BoardChiri
Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay
Kidskycom
It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.
Janis
One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.
Scott LeBrun
Everybody's favorite web slinging superhero came to TV with this ultra groovy series, with each of the three seasons distinguishing itself quite handily.I agree with the idea that had the series been more consistent all the way through, it wouldn't be as noteworthy today. But in the first season, when Spidey was mostly battling villains from the comic books, it was fun but less experimental.Then animation legend Ralph Bakshi took over for the second and third seasons, and things got MUCH weirder and freakier. Then the stories would have Spidey battling more "out there" (and often green skinned) baddies, and fending off a variety of monsters (which made quite an impression on my young mind) in spooky sci-fi, horror, and fantasy type plots. The backgrounds were, as many viewers point out, quite trippy, and the music got even cooler as the production dipped into the KPM music library. The great jazz tune "The Hell Raisers", for example, is a highlight, and decades later it became recognizable as the tune playing under the promo sequence on all Something Weird DVDs.The third season ended up recycling characters, and stories, quite a bit, usually with just enough variation to not feel like complete carbon copies. As everybody knows, 'Spider-Man' even borrowed two episodes from the 'Rocket Robin Hood' series, with Spidey replacing the image of RRH in those instances.Spidey was an irresistible good guy to this viewer. When in his everyday persona as troubled teen Peter Parker, he would be faced with any number of problems. He was quiet and unassuming. But once he donned the costume, he became much cockier and much more of a wise ass. (His voice would also miraculously deepen.) As for villains, The Vulture was always such a hoot. The ego on that guy was hilarious. J. Jonah Jameson was priceless, what with his ridiculous vendetta against Spidey and obsessive need to paint Spidey as an evil doer.Incidentally, it's my hope that some other company will re-release the series on DVD since that Buena Vista set went out of print long ago and naturally started commanding some rather unfortunate prices.Eight out of 10.
Cheese Hoven
To start off with the good news. The music is great. The theme tune is a classic and the incidental music is memorable, if a little repetitious at times.Next the animation, which is variable. Some of it is very good indeed, such as close up on Spiderman's hands and some of the scenes of him climbing walls are rendered with great attention to detail. We do not mind so much when these shots are re-used over and over again. Faces of characters are largely well done and simply, though effectively, animated. But lots of the animation is rather routinely done, static backgrounds or often no backgrounds and the same sequences re-used.The voices are likewise variable. The main characters are good (although Spiderman's voice sounds too mature) but the villains are done in an over the top way.But the real villain here are the story lines. Just because these cartoons were intended for children does not mean children should be treated as idiots. In the very first episode, for example, "The power of Dr Octopus" Peter Parker just happens to stumble upon Doc Ock's secret lair after his car falls off a mountain road! If this is not laughable enough, Betty Brant happens upon this lair too when looking for Peter.OK for a nostalgia trip or for very undemanding kids.
medic249a2
I grew up watching this series when it was airing in the early 1980's. Now, watching it 20 years later, one wonders what some of the artists were doing when they created some of the backgrounds for it - namely the purple-yellow-red colored skies that Spidey often swung across. Understandable in some episodes, but they appeared in most of them. Some of the villains, such as the Green Goblin, Rhino, & Doc Oc came from the comics, but it was some of the more unconventional villains I was especially impressed with - ones such as the Radiation Specialist, the Skymaster, and Pardo (the weird thief with the giant cat).No doubt my favorite was the psychopathic radiation specialist - a very human villain, unlike some of the others. He could have been a member of the Atomic Energy Commission, who was fired for his grandiose ideas. This maniac appeared in 2 episodes: 'Swing City', where he is referred to as the 'Master Technician', and 'Specialists & Slaves'. The latter was more chilling as this creep revealed his grandiose plans to make Manhattan his 'kingdom' after being thwarted by Spidey earlier. He sends a wave of low-dose radiation across Manhattan, brainwashing everyone, including the police - traditionally Spidey's friends - into unquestioning loyalty. Again, he lifts Manhattan into the sky, and Spidey, undeterred by his threats, comes after him. But the specialist triggers a number of earthquakes to send Spidey falling into the streets, where he is soon captured. Only Captain Stacey, whose strong mind has immunized him against the specialist's radiation, comes to Spidey's help. Playing both sides of the fence to avoid detection, he manages to help Spidey escape the prison hospital. Spidey heads to the reactor for a showdown with the specialist, who discovers that Spidey has escaped and lets him into the reactor for the confrontation. The specialist tries to turn Spidey into a slave with high-dose radiation, but by force of will, Spidey resists the radiation & kicks the specialist in the face. The specialist, enraged at his failure, fires a ray at Spidey, which misses Spidey & hits the controls sustaining the anti-gravity ray. Manhattan starts to fall and Spidey overpowers the specialist, trapping the madman with his webs. Spidey lowers the island safely & shuts off the reactor, stopping the brainwashing radiation.This had to be one of my favorite episodes. The specialist shows some of the traits we see so often in criminals today - especially an over-exaggerated sense of self-importance.The series has some cheesy moments, but what series made in that time didn't have them? And the 'cheesy' factor makes it that much more fun to watch now, almost 40 years after it was made.
EyeDunno
I grew up watching this series in the early 1970s, and I'm happy that someone finally placed them onto DVDs. The set of 6 discs is rather deep, with all the episodes filling the DVDs. It's rather thin on extras. But there are what, 3 hours per disc? And the episodes are in chronological order, from the first to the final episode. Some of the episodes weren't digitally remastered, as most seem to have been, but heck, when I compare them to the VHS tapes I used to purchase at comic book shows where the tapes were recorded from UHF stations yielding poor reception, I won't complain. I'm just glad they're here. For the price, it's plenty of bang for the buck.As for the episodes, Ralph Bakshi took over as producer midway through the run of the original episodes (his cartoons can be found about midway through the third DVD). Reading through postings on the net, people have said that Bakshi took over and operations moved from Canada to the US when it was cheaper then to produce the animation in the states... and some staff cutting was done while the episodes were still cranked out at a good pace. Hence, people claim, a good bit of regurgitation of characters and plot lines increased. FYI, the Canadian episodes had Spidey webbing in clear skies, while the Bakshi episodes introduced eerie, watercolored skies. I'm a visual guy, and love the vibrant tones. Plus, it seems as though the music picked up a lot with the change. I just "dig" the way the music sounded. You can even hear a musician yelp every now and then in some jam sessions. So, I can't go Bakshi bashing. Usually, it's the networks that trim budgets, and Bakshi, I feel, had to make due. He did the best he could, I think, and I bet that if the budget had been fat, Bakshi would have had the animators take time and add depth and detail.
