Yes, this actually exists. How do I know about it? Well, let's see...Background
Long ago, people used to get video cassettes in video stores. Dang, I miss Move Gallery! Anyway, I think it was third grade and I saw this tape called "The Amazing Spider-Man" on the shelf. Since I was (and still) a superhero buff, I rented this movie. I don't remember if I liked it or not. I had no views on movies in general back then. Later on (more like the 2000s) I found out that this was actually a tv show that lasted 13 episodes. I'm not planning on viewing all 13 episodes for this time. I have re-watched the pilot that I saw way back when. Now that I have developed some sort of view, what do I think of the pilot?
Synopsis
Well, here's a quick synopsis of the pilot. Some criminal mastermind is using mind control to force high-upstanding citizens to commit crimes. While all of this mayhem is going on, grad student (yes, grad student) Peter Parker gets accidently bitten by a radioactive spider. When he realizes what happened to him, he begins to test his powers out. Meanwhile, mayhem is still happening. Back with Spidey world, people begin to notice some guy who crawls walls. J. Jonah Jameson doesn't believe the crap, but Peter tells him and Robby that the crawling guy is real and that he has a pic of him. By the way, this scene is actually funny. We even get "Say Jim! Woooo!!!!" type of quote here. So to prove the rumors to be true, Peter makes a suit and takes pics of himself.
Another crime made by the mastermind happens and while Pete is on the scene taking pics, he runs into the victimized controllee's daughter. The two befriend one another. The mastermind finds out that this victim is still alive, so he takes control of the man and tries to make the man jump out of a hospital window. Luckily, Pete sees the man on the ledge, so he changes into his suit and saves the man. By the way, the soundtrack ranges from awesome to "huh, this music could fit somewhere else...". Pete and the girl (I don't remember her name) decide to go see this guru (he's the mastermind) because her dad went to his meetings. Man, this guru can't close his mouth! Peter wonders about this guru, so he goes back to the building as Spider-Man. He sneaks around but gets caught by the mastermind's warriors who wield wooden sticks. Yeah. Spider-Man easily and hilariously beats these guys.
I have to say a couple of things about this scene:
1. Spider-Man turns into Bruce Lee's cousin, Kung Fu Bob.
2. Spidey has a weakness: wood.
3. This is a better fight scene than most of Spider-Man 3.
Oh yeah, back to this recap. Later on, Pete gets mind-controlled, but through sheer luck he is able to come out of the control. He heads back to the building, breaks some satelilte, saves the day, and even gets the girl as well as some good, weird pics.
.........................................................
Well, this is a tough one to review. On the the one hand, it's kinda bad. On the other hand, it's not that bad. First, here's the bad. It treats the sources material like crap. There's no Uncle Ben or any other supporting characters. There's no MJ, no Gwen, or no Harry. There are not even any villains from the series, but I can see why his rouges gallery didn't show up here. The only characters from the comics that show up are Jameson, Robby, and Aunt May. The effects are also not that good. I can credit them for trying to do some of this stuff in the 70's, but it still looks bad. The villain is generic and unmemorable. The love interest is pretty much nonexistent through most of this pilot. Also, Spider-Man only shows up for like 10 during this thing.
Still, there's some okay things to this pilot. It tries to take the whole thing seriously. That's probably why there are not any villains from the comics here. Nicolas Hammond (Peter Parker/Spider-Man) was pretty good as the character. Yeah, he's older here, but he wasn't too bad. He played the role well. The guy playing Jameson was also cool, but he wasn't as over-the-top as Jameson is from the comics or the movies. The suit looks okay-ish. Also, that fight scene--that only fight scene is the best thing from this pilot. It's so bad, it's hilarious. Plus, the music was not too bad. It can even fit in videos that have nothing to do with this show:
Yeah, I made this. It was one heck of a boring night.
Well, I still say check out the pilot. If you want a good laugh, definitely check it out. I probably won't check out the series though. Luckily it's all on YouTube, so you won't have to go far to find it. Next time's post will be on the Caped Crusader...and on one of the greatest animated series of all time. Peace and God Bless.
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