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.


Firestar protects herself with her powers, which has the side effect of undoing the Goblin's paralysis ray on Spider-Man. The Green Goblin has gone after Iceman's date Mona, who it turns out is his niece, and kidnaps her. Iceman, Spider-Man, and Firestar regroup, exchange information, and then go looking for the Goblin. Spider-Man finds him at his old factory, trying to force Mona to drink the Goblin formula. Spider-Man saves her, but the Goblin escapes and still plans on using the formula on all of New York. Spider-Man,  Firestar, and Iceman meet up again, and realise that the Goblin will be dumping the formula in New York's water reservoir. Iceman freezes the reservoir before it can mix in with the water, and Firestar extracts it. Spider-Man, meanwhile, fights the Goblin, who doesn't look where he's going. He crashes into some power lines, which turns him back into Norman Osborn, with amnesia once again. In the aftermath, Aunt May is discussing with the gang how horrible Spider-Man is, but it's okay, because Peter convinces her dog that Spider-Man is okay by feeding her a biscuit.

Miscellaneous Notes:

• As you can see above, this series uses title cards, a first for a Spider-Man series. I think it works quite well; title cards add a little something to a show. Plus they save me from hunting through the episode for a good screenshot.
• Is this the best Norman Osborn we've gotten yet? His opening line is, "I'm sorry I made you fly in this weather, but I had to leave the sanitarium immediately!" When the plane is struck by lightning, he parachutes out without hesitation, and upon landing, does a combat roll and shows no signs of damage from the fall. What a badass.
• At the costume party, all of the other partygoers are dressed as Marvel superheroes. Some were a little indistinct for me to recognise, but the ones  I spotted are: Black Widow, Hulk, Hellcat, Storm, Ka-Zar, Ms. Marvel, Namor, Wasp, a palette-swapped Luke Cage, Yellowjacket, Vision, Scarlet Witch, Jean Grey, Thor, Doctor Strange, Iron Man, the Thing, Valkyrie, and Daredevil. Peter is going as Spider-Man (in an obvious store-bought costume with a terrible mask), Bobby as Captain America, and Angelica as Spider-Woman. Mona is going as Medusa.
• Twice in this episode, when Spider-Man's spider-sense tingles, it's represented by his eyes glowing brightly, which is an interesting depiction, to say the least
• Norman Osborn's transformation to the Green Goblin is a physical change in addition to a mental one. It's not something I'm a big fan of, but it is prescient of Ultimate Green Goblin to an extent.
• Twice in the episode, Spider-Man declares, "Spider-Friends! Go for it!" before the three heroes head off to do some action. I hope this sticks as their catchphrase, because it's kind of brilliantly cheesy.
• While the Green Goblin is fighting Spider-Man, he declares, "I'll let centripetal force get rid of you!" as opposed to centrifugal force. I don't think I've ever loved the Green Goblin more than in that moment.

Review: So, let me get this right: Norman Osborn, who is cured of being the Green Goblin, is in an accident which turns him back into said villain. While Spider-Man is at a costume party, the Goblin is looking for something at the same location, and Spider-Man investigates only to be paralysed by the Goblin. The Goblin then sets up a trap for a female ally of Spider-Man's who's investigating, while Spider-Man is helpless to act. Why does this all sound so familiar?

Snark aside, this episode continues the trend of solid Green Goblin episodes. Norman Osborn having a niece was a little bit of a "Huh?" moment for me, but then I shrugged it off. I mean, why not? It works fine for the episode, and tying her into Spidey's group by having her be Bobby's date works really well. A bigger issue is the Norman physically turning into the Goblin, but honestly, compared to some of the nonsense I've seen in Spider-Man cartoons, it's not that bad.

While there's definitely a feeling that Firestar and Iceman could have a larger role in the story, I can't deny that they worked pretty well. The two mutants working together to stop the formula from spreading into the reservoir was an excellent use of the characters, and while them splitting up to look for the Goblin does take them out of the picture, it also showcases one of the advantages of working in a team that we haven't couldn't have gotten in any of the Spider-Man cartoons. Best of all, there's a lot of light-hearted banter between the three heroes - they feel like friends, something which I didn't realise I was hoping for until I saw the episode.

Overall, this episode was a great start for the series, easily the strongest first episode yet. Let's hope that the quality stays at this level continuing forwards.