Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Complaining About Shows You Don't Watch: A lot of critics wrote the show off before previews even started.
  • Crowning Moment of Funny:
    • The Goblin trying to leave a message on the Daily Bugle's answering machine. The message itself is an over the top threat to Spider Man.
      • The paper boy repeating said threat in the exact same way the Goblin said it.
    • The Goblin attaches a note for Jameson on a pumpkin and leaves it in his office:

Jameson: What is it?
Assistant: It's a pumpkin!

  • Crowning Music of Awesome: All the songs, with "Rise Above" and "Freaks Like Me" being among the best.
    • "The Boy Falls From The Sky" is also very good.
  • Ear Worm: If you're looking for a night out on the town/you just found me...
  • Harsher in Hindsight: One of the songs is called "The Boy Falls From The Sky". Given the accidents going on during production...
    • Even harsher when you realize the infamous 30 foot fall that happened during previews occurred in the scene right after this song.
  • Loophole Abuse: The long, long, preview run led some to speculate that the producers were deliberately avoiding ever debuting the show, in order to exploit a tradition that theater critics won't issue reviews until after opening night.
    • Considering that there's almost no other explanation for the absolutely absurd number of "dress rehearsals" billed at full ticket price, it would be more difficult to come up with an explanation for this that wasn't some form of Loophole Abuse.
  • Painful Rhyme / Lyrical Shoehorn: The lyrics to "A Freak Like Me Needs Company" were written in a hurry, and sometimes it shows.
  • So Bad It's Good: The previews all sold out very quickly based solely on this principal. A 60 million dollar avant-garde trainwreck is worth seeing, to say the least.
  • So Okay It's Average: This seems to be the general consensus among critics, at least in regards to the final version.
  • Serial Numbers Filed Off: That evil corporation that wants Norman Osborn to build them super soldiers and tell him (in song) "join the proud and few who know best for their country"? Yeah, they're Viper. And they're nothing like the U.S. Military. Oddly enough, they actually were the military in Version 1.0.
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: In theory, comparing Spider-Man to the myth of Arachne isn't a bad idea. Both characters are related to spiders, and both characters are undone by their own hubris. Arachne was punished for believing herself greater then the gods, and Spider-Man lost his uncle because his pride kept him from stopping an easily preventable tragedy. Except here, Uncle Ben isn't killed by the burglar: he's killed by a random car accident that Spidey had nothing to do with. Because of that, the deeper meaning of their connection is lost.
  • Uncanny Valley: Many of the more elaborate costumes left over from Taymor's version fall squarely into this, especially the villains.
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