When I still watched cartoons — okay, I still watch cartoons — Spider-Man: The Animated Series was one of my favorites. But did you know that there have been 10 different television series featuring the web-head?
It started with 1967’s “Spider-Man” which might be best remembered due to it’s theme song; “Spider-man, spider-man, does whatever a spider can.” The animated series ran for three seasons, even after the original studio that made it went bankrupt after the first year! The classic interpretation of the wall crawler seems corny today, but really was a great start for Spidey on T.V.
The next time you could see the web-head was on the “Super Spidey Stories” featured in “The Electric Company” in 1974. Using word balloons, these educational features let kids develop their reading skills whenever Spidey “spoke.”
A live action version of “The Amazing Spider-Man” was unleashed in 1978 for 15 episodes of awfulness. Barely using anything from the comic books, the series had none of Spider-Man’s foes, instead creating new villains, that were definitely not super.
American audiences weren’t the only ones to see Spider-Man on TV. Japanese viewers got to see the Spider-Man costume on a motorcycle-riding, giant-robot-piloting young man. It is an interesting adaptation that helped continue the “toskusatsu” genre of special effects shows in Japan, and added to the ranks of shows focusing on “mecha” battling — which would then lead to “Super Sentei,” which Americans know as Power Rangers!
1981 brought two animated Spider series to NBC, first with “Spider-Man” and then the more well received “Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends.” Both series were more faithful to the comic adventures of the wall-crawler than earlier series fared, though Spidey’s “Amazing Friends” Iceman and Firestar gave that program a “team” feeling that was definitely more popular. In fact, “Amazing Friends” still replays on television in syndication due to its popularity.
Spider-Man: The Animated Series – my personal favorite of all the adaptations – started in 1994 on Fox’s afternoon bock of programming. Combining CGI with traditional animation, the series ran for 76 episodes over five years. Newer characters like Venom and Carnage saw their first appearance in this series that also included terrific versions of Spider-Man’s traditional rogues gallery. Great voice work from actors like Mark Hamill, Ed Asner, and Hank Azaria added to the fluid animations and great storytelling of the series. Spider-fans can still see this series being replayed on television today, and DVD collections are readily available containing episodes from the series.
When “The Animated Series” ended, Fox tried continuing Peter’s adventures in an all-new series called Spider-Man: Unlimited. The run was, in fact, limited to 13 episodes and included Spidey traveling to “Counter-Earth” to battle evil. The series ended on a cliffhanger, which upset the few fans that had been watching the show.
After the success of the first Spider-Man film, MTV and Marvel brought a new animated series to the airwaves creatively entitled “Spider-Man: The New Animated Series.” A fully CGI show done in a “Cel-Shaded” style, the show held a loose continuity with the movie for its 13 episodes. Neil Patrick Harris lent his voice to Peter Parker while rockers Lisa Loeb, Rob Zombie, and rapper Eve all made vocal appearances as other characters in the show.
Next year, the CW plans to bring “The Amazing Spider-Man” back to television in a new animated series. According to early reports, the series will start back at the beginning of Peter’s journey and not be in continuity with Spider-Man 3 or the other films.
So, until May 4th’s premiere of Spider-Man 3, maybe you can catch a re-run of these television adaptations, or pick up a DVD of the latest series.
Keep watching, True Believers!
