis: The High Evolutionary is annoyed by everyone taking advantage of him and rants about it to the Knights of Wundagore, then declares that the dawning of the new world order is beginning. In the city, Spider-Man sees an army of machine men and is surprised when they don't attack him; he guesses that they have a more important mission and is proven correct when they start evacuating people from their homes and scanning their identification chips. Spider-Man can't save anyone since there are too many machine men, but when he returns home he finds Naoko being questioned by one since she's suspected of associating with Spider-Man. Spider-Man throws some bins around to create noise and distract the machine men. As Peter, he watches an announcement with Naoko from the High Evolutionary, saying that the machine men will keep searching buildings and emptying them out until the rebels and Spider-Man surrender. Peter changes back to Spider-Man and stops Sir Ram from destroying a building, but he gets attacked by machine men and buried in rubble.

Spider-Man Unlimited Episode Twelve: Sins of the Father

 Sins of the Father

First Aired: March 24th, 2001

Synopsis: Peter's taking photos when he spots Karen of the rebel underground laying flowers at some graves. She gets attacked by machine men and although Peter tries to save her while in his civilian identity, he fails and she gets taken away, which he blames himself for. As Spider-Man he updates John Jameson on the situation. In Castle Wundagore, the High Evolutionary spots a mark on her arm and decides that she should be taken to a private room rather than an interrogation room, much to Sir Ram's frustration. Lady Vermin goes in to question Karen, but Karen breaks free of her bonds and tries to escape, only to find that there's a force field keyed to her DNA which stops her from leaving. Meanwhile, Spider-Man and X-51 sneak into the machine men's central processing unit, where all data goes through, and use what limited time they have to work out where she was taken. They end up having to break out and narrowly escape from machine men. When the High Evolutionary is told of the break-in, he's dismissive and says that he anticipated something like this and so he put a little surprise in.

Spider-Man Unlimited Episode Eleven: One is the Loneliest Number

One is the Loneliest Number

First Aired: March 17th, 2001

Synopsis: Spider-Man goes after Venom when he spots him on his own, but Venom attacks him and gets away while Spider-Man is buried under a pile of rubble. When Spider-Man breaks free and catches up to Venom, he finds the symbiote separated from Eddie Brock and thinks about his own experiences with the symbiote and Venom's origin. Although Eddie's delusional and wants to fight Spider-Man, Spidey nevertheless takes Eddie to Naoko's clinic to get help. She examines him and reveals that if he doesn't get  reattached to the symbiote he'll die. Spider-Man agrees to go and find it when Eddie threatens to reveal his identity, even though he would have done so regardless. He runs into Carnage who's on a rampage looking for Venom, and Carnage ends up holding hostages to get Spider-Man to talk, while dangling the latter in front of an upcoming train. Spider-Man gets Carnage to free the hostages then tricks Carnage into getting hit by the car. He then goes to the alley where he found Eddie Brock, where he finds a tiny piece of the symbiote which wants to bond with him.

Spider-Man Unlimited Episode Ten: Matters of the Heart

Matters of the Heart

First Aired: March 10th, 2001

Synopsis: Lord Tyger is attending a game of baseball, and the human rebellion takes the opportunity to go to his box, hoping that he'll be more reasonable in helping humans compared to his fellow knights. A guard manages to activate the alarm and they're forced to flee, but Bromley's caught in the process. Sir Ram, also in the box, convinces Lord Tyger that the rebels probably wanted to kidnap him. Back home, Peter tests the sonics of his suit before going to a street carnival with Naoko and Shane, thinking about how if he didn't have Mary Jane waiting for him at home that he'd like to get with Naoko. Some guards transporting Bromley start harassing humans, and Peter changes to Spider-Man and saves Bromley. The two of them head to the new rebels' hideout but it turns out to be a trap, and Bromley betrays Spider-Man. Sir Ram and Lady Ursula are there and plan on taking him to the High Evolutionary, but not before Sir Ram will do some experiments and make Spider-Man a braindead shell which he can control.

Spider-Man Unlimited Episode Nine: Sustenance

Sustenance

First Aired: March 3rd, 2001

Synopsis: In Atlantic City, two bestials are trying to run away from what they call a "freak factory", but one of them is captured by machine men and Lady Ursula while another is mysteriously dragged underground. Back in New York, Peter decide to leave Naoko's place since she's still getting harassed by her husband and he now knows where his spaceship is - Atlantic City - but when he leaves he's attacked by the Green Goblin. Peter gets away and changes to Spider-Man, but a camera the Green Goblin set up catches this and he now knows who Spider-Man is. Spider-Man goes to Atlantic City, secretly followed by the Green Goblin, and finds a giant dome where the spaceship supposedly is. Spider-Man's attacked by the Goblin until he mentions that he's trying to leave, at which point the Goblin is happy to help him. Guards from the dome arrive and the two team up to defeat them. During the fight Spider-Man and the Green Goblin have the ground below them collapse, and they find themselves surrounded by bestial rejects.

Spider-Man Unlimited Episode Eight: Ill-Met By Moonlight

Ill-Met By Moonlight

First Aired: February 17th, 2001

Synopsis: Spider-Man returns home to find a werewolf attacking Naoko, but when he fights it she tells Spider-Man not to hurt him. Shortly into the fight the sun comes up and the werewolf turns into John Jameson. John reveals that when he first arrived on Counter-Earth, the High Evolutionary experimented on him before he was freed by the human rebels, and that he transforms when there's negative ions in the air. He normally has a chip in him which tricks his body into not transforming at night, but it's been buggy lately. At that point a group of machine men attack, called by a neighbour who saw the fight, but one of them turns out to be a rebuilt X-51, who tricks the others into leaving and then takes John and Spider-Man to a rebel base. Coincidentally, the rebels want Spider-Man to help them on a mission to shut down a power plant that's irradiating the humans' water supply, as his abilities would be best for the job. He agrees to do it, and all of the rebels go to a building where they're attacked by more machine men, who don't fall for X-51's trick this time.

Spider-Man Unlimited Episode Seven: Cry Vulture

Cry Vulture

First Aired: February 10th, 2001

Synopsis: When Spider-Man's heading home after a meeting with John Jameson, trying to convince him that the two of them should try and get back to their Earth, he sees a man being kidnapped by some bestials. He tries saving him but is attacked by the Counter-Earth version of the Vulture, who thinks that Spider-Man is working with the kidnappers. The kidnappers get away thanks to the fight but Spider-Man manages to put a spider-tracer on their vehicle before they get away. Returning home, he collapses from his injuries and claims to Naoko that he was attacked when he saw a kidnapping and tried intervening - on describing the man, she recognises him as the person who sweeps the street. Peter immediately changes to Spider-Man and goes after his tracer, but finds that it fell off near a warehouse. Exploring it he finds a package of something called Bestial Beauty, and he looks them up and finds a facility of theirs elsewhere in the city. He gets attacked by guards when he gets closer but is saved by Vulture, who spotted him using the tracer and followed him. 

Spider-Man Unlimited Episode Six: Enter the Hunter!

Enter the Hunter!

First Aired: February 3rd, 2001

Synopsis: Sir Ram is complaining to the High Evolutionary about how popular Spider-Man is, and the High Evolutionary agrees that Spider-Man should be dealt with. Sir Ram shows footage of Spider-Man breaking up a smuggling operation to a man named The Hunter, who agrees to go after Spider-Man. He sprays potions around Central Park which incites a riot, coincidentally as Peter Parker and Naoko Yamada-Jones are nearby. The former switches to Spider-Man to intervene and stop the beastials and humans from ripping each other apart, and gets some unexpected help from Karen, one of the human underground's agents. The Hunter, watching from the shadows, takes note of this. Karen takes Spider-Man back to one of the underground's bases to let him know that he's got a price on his head and that The Hunter is after him. She warns Spider-Man about The Hunter's ferocity and strength, and tells Spider-Man that The Hunter is one of the few humans allowed to live above ground, in a penthouse. Spider-Man heads out and intends to search for The Hunter and is attacked by him before long. Spider-Man is caught in a sticky net by The Hunter, putting him at his mercy.

 

Spider-Man Unlimited Episode Five: Steel Cold Heart

Steel Cold Heart

First Aired: January 13th, 2001

Synopsis: The rebel Bromley is on a mission when he's captured by a machine man. Elsewhere, Peter is at a construction site with Shane when a damaged machine man - serial number X-51 - is found. It's old enough that it's supposed to be dismantled, but it objects and causes chaos at the site. Spider-Man helps contain things, but when Shane is in danger it's X-51 who saves him. Lady Ursula shows up, wanting X-51, and although Spider-Man's willing to fight for him, X-51 surrenders and goes with her. Spider-Man goes after X-51 later with a spider-tracer he put on him but can't get into the laboratory where he is, so teams up with the rebels for help. They manage to get in, but the rebels want X-51 so that they can trade him for Bromley. The rebels and Spider-Man fight Sir Ram, who's examining X-51, and other scientists, and are able to defeat them. They manage to free X-51, but since the rebels are still just planning on trading him away, Spider-Man objects and flees with X-51.

Spider-Man Unlimited Episode Four: Deadly Choices

Deadly Choices

First Aired: December 23rd, 2000

Synopsis: Ten years ago, a child was kidnapped by Sir Ram and experimented on. In the present day, Lady Vermin reports to Sir Ram that a virus in his labs were stolen by one of the human revolutionaries, named Git Hoskins, who unbeknownst to them was the child kidnapped. Meanwhile, at the Daily Byte, Peter's boss is telling him to find pictures of Spider-Man's love interest, since he's got to have one. Git, pursued by Machine Men, runs past the building, prompting Peter to change into Spider-Man to help him. Git gets away but shortly afterwards the Knights of Wundagore show up, wanting to get Git. They explain what's going on with the virus to Spider-Man and then leave, making it clear that they're only not fighting him since they have more important things to do. Peter returns home to Naoko but John Jameson unexpectedly shows up at the door, injured. Peter hides from him, since he might work out he's Spider-Man if he knows that the two of them are on Counter-Earth, and changes to Spider-Man. Meeting up with the revolutionaries, Spider-Man discovers that Git hasn't brought the virus to them, and that in two hours it's going to detonate and infect everyone if the right codes aren't entered.

Spider-Man Unlimited Episode Three: Where Evil Nests

Where Evil Nests

 

First Aired: October 16th, 1999

Synopsis: Peter Parker is getting kicked out of his apartment by Naoko Yamada-Jones since he hasn't paid rent and hasn't got a job, but he says he'll get a job taking photos of Spider-Man. As a result of their fighting Naoko's son Shane runs off since he hates fights and Naoko runs off after him. She gets grabbed by tentacles and taken into the sewers, which Shane sees. When Peter runs into him, he says that she was taken by the green thing. After Peter returns Shane home, he heads out as Spider-Man to find Naoko, and runs into Counter-Earth's version of the Green Goblin who he assumes kidnapped Naoko. They fight for a bit but Machine Men show up and they have to team up to defeat them. During the fight they see Shane head into the sewers, since he has a tracker for his mum and thinks he can find her. After defeating the Machine Men Green Goblin and Spider-Man go into the sewers after Shane and are attacked by a giant green blob, the source of the tentacles which grabbed Naoko.

Spider-Man Unlimited Episode Two: Worlds Apart, Part Two

Worlds Apart, Part Two

First Aired: October 9th, 1999

Synopsis: Spider-Man tries fighting back against Sir Ram, and the High Evolutionary gives him a brief overview of his origin - he showed up to Counter-Earth to escape his planet, but found that there was just as much corruption here and so created the human-animal hybrids, the beastials, since they're not as corrupt as humans. Spider-Man manages to break free of the operating table he's strapped to and escapes from the laboratory, where he finds some humans who say that they're here to save him. They cause an explosion as a distraction and while they get away, the rebels explain to Spider-Man that the High Evolutionary showed up fifty years ago, turned humanity into dregs, and created the bestials, but no one knows why. They manage to escape into the sewers, but are followed by Lady Vermin. Although Lord Tyger wants to join her, the High Evolutionary orders him not to, saying that he's bringing in specialists. At the human base, Spider-Man meets an unexpected face: John Jameson.

 

Spider-Man Unlimited Episode One: Worlds Apart, Part One

Worlds Apart, Part One

First Aired: October 2nd, 1999

Synopsis: John Jameson is giving a press conference explaining the discovery of Counter-Earth, located on the opposite side of the sun, and how he'll be travelling there since it's thought its denizens are hostile to Earth. Peter Parker spots some suspicious people near the rocket John will be using, and after changing to Spider-Man, confronts them and discovers that it's Venom and Carnage. He tries fighting them on the outside of the rocket as it takes off, but they manage to knock him off it. Before he falls they say he won't stop them from reaching Counter-Earth and the Synoptic. Since Spider-Man is seen falling from the rocket, it's assumed that he was up to no good, and he soon becomes a pariah. In spite of this he continues to do good, but when he seemingly dies in a burning building, Peter decides to stop being Spider-Man. Shortly afterwards, a transmission from John Jameson arrives, and says that he thinks creatures on Counter-Earth might be going to destroy Earth.

Spider-Man Unlimited: Before Watching

Going into the 1967 series, Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, and Spider-Man: The Animated Series, I had a few basic ideas about what they were about and what to expect. For the first time since the 1981 series, I'm pretty in the dark about what Spider-Man Unlimited will be like beyond the general premise, which...man, I don't want to be negative here, but it's not a great premise for a Spider-Man series. (For those unaware: Spider-Man goes to Counter-Earth and...fights the High Evolutionary's beast men, I think? And some of his rogues' gallery are beast men?) I've mentioned before that I'm not a big fan of Spider-Man dealing with concepts that are too fantastic, and between him travelling to another planet and running into the mutated beast men that are there, that sure doesn't sound like it's up his alley.

What was the idea behind this series, really? Was it decided that beast men would make great toys, and Spider-Man was a good way to get kids to watch the show? Was an Adam Warlock show pitched and then someone decided that Spider-Man would be a better fit for the lead? Was everyone high off their minds on drugs at the time? I can understand how any of these ideas would get pitched, but going so far as to be approved and then actually developed feels like a stretch.

I really don't have a lot to say here since the show is so obscure - and given that I haven't heard a lot about it, I'm guessing that as much as I'd like it to be the case, it's probably not going to be a hidden gem - so let's focus on some positives before I do a quick analysis of the opening. Spider-Man's costume for this looks absolutely rad, and from what little I've seen of it there's a lot of moody lighting here, which is a cool stylistic choice. Spider-Man being on another planet is a pretty unique take on the character, so we might see more of a focus on his scientific side, or even just get some cool concepts while there. It's not all hopeless.