These TV movies totally sucked! Thank goodness there were only a few of them.
Ok, on the one hand it was great to finally have a live action version of everyone's favorite young swinging single male, but did they have it make it so-o-o bad? I mean, Nicholas Hammond didn't look or act anything like Peter Parker should've. Neither did the actor who played J. J. Jameson. He was too short, and why didn't they at least color his hair to make is two-toned like J.J.'s?
The worst thing about them: The webshooters. If I recall correctly, they were under the gloves like in the comic, but later just one was shown on one wrist outside the glove and instead of the fingers curling inward to press the firing button Spiderman just pointed his whole arm at the bad guys, with a flat palm, thumb-up gesture and then the webbing came out a white (which perhaps would've been the right color to go with anyway from day one of the comic but for obvious reasons wasn't) rope! Not thin at the muzzle and expanding out but just some idiotic looking thick rope. And then an even more lousy "web" would come down on the bad guys and they'd be snagged in it! Of course these were done in the late 1970's and it shows, in the production values, clothes, hairstyles and other major cheesiness factors. At least we got to see him really swing on his web, kind of. Big whoop.
Has anyone else seen these pieces of crapola? They get shown every so often. The Incredible Hulk was much better, even with its own problems.
I believe these "movies" are actually 2 episodes of the Spider-Man TV show of the 70's. (Kind of like the Space: 1999 and Time Tunnel 'movies' that get shown every now and then.) I believe the show ran on CBS for a season, hence the decision to use a movie format for syndication.
The special effects and Spidey's costume in these were even worse than in The Electric Company! But the main problem with this series was twofold: scripts and characterization. The stories were rather straightforward and dull with common crime-drama plots. Nicholas Hammond is a fine actor, but his Peter Parker was a bland, unintersting figure completely lacking in the dimension and depth of his comic-book counterpart, as were Jameson, Aunt May, and the other regulars. The reason the Hulk live-action show succeeded where Spider-Man failed was because this situation was reversed: Bill Bixby's Doctor Banner was an interesting, rounded character given depth by Bixby's portrayal and the writers from a rather bland comic-book character. In fact the success of the TV-series inspired the Hulk comic-book writers to add complexity to Banner's character.
I thought the Hulk and Banner were always complex characters since their inception. It wasn't till the 1980's that (to me, at least) they made the Hulk the living embodiment of Banner's hidden anger at being a wimp and bullied for so long. I mean, how many kids were picked on all their lives and wanted to lash out at their tormentors with no physical harm to themselves? That's what Hulk seems to stand for to me. I've not read comics for a few years but will check them out now and then at a store and saw how Hulk is dumb again, or partially so and speaks of himself in the first person again. That was ok till they integrated the grey and green Hulks and Banner together. Then I really started liking the comic.
The best thing about this show was the music!
I thought the J.J. Jameson in the TV movies was stinky. He was too nice! I prefer the "double barreled",short tempered JJJ. It was always fun seeing him in the ORIGINAL Spiderman cartoons from the late 60's blowing his lid over every little thing. Same thing for the funny papers' version.
Is there a link to a web site for these Spiderman TV shows. I wanted more information... ie Who starred in it?