Spectacular Spider-Man: "The Uncertainty Principle"

Premiered May 10, 2008

"'Twas the night before Halloween, and all through Manhattan... not a criminal was stirring, not even the Green Gob... lan."
-Spider-Man

"We all wear masks, Spider-Man, but which one is the mask?  The one that hides your face, or the one that IS your face? "
-Green Goblin

This episode opens with Spider-Man attempting a Clement Moore-esque Halloween poem while patrolling the streets for bad guys.

Elsewhere in the city, the gangster Hammerhead is attacked and captured by the Green Goblin.  He tells "Hammy" he wants info on his boss Tombstone, AKA "The Big Man".

Hammerhead meets the Green Goblin

At Midtown high school, Gwen Stacy notices Harry Osborn get a test tube of green liquid from his locker.  He passed out the night before, she figures the liquid caused that to happen.  Gwen says he needs help. Harry tells her the green stuff (some form of steroid) "is the help" and it's helped him become a football star and maintain a 4.0 GPA.. As he puts it "a few blackouts are a small price to pay."

Green Goblin visits Tombstone and tells him Hammerhead gave him a jump drive full of incriminating evidence.  Gobby tells Tombstone to meet him later that evening.

Peter Parker (in his Spider-Man costume) goes to talk to Harry about his problems, but runs into the Goblin on the way.  He tells Spidey about the jump drive and tells him to meet him later that night. Goblin flees the scene, but Spider-Man notices him enter the Osborn penthouse.  When he goes inside, he finds no trace of the Goblin.

Peter phones Harry, wanting to talk about his problems, he says to meet him at the Bleecker Street Halloween Carnival.  At said carnival, Mary Jane shows up dressed in a vampire costume.  She runs into Gwen and they ask each other where Peter is.  Neither knows the answer.

Note the people in the "home-made" Spider-man costumes in the background on the left of the above picture!

We see several of Peter's Midtown classmates in Halloween costumes (pirate, genie and cheetah) working at the carnival's concession stand. Midtown's football team, led by Flash Thompson, shows up dressed as cheerleaders (perhaps they lost a bet in a previous episode - something MJ says seems to indicate this).

Peter arrives at the Halloween Carnival in his Spider-Man costume.  He runs into Gwen and unmasks, pretending it's just a Halloween costume.  Mary Jane tells him he "fills out that costume" nicely, Liz Allan says "you can web me up any time, Petey!"  Flash (still dressed as a cheerleader) gets jealous, Peter tells him "don't worry Flash, you fill out your costume nicely too."

Flash goes to attack Parker, when suddenly, jack-o-lantern shaped fireworks light up the sky above the carnival. Peter knows this is Goblin's cue to meet him, he traces the fireworks back to a waterfront refinery.


Spidey and Tombstone show up at the refinery, both knowing they're walking into a trap.  They find Hammerhead, suspended over a vat of molten steel.  He tells Tombstone there never was jump drive, it was all a trick by the Goblin to get Tombstone and Spider-Man.  A fight ensues, Hammerhead and Tombstone get away and Spidey pursues the Green Goblin.

Meanwhile, back at the Halloween carnival, Flash flirts with Mary Jane, saying he's available since he & Liz recently broke up.  MJ spurns him, saying she's a free agent, nobody's "replacement girl".  Gwen is angry that Peter disappeared from the carnival and Harry never showed up.

Green Goblin once again leads Spidey to Osborn's penthouse. When he gets there, he watches the Goblin unmask...

J.A. Morris says:

A very good Halloween episode of a great and (sadly) short-lived series.  The Green Goblin (with his jack o'lantern bombs and scary mask) is a natural villain for a Halloween episode.  I like the way this series uses real New York locations too.  It's not just the "Halloween Carnival", it's the "Bleecker Street Halloween Carnival".  And the "Halloween" portions of the story don't feel shoehorned into the episode either.


If you want to know who is under the Goblin mask, this episode is easily available.
'The Uncertainly Principle' can be found on 'The Spectacular Spider-Man:The Complete First Season' and also on a standalone dvd called 'The Spectacular Spider-Man' Vol. 3. It's also available for streaming on Netflix.

My rating: 3.5 jack o'lanterns



Rigby Mel says:

An excellent Halloween themed episode. It doesn't hurt that it features one of my favorite superheroes, either.  I've always liked Spidey/Peter's sense of humor and this is used to good effect.  I also like the way the costumes are used - we even get a glimpse of another Spider-Man villain/hero, the Black Cat, in passing (Whether it's actually her or just someone in a Halloween costume is open to interpretation, I think.).  Spidey even gets to come to the party as himself, so to speak.  This ep is perhaps not a "classic" Halloween show, but it's certainly a lot of fun!

My rating:
3 jack o'lanterns

Yankee Doodle Cricket

"It wouldn't sound quite right would it? A cat, a mouse and a cricket started the revolutionary war."
-Harry the cat

Premiered January 16, 1975 on ABC.

Yankee Doodle Cricket is the third special in a trilogy produced by Chuck Jones starring Chester Cricket (voiced by Les Tremayne) & friends that began with A Cricket In Times Square. We reviewed the second special, A Very Merry Cricket, here.

We open with Tucker the mouse (voiced by Mel Blanc) discovering that the Declaration of Independence was co-written by a mouse. He goes to tell his friend Harry the cat (also Tremayne) about this and we flash back to 1775.

Tucker's ancestor writes the 'Declaration of Interdependence between cats and dogs', which brings peace between cats and dogs. It states "all cats and mice are created equal". He runs it over to his friend Harry (an ancestor of his friend Harry) to sign it on behalf of cats. On his way to Harry's house, he almost runs over a snake. The snake tells Harry "don't tread on me", which gives Tucker the idea to create the Gadsden flag.

It turns out Harry is Thomas Jefferson's cat. Jefferson is working on the Declaration and having trouble with the ending.  He tries out several phrases "Speak softly and carry a big stick", "Two chickens in every pot","54-40 or fight"-all famous political slogans from another time.  He is helped by Tucker (or an ancestor of Tucker?).  Tucker emerges from his mouse hole to help Jefferson come up with "We hold these truths to be self evident...".  Jefferson steps away for a break, when Tucker arrives and shows Harry his 'Declaration'. Harry is impressed with ending, which says "we hold these truths to be self-evident" etc. He leaves Tucker's Declaration on Jefferson's desk, which gives him the idea he needs to help him finish the Declaration of Independence.



The animals need a song everyone can sing to unify the colonists in their fight for Independence. They hear a cricket making music and ask if he'll compose the song. Chester (the great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather of the "present day" Chester) composes 'Yankee Doodle Dandy'. The three stars travel all around the colonies and teach all the animals how to sing and play 'Yankee Doodle Dandy'. And the rest is history!  At least, it's "history" in the context of this special.

While promoting the song in Boston, they learn the man who is supposed to light lanterns in the Old North Church is unable to do so. So Tucker, Harry and Chester team up to make sure the lanterns are lit.

J.A. Morris says:

I'm a huge fan of Chuck Jones (his work on 'Looney Tunes' and How The Grinch Stole Christmas make him animation royalty in my book), but this is easily the weakest of the three 'Cricket' specials. It's entertaining, but most of the jokes fall flat. Worst of all is the recycling of animation. We see the some of the scenes used 3-4 times in a 26 minute special. It could be a good way to introduce to history to children though. That, plus the voice of Mel Blanc is what makes me give this special a mild recommendation (we also get a voice "cameo" from the legendary June Foray as Marsha the firefly, which helps a little).
My rating:
2.5 flags.

Merry Christmas In July!

Yesterday, RigbyMel and I attended a Richmond Flying Squirrels Baseball game. The game was host to a celebration of 'Christmas In July'.

They had a local band singing songs like 'White Christmas' and 'Winter Wonderland' at the stadium entrance, and Santa was present too, wearing a Hawaiian shirt and posing for pictures with children.




The Flying Squirrel's mascot Nutzy played "Santa Nutzy", he was kind enough to help me record a "commercial" for this blog!:



And Santa also "endorses" this blog!



We had a great time at the game, and it was a nice reminder that as of today, Christmas is only five months away!

If you live in a town that has a Major or Minor League baseball team, check their schedule this week, they may also be celebrating 'Christmas In July!

J.A.

The Great American Fourth Of July And Other Disasters

Here's a holiday special featuring Jean Shepherd as narrator, Ralphie Parker, the Old Man and Flick, but it's not A Christmas Story as you might have come to expect. Instead, it's:






The Great American Fourth of July and Other Disasters is a 1982 tv special that first aired on PBS as part of the "American Playhouse" series.



The special features a teenaged Ralphie Parker (as played by a young Matt Dillon) and tells of adventures had on a long ago 4th of July full of "gut-thumping explosions", marching bands, parades, picnics, maniacal drum majors, sack races, blind dates, wash rags, and of course, fireworks!



Our story begins with a framing device, Jean Shepherd is driving a Rolls Royce down present-day (for 1982) I-95 which leads him to South of the Border the venerably tacky roadside attraction in South Carolina which features a vast array of fireworks of varying lethality for purchase. As he fills a shopping cart full of recreational explosives ("just like the A&P"), he thinks about how much "the Old Man" would have loved a place like South of the Border and how "the Old Man's" 4th of July fireworks displays were reknowned which leads us down memory lane to teenaged Ralphie and friends in Holman, Indiana.

We learn that Ralphie plays sousaphone in the local marching band which is getting ready for the big 4th of July parade under the direction of Wilbur Duckworth, a drum major with "the soul of a true storm trooper". The band, frankly, isn't all that great and are further stymied by swirling midwestern dust and colliding sousaphone bell, but Wilbur insists on rehearsing them to the brink of exhaustion in preparation for the big parade.



Meanwhile, we are introduced to Ralphie's family - his long suffering mother, his brother Randy "whose art form was the whine" and the Old Man himself (as played by James Broderick - Matthew Broderick's old man in real life) who is looking forward to 4th of July festivities while being puzzled as to an amusing subplot involving mom and wash rags. We also encounter Ralphie's friends Schwartz (Jeff Yonis) and Flick (William Lampley) - Flick seems to have turned into a not-very-nice teenager (maybe getting his tongue stuck to that flag pole embittered him?).

Schwartz's mom has set Ralphie up on a blind date, which Ralphie is not looking forward to at all. But as tends to happen in Jean Shepherd's stories, the date doesn't quite pan out the way Ralphie anticipates.

We are also introduced to Lud Kissel (Babe Sargent) , the town drunk - you can tell he will be important later because of the "Jaws Theme" that plays in the background whenever he appears on screen.

The 4th of July dawns bright and hot and the day's festivities get underway. The parade has interesting consequences when Wilbur Duckworth's double baton act goes terribly wrong, but folks recover from that shock and go on to enjoy the town picnic. Ralphie and Schwartz have trained for the sack race in anticipation of winning a pair of shiny transistor radios but that also winds up not going according to plan due to Flick's machinations.



Lud emerges from a darkened bar (due to parade consequences) to join in the fun. He produces a massive, black and menacing firecracker that wrecks havoc on the unsuspecting citizens of Hammond and on Mrs. Kissel's front porch, thereby ensuring his place in town folklore.

The evening ends with the Old Man's much anticipated fireworks extravaganza and a good time is generally had by all. Ralphie and the Old Man share a nice moment together at the very end of the evening, talking about what a great day it has been.

We then return to present (1982) day Jean Shepherd, back in his Rolls on I-95 to wrap things up with some lovely philosophizing about how holidays are "like mileposts in the picket fence of the years that stretch on and on through our lives."

This is great, funny special in the best Jean Shepherd storytelling tradition. The effects are low-budget, but that makes it all the more charming. It is a pity that The Great American Fourth Of July And Other Disasters isn't commercially available at this time, but if you can get your hands on a copy, it is well worth your time.

Rigby Mel says - my rating:

4 waving flags

*************************************************

J.A.Morris says:

I agree with Rigbymel on this one,'The Great American 4th Of July' should be on tv every July. I watched this when it was brand new, I didn't realize until years later that it featured the same characters from 'A Christmas Story'. I'm guessing that licensing difficulties regarding some of the background music(like the aforementioned 'Jaws' theme) are preventing an official dvd release. Dillon and Broderick are especially great in their roles.
My rating:
4 flags!


Since it's never been released commercially, here's a link to Part 1 of the special on Youtube: