Does everything a spider can

/ Superheroes, TV shows /

For several weeks in July, August, and September, I watched every episode of Spider-Man, the animated series that was on FOX from 1994 to 1997. I had seen most of the episodes growing up, but seeing them again now, I realize how much this cartoon series respected children as an audience.

I see respect for the audience in several aspects of the show:

1. Complex characters. Peter Parker is consistently an intelligent and flawed character. We see how smart he is in figuring how to defeat villains, and when he makes mistakes it’s because his  arrogance, carelessness, or anger. Everything Peter does makes sense, though. His actions are logical reactions to what happens to him and around him. The villains are relatively flat compared to Peter, but even they have logical motivations. Doc Ock needs resources for his research. The Green Goblin sabotages the King Pin’s work so that Norman Osbourne can keep a clean reputation.

2. Multiple story lines at the same time. Episodes often contain one problem for Peter Parker and one for Spider-Man. Besides those, we see plot developments with Mary Jane, Harry, and Aunt May.

3. Multi-episode stories. Spider-Man often carried a story over several episodes. Recaps at the beginning of every episode probably helped children follow along, but even so, children had to pay close attention to make sense of the larger story. Characters and other elements from early seasons came back in the final season of the show. That’s a lot of detail to ask children to remember.

4. Crossovers. I’m impressed with the number of Marvel characters Spider-Man features. I started keeping track after I realized crossovers were a recurring theme. The X-Men, Punisher, Daredevil, Iron Man, War Machine, Captain America, Blade, Red Skull, and Fantastic Four all teamed up with or fought against Spider-Man in the series.

Spider-Man respected its child audience by offering entertaining, complex stories. The banter and action scenes so typical of superhero cartoons are there, but so are deeply emotional scenes, like when Peter loses Mary Jane. The creators of the series must have felt that children could follow and enjoy these stories. Or else, why would they bother writing such developed plots and characters?

I feel like today’s creators of children’s television have much lower expectations for their audience. Children today are lucky to watch characters who behave rationally, let alone see complicated and satisfying story lines.

Venom to his Spiderman

/ Superheroes, TV shows / ,

Since Netflix added Spider-Man, the animated series (1994-1998), to instant streaming, I’ve been watching season 1 and remembering what a great show it was.

“The Alien Costume” is a three-part story in the middle of season one. The symbiote comes to Earth with a space shuttle and attaches to Spider-Man. Peter fights it off, and it takes over Eddie Brock to become Venom. This story is the animated version of everything Spider-Man 3 should have been. But I don’t want to talk about the film’s emo Peter Parker.

I want to talk about how Venom is a reflection of Spider-Man and why that makes him such an interesting villain.

I’m going off the animated series here (which I expect is close to the original story in the comics). Venom knows everything about Spider-Man and Peter Parker because the symbiote tried to bond with Peter first. This gives Venom a few advantages.

1. Venom can block Spider-Man’s spidey sense. Venom is the only thing that can sneak up on Peter, and we see how jumpy and paranoid Peter feels because of that.

2. Venom has Peter’s memories, so he knows Mary Jane Watson and Aunt May.

3. Venom has all the same powers as Spider-Man, except he’s stronger.

Venom matches and beats Spider-Man in strength and ability. He plays mind games. He threatens to expose Spider-Man and hurt his loved ones. Venom is dangerous because he knows how to fight Peter Parker and Spider-Man. He can attack both identities.

This idea of a villain who is a reflection of the hero reminded me of “Amy’s Choice,” a series 5 episode of Doctor Who. The Dream Lord is a mocking version of the Doctor (Time Lord) that comes from the Doctor’s mind. He hates the Doctor, he taunts Amy, and he puts Amy, Rory, and the Doctor in a cruel test of distinguishing dreams from reality.

But there’s an important difference between the Dream Lord and Venom. Venom is a reflection of Spider-Man, but a separate entity. The Dream Lord is part the Doctor, the dark thoughts about issues the Doctor doesn’t want to face. Venom’s threat is in being able to match Spider-Man. The Dream Lord’s threat is in the Doctor torturing himself.

These types of villains are compelling because they aren’t simply evil: they’re evil that comes from the hero. That complexity shows a flawed side of the hero, and that’s good storytelling.

When Arthur Finds Out

/ TV shows / ,

No spoilers here. Just my speculation.
Here’s a scenario I’d like to see on Merlin when Arthur finds out that Merlin has magic.

The knights of Camelot, Lancelot, Arthur, and Merlin are away from Camelot, fighting a small army or maybe magical creatures. The knights are losing and Merlin knows he can save them all if he uses magic. Similar situation to that episode about his hometown. Problem is, he’ll definitely expose himself. But Merlin can’t let everyone die so he uses magic, defeats the bad guys, and saves everyone.

Everybody saw it. Everybody is stunned.

Arthur orders two knights to grab Merlin and bring him to Arthur.

“All this time, Merlin?” Arthur says.

Merlin looks at him and nods. “Yes.”

Arthur takes a step back, rubs his hand across his face. “I thought I knew you. I trusted you.”

Merlin doesn’t say anything for a moment and then: “Arthur, look, I’m sorry. I couldn’t tell you.”

Lancelot hangs back, watches both Merlin and Arthur carefully.

“Merlin, all that time,” Arthur answers. “You were in the castle. Close to Father. Close to me. And…”

“And what?”

“I don’t know. What were you doing?”

Merlin stands up straight. “Serving you.”

“Using magic.”

Merlin sighs. “Yes, when I had to so that I could help you. To protect Camelot.”

Arthur shakes his head once and steadies his voice. “You can never return to Camelot.”

“What?” Merlin tries to step closer to Arthur but the knights hold him back.

“The king will have you executed if you do.”

“Arthur–”

“No.”

Lancelot steps in. “Arthur, Merlin just saved all of our lives.”

“With magic.”

“Yes, with magic. He’s a brave man. He knew what you’d think but he did the right thing. And you’re going to punish him for it?”

But Arthur won’t listen. He orders the knights to ride back to Camelot. He tells Merlin not to follow them.

Then Merlin is in exile for a few episodes until he hears about some attack on Camelot and he has to go back to protect the castle. After Camelot is safe, Uther orders Merlin’s execution. Uther questions Gaius to find out if he was helping Merlin keep his secret. Arthur doesn’t say anything in public.

Then it’s up to Arthur to save Merlin, to convince Uther that Merlin did nothing wrong. If Arthur can get over the way Merlin lied to him over the years.

—–

However the show deals with Arthur finding out, I want it to last a few episodes. We’ve seen the measures Uther takes to forbid magic in his kingdom. We’ve seen Arthur question Uther and evaluate the pros and cons of magic. All the while, we’ve seen a friendship between Arthur and Merlin that grows stronger. When Arthur finds out that Merlin has magic, they will have a messy problem. I don’t want to see it tidied up nice and neat in one hour.

Music Migration

/ Thoughts /

So, let go, yeah let go
Just get in
Oh, it’s so amazing here
It’s all right
‘Cause there’s beauty in the breakdown

“Let Go” by Frou Frou

If you visit music streaming sites, you may have heard about thesixtyone’s re-design.  A few days ago, the designers revamped the whole site without letting users know ahead of time.  Thesixtyone is now flashier, features full-screen photos of the artists you’re listening to, and roll-over menus all over the screen.  Some sites–a lot, actually–have written praise for the bold move.  TechCrunch and the Los Angeles Times have both commented on how much better thesixtyone is now and what a bold choice the designers made.  Many long-term users of thesixtyone left comments on those articles detailing what we lost in the re-design, most notably, the community features that made the site so unique in the first place.

Users e-mailed the designers to voice their concerns about the lack of features in the re-design, but the site owners aren’t responding.  Meanwhile, browsing new artists and songs on thesixtyone is more difficult.  The site feeds you tracks to listen to rather than letting you hunt down your own music, as it was before.  The community features that remain are buried behind menus.  Artists can’t keep in touch with their audiences and are selling less tracks since the re-design launched.  The new sixtyone may be a nice music streaming site to new users, but the creators of the site alienated the people who made thesixtyone so great in the first place.

Out of all of this, something beautiful and incredible is happening.  Thesixtyone’s creators took away community features, but they can’t kill the community.  Word spread around that people were moving on to another music site called uvumi.  Uvumi isn’t exactly like the old version of thesixtyone, but it has a good community and independent artists who truly care about their work.  It is a social music site in the sense that artists and listeners have conversations.  All users talk to each other and discover music together.  That was the spirit of thesixtyone.  People aren’t putting up with the overhaul (read: destruction) of thesixtyone, and we’re gathering on uvumi.  The site grew by 30% in the past week.  We’re inviting artists to create profiles and upload their music on uvumi.  The staff have been very welcoming and wonderful in accommodating the rapid increase in site activity.

We’re finding each other and sticking together, maintaining the community and enjoying our music away from thesixtyone.

Clark Kent is not a commentary on the human race

/ Superheroes /

I haven’t seen Kill Bill, but I came across this quote on tumblr the other day:

A staple of the superhero mythology is, there’s the superhero and there’s the alter ego. Batman is actually Bruce Wayne, Spider-Man is actually Peter Parker. When that character wakes up in the morning, he’s Peter Parker. He has to put on a costume to become Spider-Man. And it is in that characteristic Superman stands alone. Superman didn’t become Superman. Superman was born Superman. When Superman wakes up in the morning, he’s Superman. His alter ego is Clark Kent. His outfit with the big red “S”, that’s the blanket he was wrapped in as a baby when the Kents found him. Those are his clothes. What Kent wears – the glasses, the business suit – that’s the costume. That’s the costume Superman wears to blend in with us. Clark Kent is how Superman views us. And what are the characteristics of Clark Kent. He’s weak… he’s unsure of himself… he’s a coward. Clark Kent is Superman’s critique on the whole human race.
— Bill (Kill Bill Vol.2, 2004)

I’ve read this argument elsewhere online and I’ve heard it from a few friends too.  I agree with the point that Superman was born Superman and that sets him apart from other superheroes. His alter ego is Clark Kent as opposed to a superhero persona that other characters like Bruce Wayne and Peter Parker had to create.

I don’t agree with the argument, however, that the Clark Kent guise is a critique of the human race.  Superman doesn’t dress like Clark Kent because he thinks that’s how the average human being is.  Superman dresses like Clark Kent as a disguise.  He wants to be under the radar, to be the last person anyone would expect to be Superman so that he can have a life outside of the blue suit and cape.  So the glasses, the dorky behavior, the insecurities–that’s all an act to distance himself from the Superman persona.  Superman could have chosen to stay on the farm in Smallville.  He could have played professional football.  He could have been a travel agent.  He could have done anything, but he wanted to keep a low profile and stay close to world news.  He took a job at the Daily Planet and he pretends to be the most awkward dork in the world. No one thinks he’s anything like Superman because if anyone did, Superman couldn’t attempt to live a normal life in Metropolis.

Bruce Wayne uses a deeper voice when he’s Batman.  Peter Parker constantly banters with villains and makes wisecracks as he web-slings around New York City.  They put on acts like Superman does, but their situations are polar opposites.  Batman and Spider-Man make spectacles of themselves while Clark Kent tries to blend into the background.  The Clark Kent guise is Superman’s understanding of the type of people we don’t pay attention to but not a stereotype of humans.

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