Somebody has to listen to Moxy Fruvous’s take on the opening credits. It’s awesome. 8p
Okay, let’s continue…
<b>Chapter Two: Spidey Super Stories</b>
The Electric Company was an educational television program, first airing on PBS in 1971. Created by the same minds as Sesame Street, the show focused on developing young reading skills, especially in early elementary school children. Although it never quite matched the greatness and longevity of its parent program, it nonetheless ran for six successful seasons, and was subsequently aired in rerun form for another eight years.
So what does this have to do with Spider-Man? Well, Marvel agreed to let the Children’s Television Workshop use Spider-Man in a series of skits, appropriately called “Spidey Super Stories.” Obviously, this was a bit of marketing genius. I mean, what did kids usually read? Comic books. What did kids turn to for advice on spending their ten-cent allowance? Television. Who was plastered on “that nice reading show?” Spider-Man. Who owns Spider-Man? Marvel. Congratulations, whoever-approved-that-decision!
Okay, ulterior motives aside, the Spidey Super Story segments became a fixture of The Electric Company’s last three seasons, and Spider-Man was soon treated as just another zany character. In addition to having his own segments, Spider-Man would occasionally appear in other skits, often screwing around with whoever was around at the time. In fact, his first appearance consisted of J. Arthur Crank trying to find him, only to have Spider-Man keep ducking around behind him! And THEN Spidey calls him an idiot! Geez, what is it with kids shows and being dicks? (I’m looking at you, 4Kids…)
The Spider-Man in Electric Company looked similar to his comic book counterpart, save for a sloppier costume. (The show was more or less run on a tight budget, and they couldn’t afford an extravagant costume for a character that didn’t appear in every episode.) However, everything else was fundamentally scaled down to make the character more accessible for the show’s extremely young demographic. There was no Peter Parker; it was assumed that Spider-Man was always Spider-Man. Spider-Man also rarely used his webs, again for budget reasons; when he had to leave the screen, he simply JUMPED TO THE SIDE LIKE THE HULK! Also, when he snared his enemies (more on that later), he shot an incredibly cheesy superimposed cartoon web (that often barely covered his target), which then transformed into a regular net in the next frame.
Finally, and most importantly, Spidey never spoke. At least, not verbally. In keeping with the show’s focus on reading, Spidey spoke only in word balloons. Furthermore, the radiation must have destroyed the linguistic part of his brain, because he only exclaimed simple sentences like “I know!” or “This is bad!” I know, this was for first graders, but it’s just too funny to ignore.
And let’s not forget his dangerous enemies. Yes, a rogues gallery this heinous has not been recorded in the history of super heroes! Fear the mighty fury of…THE SPOILER! Or how about…MR. FRIGHT?! Gasp! But surely you can not survive the might of…THE BIRTHDAY BANDIT! THE WALL! THE CAN CRUSHER! THE HUM! Sure, Doctor Doom might have captured the Fantastic Four and aimed a nuclear warhead at New York City, but Spidey has more important things to do…like stop a gay guy from running off with a spoiled kid’s birthday presents!
Okay, it’s not really fair making fun of this show. I mean, it was off the air before I was born, and was aimed at a much lower age demographic than where I am right now. It may have been just for selling comics, but it was still a good cause, and I do commend Marvel for allowing Spidey to be used free of charge. The skits are silly, but still entertaining on some level. They may not be high art, but it’s far from Spidey’s lowest. (I’m looking at you, Japan.)
It’s also worth noting that Spidey Super Stories was spun off into its own comic book. Much like the segments, it was based around improving reading skills, with four-panel pages, simply writing, and straightforward plots. However, in the comic, Spider-Man also teamed up with other established Marvel heroes, including Captain America, Hawkeye, Iron Man, Doctor Strange, and others. These comics also included short one-page biographies of each hero and villain, glossing over who they were, what their powers or weapons were, and whether they were a hero or villain. And hell, the thing apparently had THANOS! Seriously, if you can link me up with the Thanos issue, PLEASE DO! I’ve got to see that thing with my own eyes!
Next time: We delve into true horror…with the Japanese version. So sue me, I don’t want to touch that live-action show until I <b><i>HAVE</i></b> to!
The only memory I have of Spidey Super Stories is precisely of somebody reading his word balloons to understand what he was saying. Even back then I thought that was annoying (though I understood the idea was to promote reading among kids) Still, I think it would’ve been more fun to hear Spidey talk.
I DO remember the comic version better, it was still being printed by the time I discovered American comics. While it was beneath my dignity to buy, I still think it was better than the TV version.
And no, sadly I don’t have the Thanos issue.
Other Superheroes appeared in EC/Sesame Street segments. I remember Superman, Batman and Robin, and some guy with a football outfit and the power of- spelling? (Obviously made up for the show.) Anybody know who this was?
I seriously doubt that the Japanese Spider-Man was worse than the SSS one. And yes, I’ve seen it too. But I’ll wait for your comments on it…
Let’s keep moving on, folks!
<b>Chapter Fo- I mean, Three: The Japanese Spider-Man</b>
Admit it; you watched the Power Rangers. At some point, you had to have seen that…ugh…show. You remember loving it as a small, dumb child, and then seeing it as an adult…caused you to melt into the cynical monstrosity that you are today. Well, guess what? There’s a TON of these shows out there, and nearly all of them come from that lovely little chain of islands known as Japan. The sheer number of programs is incalculable, but suffice to say, they’re all just about the same. A monster attacks Japan (why they don’t attack anywhere else is beyond me), a Japanese guy or teams of Japanese guys arrive, they can’t defeat the monster, and end up using a giant robot to save the day. There, you have just watched over one hundred shows in two sentences.
Back in the mid-1970s, Marvel wanted to break into the extremely-difficult-to-penetrate Japanese market. (A modern equivalent would probably be Microsoft’s hopeless attempts to sell the Xbox 360.) The first attempt was the rather unsuccessful Spider-Man: The Manga, which ran from 1970 to 1971. The second attempt was a licensing deal with Toei , to turn Spider-Man into a tokusatsu. (If my understanding of the term is correct, any show or movie that relied excessively upon special effects was considered a tokusatsu. Please correct me if I’m wrong.) Spider-Man hit the Japanese airwaves on May 17, 1978.
Now, take a look at the opening. Do you see anything…out of place here?
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If you laughed, screamed, cried, or threw your computer aside at the sight of a giant robot, you aren’t alone. The show’s producers, Tôru Hirayama and Susumu Yoshikawa, wanted to more or less make a direct adaptation of the comics. However, one of the show’s sponsors was Bandai (you know, the giant robot people). So…they were forced to make the show somehow involve Spider-Man using a war machine. So, they added giant monsters. BUT, those monsters had to come from somewhere! So, they created an entirely new set of villains. And of course, this meant the hero had to have a different motivation than before, so the origin got rewritten, too. In the end, you had a show called Spider-Man that had absolutely nothing to do with Spider-Man.
And people bitch about Robotech.
The Japanese Spider-Man was Takuya Yamashiro, motorcycle rider and son of brilliant scientist Dr. Hiroshi Yamashiro. One day, a meteor crash lands in Japan (of course), so Dr. Yamashiro heads out with Takuya’s hot reporter girlfriend to investigate. Turns out the meteor was a spaceship called “Marveller,” (snort) and has attracted the attention of the evil Professor Monster (snicker) and his Iron Cross Army. (laughter) So, being the constructive thinkers they are, they send out a monster that kills Dr. Yamashiro. Takuya comes to the murder sight shortly afterwards, where he gets his ass handed to him by Monster’s beak-nosed putties.
But, of course, he falls into a cave and is saved by a mysterious old man. Turns out the old man is actually a “Spider Warrior” or something, and has chosen Takuya to succeed him as Spider-Man. Armed with a costume and new powers, Spider-Man defeats the putties at a dam, saving some guy I can’t remember in the process. However, the monster that killed his father soon grows to giant size! If only Spider-Man had a giant robot…oh wait, he does now! So, he calls in the Marveller, which then turns into the mighty Leopardmon, and beats the shit out of the monster. And that ends the mighty origin of the Japanese Spider-Man.
The only reason I recapped this episode was the show exactly what this show is, because every other episode I’ve seen has been an exact repeat of this. Monster comes in, Spider-Man fights it, monster gets big, Spider-Man calls in Leopardmon, special effects, cheap explosion, roll credits. Spidey’s foes are no more inspiring, either, except for one time where he fights THE THING!
Spider-Man’s powers were actually kept intact, as was his costume. In fact, the only difference in his appearance was a drastic reduction in the eyes; otherwise, everything was the same. His powers actually came from a rather large bracelet; his increased strength, agility, and endurance was because of an initial injection. Furthermore, he could still climb walls, and still had his Spider-Sense. And of course, he could shoot webbing (here called “Spider String”); of course, it looked exactly like regular robe, but compared to the Spidey Super Stories, this was miles ahead.
However, like any other show with giant robots, the budget ran out quickly; by the fifth episode, in fact. Furthermore, the Leopardmon costume was stolen after the tenth episode was filmed, meaning no new footage could be filmed. So, from that day on, whenever Leopardmon blew up the monster-of-the-week, they simply used some stock footage of an attack, followed by a big explosion.
The show wasn’t a total failure, and isn’t terrible. It’s just that most fans, including me, can’t get around the idea of Spider-Man having a giant robot. He even had a rocket car…which reminds me of the Spider-Mobile, further increasing my hatred. Still, who am I to complain? I mean, Stan Lee even said he liked the show, and would love to work on a sequel. I only pay money for the comics, so that I can enjoy Spider-Man, and pray that someone does him justice and doesn’t muck him up with crap like giant robots and monsters and creates a Spider-Man show that doesn’t involve Spider-Maninanywayshapeorformand-
Excuse me, I’m going to tranq myself. I’m sure Wil will disagree with me, but…this show was a horrible interpretation of Spider-Man, cultural differences be damned. At least Spider-Man India more or less kept to the key themes of the character.
END OF DISCUSSION.
Next time: We look at the failed American live-action show.
d: I indeed would rather watch an episode of the Japanese Spider-Man than the Spidey Super Stories Electric Company segments- EVEN as a child- though I admit that it would get pretty boring after a while. The one thing I liked about these Tokusatsu shows, is their creativity when it comes to monster designs… some are very inspired, and some are just plain BIZARRE (I remember a typewriter-headed monster on Power Rangers… :thud: )
(And yes, Tokusatsu means Special FX, which means even Japanese Horror movies could be considered Tokusatsu. Though the term is mostly used for Superhero shows.)
It’ll be interesting to see how “Supaida-Man” compares to the American Live Action TV show version…
…Oh my freaking god…has a 5 second Emo moment after reading about SSS and JSS Must…resist…cutting…wrists! >_< I never want to see a show that ruins my ideals about Spider-Man
Silly Galloway! EVERYTHING is better with giant robots! Ahahahahahah. Silly American.
<b>Chapter Four: Spider-Man: The 1977 Live Action Series</b>
Way back in the 1970s, CBS had no less than three superhero shows. The first was Wonder Woman, which premiered for a poor first season on ABC before being picked up by the other network. The third was the legendary Incredible Hulk series, which premiered in TV movie format in 1977 and became a regular series in 1978. The bastard middle child of the lot has to be Spider-Man’s stab at a television action series, an attempt so disastrously horrid in execution that Stan “The Man” Lee has vocally expressed his displeasure! And the bastard LOVES the Japanese show!
I’m not going to spend much time on this show, not only because my accessible episodes can be counted on one hand (it has never been released on DVD, and all VHS copies went out of print in the early 1990s), but because it’s a really, REALLY bad show.
First off, you know those lovely supporting characters, like Aunt May, JJJ, Mary Jane, Gwen Stacy, Joe Robertson, etc.? Well, forget about everyone but the first two, because THEY ARE NOT IN THE SHOW. I mean, I can understand axing the last two (even though Joe apparently showed up in the pilot but nowhere else), but why didn’t they include Mary Jane? It’s not like she’s some minor character in an obscure issue; she’s one of the most important characters in the comics! And don’t get me started on their Jameson! He’s gone from a Spider-Man-hating media tyrant to a rough-but-good-natured grandfather! Such blasphemy cannot be allowed!
The show starred Nick Hammond as Peter Parker, and he actually wasn’t bad <i>when he was playing Peter Parker.</i> The Peter of this show was similar to George Reeve’s famous portrayal of Clark Kent; a tough, inquisitive, go-to action of a man, while also mild mannered enough to throw people off the trail. Even when he’s forced to wear a YELLOW JACKET for almost every scene, Hammond does show some acting skills.
Then they dress him up as Spider-Man. And the whole show goes straight down the crapper.
The Spider-Man costume in this show is HORRENDOUS! The basic design is similar, but the shape of Hammond’s body, coupled with some extremely questionable design decisions, makes the thing look dumber than Galactus in the second Fantastic Four movie. It seems the producers didn’t think anyone could see through white fabric, so they replaced Spider-Man’s eyes with what are either empty holes or plastic; I can’t really tell. Spider-Man’s webshooters are combined into a bracelet, much like the Japanese Spider-Man; however, the bracelet does nothing else, so…how does he justify lugging that giant thing around? Especially since, half the time, it doesn’t show HOW he hid his costume; he might be shirtless in a prison cell one scene, and then escaping in full Spider-Man garb the next! The whole thing looks so ridiculous, I feel the urge to hunt down whoever made this thing and kill them. Hold on, I need some pills.
Ah, much better. Anyway, the episodes, much like those of Wonder Woman and the Incredible Hulk, rarely involve any superpowered threat; instead, Spidey faces off against common goons, burglars, thieves, insurance scams, etc. And since he wouldn’t splatter people when he punches them (unlike the Hulk), he was allowed to use the full extent of his horribly clumsy acrobatic moves against everyone he came across. This meant the show’s villains would be dealt with in about five minutes, if the writers hadn’t padded the remaining forty with incredibly pointless dialog, extensive chase scenes, and more padding than an entire season of Dragonball Z.
This leads to the show’s biggest fault: it’s simply BORING. The few episodes I’ve seen have nearly driven me into a boredom-induced coma. Never before has so little been happening for so long. It’s so incredibly mind-numbing, I want to hunt down whoever made this and kill them…AND their families. Hold on, I need more pills.
two dozen pill bottles, a night in Vegas, and numerous car-related hijinks later
Ugh…what happened? Oh yeah, we were talking about <i>that</i> show. Well, it’s done. At last, everything is finished. There’s no way things could get any worse…
Next time: Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends OR It Gets Worse
pops in again Huh? Spider-Man the live action sh-actually watches an episode OH MY GOD!!! MAKE IT STOP, MAKE IT STOP!!!runs away from the show Holy crap, that was horrible. I thought my eyes were going to melt off my face!
I have one thing to say to the person that created this monstrosity. FUCK YOU!!!
If I remember correctly, the eyes of Spider-Man’s mask in the American show were made out of wire. Made him look like he was going to fencing class. :thud:
Thankfully I remember next to nothing about this show, other than the awful costume, and how boring it was. Where was Doctor Octopus???
I’d much rather watch Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends (and I did.) 
Hey, it gave us Firestar, at the least!
Have faith, d, things will get better as the reviews progress. I especially want to hear your thoughts on Spectacular Spider-Man; at first this show annoyed me, but since then they’ve come up with some neat twists.
And in the next episode of RPGC Task Force: Galloway ups Mabatsekker’s drunken antics at getting wasted WITH PILLS!
I remember watching the live-action spidey movie from the 70’s… I remember it being rather boring, except when Spider-sense was in place: It showed Peter THE FUTURE instead of just being a tingle. And the webshooting was PSHW~hoa, the villains are netted up!
And the train kept a’ rollin…all night long… (God damn third solo.)
<b>Chapter Five: Spidey in the 80s</b>
There were two Spider-Man shows that premiered in 1981: a syndicated Spider-Man cartoon, and the NBC series Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends. The former really has nothing worth mentioning; it was just Spider-Man fighting generic foes. In fact, it felt like a slightly more modern version of the 1967 series…only with even worse animation, terrible plotlines, horrid music, and totally devoid of anything resembling quality. Hence, we’re not covering it in detail. Even <i>I</i> have standards.
Instead, let’s focus on Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, one of the most well-known of the many Spidey shows, and certainly one of the most successful ratings-wise. In this cartoon, Peter Parker was still your average dopey college student by day, and wise-cracking web slinger by night. However, he was also joined by the “amazing friends” of the title: the X-Men Iceman and Firestar.
Really. Iceman and Firestar? Those are his incredible friends? I’ll admit I don’t know a whole lot about Firestar (she was never with the X-Men when I was reading their comics), but Iceman always struck me as lame. He may have been able to control ice, but his REAL reason for existing was to provide comic relief. And when your title character is THE superhero known for shooting off one-liners and making jokes every time he’s in mortal danger, do you really need ANOTHER jokester? And from what I’ve seen, Firestar does damn near jack crap during the show’s run; just like every other female superhero, her main job is to be kidnapped repeatedly so the male heroes can save her. If the show was aimed at an older audience, she would have been shoved in the fridge within five minutes.
The show was just as formulaic as ever; however, this time Marvel utilized their vast pool of heroes, villains, and other characters. The show felt similar in concept to the Spidey Super Stories comics, albeit without any edutainment; it was little more than a means of introducing young viewers to Marvel’s characters, so they would buy the comics. As a result, the writing quality was extremely low, and the animation budget even more so. This was very much your standard 1980s Saturday Morning Cartoon in every way.
I’m going to mention two shows in particular, because they highlight many of my problems with the series. The first was a guest appearance by the X-Men. Since Firestar and Iceman both got their starts with that group, it was only fitting that the two (plus Web-Head) would drop by for a visit. However, some half-man, half-machine that Firestar dated once (and accidentally TURNED INTO a half-man, half-machine) hacks into Cerebro (which is now controlling THE ENTIRE X-MANSION FOR SOME FUCKING REASON), tries to trap and kill Firestar and Spider-Man in the Danger Room, and then proceeds to use the mansion’s many deathtraps to capture the heroes.
The show had the current X-Men lineup. There was Professor Xavier, Cyclops, Storm, Kitty Pride, Colossus, Thunderbird, Nightcrawler- wait, THUNDERBIRD? For those that don’t know (which is pretty much everyone besides Wil and myself), Thunderbird was a founding member of the second X-Men team. However…he was killed after three issues. THREE. FUCKING. ISSUES. And he was NEVER revived; as of 2008, he, like Generalismo Francisco Franco, is STILL DEAD. And who was missing from that lineup? Why, WOLVERINE of course! If they’re just pulling a lineup out of their asses, why not INCLUDE THE MOST POPULAR X-MAN OF ALL TIME! To make matters worse, Thunderbird doesn’t even have his comic powers; whereas he used to just have strength and speed, now he can turn into ANIMALS! Hold on, I need some tequila.
Okay, I’m back. The episode, of course, ends with Firestar saving everyone (after a trip through the “Maze of Madness.” Did the mansion ever have anything LIKE THAT?). The mechanical man is repentant, and everyone is happy. The lesson? Never give up.
The second episode features numerous guest appearances from other Marvel heroes. The Chameleon, Spidey’s oldest supervillain, decides to take out the seven heroes that could potentially screw over his plans. To do this, he invites all seven to his luxurious castle, where he proceeds to capture, impersonate, and eliminate them one by one. And who are these heroes? Why, they are Spider-Man, Firestar, Iceman, Captain America, Namor, Doctor Strange, and Shanna the She-Devil. (Um…harsh name, Marvel?)
First off, why these specific seven? I can understand Spider-Man at least; he has foiled your plans in the past. However, why pick, of all people, Namor and Shanna? The former is such an emo and racist that he won’t bother you if you don’t bother him, and the latter is living in the fricking Antarctic. (Or…I think. I dunno, I never really read that much with Shanna.) And how do you intend to actually stop the Sorcerer Supreme and the very symbol of a patriotic superhero? That leads to our next problem; the Chameleon can ALSO COPY THE POWERS OF WHOEVER HE IMPERSONATES. This is COMPLETELY opposite of the comics, where he basically just played dress-up. Granted, he could possibly simulate some of their powers (much like Mysterio in his first appearance), but how can he copy heroes like FIRESTAR?!
His ultimate plan is to use distrust to separate the heroes. However, the Spider-Friends brought along Aunt May’s ugly, distasteful, annoying dog. I hate that thing so fucking much. The dog immediately sniffs out each of the Chameleon’s disguises, before beind dumped down a trap door. Of course, by then, Spider-Man has saved everyone, and they all escape before the entire Island explodes. And of course, they save the damn dog. I REALLY hate that dog.
So, in conclusion, the show was pretty awful, at least to this humble viewer. Still, we’re coming into my childhood now, so things will be great!
…
“Hope is the first step on the road to disappointment.”
Next time: The 90s Spider-Man shows. Mommy, hold me.
You know, I remember enjoying the 90’s animated Spiderman, but looking back, it certainly seemed to move… a bit too fast, for each episode.
Actually, d, Firestar WAS invented for this show; in fact, originally the flaming Friend was supposed to be The Human Torch, but the rights to adapt the character were tied up somewhere, so they made up Firestar instead. I think it was better that way; having yet another wisecracking guy on the team would’ve been boring. (Firestar was introduced in the comics after the TV series.)
Thunderbird is indeed still dead, though that’s most likely because they replaced him with his younger brother. (Marvel NEVER allows a name trademark to escape them; if the character isn’t currently being used for whatever reason (such as being DEAD) they will invent another one with the same name, regardless of the similarity. (I think they’ve had… FOUR “Spider-Womans” by now!) And I wonder if Wolverine was not used for similar reasons to Human Torch’s.
Shanna was originally living in Africa, but moved to the Antarctic Savage Land when she married Ka-Zar the Savage.
And the dog’s name was “Ms. Lion”. Hey, I can’t stand her either, but let’s provide the correct data here! (And at least she wasn’t a %^&*ing flying, supposedly cute robot- yes, I’m staring at you, H.E.R.B.I.E.!!)
The reviews are still fun, Gallo. Keep bringing them on!!
I vaguely remember seeing one or two episodes of Spiderman and his friends. I don’t remember anything about them other than them having Spiderman and Iceman, shows you how much they must have left an impression on me.
But now we are getting into my childhood, with the 90’s Spiderman. Can’t wait to see what you have to say about them d.
Actually d, I am one of those few super Marvel fans that remembers Thunderbird(I have a bunch of official stuff on Marvel and I’ve read a shiat load of the official Marvel website on my off-time). He was killed off because of some shiat that he was too much of an arsehole.
Yes, Namor is the uber emo/rascist, but he has had his moments of none emo and/or rascism(i.e.:when he lost his memory and was eventually found by the Human Torch in a bar).
I agree with Wil on the Wolverine issue. And to say this, I actually enjoyed Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends(probably because I’ve actually watched the live action Batman series, which was so bad it was fragging hilarious XD ). Also, I saw one episode recently where Spidey had to somehow beat Sandman when Sandman had figured out who he was(he won by having Flash dress up as him and having Sandman see Flash and him in civilian clothes together).
'Ere we go!
<b>Chapter Six: Running in the 90s: Spider-Man and Spider-Man Unlimited</b>
Before I begin, I’d like to clarify somethings. The first show we’re covering was one of my absolute favorites growing up. There wasn’t a single weekday afternoon or Saturday morning that I wasn’t sitting in the living room, bowl of Fruit Loops in hand, to watch the latest spine-tingling adventure of our favorite web crawler. That being said, I’m now ready to tear this shit a new one, because I now realize how much it sucks.
After the immense success of Marvel’s X-Men series, Fox obviously was interested in bringing in yet another franchise. And what better choice than Marvel’s signature superhero? To make things even sweeter, that Spider-Man movie was just around the corner, and the show could work perfectly well as a continuation of the sweet events in the film. (Of course, that ended up slipping back into development hell for almost another decade.) And thus, Spider-Man premiered on the Fox Kids programming block on November 19, 1994. So, what went wrong? A lot, mostly thanks to fucking Fox.
First off, Fox’s censorship policies had spiked dramatically since the days X-Men premiered. In addition to the traditional stupid rules (lasers instead of guns, nobody dies), there were a whole ARMY of seemingly nonsensical rules. Spider-Man could no longer punch his foes; while he could swill swing into them, tie them up with webs, push them away, or perform any number of other dangerous actions, he couldn’t actually PUNCH them. That…just seems a little nonsensical. Hell, Fox outlined a rule that Spider-Man <b>SPIDER-MAN COULD NOT HARM ANY PIGEONS WHEN HE LANDED ON ROOFTOPS!</b> What kind of thinking went into this? Did they really think they would have Spider-Man go on a pigeon-killing rampage in a kid’s show?
Second off, Fox wanted everyone to know the show was <i>theirs.</i> It wasn’t a Marvel property, it was a Fox Network program that happened to be produced by Fox. They had the last say on EVERYTHING that went on. To be fair, it was their network, and they were liable for any lawsuits or legal troubles that may come up, but by all accounts, the whole thing was a tyrannical lordship.
Third off, the animation was horrible. The show was rife with continuity errors, sloppy art, and even worse effects. And that’s not including the many editing mistakes; in one particular instance, a whole SEQUENCE was aired out of order, meaning the show felt like A-B-E-D-C-F. Although the acting was beyond excellent, and certainly at a high level for the era, it was still sad to see just how poorly this show’s production values have aged.
Still, this wasn’t completely horrible. Much like the X-Men series, many storylines were directly ripped from the comics. Although there were numerous alterations, many of the franchises’ greatest story arcs were adapted. There was also considerable emphasis placed on character development, especially in regards to Peter and Mary Jane’s relationship. Also notably, this show skipped over Spider-Man’s origins until a brief flashback in the third season. Although this might seem like a loss, it actually turned out to be a good thing; Spider-Man was already established as a superhero, meaning there was less time needed for exposition and more time for action.
And of course, this was the first series with my absolute favorite villain, Venom. His premiere was not only perfectly executed, but also managed to keep the character intact. Now, Carnage also showed up much later, but he was so mangled due to excessive censorship, I have to ask the same question I did with the Punisher: why bother? And of course, they kill him off by sucking him through a portal, a theme we’ll touch on again later.
The first season featured more or less stand-alone episodes, aside from the opening three-parter (which pitted Spidey against the infamous Spider-Slayers and Kingpin). However, the second to fourth season focused on season-long story arcs, an idea that would probably be more epic…if they actually could keep their focus for more than five seconds. The worst example was the second season, Neogenic Nightmare. The premise was that Spider-Man was mutating, becoming an actual spider-human hybrid. Over the course of the season, he stops yet another attempt to destroy all mutants, fights the Punisher, turns into the Man-Spider, gets involved in a gang war for the Tablet of Time, and finally gets cured thanks to a deus ex machina, courtesy of the Vulture. Although some of the episodes were pretty good, the whole thing felt like a bunch of individual stories strung together by a <i>very</i> loose thread.
Unfortunately, Fox started to clamp down hard, due to severe changes in management. This lead to the disastrous last season. At the end of season three, Mary Jane and the Green Goblin were sucked into a portal. (This was already covered in the Punisher retrospective, and I have no desire to dwell on it again.) Just before the end of the fourth season, Mary Jane returns, seemingly alive and well, and the two get hitched at the beginning of the fifth. However, after a horribly bad storyline involving Captain America and the Red Skull, Mary Jane turns out to be a <I><b>WATER-BASED CLONE.</b></i>
Yes, let that sink in…sorry, bad pun.
Of course, the show then goes off on a bizarre tangent, with Madame Web first transporting Spider-Man into the Secret Wars. (I will not cover this; my brain hurts enough already.) THEN she sends him across all time and space to stop an alternate universe version of himself, Spider-Carnage, from destroying the multiverse. And after all this, she takes him on a voyage to rescue Mary Jane. The end.
Wait…that’s it? Well, due to Fox’s inept handling of the series, and the two companies butting heads, the show was unceremoniously canceled, with no resolution. There was <i>supposed</i> to be a sixth season, where Spider-Man eventually tracks down Mary Jane and saves her, but that never materialized. And now that the show’s owned by the DVD-hating Disney corporation, we will never see it out in nice, ordered volumes. There’s quite a few stand-alone discs, but even they suffer from cheap transfer issues.
The next show…was a bit of a surprise. Basically, there was plans to create a very different seventh season of Spider-Man, involving a more high-tech version of the webcrawler. This seemed to end when the show was canceled, but that didn’t stop Fox! No, they went ahead with the show, now called “Spider-Man Unlimited.” And then they did nothing to back up the show. Absolutely nothing. No advertising, no press, nothing. They basically dumped it like a crack baby in a back alley dumpster. I didn’t even know this existed until I saw a five-second advert after a Digimon episode, and even then, the whole thing was almost over.
Basically, Spider-Man Unlimited was Spider-Man 2099, down to the nanotech suit and science fiction setting. However, this Spider-Man was still Peter Parker. While watching John Jameson rocket off to the newly-discoverd “Counter-Earth,” Spidey manages to sense Venom and Carnage sneak on board the ship. (Despite both being immune to his Spider-Sense…I can sense a migraine coming.) Of course, Spider-Man rushes in to save the day, but fails miserably, and the rocket is seemingly destroyed. With Spider-Man the most likely suspect, he fakes his own death, and then has Mr. Fantastic make him a nanotech suit.
With his new suit, he steals a ship and rockets off to Counter-Earth. Unfortunately, his ride is destroyed, and he is branded an enemy by the planet’s ruler, the High Evolutionary. He eventually locates John, but he’s helping human rebels fight against the Bestials, half-human half-animal beings created by the Evolutionary. Since he has no way home, Spider-Man starts doing the hero thing in this dark world.
The main problem is, this didn’t feel like Spider-Man. At all. I mean, the High Evolutionary is a Marvel character, and Counter-Earth was in the comics, but THEY WERE NOT INVOLVED IN ANY PART OF THE SPIDER-MAN MYTHOS! In fact, I don’t even remember the “Bestials” in any of the comics, and given how ridiculous they are in the show, I guess that’s a good thing. They basically act like the snooty upper-class of the world, exercising martial law and total domination over the human population. Meanwhile, Spider-Man’s new suit just felt out of place for the character. I mean, I know they were going for a futuristic feel, but it was still pretty ridiculous.
And let’s not start with Venom and Carnage. In the lost season, they apparently lost their hosts, and are now able to function perfectly well without them. In fact, they end up becoming the main villains, working to turn the whole planet into a world of symbiotes. And of course, Spider-Man also manages to hook up their main weakness into his suit, rendering much of their power useless. So…huh.
Needless to say, I just didn’t like this show, and the ending did nothing to help my opinion. It was so rushed, so convoluted, and so open that I wanted to smash my head against a rock. So, all in all, a depressing ending to one of the most forgotten Spider-Man shows of all time.
And that’s the 1990s in a nutshell. I know I missed a lot of ground, but quite frankly, I really need some sleep. At least Spectacular Spider-Man is up next…even if I have to slog through the MTV series to get to it.
I never cared much for the 90’s Spider-man, precisely because of their using so many watered-down versions of classic Marvel stories. Remaking the Death of Gwen Stacy with Mary Jane disappearing through a portal was probably the worst offense.
(That, and Secret Wars. WTF? Though it was funny to see The Beyonder, even if he was markedly different from his “Clueless God” persona in the comics.) About the only thing I liked about the show was their use of Madam Web, an utterly obscure character in the comics.
You know a network has run out of ideas when they throw a character into a new setting to keep the show going (see also: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in the future.) But at least the show reused some material from the comics. The whole “Counter Earth” stuff was taken not from Spider-Man comics but from Adam Warlock’s first series, back in the 1970’s (which was actually a Science Fiction retelling of the life of CHRIST! Remind me to tell you that story some other time…) Oh, and the Bestials are just the New Men, longtime creations of the High Evolutionary. While I thought Unlimited had good ideas and art, ultimately it was all over the place.
Once again, thanks for the enjoyable read, d. 
Thanks for the retrospective of one of my favourite childhood shows, has allowed me to see it in a whole new light. And deepen my loathing of Fox.
You know thinking back, I never actually noticed that Spiderman never threw a punch in this. But I do recall the episode, where the parts are out of order. The first time I saw that episode, I thought wait something doesn’t feel right about that, then when I wacthed it again I saw how they had screwed up. (Curse you idiots Fox)
As for Unlimited, I must admit I liked the new nano-suit they gave Spidey, but not much else. That series did just seemed wrong, especially when they could have done something nice with it.
Okay, first I must say, I actually loved that 90s Spider-Man, it’s what got me into comics(Marvel in particular). One thing they did right with it in my opinion was the web-swinging. But other then that the stuff was good for the time period. Now that I’m a Super Marvel Fan I can see that alot of the arcs and that stuff are horribly out of place(like how Venom got to Earth).
On Unlimited, it was nice to look at for me(I was watching less-well done shows like Voltron and Power Rangers). I liked it because I wasn’t one of those psycho fans that can sit down and just enjoy the randomness of a cartoon. But meh, I guess now if I saw it, I would be disappointed with Fox(only good thing they’ve done so far for me is the original Digimon and Beakman’s World).