Favorite Spider-Man '67 eps?

[JabarR]

What are your favorite Spidey eps from the '67 series? Here are mine:

Season 1:
Sub-Zero For Spidey
Where Crawls The Lizard
The Menace Of Mysterio
Sands Of Crime
The One-Eyed Idol
Fifth Avenue Phantom
The Dark Terrors
Magic Malice
The Witching Hour
Kilowatt Kaper
The Peril Of Parafino
Night Of The Villans
The Vulture's Prey
Spider-Man Meets Dr. Noah Boddy
To Catch A Spider

Season 2:
The Origin Of Spiderman
King Pinned
Criminals In The Clouds
Swing City
Menace From The Bottom Of The World
Spiderman Battles The Molemen
Diamond Dust
Vine
Home
Neptune's Nose Cone
Thunder Rumble
Cold Storage
Spiderman Meets Skyboy

Season 3:
The Devious Dr. Dumpty
The Birth Of Micro Man
The Madness Of Mysterio
Revolt In The Fifth Dimension
Trip To Tomorrow

[Stu]

67 Spider-Man is hit and miss for me, but I find myself going back to watch these episodes over again on DVD quite a lot since I've got my set.

Return Of The Flying Dutchman (obviously), Farewell Performance, To Catch A Spider, The Menace Of Mysterio, Never Step On A Scorpion and The Power Of Dr. Octopus.

I used to really enjoy Kingpinned, but I struggle to sit through it now.

What do you like most about the episodes on your list, JabarR?

[krankyboy]

Season One:

Power of Doctor Octopus
Sub Zero for Spidey
Captured by J. Jonah Jameson (good kid-vid adaptation of the comic story)
The Sky is Falling
Kilowatt Kaper
Never Step on a Scorpion
Horn of the Rhino
The Vulture's Prey

Season Two:

Origin of Spider-Man
Kingpinned
Vine
Neptune's Nose Cone
Diamond Dust
Criminals in the Clouds
Spider-Man Meets Skyboy
Menace from the Bottom of the World

:)

[Caswin]

67 Spider-Man is hit and miss for me, but I find myself going back to watch these episodes over again on DVD quite a lot since I've got my set.That reminds me - a few episode lists I've seen online would seem to indicate that the '67 Spider-Man review page isn't quite complete, including season one's The Golden Rhino. Were they just that bad...?

(That also reminds me: do you still plan to add '67 Magneto, such as he is, to the retrospective?)

[Jon T]

It's interesting deciding which episodes are my favorites from a series such as this, which obviously had fairly simplistic plots, so I'll name the ones I like with a few comments.

Season 1:

The Menace Of Mysterio - the makers should really have done a few more half-hour length episodes in season 1 while they had the chance.
Never Step On A Scorpion - I really liked both Scorpion episodes, but the first one was better since the second was more of a derivative of his first appearance.
Sands Of Crime - Sandman was done fairly well in this show, and certainly deserved more than one appearance. I also liked that his fight with Spider-Man was at night.
Kilowatt Caper - Purely because I love some of the visuals in this episode, plus the very important fact that this was the first episode of the show I ever saw!
Horn Of The Rhino - I thought this episode was hilarious as a kid! Once again the half-hour format suited the story well, and we even get a glimpse of Aunt May in this series!
Magic Malice - This episode was a follow-up to an earlier one (Farewell Performance) that had widespread distribution on tape, so I was already intrigued. And then the Green Goblin himself shows up, looking like Jazzy John Romita had animated him himself!
To Catch A Spider - Come on, this is a super-villain team up episode, what's not to like?Season 2

The Origin Of Spider-Man - despite the drastic reduction in animation quality, this is a virtually word-perfect translation of Spider-Man's actual origin from the comics.
Menace From The Bottom Of The World - When I first saw the rest of the second season, I really didn't like any of it at the time, but since then some episodes, like this one, have grown on me. I just think the off-beat nature of this episode works better than many of the others.
Home - The very first Spider-Woman (of sorts) made for quite an interesting episode. Like most stories by this point, it was different from the comics, but this story thankfully wasn't as 'out there' as many others were.Season 3

Revolt In The Fifth Dimension - This was really the only contender for me! Most of the other episodes by this point reused other footage from Spider-Man, but at least this one, in using footage from another series, maintained an air of originality. This one is so weird and suspenseful that it somehow just about works for me. If you're going to do 'out there' episodes, you might as well go all the way! At least Spidey himself is portrayed correctly!

[Spider-Man]

I think the origin episode is the best one. It was such a great retelling of the classic origin and stuck so close, nearly word for word, to the classic tale.

[Stu]

That reminds me - a few episode lists I've seen online would seem to indicate that the '67 Spider-Man review page isn't quite complete, including season one's The Golden Rhino. Were they just that bad...?

Yes, yes they were. Jon T added his favourites from seasons 2 and 3 when we first launched the site but I found it too difficult to stomach 40+ episodes of what I consider to be pure drivel. krankyboy later offered to review some episodes if I grabbed them and they were added a few months later, once I plucked up the courage to sit down and watch them again.

(That also reminds me: do you still plan to add '67 Magneto, such as he is, to the retrospective?)

I seem to recall adding it to the Magneto retrospective when I uploaded it to the site, but my mind could be playing tricks on me, I did a lot of site work that weekend.

[Caswin]

Yes, yes they were. Jon T added his favourites from seasons 2 and 3 when we first launched the site but I found it too difficult to stomach 40+ episodes of what I consider to be pure drivel. krankyboy later offered to review some episodes if I grabbed them and they were added a few months later, once I plucked up the courage to sit down and watch them again.So maybe a few years from now? :p
I seem to recall adding it to the Magneto retrospective when I uploaded it to the site, but my mind could be playing tricks on me, I did a lot of site work that weekend.No, it still cites his '78 appearance as his first. As if that wasn't messed-up enough already...

Three non-X-Men shows later...
"Okay, guys. We're bringing Magneto back out of retirement."
*Sigh...* "Sure, fine, okay."
"He's got a dastardly plot - The Prison Plot - to break his fellow mutants out of prison."
"Really?"
"It's gonna have Blob, and Toad, and he's gonna be doing all these totally nasty magnetism attacks..."
"Sweet. Just so we're straight on this: he's going to be up against the X-"
"HE MUST FIGHT SPIDER-MAN!!! >:O"

[JabarR]

Cool, anybody else?

[HannaBarberaFan]

Hmmmm....

I admit I did like some of the ones done by RALPH BAKSHI as well as the GRANTRAY LAWRENCE episodes..

This will take some thought....

[JabarR]

The GrantRay Lawrence eps remained true to the comic, the Bakshi eps broke Peter Parker/Spidey away from the comic and into new adventures

[Hypestyle]

I wish I could find a CD of all the old music on the show..

[stephane dumas]

Season 2

The Origin Of Spider-Man - despite the drastic reduction in animation quality, this is a virtually word-perfect translation of Spider-Man's actual origin from the comics.
Menace From The Bottom Of The World - When I first saw the rest of the second season, I really didn't like any of it at the time, but since then some episodes, like this one, have grown on me. I just think the off-beat nature of this episode works better than many of the others.
Home - The very first Spider-Woman (of sorts) made for quite an interesting episode. Like most stories by this point, it was different from the comics, but this story thankfully wasn't as 'out there' as many others were.

Good choices, I can also add in season 2 these episodes to my favorites
-"King Pinned", the 1st encounter with Wilson Fisk aka the Kingpin, Bakshi team did a nice job with this episode.

-"Phantom from the depth of times" along with "Revolt in the 5th Dimension" both was recycled footage from Rocket Robin Hood, a bit weird for Spidey to use a spaceship but when I saw this episode when I was more younger I found it cool.

-"Cloud City of Gold", I ponder if the creators of "Mysterious City of Gold" might found some inspiration from this episode? I could also add if Bakshi himself got the inspiration from Belgian comic author Herge who did one of the biggest adventures of Tintin "The Temple of the Sun" who was set around the same area (The Andes mountain of South America somewhere in Peru or Equator)?

-"Spiderman meets Skyboy", a interesting attempt to see Spidey meeting another superhero.

-"To Cage a Spider", a good episode and one of the rare showing of the comics character Captain Georges Stacy in a animated version. Some might liked Stacy, to re-use him thanks to stock footage in "Specialist and Slaves" with the Radiation specialist/Master Technician from "Swing city"

Same for Saison 3, here my additionnals choices besides "Revolt in the 5th dimension"

-"Trouble With Snow"/"Spiderman Vs. Desperado" a very nice attempt to re-create the atmosphere of season 1

-"The Big Brainwasher", the return of Kingpin with the cameo of Mary-Jane Watson drawed into a Gwen Stacy style with a different Captain Stacy.

-"The Madness of Mysterio" I still found Mysterio cool even if he got the "green treatment"

and a sidenote about "Specialist and Slaves" spotted at Kevin McCorry Spiderman page http://www.kevinmccorrytv.com/spidey.html


the self-declared King of the levitated and radiation-bathed city island.
"Specialists and Slaves" is more eventful than its "Swing City" predecessor. It does not again utilize any of the Peter Parker material, e.g. him at school, the arranging of an evening with Sonya, and Spidey with Peter's voice on the telephone with Sonya. This footage unused from "Swing City" allowed time for the jailbreak sequence from "To Cage a Spider", and, besides, such "Swing City" footage would have been superfluous anyway in the context of "Specialists and Slaves". It is the conflict between Spiderman and the radiation specialist that spans the length of "Specialists and Slaves", even during the scenes in the jailhouse, as it is the effects of the specialist's diabolical scheme that Spidey is intent upon reversing, not for any personal score to settle because the specialist's deeds "crossed up (his) date", but because the skyward location of his city and the mental state of its people are Spidey's only concern. From the point that Spidey is told by the gloating specialist on the robot car radio what the specialist has done with Manhattan, the episode storyline is consumed with Spidey's ongoing effort to reach the reactor, stop the specialist, and restore normalcy. The subtext of the criminal and other strong-willed exceptions to the mind-dulling radiation is this episode's complex philosophical underpinning. Definitely, the notion that a criminal mind could be less easily influenced by the radioactive emissions gives a viewer pause for thought. Perhaps because criminals are the least conformist in society, as are the more individually minded of the upstanding citizens. They are least likely to "go with the flow", and that is perhaps why they are specifically mentioned to be immune from the radiation-induced servitude to the specialist. And how very apt that the specialist is by his own criminal, strong-willed nature immune to the radiation and hence able to wield his power of persuasion! It would have been still more fascinating had Jameson been in the episode, to see whether he would have been affected by the radiation, or whether he would have been one of those "strong" or "criminal" minds.


I have to agree with Kevin McCorry about this episode, we could still pondering about what if Jameson was in this episode? I guess only various fanfic authors might have an idea about it ;)

[JabarR]

Maybe the villians in the 2nd season were "olive-complicted".

[PhantomHag]

I thought the Phantom was an interesting villain, so I did like "Fifth Avenue Phantom" and "The Dark Terrors". I also liked "Cold Storage", the whole idea of the city reverting to cavemen was different, even it it was just a hallucination.