Spider-Man on TV

As Peter Parker returns to the big screen this weekend in Spider-Man 3 this weekend, here at IGN TV we thought we'd take a look back at the varied appearances of everyone's favorite web-head on the small screen.

Spider-Man (1967 - 1970)

In 1967, five years after making his first appearance in comic books, Spider-Man made his first appearance on television. This original incarnation was an animated series produced by Canadian studio Grantray-Lawrence Animation. Although the first season of Spider-Man was a success, Grantray-Lawrence went out of business after the show's first year. Production was then picked up by Krantz Films with soon-to-be legendary animator Ralph Bakshi overseeing the series.

The show's animation was low budget, and got even lower when Bakshi got involved. In fact, two episodes of the series were produced by taking Bakshi's earlier series, Rocket Robin Hood, taking out the character cells, and putting in Spider-Man. Still, even with the cheap production value, the show looked and felt like Spider-Man. The color scheme maintained the four colors of the comics and most of the established villains looked like their news print counterparts. Many of the classic villains appear in this series, including all of those that Raimi ended up using (with the exception of Venom). Though, one odd character change was J. Jonah Jameson's Hitler moustache...

Have you watched Spider-Man Unlimited?

Despite the cheap look, hokey stories and silly dialogue, the show is generally regarded fondly by fans who remember the series. It deserves special recognition for being the first incarnation of Peter Parker and his alter-ego in another medium, but the show is probably best remembered for the catchy theme song. With the opening line of "Spider-Man, Spider-Man, Does whatever a spider can," that song is how some people who had never read a comic book learned who Spider-Man was. The song was memorably covered by The Ramones, and then featured in the closing credits of Sam Raimi 's Spider-Man film. The soundtrack of that movie featured another (and less memorable) cover of the song, this time by Aerosmith.

Though Spidey has definitely grown beyond the humble beginnings of this cartoon, the show helped establish some of the more famous elements of his story outside the pages of a comic book. The theme song alone has proven to have more lasting appeal than entire seasons of some of the other series (live-action and not) produced around the character. Give the theme a listen now, and odds are you'll be humming it to yourself for a good long while.

The Electric Company: "Spidey Super Stories" (1974 - 1977)

Sure Tobey Maguire may be better known, but it's a guy named Danny Seagren who first played a live-action Spider-Man. Seagran was the man wearing the costume on The Electric Company in their "Spidey Super Story" segments. These segments ran from just a couple of minutes long to several minutes, and featured Spider-Man facing off -- though not actually fighting, this being a children's educational show -- against a bevy of odd villains such as Eye Patch, The Tickler (don't ask), The Wall and The Thumper, not to mention a woman dressed in an Easter Bunny costume. There was a bad guy named the Sandman in one episode, but he had no connection to the Spider-Man comic book villain, nor did any familiar comic book characters besides Spidey himself show up here.

These were silly, kid-oriented stories that are fairly bizarre to watch now. Certain scenes cut back and forth between live-action and comic book panels, and Spider-Man himself never speaks out loud, though all the other characters do. Instead, when he "talks" a comic book style word balloon appears next to him, which he and those around him often awkwardly stop to look at. The show hardly had any budget for special effects, so Spider-Man never showed off any discernible powers or abilities except for his web, which amusingly would always begin as a crudely animated effect (as he shot it forward) before cutting to a shot of a bad guy caught in a net.

Some fairly unintentional (or so we assume) camp enjoyment is certainly found here, as this version of Spider-Man never takes off his costume, but does spend his time jogging, going to baseball games, and other mundane activities. And it's hard not to laugh at seeing the respected, Academy Award-winning Morgan Freeman, then an Electric Company regular, ham it up in various roles -- including Count Dracula and a moronic cop -- throughout the "Spidey" shorts.

[As Peter Parker returns to the big screen this weekend in Spider-Man 3 this weekend, here at IGN TV we thought we'd take a look back at the varied appearances of everyone's favorite web-head on the small screen.]

Supaidāman (1978 - 1979)

In 1978, Spider-Man made his first appearance on Japanese television in Supaidāman (in English, "Spider-Man") a show done in the Tokusatsu style. Tokusatsu, which refers to Japanese live action shows using special effects, is probably best known in the United States in the form of Power Rangers television series. After acquiring the license to the Spiderman character Toei decided to spin the character into a direction they believed more suited for their audience. To that end, the story of Spider-Man in the Japanese story goes as follows:

Motor-cross champion Yamashiro Takuya finds his dying father next to a crashed spacecraft from the planet Spider, and discovers Garia -- the lone survivor of Spider who gives Yamashiro his bracelet. The bracelet gives Yamashiro his web slinging powers, as well as the ability to summon a giant robot (formed from his flying car and the aforementioned alien ship) named Leopardon. He'd need these powers and friends to face the not-so-subtly named Professor Monster and his Iron Cross Army.

While obviously having almost no resemblance to the story of the American superhero, there was plenty of wall crawling, web slinging and patented Spider-Man acrobatics found in the series. To the average American viewer,Tokusatsu is undeniably goofy with sometimes laughable special effects -- but in this case, the show measures up quite well in comparison to the dreary live action series produced Stateside around the same time. And who would deny that Sam Raimi's version of this Spider-Man wouldn't be something worth seeing?

The Amazing Spider-Man (1977 - 1979)

The live action Spider-Man from the '70s is one of the best arguments any Hollywood executive could have used against making a live-action Spider-Man movie. Just one look at the goofy effects and the less than heroic exploits of the shabbily costumed Spidey and it would be hard to argue that Spider-Man should leave the confines of his four-color panels.

Whereas the '60s cartoon gave us the famously catchy theme song, the live action series gave us something else entirely. The theme to this show was symptomatic of a time when funk music was showing up in all the wrong places. Producers could leave a tape of their show lying around and a slap bass line would show up on the soundtrack without anyone knowing how it go there. There's really no theme per se, just a generic bed of funk music similar to what an unskilled user might accidentally create in GarageBand.

While the Japanese Spider-Man embraced conventions common to Tokusatsu programs -- and abandoned virtually all of the American character -- this stateside series retains the name Peter Parker, but does little else to maintain the flavor or feel of the comic book stories. While budget constraints prevented the likes of Doctor Octopus or The Sandman from showing up, super villains in general were conspicuously absent from the series. Instead Spidey faced a rogues gallery of generic thugs, criminal masterminds and even religious cults. At least he had J. Jonah Jameson to contend with, further establishing the iconic nature of that relationship.

While notable for being Spidey's first live-action incarnation, the series is memorable for little else. It featured the signature move of Spider-Man throwing out his hand like he's about to shoot web, but instead of seeing the web the show would awkwardly cut to the villains having a shoddy web made of rope thrown over them. Quality-wise it rests in roughly the same realm as Manimal and Master Ninja.

Spider-Woman (1979)

This short lived animated series starred the Marvel Comics character and made her origin and powers much more similar to Spider-Man than the comic book version; Like Peter Parker, the animated version of Jessica Drew got her powers when she was bitten by a spider (though there was a bit more to it than that) and included a spider sense among her abilities.

Beyond that influence, Spider-Man himself made two notable guest appearances in Spider-Woman, including the very first episode of the series, "Pyramids of Terror," which opens with Spidey on a solo adventure that he'll eventually need Spider-Woman's help on -- what Spider-Man is doing going through Egyptian pyramids we're left to speculate about. This Spider-Man certainly captures some of the corny wit of his comic book counterparts, as he cracks several jokes before getting captured by a Mummy.

Spider-Man (1981 - 1982)

While many children of the '80s fondly remember Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends (more on that in a minute), this Spider-Man series is sometimes forgotten or mistakenly believed to be the exact same series as the one that would shortly follow it. It's understandable, as the two series shared the same production company, Marvel Productions, and the same character designs -- Peter Parker, J. Jonah Jameson, Aunt May and the animated world they live in all look exactly the same here as they would in the more popular Amazing Friends. In addition, the Green Goblin episode of this series would be used as the template for a very similarly plotted episode of Amazing Friends.

While not directly adapting Spider-Man comic book issues, this series did a decent job of portraying the character in a way that was very familiar to fans and did a good job of capturing the basic feel that Spider-Man stories contained, if not much of the drama. It also featured some fun guest stars over the course of its 26 episodes, including Captain America and the Sub-Mariner, and the first animated appearances of such notable Marvel Comics characters as the Black Cat and Ka-Zar. There were also many familiar Spider-Man comic book villains, and a few, such as Magneto and the Frightful Four, from other Marvel books.

Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends (1981 - 1983)

There were actually two fewer episodes of this Saturday morning series than the syndicated Spider-Man series Marvel Productions also launched in 1981, but this show still became a big hit that is fondly remembered by the generation that grew up with it. As we mentioned, this show shared the same character and animation designs as that solo 1981 Spider-Man series, and J. Jonah Jameson's voice was actually provided by the same actor, William Woodson, though different actors voiced Peter Parker and Aunt May. The most likely reason for Amazing Friends's bigger popularity than the solo series is that the show delivered a very impressive gathering of super heroes and villains that would appeal to kids, and in the process truly got across the idea of the broad scope of the Marvel Universe for the first time in another medium, by portraying one creative character after another.

The main characters alone united our favorite wall crawler and a founding member of the X-Men (Iceman), and while Firestar was created for the series, she certainly felt like a Marvel hero, and in fact would eventually be added to the Marvel Comics continuity (thankfully Aunt May's dog, Ms. Lion, has not shown up in the comics so far). Beyond that, the "Spider-Friends" as they called themselves -- hey, we're not saying there wasn't some silly stuff going on here -- encountered a who's who of Marvel mainstays, including the Hulk, the X-Men, Thor, Captain America, Dr. Strange, the Sub-Mariner, and even sly appearances by out of costume heroes Matt Murdock and Tony Stark.

Along the way the Spider-Friends fought many familiar Spider-Man/Marvel villains, and while this is certainly a show aimed at children, there is a rather goofy charm to most of these episodes, even when viewed now. From the videogame inspired villain Videoman, to a memorable battle with Sandman at a construction site (an encounter one should keep in mind when watching the climax to Spider-Man 3), to the possessed minions of Swarm -- "Swarm is my master! I work for Swarm!" -- this was a very fun series, and one we'd love to see get a deserved DVD release.

Spider-Man (1994 - 1998)

While Spider-Man (1967) may have brought Peter Parker off the pages of the Marvel comic books and into the realm of television, it would be the 1994 animated series that would, arguably, be considered the best of the animated iterations. With a more dedicated approach to recreating the Spider-Man comics on TV, much like Marvel's popular X-Men: The Animated Series (which was running at the same time), Spider-Man (1994) would use familiar storylines and villains to make the highest quality cartoon possible. After five seasons, the final product of this series was 65 episodes of quality Spider-Man stories which set the bar for Spider-Man cartoons to come.

Spider-Man (1994) didn't waste any time getting right to the action. By giving Peter Parker his abilities right from the beginning the show didn't have to waste time re-explaining the web-slingers origins -- knowing that most of their audience already knew the story of Peter Parker and the radioactive spider. In the first episode we were treated with an appearance from The Lizard, and with time the series unveiled the rest of the villains which Spider-Man fans couldn't do without -- Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, Venom, Carnage, The Kingpin, The Scorpion, Mysterio, The Rhino, The Shocker, and many more. Along with the unending list of interesting villains, the show was able to recreate some of Spider-Man's most memorable comic book stories (i.e. The Secret Wars). By faithfully recreating these storylines and bringing in villains directly from the comics, the show was seen as being a step above the corny versions that had come before it.

On top of the great stories and villains for Spider-Man to bring to justice, Spider-Man (1994) was also known for the technical quality of the program (excluding the horribly repetitious theme song). While the show would sometimes look simplistic, Spider-Man would for the most part exude a quality which was rarely matched by regular Saturday morning comics at the time. With a more mature look to the characters, and faithful representations of all the villains and guest stars, Spider-Man was able to keep its audience hooked with the quality of the animation. But if there was one technical aspect of the show that would eclipse the animation it would be the excellent voice-overs. With the voice actors perfectly playing their parts, it is tough for fans of the series to hear anybody but the show's voice actors voicing their favorite characters -- especially with the outstanding work done by Christopher Daniel Barnes as Spider-Man.

With knowledge of a new Spider-Man animated series starting up in early 2008 (The Amazing Spider-Man (2008)), we can only hope that this new program will live up to the standards which Spider-Man (1994) has set.

Spider-Man Unlimited (1999 - 2001)

One of the lesser known Spider-Man TV iterations would be the spin-off of the Spider-Man (1994) series, Spider-Man Unlimited. As a loose continuation of the '94 series, Unlimited garnered interest in the series by taking Spidey's comic book origins and flipping them upside down -- by crafting a completely off-the-wall story with new characters and villains. By separating itself from the normal locales and having enemies from outside of Spider-Man's usual villain gallery, Spider-Man Unlimited was able to craft a place for itself as the strangest animated Spider-Man program.

The series starts off by immediately introducing Spider-Man and the audience to the danger of Counter-Earth -- a duplicate version of Earth located on the other side of the sun. Counter-Earth is home to The High Evolutionary, a powerful being who is playing god by creating a force comprised of Beastials -- half human, half animal soldiers. By creating the Beastials, The High Evolutionary has made man a second class species on the planet, and so it is Spider-Man's task to stop the Evolutionary and set things right again on Counter-Earth.

While the story is completely ridiculous, the execution is even more so. With certain characters making brief, but questionable, cameos (symbiote blobs Venom and Carnage in particular), we question the show right off the bat. Within the first minute of the show John Jameson declares war against Counter-Earth, solely based on the planet evaporating Earth's satellite/probe. Since this was the first contact with this new planet, it seemed rather brash to assume that this was a hostile gesture… but whatever the case Jameson is sent to war against this possibly hostile planet. As if this wasn't bad enough, Peter Parker somehow is able to finagle himself into the space program (as a photographer), and with the help of his new "nano-tech" costume (which looks like a cross between Spider-Man's new Iron Man outfit and the Spider-Man 2099 costume), and six months later Peter finds himself piloting a solo flight (although ground control was under the assumption that both Spider-Man and Peter Parker were going up) to Counter-Earth. From here we meet the Beastials and things really go downhill… so much so that the show is left on a cliffhanger -- as the final episodes were never produced -- after Pokémon bested Unlimited in the ratings and sent it off the air. While there actually have been odder versions of the web-head on TV, the ridiculous nature of Spider-Man Unlimited would guarantee the show a spot in the Spider-Man hall of shame.

Spider-Man: The New Animated Series (2003)

The summer of 2003 saw the airing of Spider-Man: The New Animated Series on MTV. CGI animated, the series was executive produced by comic book writer Brian Michael Bendis, the man behind the Ultimate Spider-Man comics. The series, produced by Mainframe Entertainment for Sony Pictures Television, mostly followed the 2004 Sam Raimi film in terms of characters and story, as Peter attends college and dates Mary Jane.

Spider-Man: The New Animated Series featured an inspired voice cast, including Neil Patrick Harris (then best known as Doogie Howser, M.D., now stealing scenes as Barney on How I Met Your Mother) as Peter Parker, singer-songwriter Lisa Loeb as Mary Jane, and Ian Ziering (Beverly Hills, 90210) as Harry Osborn. The guest stars were just as eclectic, including singer Rob Zombie as Dr. Curt Connors, Kathy Griffin and Jeremy Piven as twins with hypnotizing powers, Michael Dorn (Star Trek: The Next Generation) as Kraven the Hunter, and Gina Gershon as a ronin.

Aired almost entirely out of order by MTV, the short-lived series' 13 episodes were made available in their correct chronological order on a DVD box set in 2004. While most of the animation in the series was fairly underwhelming -- making you feel like you're watching an extended videogame cut-scene -- the action sequences are where the CGI animation of the series truly shines, presenting some of the smoothest and best looking Spider-Man movements seen in a cartoon to date. And while some of the stories rang a bit cliche and completely predictable, the series writers did very well recreating the sarcastic, playful voice of Spider-Man, something which most fans of Spidey comics find sorely missing in many of the various adaptations (TV, film and otherwise) to date.