Spider-Man TV pilot, 1977

[Earth 2 Chris]

Cindy and I discuss the 70s Spidey pilot film with our friend and podcasting luminary, Andrew Leyland of Hey Kids, Comics! and other fine podcasts! It's a rollicking good time as we pick the polyester apart, and Mego does come up in discussion briefly!

http://supermatescomic.blogspot.com/

Chris

[comicmike]

That's so awesome! I'm such a huge fan of the old series Hands down, my fave episode is the '78 "Night of the Clones". I only had a BW tv when I was growing up: I used to get every opportunity that could to go to any neighbors (past my bedtime) just to see the occasional episode in color...great, great memories...

[Nostalgiabuff]

i know it was cheesy as hell but I wish they would release the series on bluray/dvd

[madmarva]

If they released it, I'd buy it, although I don't remember it being very good.

[jds1911a1]

Nicholas Hammond rocking a 70'o hair helmet, I LOVE THIS SHOW still

[palitoy]

Man i watched this when it first aired, where is my Bluray?

[Earth 2 Chris]

^Yeah, we get into that in the episode. It's criminal. The Reb Brown movies made it out, but this entire series is MIA on DVD and Blu-Ray. Apparently Marvel/Disney own the show now, so it's up to them. If a third party owned it, we would have seen it by now.

Chris

[jds1911a1]

I have burns of all the stories from the tape releases and broadcast on scifi or something from way back so at least I can watch it from time to time

[Earth 2 Chris]

^Me too, but the quality is pretty crappy. I'd love to have a quality transfer...even if the actual show is kind of "meh" minus the nostalgia factor.

Chris

[EmergencyIan]

Forgive the revival of this two month old thread.

Great podcast!

I loved that series! And, I remember being really excited when ads for "Captain America" (Reb Brown) were being shown, a bit later on. I watched the pilot (I know that there was a second two hour TV movie) and was upset that it never "took-off."

When I saw "The Amazing Spider-Man" years later on SciFi, I still thought it was fun or maybe it was just nostalgia. Seeing as I am the kind to live in the past, it may have very well been the latter.

- Ian

[Earth 2 Chris]

^Despite it's many flaws and somewhat phoned in nature, I still enjoy the series.

I think we're going to have to cover those Reb Brown Cap movies at some point. One thing I unabashedly love about those is the awesome Mike Post theme music!

Thanks for listening!

Chris

[MIB41]

Ah! Great listening material for early tomorrow morning with my coffee. Will listen and post immediately after. Sounds like a great topic! Thanks Chris.

[MIB41]

I am an old fart. Looking for it as a new episode, then reading the ENTIRE thread to find out, its an old one. But hey, it's new for me. LOL! Listening now.

[Earth 2 Chris]

^You're in luck Tom! A new one goes up tonight!

Chris

[enyawd72]

I just listened to it this morning as well...really enjoyed it. I did think some of the criticisms were a bit harsh. The comparisons to the Incredible Hulk were a bit unfair IMO, since Bill Bixby was 16 years older than Hammond and a much more experienced actor.

I agree Hammond was a little bland in the pilot, but he really made up for it in subsequent episodes. I particularly liked his exchange with Joanna Cameron in the Deadly Dust when he's trying to explain to her why Spider-Man does what he does, and how he's denied even the most basic relationships with people because he constantly has to lie to everyone.

Overall, I think Spider-Man was a much more difficult character to adapt to the screen in 1977. The Hulk was able to do it by ditching pretty much everything in the comics and making it a Jekyll and Hyde drama. It worked because the adaptation was actually better than the original source material. The same approach to Spider-Man had the opposite effect because the source material was better to begin with.