Spider-Man (1981 TV series)

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Spider-Man is the name of a syndicated short-lived animated TV series based on the popular Marvel Comics character of the same name. The series featured Peter Parker having to balance his alter ego crimefighting with his responsibilities as a university student, a part-time photographer for the Daily Bugle and caring for his elderly Aunt May Parker. The series was not as popular with fans as its later incarnation, Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, another animated series that aired on NBC.

The series was the created to launch Marvel Productions studios, which had risen from the ashes of DePatie-Freleng Enterprises, who had previously produced the 1978 New Fantastic Four and 1979 Spider-Woman animated series (where Spider-Man made an appearance). As of 2006, similar to the majority of the other Disney-acquired Marvel Comics animated series, there are no plans to release this series on DVD.

Contents 1 Voice Talents 2 Episodes 3 Trivia 4 External links

[edit] Voice Talents

• Ted Schwartz - Peter Parker/Spider-Man
• Linda Gary - Aunt May
• William Woodson - J. Jonah Jameson
• Mona Marshall - Betty Brant
• Ralph James - Doctor Doom

[edit] Episodes

1. Bubble, Bubble, Oil And Trouble - Doctor Octopus commits various mysterious crimes in an effort to upgrade his mechanical arms and steal the world's oil supply.
2. Dr. Doom Master Of The World - Doctor Doom is replacing world leaders with robots that, at the upcoming United Nations meeting, will declare him to be the master of the world.
3. Lizards, Lizards, Everywhere - The Lizard is plotting to turn New York City into a swampland, filled with reptiles under his control.
4. Curiosity Killed The Spider-Man - The Black Cat announces that she plans to steal the Maltese Mouse and challenges Spider-Man to try and stop her.
5. The Sandman Is Coming - The Sandman steals radioactive soil samples from NASA and goes on a crime spree.
6. When Magneto Speaks....People Listen - Magneto uses a spacecraft to increase his powers and shut off the nation's power supply.
7. The Pied Piper Of New York Town - Mysterio opens up a new disco nightclub in town that turns its patrons and anyone else that hears the disco music into his slaves, whom he uses to try and steal a nuclear missile.
8. The Doctor Prescibes Doom - Doctor Doom returns to try and force the United Nations to declare him ruler of the world.
9. Carnival Of Crime - The circus has come to town, and the Ringmaster uses a special gas to rob banks, while making people believe that Spider-Man is the thief.
10. Revenge Of The Green Goblin - Norman Osborn escapes from a mental institution, but when the train he is riding in gets into a crash, he remembers that he is the Green Goblin and threatens to reveal to the world who Spider-Man really is, and seeks revenge on Jameson for publishing stories about his chemical plant being unsafe.
11. Triangle Of Evil - The Triangle of Evil forces Spider-Man to survive deadly stunts.
12. The A-B-C's of Doom - Doom forms a criminal partnership with Goron to pose as humanitarians to gain control of a space craft.
13. The Sidewinder Strikes - A rodeo show has come to the city, and the Sidewinder tries to steal the gold spurs.
14. The Hunter and The Hunted - Kraven comes to the city as a hero, having capture a sabertooh tiger that belongs to Ka-Zar. Ka-Zar comes to the city to liberate his animal companion.
15. The Incredible Shrinking Spider-Man - A janitor, feeling that his genius is ignored, dones the identity of the Gadgeeter to steal his employer's new device that can shrink anything.
16. The Unfathomable Professor Gizmo - Professor Gizmo seeks to reclaim sunken treasure and to steal the diamonds from a chairity cruise ship.
17. Cannon Of Doom - Doom secretly uses a laser cannon to create a fault line on New York City and then promises to fix the problem, when in fact he plans to use his laser cannon to create more earthquakes. Doom's origins are told.
18. The Capture Of Captain America - Captain America is kidnapped by the Red Skull.
19. The Doom Report - Freedom fighters from Doom's kingdom of Latveria start an underground movement in New York City, while Doom orders the United Nations to make him ruler of the world or else he will use his weather control device to cause chaos.
20. The Web Of Nephilia - A mad scientist transforms into a mutant spider.
21. Countdown to Doom - NASA sends a rocket into space, built by Doom, unaware that he has attached a device to it that will move the earth out of orbit, sending it into a new ice age, in an effort to force the United Nations to declare him to be the master of the world.
22. Arsenic And Aunt May - Spider-Man catches the relative of the thug that killed Ben Parker, which leads the Chamelon to discover Spidey's secret identity. He poses as a medium to Aunt May and give her a necklace that makes her want to kill Spider-Man.
23. The Vulture Has Landed - The Vulture has been kidnapping scientests in an effort to gain control of a NASA space probe.
24. Wrath Of The Sub-Mariner - The Kingpin and Silvermane work together to develop a powerful acid to commit crimes. The subsequent chemical waste from the new chemical is illegally dumping into the water, causing sickness to Sub-Mariner's niece.
25. The Return of the Kingdom - The Kingpin is able to trick Spider-Man into committing a series of crimes.
26. Under The Wizard's Spell - The Frightful Four members the Wizard and Medusa arrive in New York City to steal an eletronic device from a military base.

[edit] Trivia

• The episodes featuring Doctor Doom had an ongoing storyline about rebels in Latveria trying to topple Doom. Throughout these episodes Doom is able to trick people, especially Jameson, into thinking that he is a kind ruler and international humanitarian.

• Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends was something of a sequel to this solo Spider-Man animated series. The two series are connected in the later series in the third season episode "The Origins of the Spider-Friends."

• In the solo Spider-Man series, Doctor Doom had a voice and mannerisms similar to Darth Vader.

• In the solo Spider-Man series, J. Jonah Jameson had a nephew, Mortimer, seen rarely in the comics, who acted as a bumbling reporter and was seen in a few episodes.

• In both animated series featuring Spider-Man that aired in the 1980s, the Green Goblin appears in similar episodes, and seems to be similar to a man that transforms into the Goblin, (i.e. Dr. Jekyll) rather then a man wearing a costume.

• The third season Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends episode Attack of the Arachnoid borrows the majority of its plot from The Web Of Nephilia from this series.

[edit] External links

• 1981 Spider-Man Cartoon at Toon Zone

Spider-Man
Publications	Main continuity: Amazing Fantasy | The Amazing Spider-Man | Marvel Team-Up | The Sensational Spider-Man (vol. 2) Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man | Spider-Man Unlimited Other continuities: Ultimate Spider-Man | Marvel Adventures Spider-Man | Spider-Girl | Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane
Television	Spider-Man (1967) | Amazing Spider-Man (1978) | Spider-Man (1981) | Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends (1981) | Spider-Man (1994) Spider-Man Unlimited (1999) | Spider-Man: The New Animated Series (2003) | Untitled Spider-Man Animated Series (2007)
Films	Spider-Man (2002) | Spider-Man 2 (2004) | Spider-Man 3 (2007)
Other topics
Spider-Man writers | Spider-Man artists | Spider-Man supporting characters | Spider-Man villains | Spider-Man's powers and equipment | Video games