Disney+'s Marvel's 616 show - Season 1 (2020) 0

[fmaz]

I haven't seen a topic for this - with the first season (8 episodes) having just dropped this past week:

I just started watching it today.  The first episode is the story of "Japanese Spider-Man"... and if it's an indication of the quality of this series, I'm ALL IN!

Has all the the hallmarks of a great documentary:  It's entertaining, you learn something about a topic with which you were previously unfamiliar, they interview the right people, and it's NOT just talking heads (they don't just "tell, they SHOW")

Can't wait to watch the rest, and curious to hear from others who have watched more!

 

Edited November 24, 2020 by fmaz

[AJLewandoski]

I watched 3 episodes the first day it came out (not in order, just 3 that looked interesting) and I will say Japanese Spider-Man was the most well done. There's definitely no rhyme or reason between topics or quality of episodes. There's one where comedian Paul Schaeffer tries to pitch a Brute Force cartoon to D+ which is mostly a joke. I also watched the very last episode which was about a high school doing Marvel themed plays which is more of a day to day doc about the troubles of disenfranchised or under privileged students that has a few mentions of Marvel characters. It wasn't bad but not my cup of tea.

[fmaz]

My understanding is that the premise of the series is that individual creators pitch doing an episode/documentary on a story related to the Marvel Universe... so there isn’t meant to be a narrative connection between them.  I don’t think they’re necessary to be watched in a particular order or anything either. I think they were simply hoping to attract talented people to tell stories about Marvel.

Since you said that the Japanese Spidey was the best, I’m certainly now cautious to see if my opinion of the whole thing changes as I watch other ones. But that first one was really great.  I would highly recommend it.  Sounds like you would too? 

[AJLewandoski]

Oh yea I mean I would recommend the series for anyone who wants some different perspectives on Marvel, the last episode just wasn't for me. I still need to watch the rest before I pass any sort of final judgment and I'm sure I'll enjoy the rest of them between toy and cosplay related episodes and the comic creator focused ones. 

[fmaz]

Watched episode 2 - Higher, Further, Faster. It was an interesting history of not only female characters but women creators and in particular women of color at Marvel through the years.  Directed by Gillian Jacobs (from Community). I found it very interesting and well done. 
Obviously because it’s told from the Marvel perspective, you don’t/can’t get a complete picture of women in comics without taking into account DC and small press books too... but because this ends up focusing so much on the individual journeys of a few modern creators I think it was fine.  
 

[fmaz]

Episode 3 - Amazing Artisans.  Directed by Clay Jeter.  I’m not familiar with him. It was the story of two artists from Spain and their journeys to end up working at Marvel, on Miles Morales Spider-Man and Moon Girl Devil Dinosaur. 
I thought this was the weakest of the three I’ve watched so far. Interesting stories, sure. But it was kind of about the artists, kind of about the books, kind of about the rise of international talent in comics... but it didn’t delve deeply into the latter to make you really feel like you came out learning anything. I keep asking, why am I watching this? Or more correctly, why do they feel like they need to tell me this story? 
As a bio of two artists it was perfectly well done. If you’re a fan of either I’d highly recommend it. Otherwise this one I might say you could skip. 

[fmaz]

Episode 4 - Lost and Found.  I think with this episode, the series really begins to make sense to me.  Directed by comedian Paul Scheer, this supposedly about his quest to make a Disney+ series about little known Marvel animal robotic team from the 90’s - Brute Force.  But it’s really Scheer’s hilarious take on some of the ridiculous very lesser known characters in the Marvel library... and talking to creators about WHY these characters didn’t work, why they could have, etc.... all while following him through the process of tracking the real history of Brute Force.  It was funny and it was informative. 

But it really highlighted what this series is - Disney+ has just decided to allow creative people they like to come play in the Marvel sandbox. To tell stories they find interesting that tie into themes and/or characters in the Marvel Universe in some ways.  These are not going to be straight histories of characters, or artists, but people from outside Marvel bringing their viewpoints in and playing with the Marvel properties for a bit.

If you don’t find Paul Scheer funny, you might not enjoy this.  But if not, at least watch the five minutes when he sits down with some famous friends of his to talk voice casting. It was hilarious. 

Looking forward to the remainder of the series. 

[fmaz]

Episode 5 - Suit Up! revolved around Cosplay. Directed by documentary director Andrew Rossi, it featured a few Marvel cosplayers with somewhat interesting stories. It featured some great shots of costumes, nice stuff from NYCC, etc... and a really rudimentary history of cosplay.  I think if you had NO knowledge of cosplay culture you'd find it fascinating.  But otherwise, I'm not sure there's much here new or that interesting.

Episode 6 - Unboxed is similar to #5 in many ways. It's about the superhero toy industry (well, from the Marvel perspective).  However, aside from giving basic history of Toy Biz and Hasbro, it goes into some interesting aspects of toy design, some behind the curtain stuff on production, and if you're a toy geek, there was enough there that you'll find it interesting. At least I did. Oh by the way, this was directed by actress Sarah Ramos. I have no idea what her connection was to the material, but I thought she did a nice job.

Episode 7 - The Marvel Method. This is not to be skipped. Centering on long-time writer Dan Slott's process in bringing in Iron Man 2020 on deadline, it goes into the entire comic making process... talking about the old "Marvel method" and showing the kind of hybrid version of it that Slott still kind of likes to use himself. Lots of behind the scenes and back and forth with the writer, the artist, even the poor letterist who had to wait and wait for a last minute --script. It was funny and interesting.  Lot of people really don't like Slott (personally, I've always enjoyed his stuff -- even most of his Spidey run), so if you're in that category maybe this will make you soften on him. Or maybe you can hate watch this. I don't know. Either way, it's a good one.

Edited December 1, 2020 by fmaz

[fmaz]

Watched the final episode - Spotlight: directed by Alison Brie (she of Glow fame, and also the second alumnae of Community, after Gillian Jacobs directed episode #2.)  This was another good one, although I think it may slightly depend on your perspective. Our son had been a theater kid in high school, so a story about how Marvel actual licenses high schools to do plays with Marvel characters was something I found fascinating.  Here, a high school did one featuring Squirrel Girl and another with Ms. Marvel.  These "Spotlight" plays are used to tell stories that high school students will relate to, and that will be family friendly plays, just learning that these even existed was worth the episode for me... never mind watching a few productions come together.  Nothing too high stakes, but I found it interesting and well done.

 

Anyway, seems like no one (but me) was interested in this series as there's been no responses to this thread... but my hope is that my summaries will be useful if/when people do consider giving it a try.  Several of the episodes I think are very much worth your time, and I look forward to seeing what they come up with assuming there are subsequent seasons.