Spider-Man in television

The character of Spider-Man has appeared in multiple forms of media besides comics, including on television numerous times, in both live action and animated television programs.

Primary Spider-Man shows

Live-action

The Amazing Spider-Man – 1977 live-action series

In 1977, a short-lived live action television series was produced called The Amazing Spider-Man, starring Nicholas Hammond in the title role. Although the series earned good ratings, the CBS Television Network canceled it after just two seasons, along with Wonder Woman, to avoid being labeled as "the superhero network."[1] The series was broadcast only sporadically during the second season. Several episodes from this series were turned into full-length motion pictures outside the U.S. Three movies were released overseas: Spider-Man in 1977, Spider-Man Strikes Back in 1978, and Spider-Man: The Dragon's Challenge in 1981.

Spider-Man – 1978 live-action series

In 1978, a Spider-Man live-action tokusatsu series was produced for Japanese television by Toei Company. Due to a request by Bandai that the show include giant robots and vehicles, it was not a faithful adaptation. Instead of Peter Parker, Spider-Man is Takuya Yamashiro (山城拓也, Yamashiro Takuya). It was not related to Ryoichi Ikegami's earlier 1970 Spider-Man manga. Toei planned to follow the series with a new show starring a Japanese counterpart of Captain America called "Captain Japan", which was revamped into Battle Fever J, the first official installment of Toei's Super Sentai franchise (barring the retroactive recognition of Himitsu Sentai Gorenger and JAKQ Dengekitai in later years). The concept of costumed superheroes piloting giant robots introduced in the Japanese Spider-Man was carried over to Battle Fever J, which became a tradition in the Super Sentai franchise.

Animation

Spider-Man – 1967 animated series

The first animated series was simply titled Spider-Man, and ran on ABC from 1967 to 1970. The show's first season was produced by Grantray-Lawrence Animation, which soon went bankrupt. In 1968, animator Ralph Bakshi took over. Bakshi's episodes, which suffered from extremely low budgets, were stylized and featured dark ominous settings and pervasive background music. One episode reused complete background animation, characters, and storyline from an episode of Rocket Robin Hood. The series may be best remembered for its theme song. Spider-Man was voiced by Paul Soles.[2]

Spider-Man – 1981 animated series

In 1981, with the creation of the animation studio Marvel Productions Ltd., Marvel endeavored to translate more of their comic characters to television. To garner the attention of the major networks, Marvel first created a new syndicated Spider-Man cartoon that was partially based on the old 1960s show. The strategy worked, and NBC became interested in having their own Spider-Man cartoon. Spider-Man was voiced by Ted Schwartz

Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends – 1981 animated series

Towards this end the cartoon series Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends was created for NBC featuring Spider-Man, Iceman of the X-Men, and a new character, Firestar. Actor Dan Gilvezan gave voice to this incarnation of the wall-crawler. This series also featured a number of Marvel guest stars, and shared many of its character designs with the solo Spider-Man show produced just before it.

Spider-Man – 1994 animated series

The 1994 Spider-Man animated series was made for the Fox Network (to accompany their X-Men series) with Christopher Daniel Barnes providing the webslinger's voice (in one episode Peter Mark Richman voiced old Peter, partially replacing Barnes). This series had a bigger budget and used a novel system of one large story arc per season, developed by John Semper. As a result, each of the individual 65 episodes (starting with season 2) were called "chapters". This series more closely reflected the comic book as it focused on the personal conflict Peter Parker felt as Spider-Man, instead of following the action-oriented shows that preceded it. This was the longest Spider-Man series, with 65 episodes in five seasons, until 2012's "Ultimate Spider-Man" surpassed it.[3] Several episodes were consolidated into direct-to-video DVD films, such as Daredevil vs. Spider-Man.

Spider-Man Unlimited – 1999 animated series

In 1999, an animated series named Spider-Man Unlimited was developed for Fox (intended to be an Expanded Universe final season of the 1994 show) in which Spider-Man is transported to an animated Counter-Earth inspired by the one created by the High Evolutionary in early 1970s comics. This series was cancelled after one season. Here Spider-Man was voiced by Rino Romano.[4]

Spider-Man: The New Animated Series – 2003 animated series

In 2003, another television series adaptation, Spider-Man: The New Animated Series this time using computer animation was produced by Mainframe Entertainment for Sony Pictures Television and broadcast on MTV; it featured characters and continuity from the 2002 Spider-Man film, as well as Michael Clarke Duncan voicing the Kingpin, depicted in reprising his role from the 2003 live action Daredevil film adaptation. The show lasted only one season, which contained 13 episodes. Spider-Man was voiced by Neil Patrick Harris.

The Spectacular Spider-Man – 2008 animated series

This television series is heavily inspired by both the early Lee/Ditko and Romita The Amazing Spider-Man stories and the Bendis/Bagley Ultimate Spider-Man. Peter Parker is still a teenager living in contemporary New York, as in Bendis' Ultimate version, but many of the cast members borrow from both the early and later years of Spider-Man comics. Many of the original supporting cast, including Flash Thompson, have been translated into modern terms but are still very true to the comics, and some have altered ethnicities: Liz Allan is Hispanic and Ned Lee (formerly "Leeds") is Korean. The first season follows several plot arcs drawn from the comics. Two seasons of the series were aired, each containing 13 episodes. Though universally acclaimed, the series ended when Sony Pictures relinquished its rights, which it had licensed from Marvel, to produce animated works using Spider-Man and associated characters. Spider-Man was voiced by Josh Keaton.

Ultimate Spider-Man – 2012 animated series

Ultimate Spider-Man airs on Disney XD. It started airing on April 1, 2012. Spider-Man/Peter Parker is voiced by Drake Bell. Controversially, Spider-Man is depicted as breaking the fourth wall and the critical and fan reception of the series has been mixed. The show's third season is subtitled "Web-Warriors", and the fourth season is subtitled "vs. The Sinister Six".

This incarnation is more dim and childish than previous versions: while still a science geek like the previous incarnations, he tends to have trouble understanding more complex areas. His sense of humor is less refined and more puerile, laughing at simple rhymes and toilet humor, and is shown to be able to break the fourth wall. He is less experienced, less responsible, and much more of a goofball than his comic or previous media (animated or occasionally live action) counterparts, but can still show a fair degree of competence when the situation calls for it and learns from his mistakes.

The series ended in a two part series finale on January 7, 2017, bringing the episode count to 104 and making it the longest running Marvel cartoon to date.

Spider-Man – 2017 animated series

Spider-Man, a new Spider-Man animated series was announced to replace Ultimate Spider-Man. The series will also feature Spider-Man teaming up with Miles Morales as Spider-Man and Spider-Gwen.[5][6]

Spidey Super Stories – 1974 series

Spider-Man was an occasional character in the 1970s children's educational show The Electric Company which presented brief tales using a combination of animation and live action called the Spidey Super Stories. In the educational spirit of the series, Spider-Man (portrayed by Danny Seagren) communicates only in speech balloons for the viewer to read. The theme song was written by composer Gary William Friedman. Comic book adaptations of these stories were included in a companion kids-oriented comic book, Spidey Super Stories, published by Marvel.[7]

Appearances in other series

Marvel 2010s animated universe

Television specials

References within Marvel animated series

References within Marvel Cinematic Universe series

References

  1. ↑ Mangels, Andy (October 2010). "Spinning the Story of the Amazing Spider-Man". Back Issue!. TwoMorrows Publishing (44): 44–48.
  2. ↑ "SpiderFan.org - Fail : Not Found". spiderfan.org.
  3. ↑ "SpiderFan.org - Fail : Not Found". spiderfan.org.
  4. ↑ "SpiderFan.org - Fail : Not Found". spiderfan.org.
  5. ↑ Truitt, Brian (October 8, 2016). "Exclusive: New 'Spider-Man' animated series coming in 2017, and a follow up to Spider-Man: Homecoming.". USA Today.
  6. ↑ Rey, Leo (December 18, 2016). "SPIDER-MAN 2017 CARTOON WILL FEATURE VENOM, SPIDER-GWEN, AND MILES MORALES". Nerdspan.
  7. ↑ "SpiderFan.org - Fail : Not Found". spiderfan.org.
  8. ↑ "Disney Announces Japanese, Animated Marvel Disk Wars Series". Comic Book Resources. October 23, 2013.
  9. ↑ Goldman, Eric (June 8, 2012). "Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes Swaps Spectacular Spider-Man for Ultimate Spidey". IGN. Archived from the original on July 20, 2014. Retrieved June 24, 2015.
  10. ↑ "Phineas and Ferb: Mission Marvel Preview". Marvel.com. July 18, 2012. Archived from the original on August 31, 2012. Retrieved August 31, 2012.
  11. ↑ Goldman, Eric (June 28, 2013). "Phineas and Ferb: Mission Marvel Debut Date Announced". IGN. Archived from the original on July 5, 2013.
  12. ↑ "Lego Marvel Super Heroes: Avengers Reassembled". Lego Marvel Super Heroes. November 16, 2015.
  13. ↑ http://moviepilot.com/posts/3664921
  14. ↑ http://www.popsicle.com/product/detail/107882/spider-man-bar
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