Spider-Man: "The Alien Costume" Recut

Quality:

SD source. Looks more or less as good as my DVD. I actually watched the Carnage episodes on Disney Plus afterwards and it looked a lot worse... I'm assuming maybe they did a quick upscale or something? Really doesn't look good. Spider-man's suit is a blur of red that smothers the black web-lines.

Anyway... I digress. The quality here is good considering the source. I didn't see any of the random coloured rectangles that another reviewer mentioned.


Video editing:

Nothing stood out as off to me beyond some jittery animation and quick cuts, but I think that's just the nature of the way the series is animated and edited. I checked the cut-list and nothing indicated to me that what I saw was as a result of the cuts.


Audio editing:

Didn't notice any transitions. Nice work.


Narrative:

As mentioned above, the series has a "rushed" feel to it generally, so it's not really something that's fair to criticise. I do think that it gets a bit tiring when the episode is an hour long rather than 20 minutes, but that's the nature of the beast.

There were, however, two moments that stood out to me as particularly quick and they were moments that were cut by the editor. One was the meeting of the buyers with the Kingpin, and the other was Jameson and Spidey's meet-up prior to rescuing Jameson's son. It's been too long since I've seen the original to know whether the difference is negligible or not, I just know that it felt over-quick and that the cut-list shows changes were made there. These are pretty minor qualms though and these moments can still be argued to be in line with the way the series generally presents its narrative.

No narrative issues were observably introduced. A couple of observations below, neither of which affect the rating:

- The attempt to cut Brock's hatred for spider-man seems superfluous. It's apparent that he's out for revenge, and other moments allude to that. I don't think the line that was removed achieved what was intended.
- I kinda find it funny that select quips were cut, presumably in reducing silliness or cheese. Boy, this show is drenched in cheese, silly lines and terrible puns - this edit included, despite trims. It's kinda just the nature of the show, so trimming some and not others again seems superfuous.


Enjoyment:

This was a very enjoyable nostalgia trip. I used to watch this on the telly a lot back in the day and I would often rewatch the venom-related episodes on my DVD. I always favoured those episodes since it leans into more space, aliens and science fiction, which is very much my bag.

Subjectively, I was sad to see the opening sequence in space go, but I understand the reasoning for it being cut. I would also have liked to have seen the Carnage episodes incorporated, which I think is possible, though would require quite a bit more narrative tweaking.

All in all: Well put together with plenty of tweaks and trims that I didn't pick up on and I can only assume improved things in most cases. Having watched other episodes of the show recently, I can confirm that there are some pretty laughable and dodgy moments with the animation, and I hardly noticed that kind of thing here. Great job!

I hate when people just give all 10's and say "not much to say, great job!" but here I am. This is exactly what PE's detailed description makes it sound like. It's a perfectly executed faithful adaptation of the much-loved Spider-Man show from the '90s. Watching this, you'd never know it originally had commercials in it or was three separate episodes. Both the audio and video cuts are flawless. I only detected one instance where a line was difficult to hear due to the music (2nd Spidey/Rhino fight) but that might have been in the original audio. The story flows very well, and while a few of the cut lines on the cutlist seemed unnecessary to me, I also didn't miss them. So: probably a good call.

This thing has a frantic pace where they jam a ton of story in to a short time. That was just the style of the original cartoon, and watching this really brought me back. Despite being made for kids, this is far more enjoyable than the theatrical version of Spider-Man 3. Now if only PE can make a cut of the Green Goblin's episodes, we could throw that on back to back with this for a total SM3 replacement! (Please, please.)

Three episode Spiderman animated series tightened into a brief feature. For fans, the Venom tales were always favorites.

Video - 720 X 480 AVC. Don't pay attention to the resolution. You won't notice at all. This is an extremely sharp cut. Speaking of which, the cutting is fluid and assured. Original commercial breaks are gone and you don't notice the transitions. A quick glance at the cut-list indicates a number of removals. Again, you do not notice these. This is really fine work.

Audio - 353 kbps AAC. 2 Channel stereo. No subs (ha!). Not much to comment on here. Dialogue is clear, the sound track has limited dynamic range, doubtless source material. As with video aspect, there is nothing jarring or noticeable, such as music ending abruptly with scene change.

Narrative - Being a fix rather than a mix, I expected this to be coherent and it is. To my mind there were too many villains in the cocktail, overkill to be sure. Fun, and as others have noted, nostalgic.

Enjoyment - I got this by accident. I desired PE's Bond short from the other site, but Spidey came instead. (per comments on OT and Reddit, the other site is neglected.) Not to fear, this was a pleasant surprise, and an enjoyable view. I also believe Problem Eliminator sets a good example. Fledgling editors - and PE is a respected and seasoned editor - would be well advised to tackle animation rather than a three hour opus.
This edit is a perfect length, and a wonderful introduction to the original series.

Man I loved this show as a kid and The Venom Saga was always the best storyline. So to see it edited together so seamlessly with just minor edits made it truly awesome. It still has the same charm and engaging story as before, just more focused and made to feel like a direct-to-video movie. Also, just watching it makes you go 'huh, THIS is what Spider-Man 3 (with Tobey Maguire) SHOULD HAVE BEEN!'. Well, for me it now is! In my collection my 2000s Spider-Man movie series goes: Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man: The Alien Costume Recut. Well done, Problem Eliminator!

As a kid I had the "official" edit of this on VHS, it was called "The Venom Saga". This particular edit did many different things in comparison while tightening the pace and minimizing the cheese. While there are some things I miss the cheese (who does not love Venom at the wheel of a truck?), this edit gives the stakes more dramatic significence. A great treat, all it needs now is inserted into an edition of Live and Kicking