“Okay, let’s get this show on the road, gang! “ ( A little bit of History )

Their slogan should’ve been “Hey, we’re no Hanna Barbera!”

In 1966, Steve Krantz contracted Grantray-Lawrence Productions to produce a syndicated television series consisting of 5 minute cartoons featuring five of Marvel Comics’ most popular characters, Captain America, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, Thor and Sub-Mariner. The animation was extremely limited, with artwork mostly lifted directly from the comics themselves. However, the voice work was top notch, coming across like a radio drama at times, with Stan Lee’s scripts being brought to life with great flair.

That same company followed this series the next year with “Spider-Man”, airing on ABC Saturday mornings. This series lasted three seasons ( Two on ABC and a third in syndication ), and is beloved by Spidey fans around the world. For a lot of people, myself included, this was their introduction to the character. The most memorable thing about the series being its theme song. Probably the second thing most people remember about the show is the look of it, with its “psychedelic” backgrounds and repeated animation of Spider-Man swinging from building to building. This comes from only the second and third seasons though, because they were produced by a different company. See, Grantray-Lawrence went bankrupt, so Krantz hired renowned animator Ralph Bakshi and his crew to finish out the episode order. Bakshi, who had just started his own studio, had previously taken over the reigns on another series for Krantz, “Rocket Robin-Hood”. There is a drastic difference between the two production styles, with first season episodes featuring more of Spidey’s rogues gallery from the comics, and the musical cues of Ray Ellis. While later episodes feature a ton more repeating animation, and stock music cues from the KPM music library, among others.

Of "Fritz The Cat", "Cool World", and "Mighty Mouse" fame.

As you watch the first several episodes from Season 2, it becomes apparent that these shows were made on a much lower budget. There are several “sequels” to episodes, which are basically the same episode, using much of the same footage. There are also a couple that are essentially just Rocket Robin Hood episodes with Spidey substituted in for Robin.

This is supposed to be Spider-Man, kids.

When the "Spider-Man" animated series first aired, Spider-Man the comic book had only existed for five years. By then, most of Spidey's classic rogues gallery had been introduced in the book, and Peter Parker and his supporting cast were in place, thanks to the fine writing of Stan Lee, and the brilliant artistry of Steve Ditko and John Romita. 

The cartoon did a fairly decent job of remaining faithful to the core of what made Spider-Man so beloved by comic book fans. Obviously geared towards a younger audience, the animated version lacked most of the angst, and the plots weren't very detailed, but Spidey was Spidey, through and through. Peter Parker could hardly catch a break, and was quite often shown using his scientific know-how to catch the villain du jour. 

The supporting cast was stripped down to just a few players from the comics, including Peter Parker's boss, J. Jonah Jameson, Aunt May, and Jameson's secretary Betty Brant. Granted, the stories weren't too sophisticated, but were more or less typical of Saturday morning entertainment for the time.

Most of the classic Spider-Man villains were present. Electro, Dr. Octopus, the Green Goblin and plenty of others engaged the web-head each week, and there were even some original foes unique to the cartoon series to boot. A couple of episodes took stories almost straight out of the comics and adapted them for the small screen. If you were already a Spidey fan, it must have been cool getting to see animated versions of some of the web slingers adventures for the first time. And, as the opening of the show reminded us each week, in color too!

Visually, the series is impressive overall, with a style all its own. The title character's appearance has been tweaked slightly for TV animation. Spider-Man's costume only features the web pattern on the mask, gloves and boots. To make the mask more expressive, the animators have the white part of Spidey's eyes get narrower and wider, and on the occasion when he gets knocked unconscious, they go completely black ( This is a detail some artists have even worked into the comic book throughout the years ). True, some minor liberties were taken, but television animation was much simpler back then, and it would have been much too complicated and time consuming for the animators to draw all those webs. 

I’m sure the animators shaved a couple grand off the budget by leaving two legs off of the spider on Spidey’s costume.

Story-wise, the series delivers a mixed bag that runs hot and cold, depending on many factors. The first season's plots were basic and kid-friendly. The villains' motives were never much more than financial gain, or just causing mayhem. The characterizations were never too complex for kids to understand, while remaining very faithful to the comic book versions. 

The second and third seasons are a completely different ball o’ wax. While certain episodes like “Kingpinned” and “To Cage A Spider” feature realistic, more dramatic stories, other stories like “Phantom From The Depths Of Time” and “Menace From The Bottom Of The World” are far out tales of science fiction that seem better suited for another character other than Spider-Man. In the case of “Phantom” anyway, the reason for this was because they took a story written for a different series entirely and inserted Spider-Man into it. I guess they thought nobody would notice. Other episodes from seasons two and three were even slapped together from episodes from season one, only adding to the confusion.

Again, supposed to be Spidey. In a rocket. Right.

There is definately a significant change in tone from the first season of “Spider-Man” to the second and third. Because Ralph Bakshi’s production team was brought in to finish out the series, even as a kid I could tell the creative reigns had been passed on to someone different. Beginning with the episode "The Origin Of Spiderman", the series' look changed quite a bit. Gone were the bright backgrounds, and simple artwork. Instead Spidey swung through the concrete jungle of New York against a sky that often looked like a lava lamp threw up all over it! And swing he did! And swing, and swing, and swing...While the first season's half-hour episodes often contained two shorter story segments, the episodes from the second season seemed to be centered around about fifteen minutes of story ( Sometimes even less! ), and the rest of the episode was padded out with recycled animation of Spider-Man web swinging from building to building! It was as if we were along with Spidey in real-time as he swung from one end of Manhattan to the other.

It looks like somebody threw up green paint all over the sky.

There were some high points during the second and third season however, but the proof is on the screen, most of the episodes just weren't that good. The animation errors and repetitiveness would never fly today, and the show seems quite primitive by modern standards. But the fact remains that this series is loved by fans of all ages, and is still as entertaining today as it was years ago, in spite of its many flaws.

NEXT: “Okay world, better hang on to your hats! Here comes the original web-swinging wonder!”