Which one is better?

Think I judged these two shows too quickly...

The thing is, ever since I finished watching SSM I've wanted to rewatch it, even though most characters in it still severely piss me off. Outside of characterization, the writing is quite sharp for the most part (a few Weismanisms excepted), and the fight scenes are incredible.

Meanwhile SDMI has had the exact opposite effect on me - except for some episodes with songs and such, I have less and less desire to rewatch it. No thanks to that fucking finale, which while really cool as a concept utterly fucked up rewatch value for the series. But the other problem - the characters are so fucking bland for the most part, instead of love or hate I just feel indifference towards them. Not good.

(And by the way, if you think that and the GF finale are remotely comparable in quality, let alone this being better, you either have horrid taste and/or just want to fit in with this board. This is not to say the latter is flawless, at all.)

Mystery inc because the finale

Fuck off autist.

Again though, the finale badly ruins rewatch value

How?

Because it renders the entire show pointless? Not that many of the mysteries had much continuity attached to begin with, mind you, but that's just yet another downside...

What was wrong with the characterization in SSM?

Just about every character was a huge asshole. Peter himself was the only significant exception for much of the series. Also on top of that a lot of stereotyping, and association 2D characterization.

Don't fucking respond to WITCHfag.
Report his shitty threads.

Agreed. That show was a waste of a watch.

Were you that user who promised to watch it?

yes. I regret it. I watched Star Trek Discovery and I actually prefer that to Witch

Did you watch the whole show?

>Because it renders the entire show pointless?

How? The gang created a better universe, though at the cost of the people they actually knew and had connections to.

The problem is that basically nothing they did throughout the series ended up mattering, except for in the final episode. You could literally watch that and ignore the rest of the show, theoretically.

Velma had a whole arc about learning to embrace the unknown and let go of her skepticism. Fred learned to appreciate Daphne. Shaggy and Scooby going Rambo on the robots wouldn't be as satisfying without their cowardice in previous episodes. Hell, seeing how the characters changed in the new reality, and how that affected the kids, wouldn't be as affecting without the rest of the series.

It's about the journey, not the destination.

You do have a point. It's too bad though that the characterization in that show was so haphazard that those aspects you mentioned were just barely visible... and even then only sometimes.

>How? The gang created a better universe, though at the cost of the people they actually knew and had connections to
the last scooby doo show I watched was "shaggy and scooby doo find a clue"
since when did scooby doo become fucking stone ocean?

Spectacular, no contest.

Finally someone decided to actually answer the question I was asking... and at this point, even with the limited defense of SDMI ITT I'd have to agree. (Though maybe not on the "no contest".)

Spectacular is just a really solid show.

I don't remember every character being a huge asshole.

Heck there's at least two good arcs for the steryotypical high schoolers about becoming nicer people.
The only ones who stay fairly one dimensional are Sally Avril and Kong.

They aren't assholes, they're people. They have flaws and insecurities. The show does a great job showing characters both at their best and worst moments. Flash is a great example, how one minute he's a loudmouth bully, but then is the only one really trying to get through to Peter when the Symbiote influences him. Same with Jameson, who is a blowhard, but saves Peter from the Rhino and tries to save kids during a three way villain brawl. Every character has those moments, even the minor ones. The only way you can call those characters "assholes" are when you expect every character to either be perfect or have only one character trait.

The show nailed the theme of Ditko/Lee/Romita Amazing Spider-Man, which was that you don't need to be perfect to do good things.

Even Kong helps save Gwen.

Not that guy but honestly, I have to disagree. While you're right that characters get development and positive moments (especially visible with Liz, and to a lesser extent Flash and JJJ and even Sally once or twice), when I started rewatching the show recently it was really jarring how much everyone was incredibly mean to Peter. It was honestly difficult to get through the first three or so episodes.

I don't know, I was a very nerdy kid in high school and I never experienced anything like that. It definitely seemed like they were going for the 80s bully stereotype but as 21 Jump Street lampshaded well, high schools just aren't like that in most cases anymore.

But they're supposed to be mean. They're teenagers. They aren't going to be all pals. There are going to be ones that project so they don't feel alone, like Liz. Not to mention that's how the comics are.

Right, and people were mean to him in the 90s show too, just not that much.

I honestly think Homecoming did a much better job - Flash was a dick, but most other kids were oblivious to him or didn't care.

Having half the football and cheerleading squad actively messing with the protagonist nerd on a daily basis is an outdated trope and it definitely pulled me out of the show. M3 is a magnet school, 90% of the people there would be nerds, why would they dedicate time and energy to dealing with this one inoffensive guy in particular?

At last! After all these threads, someone who gets my main complaint on SSM.

Are you kidding? 90s Flash was an absolute dick that never had any use beyond being a bully. Most of the characters were a LOT nastier than Spectacular's, but without any arcs.

We must have watched different shows (also note I was referring just to the teen characters).

Flash was a dick, but less maliciously so, most of his shit directed towards Peter was in passing and was due to him being jealous of Peter's closeness with Felicia. This Flash also tries to bring Peter to his senses during Venom Saga and helps Spidey out a couple of times. Again, he didn't like Parker but he didn't spend time actively making his life hell. SSM Flash was undeniably more malicious towards Peter. Not to mention that Flash's heroic turn in the comics happened long after TAS started airing (but before SSM) so it makes sense that he wouldn't have as openly a heroic streak as he did later.

What about other characters? Debra Whitman was a bit bitchy at times, but she wasn't a bully, merely Peter's rival (and she was connected more to Morbius as the show progressed).

Felicia and MJ were always nice to him (except when he stood them up).

Morbius was slightly skeevy but he didn't bother Peter except for trying to fuck Felicia and he got turned into a vampire.

Eddie Brock was an incompetent butt monkey and shat upon constantly and he STILL came across as more ambivalent and ultimately heroic.

Harry was more troubled but less of a dick - SSM Harry in the finale KNEW Gwen wasn't into him and guilt tripped her into staying. TAS Harry was a fop who just ran and cried and had a mental breakdown. I'll take a pussy over a manipulative bastard any day.

Kong, Sally, etc. didn't even exist in TAS.

I watched the shows one after the other and the difference in supporting casts was striking. You can't reasonably argue that TAS Peter had more shitty normal people his age, the only one was Flash and maybe Debra if you really push it. Meanwhile in SSM seemed like most of the school didn't like him.

OP here, SSM got so bad with characterization towards the end of season 1 that I was unironically pissed off as fuck that Peter didn't choose to stay with the symbiote. I'm not joking whatsoever... fuck his supposed "friends".

Season 2 was very slightly, almost imperceptibly better in this sense - i.e. not nearly enough to really fix any of it.

And now as I was checking the SSM episode list to refresh my memory, I noticed for the first time that Weisman basically called in much of the writing *team* of season 2 of I'd thought it was just him who worked on both.
On top of that, the same crew did scripts for YJ which has many writing problems of its own.

Which leads me to think that my point about that show being essentially lightning in a bottle isn't far-fetched whatsoever... imagine if they'd worked on it right from the start.

I wish SDMI had more references to the source. Like running room to room. Having a catchy song in the chase scenes. Maybe even a remix of the 60's theme. I don't even think they eat Scooby Snacks once in season 1. They go there own direction and one thing I like is how they feel like actual teenagers. And despite not having many fan service tropes there is a meta element this iteration has. The dream episode with all the 70's characters was GOAT tier though.

Of course they were mean. They were teenagers in Flash's clique and Peter wouldn't stop hanging around people who clearly didn't respect him and treated him as a buttmonkey. It happens all the time in school.

Are we now faulting shows for realism? Peter's a loser in school, Peter's always been a loser and he's been treated better in SSM than he ever was in early Ditko comics.

that's literally Be Cool Scooby Doo.

Is BCSD better than MI? It looks a little too zany from screenshots like Daphne playing with her socks

If you can get past the art style it's honestly not bad. I can't judge it against mystery inc since I haven't watched it but be cool is a solid show

Mystery Inc. sucks dick and shits all over Scooby Doo like I’m serious it’s extremely bad

Yes, the gang's better in this. It's hard to get people into it by just looking at the screenshots.