can somebody explain Spider-Man Unlimited to me?

I caught an episode last night, and I'm like...

"High Evolutionary? Venom and Carnage actually like each other and Carnage is a skinny bloke for some reason? Spidey's costume comes out of his wristwatch? Green Goblin is a good guy? And who the hell is this Naoko chick? What's going on? And why does this episode seem more like an episode of Mighty Max than of Spider-Man?"

So... the hell?

It's kinda like Batman Beyond, except Peter Parker got zapped into the future somehow. Or another planet. I can't remember.

Spidey saw Carnage and Venom (who were being buddies for some reason; the show never explained why IIRC) on TV, hijacking an experimental spaceship piloted by John Jameson. Spidey went off to stop them with a suit designed by Reed Richards (why Reed didn't go himself, I can't remember). The ship crashed into a kooky alternate Earth where the rest of the show took place.

That's the basic catch.

Carnage was always supposed to be skinny, BTW. Venom's the big bulky one.

edited 3rd Apr '11 2:29:47 PM by NapoleonDeCheese

It was supposed to be Spider-Man 2099 to compete with Batman Beyond, except they tweaked the premise into something unrecognizable.

It's kinda like Spider-Man, but, like, unlimited. I'm guessing he used the "infinite lives" cheat.

Batman Beyond was more interesting anyway.

The main appeal of Spiderman Unlimited is just how outrageous the premise is: "Spider-Man on an alien planet." I remember when it first came out, promoted almost immediately after the end of Spiderman The Animated Series and because it was practically marketed as a sequel series it really turned people off when it did air. I had little interest in it, the costume looked cool but the entire premise did not appeal to me.

"It's spiderman, on another planet. With a costume that runs on magic"

I'd read that the symbiotes being buddies resulted from the never-will-be-seen planned eps in which Peter got MJ back from whatever dimension she fell into (I think 19th Century England where Carnage became Jack The Ripper or somesuch) during TAS.

The coolest thing about the series to me is the ability to use its costume in the first PS 1 Spidey game.

Ya know, Marvel could open up a whole new sub-series of comics doing nothing but resolving their various animated series' dangling plotlines.

There is no explanation, either you understand it or you don't. Or maybe nobody does.

Naoko is just the standard attractive but unavailable woman who exists mostly so Peter Parker has a place to live, and a human connection outside of the Rebels.

And Marvel doesn't need to worry about the unresolved plotlines of their animated series, they've got plenty in the comics.

edited 3rd Apr '11 10:26:48 PM by blueharp

Naoko Yamada was a doctor who married a Russian called Jones (forget his surname) on Counter-Earth. Jones fell in the rebels, and became the Green Goblin, except he was a good guy. Naoko knows none of this, but lets Peter rent a room while he's on the other planet.

and There actually were comics based on the Animated shows. Both had probably the absolute worst titles ever though: The one based on TAS was called "Spider-Man Adventures." The one based on Unlimited, of course, was called Spider-Man Unlimited, which would've been all right if there weren't an earlier line (the first issue of which was the beginning of the Maximum Carnage story arc) that bore the same goddamn title.

Try finding either of them on eBay and you'll understand why I don't collect comics.

Spider-Man Adventures was titled like that to ride on the bandwagon of the much better and much more beloved Batman Adventures.

Well...yes and no. The "Adventures" tag was also something being used by the comic book adaptation of the first Ninja Turtles cartoon (which preceded The Batman Adventures by more than two years), so my thinking is that over time there came to be a unspoken understanding in the industry that "Adventures" was the subtitle to have if you were doing a comic book adaptation of an animated adaptation of a comic book.

edited 5th Apr '11 1:40:14 AM by DoKnowButchie

Anyone gets bugged by how the people in Counter-Earth actually call their earth Counter-earth?

Anyway, this show was fun. As in like... different. The best thing was high tech Nick Fury in the first episode.

I file that under translation-convention and ignore it. I'm not even sure if they went into the origins of the planet in the series, though given the High Evolutionary's involvement, he could have just told everybody they were on Counter-Earth and nobody argued over it.

I remember reading a Spider-man Unlimited comic, it didn't explain why he was on an alien planet or where he got his new suit, but I liked it. Can't remember if it was a sub series but it was not an official Marvel work.

It was weird though, isn't High Evolutionary an Avengers villain? Why are they called synoptic, are these a different Venom and Carnage? Must be because they aren't killing each other?

edited 22nd Apr '11 8:01:40 AM by Cider

The High Evolutionary gets around, he's not really tied to one group or character. He's sorta the Go-To super-scientist when they need somebody willing to do evil, or at least nasty stuff, but not actually evil.

He's a good guy nowadays anyway, but he was an evil dude back then.

The show ended in a weirdest cliff hanger ever.

incidently peter "borrowed" (his words not mine) the suit from Reed Richards, from what i can tell watching it on netfilxs the Synoptic were the symbiotes pre peter, they landed on and asimilated Counter-Earth with the dinosaurs, the the meteors drove them underground, i just assume the reason V and C are budy buddy, and that they don't seem to have human bodies is because the Hive Mind is messing with them to use them as their front line grunts while telling them they will be the new rulers.

You know what would ahve made this show better? If it had dealt with peter's travels through time to find MJ after the end of Spider-Man: The Animated Series .( the ending of that show always ticked me off.)