Spider-Man (1967) Episode Twenty-Three: Swing City

Swing City

First Aired: September 28th, 1968

Synopsis: While in science class, Peter Parker stares at his fellow student, Sonya, instead of listening to a lecture about a new industrial reactor which has been built in Manhattan. After the class is over, Sonya asks Peter to tutor her since she's bad at science. At the aforementioned reactor, a man calling himself the Master Technician breaks in and takes over it, ranting about how everyone laughs at him. He says that he will teach everyone about power as he has modified the reactor.

Shortly afterwards, when swinging around the city, Spider-Man is surprised to see the reactor turn on and release what the Master Technician calls anti-gravity rays, which launch Manhattan into the sky. When Spider-Man calls Sonya to cancel their lesson, she thinks that Peter is with another girl. Spider-Man manages to get into the reactor by approaching it from the bottom, where it's not guarded. Although the Master Technician is able to disable Spider-Man's powers, as they're derived from radiation and he has an anti-radiation formula, Spider-Man defeats him using his webbing, and barely manages to slow down Manhattan's descent when it starts falling from the sky.

"Spidey Swinging to Pad the Episode" Montages: 5, by my count.

Miscellaneous Notes:

• This episode features the first appearance of that classic high school bully of Peter Parker, Rodney Rogers. Wait, who?
• When the power plant initially turns on and causes an earthquake, Spider-Man is annoyed because it interrupts his tutoring Sonya. It's easy to forget, but even after losing his Uncle Ben, Peter could often be a bit of a jerk and selfish, particularly in the Silver Age - this initial reaction feels quite accurate.
• While the Master Technician is original to this episode, Doctor Octopus has been known in the comics as both the Master Planner and the Master Programmer.
• The Master Technician assumes that Spider-Man got his powers from radioactivity, since "nothing else could have done it." While this is pretty terrible radiation knowledge, it's excellent genre savviness. Also, it goes to show that he hasn't read JMS's Amazing Spider-Man run.

Review: Urgh, where to begin with this one? The Master Technician is one of the weakest villains of this series - his motivation barely makes any sense, his threat depends entirely on the reactor doing whatever the plot wants it to, and he's boring as all hell. On top of that, why the hell is he green? The one thing I'll say he has going for him is that he manages to turn off Spidey's super powers with SCIENCE! (as opposed to science), but what are the odds that this isn't followed up on in the future?

The few good points of this episode consist of introducing a new love interest for Peter and the cleverness of Spidey still being able to rely on his webbing after his powers are turned off, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't stretching. When Peter calls up Sonya to see if she's safe and she thinks he's just ditching her for another girl, it sets up a potential plot point - what does he say to her when he sees her next? I'd rather see that than this nonsense with the Master Technician, but really, what are the odds we never see Sonya again?

After some solid enough first two episodes of this season, this one kicks that reputation to the curb. As mentioned above, there is some potential here, and I'd like to see some ongoing continuity with Spider-Man technically still having lost his powers by the end of the episode. But then again...if we don't get acknowledgements of the events of this episode happening, maybe we can all pretend it never existed.

(Also, what's with the title? Unless it's referring to the scene where Spider-Man has to swing below Manhattan to get to the reactor, it makes no sense).