Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends Episode Fourteen: The Origin of the Iceman

The Origin of Iceman

First Aired: September 18th, 1982

Synopsis: Peter Parker is telling Angelica and Bobby about a memory reading probe he's got access to at university when the three heroes see a fire truck go by. They change into costume and help stop the fire, but secret government agent Iceman's powers fail him at a critical time. Spider-Man suggests that they check Iceman's history to see whether his powers have failed him before, and so they go to university to use the memory probe. They see Iceman's origin, in which he hid his powers from people at school until he was found by Professor X, who had him join the X-Men alongside the rest of the original five. When Iceman saw a reward from J. Jonah Jameson for the capture of Spider-Man, he went for it, but after Spider-Man went along with it, he found out that the reward was a month's subscription to the Daily Bugle and an autographed photo of Jonah. With no leads found in Iceman's memories, the group stop looking at his memories. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to them, Videoman's arcade cabinet has been hit by lightning, and the villain has returned to life.

Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends Episode Thirteen: Quest of the Red Skull

Quest of the Red Skull

First Aired: December 5th, 1981

Synopsis: Some Nazis are searching a university professor's house in the suburbs for something, and while they're able to capture him, they aren't able to find it. Peter Parker leaves a nearby party, but when his spider-sense warns him of the nearby danger, he investigates as Spider-Man. During the fight with the Nazis, he unintentionally finds the Nazis' goal - an engraving of a scorpion. The Nazis defeat Spider-Man and leave with their goal. The Nazis go to their boss, the Red Skull, who reveals that the scorpion can lead them to a stash of Nazi weaponry and money. Meanwhile, Spider-Man recovers and meets secret government agent Iceman, Firestar, and the professor, Hiawatha Smith. Smith is a Native American and reveals himself to be competent enough to accompany the heroes. It turns out that the scorpion found by the villains was a replica, and that the heroes can use the original to find the stash of Nazi stuff before they do. They work out that the stash is in a South American jungle and head there.

Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends Episode Twelve: Pawns of the Kingpin

Pawns of the Kingpin

First Aired: November 28th, 1981

Synopsis: Kingpin's discovered an experimental new gun the US Army has developed, and plans to steal it for himself. His ally Doctor Faustus has developed a psycho-disc which will allow him to control someone for up to twelve hours, and so the plan is to use Captain America and Iceman to steal the gun from the army base it's held at. Captain America show up at ESU the next day, and Iceman mentions that he's going to interview him for his journalism assignment. Unbeknownst to everyone, Cap gets a psycho-disc planted on him by Faustus, and he tells Iceman that he needs his help on a secret government mission, presumably because Iceman's a secret government agent. While this is going on, Spider-Man spots Kingpin's limo nearby, and follows it, but is knocked off it and nearly run over by a train before Firestar saves him. Afterwards, Spider-Man's spider-sense tingles when he's near Cap, making him suspicious.

Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends Episode Eleven: Knights and Demons

Knights and Demons

First Aired: November 21st, 1981

Synopsis: The villainous magician Modred the Evil was banished to another dimension by the Black Knight and his Ebony Blade centuries ago, but a statue of Darkon the demon has recently been found which will come to life on the next full moon and free him. Peter, Angelica, and Bobby see the statue of Darkon at a medieval fair, and Peter does some research on the Black Knight. The three heroes are in a museum looking at an exhibition about the Black Knight when the full moon appears and Darkon comes to life. The three heroes fight him, but his appearance leads to the Black Knight appearing, as he is needed. He takes the Ebony Blade from the museum and fights Darkon, but when the heroes try assisting him he's so startled by them that Darkon gets the Ebony Blade off him and goes to Modred's dimension to free him. The heroes and the Black Knight start to follow him with the power of the Merlin Medallion, which can also protect them from Modred's magic, but as they're teleporting away Modred uses a spell to knock it out of the Black Knight's hand so they're left without it.

Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends Episode Ten: The Vengeance of Loki!

The Vengeance of Loki

First Aired: November 14th, 1981

Synopsis: From Asgard, Loki uses magic to move an iceberg to hit a ship. The ship sends out a distress signal which is picked up by Iceman. He heads to the Arctic with Firestar and Spider-Man to save it. While Iceman is swimming to sink the ship, he notices a Viking ship frozen in the iceberg, with a diamond in its bow reflecting at him. While Spider-Man and Firestar are helping save the ship, Thor shows up, and explains about the gods of Asgard. The diamond in the frozen ship is one of the Twins of the Gods, with its counterpart being possessed by Loki, who wants to use them to gain more power. The heroes look for the frozen ship again but Loki manages to beat them to it and get the other Twin of the God. He teleports Iceman and Thor to realms of Asgard, where they're trapped, before reviving a Viking who was in the ship and giving him power to destroy the world. Finally, he traps Firestar and Spider-Man with the Twins of the Gods, and then commands the Viking to head to New York to destroy it.

Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends Episode Nine: Spidey Goes Hollywood

Spidey Goes Hollywood

First Aired: November 7th, 1981

Synopsis: Hollywood director Sam Blockbuster is trying to make a Spider-Man movie, but is having terrible luck in making it. Mysterio reveals that he's behind the "bad luck", and threatens Blockbuster to get the real Spider-Man for the film. He wants to defeat Spider-Man on camera and then use the footage to make millions. When Spider-Man hears about Blockbuster's request, he's reluctant to sign up until he finds out that Aunt May is trying to pawn her jewellery to pay for her house. He goes to Hollywood with Iceman and Firestar via bus because Blockbuster is cheap. Along the way, they pick up Bruce Banner of all people, and Spider-Man says he'll get Bruce a job on the movie set. Once they're in Hollywood, Mysterio starts trying to defeat Spider-Man using the mechanical props of the film, but Spider-Man is saved by Firestar. Mysterio is enraged, but upon overhearing that Iceman and Firestar want to meet certain celebrities, creates robot duplicates of them to take care of the other heroes.

Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends Episode Eight: The Prison Plot

The Prison Plot

Synopsis: The annual warden and police chief's convention is taking place at a prison. Peter Parker, Angelica Jones, and Bobby Drake are working odd jobs at it so that they can make enough money to buy Aunt May a birthday present. A disguised Magneto is there as an escape artist, but Peter recognises him, changes to Spider-Man, and confronts him. Magneto sticks Spider-Man in a prop for his act - a giant hourglass - and then traps everyone in the prison behind a magnetic barrier, saying that he'll only release everyone when his fellow mutants are released from the prison they're in. Angelica and Bobby change to their alter egos and save Spider-Man before getting into a brief skirmish with Magneto. Spider-Man notices that electricity in the prison goes down when Magneto uses his powers, and that means that Magneto's getting power from the Niagra Falls generator. Iceman and Spider-Man go off to take care of the generator, while Firestar will distract Magneto.

Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends Episode Seven: Videoman

Videoman

First Aired: October 24th, 1981

Synopsis: Flash Thompson is addicted to playing an arcade game called Videoman, which he's beaten multiple times. Unbeknownst to him, Electro is the creator of the arcade game, and he's delivered copies to a bank, army base, and penthouse. When Flash sneaks back into the arcade after it closes to play the game, an electronic creature also called Videoman comes out of the arcade. Firestar saves him, but Flash sees her changing from Angelica Jones and now knows her identity. Videoman zaps Flash with a ray, and this somehow transports Flash into a video game at Electro's hideout. Electro declares that when he reaches 100 points, he'll turn it off which will kill Flash. Meanwhile, Angelica tells Bobby and Peter about Videoman after he gets away. Peter works out that Videoman must have been created by Electro since he's made of electricity, and upon putting in Electro's information to their computer, it reveals the locations that Electro delivered the games to. The three split up and go to investigate.

Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends Episode Six: 7 Little Superheroes

7 Little Superheroes

First Aired: October 17th, 1981

Synopsis: In a castle, Chameleon puts together a scheme to draw seven superheroes there and defeat them one at a time as revenge for them having defeated him in the past. Invitations are sent out to Spider-Man, Firestar,and Iceman, who accept but discover that they'll have to take Aunt May's dog, Ms. Lion, with them since Aunt May can't look after her during that time. Upon arriving at the castle, they meet the other heroes - Captain America, Doctor Strange, Shanna the She-Devil, and Namor - but Chameleon soon announces his plan to kill the superheroes over a loudspeaker. Namor is soon defeated by a trap Chameleon set up, and Spider-Man too is temporarily taken out of the picture. Chameleon disguises himself as Spider-Man and tricks Captain America into falling into some quicksand, but Ms. Lion recognises that he's not the real Spider-Man. Chameleon gets away, however, and the real Spider-Man returns.

Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends Episode Five: Swarm

Swarm

First Aired: October 10th, 1981

Synopsis: Angelica and Peter's science teacher is preparing to send a rocket probe into space with his class when they see through a telescope at the observatory they're at that a meteor is headed towards Earth. Angelica changes to Firestar and investigates the meteor after saving a plane from being hit by it. When it lands it irradiates a nearby beehive full of bees, which become a collective being known as Swarm. Swarm uses the eye lasers he apparently has to make his beehive gigantic and to turn a nearby farmer into a human-bee hybrid. When Firestar's unable to defeat him, she flies back to Peter and tells him she'll need his and Iceman's help. While Peter heads home to grab Iceman, Swarm creates giant bees and more bee people. Iceman, Firestar and Spider-Man all confront Swarm at his giant hive, and Spider-Man finds out that he's immune to turning into a bee person because of his spider blood. Firestar and Iceman aren't, however, and they're now ready to capture Spider-Man.

Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends Episode Four: Sunfire

Sunfire

First Aired: October 3rd, 1981

Synopsis: When a large meteor is at risk of destroying the city, Firestar flies out to destroy it, unaware that she's being watched by Shiro Yoshida, who is the mutant Sunfire, and his uncle Genju. Genju wants Sunfire to recruit Firestar, ostensibly so that they can power up his fusion reactor and help the world, but really so that he can create a giant fire monster he can use for evil purposes. Shortly afterwards, Iceman, Spider-Man, and Firestar are at a carnival where Shiro is showing off his uncle's electronic company's samurai robots, when Aunt May ends up in danger when the helicopter she accidentally climbed into starts to have problems. Sunfire and Firestar save her, and Iceman realises that he recognises Sunfire as someone he's fought in the past. Shortly afterwards, Sunfire invites Firestar to meet with him by writing her name in the sky in flames. While she goes out flying with him, Iceman and Spider-Man decide to investigate Genju's electronics company, but Spider-Man ends up captured.

Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends Episode Three: The Fantastic Mr. Frump

The Fantastic Mr. Frump

First Aired: September 26th, 1981

Synopsis: Doctor Doom is performing a ritual atop the Latverian embassy which will give him unlimited power, which requires all four quarters of an amulet. Which he's performing it, Spider-Man, Firestar, and Iceman in their civilian guises run into Mr. Frump, an elderly man who used to help Aunt May out but who has recently had a string of bad luck. Peter reassures him that something good will come up. The three heroes change into their alter egos and decide to race home, but along the way Spider-Man runs into Doctor Doom performing the ritual. Spider-Man attacks Doom, who drops the amulet off the roof. Mr. Frump picks it up right as the ritual was about to be finished, and ends up with unlimited power, although he doesn't realise it yet. Spider-Man and his friends continue fighting Doom while Mr. Frump slowly learns about his power, before he begins experimenting with it. The effects of his reality warping soon reach the fight, where each hero and Doom have acquired a piece of the amulet. Mr. Frump wonders how he got his powers and as such Doom appears before him. Doom manipulates Mr. Frump into working with him, and Frump turns the heroes to stone.

Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends Episode Two: The Crime of All Centuries

The Crime of All Centuries

First Aired: September 19th, 1981

Synopsis: Peter Parker comments that a new movie about a dinosaur on the rampage is popular thanks to Kraven the Hunter hunting dinosaurs in the Savage Land. Unbeknownst to him, while Kraven is catching dinosaurs in the Savage Land, he's also taking their eggs. He plans to use a ray to hatch and rapidly evolve them, then use his dinosaur army to hold New York hostage. He needs two things: a famous ruby, and Firestar, as her heat will be needed for the ray. Kraven heads to New York and "accidentally" releases a pterodactyl he's got. When Firestar stops it, he thanks her and invites her to a museum where he's got an exhibition of his dinosaurs. Peter and Bobby are both dismissive of Kraven when they find out, but end up coming to the exhibition anyway. Bobby also mentions that he needs rent money. At the exhibition, Kraven is showing off his dinosaurs but they're unexpectedly released from their cages and go on a rampage.

Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends Episode One: The Triumph of the Green Goblin

The Triumph of the Green Goblin

First Aired: September 12th, 1981

Synopsis: On a stormy night in New York City, Spider-Man and Iceman work together to stop some jewel thieves before heading off, saying that they've both got dates. In the air, a private plane containing Norman Osborn and a pilot is struck with lightning. Norman and the pilot parachute out, but upon landing Norman finds himself turning into the Green Goblin. Iceman and Spider-Man, meanwhile, meet up in their civilian guises with Firestar and a friend of theirs called Mona. The four of them go to a costume party, but Peter's spider-sense soon tingles and he heads off to investigate. He finds the Green Goblin searching the building. The Goblin has his gadgets, but is looking for his formula, which he'll use to turn all of New York into creatures like him. The Goblin paralyses Spider-Man with a ray, then sets up a trap for Firestar, who's looking for him, which will freeze her with liquid nitrogen.

Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends: Before Watching

Not to rehash some of my posts about the 1981 Spider-Man series, but Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends is the much better-remembered Spider-Man cartoon of the early 1980s. With the two cartoons airing at the same time, inevitable comparisons are going to be made. Given that Amazing Friends has a fairly positive reception, I'm curious about how much of that reputation it deserves. Does it owe its reputation to nostalgia, or will the show manage to tell competent stories, with the pacing and plot points that have often been lacking from the previous two shows I've seen?

Honestly, it's hard not to feel optimistic at this point. Iceman and Firestar could very well add a good character dynamic to complement Spider-Man, and while the use of them is a little out of the blue, with Firestar having been created for the cartoon, I can think of far, far worse characters to team up Spider-Man with. I like both characters on their own, both thanks to their personalities and powers. At this stage, the main worries I have about this series are that we'll get some formulaic and predictable plots, but I'm hoping that my enjoyment of the three main characters will manage to counteract the worst of it.

Spider-Man (1981): After Watching

The 1981 Spider-Man cartoon is often overlooked, appearing as more of a footnote in comparison to its much more popular sibling, Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends. Having watched the entirety of the series, is it fair? Does Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends hold more of the spotlight because it's genuinely better, or is it unfairly taking attention away from this hidden gem?

Well, I can't answer that, because I haven't seen Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends yet. What I can answer, however, is how this show compares with the previous series, which first aired in 1967. For a start, the exclusion of episodes made up of recycled animation - both from the show itself and other shows - feels like a breath of fresh air. I don't want to be too harsh on the 1967 series, but going into this and knowing that I'm not getting weak animation is an absolute blessing. Something else I was a big fan of was that the 1981 series was experimenting more with the wider Marvel Universe, showing off unexpected heroes and villains from other series. On the downside, I would have been keen to see an episode or two of the 1981 series directly adapting a comic book issue, as happened with several of the stronger 1967 series episodes.

So, the show's got quite a bit going for it when comparing to the previous series. How does it stand up when we're not doing a comparison? Unfortunately, a lot of the episodes are forgettable, or mediocre at best. A lot of them fall into that category of, "Well, it got a lot of stuff right, but it also got a lot of stuff wrong," and so there were few that I really strongly enjoyed. To the cartoon's credit, this might be more due to what was expected from the story of a cartoon at the time, and I can see what the creators were aiming for a lot of the time. The attempt at an ongoing story arc involving Doctor Doom, while ultimately not up to my standards, is encouraging, and I'm glad that the creators tried.

I didn't talk about it much in my reviews, but one of the most fascinating things I found about this show was the character of Mortimer, J. Jonah Jameson's nephew, who is introduced as a rival to Peter, and then proceeds to do absolutely nothing. Who is this character, and why was he created? This feels weird to type, but I'd love to see him show up in a future Spider-Man work, with his character more fleshed out and making more appearances overall. There's potential in him, if you ask me.

With all of the above in mind, I'm going to finish off my thoughts on this series with a list of the top five and the worst five episodes, so that you, the intelligent reader, know what to look forwards to and what to avoid if you decide to check out this series.

Spider-Man (1981) Episode Twenty-Six: Under the Wizard's Spell

Under the Wizard's Spell

First Aired: March 6th, 1982

Synopsis: Spider-Man is accused by a policeman of being behind some trouble some roller blading youths committed, but is unexpectedly bailed out by Medusa of the Inhumans, who is in New York for an unspecified reason. Spider-Man laments that she doesn't have time for him when she leaves. Medusa meets up with the Wizard, who first asks her to help him commit crimes, and when she refuses, attaches a collar to her neck that lets him control her. Medusa and the Wizard soon steal a rare metal at an exhibition Peter Parker is conveniently attending, and he changes to Spider-Man to stop them. Although Medusa saves Spider-Man when he's nearly crushed to death, she nevertheless gets away with the Wizard. When Spider-Man and Medusa meet up in Central Park later, she's evasive when Spider-Man asks what she was doing with the Wizard, and convinces Spider-Man to meet her at a water tower later, something the Wizard plans to exploit.

Spider-Man (1981) Episode Twenty-Five: The Return of Kingpin

The Return of Kingpin

First Aired: February 27th, 1982

Synopsis: Spider-Man saves a man from being mugged, and afterwards is approached by a man named Hal Hunter, who claims to represent a talent agency that wants to hire Spider-Man. Spider-Man is reluctant to do so, but after Aunt May says that Spider-Man is only in it for the money and being unable to afford a holiday to Hawaii for it, he changes his mind and goes to Hunter, not knowing that Kingpin is behind Hunter and that this is all a scheme of his. Spider-Man's first task for Hunter is to take photos of a museum exhibit, but unbeknownst to him his camera records the security systems at the museum, and it's robbed that night.

Spider-Man (1981) Episode Twenty-Four: Wrath of the Sub-Mariner

Wrath of the Sub-Mariner

First Aired: February 20th, 1982

Synopsis: Spider-Man tries to do what he can to get Silvermane and Man-Mountain Marko, criminals, arrested, but he can't as they're only wanted for crimes on the West Coast. Meanwhile, the Kingpin's head scientist has invented a formula which melts metal, allowing Kingpin to break into what vaults he wants. The waste produced in creating the formula is dumped into the ocean, leading to Namor's cousin Namorita getting sick and falling into a coma. Namor starts attacking the surface world in revenge, but is soon knocked out by the very pollution he sought to destroy. Spider-Man helps him recover and gives him an encouraging speech, leading to Namor both owing Spider-Man a favour and going to see J. Jonah Jameson to use his newspaper to stop pollution. At the same time, Spider-Man goes after Silvermane, who's meeting with Kingpin, Hammerhead, and Caesar Cicero to discuss a crime alliance on a yacht.

Spider-Man (1981) Episode Twenty-Three: The Vulture has Landed

The Vulture has Landed

First Aired: February 13th, 1982

Synopsis: Spider-Man fails to save a scientist from being kidnapped by the Vulture, and shortly afterwards finds from J. Jonah Jameson that Vulture has been kidnapping several scientists. J. Jonah Jameson wants Peter Parker to get in touch with Harry Osborn for a quote about all of this. When Peter goes to see Harry, he's temporarily lost his civilian clothes due to some window cleaners removing the webbing he'd hidden them in, and so he first of all sneaks in and grabs some of Harry's clothes. Vulture appears at this point and, mistaking Peter for Harry, kidnaps him and takes him to his blimp in the sky. The other scientists have been forced to help Vulture, including making him robotic birds, and Vulture forces "Harry" to help him make his blimp invisible. With Peter's only other option being to be dropped out of the blimp, he agrees to.

Spider-Man (1981) Episode Twenty-Two: Arsenic and Aunt May

Arsenic and Aunt May

First Aired: February 6th, 1982

Synopsis: Spider-Man helps the police catch a cat burglar, who is taken to prison and placed in the same cell as the Chameleon. The burglar turns out to be the cousin of Uncle Ben's killer, and tells the Chameleon this as well as what he knows of Spider-Man's origin. Between these facts and the Chameleon's knowledge of Peter Parker, it gives him an idea to get rid of Spider-Man. He escapes from prison and then uses disguises to manipulate Aunt May into seeing a spirit medium, the Great Mentarr, who is himself in disguise. Using special effects, he tricks Aunt May into thinking that she's seeing the dead Uncle Ben, who urges her to kill Spider-Man since it's his fault he's dead. Chameleon also gives Aunt May an amulet which he can use to send her more messages from Uncle Ben.

Spider-Man (1981) Episode Twenty-One: Countdown to Doom

Countdown to Doom

First Aired: January 30th, 1982

Synopsis: A rocket launch is about to happen which will place Doctor Doom's laser cannon from Canon of Doom into space. Peter Parker is in attendance, and when a hose pumping liquid nitrogen into the rocket comes loose, he changes to Spider-Man and saves the day. Unbeknownst to him, Doctor Doom is watching the launch, and is secretly grateful to Spider-Man for allowing the launch to continue. Once the rocket is launched into space, Doom takes control of it remotely, and launches the laser from space at some volcanoes, causing them to erupt. The impact knocks Earth out of its orbit, and Doom blackmails the world into making him the absolute ruler since only he can save everyone from the new weather patterns caused by the new orbit.

Temporary Hiatus

Due to some issues getting the internet set up at the new place I moved to over the weekend, the site will be on a temporary hiatus. I'm optimistic that it will only be for about a week or so, delaying only two or three posts.

Apologies for the inconvenience.

Spider-Man (1981) Episode Twenty: The Web of Nephilia

The Web of Nephilia

First Aired: January 23rd, 1982

Synopsis: While Spider-Man saves some people from a fire one day, a woman named Penny nearby takes a sample of his webbing, and tricks him into nicking his finger on a trick pen so that she gets a blood sample. She takes the webbing and the blood to her scientist boyfriend, Doctor Bradley Shaw, and gets him to start researching it. Shortly afterwards, after being goaded by Penny, Shaw uses his research to try and replicate Spider-Man's powers, but unbeknownst to him, Penny sabotages the experiment, turning him into a half-spider, half-human monster. Meanwhile, there's a blood drive at the Daily Bugle, but Peter is making excuses not to donate since his blood is radioactive. J. Jonah Jameson grows angry when he hears this, having donated himself, and tells Peter not to come to the Daily Bugle until he donates. Shortly afterwards, Shaw, now calling himself Nephilia, is goaded into attacking Spider-Man, and after capturing him in webbing, tosses him away, telling him to beware his power.

Spider-Man (1981) Episode Nineteen: The Doom Report

The Doom Report

First Aired: January 16th, 1982

Synopsis: The Latverian man Johan, who escaped Latveria in Canon of Doom, manages to make his way to New York, where he meets the Latverian Underground. They recommend that he go to the Daily Bugle to expose the conditions in Latveria, but after he leaves we find out that they're actually spies working for Doctor Doom. While J. Jonah Jameson doesn't listen to Johan's story, Peter Parker nearby does, and he takes Johan to his house to interview him. After the interview, Betty Brant assists in typing up the interview, but is captured by Doom's spies until Peter frees her as Spider-Man. They get out the story to newspapers other than the Bugle, and as a result the UN decide to bring Doom to trial. At the same time, Johan gets on a plane to return home, but Peter suspects something is off, and accompanies him as Spider-Man. He's soon proven to be correct when Doom hijacks their plane.

Spider-Man (1981) Episode Eighteen: The Capture of Captain America

The Capture of Captain America

First Aired: January 9th, 1982

Synopsis: Spider-Man sees a billboard about Captain America, and finds out shortly afterwards as Peter Parker that J. Jonah Jameson is a big fan. Jonah makes Peter watch a video recapping Cap's origin, and then declares that he's going to run a celebration called Captain America Day. On the day of the actual event, Jonah is knocked out and replaced with a disguised Red Skull, who gets into a fight with Cap when he arrives. Peter changes to Spider-Man to try and help, but only ends up getting in the way. Although Spider-Man's able to get a spider-tracer on Cap's shield, he's unable to stop the Red Skull from capturing Captain America. The real J. Jonah Jameson claims that Spider-Man did it on purpose, and riles up the crowd into hating Spider-Man.

Spider-Man (1981) Episode Seventeen: Canon of Doom

Canon of Doom

First Aired: January 2nd, 1982

Synopsis: In Latveria, Doctor Doom's assistant Boris opposes the way Doom treats his citizens, but Doom doesn't listen. He detonates some explosions around the world, which leads to a fault line being created under New York. Shortly afterwards, Doom heads to New York, where he is staying with J. Jonah Jameson. Peter Parker, meanwhile, wants to send his sick Aunt May to Florida to stay with a cousin and get better, but can't afford to. He reads in the newspaper about the new fault line, but it's mostly a theory at this point and scoffed at by scientists. When Peter hears from Betty Brant and his best friend Robbie Robertson that Jonah is currently hosting Doom, he heads over there almost immediately, certain that Doom is up to something. He's correct, as Doom is using a laser cannon to bore into the earth below Jonah's estate, right into the new fault. Peter tries to stop the laser as Spider-Man, but before he can it triggers an earthquake, and Spider-Man falls into a fissure in the ground.

Spider-Man (1981) Episode Sixteen: The Unfathomable Professor Gizmo

The Unfathomable Professor Gizmo

First Aired: December 26th, 1981

Synopsis: The villainous Professor Gizmo has a plan to raise the sunken Spanish ship, El Conquistador, from the ocean, so that he can acquire the gold on it, but will need Spider-Man's help since only Spider-Man can survive pressure at those levels. Shortly afterwards, Professor Gizmo attacks a yacht J. Jonah Jameson is hosting a party on, hoping to draw out Spider-Man. It's unsuccessful since Peter Parker - who is on the yacht - lost his mask in the subway. Professor Gizmo next steals a plane from the Smithsonian, before controlling machinery all over New York to rob several banks. While J. Jonah Jameson of course thinks that Spider-Man is working with Gizmo, Robbie Robertson - Peter's best friend - defends him. Professor Gizmo then announces via blimp that he'll trade all of the loot he's stolen for Spider-Man.

Spider-Man (1981) Episode Fifteen: The Incredible Shrinking Spider-Man

The Incredible Shrinking Spider-Man

First Aired: December 19th, 1981

Synopsis: A scientist, Professor Norton, demonstrates a shrinking ray he's invented to assorted press reporters, including members of the Daily Bugle. In the middle of the demonstration, a villain named the Gadgeteer, who was seen earlier as an evil-looking cleaner, shows up and manages to steal the shrinking ray. When Peter Parker changes to Spider-Man and confronts him, he ends up getting shrunken down to tiny size. The Gadgeteer then gets away, while Spider-Man has to deal with a cat in the laboratory that wants to paw at him. He gets away and tries to call Aunt May, but his voice is so quiet that she can't hear him.

Spider-Man (1981) Episode Fourteen: The Hunter and the Hunted

The Hunter and the Hunted

First Aired: December 12th, 1981

Synopsis: In spite of the objections of Betty Brant and Robbie Robertson (Peter Parker's best friend),  J. Jonah Jameson has hired Kraven the Hunter to capture Zabu, Ka-Zar's sabretooth tiger, so that he can be a mascot for the Daily Bugle. Kraven is successful in doing so and leaves the Savage Land with Zabu, delivering Zabu to J. Jonah Jameson once he's back in New York. Unbeknownst to him, Ka-Zar saw him leaving the Savage Land, and manages to make his way to New York using a combination of flying a pterodactyl and stowing aboard a plane. Once he's in the streets, he runs around causing chaos in his search for Zabu. He's paranoid enough that when Spider-Man shows up to talk to him, Ka-Zar assumes that Spider-Man is there to stop him, and attacks Spider-Man.

Spider-Man (1981) Episode Thirteen: The Sidewinder Strikes!

The Sidewinder Strikes

First Aired: December 5th, 1981

Synopsis: Spider-Man stops a herd of rampaging bulls in the streets of New York, which he finds out are there due to an upcoming rodeo in Madison Square Garden. Shortly afterwards, some solid gold spurs belonging to Wild Willy Wilkins, a collector of all things Western and the owner of the rodeo, are transported via the subway. Peter Parker is there as part of a human interest story when the villain Sidewinder attacks the subway with his gang on flying robotic horses. Sidewinder temporary gets away with the solid gold spurs, but Spider-Man manages to get them back and deliver them to Wilkins, who declares that Spider-Man will be a guest of honour at the rodeo.

Spider-Man (1981) Episode Twelve: The A-B-C's of D-O-O-M

The A-B-C's of D-O-O-M

First Aired: November 28th, 1981

Synopsis: Doctor Doom is in a mountain fighting a bald man named Goron, who can shoot lasers from his eyes and teleport small objects. Doom stops the fight by proposing that he give Goron control over half of the world, which Goron agrees to. Shortly afterwards, world leaders are invited to Latveria to see Doctor Doom's latest invention - gigantic fruit and vegetables which can help solve world hunger. Although the American ambassador is suspicious of Doom, Goron shoots some sort of laser from his eyes at him which gets him on Doom's side. Later, Goron gives a public demonstration of the giant food which wows the audience - with the exception of Spider-Man, who is in attendance. When Spider-Man sneaks backstage, Goron has Spider-Man attacked by giant mushrooms, which he claims eat insects.

Spider-Man (1981) Episode Eleven: Triangle of Evil

Triangle of Evil

First Aired: November 21st, 1981

Synopsis: Peter Parker finds out that he and Aunt May are running low on money to pay their bills, but while he's trying to work out what to do about it, sees an announcement on TV that a diamond and urn are going to be stolen. While stopping the robberies, he ends up causing a lot of collateral damage that he's billed for. He sees a reality show which he can go on which would get him the money to pay the bills - both personal and as Spider-Man - but unbeknownst to him, the villainous Stuntman, who was behind the robberies, has arranged with the reality show that he and Spider-Man will compete against each other. Stuntman used to be a stuntman who was robbing the studio he was working for until he was caught by Spider-Man. When he was running away, a bolt of lightning struck him, fusing the costume he was wearing at the time to his body, so now he wants revenge on Spider-Man.

Spider-Man (1981) Episode Ten: Revenge of the Green Goblin

Revenge of the Green Goblin

First Aired: November 14th, 1981

Synopsis: Norman Osborn is in a devastating train crash, but after emerging from the wreck, has a grin on his face. A bit later, Peter Parker and Betty Brant are at a university Halloween party, when Peter's spider-sense tingles. He goes to the science lab, where he finds the Green Goblin, who activates a freeze ray which prevents him from moving. The Goblin reveals that he's here since he had a hidden costume here, and then uses a device to project his thoughts and show his origin and some previous fights Spider-Man and he had, including their final one, where he lost his memory. He reveals that the train crash from the start of the episode restored his memory, including that of Spider-Man's real identity: Peter Parker.

Spider-Man (1981) Episode Nine: Carnival of Crime

Carnival of Crime

First Aired: November 7th, 1981

Synopsis: Spider-Man has committed several robberies recently, although Peter Parker notes that in spite of what the news thinks, he didn't do so, and that he'll have to clear his name soon. While Peter leaves for the carnival with Aunt May, J. Jonah Jameson assigns his nephew Mortimer to cover a gold shipment which is coming in, warning him that Spider-Man might rob it. While Peter, Aunt May, and Betty Brant are all at the carnival, Peter's spider-sense tingles, and he sneaks off to investigate as Spider-Man. He finds that the Circus of Crime are present at the carnival, and are apparently responsible for the robberies he's supposedly been committing, using the Ringmaster's hypno-gas to convince people that Spider-Man was behind their robberies.

Spider-Man (1981) Episode Eight: The Doctor Prescribes Doom

The Doctor Prescribes Doom

First Aired: October 31st, 1981

Synopsis: Doctor Doom has a new plan to take over the world - he's created robot duplicates of the members of the United Nations and will use them to vote himself in as the ruler. When it's announced that he'll be coming to New York, J. Jonah Jameson insists that he and Peter Parker go along to the UN to see him. Whilst Peter sneaks off to take photos as Spider-Man, Jonah is, unbeknownst to Peter, also replaced with a robot. To Peter's shock, Doom is voted in as ruler of the world by the UN. Peter is perplexed by this, even more so the following day when the Jonah robot acts uncharacteristically kind to him, but manages to work out what's happened when a lecturer of his at uni mentions robots.

Spider-Man (1981) Episode Seven: The Pied Piper of New York Town

The Pied Piper of New York Town

First Aired: October 24th, 1981

Synopsis: At Mysterio's nightclub disco hour show, there's an advertisement saying that Spider-Man will appear. Spider-Man does show up, suspecting a trap, and is proven correct when Mysterio activates hypnotic music which lets him get the attendees to attack Spider-Man. Spider-Man escapes, but the next day at university Mysterio activates the same music. As Peter Parker, he goes along with the crowd and pretends to be hypnotised, but has to switch to Spider-Man to save a similarly-hypnotised J. Jonah Jameson from falling off a building. Mysterio commands his hypnotised army to rob a bank, and when he reveals that he has music which lets him hypnotise Spider-Man too, Spider-Man is locked up in the bank's vault.

Spider-Man (1981) Episode Six: When Magneto Speaks...People Listen

When Magneto Speaks...People Listen

First Aired: October 17th, 1981

Synopsis: A blackout occurs all up the East Coast, in addition to a bunch of communication satellites disappearing. The next day, a mysterious silhouetted man calling himself Mr. M claims responsibility and says that he'll restore the electricity and satellites if he's paid $100,000,000 in gold. The government has three days to do so. When Peter Parker is at home that day, Aunt May mentions that a new satellite is launching that night. Peter figures that Mr. M will try to take this one out, and so he heads to the launch site as Spider-Man. While looking around the base, he finds Mr. M in the process of preparing to stop the satellite, as well as Mr. M's true identity: Magneto!

Spider-Man (1981) Episode Five: The Sandman is Coming

The Sandman is Coming

First Aired: October 10th, 1981

Synopsis: Peter Parker and a fellow classmate of his, Sally-Ann Beaumont, are witnessing the landing of the first Mars explorer. Once it's landed, Sandman appears and steals the soil sample inside, which is irradiated and therefore gives him powers when he absorbs it into himself. When Peter switches to Spider-Man and fights him, his mask is ripped and he ends up fleeing so his identity isn't exposed. Back in New York, he receives a telegram from the school board saying that he has to show up to a disciplinary hearing at 4 PM or else risk being expelled. With little time left before the hearing, Peter switches to Spider-Man and starts web-swinging there, but on the way has to intervene in a bank robbery Sandman is in the middle of. When he confronts Sandman, Sandman is able to use his irradiation from the Martian soil to somehow knock out Spider-Man.

Spider-Man (1981) Episode Four: Curiosity Killed the Spider-Man

Curiosity Killed the Spider-Man

First Aired: October 3rd, 1981

Synopsis: Spider-Man is planning to meet Betty Brant at the Daily Bugle's New Years party, but when he sees the Black Cat breaking in he has to go in to stop her as she pickpockets the guests. Although he manages to capture her and carry her out of the party, she manages to escape. The next day, she returns to the Daily Bugle and tells J. Jonah Jameson to print an announcement that she'll steal the Maltese Mouse, a rare statue that's coming to America. When Peter Parker tries to stop her as Spider-Man, he's briefly waylaid by a decoy armoured truck, and has to quickly call up Betty Brant to postpone another date he has with her. He manages to make his way to the ship where the Black Cat is stealing the Mouse, and after an extended chase sequence, he manages to recover it from her, although she gets away. In the aftermath, he's offered a job to guard the Mouse when it appears on a host show that night.

Spider-Man (1981) Episode Three: Lizards, Lizards, Everywhere

Lizards, Lizards, Everywhere

First Aired: September 26th, 1981

Synopsis: A zoo has its reptiles mysteriously freed, leading to them attacking the civilians there. Spider-Man manages to save them, noting as he does so that he appears to be getting a cold. The reptiles all manage to escape, and it's revealed that the Lizard was the one who freed them. He steals a subway car and intentionally derails it, so that he can block off a section of subway tunnel to use as a breeding ground for his reptiles. When he tries to steal another subway car to block off the other end, Spider-Man hears about it, and although he doesn't stop Lizard from derailing that one, he does save the civilians that were onboard this train.

Spider-Man (1981) Episode Two: Dr. Doom, Master of the World

Dr. Doom, Master of the World

First Aired: September 19th, 1981

Synopsis: In his flying blimp, Doctor Doom captures Air Force One with the US President aboard. When Peter Parker, waiting at the airport to get photos of the president, hears the plane went missing, he changes to Spider-Man and manages to get a ride in a World War I-era plane with a slightly kooky old man. They coincidentally pass the blimp, and Spider-Man webs to it and breaks in. Unbeknownst to him, Doom is using robots to perform surgery on the president and insert a device which will allow him to control him. Spider-Man gets into a brief fight with some robots before Doom pulls a lever which drops Spider-Man and Air Force One out of the blimp. Air Force One continues to the airport, but not before Spider-Man takes some photos of the president from the outside. By the next day, Doom has finished performing surgery on everyone in the United Nations, and he plans on using them to declare himself the ruler of the world.

Spider-Man (1981) Episode One: Bubble, Bubble, Oil and Trouble

Bubble, Bubble, Oil and Trouble

First Aired: September 12th, 1981

Synopsis: Spider-Man encounters Doctor Octopus stealing a ruby from a museum, and after a brief scuffle in which Ock gets away, Spider-Man notices that Octopus didn't steal any more valuable items. While doing research for his homework on landmarks of New York, Spider-Man later encounters Octopus at university, this time getting away with a chunk of quartz. Although as Peter Parker he wants time to do his homework, he ends up tracking down Octopus to his hidden sewer base. Octopus successfully traps Spider-Man in the base and then floods it with water before escaping.

Spider-Man (1981): Before Watching

It's hard to sum up my feelings regarding going into the 1981 Spider-Man series, but overall, I'd have to say that I'm cautiously optimistic. It feels like when people think of the Spider-Man cartoon of the 1980s, their minds immediately jump to Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends, the show which comes after this (and which, rest assured, I will be viewing after this). Why exactly is that? Is this show bad, or mediocre, in comparison? Was it unpopular, and necessitated a retool into Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends to maintain viewer interest? Certainly Amazing Friends does feature Iceman and Firestar which gives it an identity of its own, but that doesn't mean that this series is necessarily going to be bad.

It's been over a decade by this point since Spider-Man last had a cartoon of his own. In the time in-between, he's gotten two new comic series, failed to save Gwen Stacy, been cloned, proposed to Mary Jane, confronted the burglar who killed Uncle Ben, and much more beyond that. How much of this is going to make it into the show? The 1967 show surprised me with how often it adapted comic issues, including ones which were pretty recent at the time. By now, is Spider-Man enough of a pop-culture juggernaut that a cartoon can't afford to alienate viewers by introducing some of the, shall we say, more out-there concepts of the later episodes of the 1967 series?

Spider-Man (1967): After Watching

It's taken almost exactly half a year, but the entirety of the 1967 Spider-Man cartoon has been viewed and commented on. There were high points, there were low points, there were some points of surprising quality and points of wasted potential. Now that I've actually seen this artifact, how does the overall product look?

Well, as I've mentioned several times in the posts themselves, the quality drops notably after the first season finishes. While I wouldn't call the first season the best cartoon I've seen, there were a lot of episodes that fell into the "it's fine" camp when I was expecting them to be forgettable at best, horrible at worst. Episodes directly adapted from comic stories were, naturally, highlights, but there were also some surprisingly good original stories told in all. There's some goofy animation, sure, and some of the plots really shouldn't be thought about too much, but I'd be lying if I said that there was no entertainment value.

Once we get to the second season and third seasons, though...hooo, boy. I'm not going to say that every episode was bad by any means, but the quality of the writing dropped pretty noticeably, not to mention the animation quality. Worst of all were the episodes which recycled animation from another episode but told more or less the same story - I understand why they did it, but that doesn't make the episode automatically entertaining.

To finish off this brief summary, I'm going to present my top ten favourite stories of the series, as well as my top ten worst stories so that you, the intelligent reader, know what to look forwards to and what to avoid if you decide to check out this series. For fairness' sake, I'll be excluding episodes which are adaptations of comic stories, as otherwise the top ten list would probably be just them.

Spider-Man (1967) Episode Fifty-Two: Trip to Tomorrow

Trip to Tomorrow

First Aired: June 14th, 1970

Synopsis: While swinging around the city, Spider-Man ends up falling through the rusted roof of a train carriage where he encounters a young boy named Tom, who has run away from home wanting to be a hero. When Tom asks Spider-Man about being a hero, Spider-Man tells him about the time he fought Volton, the time he discovered Mysterio was behind the illusion of the Flying Dutchman, and the time he fought Kotep. Once he has finished, Tom leaves the train, deciding that being a hero is too much for him.

Spider-Man (1967) Episode Fifty-One: Down to Earth

Down to Earth

First Aired: June 7th, 1970

Synopsis: A mysterious meteor has been seen flying towards Earth, which some people think might be created artificially by aliens due to two large antennae-like protrusions on in. J. Jonah Jameson wants photos of the meteor, and gets a tip about where the meteor is set to land - the North Pole. He sends out Peter Parker to photograph it, along with a reporter. The two fly a plane there which ends up crashing, and upon Peter coming to, he finds that the reporter has disappeared. Exiting the plane, he sees a primitive tribe with the meteor, and works out that they want to throw it into a volcano, which will cause the North Pole to explode because the meteor is radioactive.

Spider-Man (1967) Episode Fifty: Specialists and Slaves

Specialists and Slaves

First Aired: May 31st, 1970

Synopsis: The villain from Swing City, now calling himself the Radiation Specialist, manages to take over a nuclear power plant. Knowing that Spider-Man might stop him, he uses a remote-controlled car to lure Spider-Man out of Manhattan with a recording which makes it seem that a hostage is inside. Once the Specialist has done so, he covers the city with radiation, which apparently makes it so that weak-willed minds can be controlled by him, and which somehow makes Manhattan float into the sky. Spider-Man reaches the car, but finds out how he's been tricked, and swings underneath Manhattan before returning to the city by crawling through a sewer pipe.

Spider-Man (1967) Episode Forty-Nine: Revolt in the Fifth Dimension

Revolt in the Fifth Dimension

First Aired: It would have been May 24th, 1970, but...

Synopsis: Spider-Man is staring at stars, which transitions into space where a red, cyclopean monster is destroying planets for "daring to probe the secrets of Dimension Five!" Elsewhere, two blue-headed aliens lament the destruction and blame themselves for discovering Dimension Five, while mentioning that the villain is named Infinata. One of the aliens copies the entirety of their library onto what's essentially a spherical USB Drive, and then flies off into space to get it to safety. Infinata detects the space ship, and sends his minions out to stop it. While the alien is able to temporarily protect himself, his ship ends up crashing in New York.

Spider-Man (1967) Episode Forty-Eight: Rhino / The Madness of Mysterio

Rhino

(Sorry, due to some technical issues there's no screenshot for this story.)

First Aired: May 17th, 1970

Synopsis: Spider-Man is swinging around when he sees Rhino charging into a gold depository. Rhino manages to escape with the gold, which J. Jonah Jameson later says to Peter Parker was supposed to go to Fort Knox. When Spider-Man is later riding on top of a government train, Rhino attacks that too, and steals the gold within it.

Rhino continues his robberies, stealing gold as the ship it's on arrives at the docks, and from a submarine arriving in the harbour. It turns out that he's trying to make a statue of himself with the gold. Spider-Man arrives at his hideout, and tries fighting him, but Rhino manages to get away. He hides the statue in the sewers, but Spider-Man follows him down there and anticlimatically defeats him by covering him with webbing.

Spider-Man (1967) Episode Forty-Seven: Rollarama

Rollarama

First Aired: May 10th, 1970

Synopsis: After a perplexing shot of a giant ball rolling down the streets of New York, we cut to Peter Parker and his apparent girlfriend Susan, investigating an old house it apparently came from. The house apparently belonged to Doctor Karl von Glutz, who hasn't been seen for years. Susan finds a smaller version of the ball, which is pulsing, and a mysterious glowing door. Peter recognises the door as being the Glutz machine, which apparently leads to the land of crystal creation. They find a manual for it that states that von Glutz found seeds outside a cave, which expand rapidly when exposed to air. They suddenly find that the smaller version of the ball has grown, and rolled towards the army base in town - but is teetering at the edge of a precipice, not having gone down yet. Peter decides, of course, that the only thing to do is to go into the Glutz machine as Spider-Man to find a solution to the problem.

Spider-Man (1967) Episode Forty-Six: Up From Nowhere

Up From Nowhere

First Aired: May 3rd, 1970

Synopsis: In the waters outside New York, a mysterious transport appears. Inside, its green-skinned occupant, Dr. Atlantean, comments on how he'll attack New York soon for Atlantis. At university, a lecture Peter Parker is attending talks about Atlantis, and how although Atlantis was thought to have been destroyed, their technologies were likely more advanced than suspected and they may have survived to the present day. Shortly afterwards, Dr. Atlantean activates a device from his base which causes violent shaking in New York, leading to buildings cracking in half. While people panic, Dr. Atlantean demands that all authorities disband so that Atlantis can take over.

Spider-Man (1967) Episode Forty-Five: Knight Must Fall / The Devious Dr. Dumpty

Knight Must Fall

First Aired: April 26th, 1970

Synopsis: In New York at night, a theatre is being robbed by two thugs. Unexpectedly, a knight in full-plate armour, claiming to be Sir Galahad, shows up and stops them. Spider-Man shows up shortly afterwards and tries to stop Sir Galahad, but fails to do so. Galahad gets away on a motorcycle which he refers to as his trusty steed. A photo is taken of Spider-Man which makes it look as though he stole the money, and J. Jonah Jameson is annoyed that Peter Parker didn't get a similar photo. Galahad later goes after an armoured truck and robs it, thinking that the money inside it was stolen. Spider-Man tries stopping him once more, but is again unsuccessful.

Spider-Man (1967) Episode Forty-Four: Super Swami / The Birth of Micro Man

Super Swami

First Aired: April 19th, 1970

Synopsis: On a hot day, the sun turns into a giant eye and shoots a laser at the Brooklyn Bridge. It disappears, but the cars upon it are unaffected by gravity. While Spider-Man tries to save the people on the bridge, the eye shoots more things around the city. In the mayor's office, a very racist caricature appears on the TV and declares that he is Koga, and that he is responsible for what's going on. He then creates a snowstorm. While Spider-Man swings through it, he gets buffeted about by strong winds, before somehow ending up in a glass ball controlled by Koga, before breaking one of the sides.

Spider-Man (1967) Episode Forty-Three: The Vanishing Dr. Vespasian / Scourge of the Scarf

The Vanishing Dr. Vespasian

First Aired: April 12th, 1970

Synopsis: The scientist Doctor Vespasian manages to perfect his invisibility formula, which he gives to his dog before drinking some himself. He comments on what a fantastic invention it is. Shortly afterwards, Spider-Man is called in to see the mayor. A string of bank robberies has been happening recently, and the police are baffled as to how they've been pulled off. Spider-Man says he'll work it out. Shortly afterwards, we see Vespasian and a group of gangsters he's working with say that their target is Spider-Man, for some reason. They lure him to a bank robbery in place, but when Spider-Man arrives, he's attacked by Vespasian's invisible dog.

Spider-Man (1967) Episode Forty-Two: Sky Harbour / The Big Brainwasher

Sky Harbour

First Aired: April 5th, 1970

Synopsis: A giant base, held aloft by two zeppelins attached to it, is soaring through the air. The villains declare that their day will soon come, and send out several antiquated planes. The planes attack a commercial plane, which is destroyed. As a result, air travel all around the world is suspended, and the UN have a meeting to discuss what to do. The mayor of New York has a plan - he'll call in Spider-Man to help with the issue.

Spider-Man (1967) Episode Forty-One: Trouble with Snow / Spider-Man vs. Desperado

Trouble with Snow

First Aired: March 29th, 1970

Synopsis: In cold weather, an electrical line falls onto a snowman which, unbeknownst to anyone, has trace elements of chemicals in it. This, of course, brings it to life, and the snowman goes on a rampage, repeatedly grabbing and reaching for things with electricity flowing through them. Peter Parker witnesses this original rampage, and although he doesn't get a chance to switch to Spider-Man, he does take a sample of the snowman and analyses it. He detects chemicals in it, and upon visiting the site where the snowman originally was, is able to deduce its origins.