Catalysts (The Spectacular Spider-Man)

This is a good article. Click here for more information.
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

"Catalysts"
The Spectacular Spider-Man episode
Green Goblin executes an attack on Spider-Man. In keeping with the show's color scheme, Green Goblin's costume emphasized the color green to coincide with negative aspects in Peter's life. A lot of its design was based on original designs from the 1960s and 70s.
Episode no.Season 1
Episode 7
Directed byVictor Cook
Written byAndrew Robinson
Production codeS1E07[1]
Original air dateApril 26, 2008 (2008-04-26)
Episode chronology
← Previous
"The Invisible Hand" 		Next →
"Reaction"
List of episodes

"Catalysts" is the seventh episode of the

psychotic supervillain Green Goblin from bombing a dinner party
filled with high-class New York citizens on the night of his school's big Fall Formal.

Written by Andrew Robinson and directed by the series' co-developer

Steven Blum and Vanessa Marshall began their roles as Green Goblin and Mary Jane Watson
, respectively.

The episode originally broadcast on April 26, 2008, following repeat episodes of "Natural Selection" and "Competition." It is available on both the third volume DVD set for the series, as well as the complete season box set. It ranked as among the highest rated children's telecast the morning it aired and received a generally positive response from television critics. Green Goblin's appearance and new personality split critics, who felt that it was suitable but also strayed from his comic appearance.

Plot summary

On the night of Midtown High's Fall Formal, Harry Osborn arrives with his date Glory and some football players, along with their dates, in a stretch limousine. When his friend, Gwen Stacy, tries to greet him, he ignores her and goes on his way. Soon, Peter Parker arrives and stuns everyone with his attractive date, Mary Jane Watson, whom he introduces to the group. Flash Thompson tries to ruin the date by mentioning a bet he and Peter had. Mary Jane is unscathed by the idea of the bet and goes to dance. Harry goes to get drinks and overhears Glory getting back together with her ex-boyfriend. He is furious and goes to his locker where he drinks a vial of green formula.

Meanwhile, across town, a mysterious, Halloween themed green and purple costumed, and

John Jameson
tries to fight them, too, but is also taken down.

Peter is contacted by the Daily Bugle to go take photographs of the hold-up at the party and is forced to leave Mary Jane, who understands as it is his job. Peter arrives at party as Spider-Man, where he is greeted by Lincoln. At first, Spider-Man thinks Goblin is simply working for the "Big Man" but is confirmed otherwise. Goblin briefly tries to convince Spider-Man to join him but is turned down so the Green Goblin makes it his mission to kill Spidey. so the two proceed to fight. Spider-Man shoots a web at the Goblin's glider and is immediately defenestrated. His web fluid is out but he refuels and is pursued through the streets by Green Goblin. He finally defeats Goblin, wrapping him in webbing. The Goblin explains that a pumpkin bomb was hidden back at the black-tie event. When Spider-Man returns to find it, John Jameson opts that the pumpkin bomb is hidden in the chandelier and Spider-Man retrieves it. He launches the bomb into the sky and it harmlessly explodes. However, when Spider-Man goes back to arrest the Green Goblin, he has mysteriously disappeared.

Back at the dance, Harry's group is outside and take the assumption that they have been abandoned by Harry because he has not showed up. In actuality, Harry is hiding at the wall near them and takes another drink of the vial of formula before walking off. Soon after, Peter returns to find the dance almost abandoned except for Mary Jane, who is dancing with another boy. Downtrodden, he is reassured when Mary Jane walks up to him and tells him that she saved the last dance for him.

Production

"Catalyst" was written by Andrew Robinson and directed by

TV-Y7-FV.[8] It was preceded by repeats of the episodes "Natural Selection" and "Competition,"[5] and was the first new episode of the series to air after a two-week hiatus following the episode "The Invisible Hand."[9] The episode's title, "Catalysts," expands the series theme "The Education of Peter Parker" chosen by developer Greg Weisman. Episodes in the third season one arc all shared a naming scheme based on chemistry.[10]

Steve Blum voiced Green Goblin.

Green Goblin's costume was mainly designed after his original

Medieval clothing.[2] The suit displays the color green,[2] which, in Cook's broad color scheme for the series, is used to symbolize negative situations in Peter's life, while positive settings and occurrences, such as Peter's biology class, feature other key colors like yellow.[12]

Green Goblin was voiced by

Nicktoons Network.[13]

Mary Jane was voiced by Vanessa Marshall. Marshall has voice acted on several animated series and video games, as well as starring in commercials and other on-screen roles and performing stand-up comedy. Marshall was filming a Honda commercial when her agent, Cathey Lizzio, called her to confirm that she had landed the role as Mary Jane, simply saying, "Hello, is this Mary Jane?" Overjoyed, Marshall dropped to her knees and began hyperventilating, which worried the producers of the commercial. Marshall's mother had voiced Spider-Woman in the original 1980s Spider-Man animated series, though Marshall's interest in Spider-Man had dated back to reading the comic books in her youth.[14] On her character, Marshall noted that she is "incredibly complex:"[14]

Her strength plays a major part in Peter’s growth and maturation – she really keeps him on the straight and narrow. Even though our characters are still only in high school during this cartoon, and you’re not going to get a lot of that character development at this point of the series, I know it’s going to be there in the future and so that has an effect on how I play her now.

— Marshal, on Mary-Jane.[14]

"Catalysts" became available on the DVD The Spectacular Spider-Man, Volume 3, on March 17, 2009, alongside the episodes "Reaction" and "The Uncertainty Principle."[15] The volume featured episodes that detailed Green Goblin as a prominent character.[16] It became available on the full season DVD box set entitled The Spectacular Spider-Man: The Complete First Season DVD Review, which featured every other episode of season one for the series.[17]

Reception

In its initial broadcast, "Catalysts" was met with season-high

Nielsen ratings, meeting well with all demographics and ranking as one of the highest rated children's telecast for any network that morning.[18]

The episode received generally positive reception from television critics. Eric Goldman of

Joker," the iconic villain from DC's Batman comics, but believed that his "malice side" worked. On the topic of Mary Jane, Goldman praised her for being "much like Stan Lee created her – a quick witted, fun loving girl." He also applauded the mysterious factors of Green Goblin's true identity.[11]

Sean Elliot, editor for iF magazine, gave the episode an "A." He wrote in his review that Goblin was "[t]rue to his early years in the comic books" and was "handled with superb finesse". Elliot noted that the storyline with Peter and Mary-Jane going to the Fall Formal together made him nostalgic of the old comic books that had the pair involved, whereas current publications do not.[2] Similar to Goldman,[11] Elliot applauded the mystery of Goblin's true identity, which he described as a "bait and switch."[2]

Writing for DVD Talk, Justin Felix wrote that "Catalyst" was a "fun episode - although the teen histrionics at the school dance are a bit much."[15] Ultimate Disney reviewer Luke Bonanno did not include the episode among his top five episodes of The Spectacular Spider-Man's first season, but "feel[s] obligated to point out that the uniform excellence of the lot [makes] this a challenging task."[17]

References

  1. Marvel.com. Archived from the original
    on 2009-04-12. Retrieved 2009-08-20.
  2. ^ a b c d e Elliot, Sean (2008-04-30). "Review: The Spectacular Spider-Man - Season One - 'Catalysts'". iF Magazine. Archived from the original on 2010-02-10. Retrieved 2009-11-29.
  3. Marvel.com
    . 2008-02-14. Retrieved 2009-08-20.
  4. ^ Worley, Rob M. (2008-04-25). "Green Goblin sends 'Spectacular Spider-Man' into a wild May". Mania. Archived from the original on 2008-11-22. Retrieved 2009-11-30.
  5. ^ a b Worley, Rob M. (2008-04-19). "Green Goblin coming to 'Spectacular Spider-Man'". Mania. Archived from the original on 2012-10-06. Retrieved 2009-11-30.
  6. ^ "Green Goblin debuts on "Spectacular Spider-Man"". Comic Book Resources. 2008-04-19. Retrieved 2009-11-30.
  7. ^ IGN TV (2008-04-25). "The Spectacular Spider-Man: Green Goblin Strikes". IGN. Retrieved 2009-11-30.
  8. ^ "The Spectacular Spider-Man: Catalysts". Zap2it. Archived from the original on 2012-03-08. Retrieved 2009-11-30.
  9. ^ Goldman, Eric (2008-08-14). ""The Invisible Hand" Review". IGN. Retrieved 2009-11-30.
  10. ^ Weisman, Greg (2008-08-11). "Ask Greg". Gargoyles: A Station Eight Fan Web Site. Retrieved 2009-08-18.
  11. ^ a b c Goldman, Eric (2008-04-28). ""Catalysts" Review". IGN. Archived from the original on 2012-11-03. Retrieved 2009-11-30.
  12. ^ Elliot, Sean (2008-04-11). "Spectacular Spider-Man Producer Victor Cook Unmasks Spider Secrets - Part 2". iF Magazine. Archived from the original on 2008-04-13. Retrieved 2009-08-17.
  13. ^ Sands, Rich (2008-04-16). "Exclusive First Look: Spectacular Green Goblin". TV Guide. Retrieved 2009-11-30.
  14. ^ a b c "Vanessa Marshall Brings Mary Jane Watson to Life". Press release, Sony Pictures Television. 2008-04-25. Archived from the original on 2008-09-07. Retrieved 2009-11-30.
  15. ^ a b Felix, Justin (2009-03-10). "The Spectacular Spider-Man, Vol. 3". DVD Talk. Retrieved 2009-11-30.
  16. ^ Goldman, Eric (2009-03-19). "The Spectacular Spider-Man - Volume 3 DVD Review: The Green Goblin and Doctor Octopus make their spectacular debuts". IGN. Retrieved 2009-11-30.
  17. ^ a b Bonanno, Luke. "The Spectacular Spider-Man Animated Series: The Complete First Season DVD Review (2-Disc Collector's Set)". Ultimate Disney. Retrieved 2009-11-30.
  18. ^ "Q&A With Randy Jandt". Press release, Sony Pictures Television. 2008-05-02. Archived from the original on 2008-05-03. Retrieved 2009-12-23.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Catalysts_(The_Spectacular_Spider-Man)&oldid=1185920181"