So we have what looks a Native American (but I don’t think is) beating up Chinese while a giant monster is in the distance. 1939, people.
Silver Streak Comics #1
Your Guide Publications (December, 1939)
Here we are with a new publisher diving into the world of comics books. It will survive 23 issues on the newsstand, or at least that’s what Comic Book Plus has, with a few rescans of earlier issues to mess with their numbers. Will this be any good? It starts off with the history of the Tom-Tom drum (not to be confused with the Tom Tom Club) before we get into our stories. So let’s get into our stories. I’m hoping this isn’t just a collection of newspaper strips.
Three videos, because the first and third ones are under seven minutes and the middle video just under five. From We Travel By Night we have a look at the various props Doctor Who used for the Police Box guise of the Doctor’s TARDIS. Yes, we’re getting extra geeky today. The first video covers the original TV series.
The second video covers the out of continuity Peter Cushing movies that were based on what little was agreed upon in the writing room (and some that weren’t like the Doctor’s origin) and the TV movie that sadly didn’t give us Paul McGann’s Eighth Doctor with a full run outside of Big Finish, but thankfully is still canon.
The final video covers the revival series up to the video’s posting date (May 14,2022, but that’s not counting final rendering of the video). So it only goes as far as the Chris Chibnall shows with Jodie Whittaker as the 13th Doctor.
If you’re curious, I did post their previous videos on the history of the Police Box and TARDIS versus the actual Police Box in the past. The channel also has videos going over the consoles in separate short videos, which I might use in the future.
The 1990s Spider-Man from Fox Kids and Saban Entertainment, often referred to as Spider-Man: The Animated Series despite two of the previous three shows with Spider-Man alone in the title ALSO being animated, is my favorite adaptation of Peter Parker and company. It’s too bad “neogenics” didn’t become retconned into the comic origin, though the effect the symbiote had on Peter was, most reinterpretations of the characters were spot-on (why is every so afraid to do Electro properly and what was with Doctor Octopus’ outfit?), and the only thing keeping Christopher Daniel Barnes from being my favorite Peter is Spider-Man Unlimited breaking out Rino Romano. Remember, this isn’t the show I grew up on. I’m an 80s kid. I had reruns of the first cartoon (we never got the 80s cartoon in my area) and Spider-Man & His Amazing Friends on NBC, plus USA Network would do a marathon of the US live-action series (the one without the robot) every Thanksgiving. I miss “Spidermania”.
The show unfortunately ended on a cliffhanger thanks to Sony being a pain in the butt when they got the media license that I assumed was just the movies, but I hear this is what got Spider-Man replaced with Spider-Man Unlimited, which was the better animated show with the best Peter but went in some odd directions to avoid Sony’s issues, a stunt Sony pulled again with getting Peter into the proper MCU. In the show, Peter marries Mary Jane Watson, but it turns out to be a clone created in the manner of Hydro-Man as part of his obsession with MJ. This also would have set up the cartoon’s own version of the Clone Saga (bullet dodged, I guess), but before then the real MJ had fallen through a portal into another dimension. Peter’s quest to find her was interrupted by Madame Web insisting he work with Spider-Men of other realities, with her promise to help find MJ once the multiverse was saved. As Peter leaves on his quest, the show ended.
Fans have always wanted to know how Peter rescues Mary Jane, though I guess today would be the question of if he did. My head cannon has him crossing over to the DCAU for an animated version of a Superman/Spider-Man crossover because I really want an animated Superman/Spider-Man crossover with Tim Daly and Christopher Barnes resuming their roles. I don’t care if they’re alternate comic companies by alternate animation studios both owned by alternate media super conglomerates, if the comics can do crossovers again, I can dream! Well, I’m not getting that, but Spider-Man ’94, a four issue miniseries inspired by the X-Men’s animated return and the cameo with the show’s cast in the finale, does promise to answer whatever happened to Mary Jane Watson.
Except the show’s head writer, John Semper Jr., is not returning.
I certainly have nothing against J.M. DeMatteis. Dude wrote my favorite of the Spider-Man and Batman crossovers and some really good Spider-Man stories. Semper even says DeMatteis did some work for him but I couldn’t find evidence of him writing an episode (or rather Google AI didn’t and looking at the Marvel Database didn’t turn any up). He didn’t even work on the tie-in comic to the show. I see this going…iffy.
So yesterday’s topic was indirectly inspired by a recent posting from That Park Place contributor Marvin Montanaro. Today’s article is directly inspired. As a reminder, Kathleen Kennedy gave a speech at BFI Film On Film showing of the original version of Star Wars, without all the special edition additions. That’s funny when you remember the unnecessary additions of the Special Editions, ignoring the amazing effects that were groundbreaking for 1979. The only scene I was happy to see back is Han meeting Jabba, though they already worked around those limitations with the Greedo scene. Speaking of which, it’s also the origin of “Han shot first”. I don’t recall if they put back the Luke and Biggs scene that’s in my old storybook but wasn’t in the movie, but there are photos in the storybook to prove it was filmed. The Special Editions were something fans had been upset about, wanting the original versions back in spite of George Lucas wanting what he considered the definitive version to be the only one ever released on TV, streaming, home video, and re-releases from then on. This is also the only thing fans would be happy about if it were a public release.
It’s no secret that since moving to Disney a lot of questionable decisions have ruined Star Wars for people who grew up on the story. Don’t blame it on the new cast. While the novels had a better transition to Han and Leia’s kids and a brighter future for Luke, other stories took place in other parts of the Star Wars Galaxy and others took place in the past, both featuring none of the cast, not even Wedge Antilles, who was just a recurring name in the trilogy but managed to get extended stories of his own because he survived longer than poor Porkins. The classic fanbase has declared Disney as non-canon as Disney declared the extended universe, now reprinted as “Legends”. So other people have a different personal canon.
Mine is actually rather short. Having only read a handful of novels and comics, watched most of the cartoons, and heard none of the audio dramas, my list of canon is by nature shorter. Even with video games, one I know via watching someone else play it and the only ones I’ve played myself are the old arcade vector graphics name that was ahead of its time and the Atari 800 Death Star Battle game based on the third movie. So if your favorite is on the list, don’t yell at me. I may not have seen it. What follows in the wake of Disney’s disasters are the media I consider Star Wars at this time because to me it feels like Star Wars.
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Posted by ShadowWing Tronix on June 19, 2025 in Animation Spotlight, Movie Spotlight and tagged commentary, Lilo And Stitch, Lilo And Stitch (2025 live-action demake).
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