Retro Spider-Man Cartoons Appreciation

[RobertMacQuarrie1]

Just remembering the old 60's series, and one of the things that I grew to love about the series was how the series recycled several episodes again and again. They'd alter the animation or change up some scenes, but they often took the same basic elements of the story and reuse them to come up with brand new episodes.

Just off the top of my head, I remember the episode featuring a mad scientist elevating Manhattan into the sky turning into one where it was about a scientist from Atlantis sinking Manhattan, to being merged with an episode about Spider-Man working to stop a prison riot with the same scientist from the first story now returning to take over the city by brainwashing everyone.

Then there was the episode about Spider-Man traveling to a different world when an evil plant was unleashed upon New York City to find some way of stopping it, which was later changed to being just a big out of control seed or just a big bolder.

Then there was the episode where Spider-Man was stuck in the North Pole- which was actually a lush, vibrant jungle for some reason- trying to recover a downed satellite/ space capsule, which was later turned into an adventure of him on a tropical isle trying to recover a downed alien spacecraft.

And there was the episodes where he had to travel underground to stop creatures from under the earth from abducting entire buildings, which I am sure was recycled a couple of times.

And who could forget the episode featuring The Fifth Dimension, which was later used by Rocket Robin Hood (or which the Spider-Man series later used, I'm not sure which series came first) and which featured this character, Infinata:



I'm not going to lie- I love that design. I think it'd be funny/ awesome if he managed to come back to the books to serve as a Spider-Man villain.

[McFarlane's Green Hulk]

Just remembering the old 60's series, and one of the things that I grew to love about the series was how the series recycled several episodes again and again. They'd alter the animation or change up some scenes, but they often took the same basic elements of the story and reuse them to come up with brand new episodes.

Just off the top of my head, I remember the episode featuring a mad scientist elevating Manhattan into the sky turning into one where it was about a scientist from Atlantis sinking Manhattan, to being merged with an episode about Spider-Man working to stop a prison riot with the same scientist from the first story now returning to take over the city by brainwashing everyone.

Then there was the episode about Spider-Man traveling to a different world when an evil plant was unleashed upon New York City to find some way of stopping it, which was later changed to being just a big out of control seed or just a big bolder.

Then there was the episode where Spider-Man was stuck in the North Pole- which was actually a lush, vibrant jungle for some reason- trying to recover a downed satellite/ space capsule, which was later turned into an adventure of him on a tropical isle trying to recover a downed alien spacecraft.

And there was the episodes where he had to travel underground to stop creatures from under the earth from abducting entire buildings, which I am sure was recycled a couple of times.

And who could forget the episode featuring The Fifth Dimension, which was later used by Rocket Robin Hood (or which the Spider-Man series later used, I'm not sure which series came first) and which featured this character, Infinata:

I'm not going to lie- I love that design. I think it'd be funny/ awesome if he managed to come back to the books to serve as a Spider-Man villain.

For myself, it was such a struggle to get thru the 2nd and 3rd season episodes. Not only were they just damn weird, but you could tell they were phoning it in when they'd insert 2-3 long segments of music to show every damn clip of Spidey swinging thru the city/jungle/swamp looking for a crook or getting to a destination. The origin episode, where it spent over a minute showing the spider getting irradiated -- AGH!
I loved the Season 1 stuff aka "webisodes". Classic villains and it had the feel of the anthology books at the time ala "Tales to Astonish" or "Tales of Suspense". Were they all great? Nah. Some definite snoozers, but I've got audio versions of all the Season 1 shows on my ipod I can listen to at work for pure enjoyment.

[RobertMacQuarrie1]

For myself, it was such a struggle to get thru the 2nd and 3rd season episodes. Not only were they just damn weird, but you could tell they were phoning it in when they'd insert 2-3 long segments of music to show every damn clip of Spidey swinging thru the city/jungle/swamp looking for a crook or getting to a destination. The origin episode, where it spent over a minute showing the spider getting irradiated -- AGH!
I loved the Season 1 stuff aka "webisodes". Classic villains and it had the feel of the anthology books at the time ala "Tales to Astonish" or "Tales of Suspense". Were they all great? Nah. Some definite snoozers, but I've got audio versions of all the Season 1 shows on my ipod I can listen to at work for pure enjoyment.

I do agree they did tend to stretch things out. But I guess they were on a budget at the time.

It's odd, because the 2nd and 3rd seasons arguably had far better animation than the first season, yet also took the most shortcuts in terms of stretching out the story.

[McFarlane's Green Hulk]

I do agree they did tend to stretch things out. But I guess they were on a budget at the time.

It's odd, because the 2nd and 3rd seasons arguably had far better animation than the first season, yet also took the most shortcuts in terms of stretching out the story.

There were a couple of clip episodes on the 3rd season, one with the Rhino which just cut n' spliced both his episodes together and redubbed it.

[McFarlane's Green Hulk]

Speaking of weird episodes!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmY2sPkQm8w

[McFarlane's Green Hulk]

More `67 Spidey; another Doc Ock episode. I still remember the snippets used from this episode for the Marvel Comics Video Library promo...

[THE DANGER965]

Gotta love the 60's tv series. Its very fun and good for a short watch here and there ( with episodes usually being at 20 minutes ). And hey, I like the origin episode despite the slow peace.

[McFarlane's Green Hulk]

Gotta love the 60's tv series. Its very fun and good for a short watch here and there ( with episodes usually being at 20 minutes ). And hey, I like the origin episode despite the slow peace.

Yeah, I gotta find more "modern retros". But it's hard to match up what the `67 show gave us.
I've only watched a handful of the `94 series, and it still pisses me off that this series has not come out on DVD.

[McFarlane's Green Hulk]

Vulture episode;

[Hypestyle]

The 60s Spidey needs to make an appearance in Spider-Verse. There's no excuse. Be sure to include the 60s experiences, and the morphing webbing (swords, spinning fan, etc.)

[Beacon]

The 60s Spidey needs to make an appearance in Spider-Verse. There's no excuse. Be sure to include the 60s experiences, and the morphing webbing (swords, spinning fan, etc.)

60s Spidey is too overpowered. Those web constructs make him the Green Lantern of the Spider-Men. "I'll make a working speedboat out of webs...somehow"

[Speed Force League Unlimited]

The solo show from the 80s is my favorite, followed directly by Spider-Friends
Then the 90s show and season 1 of the 60s cartoon

[McFarlane's Green Hulk]

The solo show from the 80s is my favorite, followed directly by Spider-Friends
Then the 90s show and season 1 of the 60s cartoon

I think the solo `81 show gets no respect or forgotten because of the Amazing Friends version. There are some good episodes in that series...my main beef when watching the two is the v.a. for Spidey -- I still think Dan Gilvenzan is the perfect voice for him.

[McFarlane's Green Hulk]

Seven Little Superheroes...

[Choos]

I am still a fan of the '90s Spider-Man series (as well as the X-Men series) but Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends was firmly part of my childhood and might have been my first real introduction to the X-Men.... Loved how Juggernaut just turned up and did his thing.

Actually as much as I know I watched earlier Marvel cartoons I think I only started watching Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends because I loved the Spider-Woman cartoon.