“SPIDER-MAN BATTLES THE MOLE MEN” or “Deja-Vu All Over Again”

Tell me if this sounds familiar..Banks in New York are disapperaring, so Peter Parker goes to a scientist to discover that strange radio signals are transmitting from somewhere underground. Pete changes into Spider-Man and discovers that a race of Mole Men is lowering the city’s banks, along with their occupants and vaults full of money, into their world. Spider-Man defeats the Mole soldiers, and makes them promise to return the banks and people. The End.

This title should have read,"Spiderman Battles The Molemen AGAIN!"

Although the plot of this episode is almost an exact remake of “Menace From The Bottom Of The World”, this is essentially a sequel. Spidey makes reference to the events of the original episode, although he says nothing about the feeling of deja-vu he must be experiencing.

Just so ya’ know, I’m aware I’ve skipped an episode. We’ll get to “Diamond Dust” real soon, trust me.

Recycling helps the environment.

This time we skip over Jameson sending Peter Parker on assignment, and get right to Spider-Man witnessing a disappearing building. He again pays a visit to Dr. Orloff ( Not mentioned by name here, for some reason ), recycles the whole “spider hearing” bit, and hears a voice hinting that they’ve set a trap for Spider-Man. Pete jets out of the lab, slams the door, and poor Dr. Orloff stands there with a look on his face like “What the hell happened?”

“I may be a kook, Herr Parker, but at least I know how to properly close a door!”

The Wall Crawler heads back to the hole when he spots a blimp going by & figures he can use it to his advantage. He hitches a ride, and before long notices that he’s heading right for a spire on top of a building. He attempts to jump to safety, only his web parachchute snags on the spire, and he clumsily gets caught in his own web.

Guys, has this ever happened to you?

The Mole scientist ( I shit you not ) activates the “descending mechanism” and the building is pulled underground, with Spider-Man along for the ride. So the Mole Men just happen to have a machine under the same building that Spidey accidentally got himself stuck to? Absurd.

You can tell he’s a scientist because he has a lab coat on.

Let’s get this straight. The Mole Men’s plan to trap Spidey was to entice him with a blimp, run him past a building with a big pole on top of it, and hope that he’s dumb enough to try and parachute down and get caught up on the very same building they’ve rigged with a descending mechanism. That’s an awful lot of variables that need to be in place for this plan to work.

Aha! Spider-Man hitched a ride on a random blimp that just happened to be passing by... Just as we planned!

Back to our story… Suddenly Spidey is free and figures he has some exploring to do, via stock footage. Most of the background paintings are re-used from “Menace From The Bottom Of The World”, but there also seems to be a few new ones peppered in. Or, at least they seem to be new. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, this series borrows from another show, “Rocket Robin Hood”, for instance, the giant grasshopper that attacks our hero. So it makes sense that other elements could be re-used from that show as well.

Original grasshopper design...

...changes to this one a second later...

..which is "borrowed" from "Phantom From The Depths Of Time", which in turn borrowed from Rocket Robin Hood.
Got all that?

As well as the grasshopper, the Wall Crawler also encounters an angry group of little green elves ( Not sure if these guys are new, or “borrowed” from RRH. Spidey tries to outrun them, only to run into the big stone ape-guy from the original episode ( See? I told you it was ironic that Spidey said he never wanted to see this guy again!). The Web Slinger guesses the elves are the natural enemy of the stone mole and leaves the quarreling locals behind to iron out their differences.

Don’t mess with the hollow tree, man!

Our hero makes his way to the big red door and gets knocked out by one of the Mole guards. It’s bad enough the writers completely forget about his spider sense, but Spidey himself should know better! He’s been to this stupid city before!

Not Mugs Riley, but an incredible simulation!

The Web Head wakes up & finds himself bound. Hammond, comic caption writer extraordinaire, and the rest of the people from inside the building are now there. What a coincidence. At least the bank patrons didn't let being kidnapped by an underground race of blue monkeys discourage them from doing business at this particular savings and loan, since it's the EXACT SAME customers from the earlier episode.

Are you sure you don't need some help with those comic captions, kid?

The Mole leader steps out, and it’s obviously the same guy from “Menace”. The fact that they’re trying to pass him off as an entirely different dude is just ridiculous.

The molemen were never a big fan of the Unknown Comic.

Hammond, sounding a lot more wimpy in this episode, gets all uppity again, and Spidey dismisses it by saying “Good old Hammond”, like it makes sense that the reporter would be there.

“Get your stinking paws offa me, you damn dirty ape, er.. I mean, MOLE!”

Spidey webs a battle axe that just happens to be laying around and cuts himself free. The Mole notices and orders his minions “Catch him! Catch him, you fools!”, exactly like he did in “Menace”, since they just re-used the same audio.

Looks like the paint was still a little wet on the animation cell.

We’re treated to a lot of familiar footage of Spidey taking on the Mole guards, before he reaches the Mole & coerces him to have his men release the surface people. Again.

“I would’ve gotten away with it, if it weren’t for you meddling kids and that dog!”

The Mole Men agree that all descending mechanisms will be destroyed and the Windslow building will be returned to the surface. They actually identified the building by name! It’s bad enough the Mole people used the same plan for ruling the surface, but they took the same building and the same occupants! You and I know the real reason why, but the whole thing is ridiculous.

After that first run-in with molemen, you'd think these people would've changed banks!

As if that wasn’t bad enough, Spidey stupidly stands there and waves goodbye to the building while the Mole frees himself essentially the same way Spidey did earlier. The Mole then pulls out a familiar looking ray gun, Spidey ducks, and… eh, you know the rest. Same background and everything.

Gun control is a little lax in Mole City.

With the main generator blown, Mole City starts to come tumbling down. Spidey makes it out in the nick of time and collapses into a park bench, exhausted. He’s startled for a second by the sight of the Mole Leader, until he realizes he’s seeing a costume hanging in a shop window across the street. Right.

Mugs Riley shops here.

These Mole Men aren't too bright. Not only do they go back on their word ( Don't bother us and we won't bother you ), but they try the same scheme, and steal the same bank, AND use the same tactics ( The ones that didn't work the FIRST time! ) to try and stop Spider-Man.

The "Showdown/Duck" scene from "Mole Men"...

Same scene from "Swing City"...

And the same scene again from "Criminals In The Clouds"!

What balls Ralph Bakshi's crew had to try and pass off this episode, with a few minor changes, as a completely new one. They didn't even try and space it out from the original that aired two weeks before THIS one!

NEXT: More Monkey Business ( No, it’s not the Mole Men again! )