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Special Features
- All 52 episodes as broadcasted from 1967-70, restored and in full color
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
The comic book Spider-Man, who debuted in Marvel's Amazing Fantasy in 1962, epitomized the superhero as antihero. During his battles with bizarre villains, Peter Parker was beset by self-doubts and personal problems. The animated Spider-Man was a straightforward action superhero who was too busy performing weird stunts like fashioning a boat and motor out of spider webs to worry or agonize.
From the opening titles that announce the program is "in COLOR," Spider-Man feels dated. When he fights Electro, Spidey can fend off blasts of electricity because he's added "just a little asbestos to my web liquid"; when he discovers the extent of his new powers, Peter dreams of a spot on The Ed Sullivan Show. Although the directors include Ralph Bakshi and former Disney artist Clyde Geronimi, the animation is extremely limited. The same shots of Spiderman swinging over New York appear again and again. But these limits probably won't trouble nostalgic adults who grew up watching Spider-Man on Saturday mornings: "Wherever there's a hang-up / You'll find the Spider-Man!" (Unrated, suitable for ages 7 and older: cartoon violence, tobacco use) --Charles Solomon
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Customer Reviews
The first season of episodes (20 shows, 38 individual stories total), I think, are still the most remembered and most cherished of the series, with Spidey taking on famous villains like The Green Goblin, Dr. Octopus, Electro, The Vulture, ect. While the later seasons, which were exec. produced, directed, as well as story supervised by Ralph "Lord of The Rings - The Animated Motion Picture" Bakshi, are a mixed bag of strange trippy imagery, with some plot points in them that just make you scratch your head in bewilderment. There are some gems in there though. Besides the "Origin" Episode (#21), which is definitely a standout, other highlights by Bakshi include, "Home" (#34), a story about a woman who also has spider powers (no, it's not Spider-Woman), "Criminals In The Clouds" (#24) which involves the kidnapping of a high school student by the villainous Sky Master, "The Madness of Mysterio" (#48), a rare original Season Three episode involving the famous villain, only looking completely different and having green skin. And speaking of green skin, what was Bakshi's fetish with green skinned villains anyway? Just about all of them were green with a few exceptions. And the irony is that he never once used The Green Goblin in any of his episodes.
Most of the last season was just a rehash of earlier episodes, remixed and redubbed to seem like new episodes. I guess when you're given no money to work with, you try to be as creative as you possibly can, and Bakshi did his best, like taking the mad scientist from the "Swing City" episode (#23) and turning him into an Atlantian in episode #46 ("Up From Nowhere") by giving him different ears to look like a fish. Then Bakshi would do another episode with the mad scientist again (#50 "Specialists And Slaves"), back to his normal self. You'd think the scientist would learn to stop shooting at Spider-Man while the webslinger is standing in front of that control panel, but nooooo.
Seriously, these episodes are still great fun nonetheless. Great nostalgic value. However not every episode was properly remastered. Episodes #40 ("The Winged Thing" & "Connor's Reptiles"), #42 ("Sky Harbor" & The Big Brainwasher"), #43 ("The Vanishing Doctor Vespasian" & "The Scourge Of The Scarf"), #46 ("Up From Nowhere") & #52 ("Trip To Tomorrow") all look terrible. Very blurry and grainy, which is a complete shock, especially when you compare them to a remastered episode which looks crystal clear with bright colors and a crisp clean look on practically each and every frame. Episode #52 actually does look perfect...that is until the "Flying Dutchman" segment comes on, then it reverts back to being blurry and grainy ect. It would seem that perhaps this boxset was rushed by Buena Vista in order to be distributed to the public the same week Spiderman 2 was released in movie theaters, even though it wasn't quite yet finished...just so they could make a bigger profit. There's even a misprint on the lyrics to the Spider-Man theme song in the little booklet that comes with the boxset. They forgot the line "Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man". Just shotty workmanship, due to it being rushed.
Obviously if you love this series, you'll pick up this boxset regardless of it's flaws. Some have scoffed that there are no special features included, which is true, but considering you're paying around a dollar per episode, there's not much reason to complain too much about it. But many fans are disappointed that the "Next Week" promos at the end of each episode were not restored, except for one episode. Episode #28 ("Phantom From The Depths Of Time") does include the promo at the end (as well as a shot of Spider-Man crawling down a web in the middle of the episode). But what's humorous is that the promo is for "Revolt In The Fifth Dimension" and that's not the next episode...it's not even on the same disc. Another subtle highlight are the character drawings on all the DVD discs of several bad guys, Spidey, and J.Jonah Jameson, and the fact that there's actually an episode of that character on the disc where he's featured as the cover art on the DVD itself. A nice touch.
Despite all the flaws I still enjoy the series and am happy that it has finally been released on DVD. If you're a fan of this series, pick it up. For the most part, this release is the best this show has looked since...ever!
Keep Swingin' Spidey!
The DVDs are numbered one to 6, and the episodes burned on each disk are in the same order as they were broadcast. Because the first 2 disks and the first half of the third were done by another company, I'm not as fond of the artwork or music that accompanied those episodes as the ones when Ralph Bakshi took over. I understand that he caught some heat from people who felt that he oversaw alot of regurgitating scenes and even whole episodes as the series continued. But he took over when budget cutbacks forced the producers to step away from the previous animation group. Bakshi did what he could with the budget he was given and the time to produce them in. Some even slammed Bakshi for not following the comics for the stories. But to me, Baksi's episodes are the most fun! Look at the color and the types of creatures Krantz animation produced, and how sinister the episodes seemed. Before I knew what other said about these, I felt like I was on some kind of mental trip with the colors and music. All the arch rivals wind up wanting to rule the world (or swamps and even an island) and talk about making slaves of the people. And check how many times Spidey talks about hallucinations in the Bakshi cartoons. Spidey even falls into a bed of mushrooms in at least one toon!
The DVDs are very sparse in any extras, except for the "In Color" lead they played for each episode, but each DVD is around 3 hours, they say. It gets old seeing the lead- in and end credits for each of the -- what -- over 50 episodes? But they are keeping the cartoons in their original content, and not changing voices or other sounds, like the original music.
About the original music... I had thought that the episodes done by Krantz animation were the first ones, probably because one of them was "The Origin of Spider- Man." The artwork seemed so much more involved and in- depth, and the music seemed more expansive. What incredible music, by Ray Ellis and Bob Harris. Everyone knows the theme music, but I want you to try that gorgeous, rich, full background music they jammed, especially in disk 4 and the least half of disk 3, just to get a feel of how they must have loved doing those jam sessions! WOW. The sound is mono (the original sound was), but the music fills your spirit. Try the background jams to Molemen and Neptune's Nose Cone (my favorite) in DVD #4.
The story line seemed so weak by the 6th DVD. I don't remember all these episodes in the reruns I watched. But the decision to release these DVDs is outstanding. I'm happy to have this, finally.
I only wondered, what in the world did my parents ever think about the cartoon series when they walked by the TV set to see all the weird scenes, monsters and green- faced enemies, along with all those comments about hallucinations?!
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