Spider-Man (1967)
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| ♥ | This article is dedicated to Stan Lee (December 28, 1922-November 12, 2018), Steve Ditko (November 2, 1927-June 29, 2018) and Paul Soles (Spider-Man's voice actor, 1931-2021). May these legends rest in peace. |
| Spider-Man (1967) | ||||||||||||||
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 "Look out!
Here comes Spider-Man!"' | ||||||||||||||
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Spider-Man is an animated series created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, which first time premiered in 1967. It's based on the homonym superhero's comics and it's the first Spider-Man series ever made.
Why It Does Whatever a Spider Can
- It launched Stan Lee's career to the animation sector for the first time ever, and the impact left contributed so much to the Spider-Man universe and the superheroes series above all.
- Incredible and timeless theme song which may you'll remember after having heard it at least one time.
- Though not perfect, the animation is decent and can have some fluid movements here and there. Furthermore, it's a big step than previous shows which had low frame-rate animation.
- Spidey here is a fascinating and brave superhero who tries every time to sacrifice his life and he does a wonderful job saving people's life, and his normal alter ego, Peter Parker, is clever and friendly.
- The late Paul Soles also did a good job voicing him; whenever he's Peter Parker, he sounds youthful and like a teenager, but whenever he's in the Spider-Man costume, he sounds deeper and more manly.
- Many Spider-Man's comic villains are featured here, like Green Goblin, Dr. Octopus, Chameleon, Lizard, Vulture, Electro and Rhino, and both are awesome.
- Good soundtrack that fairly adapts to the scenes in which is played.
- Great episodes like:
- "The Power of Dr. Octopus" (a good way to start the series.)
- "The Menace of Mysterio"
- "Horn of the Rhino"
- "Fifth Avenue Phantom"
- "Night of the Villains"
- "The Spider and the Fly"
- "The Terrible Triumph of Dr. Octopus'"
- "Double Identity" (gave us the double Spider-Man meme and it's also the highest rated episode on IMDb.)
- "Trick or Treachery" (ends season 1 with a high note.)
- "The Origin of Spiderman" (an incredible way to start season 2 and probably the best episode of the show.)
- "Swing City"
- "Criminals in the Clouds"
- "The Evil Sorcerer"
- "Cold Storage"
- "To Cage a Spider" (concludes season 2 decently.)
- "The Winged Thing" (starts season 3 decently.)
- Several funny scenes that became excellent memes such like Spider-Man encounters and points to his clone in "Double Identity", which ended to be parodied in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse both, as well as "To Catch a Spider" gave us the "Me and the Boys" one.
- Funny lines like "Wallopin' websnappers!" and "Uh, what did you say?"
Qualities That Don't Do What a Spider Can
- The animation, while decent for the time it came, aged very, very poorly. Furthermore, there appear many animation errors.
- One of the main problems of the animation is that due to budget problems, and a lot footage had to be reused often.
- The voice acting can be unstable enough.
- While is far to appear ugly, the third season is far considered the weakest among the three ones, due to having more bad episodes and a worsen writing.
- Have been aired some dismal episodes, especially in season 3, like:
- "Sky Harbor"
- "The Big Brainwasher"
- "Up from Nowhere"
- "Rollarama" (being the worst)
- "Trip to Tomorrow" (which wasn't a good way to end the series, since it's just a bottle episode.)
Reception
This first Spider-Man series got mixed-positive reviews among critics and general audience. However many fans critically acclaimed it for being one the milestones of the franchise. Has a 7.3 on IMDb and a user score of 7.4 on Metacritic.
Trivia
- The end credits of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse appears a sequence that mocks this show.
- It has memorable moments, like "the two Spider-Men meeting" and "me and the boys".