Natural Selection (The Spectacular Spider-Man)

This article is about the The Spectacular Spider-Man episode. For other uses, see natural selection (disambiguation).

"Natural Selection"
The Spectacular Spider-Man episode
Lizard and Spider-Man fight. Lizard's new design and personality, as well as the fast paced fight sequences, were heavily praised by critics.[1][2][unreliable source?][3]
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 3
Directed by	David Bullock
Written by	Matt Wayne
Production code	S1E03[4]
Original air date	March 15, 2008 (2008-03-15)
Season 1 episodes
March 8, 2008 – June 14, 2008 Survival of the Fittest Interactions Natural Selection Market Forces Competition The Invisible Hand Catalysts Reaction The Uncertainty Principle Persona Group Therapy Intervention Nature vs. Nurture
List of The Spectacular Spider-Man episodes

"Natural Selection" is the third episode of the animated television series The Spectacular Spider-Man, which is based on the comic book character Spider-Man, created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. In the episode, Spider-Man must face "The Lizard," who was a lab professor he was interning for until he was mutated by a serum designed to regrow his missing arm.

"Natural Selection" was written by Matt Wayne, known for his work on Justice League Unlimited, and was the first time he had done so for The Spectacular Spider-Man. David Bullock directed it. "Natural Selection" originally aired on March 15, 2008, on the Kids WB! block for The CW network, and met overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics, who praise it for its action sequences, narrative direction, and the new design for Lizard.

Plot summary

During his patrol, Spider-Man stops a group of thieves who are breaking into a bakery. Simultaneously, Spider-Man takes pictures to give to the Daily Bugle. He happily leaves and makes it back home in times for his curfew, but discovers after developing his photos that he has messed them up. Meanwhile Dr. Curt Connors injects himself with lizard serum to aid the regrowth of his arm. When he awakes, his arm has regrown, but knowing that he experimented on himself, his wife, Martha, is furious.

Spider-Man fights the Lizard at Bronx Zoo.

At school, Peter is attacked with water balloons by Flash Thompson and the popular crowd, which he dodges until he realizes it might reveal his secret identity as Spider-Man. Gwen steps in and gets everyone to laugh at Flash instead. Gwen and Peter go to the Connors lab and help Eddie clean up from a previous battle with Electro. Martha announces that Curt's arm had grown back and they celebrate until they realize scales are growing on his arm, determining that the reptilian half of his brain his taking over. Peter tries to comfort the Connors's son, Billy, but gets interrupted when Curt transforms into a hulking, humanoid lizard and runs off.

While Eddie goes in pursuit, Peter manages to slip out and goes after Connors as Spider-Man. While trying to communicate with him, they end up on a subway train fighting both inside, outside, and underneath it. Finally, Spider-Man falls off the train and Connors escapes. Spider-Man returns to the lab and is given a gene cleanser from Martha which must be administered to Connors orally. He then goes off to Bronx Zoo, where Connors is reportedly at.

Spider-Man enters the lizard room where Connors has taken refuge. Connors knocks him out and Eddie arrives to help him out. When he regains consciousness, Spider-Man comes up with a plan to trick him into the Polar Bear pond. They almost succeed when Connors is alerted by Spider-Man's cellphone ringing. Billy then arrives and tries to talk some sense into his father, but it is useless and Spider-Man leaps in to get Connors into the pond. Spider-Man pours the cleanser into the mouth of Connors who, as a result, returns to normal, his arm lost once more.

The next day, Peter gets the Lizard photos published in the Bugle and gets the money he needs. However, when Gwen, Eddie, and the Connors find out, they are outraged that he ran off simply to take pictures and say he has lost their trust. Peter is fired but secretly grabs another vial of gene cleanser; when he returns home, he contemplates taking it to get rid of his powers, but decides against it and hides it in his room.

Production

"Natural Selection" was the first episode to be written by Matt Wayne.^{[2][5][unreliable source?][6]} Wayne had previously worked on the DC Animated Universe in the final season of Justice League Unlimited.^{[2][unreliable source?]} Wayne wrote two other episodes in the first season: "The Invisible Hand" and "Persona."^[5] David Bullock was the episode's director.^{[2][unreliable source?][6]} Dee Bradley Baker, a voice actor for animated series and video games, continued his role as Dr. Connors/The Lizard.^[6]

The episode originally broadcast on March 15, 2008, on the Kids WB! programming block for The CW Network.^[3] When Disney XD premiered The Spectacular Spider-Man on March 23, 2009, it aired "Natural Selection" after the previous two episodes, "Survival of the Fittest" and "Interactions." It carried a TV-Y7-FV rating.^[7][8]

Cultural references

Greg Weisman, one of The Spectacular Spider-Man's producers^[9] came up with a continuing title scheme that follows "The Education of Peter Parker." The first three episode titles ("Survival of the Fittest", "Interactions", and "Natural Selection") follow a biology theme.^[10] Peter's ringtone is "The Itsy Bitsy Spider." The episode incorporates several bullet time moments that are referent to the same style employed in The Matrix films.^[3]

Reception

"Doing a great job of blending Peter's "regular" life with his Spider-Man, action-oriented experiences, this episode really shows how well this series is beginning to come together and offer a very entertaining take on the Spider-Man mythology."

Eric Goldman,
IGN reviewer^[1]

Reviews for "Natural Selection" were overwhelmingly positive. Eric Goldman of IGN gave it an 8.8 out of 10 ("Great"). Goldman praised the Lizard's design, calling it "the most visually familiar villain the show had introduced yet" and called the fight sequences "great," especially that of the climactic fight between Spider-Man and Lizard. Goldman called Peter's loss of the Connors's and Eddie's trust "a very well done, classic Peter Parker-can't-win scenario" and that the episode did a "great job" blending the normal and Spider-Man parts of Peter's life.^[1]

Micheal Tanaka of Firefox News wrote that the storytelling style was the "level of sophistication that culminated in the two year gone Justice League Unlimited". Similar to Goldman, Tanaka praised the action which he called "fast paced". Tanaka reviewed positively the other elements of the episode as well, such as the foreshadowing with Eddie and the approach done by the writers for the Lizard, and said it was "the greatest [episode] so far, with some nice payoffs to the past two and some great story progression and set up".^{[2][unreliable source?]}

Season Elliot, senior editor of iF Magazine, gave the episode an A-, writing "The Lizard himself was a nice update of the original Lizard and he was still in his torn pants, shirt, and lab coat." Elliot praised the design for differentiating itself from that used for Spider-Man or Spider-Man: The New Animated Series, and that he "can't wait for the action figure of this guy!" Like Goldman and Tanaka, Elliot enjoyed the action style and fight sequences and the callbacks to Lizard's original comic book appearance.^[3]

See also

• List of The Spectacular Spider-Man episodes

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Goldman, Eric (2008-04-16). "Spectacular Spider-Man: "Natural Selection" Review". IGN. http://tv.ign.com/articles/866/866991p1.html. Retrieved 2009-08-21. 
2. ^ ^{a b c d e} Tanaka, Micheal (2008-03-16). "Review: Spectacular Spider-Man, "Natural Selection"". Firefox News. http://firefox.org/news/articles/1304/1/Review-Spectacular-Spider-Man-quotNatural-Selectionquot/Page1.html. Retrieved 2009-08-21. 
3. ^ ^{a b c d} Elliot, Sean (2008-03-17). "The Spectacular Spider-Man: Season One - 'Natural Selection'". iF Magazine. http://www.ifmagazine.com/review.asp?article=2388. Retrieved 2009-08-21. ^{[dead link]}
4. ^ "Natural Selection". Marvel.com. http://marvel.com/movies/Spider-Man.The_Spectacular_Spider-Man/episodes/174.Natural_Selection. Retrieved 2009-08-21. 
5. ^ ^{a b} "Spectacular Spider-Man’s Matt Wayne Talks Black Cat and Black Costume". Major Spoilers. 2008-05-15. http://www.majorspoilers.com/archives/4024.htm/. Retrieved 2009-08-21. 
6. ^ ^{a b c} Salon, Sam (2008-03-13). "“The Spectacular Spider Man” Premiere Swings to Strong Nielsen Ratings". Slice of SciFi. http://www.sliceofscifi.com/2008/03/13/the-spectacular-spider-man-premiere-swings-to-strong-nielsen-ratings/. Retrieved 2009-08-17. 
7. ^ Goldman, Eric (2009-01-26). "Spider-Man's Spectacular TV Return". IGN. http://tv.ign.com/articles/957/957592p1.html. Retrieved 2009-08-21. 
8. ^ Lemus, Adriana (2009-02-26). ""The Spectacular Spider-Man" to premiere on Disney XD Monday, March 23". Disney XD Medianet. http://disneyxdmedianet.com/assets/pr%5Chtml/SSM_022609.html. Retrieved 2009-08-21. 
9. ^ Elliot, Sean (2008-04-04). "Symbiotically Bonding With 'Spectacular Spider-Man' Producer Victor Cook - Part 1". iF Magazine. http://www.ifmagazine.com/feature.asp?article=2707. 
10. ^ Weisman, Greg (2008-08-11). "Ask Greg". Gargoyles: A Station Eight Fan Web Site. http://www.s8.org/gargoyles/askgreg/search.php?qid=10768. Retrieved 2009-08-21. 

External links

• Natural Selection at the Internet Movie Database
• "Natural Selection" at TV.com
• "Natural Selection" on Marvel.com