The Amazing Spider-Man

For starters, I think this show was great fun and had great storylines but not many people seem to like it.

I guess whether you like it depends on your age. If you're a young kid who's been brought up on a diet of CGI and all those amazing special effects then it probably doesn't appeal to you. But I think it was fun.

The stories were great. In one two part episode Spider-Man battles an evil villain by the name of Mr White who has stolen an atomic bomb which he plans to detonate. There's plenty of fun as Spidey battles dangerous henchmen and performs some unbelievable stunts. Another great episode featured Spidey in Hong Kong but my favourite episode was where Spidey investigated a bogus haunting.

Nicholas Hammond was good as Peter Parker/Spider-Man and he played the part of man with huge responsibilities on his shoulders very well. The late Robert F. Simon played the grumpy but good hearted Jonah Jameson and did a good job.

There were no super villains in the shows which I think was a good thing. The Incredible Hulk series of the 1970's didn't feature super villains either. Spidey got involved in real situations with believable people and in a superhero TV series I think that is much better than having a super powered villain every week.

All in all, highly recommended. There's some good stunts in the series too. Whilst I am quite sure this series will pale in comparison to the new Spidey film due to hit UK cinemas in June 2002 I would have no problem in recommending it to superhero fans.

Just reading why this show got canceled makes me rather steamed. This was a favorite of mine as a kid and I always watched it when it came on no matter how many times I saw the episode. Sure the effects were not great, but they were also not horrible either. They did a fairly good job with the costume and it had the nice 70's vibe to it that is always enjoyable to see and hear as the music was also very 70's. It did not really have any villains from the comics, but then most comic book live show adaptations had none to very few actual super villains from the comics. Spidey's powers were a bit different here too, he had his Spidey sense and he could climb walls, but he was not nearly as strong as the Spider-man of the comics. He was super strong though as I do remember an episode where he broke into a room by breaking the door knob off, he just was not the car hurler that the one from the comic book can be. The show was set in Los Angelos so there were not as many buildings to swing from, but they did okay with the web. It is nice that this show actually has the web shooters and not organic shooters of the movie. I love the movies, but part of me wishes they would start over and do the more smarty pants Spidey that has the mechanical web shooters. This show had a good star as Peter Parker and he was okay as Spider-man, it is nice to see a Spidey who does not basically live in the slums like he does in the movies. Neither this show nor the movie though has a Spider-man that is quick with the insult like the one in the comic. Still, this show was fun without being as corny as the Batman show.

For me, it was the first Spiderman. And that does it, like many childhood impressions, the best. Sure, after decades, it has the mark of its period and that is fair to be. But the seduction remains. It could be defined as nostalgia but it works. Because Nicholas Hammond gives a nice performance, because the special effects are naive, because CGI is unborn and the script is so easy than it becomes a delight after a hard work day. And, sure, because zou are part, in same measure, from serie. For memories. And for inner child.

It couldn't be the hit show that The Incredible Hulk show was. But it did allright in spots. At least it wasn't boring like The Bionic Woman. It may have had a few badly written episodes. And some revealing mistakes. But the acting was pretty good at times. And the wall crawling scenes were terrific also. It may not have been the best superhero show. But it was not the worst. Nicholas Hammond was a lot older then the comic book Peter Parker. But he was still good in the role. I hope when the Spider Man movie comes out, that fans will rediscover this series.

This series ran over two very short seasons. It consists of 3 double episodes (90 min; the pilot, the first episode and the last episode) and 9 single episodes (45 min).

The production values are very low by modern standards. Climbing scenes that were clearly created with the help of horizontal walls and weird hand-to-hand combat sometimes even remind me of the old Republic cliffhanger serials. But for a 1970s TV series this is normal. This one clearly had a much smaller budget than Batman (1966), for example.

For fans of the comic or of the Spider-Man films, it is important to understand that this is not an adaptation of the original story so much as an independent detective TV series that is inspired by it and borrows selectively from it.

In this series, Peter Parker is a university student as well as a freelance photographer. MJ does not exist, freeing Peter up for the romance of the day in his dual roles as himself and as Spider-Man. Newspaper boss J. Jonah Jameson is much more likeable than usual. In fact, he is quite similar to Bewitched's Larry Tate, and in the pilot is even played by the same actor. Moreover, his sassy secretary Rita really knows how to handle this choleric. Also, police chief Captain Barbera plays an important recurring role. Perhaps most important: There are no supervillains here, just more or less spectacular criminal cases.

Even for those of us without childhood memories of this series, it may still be worth a look. I enjoyed it overall, although I really found the pacing too slow.