MovieChat Forums > The Amazing Spider-Man (1977) Discussion > Finally seen most of this. It was a dec...

Finally seen most of this. It was a decent series that...

posted 16 years ago by Kevjess74
19 replies | jump to latest

could easily have been better if: 1) the producers had given Peter Parker an actual girlfriend (preferably a student at his university). Instead, they gave him women who were just friends (Jameson secretary Rita Conway, competing photojournalist Julie Masters). There should have been the drama of Peter's love life suffering from his need to act as Spider-Man. 2) the producers had stuck with how the Spider-Man outfit looked in the pilot. I'm okay with the outside-the-uniform utility belt (which came along near the end of the pilot), but the outside-the-glove web shooter was stupid! Why should Spider-Man let everyone know that he relies on a machine to create his webs?! If this series hadn't been short-lived, eventually a villain would've been smart enough to destroy that unconcealed web shooter. And in the series, unlike the pilot, the gloves and boots weren't in sync with the rest of the red-and-black portion of the outfit (esp. the way too thick boots used after the pilot). These changes in Spidey's look stand out like a sore thumb when you see (in an episode or "movie" that was made from two aired episodes and extra material) Spidey lose his belt and obvious shooter for a moment. In that moment stock footage from the pilot is being played! 3) the producers had consistently depicted Spider-Man as super-strong. In too much live-action Spidey TV (including the pilot) he had trouble winning fights against non-superhuman opponents. 4) the producers had made Spider-Man quick enough to avoid being shot 99% of the time (like in the comics). Instead, they let him get shot four times (three times from a firearm) and too conveniently make quick recoveries from gunshot wounds. [Maybe the improvements I suggested for this Spider-Man's powers would have also meant him facing superhuman opponents more than the couple of times he did.]

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] Kevjess74 16 years ago

None of the villains in live-action Spidey TV were adapted from the comicbooks and most could easily have been used in '70s action shows with non-superhero protagonists.

[–] h-ahmad-1 16 years ago

I would have loved to see Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno guest star as David and The Hulk, although that was really a Universal show, whereas Spidey was Columbia Tri-Star.

[–] ItsEddieHaskellBeyotch 11 years ago

"I would have loved to see Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno guest star as David and The Hulk, although that was really a Universal show, whereas Spidey was Columbia Tri-Star."

One of the Hulk reunion movies in the 1980s was actually planned as a team-up with Spider-Man/Nicholas Hammond. Somewhere online there was a website with a Spidey stunt actor(in the BLACK COSTUME no less) posed with Lou Ferrigno as the Hulk to promote it, but its long gone now.

"Lemme at 'em! I'll splat 'em!"

[–] Ken-120 12 years ago

That really annoyed me about the series.

I mean, while I can understand that Doctor Octopus and Green Goblin would likely have been impossible to depict on live-action TV at that time, surely the more down to earth supervillains like The Chameleon, The Big Man and The Enforcers and Kraven the Hunter would have been feasible.

[–] funnygy 16 years ago

Kev, agree with you 100% on the super-strength point. In the series, Spider-Man could effortlessly break out of a sealed bank vault, but he couldn't punch out the two-bit hoodlums he ran into. Most of the time he seemed to be running away from any crooks that actually tried to fight him. The comic book Spidey would have wiped out those guys in 30 seconds or less.

Another thing the series was inconsistent with was his "spider-sense." A good example is in "The Deadly Dust", where one of the henchmen is able to sneak up behind Spidey, grab him in a sort of bear hug (again, Spidey should have easily escaped that with his strength) and then throw him off the roof of the building!

Overall the series is fun to watch once in a while, and the writers did make a good attempt at carrying over the nuances of the comics. A lot of times though they just left them out when it was convenient.

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[–] plouis0128 16 years ago

Kev, thats pretty much my assesment as well, and you touched on one of my problems as well--If they needed females for the series, why didnt they just use MJ, Gwen Stacy, Deb Whitman or even Betty Brant? Which brings me to another point, outside J Jonah Jameson, none of the comics supporting characters were used-though Robbie was in the pilot movie, as was Aunt May, who later appeared in a later episode (with no mention of Uncle Ben) I suppose Rita was based on Glory, and Capt Barbera was a stand in for Capt Stacy. Dan, Kingpin never appeared on the show, you're probably thinking of the Trial of the Incredible Hulk TV movie which featured him, though he was only refered to by his Wilson Fisk name...

[–] JDavo8 16 years ago

The show suffered from being the Amazing Spider-Cop(please tell me someone remembers the episode where he rescues the beauty pageant contestant and DRIVES HER BACK TO THE CONTEST IN A CHEVY NOVA!) Spider-Man questioning suspects and showing them pictures. The web shooters were outside because in the real worl it would be nearly impossible to get something to be that thin and easily concealed under the costume(hence the "organic" web shooters in the 2002 film lifted from Peter David's Spider-Man 2099!) There was no mention of Uncle Ben because Peter didn't have one in that universe. It was Uncle "Mac". Which I assumed he was named because of fear of legal action..or people expecting Aunt May to have been married to a rich black rice baron.

Anyhoo, I love this show! The 70's music. Peter's ugly-ass houndstooth jackets with the elbow patches. Larry Tate as J. Jonah Jameson! It was an awesome part of my childhood. Even though it's an enormous ball of suck to me now. I'd buy it on DVD the day it was released.

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[–] The Hitman 15 years ago

That was "Escort to Danger". I watched that on youtube a couple of months back. Someobody on youtube commented on the very same thing. The weird thing was up until I saw the comment, I never even picked up on him driving!! I just watched it and accepted it! But yeah they could have had him leading the girl off-screen, then the next shot you see them on the rooftop.

I liked this show when I was a lot younger but it didn't have the same broad appeal as The Incredible Hulk series did. If they had gone slightly "deeper" with characters and stories, it might have lasted a bit longer.

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[–] EXPLICITSOUL5 14 years ago

please tell me someone remembers the episode where he rescues the beauty pageant contestant and DRIVES HER BACK TO THE CONTEST IN A CHEVY NOVA!)

LMAO! Yep!

CIVILIZED:http://www.answers.com/topic/jesse-washington

[–] Zebra 3 11 years ago

(please tell me someone remembers the episode where he rescues the beauty pageant contestant and DRIVES HER BACK TO THE CONTEST IN A CHEVY NOVA!)

- There's no Chevy Nova in the Escort to Danger episode. He's driving a Dodge Monaco to the beauty pageant.

'Huuutch!' - Starsky

[–] GrownUpKid 14 years ago

I think that a big misstep was the way that Spidey was portrayed when the suit was on. He was pretty quiet and moved around almost like an awkward ninja. Spidey needs to be sharp witted with a quick tongue and quicker actions. The action on the show wasn't too interesting. There was cool stunt work but that wasn't stuff they could do a lot of and the fight scenes weren't anything special.
I liked the characters but the show didn't have any real relationships. Peter's life felt as though it belonged to someone older than the college boy he was supposed to be. He was a hard working guy with zero social life. Having a couple of funny college friends wouldn't have hurt. A love life wouldn't have hurt either.

[–] cyberdynesystems101 14 years ago

I thought it was weird that Spider-man barely talked when he was in the suit. You barely get a few sentences out of him. I also didn't really like that he hunched so much.

But I enjoyed the series overall. They had some pretty cool stunts in it.

I an't afraid of no ghosts!

[–] Cinema_Lover 12 years ago

For some reason they seemed to have Peter be Nicholas Hammond's real age, about 26-28 during the run of the series and made him into a grad student rather then a 19/20 year old undergrad. Putting him in college was all fine, afterall even though Hammond was a similar age to both Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, he looked and acted a lot older then the more recent live action Peter/Spideys.

So I don't think anyone would have bought Nicholas Hammond as a high school kid, especially since he had already played a high school jock douchebag in a Brady Bunch episode about 5 years earlier. Hell when I was a kid I thought Hammond's Peter was about 35. And yes it never made sense that they had J. Jonah Jameson, the Bugle and Aunt May, but NO ONE else from the comics. No Flash Thompson, no Dr. Connors, no one. Why not have Captain Barbera be Captian Stacy and bring along his daughter Gwen? Why not have Betty Brant on the series? These characters were all firmly established for over a decade by the late 1970s, so it was weird that they were left out of this show. Not to mention, Peter never seemed like a nerd or geek in this series, he just seemed like a typical handsome 1970s young adult man.

Yes Peter did seem like Spider-Cop, but that just more symptomatic of 1970s TV writing and a 60s/70s campy attitude toward superheroes. Interviewing criminals like he was Columbo or Barreta was silly as was driving cars around while he was in the suit. The spandex suit was ridiculous too, Spidey seems like an amusement park character. The ugly spandex suit doesn't ask us to suspend our disbelief that he's a real life superhero. Hammond was playing a much more idiot Spider-Man then the 2000s Sam Raimi/Tobey Maguire movies or the upcoming movie with Andrew Garfield.

I always thought this series was far, far too ambitious for a 70s TV budget. The 70s The Incredible Hulk series could tone down Hulk's powers and get away with it, especially since Bill Bixby was superb as Banner, but how do you tone down Spider-Man's powers and still make him an effective hero? He's supposed to be swinging around New York city, not swinging 3 feet from one ledge of a building to another. The young kids today who complain about the Sam Raimi Spider-Man series from the 2000s that they think is so dated even though it ended just a few years back should check out this series,....they'll be stunned with the silliness of it all. Peter got bit by a radioactive spider, has powers and works at the Bugle with J. Jonah Jameson, the similarties to the comics ends there with this show. But as much as I loathe this goofy show, I'm glad an effort was made and that we last have it.

[–] omega2064 11 years ago

I liked the suit. It worked for a TV show of the times. And did not deviate too far from the actual design. Yes, the belt and the shooters were odd. But. Most likely someone had toy sales in mind. I am pretty sure there was a web shooter toy and likely a belt just like those.

Hammond worked as Parker, little old, but not too much so and the shift to college was sensible to accomodate.

As for his strength and spider sense. I just chalk that up to modifications to make it work on a TV budget and effects that were not Batman scale. And since he wasnt fighting villains of his caliber, they needed him more vulnerable to more mundane threats.

But, like the Hulk, this show needed super villains! Really. At lest the Doctor Strange pilot had him facing Morganna and other threats that werent dime store thugs.