Radioactive Spider Blood – Tuesday TubeWatch

Other heroes may be dark, brooding and intelligent, or invincible super-nice guys, but no one is as fun to watch as Spider-Man. More than most other super-heroes, he seems like a regular (if really intelligent) guy who is trying to juggle two lives without losing his sense of humor. I can relate to him better than any other super-hero I can think of at the moment.

That relatability has a lot to do with the longevity of the character, and his commercial success. There are multiple Spider-Man comic book lines, and there have been multiple TV shows – not all of them cartoons. And then, of course, there are the Sam Raimi/Tobey McGuire movies (more on the movies in a bit).

One of the cartoons was back in the 1990′s. For the most part, it’s regarded by fans as one of the worst versions of Spider-Man. I’ll admit, it has a few problems, but I really like the series. It was my introduction to some of the more interesting villains (Venom and Carnage, for example), and it had what other Spider-Man stories before it didn’t: a story arc. Stories frequently had an impact on future episodes. That’s always a selling point for me.

Marvel has begun releasing the episodes of that cartoon for free, so head over there if you want to see more. They seem to be releasing one per week. Here is the first episode, “Night of the Lizard,” where Peter Parker’s professor, Doctor Conners, becomes The Lizard.

Fun stuff. I’m also hearing good stuff about the current Spectacular Spider-Man series. I’ll have to check that one out.

I promised some more on the Spider-Man movies. Here’s the latest I’ve heard: there will be a Spider-Man 4, starring Tobey and Kirsten, and directed by Raimi. That’s not new news. But there will also be a Spider-Man 5 and 6, and the studio is going ahead with them even if the “big three” don’t return to the franchise. According to Slice of Sci-Fi:

The first step in the process is hiring a writer for the fifth and sixth installments.   For that, Sony and Marvel Studios have chosen James Vanderbilt.  If the name is familar to those of you who follow news of “Spider-Man,” you may recall that Vanderbilt penned the first draft of the next installment and produced a two-picture story outline that impressed Sony executives earlier in the pre-production process.  Reports in Variety indicate that the new deal goes back to the original script Vanderbilt wrote, which is for a two-picture story arc for the famous web crawler.

And the trade paper reports that if Raimi, McGuire and Dundst leave the franchise after “Spidey 4,” that the new scripts could serve as a reboot for the franchise.

This worries me for two reasons:

1. With new stars would come either a new tone or a copying of the current actors. The first would be annoying (but I grant it could work), and the second would be horrible.
2. With a new director the whole style of the movie could be drastically altered. Yeah, Spider-Man 3 was a weak entry, but I still think Sam Raimi has that world nailed, and if they get someone else, it would have to be someone who loves that world just as much, not someone in it for a paycheck.

So… looking forward to the 4th installment in 2011, and waiting cautiously to see how things play out beyond that.

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