Anna Watson's disapproval of Peter: Bad idea or bad execution?

[Hanshotfirst1138]

Hey, wait a minute! You're talking about ME!!!

You're here?! This is the cool thing about being an Internet fanboy. Every now and then, you guys actually show up ! Thanks! Incidentally, it's hard to reevaluate your show because it still hasn't show up on DVD yet. I admit to having a similar problem as GregX in that Batman: The Animated Series and its successors became the shows by which I measure the majority of superhero progams, and lets face it, most things come up short by comparison.

 

[STARTOUNZ]

Excellent work, John!

I saw several episodes of Spider-Man: TAS during the New Year's marathon on Toon Disney and it's still as good as I remember. Sure, it had a few flaws, but I'm one of the few who won't direct any fault toward Mr. Semper, whose name I've seen in several shows I've watched in the past and enjoyed. As for Anna Watson, I found her to be sort of a reverse on Lwxanna Troi on Star Trek: TNG (also portrayed by the late Majel Roddenberry, RIP), who often butted into her daughter's life, wondering when she would get married, or just getting on her nerves, to her embarrassment. As Anna, she had the same concerns for Mary Jane, but wasn't comfortable with Peter since he wasn't always there for her. I thought it was a good addition to her character as she added to Peter's list to those who didn't seem to like him, only in this case it wasn't a dislike of Spider-Man by Jameson or the supervillains, it was disapproval of Peter.

I still think this series is better than Spectacular Spider-Man, as the latter has deviated too much from the comics. Heck, TAS actually made Flash Thompson likable. Even Jameson had a few good qualities, even helping to pay for Peter's defense by Matt Murdock (Daredevil) when he was accused of being a traitor, and even paying for his wedding to Mary Jane (also adding his gift of the broke-down Daily Bugle van). The overall development of the characters on TAS is certainly superior to SSM. Who knows, the latter series may get better later on, but so far, I'm not that impressed with it. Maybe if John Sempers comes along and does his magic, it could improve.

 

[GregX]

I still think this series is better than Spectacular Spider-Man, as the latter has deviated too much from the comics. Heck, TAS actually made Flash Thompson likable. Even Jameson had a few good qualities, even helping to pay for Peter's defense by Matt Murdock (Daredevil) when he was accused of being a traitor, and even paying for his wedding to Mary Jane (also adding his gift of the broke-down Daily Bugle van). The overall development of the characters on TAS is certainly superior to SSM. Who knows, the latter series may get better later on, but so far, I'm not that impressed with it. Maybe if John Sempers comes along and does his magic, it could improve.

I disagree completely.

Let's see... Flash has likable qualities in SSM. Like talking sense into Peter, and even accepting his thanks for that in the last two episodes.

Jameson clearly loves his son, didn't betray Peter to the Rhino, and when he found out Aunt May was in the hospital, chose to call Peter himself instead of having Betty do it.

Sorry, but... Greg Weisman > John Semper.

And if we're talking about deviating from the comics, well...

- The Hobgoblin before the Green Goblin.
- Horrendous voice acting, especially Mary Jane.
- 90% of the series being stock footage.
- No Gwen Stacy.
- No Betty Brant.
- Mary Jane being a bimbo without any personality.
- Electro being the Red Skull's son.
- Lame dimensional portals!
- Norman Osborn being the Kingpin's whiny puppet.
- Doc Ock being Kingpin's butt monkey.
- Tombstone's Joker rip-off origin.
- Crappy CGI backgrounds.
- Super Soldier Black Cat.
- Anna Watson being a mean old harpy.
- Giant "Uber Cool" Goblin Glider that just so happened to be a $30 toy on the shelves.
- Dormmamu and Morbius being way too prominent.
- Madame Web with crazy Beyonder powers.
- That lame, lame, LAME series finale.
- Hydro Mary Jane!
- Bad forced angst!
- Stupid lame portrayal of vampirism!
- No proper resolution at the end, at all!
- No Sandman!
- Overabundance of guest stars!
- Kingpin being a Shredder clone with his own Technodrome disguised as the Chrysler Building instead of an actual mob boss.

Just saying...

 

[Arsenal]

GregX, you give a laundry list of complaints here, and, while these are all your subjective opinion (and thus valid,) many of these were either forced upon Spider-Man:TAS or have nothing to do with being deviations from the comic books.

For example:
1. The Hobgoblin before the Green Goblin. Semper's already gone on record as having this decision forced on him by toy lines.

2. Horrendous voice acting. I'm sorry, was the voice acting in the comics better?

3. Ninety percent of the show being stock footage. Budget issues are budget issues. That's like picking on the 60's Spidey show for the titular character's lack of a costume. Is it a valid issue to have with the show? Certainly, but you shouldn't blame lack of funding on the creative team.

4. Your points on Electro and Gwen Stacy are both valid and pertinent to the discussion. However, I would note that in the 1990s, Gwen Stacey's death was viewed as immutable as Uncle Ben's. Putting her in the show would have turned her into a big target sign. This changed when Bendis re-inserted her into Ultimate Spider-Man.
Instead, the creative team used MJ in the Gwen Stacy role, which allowed them to still surprise the audience.

5. You dislike how Doc Ock and Norman Osborne are portrayed as subservient to the Kingpin. Yet, Tombstone is definitely filling the role of Kingpin in SSM. One could argue that Tombstone is manipulating the other villains in a similar manner as Kingpin in S:TAS.

6. Crappy CGI backgrounds. The tech was new at the time. Almost all CGI backgrounds grated with with the hand-drawn portions of episodes. If you don't believe me, watch The Silver Surfer or even Starcrossed. Even Bruce Timm had trouble juxtaposing the two elements at first.

7. Your issues with Sandman and Electro. Once again, these villains were denied Semper; and he still found a way to work in Electro.

8. No proper resolution and the lame series finale. Semper did not intend for the series to end when it did. He has discussed how he planned to have Spider-Man chasing Mary Jane through time. Should he have anticipated the end coming? Perhaps, we cannot say, because we were not there.

9. Lame portrayal of vampirism. I'm not sure what this has to do with deviation from comics.

10. The overabundance of guest stars. This is a double-edged sword for creators. If creators avoid guest stars, everybody wants to know why there weren't more crossovers. If there are a lot of them, people think you are taking away attention from the star. You can't win.
That having been said, I think S:TAS actually gave us the most comprehensive view of the Marvel universe

I'm not saying you are wrong to prefer SSM to S:TAS. I actually prefer Weisman's iteration as well. That's not intended as a knock to the creative team, but they were seriously hamstrung by budget issues and network oversight. Also, I'd say animation, in general, has taken a leap forward since the 1990s. (Compare the quality of movement in SSM, Justice League or Avatar to even Batman: TAS, Animaniacs or Tiny Toons.) The standard is simply higher now and we are the luckier for it.

However, you are a savvy fan. I probably didn't write a single piece of information in this post of which you were unaware. Yet, you still trot out a laundry list of complaints and preface them as "deviations from comics..."

Your opinion is still valid, the same with Startounz. But I think several of your complaints ignored the context in which Spider-Man: TAS was created.

In conclusion to my overlong post, I would suggest the mathematical equation Weisman>Semper deserves a caveat.

May I propose SSM>S: TAS. I think rating the creators is a slippery slope, because the latter show was hurt by things beyond Semper's control.

You may now return to your regularly scheduled program.

 

[W.C.Reaf]

I'm not saying you are wrong to prefer SSM to S:TAS. I actually prefer Weisman's iteration as well. That's not intended as a knock to the creative team, but they were seriously hamstrung by budget issues and network oversight. Also, I'd say animation, in general, has taken a leap forward since the 1990s. (Compare the quality of movement in SSM, Justice League or Avatar to even Batman: TAS, Animaniacs or Tiny Toons.) The standard is simply higher now and we are the luckier for it.

While it is true that animation is better now, however SM:TAS could've had better animation back then. If they'd chosen more streamlined designs (like Batman TAS) the show would've had been easier to animate and therefore they'd have used less stock footage to cover-up the really bad animation they got back.

 

[GregX]

5. You dislike how Doc Ock and Norman Osborne are portrayed as subservient to the Kingpin. Yet, Tombstone is definitely filling the role of Kingpin in SSM. One could argue that Tombstone is manipulating the other villains in a similar manner as Kingpin in S:TAS.

Norman Osborn did the Big Man thing for two episodes, really. Already he's working his way out... and he's definitely not afraid of the guy, hence his recent Green Goblin activity.

And Doc Ock most certainly does not work for the Big Man. Coordinated an escape from prison for everyone and the Enforcers with the Big Man, but that is where it ends.

The rest can come and go as Big Man or Kingpin employees. But Norman and Doc Ock... no... just, no.

 

[GWOtaku]

I have no problem whatsoever with deviating from comic books, so I don't think either series should be judged on those grounds. Comic cartoons should be interpretations of the source material that are allowed a reasonable but broad amount of creative freedom, as Spider Man TAS seems to prove according to none other than John Semper. It would've been better off that way, to be sure.

It certainly helps to pay the comics respect and use them as a guide, but what's the point in being a slave to how something or someone was written in comics? People that want super faithful comic stories have the comics to go to!

 

[Anwar]

While it is true that animation is better now, however SM:TAS could've had better animation back then. If they'd chosen more streamlined designs (like Batman TAS) the show would've had been easier to animate and therefore they'd have used less stock footage to cover-up the really bad animation they got back.

Marvel didn't learn that lesson until X-Men EVO, and that was mainly because guys from the DCAU worked on that.

 

[Nightwing]

John Semper posted in this thread. I seriously need to gush over that and thank him but I think it should be mentioned that we keep this thread on topic.

In short, great idea, bad execution. Some things might have unmentioned explanations that simply weren't written so they therefore can't be proven or disproven (like Anna not knowing who Frank Castle is) but her dislike pretty much stayed on auto-pilot no matter what the situation. It happened to Dana in Batman Beyond. When in need of story tension, make her NOT okay with how often Bruce Wayne calls Terry away from his social life.

Directly insulting Peter AFTER he and MJ are married, WHILE peter was IN THE SAME ROOM in The Six Forgotten Warriors (really awesome story that introduced me to the essence of Captain America, written by John Semper incidentally) is just bizzare, so that's another example of bad execution.

She got SO bad that she actually didn't effect me at all as a viewer. I would always just ignore whatever she said, because I knew it held no weight of any kind.

To portray Anna right using this new interpretation would have required more characterization. Small examples would include her being nice about Peter being framed. Large examples could include her eventually coming around because of some particular event that happened.

So based on what I said above about ignoring her, I eventually accepted her as that stereotypical barron with the tall black hat and thin black mustache.

Now is the gushing part, because this is like a decade and a half in the making. As a "youngling," (using that term ironically because it's really stupid) SpidermanTAS was my introduction to Spider-man and comics in general. I have my criticisms (based on fact and analysis) of the show but I've always been super geeked-out fanboy thankfull that John Semper helped to make it the show that we ended up with. It's so crazy and cool to see John Semper posting on this board!

I'm sorry to hear about Majel Roddenberry. She was certainly talented as dear Aunt Anna. Unfortunately that's my only exposure to her. I wish I could have helped with quick episode cast list access but I don't have much and, as stated above, this bad boy still isn't on DVD yet. I have a few tapes in large Disney-like thick plastic cases (you know the type) I bought from some old site that officially released them, and a few DVRed episodes from last week's marathon which I won't be able to add due to copyright software preventing the transfer, but we need a gosh darn box set. Ah well. I think the latest news update is no one is sure who owns the rights.

 

[GCFyouthcamper]

Anna Watson's dislike of Peter was annoying and I'm sure we all hated her, BUT...all that made it so sweet when

- Peter snapped at Anna (I forget the episode), "How dare you accuse me of hurting the one woman I love and protect!" She was so stunned.
- Anna asked Peter to protect MJ and hugged him. (also forgot the ep)
- The Anna Watson from the other dimension liked Peter.
- The Chameleon was disguised as Anna Watson, and Peter thought,"Anna Watson set off my spider sense? She must be REALLY angry!"

 

[AlgeaX]

She got SO bad that she actually didn't effect me at all as a viewer. I would always just ignore whatever she said, because I knew it held no weight of any kind.

Remember in Sting of The Scorpion when we discover that Jonah's wife had been murdered by a masked assassin, thereby explaining his mistrust of costumed vigilantes? That's what should have been done with Anna, give us some motivation for her loathing of Peter, like maybe she'd had some bad experiences with men in her younger days or something.

Another thing about Jolly Jonah's portrayal in S:TAS; even though he was an arrogant spider hating loudmouth, the writers were always careful to show that J.J. had his nobler side. He fired Brock for trying to frame Spidey, he stood up for both Robbie and Peter when they were accused of crimes they didn't commit and he loved his son with all his heart.

That's what makes Anna's portrayal in S:TAS so sad, they'd already proven they could write this kind of character with Jameson and write it well, yet instead opted for a monotonous harpy.

 

[ShadowStar]

- The Hobgoblin before the Green Goblin.

I don't really see the problem with this (though I do prefer Green Goblin); what matters is that both characters showed up within the space of the first three seasons, and they did justice to the Green Goblin. It was an interesting spin on the way it happened in the comics - the role reversal was interesting and I don't want to see everything from the comics adapted without some kind of interesting change somewhere down the line to ensure that it's being creative and not copying the comic all the time.

- 90% of the series being stock footage.
- No Gwen Stacy.
- No Betty Brant.
- Lame dimensional portals!
- No Sandman!
- No proper resolution at the end, at all!

Yeah, those things disappointed me, though I wasn't too upset that those characters didn't appear.

- Tombstone's Joker rip-off origin.
- Super Soldier Black Cat.
- Madame Web with crazy Beyonder powers.
- Bad forced angst!
- Overabundance of guest stars!

I wasn't bothered much by these. Originality is hard to come by these days, so Tombstone's familiar origin tale didn't get on my nerves. I liked what they did with Black Cat and Madame Web, though. Super soldier Black Cat was more interesting to me than the cat burglar with bad luck (or was it good luck?) powers. I was fine with the angst because it needed to be done to an extent (maybe they went OTT with it towards the end, though). And perhaps there were too many crossover episodes, but I for one really enjoy crossovers.

- Giant "Uber Cool" Goblin Glider that just so happened to be a $30 toy on the shelves.
- Kingpin being a Shredder clone with his own Technodrome disguised as the Chrysler Building instead of an actual mob boss.

I don't really understand your Goblin Glider complaint (you must be referencing something that happened in the series that I've forgotten about), but the Kingpin's characterisation was fine with me since I knew that beyond his dealings with Spiderman, he'd be getting involved in organised crime behind the scenes.

- Norman Osborn being the Kingpin's whiny puppet.
- Doc Ock being Kingpin's butt monkey.

Come now, a few episodes of them associating themselves with him couldn't have annoyed you that much.

- Hydro Mary Jane!
- Stupid lame portrayal of vampirism!

I hated the former and didn't care for the latter at all.

- Mary Jane being a bimbo without any personality.

I don't remember her personality being that unbearable.

- Electro being the Red Skull's son.

Made for an interesting change. Though it did strike me as odd, and so far I prefer The Spectacular Spiderman's Electro.

- Crappy CGI backgrounds.
- Anna Watson being a mean old harpy.
- Dormmamu and Morbius being way too prominent.
- That lame, lame, LAME series finale.

I won't defend those aspects of the show, but nor will I shoot them down. I just feel very indifferent towards those points.

 

[creativerealms]

While I agree with most of Greg's points not all of them. I liked Hob Goblin and it did not bother me that he came first. The Hob Goblin two parter is probably two of my favorite episodes in the series (Dispite how dispised they are)

And you really can't blame the show for no Sandman.

My bigest problem with the show was that the audence was constantly reminded of the shows limitations. The whole Morbius story for instance showed into our faces that they wanted to do a standard Vampire story but could not and their loopholes were just lame and made it painfull.

Really I know there are a lot of things cartoons cannot get away with, but a good cartoon handles things well, makes you ignore the limits. Sadly what Spider-man could not get away with was shoved in our faces too often.

And that final season, That fifth season was a total mess and I just act like it never happened. The Wedding was the final episode, Mary Jane was not a clone of MJ and Hydroman and season five was just a dream. One that end with Peter waking up and and Mary Jane telling him none of season five happened.

 

[Rick Jones]

While I agree with most of Greg's points not all of them. I liked Hob Goblin and it did not bother me that he came first. The Hob Goblin two parter is probably two of my favorite episodes in the series (Dispite how dispised they are)

Same here. Can't really explain it, I'm a product of the 80's and I always liked Hobgoblin. I liked him a lot on this show while, outside of his debut episode, I didn't like this show's Green Goblin. I think I'll always be a fan of the first season of this show.

 

[Nightwing]

Remember in Sting of The Scorpion when we discover that Jonah's wife had been murdered by a masked assassin, thereby explaining his mistrust of costumed vigilantes? That's what should have been done with Anna, give us some motivation for her loathing of Peter, like maybe she'd had some bad experiences with men in her younger days or something.

But they did not, so eventually, as I said, I just tuned her out. Actions/behavior with no back story to back it up leads to those actions/behaviors holding no weight.

Thinking about "Sting of The Scorpion" is the first thing I think of whenever I think of Ed Asner's JJJ. It's just too unforgettable. There's no question that's what she needed. She sure didn't get it though. But boy did that episode nail JJJ's human side for all to see.

My other point was that I think SpidermanTAS' Anna entered the point of no return when she got me ignoring what she said, because some of that stuff was just so anti-human: meanign out of character for ANY human, fictional or nonfictional.

An actual factual human being that would say those things in those situations has such a rude disposition and lack of regard for others he/she should be smacked in the face each time it happened, to provide the proper behavioral conditioning.

 

[coldglynx]

- The Anna Watson from the other dimension liked Peter.

She only liked him in that alternate universe because he was rich. She felt the same about Harry when he was with MJ. She was a goldigger, again why would anybody associated with Peter want to be around her?

 

[Fone Bone]

But seriously, say what you feel. Don't hold back.
Hey, wait a minute! You're talking about ME!!!

So what am I doing reading this stuff? Well first of all, I have to thank all of you sock-monkeys for this thread. I was recently contacted by my good friend Rod Roddenberry (aka Gene Roddenberry Jr.). As you probably know, his mother, Majel Roddenberry, who was also my good friend, passed away last week. He's putting together a video tribute to his mother for her memorial in January, and he asked me if I could give him some footage of her as Anna Watson in “Spider-Man.” After promising him that I could deliver some video clips to him within 24 hours, I suddenly realized that I didn't really remember anymore which episodes she appeared in. Contrary to my apparent reputation as a self-absorbed "jerk", I rarely look at my old work, and I especially (for reasons which I shall explain later) never look at episodes of “Spider-Man.”

So, I thought, "Hey, I'll bet those fantastic episode listings at Toon Zone might indicate which episodes she appeared in." But alas, as well researched as those archives are, when it comes to cast listings, they aren’t as detailed or specific as I needed. What was I to do?

Browsing the forum in my panic, I suddenly stumbled across a topic intriguingly entitled “Anna Watson's disapproval of Peter: Bad idea or bad execution?” (Personally, since I came up with the idea, I vote for “Bad execution.” But I digress.) I opened up the thread and… Voila! You studious animation scholars are discussing several of the very episodes in which Majel appeared! You even mentioned some titles! Even better, I realize that I have the whole Daredevil cycle on a commercially released DVD which spares me from having to wade through my dusty VHS episodes of the series. My problem was solved in under fifteen minutes. Sweet!

So, thanks! You guys saved me a lot of time and effort.

As for the topic at hand, since I’m here I might as well briefly address a few things.

Re: me being a jerk

I believe that Webster’s Dictionary defines “jerk” as “somebody who hides behind the anonymity of the internet to call other people names”. That definition does not apply to me at all.

Re: me being full of myself

Unless you know me personally, how can you judge that with any credibility? And unless you’re my girlfriend, why should I care? (Cynthia, are you hiding behind the name “Wonderwall?”)

Re: me being overrated

Highly possible. But by whom exactly? Certainly not by you guys.

Re: me claiming responsibility for stuff I didn’t do

Well, see now, if you just throw that kind of statement out there anonymously, with no proof or indication of exactly what you’re talking about, then it simply reveals itself as the malicious rumor that it is. If you want that kind of thing to have ANY credibility then, in the wise words of the immortal Ricky Ricardo, “Lucy, you’ve got some ‘splainin’ to do….” (Please refer to my above definition of “jerk”).

Re: Anna Watson’s interpretation in the series

Anna was pretty much a bland character in the comic books. Stan just created her as a friend to Aunt May. She was basically an old lady “prop.” As she was in the comics, I really had no use for her. With only 22 minutes of story to tell, we don't have time to waste on nonentities. Bringing Anna to life would only make sense in a TV series if I could use her in some interesting way. So I chose to use her to add more grief to poor Peter’s life. It heightens that little thing we like to call “drama” and gives him some different pressure to add to the mix. I don’t know about you, but, in my youth, I’d dated women whose mothers (or fathers) didn’t approve of me. It certainly made my life more complicated. Anna was pretty much patterned after them. She’s only as “over the top” as the real thing, at least as I experienced it.

Re: me being "lucky"

When you inherit a TV series that’s about to collapse, in which your predecessor has just been fired (and which caused him to have a nervous breakdown), you’re not lucky. When, during your first two weeks on the job, the Network (Fox) makes it clear to you that they want out of their contract and they don’t want to move forward with the series because they hate your executive producer and don’t want to be in business with him anymore, then you’re not lucky. When your old pal, Stan Lee, your HERO, pleads with you to come on board amidst all of this mess and save the series, and you reluctantly choose to walk away from a calm, well organized, well-paying, PBS, live-action gig which is WGA and will pay residuals, for a turbulent cartoon show which will not, then you are not lucky. When you find yourself caught in an all-out war between angry network executives who don’t care about toys at all, and an extremely contentious executive producer/toymaker who’s prepared to fire you at the drop of a hat if you jeopardize his toy sales, then you’re not lucky. When you have only a few weeks to pull together a pilot and a major EARTHQUAKE occurs right in the middle of that time (a little natural disaster called the Northridge Quake), then you’re not lucky. When you have to produce the series with an extremely covertly hostile animation producer who thinks that the show should be “Archie and Veronica meets Spider-Man” and will stop at nothing to get you fired, then you are not lucky. When that same animation producer creates stupid images like the one above (Punisher and Aunt May) which isn’t remotely like anything you envisioned in the script, then you are not lucky. And when you are eternally held responsible by rabid fans like you for all of those idiotic choices made by others (as opposed to the idiotic choices made by yourself) then you are not lucky.

In life, children, you make your own luck. When I was tapped to do this series, I had many years of animation writing under my belt. I was a highly sought-after and highly-paid TV show runner who had worked with Bill Hanna, Joe Barbera, Friz Freleng, Jim Henson, Stan Lee and many others. I had just had a major live-action motion picture released by Warner Bros. which I had written. I was not some idiot who happened to be at the right place at the right time. Sorry!


Nor was I “lucky’ when I was nominated for an Annie award for “Day of the Chamelelon” or nominated for an Emmy for my work on “Static Shock” -- where I came in on what was supposed to be the third and final season and helped Alan Burnett get ratings so high that we got renewed for a fourth.

In conclusion: While I look back on making the Spidey series with fondness, I rarely watch the series itself. With the exception of “Day of the Chameleon”, my favorite episode, in which I mostly got to do what I wanted, the rest of it is riddled with so many creative compromises and near-misses, mistakes, bad animation, choppy editing, and waaaaaayyyyy too many flashbacks (most of which were not called for in the scripts) that it’s somewhat difficult for me to watch. I keep wanting to fix things.

I have not seen any of the Spider-Man movies, nor have I watched the new series, which I hear is pretty good. I’ve happily left Spider-Man behind, and, I prefer to look forward.

But I’m delighted that you guys still watch and discuss and argue. I figure that my writers (all of whom were and are fantastic) and I must have done something right or you all wouldn’t still care.

Again, thanks for the help on Majel’s memorial. You guys rock…even the ones who hate me. Love me or hate me…just keep talking about me. We "self-obsessed jerks" thrive on that sort of thing.

Nuff Said!

-Semp

You used the "internet anonymity" canard against me when I said you wrote bad dialogue for Static Shock despite the fact that my real name is in my user profile and I have never hidden my life story or where I came from. So it is no surprise to me that you did the same thing to Greg X who uses his real name in his profile and is similarly up front about himself.

As for internet anonymity being a bad thing: it isn't. A lot of political bloggers have uncovered a mess of under-reported stories that they would have been unable to bring to other people's attention without pseodonyms for fear of being fired or harrassed. Yes, a lot of fanboys have used this anonymity to rag on TV shows and creators they don't dig. But acting as if the internet's ability to shield someone's true identity is so terrible is stupid, because in fact it is one of the medium's best assets.

 

[Antiyonder]

again why would anybody associated with Peter want to be around her?

MJ: Anna was probably the only suitable parential figure for Mary Jane, hence why she would put up with her Anti-Peter speeches.

May: Anna would refrain from making her most hateful remarks around her, thus she had no reason to feeling any anger towards Anna.

 

[browned79]

i suspect...

This Ann Watson cartoon character seemed to be taken largely from the older Spider-Man comics when Peter had an on and off again relationship with Mary Jane as one of the many ladies in his life. That is probably half the problem right their.

At least when I read them, back in the day, Ann was always very distrustful of Peter Parker. Perhaps a take off on how parents are "suppose" to dislike their offsprings date/meeting the in-laws.

Mary Jane was more then a simple airhead in the comics and the cartoon. At least in one episode she showed off her self-defense classes.

 

[coldglynx]

Mary Jane was more then a simple airhead in the comics and the cartoon. At least in one episode she showed off her self-defense classes.

No she wasn't in the comics she was fun and cool. Kind of like that nice girl in high school thats cool with everyone, even the outcast. If any tv show adapted the comic Maryjane perfectly its the "Spectacular Spider-man".