L'uomo ragno

Yes, it's campy. Yes, the acting wasn't very good and the scripts were dull. Yes, the special effects are *very* dated.

It doesn't matter. "Amazing Spider-Man" is one of those time capsules that perfectly captures late 1970s action TV. It was funky, it was campy, it was cheesy, and it was great.

Sure, it could have been better. Given time, the series could have hit its groove and easily been as good as the other Marvel TV series of the day, "The Incredible Hulk." Legend has it this show was cancelled because of low ratings, but I heard CBS both wouldn't commit to a consistent timeslot, and they didn't want to be known as the Superhero Network (they had "Hulk," "Wonder Woman," and showed the hideous "Captain America" and "Dr. Strange" movies). They could have had a real winner...

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.

The show wasn't all that bad. Despite revealing mistakes, weak acting and, story lines. It did all right in spots. Some of my favorite episodes were The Curse of Rava, A Matter of State, Photo Finish, and The Chinese Web. But Spider-Man couldn't be the hit that The Incredible Hulk was. Although it could have lasted one more season. Nicholas Hammond seems a lot older and mature, then the comic book Peter Parker. But he was good in the role. I hope when The Spider-Man movie comes out in May. That fans will rediscover this series.

i can remember when i first watched it. i thought wow, the real spider man. of course i was like 5 years old, but the wonderment that i felt at watching a real person in a spider man costume stopping the bad guys with his spider powers...i would love to see it again. but, since Stan lee and the majority of people didn't like it, we'll probably never see a DVD release of it. I wish i knew a way to find them on VHS or meg...anything. i'd love to watch them again. Stan, for peter's sake, some of us enjoyed the old series, let us have them again. And for future reference, Stan, if you need any help with casting future releases of Marvel movies, let me know.

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.