Episode Review - Worlds Apart, Part Two
Review and Media by Stu

Episode #1 - Worlds Apart, Part Two
Original Airdate - October 9th, 1999
Spider-Man escapes from the Knights with the help of the Human Revolutionaries, freedom fighters led by John Jameson. He learns that Counter-Earth is ruled by Beastials, human-animal hybrids created by the High Evolutionary, who use Machine Men to enforce their laws. When Carnage and Venom, pursuing their own mysterious agenda, attack the revolutionaries' HQ, Spidey helps drive them off. Jameson invites Spidey to join his cause, but Spidey only wants to convince him to return to Earth.

Credits
Story By: Will Meugniot, Michael Reaves
Written By: Michael Reaves
Directed By: Patrick Archibald
Guest Starring: Rino Romano as Spider-Man/Peter Parker, Michael Donovan as Carnage, Tasha Simms as Lady Ursula, Jennifer Hale as Lady Vermin/Mary Jane Watson, Ron Halder as Sir Ram, Richard Newman as The High Evolutionary, Brian Drummond as Venom/Eddie Brock, Kim Hawthorne as Karen O'Malley, Christopher Gaze as Bromley) David Sobolov as Lord Tyge, Rhys Huber as Shane Yamada-Jones, Akiko Morison as Naoko , John Payne as John Jameson and Mark Gibbon as Nick Fury.

Review:
The conclusion to the opening two-parter establishes the series' premise, but it's ultimately not a strong one. It wouldn't have taken much, but I constantly found myself rolling my eyes at this episode and was genuinely tempted to switch it off on at least three occasions. It's just ... tedious, there's no other way to describe it, and it doesn't help that the show doesn't feel like a Spidey cartoon at all. The concept of Spider-Man and a bunch of humans fighting talking animals is baffling, so much so you really do wonder how Marvel could shamelessly sell out their most popular character like this.

Spider-Man works best as a relatable hero, trying to maintain some resemblance of a normal life as he lives with the responsibility that comes with his powers. Whether at school, college or work, being Spider-Man is the thing that always gets in Peter's way, and none of that is found in this series. I love seeing new takes on established characters, but this is just so out there. His supporting cast isn't interesting, and he's on an alien world battling talking action figure rejects. This isn't Spider-Man, it's manufactured drivel designed to sell toys without the slightest thought gone into the character. It's hard to watch and enjoy a show when you're favourite character is utterly butchered, all for the sake of just having a Spidey toon on TV.

And yes, this episode just doesn't sell the show's premise at all. It didn't win me over, but let's see if the Counter Earth versions of Spider-Man's classic rouges gallery fair better...

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