Previous Post I was looking for noise reduction pads for my Rock Band drum kit, and I noticed an artist on e-bay who was making his own designs. I inquired about getting some Spidey pads made, and while he normally doesn't take on custom jobs he agreed to do mine. These came out even better than I expected them to! He just e-mailed me a picture, they're still in the mail; I can't wait! ~Hat~

Cool... I haven't played Rock Band, although much of my office has. Modding the drums to keep them from overpowering the sound from the TV seems to be a near necessity. I hope you took advantage of the free download of Jonathon Coultan's "Still Alive" track for Rock Band on April Fool's Day. (It might still be free, I don't know...)


In other Spidey news, people might want to check out Michael Chabon's script for "Spider-man 2", which is now online at the link below... it's kind of interesting to see what was kept and what was rewritten.

For those just curious about the changes without wading through the whole thing, here's a brief rundown (skip this summary if you're going to read the script itself):


_______________________________________________________

Much the same:
-Spidey delivering pizzas, getting fired for being late
-Peter getting stopped by the usher because he's late for the play
-Homeless guy selling the abandoned Spidey costume to JJJ (and the deleted scene of JJJ trying it on.)
-Peter's loss of powers, need for glasses again, ignoring a mugging in progress, ect.
-The entire elevated train fight
-Doc Ock sinking his warehouse lair into the river, Peter unmasked struggling to hold a "really heavy" section of the wall from crushing himself and MJ
-Harry talking to his father in the mirror, breaking it to find the goblin lair.

Some differences:
-The arms are Otto's big invention and experiment... no miniature sun energy thingie is included. A lot is made of the challenges of controlling the extra limbs, and of the integration of the A.I. of each tentacle and how it affects him... far more than what made it into the movie, although the end result is much the same. He has a team of scientists working with him, and they're alarmed at the affects and addiction he seems to be showing to being hooked into the rig.

-Harry and Peter share an apartment at first (before Pete moves out halfway through to Diktovich's slum house... no "cake girl" is ever seen, btw) but Harry is pretty much a jerk full time, growing more and more paranoid with a state of the art security system and bodyguards, sure that Spider-man will be coming after him. He's usually on perscription meds from his psychiatrist, and has put a $10m reward/bounty on Spider-man through the Bugle, which causes various average people to shoot at or attack Peter while he's trying to rescue someone. He hears his father talking to him through multiple points of the movie.

-Otto is apparently younger, and falls for MJ after seeing her on television and in her play (which Peter urges him to see in meeting him after his big demonstration of his mechanical arms.) Otto is the other man that MJ begins to fall for, there is no John Jameson or engagement in the script.

-MJ gets her big break as an understudy at the beginning of the script when the star goes to rehab. The impression is that she's not very good, and eventually she's fired... something they used in Spider-man 3.

-A reason is given for Pete's spider powers going away. When he sees MJ beginning to fall for Otto, he decides he wants a normal life. Octavius was behind the spider experiments from the first film, and so Peter consults him about them. Otto understands quickly that the missing spider must have bitten Spider-man and transfered abilities to him. (He also seems to realize that Pete is Spider-man, but he never seems to be sure later in the script.) Octavius shows off a microchip he's invented which acts as a kind of artificial immune system, programmed to combat changes a body undergoes from DNA integration or something... It's supposed to eventually allow him to wear the tentacle harness full time. He theorizes that something like it could negate the abilities of Spider-man, but it's his only prototype and he's not giving it up. Peter steals it and injects it into himself, slowly losing his powers over the second act.

-Otto, addicted to the tentacles, wears them under his coat on a date with MJ. Rudely pushed by some big passersby on the street, he loses control and teaches them a lesson, scaring MJ. Spider-man intervenes, his powers running out, and we get the whole train sequence. Spidey breaks the latch that lets the harness come off trying to remove it from Otto during the fight, as he's trying to save Otto from himself at MJ's request. The train scene goes the same as in the movie, with the passengers pulling Pete back inside after he collapses, and putting his mask on him. His powers have run out... his web spinners fizzle like the "last drops from an aerosol spray can". Otto does not come back to get him.

-Merging with the tentacle rig is slowly killing Otto, so he goes to use his microchip, only to surmise that Spider-man has stolen it. He dresses in a more traditional Doc Ock outfit (some kind of rubber containment suit ripped in the back for his tentacles and some goggles.) He makes the deal with Harry for the lab on the river, and promises to kill Spider-man for it, as he now needs DNA information in Peter's spinal column to recreate the affects of the microchip that Peter has fused with. He goes on a rampage across the city, robbing and destroying, demanding that Spider-man face him. He threatens Aunt May. Finally, when he captures MJ, Peter removes the chip from within him with a knife and some pliers. He fights Doc Ock and loses. Doc takes him and MJ to the warehouse to perform the surgery. MJ convinces him not to do this, and Ock more or less gives up and destroys himself and the lab.


_______________________________________________


Generally, they made some changes that were for the better, and a few that were for the worse in what finally made the screen. Aunt May is handled poorly in this script. A variation of her plotline made it into the final movie (or was that Spider-man 3?) where Peter tells her that he let the robber go who then murdered uncle Ben, and she gets upset. Here she says some nasty things and throws him out of the house, and it just didn't feel right at all.

The tentacles and their A.I. were set up much better in this script. While I didn't much care for the whole mini-sun Maguffin that was later added, I will admit that it smoothed out a lot of motivations and helped the ending considerably. That did mean that the tentacles were introduced in a more off-hand manner that seemed strange. "Oh, I developed near-conscious A.I. for each of these intricately controlled appendages that link with my own nervous system so that I could do this. Yeah, they're pretty neat, I guess."

Ultimately, it was kind of interesting to see how the project evolved. I wish that Spider-man 3 had gone through a few more drafts itself...



Script (in pdf form):
www.mcsweeneys.net/chabon.spider.pdf