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Spider-Man (1967 TV series)
Encyclopedia
Spider-Man is an animated television series that ran from September 9, 1967 to June 14, 1970. It was jointly produced in Canada (for voice talent) and the United States (for animation) and was the first animated adaptation of the Spider-Man
comic book
series, created by writer Stan Lee
and artist Steve Ditko
. It first aired on the ABC
television network
in the United States but went into syndication at the start of the third season. Grantray-Lawrence Animation
produced the first season. Seasons 2 and 3 were crafted by producer Ralph Bakshi
in New York City.
; all the while dealing with his personal problems and the insecurities resulting from being a teenager. Spider-Man risks his life to fight super-powered criminals such as Mysterio
and the Green Goblin
; however, New York Daily Bugle
editor J. Jonah Jameson
views him as a criminal, and continually writes front page headline
s declaring him as such.
The first season of the show dealt primarily with Peter working at the Daily Bugle as a teenage freelance photographer, thereby capturing his relationship with the gruff, demanding J. Jonah Jameson and shyly romancing Betty Brant
over the reception desk, while Peter was often being called into action as his crime-fighting alter-ego. Peter's life away from the Bugle's newspaper offices and Aunt May
's Forest Hills
home were almost never dealt with in these early episodes, and he was also never seen at college-—although he would sometimes visit various professors he clearly knew (such as the opening of "Sub-Zero for Spidey," where he went to see a professor by the name of "Smartyr"). Still, the character design for young Parker was spot-on, combining the conceptualizations of both Steve Ditko (right down to Ditko's design of Parker's primary-colored blue suit, yellow vest, white shirt, and red tie) and John Romita, Sr.
, who served as art consultant for the show.
Season 1 contained mostly stories involving classic Spider-Man villains from the comic book series, whose captures were often punctuated by a note signed "your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man." Character creator Stan Lee
served as story consultant for this season of the show. The Ralph Bakshi
-helmed Seasons 2 and 3, however, almost entirely eliminated villains from the comic book as a cost-cutting measure, choosing to instead have Spider-Man face generic green skinned magical villains and monsters, thereby enabling re-use of stock footage from Rocket Robin Hood
, another animated cartoon TV show Bakshi produced.
, who was the dialogue director, narrator, and voice of some supporting characters. Paul Soles
provided both the light, mild-mannered voice for college student/photographer Peter Parker and the much deeper, heroic tone for Spider-Man. Peg Dixon provided the voice of Betty Brant
as well as other various love interests for Peter in later seasons, and Paul Kligman
's distinctive, high-pitched voice was utilized on J. Jonah Jameson
and several villains. Also appearing were Vern Chapman as Doctor Octopus
, Gillie Fenwick as Dr. Smarter, Curt Connors, the Lizard
, and the Vulture. Tom Harvey was the voice of Electro
and the Sandman
. Chris Wiggins
was the voice of Mysterio. Carl Banas
was the voice of the Scorpion. Len Carlson
was the voice of the Green Goblin, Parafino, and one of the Fly brothers (Stan Patterson). Harry Ramer was the voice of Dr. Smythe, Dr. Noah Boddy, and the other Fly brother (Lee Patterson). Ed McNamera was the voice of the Rhino
. Billie Mae Richards
was Billy Connors and Max Ferguson
was the Phantom.
The opening credits depicts a scene of robbers burgling a jewellery store. In the first shot, the sign reads "Fine Jewlery." Then in the next shot, it changes to the correct spelling ("Jewelry," US spelling).
After Grantray-Lawrence went bankrupt, the second and third seasons were produced at a dramatically reduced budget by Krantz Films under Ralph Bakshi
. This cost cutting is most apparent in the third season with two episodes re-using almost the entire footage from two Rocket Robin Hood
episodes as well as remaking previous episodes with minimal changes. In addition, footage from previous episodes were cannibalized almost in their entirety with minimal changes to present essentially the same plots. In addition, the episodes featuring The Vulture and The Rhino from the first season were reedited together as single episodes in the later seasons. Mysterio's appearance in the series differed from the first season to the third. In his first appearance, his mask was off periodically, and his head had pointed ears. In his second appearance, his mask and costume were the same as the previous episode, but the mask was never removed. In Season Three's "The Madness of Mysterio," he was never wearing his costume, but he had started carrying a cigarette-holder in his mouth, and his ears were no longer pointed, while the series' final episode simply reruns Mysterio's standard appearance in "The Return of the Flying Dutchman" episode as part of a clip episode.
An error on Spider-Man's costume appeared through Season 1. The spider on his costume (both front and back) was depicted with only 6 legs. By Season 2 new drawings of the costume showed an 8 legged spider, but reused footage from Season 1 maintained season one's error.
In addition, the second and third season episodes adopted a darker tone with darkly colored settings, psychedelic images, and atmospheric music. But while the reduced budget took its toll, Bakshi tried to delve further into Peter Parker's everyday life at college as a soft-spoken student, such as where he tries out for the football team, in "Criminals In The Clouds," only to fail miserably, and actually becomes a star pitcher for the baseball team in "Diamond Dust." Peter's romantic life also began to take shape as he started dating a variety of women who were either concealing secrets ("Home") or found themselves angrily waiting for him while Spider-Man saved the city from certain destruction ("Swing City"). Bakshi also provided fans with the first origin story for the character ever presented on TV, the aptly titled "The Origin Of Spider-Man," which used entire chunks of Stan Lee's dialogue, not from the hero's first appearance in Amazing Fantasy
#15, published in August 1962, but instead from a drastically updated retelling in Spectacular Spider-Man #1, titled "In The Beginning," which was published in July 1968, only a few months before the episode was aired.
. Therein, Spider-Man was substituted for Robin Hood on the animation cells.
As well as having two similar episodes to that of Rocket Robin Hood, Spider-Man featured many voice actors previously heard on "Rocket Robin Hood," and many of the second season Spider-Man episodes used the former's music cues.
were written by Academy Award
winner Paul Francis Webster
, while the music was composed by Bob Harris. The song's opening line, "Spider-Man, Spider-Man, does whatever a spider can," became almost as synonymous with the character as his costume. The 2002 and 2004 film adaptations have featured characters as buskers
performing the song; Jayce Bartok
and Elyse Dinh respectively. Both films also feature some version of the song at the very end of the credits: the 2002 adaptation featured the original 1967 recording while the 2004 film had a re-recording by Michael Bublé
(also featured on the film's soundtrack). 2007's Spider-Man 3
features a performance of the song by a marching band
at a public rally celebrating Spider-Man.
Meanwhile the incidental music from the series, with its jangling surf guitar, groovy brass lines and jazzy scoring, is highly regarded by fans and much sought after by soundtrack collectors. The 1st season featured an original score written by Ray Ellis
, who also adapted the Bob Harris theme, in the same way John Barry
utilized Monty Norman
's "James Bond Theme
" in various 007 films, or Nelson Riddle
utilized Neal Hefti
's "Batman Theme
" in addition to new material. The 2nd & 3rd seasons reused the Ellis score while adding a substantial amount of new music taken from KPM Library tracks ("production music") featuring such English composers as Johnny Hawksworth
, Syd Dale
, David Lindup
, Johnny Pearson
, Alan Hawkshaw
, Johnny Harris
and the team of Bill Martin
& Phil Coulter
.
. The first episode that aired was "The Power of Doctor Octopus"/"Sub-Zero For Spidey" on September 9, 1967. For the full run of the first season and of the second season, the show was seen at 10 a.m. Eastern Time. ABC's last Saturday morning broadcast of Spider-Man was on August 30, 1969, with 39 half-hour episodes (many with two separate stories) aired. The show went on hiatus until the following March, when a third season began a six-month run, from March 22 to September 6, 1970, on Sunday mornings, at 11:30 a.m. Eastern Time.
In 1977, the series was broadcast abroad, airing in several international markets for the first time. In the case of the Spanish and Italian versions, a completely different theme song was used, dubbed over original footage of the introduction. The song was written by composers Erick Bulling & Santiago and performed by Chilean singer Guillermo "Memo" Aguirre, aka "El Capitan Memo." This song was also released as a vinyl LP single. For the Italian version, the show's title there, L'uomo Ragno, was superimposed in large yellow type over the first two shots of Spider-Man swinging through the city.
The series has also aired on ABC Family
, starting in 2002 as part of the network's Memorial Day
weekend-long "Spidey-Mania" marathon, timed to coincide with the release of the feature film. However, it appeared that airings of the show were only limited to the special marathons in question, as it would not be seen again until a third "Spidey-Mania" marathon (to coincide with the release of Spider-Man 2) in 2004, the last time it was seen on ABC Family in the US. (The second "Spidey-Mania" marathon, aired in 2003, did not feature this series.) In addition, the show aired on Family in Canada until September 2007 when they took it off to make room for their fall schedule. The show is not known ever to have aired on the channel since.
The network was notorious for heavily editing footage so it could be more suitable for younger audiences; for example, J. Jonah Jameson's right hand, which usually held the cigar he puffed on, had to be manipulated—and removed altogether in some cases. In one episode, where Jameson originally held his cigar in his hand, he was manipulated to make an "okay" sign.
As of September 1, 2008, the series can be seen (unedited) in Canada on Teletoon Retro. A French-language dub could be seen on Radio-Canada
's Saturday morning lineup well into the mid-2000s.
Episodes of the series have also been posted in the "Videos" section of Marvel's official website, Marvel.com.
All episodes are currently available for streaming on Netflix
in the United States under the title Spider-Man: The '67 Collection.
based characters' cartoons also. In the case of the early-2000s releases, these episodes were packaged with those from the 1990s animated series
as bonus episodes. The final release to feature this was the DVD edition of Spider-Man vs. Doc Ock in 2004. During the late 2000s, Marvel rereleased the series as a video stream via the official site, free to watch.
would acquire Marvel's assets five years later) released the complete series on DVD in Region 1, with the set titled as Spider-Man – The '67 Collection. The 6-disc box set features all 52 episodes of the series as well as an introduction from creator Stan Lee
. The set is now out of print & goes for high prices on amazon.com.
On November 10, 2008, UK company Liberation Entertainment released the first season of Spider-Man (entitled the Original '67 Series) on Region 2 DVD.
Clearvision have since acquired the rights to region 2 release. https://www.clearvision.co.uk/Marvel/Spider-Man/page1.html
during the Summer of 2011.
Spider-Man
Spider-Man is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and writer-artist Steve Ditko. He first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15...
comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
series, created by writer Stan Lee
Stan Lee
Stan Lee is an American comic book writer, editor, actor, producer, publisher, television personality, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics....
and artist Steve Ditko
Steve Ditko
Stephen J. "Steve" Ditko is an American comic book artist and writer best known as the artist co-creator, with Stan Lee, of the Marvel Comics heroes Spider-Man and Doctor Strange....
. It first aired on the ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
television network
Television network
A television network is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, whereby a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay TV providers. Until the mid-1980s, television programming in most countries of the world was dominated by a small...
in the United States but went into syndication at the start of the third season. Grantray-Lawrence Animation
Grantray-Lawrence Animation
Grantray-Lawrence Animation was an animated cartoon studio active from 1954 to 1967 and founded by Grant Simmons, Ray Patterson , and Robert Lawrence....
produced the first season. Seasons 2 and 3 were crafted by producer Ralph Bakshi
Ralph Bakshi
Ralph Bakshi is an Israeli-American director of animated and live-action films. In the 1970s, he established an alternative to mainstream animation through independent and adult-oriented productions. Between 1972 and 1992, he directed nine theatrically released feature films, five of which he wrote...
in New York City.
Synopsis
The series revolves around the scientific-minded teenager Peter Parker who, after being bitten by a radioactive spider, develops amazing strength and spider-like powers. He decides to become a crime-fighting, costumed superheroSuperhero
A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
; all the while dealing with his personal problems and the insecurities resulting from being a teenager. Spider-Man risks his life to fight super-powered criminals such as Mysterio
Mysterio
Mysterio is the name of three fictional characters, all of which are supervillains and enemies of Spider-Man in the . The original Mysterio was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko and first appears in Amazing Spider-Man #13, although it was later retconned that the aliens seen in Amazing...
and the Green Goblin
Green Goblin
The Green Goblin is a fictional character, a supervillain who appears in the comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, and first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #14 ....
; however, New York Daily Bugle
Daily Bugle
The Daily Bugle is a fictional New York City newspaper that is a regular fixture in the Marvel Universe, most prominently in Spider-Man comic titles and their derivative media...
editor J. Jonah Jameson
J. Jonah Jameson
John Jonah Jameson Junior is a supporting character of Spider-Man in the .Jameson is usually the publisher or editor-in-chief of the Daily Bugle, a fictional New York newspaper and now serves as the mayor of New York City...
views him as a criminal, and continually writes front page headline
Headline
The headline is the text at the top of a newspaper article, indicating the nature of the article below it.It is sometimes termed a news hed, a deliberate misspelling that dates from production flow during hot type days, to notify the composing room that a written note from an editor concerned a...
s declaring him as such.
The first season of the show dealt primarily with Peter working at the Daily Bugle as a teenage freelance photographer, thereby capturing his relationship with the gruff, demanding J. Jonah Jameson and shyly romancing Betty Brant
Betty Brant
Elizabeth "Betty" Brant is a supporting character in Marvel Comics’s Spider-Man series. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, she first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #4 .-Fictional character biography:...
over the reception desk, while Peter was often being called into action as his crime-fighting alter-ego. Peter's life away from the Bugle's newspaper offices and Aunt May
Aunt May
May Reilly Parker-Jameson, commonly known as Aunt May, is a supporting character in Marvel Comics' Spider-Man series. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, she first appeared as May Parker in Amazing Fantasy #15...
's Forest Hills
Forest Hills, Queens
Forest Hills is a neighborhood in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York, United States.-Neighborhood:The neighborhood is home to upper-middle class residents, of whom the wealthier residents often live in the neighborhood's Forest Hills Gardens area...
home were almost never dealt with in these early episodes, and he was also never seen at college-—although he would sometimes visit various professors he clearly knew (such as the opening of "Sub-Zero for Spidey," where he went to see a professor by the name of "Smartyr"). Still, the character design for young Parker was spot-on, combining the conceptualizations of both Steve Ditko (right down to Ditko's design of Parker's primary-colored blue suit, yellow vest, white shirt, and red tie) and John Romita, Sr.
John Romita, Sr.
John V. Romita, Sr. is an Italian-American comic-book artist best known for his work on Marvel Comics' The Amazing Spider-Man...
, who served as art consultant for the show.
Season 1 contained mostly stories involving classic Spider-Man villains from the comic book series, whose captures were often punctuated by a note signed "your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man." Character creator Stan Lee
Stan Lee
Stan Lee is an American comic book writer, editor, actor, producer, publisher, television personality, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics....
served as story consultant for this season of the show. The Ralph Bakshi
Ralph Bakshi
Ralph Bakshi is an Israeli-American director of animated and live-action films. In the 1970s, he established an alternative to mainstream animation through independent and adult-oriented productions. Between 1972 and 1992, he directed nine theatrically released feature films, five of which he wrote...
-helmed Seasons 2 and 3, however, almost entirely eliminated villains from the comic book as a cost-cutting measure, choosing to instead have Spider-Man face generic green skinned magical villains and monsters, thereby enabling re-use of stock footage from Rocket Robin Hood
Rocket Robin Hood
Rocket Robin Hood is a Canadian animated television series, placing the characters and conflicts of the classic Robin Hood legend in a futuristic, outer space setting, produced by Krantz Films, Inc...
, another animated cartoon TV show Bakshi produced.
Timing
First-season episodes were in production about three months before their initial broadcast. For example, "Farewell Performance" was under the camera in late August 1967, as evident by the description of President Lyndon Johnson's 59th birthday in a newspaper clipping. This episode first aired on December 2, 1967. Ralph Bakshi's episodes were more rushed; an early second-season episode from the fall of 1968 ("Criminals in the Clouds") has a newspaper clipping from October 9, 1968.Voice talent
The show's acting talent included Bernard CowanBernard Cowan
Bernard Cowan was a Canadian actor, announcer and writer. He was born in Toronto, Ontario. He was occasionally credited under his nickname, Bunny Cowan, such as on the production Willy McBean and his Magic Machine....
, who was the dialogue director, narrator, and voice of some supporting characters. Paul Soles
Paul Soles
Paul Robert Soles is a Canadian actor and television personality.-Acting roles:He is best known as the voice of Hermie the misfit elf in Rankin/Bass' Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer in 1964....
provided both the light, mild-mannered voice for college student/photographer Peter Parker and the much deeper, heroic tone for Spider-Man. Peg Dixon provided the voice of Betty Brant
Betty Brant
Elizabeth "Betty" Brant is a supporting character in Marvel Comics’s Spider-Man series. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, she first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #4 .-Fictional character biography:...
as well as other various love interests for Peter in later seasons, and Paul Kligman
Paul Kligman
Paul Kligman was a Canadian actor.Born in Romania, he emigrated to Canada where he spent his youth in Winnipeg and studied at the University of Manitoba. He moved to Toronto in 1950 and established his career there...
's distinctive, high-pitched voice was utilized on J. Jonah Jameson
J. Jonah Jameson
John Jonah Jameson Junior is a supporting character of Spider-Man in the .Jameson is usually the publisher or editor-in-chief of the Daily Bugle, a fictional New York newspaper and now serves as the mayor of New York City...
and several villains. Also appearing were Vern Chapman as Doctor Octopus
Doctor Octopus
Doctor Octopus is a fictional character, a supervillain that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics since 1963. A highly intelligent mad scientist, Doctor Octopus is one of Spider-Man's greatest foes...
, Gillie Fenwick as Dr. Smarter, Curt Connors, the Lizard
Lizard (comics)
The Lizard is a fictional character, a supervillain in the Marvel Comics universe and enemy of Spider-Man. The Lizard first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #6 , and was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko...
, and the Vulture. Tom Harvey was the voice of Electro
Electro (comics)
Electro is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is a supervillain and an enemy of Spider-Man who gained the ability to control electricity after being struck by lightning while working on a power line. Created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, he first...
and the Sandman
Sandman (Marvel Comics)
Sandman is a fictional character who appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. A shapeshifter endowed through an accident with the ability to turn himself into sand, he eventually reformed, and became an ally of Spider-Man...
. Chris Wiggins
Chris Wiggins
Chris Wiggins is an English actor.He started out as a banker in his home country before he began his acting career in Canada, where he moved in 1952....
was the voice of Mysterio. Carl Banas
Carl Banas
Carl Banas is a Toronto born radio personality and actor. As a TV actor he appeared in the series Wojeck as police detective Byron James, and provided voices for numerous TV series and features. He was also known as a radio personality on Toronto radio station CKFM-FM, later and more famouly known...
was the voice of the Scorpion. Len Carlson
Len Carlson
Len Carlson was a Canadian voice actor on many animated television series from the 1960s onward, an occasional live-action TV actor, and a Kraft Canada TV pitchman during the 1970s and 1980s...
was the voice of the Green Goblin, Parafino, and one of the Fly brothers (Stan Patterson). Harry Ramer was the voice of Dr. Smythe, Dr. Noah Boddy, and the other Fly brother (Lee Patterson). Ed McNamera was the voice of the Rhino
Rhino (comics)
The Rhino is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist John Romita, Sr., the character first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #41 The Rhino (Aleksei Mikhailovich Sytsevich) is a fictional character that appears in comic...
. Billie Mae Richards
Billie Mae Richards
Billie Mae Richards was a Canadian voice actress, who also appeared onstage and on television.-Career:...
was Billy Connors and Max Ferguson
Max Ferguson
Max Ferguson, OC is a Canadian radio personality and satirist, best known for his long-running programs Rawhide and The Max Ferguson Show on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation ....
was the Phantom.
Budget
In order to be more cost-effective, given the limited budget for the show, Spider-Man's costume for this series only has webbed areas on his head, arms and boots; the rest of his costume is plain (save for the spiders on his chest and back). Additionally, the series also relied upon re-used stock animation from one episode to the next, stock animation which included everything from Spider-Man swinging across the New York City skyline, to Peter Parker stripping off his white dress shirt to reveal his supersuit (and putting on his mask) during his hidden transformations into the costumed superhero. Character movement was also kept to a minimum, though there was (arguably) more character movement here than in other Marvel-themed projects, such as The Marvel Superheroes, the character movement of which once being described as "like a comic book with the mouths moving."The opening credits depicts a scene of robbers burgling a jewellery store. In the first shot, the sign reads "Fine Jewlery." Then in the next shot, it changes to the correct spelling ("Jewelry," US spelling).
After Grantray-Lawrence went bankrupt, the second and third seasons were produced at a dramatically reduced budget by Krantz Films under Ralph Bakshi
Ralph Bakshi
Ralph Bakshi is an Israeli-American director of animated and live-action films. In the 1970s, he established an alternative to mainstream animation through independent and adult-oriented productions. Between 1972 and 1992, he directed nine theatrically released feature films, five of which he wrote...
. This cost cutting is most apparent in the third season with two episodes re-using almost the entire footage from two Rocket Robin Hood
Rocket Robin Hood
Rocket Robin Hood is a Canadian animated television series, placing the characters and conflicts of the classic Robin Hood legend in a futuristic, outer space setting, produced by Krantz Films, Inc...
episodes as well as remaking previous episodes with minimal changes. In addition, footage from previous episodes were cannibalized almost in their entirety with minimal changes to present essentially the same plots. In addition, the episodes featuring The Vulture and The Rhino from the first season were reedited together as single episodes in the later seasons. Mysterio's appearance in the series differed from the first season to the third. In his first appearance, his mask was off periodically, and his head had pointed ears. In his second appearance, his mask and costume were the same as the previous episode, but the mask was never removed. In Season Three's "The Madness of Mysterio," he was never wearing his costume, but he had started carrying a cigarette-holder in his mouth, and his ears were no longer pointed, while the series' final episode simply reruns Mysterio's standard appearance in "The Return of the Flying Dutchman" episode as part of a clip episode.
An error on Spider-Man's costume appeared through Season 1. The spider on his costume (both front and back) was depicted with only 6 legs. By Season 2 new drawings of the costume showed an 8 legged spider, but reused footage from Season 1 maintained season one's error.
In addition, the second and third season episodes adopted a darker tone with darkly colored settings, psychedelic images, and atmospheric music. But while the reduced budget took its toll, Bakshi tried to delve further into Peter Parker's everyday life at college as a soft-spoken student, such as where he tries out for the football team, in "Criminals In The Clouds," only to fail miserably, and actually becomes a star pitcher for the baseball team in "Diamond Dust." Peter's romantic life also began to take shape as he started dating a variety of women who were either concealing secrets ("Home") or found themselves angrily waiting for him while Spider-Man saved the city from certain destruction ("Swing City"). Bakshi also provided fans with the first origin story for the character ever presented on TV, the aptly titled "The Origin Of Spider-Man," which used entire chunks of Stan Lee's dialogue, not from the hero's first appearance in Amazing Fantasy
Amazing Fantasy
Amazing Fantasy is an American comic book anthology series published by Marvel Comics from 1961 through 1962, and revived in 1995 and in the 2000s. It is best known as the title that introduced the popular superhero character Spider-Man in 1962...
#15, published in August 1962, but instead from a drastically updated retelling in Spectacular Spider-Man #1, titled "In The Beginning," which was published in July 1968, only a few months before the episode was aired.
Rocket Robin Hood footage
The episodes, "Phantom from the Depths of Time" and "Revolt in the Fifth Dimension" were, for a large part, recycled animation from two episodes ("From Menace to Menace" and "Dimentia Five") of an earlier series, Rocket Robin HoodRocket Robin Hood
Rocket Robin Hood is a Canadian animated television series, placing the characters and conflicts of the classic Robin Hood legend in a futuristic, outer space setting, produced by Krantz Films, Inc...
. Therein, Spider-Man was substituted for Robin Hood on the animation cells.
As well as having two similar episodes to that of Rocket Robin Hood, Spider-Man featured many voice actors previously heard on "Rocket Robin Hood," and many of the second season Spider-Man episodes used the former's music cues.
Theme song
The theme song of the show has become a popular standard. The lyricsLyrics
Lyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of...
were written by Academy Award
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
winner Paul Francis Webster
Paul Francis Webster
Paul Francis Webster was an American lyricist who won three Academy Awards for Best Song and was nominated sixteen times for the award.-Biography:...
, while the music was composed by Bob Harris. The song's opening line, "Spider-Man, Spider-Man, does whatever a spider can," became almost as synonymous with the character as his costume. The 2002 and 2004 film adaptations have featured characters as buskers
Busking
Street performance or busking is the practice of performing in public places, for gratuities, which are generally in the form of money and edibles...
performing the song; Jayce Bartok
Jayce Bartok
Jayce Bartok is an American actor. A young leading man with TV and film experience, Bartok had his best chance to date as Pony, the rock star who returns to his home town where his pals are waiting in Richard Linklater's subUrbia . He wrote, directed and produced the short film Stricken in 2005...
and Elyse Dinh respectively. Both films also feature some version of the song at the very end of the credits: the 2002 adaptation featured the original 1967 recording while the 2004 film had a re-recording by Michael Bublé
Michael Bublé
Michael Steven Bublé is a Canadian singer. He has won several awards, including three Grammy Awards and multiple Juno Awards. His first album reached the top ten in Canada and the UK. He found worldwide commercial success with his 2005 album It's Time, and his 2007 album Call Me Irresponsible was...
(also featured on the film's soundtrack). 2007's Spider-Man 3
Spider-Man 3
Spider-Man 3 is a 2007 American superhero film written and directed by Sam Raimi, with a screenplay by Ivan Raimi and Alvin Sargent. It is the third film in the Sam Raimi Spider-Man trilogy based on the fictional Marvel Comics character Spider-Man...
features a performance of the song by a marching band
Marching band
Marching band is a physical activity in which a group of instrumental musicians generally perform outdoors and incorporate some type of marching with their musical performance. Instrumentation typically includes brass, woodwinds, and percussion instruments...
at a public rally celebrating Spider-Man.
Meanwhile the incidental music from the series, with its jangling surf guitar, groovy brass lines and jazzy scoring, is highly regarded by fans and much sought after by soundtrack collectors. The 1st season featured an original score written by Ray Ellis
Ray Ellis
Ray Ellis was an American record producer, arranger and conductor. The orchestration for Billie Holiday's Lady in Satin is probably his best known work in the jazz vein.-Biography:...
, who also adapted the Bob Harris theme, in the same way John Barry
John Barry (composer)
John Barry Prendergast, OBE was an English conductor and composer of film music. He is best known for composing the soundtracks for 12 of the James Bond films between 1962 and 1987...
utilized Monty Norman
Monty Norman
Monty Norman is a singer and film composer best known for being credited with composing the "James Bond Theme".-Biography:...
's "James Bond Theme
James Bond Theme
The "James Bond Theme" is the main signature theme of the James Bond films and has featured in every Eon Productions Bond film since Dr. No. The piece has been used as an accompanying fanfare to the gun barrel sequence in almost every James Bond film....
" in various 007 films, or Nelson Riddle
Nelson Riddle
Nelson Smock Riddle, Jr. was an American arranger, composer, bandleader and orchestrator whose career stretched from the late 1940s to the mid 1980s...
utilized Neal Hefti
Neal Hefti
Neal Hefti was an American jazz trumpeter, composer, tune writer, and arranger. He was perhaps best known for composing the theme music for the Batman television series of the 1960s, and for scoring the 1968 film The Odd Couple and the subsequent TV series of the same name.He began arranging...
's "Batman Theme
Batman Theme
"Batman Theme", the title song of the 1966 Batman TV series, was composed by Neal Hefti. The song is built around a guitar hook reminiscent of spy film scores and surf music. It has a twelve bar blues progression, using only three chords until the coda...
" in addition to new material. The 2nd & 3rd seasons reused the Ellis score while adding a substantial amount of new music taken from KPM Library tracks ("production music") featuring such English composers as Johnny Hawksworth
Johnny Hawksworth
Johnny Hawksworth is a British musician and composer who has lived and worked in Australia since 1984.Hawksworth initially trained as a pianist, but also played double bass for Britain's leading big band the Ted Heath Orchestra during the early 1950s and through the 1960s...
, Syd Dale
Syd Dale
Syd Dale was born in York, England. He was a self taught composer and arranger of funk, easy listening and library music. His music played an important role on TV, radio and advertising media of the 1960s and 1970s. It is still extensively used today.Syd Dale started as an apprentice engineer at...
, David Lindup
David Lindup
David Lindup was an English composer, arranger and orchestrator best known for his collaborations with Johnny Dankworth and his library music...
, Johnny Pearson
Johnny Pearson
John Valmore Pearson known as Johnny Pearson, was a British composer, orchestra leader and pianist...
, Alan Hawkshaw
Alan Hawkshaw
Alan Hawkshaw is a British composer and performer, particularly of themes for movies and television programmes...
, Johnny Harris
Johnny Harris
Johnny Harris may refer to:*Johnny Harris , Scottish born composer, producer, arranger, conductor and musical director*Johnny Harris , soap opera character* Johnny Harris , English actor...
and the team of Bill Martin
Bill Martin
Bill Martin is a Scottish songwriter, music publisher and impresario.-Biography:...
& Phil Coulter
Phil Coulter
Phil Coulter is an artist with an international reputation as a successful songwriter, pianist, music producer, arranger and director. His success has spanned four decades and he is one of the biggest record sellers in Ireland...
.
Broadcast schedule
Spider-Man was initially broadcast in the U.S. on Saturday mornings on ABCAmerican Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
. The first episode that aired was "The Power of Doctor Octopus"/"Sub-Zero For Spidey" on September 9, 1967. For the full run of the first season and of the second season, the show was seen at 10 a.m. Eastern Time. ABC's last Saturday morning broadcast of Spider-Man was on August 30, 1969, with 39 half-hour episodes (many with two separate stories) aired. The show went on hiatus until the following March, when a third season began a six-month run, from March 22 to September 6, 1970, on Sunday mornings, at 11:30 a.m. Eastern Time.
In 1977, the series was broadcast abroad, airing in several international markets for the first time. In the case of the Spanish and Italian versions, a completely different theme song was used, dubbed over original footage of the introduction. The song was written by composers Erick Bulling & Santiago and performed by Chilean singer Guillermo "Memo" Aguirre, aka "El Capitan Memo." This song was also released as a vinyl LP single. For the Italian version, the show's title there, L'uomo Ragno, was superimposed in large yellow type over the first two shots of Spider-Man swinging through the city.
The series has also aired on ABC Family
ABC Family
ABC Family, stylized as abc family, is an American television network, owned by ABC Family Worldwide Inc., a subsidiary of the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company...
, starting in 2002 as part of the network's Memorial Day
Memorial Day
Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May. Formerly known as Decoration Day, it originated after the American Civil War to commemorate the fallen Union soldiers of the Civil War...
weekend-long "Spidey-Mania" marathon, timed to coincide with the release of the feature film. However, it appeared that airings of the show were only limited to the special marathons in question, as it would not be seen again until a third "Spidey-Mania" marathon (to coincide with the release of Spider-Man 2) in 2004, the last time it was seen on ABC Family in the US. (The second "Spidey-Mania" marathon, aired in 2003, did not feature this series.) In addition, the show aired on Family in Canada until September 2007 when they took it off to make room for their fall schedule. The show is not known ever to have aired on the channel since.
The network was notorious for heavily editing footage so it could be more suitable for younger audiences; for example, J. Jonah Jameson's right hand, which usually held the cigar he puffed on, had to be manipulated—and removed altogether in some cases. In one episode, where Jameson originally held his cigar in his hand, he was manipulated to make an "okay" sign.
As of September 1, 2008, the series can be seen (unedited) in Canada on Teletoon Retro. A French-language dub could be seen on Radio-Canada
Télévision de Radio-Canada
Télévision de Radio-Canada is a Canadian French language television network. It is owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, known in French as Société Radio-Canada. Headquarters are at Maison Radio-Canada in Montreal, which is also home to the network's flagship station, CBFT-DT...
's Saturday morning lineup well into the mid-2000s.
Episodes of the series have also been posted in the "Videos" section of Marvel's official website, Marvel.com.
All episodes are currently available for streaming on Netflix
Netflix
Netflix, Inc., is an American provider of on-demand internet streaming media in the United States, Canada, and Latin America and flat rate DVD-by-mail in the United States. The company was established in 1997 and is headquartered in Los Gatos, California...
in the United States under the title Spider-Man: The '67 Collection.
Cast
- Paul SolesPaul SolesPaul Robert Soles is a Canadian actor and television personality.-Acting roles:He is best known as the voice of Hermie the misfit elf in Rankin/Bass' Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer in 1964....
– Peter Parker/Spider-ManSpider-ManSpider-Man is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and writer-artist Steve Ditko. He first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15...
/ VultureVultureVulture is the name given to two groups of convergently evolved scavenging birds, the New World Vultures including the well-known Californian and Andean Condors, and the Old World Vultures including the birds which are seen scavenging on carcasses of dead animals on African plains...
Second voice - Peg Dixon – Betty BrantBetty BrantElizabeth "Betty" Brant is a supporting character in Marvel Comics’s Spider-Man series. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, she first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #4 .-Fictional character biography:...
,/ Miss Trubble - Bernard CowanBernard CowanBernard Cowan was a Canadian actor, announcer and writer. He was born in Toronto, Ontario. He was occasionally credited under his nickname, Bunny Cowan, such as on the production Willy McBean and his Magic Machine....
– Narrator, Dr. Matto Magneto, Plutonian Leader (also dialogue director) - Paul KligmanPaul KligmanPaul Kligman was a Canadian actor.Born in Romania, he emigrated to Canada where he spent his youth in Winnipeg and studied at the University of Manitoba. He moved to Toronto in 1950 and established his career there...
– J. Jonah JamesonJ. Jonah JamesonJohn Jonah Jameson Junior is a supporting character of Spider-Man in the .Jameson is usually the publisher or editor-in-chief of the Daily Bugle, a fictional New York newspaper and now serves as the mayor of New York City... - Tom Harvey – Scorpion, Dr. Banas
- Len CarlsonLen CarlsonLen Carlson was a Canadian voice actor on many animated television series from the 1960s onward, an occasional live-action TV actor, and a Kraft Canada TV pitchman during the 1970s and 1980s...
– Green GoblinGreen GoblinThe Green Goblin is a fictional character, a supervillain who appears in the comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, and first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #14 ....
, Parafino, Stan Patterson/Human Fly, Bolton, Captain Ned Stacy - Vernon ChapmanVernon ChapmanVernon Chapman was an English footballer who played in the Football League as a winger for Leicester City and Leyton Orient. He went on to play for and then manage Tamworth, initially as player-manager.-Managerial Statistics:...
– Doctor OctopusDoctor OctopusDoctor Octopus is a fictional character, a supervillain that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics since 1963. A highly intelligent mad scientist, Doctor Octopus is one of Spider-Man's greatest foes... - Gillie Fenwick – Dr. Curt Connors/LizardLizard (comics)The Lizard is a fictional character, a supervillain in the Marvel Comics universe and enemy of Spider-Man. The Lizard first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #6 , and was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko...
, VultureVulture (comics)The Vulture is the name of six comic book supervillains in the Marvel Comics universe. The best known Vulture in the Marvel Universe is Adrian Toomes, an elderly enemy of Spider-Man created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko in The Amazing Spider-Man #2 .-Golden Age Vulture:In Young Men #26, a scientist...
, Pardo, Plotter, Professor Smartyr - Max FergusonMax FergusonMax Ferguson, OC is a Canadian radio personality and satirist, best known for his long-running programs Rawhide and The Max Ferguson Show on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation ....
– Fifth Avenue Phantom, Electro, Vegio, Master Vine, Dr. Octopus second voice - Tom Harvey – Electro, SandmanSandman (Marvel Comics)Sandman is a fictional character who appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. A shapeshifter endowed through an accident with the ability to turn himself into sand, he eventually reformed, and became an ally of Spider-Man...
, Baron Von Rantenraven, Dr. Atlantean, Dr. Stillwell, Master Vine 1, Mugs Riley - Ed McNamera – RhinoRhino (comics)The Rhino is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist John Romita, Sr., the character first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #41 The Rhino (Aleksei Mikhailovich Sytsevich) is a fictional character that appears in comic...
, Blackbeard, Vulcan, Executioner Of Paris - Henry Ramer – Dr. Noah Boddy, Grandini the Mystic, Henry Smythe, Le
First season credits
- Executive Producer: Robert L. Lawrence
- Producer: Ray Patterson
- Animation Directors: Grant Simmons, Clyde Geronimi, Sid Marcus
- Story Direction: June Patterson
- Story Material: Bill Danch, Al Bertino, Dick Robbins, Dick Cassarino, Phil Babet
- Theme Song Written by Bob Harris and Paul Francis Webster
- Music Composed and Conducted by Ray Ellis
- Animators: Hal Ambro, Robert Bentley, Dan Bessie, George Cannata, Herman Cohen, Howard Ellis, Bill Hous, Tom McDonald, Chic Otterstrom, Don Schloat, Ralph Somerville, Reuben Timmins, Harvey Toombs, Kay Wright
- Backgrounds: Curtiss Perkins, Richard H. Thomas, Bill Butler, Mike Kawaguchi
- Layout: Ray Aragon, Joe Asturino, Herb Hazelton, Jim Mueller, C.L. Hartman, John Ewing, Joel Seibel
- Production Supervised by Robert "Tiger" West
- Production Manager: Gene Meyers
- Film Editor: Bryce Corso
- Sound Editor: Hank Goetzenberg
- Animation Checking: Rollie Greenwood, Dave Hoffman
- Creative Consultants:
Stan Lee (called "Smilin'" Stan Lee),
John Romita, Sr. (called "Jazzy" Johnny Romita),
respective story and art consultants - Re-Recording: Producers Sound Service
- A GrantRay-Lawrence Production In Association With Steve Krantz Productions (Krantz Films), Inc.
Second season credits
- Executive Producer and Animation Director: Ralph Bakshi
- Assistant Director: Cosmo Anzilotti
- Layout: Gray Morrow
- Animators: Clifford Augustson, Douglas Crane, Frank Enders, Johnnie Gentilella, Martin Taras, Nick Tafuri, Terry Tarricone, Earl James
- Backgrounds: Johnnie Vita, Richard H. Thomas
- Production Supervised by Sylvia White
- Production Manager: Jerry Schultz
- Film Editors: Howard Kaiser, George Copeland
- Animation Checking: Barbara Donatelli
- Camera: Jerry Smith, Larry Hogan
- Story Supervision: Ralph Bakshi
- Story Material: Ira Turek, Lin Carter, Fred Halliday
- Dialogue Director: Bernard Cowan
- Music and Effects Editing: Hank Goetzenberg, Inc.
- Theme Song Written by Bob Harris and Paul Francis Webster
- Music Composed and Conducted by Ray Ellis
- Produced by Krantz Animation, Inc.
- Distributed by Steve Krantz Productions (Krantz Films), Inc.
Third season credits
- Executive Producer and Animation Director: Ralph Bakshi
- Assistant Director: Cosmo Anzilotti
- Layout: Gray Morrow
- Animators: Clifford Augustson, Douglas Crane, Frank Enders, Johnnie Gentilella, Martin Taras, Nick Tafuri, Terry Tarricone, Earl James, Richard Hall
- West Coast Animation Director: Grant Simmons
- West Coast Animators: Robert Bentley, Ralph Somerville, Robert Taylor, Reuben Timmins, Kay Wright
- Backgrounds: Johnnie Vita, Bob Owen, Richard H. Thomas
- Production Supervised by Sylvia White
- Production Manager: Jerry Schultz
- Film Editors: Howard Kaiser, George Copeland, Richard Calamari
- Animation Checking: Rena Smith
- Color Checking: Barbara Donatelli
- Camera: Jerry Smith, Larry Hogan
- Story Supervision: Ralph Bakshi
- Story Material: Ira Turek, Lin Carter, Fred Halliday
- Dialogue Director: Bernard Cowan
- Music and Effects Editing: Hank Goetzenberg, Inc.
- Theme Song Written by Bob Harris and Paul Francis Webster
- Music Composed and Conducted by Ray Ellis
- Based on an original character creation by Stan Lee
- Produced by Krantz Animation, Inc.
Home video releases
Various episodes were released on VHS videotapes throughout the 1980s, 1990s, and the early 2000s. These were usually compiled with other Marvel ComicsMarvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
based characters' cartoons also. In the case of the early-2000s releases, these episodes were packaged with those from the 1990s animated series
Spider-Man (1994 TV series)
Spider-Man, also known as Spider-Man: The Animated Series, is an American animated series starring the Marvel Comics superhero, Spider-Man. The show ran on Fox Kids from November 19, 1994, to January 31, 1998. The producer/story editor was John Semper, Jr. and production company was Marvel Films...
as bonus episodes. The final release to feature this was the DVD edition of Spider-Man vs. Doc Ock in 2004. During the late 2000s, Marvel rereleased the series as a video stream via the official site, free to watch.
DVD release
On June 29, 2004, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment (whose parent companyThe Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
would acquire Marvel's assets five years later) released the complete series on DVD in Region 1, with the set titled as Spider-Man – The '67 Collection. The 6-disc box set features all 52 episodes of the series as well as an introduction from creator Stan Lee
Stan Lee
Stan Lee is an American comic book writer, editor, actor, producer, publisher, television personality, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics....
. The set is now out of print & goes for high prices on amazon.com.
| DVD Name | Ep # | Release Date |
|---|---|---|
| Spider-Man – The '67 Collection | 52 | June 29, 2004 |
On November 10, 2008, UK company Liberation Entertainment released the first season of Spider-Man (entitled the Original '67 Series) on Region 2 DVD.
Clearvision have since acquired the rights to region 2 release. https://www.clearvision.co.uk/Marvel/Spider-Man/page1.html
Instant Streaming
The series became available for instant streaming via NetflixNetflix
Netflix, Inc., is an American provider of on-demand internet streaming media in the United States, Canada, and Latin America and flat rate DVD-by-mail in the United States. The company was established in 1997 and is headquartered in Los Gatos, California...
during the Summer of 2011.
External links
- Original Soundtrack Music Podcast
- Full episodes of Spider-Man (1967) at Marvel.com
- Kliph Nesteroff's WFMU Essay on the search for "Spidey's" Background Music
- Wallopin Websnappers! – Voice actor, Paul Soles', personal memories of making the series in Toronto in 1967
- 67 Spider-Man @ Marvel Animation Age
- Spider-Fan description
- retroCRUSH tribute
- Animated Superheroes: Spider-Man