"Survival of the Fittest" | |
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The Spectacular Spider-Man episode | |
![]() Spider-Man fights the Vulture. Vulture was designed namely after his original comic book appearance. Slight alterations were made in color and texture. [1] [2] | |
Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 1 |
Directed by | Victor Cook |
Written by | Greg Weisman |
Production code | S1E01 [3] |
Original air date | March 8, 2008 |
"Survival of the Fittest" is the pilot episode of the animated television series The Spectacular Spider-Man, which is based on the comic book character Spider-Man, created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. The episode was written and directed by the series developers, Greg Weisman and Victor Cook. In the episode, Spider-Man (Josh Keaton) faces the evil Vulture (Robert Englund) as he begins his junior year in high school.
Sony Entertainment originally conceived The Spectacular Spider-Man as a series of four DVDs, and asked Weisman and Cook to develop it. The central idea was to follow Spider-Man in his younger years in the comics; Weisman and Cook wanted to incorporate the styles of the early comic publications by Lee and Ditko. Reviewers have cited other influences in the themes, such as the live action film series and the Ultimate Spider-Man continuity.
"Survival of the Fittest" originally aired on March 8, 2008, on the Kids' WB block on The CW. It had previously been shown to a large audience at the 2008 WonderCon. The episode was the highest rated program of the Kids WB! 2007-2008 combined with the second episode "Interactions" and alone received a Nielsen rating of 1.2/3. It was well received by critics, IGN calling it "a Spider-Man story that feels like classic Spider-Man, and that's a good thing."
The night before school starts, Spider-Man, alter ego of Peter Parker (Josh Keaton), foils an attempted bank robbery; in the background, a shadowed figure (Keith David) tells his henchman Hammerhead (John DiMaggio) to summon the Enforcers to kill Spider-Man. The next day, an aerodynamic engineer named Adrian Toomes (Robert Englund) is outraged at OsCorp for stealing his anti-gravity project, viciously berating Dr. Otto Octavius (Peter MacNicol) until Norman Osborn (Alan Rachins) arrives. Osborn dismisses Toomes, calling him a failure and a buzzard before he has him escorted out by security. Toomes turns to Octavius and declares that he no longer blames him for the theft of his work. Meanwhile, Peter arrives at school and tells his friends Gwen Stacy (Lacey Chabert) and Harry Osborn (James Arnold Taylor) that he is determined to get a date with Sally Avril, though both she and Flash Thompson (Joshua LeBar) humiliate him in front of everyone. After school, Peter and Gwen are offered an internship at Dr. Connor's lab, where the former was given his superpowers; both accept. Peter goes to Harry's apartment, where Norman congratulates him on his newfound career. Toomes, going by the name "the Vulture," breaks in wearing a suit with built-in metallic wings and talons, with his anti-gravity technology incorporated to it and kidnaps Norman. Peter slips out to don the Spider-Man costume and pursues Vulture. He succeeds in rescuing Norman but loses to Vulture in a fight.
Later, Peter goes to the lab where he meets up with Gwen, his close friend Eddie Brock (Benjamin Diskin), and the Conners. When he finds out he will not be paid for the internship, he tries to sell pictures to the Daily Bugle publisher J. Jonah Jameson (Daran Norris), though he is kicked out near immediately.
That night, Norman is attacked by the Vulture once more and when Spider-Man tries to stop him, he is fired upon by the Enforcers, who distract him while Vulture chases after Norman's limousine. While being pursued by the Enforcers, he follows after Vulture and ends up defeating him while getting the assassins off his back. When he returns home, his Aunt May (Deborah Strang) gives him a curfew to ensure he doesn't come home late again and gives him a slice of pie.
The Spectacular Spider-Man was originally conceived by Sony Entertainment as a series of four animated DVDs that chronicled the Spider-Man character in his youth. The company brought in Victor Cook and Greg Weisman to help with development. [4] Weisman had had critical success with the series Gargoyles, while Cook worked on the Hellboy animated features. [5] They both had been Spider-Man fans for decades, as well. [4]
Weisman wanted to incorporate the early stages of the comic when Stan Lee and Steve Ditko where the character was in his younger stages; Cook agreed because he had yet to see it done before in any type of adaptation for the character. [4] Other influences on the style were the Ultimate Spider-Man comics and the live action film adaptions of the comic publications. [6] When the idea was changed to an animated television series, they still kept a similar chronicle style where "each episode stands alone as its own story, but like the comic book itself it's a saga. Then each three episodes is a story and those three episodes are what would be on the DVD releases." [4]
The original title for the series was The Amazing Spider-Man, based on the Spider-Man comic publication of the same name. In mid-2007, the title was changed to The Spectacular Spider-Man, as well a Spider-Man comic series. [7] [8] Weisman prepared for his role as a story editor of the new series by going out and purchasing the first seven volumes of The Essential Spider-Man, which he had previously read as a child. he re-read them in order to "get the voice of those early stories" and took extensive notes. [5]
The show was given a specific budget, so Weisman and Cook wanted to allow the animation to "move" more than anything, giving it simple and stylistic designs. [9] Sam Raimi, director of the Spider-Man live action films, "set the bar" for the fluent movement styles Spider-Man has, which Weisman and Cook were in complete agreement of incorporating into the series. [1] [4] When designing the Vulture, the two employed the dark green shades from his original design, a color which they use thematically for most of their villains and other negative aspects of Peter's life, along with touches of blood-like red. His wings were employed in the same style that his comic book counterpart; "[They are] for steering[...]they don't keep him air born," Weisman describes. [1] [2] Vulture was voiced by Robert Englund, iconic for his portrayal as the horror film character Freddy Krueger. [9]
"Survival of the Fittest" was written by Weisman [10] and directed by Cook. [3] The episode originally aired on March 8, 2008, on the Kids WB! block for The CW network. [3] [7] [10] [11] [12] It had previously been shown to a packed audience at the 2008 WonderCon; several goers were forced to stand and the creators and other members of the crew took the stage to answer questions. [6] When Disney XD premiered the series, it aired the episode, along with the following two, "Interactions" and "Natural Selection," on March 23, 2009. [13]
"Survival of the Fittest" follows a title scheme given by Weisman that follows "The Education of Peter Parker." For the episode and beginning arc of season one, the titles are based on Biology. [14] The scene in the episode in which Spider-Man catches Norman Osborn in mid-air and makes several sarcastic comments to Vulture, such as "You guys play hot potato hardcore!" and "He may be right. I only rent [the skies]," were described by Comic Mix reviewer Alan Kistler as in the attitude of Bugs Bunny. [15]
In its original broadcast, "Survival of the Fittest" received a Nielsen rating of 1.2/3, which is considered high for American television. The rating was the top mark for the 10:00 a.m. timeslot for the 2007-2008 season and was a 20% increase of the previous week's. In key kids 2-11, it received a rating of 1.4/5, a 25% increase from the previous week's mark in the demographic. [16]
Since airing, the episode has received positive reviews from critics. IGN reviewer Eric Goldman gave the episode an eight out of ten rating, commenting that it was "literally jam-packed with classic Spider-Man characters" and "a Spider-Man story that feels like classic Spider-Man." Goldman praised the 1960s-inspired style and described the humor as both "corny" and "legitimately," along with the fight sequences. Goldman enjoyed the fight sequences where Spider-Man faces the Vulture and Fancy Dan and gave "kodos" to the sound design teams for the "distinctive" noises made by Vulture's motors, along with the animation style. [9]
Sean Elliot, senior edit of iF Magazine, gave "Survival of the Fittest" an "A"; Elliot wrote that it was "a Spider-man cartoon that's for all ages and ranges." Elliot said that he enjoyed the usage of several different Spider-Man villains to the point of watching the episode twice. Though the Vulture is not a favorite of Elliot's, he commented that the episode made him seem "pretty cool;" he went on to praise the voice cast, including Englund's performance as Vulture. Like Goldman, Elliot commented favorably on the animation style and nods to classic comic stories and said that it had a "bit for every level of Spider-man fan." [10]
Spider-Man, also known as Spider-Man: The Animated Series, is an American superhero animated television series based on the Marvel Comics superhero of the same name. The series aired on the Fox Kids Network from November 19, 1994, to January 31, 1998, for a total of five seasons comprising sixty-five episodes, and ran reruns on Toon Disney's Jetix block and on Disney XD. The series was produced by Marvel Films Animation and animated by Tokyo Movie Shinsha.
The Vulture is the alias of several supervillains appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, most of whom are depicted as recurring enemies of the superhero Spider-Man and belong to the collection of adversaries that make up his rogues gallery, typically using special suits which allow them to fly at vast speeds.
Greg Weisman is an American novelist, writer, producer and voice actor. He is best known as a creator of the animated series Gargoyles, The Spectacular Spider-Man and Young Justice.
Spider-Ham is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is an anthropomorphic pig and is a cartoon animal parody version of Spider-Man. He was created by editor Larry Hama, Tom DeFalco, Stan Lee and Mark Armstrong.
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The Marvel superhero character of Spider-Man has appeared in multiple forms of media besides the comics, including on television numerous times, in both live action and animated television programs.
The Spectacular Spider-Man is an American superhero animated television series based on the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man, and developed by Greg Weisman and Victor Cook. In terms of overall tone and style, the series is based principally on the Stan Lee, Steve Ditko and John Romita Sr. era of The Amazing Spider-Man, with a similar balance of action, drama and comedy as well as a high school setting. However, it also tends to blend material from all eras of the comic's run up to that point in addition to other sources such as the Ultimate Spider-Man comics by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley, as well as Sam Raimi's Spider-Man film trilogy.
Montana is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is depicted as the leader of the Enforcers, a team of assassins usually employed by other villains such as the Big Man, the Green Goblin, and the Kingpin, which often places them in conflict with the superheroes Spider-Man and Daredevil.
"Interactions" is the second episode of the animated television series The Spectacular Spider-Man, based on the comic book character Spider-Man created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. The episode sees Spider-Man confronting the supervillain Electro, whose body was corrupted with electricity after a freak lab accident.
Victor A. Cook is an American television producer and director best known for his work on the animated series The Spectacular Spider-Man (2008–2009), Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated (2010–2013) and Stretch Armstrong and the Flex Fighters (2017–2018), and as an executive producer of Disney Junior's T.O.T.S.
"Natural Selection" is the third episode of the animated television series The Spectacular Spider-Man, which is based on the comic book character Spider-Man, created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. In the episode, Spider-Man must face the scientist he was working for, Curt Connors, who has been mutated into an anthropomorphic lizard by a serum designed to regrow his missing arm.
"Market Forces" is the fourth episode of the animated television series The Spectacular Spider-Man, which is based on the comic book character Spider-Man, created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. In the episode, Spider-Man is hunted by Shocker, whose suit allows him to fire intense sonic blasts.
"Competition" is the fifth episode of the animated television series The Spectacular Spider-Man, which is based on the comic book character Spider-Man, created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. In it, Spider-Man must face the Sandman, a former petty thug who now can manipulate his sand body at will.
"The Invisible Hand" is the sixth episode of the animated television series The Spectacular Spider-Man, which is based on the comic book character Spider-Man created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. The episode follows Spider-Man as he faces the Rhino, who has an indestructible rhino-like suit and super strength. In his personal life, as his alter ego Peter Parker, Spider-Man tries to ask out Daily Bugle worker Betty Brant to the upcoming fall formal at his high school.
"Reaction" is the eighth episode of the American animated television series The Spectacular Spider-Man, which is based on the comic book character Spider-Man, created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. The episode originally broadcast in the United States on the Kids WB! block for The CW on May 3, 2008.
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