Peter parker was only a teenager in the comics for the first 28 issues. He graduated high school in issue 28. By the time the show premiered he had been in college for about a decade. So him being a college student is still accurate to the source material.
The actor Nicholas Hammond moved to Australia back in the late 1980's. I met him in about 1991 at a pop culture convention and he happily chatted about Spiderman for close to an hour about it with the audience he attracted.
I'm from the UK and I missed the 1977 Spiderman pilot in the Cinema. I managed to see " Spiderman strikes back" as they showed a trailer on TV . My mother took me to see it at the 'Cameo Cinema ' in Bargoed (BAR-GOYD) , Wales. It was shown along side "The Thief of Baghdad " , Roddy McDowall. This was December 1979. The Dragons Challenge was finally shown at the Cameo Cinema in December 1980, along side Cactus Jack, Kirk Douglas. We didn't get the series until the 4th September 1981, shown in order on Friday nights. The Dragons Challenge was renamed " Chinese Web.
Here are two more facts about Spider-Man that were not mentioned *Chip Fields, who played Rita, was often shot either sitting behind a desk, or from the chest up. That's because she filmed her scenes while pregnant. *There were many cases when scenes of Spider-Man were shot on the same lot as Wonder Woman. Fred Waugh was good friends with Jeannie Epper, the primary Wonder Woman stunt double. There were many cases where they visit each other's sets to hang out wearing their respective costumes. Too bad no one could take pictures at the time.
@@robd1329 that would have been really nice to pay real homage kind of like The Flash today using the original actor playing multiple roles on the CW show.
@@kamandi1362 😂 I wouldn't remember, could it have been both? as I'm sure I didn't watch it when it was originally aired, unless it aired here later anyway as I was born in '77 but remember watching it.
Nicholas Hammond was the perfect '70s/Bronze-Age of Comics, Spider-Man. He was great as Peter. Smart but not nerdy, shy but not a pathetic loser. That's the way Peter Parker was in the 1970's. Also the infamous cocky, sarcastic, humor of Peter Parker/Spider-Man is there if you listen for it. Parker's struggle with money and trying to do the right thing despite who he might hurt is in the late '70s tv show.
Absolutely loved this Spider-Man as a kid. I watched them over and over again on VHS. The local video store near my Aunts place in Ballarat had them back in the 80s.
This show came out almost 2 weeks after my 10th Birthday and ended almost 2 months shy of my 12th birthday. Most of us kids thought it was fun and it was Spider-Man. We didn't care about the villains from the comics not being in it. We were there for the heroes. The Amazing Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, and Wonder Woman on CBS. Also on CBS we had Shazam! starting in 1974 to about 1976. They repackaged it with The Secrets of Isis for The Kid Super Power Hour. We had reruns of the 50's Superman series. Life was great for kids who loved their superheroes.
I wish I could give you another thumbs up for the correct spelling of Spider-Man 🤣. Even Minty misspelled it. I was roughly your age when I watched it too and although I mainly loved it one thing that did miff me a bit was that they didn't show his super strength and speed properly. Also was a big fan of Incredible Hulk, Captain Marvel (now known as Shazam) and Isis and Wonder Woman (I still have a Wonder Woman plastic cup that I still use haha).
@@I.am.Sarah. I was also 10 when this came out. I remember that everyone at school was singing the Spider-Man theme song from The Electric Company: Spider-Man! Where are you coming from, Spider-Man? Nobody knows who you are------------
I started collecting ASM comics at 7. Pretty much learned to read on them. I was 9 when the tv show came out. I hyped it to my friends and family. Made my folks try to watch it. It was nothing like my ASM comics, I was sorely disappointed.. if only I had the Internet to nerd rage to lol.
Minty, this is my favorite "10 Things You didn't Know" show as of yet. I love watching the 70s TV show of SpiderMan when I was child. I recall when they were filming the TV show in my neighborhood and right after they finished shooting the scene I've walked up to the actor, Nicolas Hammond, to get his autograph and got it. It was magical when I got that autograph. One of the few good memories of my childhood that I remember.
OMG!!! Talk about FLASHBACKS!!! As a kid, I used to watch every single show you mentioned in the beginning of this video, The Incredible Hulk, Wonder Woman, Shazam, and Spider-Man. I even watched the original Batman series with Adam West and another one called "Man From Atlantis" (1977-1978) starring Patrick Duffy. I've always had a love for super hero tv shows and movies. I could never get enough. This recent explosion of super-hero movies from the Marvel universe(s) and DC comics has refueled this love. I STILL can't get enough! This video brought back some amazing memories. Thanks Minty!!!
I was born in the 70s and this was my Spiderman. My dad was super into ccmics and that was the best time in the world to have shows AND cartoons. And even though we had them, most of us only had 3 damn channels.
At least this Spider-Man was a grown ass man. I hate the MCU Spider-Man. They always wanna keep him as a high school kid. The 70s got Peter Parker right. He's a grown man. Plus Tom Holland is annoying as fuck! 😠
Was a great time to be a kid in the 80s. I loved this series amongst the many other American shows of that era. They should tidy the episodes up and give it a proper release.
I remember being seven and watching this and even for the time I thought it looked cheap. Even back then there were some good genre shows I liked way better. I remember watching Wonder Woman and Incredible Hulk, but the show that everybody at school liked was Six Million dollar man. I’d love a Minty review of that show.
I felt that the 1990 Flash show suffered similarly. They tried to work the villains in, but changed them to just men in business suits. If memory serves, Mark Hamil, who played the Trickster, was the only one who insisted on wearing the villain suit, and his episode are now, probably the most remembered. On a tv budget, they could have done Kraven, Mysterio, maybe even Chameleon, but sadly, we didn't get that.
@@bonghunezhou5051 The advantage that the "Batman" TV series had was that the villians only wore costumes, and didn't need a lot of money spent on them.
I remember in the '90s finding the pilot episode as the full length movie in a local Mom and Pop video store at that time I hadn't seen the animated series that was being broadcast in America so this was my introduction to Spider-Man and I thoroughly loved it I did feel that it was a good idea to start off with a more human villain and I did hope maybe later on they would bring in the more popular comic villains not realizing of course this was a TV movie with the TV budget but I still have a fond affection for this series I do agree that Nicholas Hammond did a great job with the material the fact that he is more human and more grown up helps it become more serious I have actually seen all the episodes on TH-cam and I love to occasionally go back and rewatch them I know you can find VHS copies of the three theatrical movies on eBay so if anybody's wanting to see what that looks like you can probably find them on there easy
I think they easily could've made The Kingpin the overarching villain of the series, with all the other criminals seen being just his underlings. If they wanted to up the threat level, in the second season, he could've put a bounty on Spider-Man, and Kraven the Hunter could've been the one to collect.
I loved watching the re-runs of this show on the Sci Fi Channel in the late 80's early 90's, it was how I first got into SpiderMan. Nick Hammond was a great Peter Parker, and you could tell his portrayal was a big influence on the 94' animated series.
That's true, They did give Peter Parker Hammond's hair style for the 1990's animated series. I somehow always imagined Aunt May lecturing Peter to get a haircut because she thought he looked like a hippy.
I remember see this show in reruns myself, right around the mid 1990's when the animated Spider-Man series debuted on Fox Kids. Despite it being a low budget affair, I did enjoy all of the fights and stunt scenes. Plus, Nicholas Hammond was a great Peter Parker. Always thought it was interesting that Spidey in this show wore his web shooter outside his glove rather than inside like in the comic books.
I was glued to the screen with this show, the Shazam and Isis show, and the Incredible Hulk. Lee made several suggestions to the show, CBS ignored them. Unbelievable.
I remember all of these shows mentioned ,and watched them all as a kid. Even though they were a bit "cheesy" ,they were so popular because there was a real deficit for super hero anything for us kids to watch on television. I would also MOSTLY credit the success of the movie Star Wars in 1977 for the following EXPLOSION of these types of T.V. programs and all of the space related shows that followed .
^^^💯 - Totally agree! Just before 'Star Wars' came out, 'Superman The Movie' was the coolest thing... And about the only thing that seemed to take superheroes seriously-- And then? *STAR WARS!* lol!
@@robd1329 Very true.... Limited access ,and not nearly as much material with have been bombarded in recent years from Marvel Comics, DC, and other,various sources...
I enjoyed this as a kid. A local station showed episodes of the show on Saturdays in the early 80s. They had a built in audience for Spidey cause of syndication of the 60s cartoon and public tv show The Electric Company.
I guess I appreciated this more, after the 80s cartoons and secret wars figures came out. When 80s Spider-Man and Spider-Man and His Amazing friends were on Saturday Mornings, I couldn't get enough of Spiderman / Marvel, at the time. Comics, cartoons, movies and t.v., old or new.
The Amazing Spiderman was a must watch for sure, but I think the best Superhero TV Shows at that time were Wonder Woman and The Incredible Hulk. Shazam was a Saturday morning show where Billy Batson ran around in a Winnebago with an old man called Mentor. There was also The Secrets of Isis, Electra Woman and Dyna Girl, Land of the Lost.
@@shawnpatrick1877 I think Minty may have bitten off more than he can chew. Now we're going to need 10 things you didn't know about Every Superhero TV Show of the 70's!
I remember one episode where a villainous clone of Spider-Man was made, and it led to this classic line; "That's right, Peter... I am you, you are me, and this is a gun". Plus, it did address the concerns of working with radioactive materials that were on everyone's mind in the episode "The Deadly Dust". That classmate is fortunate she didn't get cancer.
I love this show . I have the entire series on DVD , Bootleg . Its absolutely amazing that Nicholas Hammond was cast because of a performance in 'The Importance of Being Earnest' . The very same play Peter Parker goes to see Mary Jane perform , in Spiderman 2 in 2004 . Thats astonishing .
After watching this show as a kid it made me believe that I could of become a super hero, in fact me and my friend used to play on the roofs of the industrial estate near us and had many swings in the area. We had a run that we could do where we would run a long the roofs, swing down on to the skips and then use a tree branch to get over a fence. These days they call it free running back then we called it garden hopping.
I remember the pilot movie of this show, and it's a special place in my heart! It would have been great to see this Spider-Man and the Incredible Hulk team-up.
I think Bill Bixby is a very underrated actor. One of his co-stars (who played his son in "The Courtship Of Eddie's Father" is petitioning for Bill Bixby to get a star on the "Hollywood Walk Of Fame".
I wonder if the CBS series rights are now public domain? Odd that this series never got an official DVD release; these people really know how NOT to make money...
I remember that series well, I was 13 and loved it, along with the Shazam/Isis hour. I think Joanna Cameron even made an appearance on SpiderMan. I’d love to see all those shows back on TV. I did manage to find Shazam and Isis on DVD.
Morgan freeman also did double duty as a regular cast member and sometimes in the spider suite. Also the term “spidey” was used first on the show then a comic run.
It would've been hilarious if this style Spiderman popped up in "No Way Home", this version would still have the physics of the 70's show(rope webs,wall crawling,ect.),but he's surprisingly a badass. Imagine that web swinging style with the 3 theatrical versions 🤣
Loved this series, the 67 cartoon series, Electric company shorts, Spider Man and his Amazing Friends series were my introduction to Spider Man before the comics being born in the mid 70's. You can find the entire series in pretty good quality on youtube. The 13 episodes actually had several actors/ actresses that went on to have very succesfull careers in the 80's and 90's. Ted Danson, Madeline Stowe, Morgan Fairchild became stars, and several others had big roles in other films. Michael Pataki had a couple of big roles in Rocky IV and Halloween IV, the Con Caper episode features the actor who played the Serpico killer in Dirty Harry, the coin collector and prison guard from Photo Finish episode appear in several big production Hollywood films. There are others just can't recall all of them at the moment.
Thanks 🙏 for this episode on Spider-Man tv show. I remember watching these reruns in the 90s as a kid and was intrigued by it as a kid. Wasn’t alive yet during the original airing but it was cool to see a live action Spider-Man before the movies. Thanks 😊 👍🏼
This was ace back in the 70s. I was in bits as a kid when he broke his scanner type thing. Definitely saw it as the double bill with The Eye Of The Tiger. Should have had him back back in No Way Home.
I've heard about this series but I've never seen it as it never aired when I was a kid in the 80's though I may check it out on TH-cam. My introduction to Spiderman was the 1967 animated series that aired all the time when I was a kid and was always a favourite of mine!
This was planned actually..as a follow up movie after Death of the Hulk...It was cancelled due to Bill Bixby's death...it was called Revenge of the Incredible Hulk...
30% of the Spider-man scenes were actually Nicholas Hammond in the suit, with Fred Waugh Doing rest. Hammond, when taking the part, had been told that He'd only be required to be in the suit for around 15 to 20% of the series shoots. He stated in an interview that, a condition of his taking the part was that he be in the suit as much as possible, to which the network agreed. And then allowed him to do most of the scenes on the ground, and were they took Spidey to the roof's edge, where Fred Waugh would take over.
What I like with you, Minty, is your respect for whatever movie and TV show you talk about. You don't just pick apart a show, like a lot of TH-cam videos do, but give a balanced view of each subject, along with a lot of interesting facts. Just finished watching the entire series of "The Amazing Spiderman" on TH-cam, and liked it a lot. It is a shame that it didn't have more seasons. I live in Melbourne, Australia, too, by the way, and remember seeing the three "Spiderman" movies you mentioned at the cinema as a kid, as I was really into Superheroes and watched "Spiderman", (both this and the cartoon series), along with "Batman", "Wonder Woman", "The Incredible Hulk", "Shazam" and the Christopher Reeve "Superman" films, plus having all the Mego dolls of those heroes as well.
I used to love the show as a kid and even still enjoy it to a degree is an adult. Admittedly, it was not the greatest show but it still had a quality and charm to it. Nicholas Hammond definitely was the highlight of the show. On a sidenote, I know they tried to make Ellen Brian the love interest especially towards the end but in all honesty, I felt Nicolas have better chemistry with Chip Fields or even the Asian actress in the final episode the Chinese web. As for the villains, there’s no way you could’ve believably done Dr. octopus or the green goblin. I’ve always argue though that some of Spider-Man‘s more mortal enemies such as Kraven, Mysterio, the chameleon or the kingpin could’ve easily been done. Thanks for making this video though!
The Kingpin could've easily been he show's overarching villain. All of the baddies of the week could've been his underlings. In he second season, they could've upped the ante, and have him contact Kraven the Hunter to place a bounty on Spider-Man
I just had issues with the suit design. Mainly the eyes. Especially when I saw that Toei studios in Japan pulled it off better with their 1978 live action Spider-Man tv show.
@@Viking_Luchador Agreed! Wilson Fisk could’ve easily been done plus he was originally a Spider-Man villain anyway! Long before he was a Daredevil villain!
Watched reruns of this on Scifi in the 90s and loved it. Spidey was my second favorite superhero behind batman and between this and the 90s animated series, I had a pretty nice introduction to the character prior to buying the comics. It's just a shame the show didn't last longer
I was a huge Spidey fan as a wee lad. I remember watching The Electric Company hoping that Spider-Man would show up. And ohhh boy was it a big deal to 6 year old me when he had his own show.
That ELECTRIC COMPANY Spidey was the gateway to my absolute adoration of the character. As a kid in 1980, my kindergarten teacher would put the show on during the morning and every time Spidey came on, we all went wild in class. Looking back, it was extremely campy but it was an educational program and along with the SPIDEY SUPER STORIES comic, getting kids to read was the main point. Another great video Minty!
Kinda shame that this version of Peter wasn't referenced by the MCU and No Way Home. Edit: Holy balls!! That Japanese Spider-Man is wild! Sucks that the MCU didn't reference it as well.
I was born in '72 so I also grew up loving that show, and still do. I also look now and look at the way you could tell spidey was being pulled up a wall via cable, with arms stretched out, and feet clambering too look like they were working with him LOL. And as you say, the stunt work back then was highly dangerous, especially when he's hanging on the side of a skyscraper facing downwards.......thats some bravery I must say, and I doubt you'd get that kinda bravery nowadays. Thank for sharing, loved watching it.
Hey! I had that Spidey meet Jaws comic!!! The Electric Company was awesome! Morgan Freeman at his best! I would SO have gone to see that Hulk-Spidey movie!!! I really liked the TV show. It would have been MUCH better if his foes were in the classic vein, but The Incredible Hulk and Wonder Woman didn't do that either. The only thing I hated about the show was that Spidey never talked. Lou Ferrigno kept speech out of Hulk's lines (he'd just roar) because he didn't want deaf kids getting bullied for "sounding like The Hulk." But since I was into comic books back then, I couldn't understand why Spidey didn't have the cool banter on TV that he had in the comic... "Just your friendly neighborhood Spider-man!" I remember seeing one Captain America television movie, and I caught the Dr. Strange pilot, but I didn't think Dr. Strange was very interesting. I was just a kid then, so I may feel about the show differently now. I like that you included the shot with Mr. Rogers. He was kbown for taking a picture of every guest or person he met. He was into selfies before they were called selfies... I loved Shazam and Isis on Saturday mornings with Ark II and the Land Of The Lost and others in the Kroft Supershow. I still watch those episode on TH-cam today. You should cover both Wonder Woman and The Incredible Hulk! I liked both of those shows, and I'd love to know Uncle Minty's take on them. Your shows are always interesting and entertaining and I think you'd be the perfect person to remind us old folks and to introduce to new viewers just how great they were, considering. Best to you-
That's right! I forgot about the Electric Company Spiderman! I used to get their magazine, and there were 4 or 8 page comics with Spiderman (even with some of the iconic villains in them)
The shot with Fred Rogers was taken on location of the Hulk TV show. Fred liked to show children that scary people on TV were not so in real life. He had the wicked witch actress from The Wizard of Oz on his show for the very same reason. He also a tried to get Big Bird to take his costume off on his show. The actor refused , so Big Bird stayed in make believe land , while Fred showed kids how a Giraffe costume was taken off.😉 Fred made his point one way or another lol.
Groovy baby, I remember seeing one of those comic books up on the news stands as a little brat, and I also remembered seeing that Superman Television show too, I have always wondered where that radioactive spider came from??, I definitely knew that the spiders in my room or around my house weren’t radioactive, I knew this because I checked out those spiders out in the darkness and none of those spiders glowed, Of course I wasn’t stupid enough to get bitten by one of those things, Possibly because of my Spidey senses??, Definitely a groovy costume baby
I wonder if the CBS series rights are now public domain? Odd that this series never got an official DVD release; these people really know how NOT to make money...
As a kid, I loved this series, and later it would rerun as movies on WTBS on their noon weekday movies. another fact-the eyes of the costume were made that way so the stuntman could focus while walking on tall buildings.
This was actually my first ever introduction to Spider-Man Before Spider-Man 1 Toby maguire and I loved this so much just because it was Spider-Man and then Toby brought a whole new life and audience to Spider-Man
Nicholas Hammond, if you still give a damn, you'll ALWAYS be my favorite iteration of Spiderman. It was so exciting, as a kid, to see the character come to life through the efforts of someone who obviously took the project so seriously, big budget or no, and I think the show gave us some insight into what a real Spiderman might actually ofbe like. I loved the fabric costume which changed a bit over time in accordance with real-life wear and tear issues. I loved the over-sized web shooters & utility belt, worn on the outside, which made more sense than the tiny comic book versions that people complained at that time were too small to be believable; carrying about a gallon of web fluid at all times just made more sense, and I could spend more time looking at them in absolute wonder! I loved the dangerous stunts that were performed by Mr. Waugh... so much more dangerous looking & realistic than the cartoony, CGI "laws of physics be damned" modern effects. If they weren't an appropriate consolation for the lack of comic-accurate villains, then I don't know what could be. I can even remember a magazine article of the day about an exercise program you engaged in, tailored to what you felt were the demands of portraying such a character, that interested readers could try out for themselves. And I especially loved your obvious respect for the show, and for what you were trying to create for the young fans. I think it was an inexcusable shame & a huge crime that you weren't included in "No Way Home", at least as an extra pair of scientific hands and a more mature & sympathetic mentor who retired his uniform some time ago, after coming to the conclusion that he could no longer safely & effectively contribute to society's ails. Coming from a much different reality doesn't mean you can't have empathy for what the other spider-men are going through. I still hold out hope that we'll see you in costume again, on the big (or small) screen at some point! So thank you, Sir, for a fantasy of my youth come true, and a job expertly done. You'll NEVER know the true extent of what it meant to all of us. I will love and appreciate you eternally. ✌️💟🕷️🕸️
Growing up in the 70s i was a huge fan of all the superhero treatments on TV. This show never made it. They aired it in a late spot and i was never allowed to stay up to watch it. I do remember seeing the commercials for it and while it got me excited i also remember how cheap and thrown together it looked compared to the others. Thanks for the fascinating episode!
My biggest issue with almost all the superhero TV shows was always that the heroes' super powers always seemed to be greatly toned down in comparison to their powers in the comics, in cartoons and in movies. There was also a very clear lack of Super Villans. I enjoyed all the shows and have fond memories of them, but I always wished they had made the superheros more powerful and had included more super criminals. The most frequent explanation I hear is that it was on a fairly low budget, but I don't buy it. A lack of creativity, and the desire to bring in more adult audiences seems like the more likely explanation.
Even Superman in the 50s suffered from that: No Lex Luthor, no...whoever else appeared in Superman comics by the 50s. Seems like the only TV series that did have any cool villains from the comics was Batman.
@@seanryan3020late but yeah ut kinda sucked they didn't show any villains from the comics in the 50s superman show Made weirder is the fact that there are villains that wouldn't have hurt the budget like toyman parasite by just making his apperance Normal Lex luthor and bizarro
@jadenbryant9283 Even funnier is how, even in the Superman movies, they don't really show any villains other than Luthor or General Zod. Yes, there was Doomsday in Superman vs. Batman, but it was Luthor who created him. And the less said about Superman III the better!
The Japanese Spiderman show has a great opening theme and is adorable goofy, easy fun cash-in on the super sentai, kamen rider, ultramans of the time. Should be clips around on this site.
Loved this show as a kid. It was shown in Saturday tea time in Ireland. Then suddenly, it was gone. Years later in October 1996 we were in Universal Studios in LA. Being October, we had the place to ourselves. We go around a corner, and there is Spidey ! The actor playing him for park visitors seemed really stoked that there were actually visitors that day. It was excellent, and we still couldn't believe why the studios didn't make more use of Spiderman. Then in 4+ years later, in January 2001, production began on Sam Raimi's "Spiderman"
I remember there being a few toys being released to coincide with this show/movies. I think there may have been an action figure, possibly a spidey costume but I definitely remember the Spider-man web shooter. It was a wrist device that fired off a sucker with a string attached. I never had one but the kid next door to me had one. Incidentally Minty, well done for getting hold of a VHS copy of the films. I don't think either have been broadcast for decades. I suspect either Sony or Marvel or both have buried the series so as not to cheapen the brand for future projects. I was also surprised to learn there was a Japanese tv show too.
8:22 - Spider-Man's lack of villains from the comics mirrored the same problem George Reeves' Superman had in the 1950s. It was an equally low-budget show with Superman usually up against mere gangsters (usually bumbling ones at that), with the occasional sci-fi element thrown in every so often. Hulk and Wonder woman fared no better.
I adore Stan Lee but his recounts on past Marvel projects have been questionable. It’s been said that was originally fine with Gwen Stacy’s death as the majority of fans wanted Peter and MJ together. But when they were hit by a significant backlash for this, Stan placed the blame on writer Gerry Conway and the rest of the staff. So it’s quite possible that he was all smiles during the production of the Spiderman series but expressed disappointment when fans saw how little of Spider Man there was along with generic villains.
not to take anything from the properties, but i could never stand Stan Lee. all marvel characters were a combined effort between Stan and an artist yet in interviews , when selling or promoting and i suspect recieving plaudits and royalties they were always STAN LEEs products, in the same way music stars record someone elses music and its the stars song unless the writer is also a star. though to be fair to stan the comic industry is rife with publisher A says to artist B, "how about ......." , B does all the work and A takes all the credit instead of shared credit. there is a famous case where A gave B a rough idea, B finessed and created the character, B got paid $50 and a promise of 50 for every comic B drew , then after issue 1 A had all comics drawn in house. in the end B drew, created and realised the character and got $50 while A had a vague idea and published and made millions of comic, tv, movie and merch deals. luckily but too late, todav Bwould be protected by inellectual and image laws, so A might have publishing etc rights but any use of image or artist ideas would bring B a fair pay and recognition. this is why often media spin offs often had few if any characters apart from named lead from the character, often A might own Capt Dash and named comic but not nessesarily other character like Moira Joan or villains like Prof Squid or the puzzler, which were owned by B. Think about it, pre 90s and Excluding Batman how many super hero shows can you name ? now how many villains from the comics appeared on TV and name them?
Never saw this series and I feel deprived, as I was around often watching the other super heroes of the time. My first live Spider-man was the rope net throwing, comic bubble reading Spider-man of The Electric Company on PBS.
Minty...I love that you did this one! I used to rent that TV movie (first episode, pilot, whatever you want to call out) from blockbuster almost weekly. Loved it as a kid. So much nostalgia for this one. Was able to find it on VHS a couple of years ago and still have it in the collection.
Well, to be fair to the show, at the time the TV show came out, Peter Parker was a grad student. Peter Parker was a teenager in the comics in the 1960s, but by the 1970s he was in college and dating Gwen Stacy, and by the late 1970s Peter was a twenty something college graduate and Gwen was dead.
Great job Minty! I can still remember to this day when this series premiered in 1977 and I was riveted as this was my favorite comic book character and back then we could only enjoyed the character from the 1960s era cartoon - so a TV/movie version was mind blowing back then. And yes at the age of 7 I had no patience for all of the story development in each episode as I only lived to see Spidey emerge in his costume. And like you noted the sporadic TV scheduling in its original run taught me to be ever vigilant at a young age to both read TV Guide and watch CBS for any trailers hinting at the next episode. Always watching Amazon to see if one day this will be released on DVD but from CBS's treatment of the series I am not holding my breath...thank heavens for TH-cam...
It is true that you learn something new everyday! I never even knew there was a Spiderman TV show in the 70's... I guess because I was born too late. It's mind-blowing to me really. Like I had absolutely no 💡 😳
Two things: Shazam was a Saturday morning show, not a prime time one. Second, I'm really curious how they ended up filming one of the Spiderman episodes in Hong Kong. That seems really uncommon for the era. If you do a follow-up would be great to hear about that.
I remember that the '60s TV show "I Spy" had a few episodes filmed overseas, one in Hong Kong. I've always wondered how that happened on a TV budget from back then.
Whoever's reading this,I pray that whatever you're going through gets better and whatever you're struggling with or worrying about is going to be fine and that everyone has a fantastic day amen
I remember when I was a kid, my local Wherehouse movie rental store had a box for a Spider-Man movie, which must have been this show, but someone had never returned the tape. Used to study the back of the box, imagining what a live action Spider-Man could possibly look like. They never did return that tape... 😅
He'd probably still be doing cameos if he was still alive. Besides, he always championed, peace, equality, and was pretty progressive, judging by his editorials in many of the older comics, but I guess we'll never know. I guess we're probably better off going by what he stood for rather than project our own politics onto his resting soul.
Thank you @MintyComedicArts for covering this series!! Please cover The Incredible Hulk television series when you can. There are several un produced scripts of The Hulk television series and footage featuring Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno for an early 1990s She Hulk pilot television movie.
Peter parker was only a teenager in the comics for the first 28 issues. He graduated high school in issue 28. By the time the show premiered he had been in college for about a decade. So him being a college student is still accurate to the source material.
The actor Nicholas Hammond moved to Australia back in the late 1980's. I met him in about 1991 at a pop culture convention and he happily chatted about Spiderman for close to an hour about it with the audience he attracted.
He was also upset about not being asked to be in Spider-Man No Way Home. Rightfully so
@@budgiecat9039 he absolutely should have been in the movie, that's messed up.
That's cool, I like it when they interact with the fans
I'm from the UK and I missed the 1977 Spiderman pilot in the Cinema. I managed to see " Spiderman strikes back" as they showed a trailer on TV . My mother took me to see it at the 'Cameo Cinema ' in Bargoed (BAR-GOYD) , Wales. It was shown along side "The Thief of Baghdad " , Roddy McDowall. This was December 1979. The Dragons Challenge was finally shown at the Cameo Cinema in December 1980, along side Cactus Jack, Kirk Douglas. We didn't get the series until the 4th September 1981, shown in order on Friday nights. The Dragons Challenge was renamed " Chinese Web.
@@budgiecat9039He should be Uncle Ben, a good homage and also fitting role for him
As a kid we didn't care about the lack of known villains and love interests. We were just happy to see him on TV.
no bull! lol
IKR? I thought "you bastards," you killed the show with each mention of a show's cancelation...especially if a lame excuse was attached!! 😆🤣
TOTALLY 💯
I cared.
Exactly, all I cared about as an 8 year old kid is seeing Spider-Man on TV
Nicholas Hammond was the obvious model for the 90s animated series and my favorite peter in animated form.
10 Things You Didn't Know About SpiderMan TV Show 70s. Robin banks...was he another stunt double?
Yup
Nicholas Hammond went from playing Spider-Man to a director in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood 😄
Seeing the Spider-Man stunt double actually walking up the side of the building was great.
Here are two more facts about Spider-Man that were not mentioned
*Chip Fields, who played Rita, was often shot either sitting behind a desk, or from the chest up. That's because she filmed her scenes while pregnant.
*There were many cases when scenes of Spider-Man were shot on the same lot as Wonder Woman. Fred Waugh was good friends with Jeannie Epper, the primary Wonder Woman stunt double. There were many cases where they visit each other's sets to hang out wearing their respective costumes. Too bad no one could take pictures at the time.
Chip was pregnant with Alexis at the time filming Spider- man television show was taping in Los Angeles, California for sure!
She's also Kim Fields's mom. Kim played Tootie on Facts of Life.
He should have been included in the multiverse Spiderman..a cameo of him retired with MJ telling how beat Goblin would have been cool.
Minty dropped the ball. 👍
@@robd1329 that would have been really nice to pay real homage kind of like The Flash today using the original actor playing multiple roles on the CW show.
I remember watching them as a kid in the 70's/80's on BBC. Loved them.
It was on ITV.
@@kamandi1362 😂 I wouldn't remember, could it have been both? as I'm sure I didn't watch it when it was originally aired, unless it aired here later anyway as I was born in '77 but remember watching it.
Watched it and loved it as a kid. Take me back to 1977
Nicholas Hammond was the perfect '70s/Bronze-Age of Comics, Spider-Man. He was great as Peter. Smart but not nerdy, shy but not a pathetic loser. That's the way Peter Parker was in the 1970's. Also the infamous cocky, sarcastic, humor of Peter Parker/Spider-Man is there if you listen for it. Parker's struggle with money and trying to do the right thing despite who he might hurt is in the late '70s tv show.
Absolutely loved this Spider-Man as a kid. I watched them over and over again on VHS. The local video store near my Aunts place in Ballarat had them back in the 80s.
Wow, I'm old because I remember when this show was on
This show came out almost 2 weeks after my 10th Birthday and ended almost 2 months shy of my 12th birthday. Most of us kids thought it was fun and it was Spider-Man. We didn't care about the villains from the comics not being in it. We were there for the heroes. The Amazing Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, and Wonder Woman on CBS. Also on CBS we had Shazam! starting in 1974 to about 1976. They repackaged it with The Secrets of Isis for The Kid Super Power Hour. We had reruns of the 50's Superman series. Life was great for kids who loved their superheroes.
I wish I could give you another thumbs up for the correct spelling of Spider-Man 🤣. Even Minty misspelled it.
I was roughly your age when I watched it too and although I mainly loved it one thing that did miff me a bit was that they didn't show his super strength and speed properly. Also was a big fan of Incredible Hulk, Captain Marvel (now known as Shazam) and Isis and Wonder Woman (I still have a Wonder Woman plastic cup that I still use haha).
@@I.am.Sarah. I was also 10 when this came out. I remember that everyone at school was singing the Spider-Man theme song from The Electric Company:
Spider-Man!
Where are you coming from, Spider-Man?
Nobody knows who you are------------
I started collecting ASM comics at 7. Pretty much learned to read on them. I was 9 when the tv show came out. I hyped it to my friends and family. Made my folks try to watch it. It was nothing like my ASM comics, I was sorely disappointed.. if only I had the Internet to nerd rage to lol.
Minty, this is my favorite "10 Things You didn't Know" show as of yet. I love watching the 70s TV show of SpiderMan when I was child. I recall when they were filming the TV show in my neighborhood and right after they finished shooting the scene I've walked up to the actor, Nicolas Hammond, to get his autograph and got it. It was magical when I got that autograph. One of the few good memories of my childhood that I remember.
Awesome
I loved watching this show as a kid. I still do now.
OMG!!! Talk about FLASHBACKS!!! As a kid, I used to watch every single show you mentioned in the beginning of this video, The Incredible Hulk, Wonder Woman, Shazam, and Spider-Man. I even watched the original Batman series with Adam West and another one called "Man From Atlantis" (1977-1978) starring Patrick Duffy. I've always had a love for super hero tv shows and movies. I could never get enough. This recent explosion of super-hero movies from the Marvel universe(s) and DC comics has refueled this love. I STILL can't get enough! This video brought back some amazing memories. Thanks Minty!!!
I was born in the 70s and this was my Spiderman. My dad was super into ccmics and that was the best time in the world to have shows AND cartoons. And even though we had them, most of us only had 3 damn channels.
Back when Marvel and DC lived in harmony. I miss being a kid in the 70's.
It was a good time, right? Lol
At least this Spider-Man was a grown ass man. I hate the MCU Spider-Man. They always wanna keep him as a high school kid. The 70s got Peter Parker right. He's a grown man. Plus Tom Holland is annoying as fuck! 😠
Never in true harmony MARVEL/DC or DC/MARVEL pick one.
They are competitors, they compete. They never despised one another. Look back on the numerous crossovers they've done together and will do together.
They still get along.. they always have.. it's the fans that don't get along.. don't believe me? Read the comments 😆
Was a great time to be a kid in the 80s. I loved this series amongst the many other American shows of that era. They should tidy the episodes up and give it a proper release.
I remember being seven and watching this and even for the time I thought it looked cheap. Even back then there were some good genre shows I liked way better. I remember watching Wonder Woman and Incredible Hulk, but the show that everybody at school liked was Six Million dollar man. I’d love a Minty review of that show.
I felt that the 1990 Flash show suffered similarly. They tried to work the villains in, but changed them to just men in business suits. If memory serves, Mark Hamil, who played the Trickster, was the only one who insisted on wearing the villain suit, and his episode are now, probably the most remembered. On a tv budget, they could have done Kraven, Mysterio, maybe even Chameleon, but sadly, we didn't get that.
The comic-book villains should have been featured _early_ in the series; there might have been a second season then.
@@bonghunezhou5051 The advantage that the "Batman" TV series had was that the villians only wore costumes, and didn't need a lot of money spent on them.
The Chameleon would have been a piece of cake. After all, Batman had a similar villain called "False Face".
I think they could have pulled off Black Cat too
I loved watching thee amazing spider-man in my house back in the 70s with my family and the original hulk
I remember in the '90s finding the pilot episode as the full length movie in a local Mom and Pop video store at that time I hadn't seen the animated series that was being broadcast in America so this was my introduction to Spider-Man and I thoroughly loved it I did feel that it was a good idea to start off with a more human villain and I did hope maybe later on they would bring in the more popular comic villains not realizing of course this was a TV movie with the TV budget but I still have a fond affection for this series I do agree that Nicholas Hammond did a great job with the material the fact that he is more human and more grown up helps it become more serious I have actually seen all the episodes on TH-cam and I love to occasionally go back and rewatch them I know you can find VHS copies of the three theatrical movies on eBay so if anybody's wanting to see what that looks like you can probably find them on there easy
I think they easily could've made The Kingpin the overarching villain of the series, with all the other criminals seen being just his underlings. If they wanted to up the threat level, in the second season, he could've put a bounty on Spider-Man, and Kraven the Hunter could've been the one to collect.
Me, too. But it was the late 80s. Mr. T's video.
Omg me 2 I remember getting this from blockbuster in 90s dang
@@Viking_Luchador I too also mentioned Kingpin in my comments. I am glad I am not the only one who thought this.
@Madman Mark 😁
I loved watching the re-runs of this show on the Sci Fi Channel in the late 80's early 90's, it was how I first got into SpiderMan. Nick Hammond was a great Peter Parker, and you could tell his portrayal was a big influence on the 94' animated series.
Same here 😎
That's true, They did give Peter Parker Hammond's hair style for the 1990's animated series.
I somehow always imagined Aunt May lecturing Peter to get a haircut because she thought he looked like a hippy.
I remember see this show in reruns myself, right around the mid 1990's when the animated Spider-Man series debuted on Fox Kids. Despite it being a low budget affair, I did enjoy all of the fights and stunt scenes. Plus, Nicholas Hammond was a great Peter Parker. Always thought it was interesting that Spidey in this show wore his web shooter outside his glove rather than inside like in the comic books.
The most accurate portrayal of Parker just by his look I thought the same thing about the cartoon
BOOM!! It's minty o'clock
I was glued to the screen with this show, the Shazam and Isis show, and the Incredible Hulk. Lee made several suggestions to the show, CBS ignored them. Unbelievable.
I remember all of these shows mentioned ,and watched them all as a kid. Even though they were a bit "cheesy" ,they were so popular because there was a real deficit for super hero anything for us kids to watch on television. I would also MOSTLY credit the success of the movie Star Wars in 1977 for the following EXPLOSION of these types of T.V. programs and all of the space related shows that followed .
^^^💯 - Totally agree! Just before 'Star Wars' came out, 'Superman The Movie' was the coolest thing... And about the only thing that seemed to take superheroes seriously-- And then? *STAR WARS!* lol!
..we only had like 4 or 5 channells to watch in the 80
Minty got the year wrong of the Sound of Music… it came out in 65, not 67
Superman - The Movie came out a year and a half after Star Wars.
@@robd1329 Very true.... Limited access ,and not nearly as much material with have been bombarded in recent years from Marvel Comics, DC, and other,various sources...
I enjoyed this as a kid. A local station showed episodes of the show on Saturdays in the early 80s. They had a built in audience for Spidey cause of syndication of the 60s cartoon and public tv show The Electric Company.
Oh man, I remember watching this! I've tried to explain how goofy it was to people over the years, but I loved it as a kid. 😅
I guess I appreciated this more, after the 80s cartoons and secret wars figures came out. When 80s Spider-Man and Spider-Man and His Amazing friends were on Saturday Mornings, I couldn't get enough of Spiderman / Marvel, at the time.
Comics, cartoons, movies and t.v., old or new.
The Amazing Spiderman was a must watch for sure, but I think the best Superhero TV Shows at that time were Wonder Woman and The Incredible Hulk. Shazam was a Saturday morning show where Billy Batson ran around in a Winnebago with an old man called Mentor. There was also The Secrets of Isis, Electra Woman and Dyna Girl, Land of the Lost.
@@shawnpatrick1877 I think Minty may have bitten off more than he can chew. Now we're going to need 10 things you didn't know about Every Superhero TV Show of the 70's!
I remember one episode where a villainous clone of Spider-Man was made, and it led to this classic line; "That's right, Peter... I am you, you are me, and this is a gun". Plus, it did address the concerns of working with radioactive materials that were on everyone's mind in the episode "The Deadly Dust". That classmate is fortunate she didn't get cancer.
I love this show . I have the entire series on DVD , Bootleg . Its absolutely amazing that Nicholas Hammond was cast because of a performance in 'The Importance of Being Earnest' . The very same play Peter Parker goes to see Mary Jane perform , in Spiderman 2 in 2004 . Thats astonishing .
Super weird- that's great trivia!
@@texturem0nkey that really is! 👍
After watching this show as a kid it made me believe that I could of become a super hero, in fact me and my friend used to play on the roofs of the industrial estate near us and had many swings in the area.
We had a run that we could do where we would run a long the roofs, swing down on to the skips and then use a tree branch to get over a fence.
These days they call it free running back then we called it garden hopping.
Does your copy have the episodes in original broadcast order? Mine has the episodes spliced together into "movies".
That’s called an Easter egg, and it’s intentional. Nothing astonishing about giving an intentional nod to the past.
I love me some Spider-Man! But Linda Carter as Wonder Woman.. utterly fantastic.
I remember seeing this on tv. Then finding it on vhs as a rental. Still have fond memories of it as one of my first introductions to spiderman.
I remember the pilot movie of this show, and it's a special place in my heart! It would have been great to see this Spider-Man and the Incredible Hulk team-up.
Ironically Stan Lee LOVED the Japanese Spiderman which came out in the 70's as well.I remember waiting to see Spidey on Electric Company.
The Hulk series was pretty damn good.
Yes it was.
I think Bill Bixby is a very underrated actor.
One of his co-stars (who played his son in "The Courtship Of Eddie's Father" is petitioning for Bill Bixby to get a star on the "Hollywood Walk Of Fame".
Love the hell out of this show .been a fan since 1982.have them on DVD
I wonder if the CBS series rights are now public domain? Odd that this series never got an official DVD release; these people really know how NOT to make money...
I remember that series well, I was 13 and loved it, along with the Shazam/Isis hour. I think Joanna Cameron even made an appearance on SpiderMan. I’d love to see all those shows back on TV. I did manage to find Shazam and Isis on DVD.
Morgan freeman also did double duty as a regular cast member and sometimes in the spider suite.
Also the term “spidey” was used first on the show then a comic run.
It would've been hilarious if this style Spiderman popped up in "No Way Home", this version would still have the physics of the 70's show(rope webs,wall crawling,ect.),but he's surprisingly a badass. Imagine that web swinging style with the 3 theatrical versions 🤣
That would've been AWESOME! And Hilarious! lmao!
God i wish he had been in it too
@@GyvonJante hell yeah it would be.
@@Retro-Fez lol same
I was disappointed that it didn't happen
I loved how this Spider-Man actually looks like a fully-grown adult man. He never looked like Spider-Boy.
Loved this series, the 67 cartoon series, Electric company shorts, Spider Man and his Amazing Friends series were my introduction to Spider Man before the comics being born in the mid 70's. You can find the entire series in pretty good quality on youtube. The 13 episodes actually had several actors/ actresses that went on to have very succesfull careers in the 80's and 90's. Ted Danson, Madeline Stowe, Morgan Fairchild became stars, and several others had big roles in other films. Michael Pataki had a couple of big roles in Rocky IV and Halloween IV, the Con Caper episode features the actor who played the Serpico killer in Dirty Harry, the coin collector and prison guard from Photo Finish episode appear in several big production Hollywood films. There are others just can't recall all of them at the moment.
Thanks 🙏 for this episode on Spider-Man tv show. I remember watching these reruns in the 90s as a kid and was intrigued by it as a kid. Wasn’t alive yet during the original airing but it was cool to see a live action Spider-Man before the movies. Thanks 😊 👍🏼
Loved Spider-Man tv series. Friday night chippy Tea in front of the tele. Great memories
This was ace back in the 70s. I was in bits as a kid when he broke his scanner type thing. Definitely saw it as the double bill with The Eye Of The Tiger. Should have had him back back in No Way Home.
I loved this show back in the 70’s! I honestly haven’t seen and episode since then which watching this makes me want to see it again. Thanks Minty!
I've heard about this series but I've never seen it as it never aired when I was a kid in the 80's though I may check it out on TH-cam. My introduction to Spiderman was the 1967 animated series that aired all the time when I was a kid and was always a favourite of mine!
Too bad they didn't have a Spider-Man and The Incredible Hulk Crossover Event.
@@justindenney-hall5875 Maybe one day we'll get a crossover comic book base on the team up story that almost was.
@@charlesshadid1890 they might do a movie on that
This was planned actually..as a follow up movie after Death of the Hulk...It was cancelled due to Bill Bixby's death...it was called Revenge of the Incredible Hulk...
30% of the Spider-man scenes were actually Nicholas Hammond in the suit, with Fred Waugh Doing rest. Hammond, when taking the part, had been told that He'd only be required to be in the suit for around 15 to 20% of the series shoots.
He stated in an interview that, a condition of his taking the part was that he be in the suit as much as possible, to which the network agreed. And then allowed him to do most of the scenes on the ground, and were they took Spidey to the roof's edge, where Fred Waugh would take over.
I loved this show. Thayer David was in the pilot. He was from Dark Shadows, one of my all time favorite shows.
I remember the reruns 😄👌 it was cheesy but fun though
Was a kid of the 80's and I was lucky enough to catch this on TV and loved it.
Actually saw the pilot on the big screen here in Germany.
Adam West's Batman too.
What I like with you, Minty, is your respect for whatever movie and TV show you talk about.
You don't just pick apart a show, like a lot of TH-cam videos do, but give a balanced view of each subject, along with a lot of interesting facts.
Just finished watching the entire series of "The Amazing Spiderman" on TH-cam, and liked it a lot. It is a shame that it didn't have more seasons.
I live in Melbourne, Australia, too, by the way, and remember seeing the three "Spiderman" movies you mentioned at the cinema as a kid, as I was really into Superheroes and watched "Spiderman", (both this and the cartoon series), along with "Batman", "Wonder Woman", "The Incredible Hulk", "Shazam" and the Christopher Reeve "Superman" films, plus having all the Mego dolls of those heroes as well.
I used to love the show as a kid and even still enjoy it to a degree is an adult. Admittedly, it was not the greatest show but it still had a quality and charm to it. Nicholas Hammond definitely was the highlight of the show.
On a sidenote, I know they tried to make Ellen Brian the love interest especially towards the end but in all honesty, I felt Nicolas have better chemistry with Chip Fields or even the Asian actress in the final episode the Chinese web.
As for the villains, there’s no way you could’ve believably done Dr. octopus or the green goblin. I’ve always argue though that some of Spider-Man‘s more mortal enemies such as Kraven, Mysterio, the chameleon or the kingpin could’ve easily been done.
Thanks for making this video though!
The Kingpin could've easily been he show's overarching villain. All of the baddies of the week could've been his underlings. In he second season, they could've upped the ante, and have him contact Kraven the Hunter to place a bounty on Spider-Man
I just had issues with the suit design. Mainly the eyes. Especially when I saw that Toei studios in Japan pulled it off better with their 1978 live action Spider-Man tv show.
CBS was always killing shows that made them money,or were actually hits.remember the country purge?? Just sad..😟😟
@@budgiecat9039 I actually didn’t mind the eyes. In fact, especially when they change to the mirror lenses, it gave him a more intimidating look!
@@Viking_Luchador Agreed! Wilson Fisk could’ve easily been done plus he was originally a Spider-Man villain anyway! Long before he was a Daredevil villain!
Absolute full marks for mentioning both the Japanese show and the Electric Company skits. This was extremely thorough work. Well done, my friend.
Watched reruns of this on Scifi in the 90s and loved it. Spidey was my second favorite superhero behind batman and between this and the 90s animated series, I had a pretty nice introduction to the character prior to buying the comics. It's just a shame the show didn't last longer
Hell yeah! This is the Spiderman I grew up with.
I was a huge Spidey fan as a wee lad. I remember watching The Electric Company hoping that Spider-Man would show up.
And ohhh boy was it a big deal to 6 year old me when he had his own show.
That ELECTRIC COMPANY Spidey was the gateway to my absolute adoration of the character. As a kid in 1980, my kindergarten teacher would put the show on during the morning and every time Spidey came on, we all went wild in class. Looking back, it was extremely campy but it was an educational program and along with the SPIDEY SUPER STORIES comic, getting kids to read was the main point. Another great video Minty!
Kinda shame that this version of Peter wasn't referenced by the MCU and No Way Home.
Edit: Holy balls!! That Japanese Spider-Man is wild! Sucks that the MCU didn't reference it as well.
I was born in '72 so I also grew up loving that show, and still do. I also look now and look at the way you could tell spidey was being pulled up a wall via cable, with arms stretched out, and feet clambering too look like they were working with him LOL. And as you say, the stunt work back then was highly dangerous, especially when he's hanging on the side of a skyscraper facing downwards.......thats some bravery I must say, and I doubt you'd get that kinda bravery nowadays. Thank for sharing, loved watching it.
Hey! I had that Spidey meet Jaws comic!!!
The Electric Company was awesome! Morgan Freeman at his best!
I would SO have gone to see that Hulk-Spidey movie!!!
I really liked the TV show. It would have been MUCH better if his foes were in the classic vein, but The Incredible Hulk and Wonder Woman didn't do that either.
The only thing I hated about the show was that Spidey never talked. Lou Ferrigno kept speech out of Hulk's lines (he'd just roar) because he didn't want deaf kids getting bullied for "sounding like The Hulk." But since I was into comic books back then, I couldn't understand why Spidey didn't have the cool banter on TV that he had in the comic...
"Just your friendly neighborhood Spider-man!"
I remember seeing one Captain America television movie, and I caught the Dr. Strange pilot, but I didn't think Dr. Strange was very interesting.
I was just a kid then, so I may feel about the show differently now.
I like that you included the shot with Mr. Rogers. He was kbown for taking a picture of every guest or person he met. He was into selfies before they were called selfies...
I loved Shazam and Isis on Saturday mornings with Ark II and the Land Of The Lost and others in the Kroft Supershow. I still watch those episode on TH-cam today.
You should cover both Wonder Woman and The Incredible Hulk! I liked both of those shows, and I'd love to know Uncle Minty's take on them.
Your shows are always interesting and entertaining and I think you'd be the perfect person to remind us old folks and to introduce to new viewers just how great they were, considering.
Best to you-
That's right! I forgot about the Electric Company Spiderman! I used to get their magazine, and there were 4 or 8 page comics with Spiderman (even with some of the iconic villains in them)
The shot with Fred Rogers was taken on location of the Hulk TV show. Fred liked to show children that scary people on TV were not so in real life. He had the wicked witch actress from The Wizard of Oz on his show for the very same reason. He also a tried to get Big Bird to take his costume off on his show. The actor refused , so Big Bird stayed in make believe land , while Fred showed kids how a Giraffe costume was taken off.😉 Fred made his point one way or another lol.
Groovy baby,
I remember seeing one of those comic books up on the news stands as a little brat, and I also remembered seeing that Superman
Television show too,
I have always wondered where that radioactive spider came from??,
I definitely knew that the spiders in my room or around my house weren’t radioactive,
I knew this because I checked out those spiders out in the darkness and none of those spiders glowed,
Of course I wasn’t stupid enough to get bitten by one of those things,
Possibly because of my Spidey senses??,
Definitely a groovy costume baby
I didn't really watch this show as a kid but I saw bits of it and to be honest as old as it was it was quite alright
I was 7 years old when I watched this, I looked forward to this every week. I do remember it fondly, all these years later. Thanks Minty.
Loved this show!! I have all 13 episodes on bootleg dvd!!
I wonder if the CBS series rights are now public domain? Odd that this series never got an official DVD release; these people really know how NOT to make money...
As a kid, I loved this series, and later it would rerun as movies on WTBS on their noon weekday movies. another fact-the eyes of the costume were made that way so the stuntman could focus while walking on tall buildings.
This was actually my first ever introduction to Spider-Man Before Spider-Man 1 Toby maguire and I loved this so much just because it was Spider-Man and then Toby brought a whole new life and audience to Spider-Man
Do yourself a favor and track down the Japanese Spider-Man, Supaidāman.
Good shout Minty! Used to love this series.
Nicholas Hammond, if you still give a damn, you'll ALWAYS be my favorite iteration of Spiderman. It was so exciting, as a kid, to see the character come to life through the efforts of someone who obviously took the project so seriously, big budget or no, and I think the show gave us some insight into what a real Spiderman might actually ofbe like. I loved the fabric costume which changed a bit over time in accordance with real-life wear and tear issues. I loved the over-sized web shooters & utility belt, worn on the outside, which made more sense than the tiny comic book versions that people complained at that time were too small to be believable; carrying about a gallon of web fluid at all times just made more sense, and I could spend more time looking at them in absolute wonder! I loved the dangerous stunts that were performed by Mr. Waugh... so much more dangerous looking & realistic than the cartoony, CGI "laws of physics be damned" modern effects. If they weren't an appropriate consolation for the lack of comic-accurate villains, then I don't know what could be. I can even remember a magazine article of the day about an exercise program you engaged in, tailored to what you felt were the demands of portraying such a character, that interested readers could try out for themselves. And I especially loved your obvious respect for the show, and for what you were trying to create for the young fans. I think it was an inexcusable shame & a huge crime that you weren't included in "No Way Home", at least as an extra pair of scientific hands and a more mature & sympathetic mentor who retired his uniform some time ago, after coming to the conclusion that he could no longer safely & effectively contribute to society's ails. Coming from a much different reality doesn't mean you can't have empathy for what the other spider-men are going through. I still hold out hope that we'll see you in costume again, on the big (or small) screen at some point! So thank you, Sir, for a fantasy of my youth come true, and a job expertly done. You'll NEVER know the true extent of what it meant to all of us. I will love and appreciate you eternally. ✌️💟🕷️🕸️
I remember watching this from a video rental sore in the early 80's, loved it then but looking back on it now errr....
They should have or still can get Mr Hammond in the current multiverse somewhere an older spider which would be cool.
Growing up in the 70s i was a huge fan of all the superhero treatments on TV. This show never made it. They aired it in a late spot and i was never allowed to stay up to watch it. I do remember seeing the commercials for it and while it got me excited i also remember how cheap and thrown together it looked compared to the others. Thanks for the fascinating episode!
My biggest issue with almost all the superhero TV shows was always that the heroes' super powers always seemed to be greatly toned down in comparison to their powers in the comics, in cartoons and in movies. There was also a very clear lack of Super Villans. I enjoyed all the shows and have fond memories of them, but I always wished they had made the superheros more powerful and had included more super criminals. The most frequent explanation I hear is that it was on a fairly low budget, but I don't buy it. A lack of creativity, and the desire to bring in more adult audiences seems like the more likely explanation.
Even Superman in the 50s suffered from that: No Lex Luthor, no...whoever else appeared in Superman comics by the 50s. Seems like the only TV series that did have any cool villains from the comics was Batman.
@@seanryan3020late but yeah ut kinda sucked they didn't show any villains from the comics in the 50s superman show Made weirder is the fact that there are villains that wouldn't have hurt the budget like toyman parasite by just making his apperance Normal Lex luthor and bizarro
@jadenbryant9283 Even funnier is how, even in the Superman movies, they don't really show any villains other than Luthor or General Zod. Yes, there was Doomsday in Superman vs. Batman, but it was Luthor who created him. And the less said about Superman III the better!
The Japanese Spiderman show has a great opening theme and is adorable goofy, easy fun cash-in on the super sentai, kamen rider, ultramans of the time. Should be clips around on this site.
Loved this show as a kid. It was shown in Saturday tea time in Ireland. Then suddenly, it was gone. Years later in October 1996 we were in Universal Studios in LA. Being October, we had the place to ourselves. We go around a corner, and there is Spidey ! The actor playing him for park visitors seemed really stoked that there were actually visitors that day. It was excellent, and we still couldn't believe why the studios didn't make more use of Spiderman. Then in 4+ years later, in January 2001, production began on Sam Raimi's "Spiderman"
Hammond is in the Spider-Man No Way Home movie. At the end, He’s the old man In the cafe when Peter goes to see MJ after everyone forgets who he is.
Wow! I had totally forgotten about this show. I used to watch it religiously. Oh, the nostalgia...
This show was a classic style cheesy but love these classic shows
I remember there being a few toys being released to coincide with this show/movies. I think there may have been an action figure, possibly a spidey costume but I definitely remember the Spider-man web shooter. It was a wrist device that fired off a sucker with a string attached. I never had one but the kid next door to me had one.
Incidentally Minty, well done for getting hold of a VHS copy of the films. I don't think either have been broadcast for decades. I suspect either Sony or Marvel or both have buried the series so as not to cheapen the brand for future projects. I was also surprised to learn there was a Japanese tv show too.
8:22 - Spider-Man's lack of villains from the comics mirrored the same problem George Reeves' Superman had in the 1950s. It was an equally low-budget show with Superman usually up against mere gangsters (usually bumbling ones at that), with the occasional sci-fi element thrown in every so often. Hulk and Wonder woman fared no better.
Live action Spider-Man was also on The Electric Company kids show in the 70s
I adore Stan Lee but his recounts on past Marvel projects have been questionable. It’s been said that was originally fine with Gwen Stacy’s death as the majority of fans wanted Peter and MJ together. But when they were hit by a significant backlash for this, Stan placed the blame on writer Gerry Conway and the rest of the staff. So it’s quite possible that he was all smiles during the production of the Spiderman series but expressed disappointment when fans saw how little of Spider Man there was along with generic villains.
not to take anything from the properties, but i could never stand Stan Lee. all marvel characters were a combined effort between Stan and an artist yet in interviews , when selling or promoting and i suspect recieving plaudits and royalties they were always STAN LEEs products, in the same way music stars record someone elses music and its the stars song unless the writer is also a star. though to be fair to stan the comic industry is rife with publisher A says to artist B, "how about ......." , B does all the work and A takes all the credit instead of shared credit. there is a famous case where A gave B a rough idea, B finessed and created the character, B got paid $50 and a promise of 50 for every comic B drew , then after issue 1 A had all comics drawn in house. in the end B drew, created and realised the character and got $50 while A had a vague idea and published and made millions of comic, tv, movie and merch deals. luckily but too late, todav Bwould be protected by inellectual and image laws, so A might have publishing etc rights but any use of image or artist ideas would bring B a fair pay and recognition. this is why often media spin offs often had few if any characters apart from named lead from the character, often A might own Capt Dash and named comic but not nessesarily other character like Moira Joan or villains like Prof Squid or the puzzler, which were owned by B. Think about it, pre 90s and Excluding Batman how many super hero shows can you name ? now how many villains from the comics appeared on TV and name them?
Love Stan Lee, but he’s an infamous Bullsh!tter, you have to remember.
Loved every moment of this show as a kid. Sure it seems silly now but at that time I thought it was pure gold.
Never saw this series and I feel deprived, as I was around often watching the other super heroes of the time. My first live Spider-man was the rope net throwing, comic bubble reading Spider-man of The Electric Company on PBS.
Minty...I love that you did this one! I used to rent that TV movie (first episode, pilot, whatever you want to call out) from blockbuster almost weekly. Loved it as a kid. So much nostalgia for this one. Was able to find it on VHS a couple of years ago and still have it in the collection.
Well, to be fair to the show, at the time the TV show came out, Peter Parker was a grad student. Peter Parker was a teenager in the comics in the 1960s, but by the 1970s he was in college and dating Gwen Stacy, and by the late 1970s Peter was a twenty something college graduate and Gwen was dead.
Great job Minty! I can still remember to this day when this series premiered in 1977 and I was riveted as this was my favorite comic book character and back then we could only enjoyed the character from the 1960s era cartoon - so a TV/movie version was mind blowing back then. And yes at the age of 7 I had no patience for all of the story development in each episode as I only lived to see Spidey emerge in his costume. And like you noted the sporadic TV scheduling in its original run taught me to be ever vigilant at a young age to both read TV Guide and watch CBS for any trailers hinting at the next episode. Always watching Amazon to see if one day this will be released on DVD but from CBS's treatment of the series I am not holding my breath...thank heavens for TH-cam...
It is true that you learn something new everyday! I never even knew there was a Spiderman TV show in the 70's... I guess because I was born too late. It's mind-blowing to me really. Like I had absolutely no 💡 😳
I watched reruns of this show on SAT1 back in the 90s. :) Fun times.
Two things: Shazam was a Saturday morning show, not a prime time one. Second, I'm really curious how they ended up filming one of the Spiderman episodes in Hong Kong. That seems really uncommon for the era. If you do a follow-up would be great to hear about that.
I remember that the '60s TV show "I Spy" had a few episodes filmed overseas, one in Hong Kong. I've always wondered how that happened on a TV budget from back then.
When I was a kid, I used gray tape to make the belt and web shooter for my Spidey Secret Wars figure. I would even hum the music.
I was telling my wife bout this show ,she just said how do I know all these 60's/70's shows if u were born in 1982 idk, just lucky I guess 😉
I was born in 1981. I saw alot of the older stuff as well. I used to see the videos and the old stores.
Whoever's reading this,I pray that whatever you're going through gets better and whatever you're struggling with or worrying about is going to be fine and that everyone has a fantastic day amen
Thank you, I pray the same for you 🙏
Likewise and thank you.
I remember when I was a kid, my local Wherehouse movie rental store had a box for a Spider-Man movie, which must have been this show, but someone had never returned the tape. Used to study the back of the box, imagining what a live action Spider-Man could possibly look like. They never did return that tape... 😅
If Stan was dissatisfied with this, imagine what he would think of the cultural vandalism labelled "Marvel" today?
He'd probably still be doing cameos if he was still alive. Besides, he always championed, peace, equality, and was pretty progressive, judging by his editorials in many of the older comics, but I guess we'll never know. I guess we're probably better off going by what he stood for rather than project our own politics onto his resting soul.
Thank you @MintyComedicArts for covering this series!! Please cover The Incredible Hulk television series when you can. There are several un produced scripts of The Hulk television series and footage featuring Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno for an early 1990s She Hulk pilot television movie.