I finished up the first season of the 1960's Spider-Man TV show. It's a hoot. This cartoon, along with the Hanna-Barbera Fantastic Four and the Marvel Superheroes in syndication were my window into the Marvel Universe and the comics in general. I have great fondness for them, despite not having seen most of them for decades.
The first season of Spidey is a pretty formlaic affair. There are plenty of baddies from the comics series. There was Dr.Octopus, Elektro, Sandman, Mysterio, Lizard, Vulture (called Vulture-Man for several episodes), Rhino, Scorpion, Green Goblin and a few others. Notably missing was Chameleon though there was a make-up villain named "Charles Cameo" in a few episodes. Most of the villains got two episodes with a few getting into three. The most fun in that category for me though were the "new" guys they invented. Dr.Noah Boddy ("Nobody" get it) an invisible guy, The Human Fly twins (named "Stan" and "Lee"), some guy named The Phantom, and my personal fave Parafino proprietor of a wax museum and fabulous baddie. Also I assume that the Aussie hunter named "Clivendon" is a stand-in for Kraven the Hunter. This change along with the Chameleon one I don't get, as they originals are perfectly fine characters.
The other side of the coin was pretty thin. Betty Brant starts out as a pretty good character, but as the episodes roll on she becomes a cypher, merely a friend of Peter Parker's who stands up for him with J. Jonah Jameson. JJJ is in just about every episode and frankly it gets a bit tiresome, as way too many plots revolve around the Daily Bugle or its publisher in some way. JJJ seems to be the mayor of NYC the way the act in this cartoon. Aunt May shows up maybe once or twice at most, though we do see the Parker home many times.
The stories are pretty simple affairs. Spidey becomes aware of a threat usually by chance, intervenes and encounters the villain, we get the title of the episode, then Spidey loses the initial conflict. After that he goes to see Jameson for some reason or other, then fights the baddie again and usually loses. Then in the last battle he wins, typically by throwing webbing over them, a scheme that often doesn't work earlier in the story.
Here are a dozen things I learned watching this cartoon:
1. The streets of NYC are largely deserted save for a few villains, their victims, and at most five cops at any given time. Cop cars show up in threes and most of the cops are of Irish extraction.
2. The Rhino looks hilarious when he runs, picks the lamest hideouts, and his motivations for his crimes are ludicrous. A golden statue? Really!
3. The Green Goblin is a really little guy and wants to master real actual magic for some reason despite his many gimmicks of science.
4. The pictures in the Daily Bugle are not hung all that well and constantly shift when doors are slammed, or maybe that only applies to those featuring Jameson's mug.
5. Spidey's webbing has some really curious properties such as functioning as small motors for no discernable reason. He makes fans and propellers and all sorts of things. I love that he whips up special webbing on a whim.
6. The police really trust Spidey, but I can't really tell why. Maybe that's why he seems to know all sorts of classified stuff he really shouldn't know.
7. NYC has a Conservatory of MOD Music.
8. Dr.Connors has two arms on TV all the time.
9. Spidey spends quite a bit of time at the docks and more time in and around the water than I'd have expected. As a consequence he fights way too many gators.
10. Giant robots like to eat cars and appear for no reason in the middle of the city.
11. Pluto is inhabited by ice men, perhaps they are time-lost members of Martinex's race.
12. It always bugged me as a kid wondering where exactly Spidey's weblines were attached as he swung through the city, and after watching the full first season, I don't have any more idea about it than I did then.
As always in these stories, if the villains just used their intellects for good they'd make a lot more money than they do with crime. The Phantom could use his shrinking machine to revoltutionize shipping for instance.
The first season was fun, but after the thrill of seeing Spidey actually swinging across the city it gets a bit weak. I love the few shots we get now and again of actual comic art, especially the few images of Ditko Spideys.
Good fun. Next up is Season Two!
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