Remember that one day when you could wake up without an alarm? When you would get your favorite bowl of cereal and sit between the hours of 8 and 12? This is a blog dedicated to the greatest time of our childhood: Saturday mornings. The television programs you watched, the memories attached to them, and maybe introducing you to something you didn't realize existed. Updated every weekend.
On May 25th,
1983, the (then) final film in the original Star Warstrilogy was released: Returnof the Jedi. The galactic soap opera had come to a conclusion, even though Star Wars mania was still riding high
with wave after wave of merchandising. However, one particular type of
merchandise had been ignored until the following year when Kellogg’s released the first Star Wars-themed cereal: C-3PO’s.
Named for the golden
droid seen in almost every Star Wars media,
C-3PO’s was a honey-sweetened cereal in the shape of small figure eights. The
promotion for the cereal said the cereal shape was in order to give a double
crunch in every bite. Touted as a healthy cereal, it was heavily promoted with
an intricate commercial featuring C-3PO himself (Anthony Daniels) and
R2-D2 taking refuge from
an Imperial
attack with some C-3PO’s. Supermarkets also received a life-sized
standee of C-3PO pitching the cereal to display with it, which has become
something of a collector’s item over the years. Along with average-sized boxes,
it was available in small single-serving sizes included in multi-cereal packs.
The Canadian version of the cereal with the C-3PO mask.
The cereal had a
number of different premiums during its run. One mail away offer featured miniature
figurines that were originally part of the failed Microworld
playsets by Kenner.
Inside the boxes came either generic
plastic rocket
shooters with Star Wars-themed
decorative cardboard attachments and characters, or trading
card/stickers featuring various characters and scenes from the movies (the
Canadian version had the stickers and cards separate). Some boxes featured cut-out
character face masks on their backs, including Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, Chewbacca, a Stormtrooper, Yoda (only in the United
States) and, of course, C-3PO. Mail-away offers for a C-3PO poster were also
included inside the boxes.
Magazine ad for the cereal with a coupon.
By the time the
cereal hit shelves Star Wars’ popularity
had begun to wane. Faced with that, and more appealing tie-in merchandise, the
comparatively basic cereal didn’t last long on store shelves. However, Star Wars fans still remember the cereal
fondly and continue to buy
and trade closed boxes on a regular basis.
After Disney
acquired LucasFilm in 2012, they quickly set
about cashing in on the company’s biggest franchise: Star Wars. Within the next two years, plans were
put in place to continue the movie saga with a new trilogy. December, 2015
would see the release of the first new movie, Episode VII: The Force Awakens. Directed J.J.
Abrams, the film reunited the surviving original cast with a whole new set
of characters to continue the struggle for the balance of the force in a galaxy
far, far away.
As with Episode II, General Mills and Kellogg’s achieved a shared license to
produce a cereal tie-in to the film; General Mills covering North America while
Kellogg’s released in the United Kingdom. The Kellogg’s
version actually came first, being released in March of 2015. Their cereal
featured a dual-faced box with Darth Vader and R2-D2 on either side. The
cereal itself was chocolate-flavored whole wheat and rice pieces in the shapes
of stars and moons.
General Mills’
version was
first announced on May 4th (also known as Star
Wars Day) and released in June. The cereal featured berry-flavored corn puffs meant to
resemble X-wings
and TIE fighters.
Also included were marshmallow shapes mostly recycled from their Episode II cereal a decade prior,
including red and blue lightsabers,
R2-D2, Yoda and a Jedi
Starfighter. The Clone
Trooper face was redesigned to better resemble a regular Stormtrooper face by
changing up the black areas of the otherwise white piece. The boxes came in two
varieties at launch: one featured Yoda with a quiz on the back panel, the other
Darth Vader with a Star Wars-themed
checkers game on the back.
It was announced that new box designs would initially
be released in October of 2015 before the movie, but they have been pushed back
to February 2016. Instead, General Mills added Star Wars elements to a variety of their other cereals with Droid
Viewers inside.
The American version of the cereal featured sweetened
oat rings intermixed with marshmallows. The marshmallow shapes were similar to General Mills’ previous Episode II cereal effort which also
included lightsabers
(exchanging a yellow energy blade for the previous blue), R2-D2 and Yoda. New for this edition
were the shapes of Darth
Vader and C-3PO. The
Mexican version of the cereal, however, featured only sweetened corn balls
mixed with chocolate TIE
fighter pieces. It was offered in 780 and 390 gram boxes and 30 gram
bags.
The November-release box advertising the DVD.
With both versions of the boxes featured a choice of
Darth Vader (Hayden Christensen)
or Yoda on the face, the American version initially left the Episode III subtitle off of the cereal
name everywhere but on the backs of the boxes along with a game. It wouldn’t be
until November when the box was redesigned with a new Darth Vader pose to
promote the DVD
release of the movie that it would gain the Episode III titling, as well as a new game on the back. The Mexican
version had a set of 24 collectible
trading cards that could be cut out, with Vader and Yoda’s box each having
a different batch of 12.
It took 16 years for George Lucas to decide the time
was right to bring his long-planned Star Warsprequel trilogy to the
masses. Finally, special effects and computer technology had reached the point
that would allow Lucas to achieve the epic scale he wanted for his universe.
The first of the new films, titled Episode I: The Phantom
Menace, was released in 1999 to mixed, though mostly positive, reviews
and became a box office success. In 2002, Lucas released the second part of the
trilogy titled Episode II: Attack of the Clones.
The fronts and backs of the General Mills edition.
The Kellogg's version with the collectible mask premium.
Over in Canada, Kellogg’s held the license. Choosing to
ignore General Mills’ flashy take on the cereal, they instead went simple. It
came with basic purple and red star-shaped pieces along with “cookies” that
represented a Clone Trooper mask. The box also featured Kenobi and a Clone
Trooper in front of an entire legion as a battle raged overhead, and had a game
on the back panel. However, Kellogg’s did have their own gimmick as they
offered two boxes of the cereal packaged together with a life-sized Clone
Trooper mask.
G.I. Joe has
been produced by Hasbro fairly
consistently since its debut as 12” action figures in 1964. However, the
anti-war sentiment caused by the Vietnam War led Hasbro to divert away from the
toys’ military origins into more action-oriented professions;
like an astronaut or a super hero. Inspired by the success of Kenner’s 3.75”
Star Wars figures, Hasbro wanted
to revive G.I. Joe in a similar
format. But, this time they wanted their line to have some story behind it and
make it more interesting to consumers. Hasbro partnered with Marvel Comics and brought to life the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero line. The figures were prominently
featured as fully-realized characters in the book, and Hasbro could use
advertisements for the books to subvert restrictions in toy advertising on
television.
In 1985, Marvel Productions,
who had already been supplying the animation for the ads, brought American Hero into a fully-realized
animated series. Ralston
acquired the license to the franchise and made G.I. Joe Action Stars Cereal to coincide with the debut of the
series. Action Stars was a descriptive name, as the cereal was, in fact, shaped
like the star in the Joe logo.'
Starduster, Gung-Ho, Duke and Shipwreck boxes.
The cereal was released in two waves. Released in
mid-1985, the first wave featured three different characters on the box: Gung-Ho, Duke and Shipwreck.
Although the cereal was the same, the back of
each box featured a description of a character-specific mission and
featured a cut-out and assemble object relative to the mission. Each box also
featured a mail-away form for a camouflage t-shirt.
In the winter of 1985, the second wave was released
featuring three new boxes with Quick-Kick, Flint and Starduster.
While the mission cards remained, the cut-out was removed in favor of a mail-away
offer for a Starduster
action figure. Starduster was a Joe who was a jetpack expert, and before
the release of the cereal no one had ever heard of him before. That’s because
Starduster was created exclusively for Ralston as the potential mascot for the
cereal. The only time Starduster was ever animated was in the commercial for
the cereal, and he was only featured in the three mini-comics
that told his origin included in random boxes. However, shortly after this wave
was released the cereal ended production and was off shelves by early
1986.
The Flint and Starduster boxes.
Starduster never appeared in any of the cartoons or
comics. In 1988, he was made available as part of a mail-in offer from Hasbro Direct.
There were three variants before the figure was discontinued in 1989. The
character returned with heavy modifications in 2007, and the name “Skyduster”
in 2008, before one final version was released in 2009.
Around the same time he conceived ofStar Wars, filmmaker George Lucas
also came up with an adventuring archaeologist that would, like Wars, become a modern interpretation of
film serials from the 30s and 40s. Wars briefly
overshadowed development on the project, but a chance encounter with Steven
Spielberg brought him back to the forefront. Lucas sold
Spielberg on his idea and he agreed to direct the film. Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford)
made his debut in 1981’s Raiders
of the Lost Ark,
trying
to beat the Nazis to the legendary Ark
of the Covenant using his brains, his friends, his trusty
bullwhip and his gun. The film became a critical and commercial success,
spawning two sequels within the decade, a spin-off television series, books,
video games and more.
After his son asked him when the
next Indiana Jones film would come out in 2000, Lucas decided to revisit an
idea he had been working on after being inspired by the television show.
Although Spielberg and Ford were initially resistant to the idea, the thought
of recreating the fun of working together again won out and production moved
forward. 2008 saw the release of Indiana
Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Set in 1957, it featured an
aging Indy became embroiled in a Cold War plot by Soviets to find an alien crystal
skull and use it to get them to the Peruvian city of Akator.
Back of the box.
As part of the marketing push for
the film, Kellogg’s
acquired the license to produce a limited edition cereal inspired by it.
Indiana Jones cereal featured chocolate cereal pieces and marshmallows in the
shapes of a crystal skull, Indy’s hat, a torch and the Temple of Akator. Interestingly
enough, while the aging Indy was shown with his son, Mutt Williams (Shia LaBeouf),
and primary antagonist, Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett),
on the back of the box, the front of the box used a cropped portion of Richard
Amsel’s painting for the Raiders theatrical poster. The back of the box also featured a maze
adventure game where you had to navigate between bubbles depicting some sort of
event as you made your way to the end.
NOTE: This was the best intro video that could be found and linked. You can find the actual intro linked to several episodes and the full-length movie on YouTube
For the kid who always wanted to constantly change
things about themselves came the perfect toy: Mr. Potato
Head!
Playing with your food.
In 1949, George Lerner
came up with the idea of making dolls out of food items. He would take potatoes
out of his mother’s garden and use other fruits and vegetables to create facial
features and then gave them to his sisters to play with. Deciding he was on to
something, Lerner tried to sell the concept of the toy, but with memories of
food rationing for the war effort still fresh in people’s minds many considered
the use of food as a toy to be wasteful and his idea was rejected. Lerner
eventually partnered with a food company to include plastic body parts as
premiums inside boxes of cereal, called “Make a Face,” that could be applied to
a potato at home.
The original Mr. Potato Head.
In 1951, Lerner approached two brothers who owned a
small school supply and toy business in an attempt to remarket his idea. Henry and
Merrill Hassenfeld, owners of Hassenfeld Brothers (sometimes and later
permanently shortened to Hasbro), became
enamored with the unique product and paid the food company $2,000 to stop distributing
it and bought the rights for an additional $5,000, with Lerner getting $500 and
5% of every kit sold.
Accessories galore.
Called Mr. Potato Head, the
toy became the first to be advertised on television in April of 1952. It
was also the first aimed directly at children rather than adults. The toy itself
was released in May of 1952 and contained hands feet, ears, glasses and a pipe, as well as two
different mouths, four noses, three hats, and eight pieces of felt to simulate
facial hair. Parents would supply their children a potato on which to use all
the accessories, creating their own potato man.
The toy became a hit, the first for Hasbro, and over
a million kits were sold within the first year. In 1953, Mr. Potato Head gained
a wife, Mrs.
Potato Head, and siblings, Brother
Spud and Sister Yam. Accessories soon came, including a car
and trailer, a kitchen
set, a stroller and pets. It wasn’t until 1964 when the toys took their
most familiar form after government regulations forced the parts to be dulled
and therefor unable to puncture the vegetables. As a result, Hasbro introduced
the plastic
potato head that allowed pieces to be inserted with pegs. Gradually, new
vegetable characters were introduced, including Oscar the
Orange, Pete
the Pepper, Katie
the Carrot and Cooky
the Cucumber. A fast food-based line called Mr.
Potato Head’s Picnic Pals also came on the scene.
From Toy Story.
In 1975, further changes to child safety regulations
forced Mr. Potato Head’s body and accessories to double
in size. This actually allowed Hasbro to market the toy to younger children
who were at less risk of choking hazards on Potato Head’s parts. By 1985, Mr.
Potato Head started becoming a pop culture phenomenon. The Potato Head family
was brought to television with the syndicated animated series Potato Head Kids, which
was paired with another Hasbro property My Little Pony ‘n’ Friends.
In 1987, as part of the annual Great
American Smokeout, Mr. Potato Head surrendered his pipe to Surgeon GeneralC. Everett Koop. Nearly
a decade later, he became a major supporting character in Disney’s Toy Storyfranchise.
In 1998, Dan
Clark and Doug Langdale developed The
Mr. Potato Head Show for the Fox Kids Saturday morning block.
The series was a mixture of live-action and puppets, where Mr. Potato Head (Ken
Carlson) and his Kitchen Crew produced a weekly television show for the TV Guys
Aron (Brian Jacobs) and Nora (Lisa Kaplan). The series followed the Kitchen Crew
through their misadventures in trying to get the show done; especially since
the bosses never quite knew what they wanted the show to be every week, leading
to a variety of genres each episode.
P.H., Queenie, Potato Bug, Baloney, Dr. Fruitcake, and Canny.
Along with Mr. Potato Head (known as P.H. to his
friends and bosses), there was his assistant, Baloney (Greg Ballora), a stack
of baloney; Queenie Sweet Potato (Debra Wilson), a sweet potato who was the Crew’s
diva; Johnny Rotten Apple (James Murray), a rotten apple who served as the show’s
musician; Dr. Fruitcake (Murray using a Transylvanian accent), a fruitcake who
was the Crew’s mad scientist; Miss Licorice Lips (Wilson), a pair of black
licorice lips that served as the show’s announcer; Mr. Happy Whip (Jacbos), a
can of whipped cream that would spray whenever he was startled; and Canny
(Murray), a dog made out of cans. The show’s writer, portrayed by Langdale,
worked out of a closet. Other characters included the Potato Bug (Buescher),
Mr. Giblets (Murray), and the Ham Monster (Mark Bryan Wilson) created by Dr.
Fruitcake. Whenever the Crew needed advice, Betty the Kitchen Fairy (Julianne
Buescher), would appear to counsel them with a touch of disdain and insults. Betty
was rendered in static animation, with a real mouth superimposed on her face and
the occasional arm movement as she waved her wand.
Let's go to the video tape.
The series debuted on September 12, 1998. It was
produced by Hasbro with Film Roman and 20th
Century Fox Television, and had a theme by Mark
Mothersbaugh. Mothersbaugh also scored the series with Ernie Mannix. Along with Betty,
another animated character was the villain Blostrogath the Destroyer (Murray);
a monster accidentally unleashed by Queenie. Scene changes were also accompanied
by animated transitions; usually falling potatoes, Mr. Potato Head parts and or
a hand doing different things. Unfortunately, unlike the toy on which it was
based, The Mr. Potato Head Show failed
to generate significant ratings and only lasted a single season. Fittingly
enough, the final two episodes, “Not With A Bang,” dealt with the show’s
cancellation as the Kitchen Crew had to fend off an alien invasion. The finale
was later released as a movie on
VHS with additional footage.
Mr. Potato Head continues to do well for Hasbro,
being inducted into the National Toy
Hall of Fame in 2000. He has been featured in television commercials for Burger King and Lays, in video games such as
Hasbro’s Family Game Nightseries,
and continues to gain new outfits with licensing partners such as Marvel Comics and Star Wars.
EPISODE GUIDE:
“Aliens Dig Baloney” (9/12/98) – Aliens come to Earth seeking a new
ruler, Baloney accidentally kills P.H.’s favorite plant, and Dr. Fruitcake
creates the Ham Monster.
“Royal Pain” (9/19/98) – Queenie discovers she’s descended from an
Egyptian Pharaoh and P.H. uses a rebuilt Ham Monster as a test audience for his
show for two-year-olds.
“The Thing in the Microwave” (9/26/98) – P.H. plays a hero called
Spudman while Queenie unleashes an ancient evil from a bag of popcorn.
“Secret Agent Mania” (10/3/98) – P.H. has to make a spy show while
trying to find out how his competition managed to copy his previous show.
“Cheap Shots” (10/10/98) – NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE
“Potato Verite” (10/17/98) - NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE
“Forsake Me Not” (10/24/98) - NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE
“Equal Writes” (10/31/98) - NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE
“Robotato” (11/7/98) - NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE
“Pillow” (11/14/98) - NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE
“Smart Attack” (11/21/98) - NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE
“Not With a Bang Part 1” (11/28/98) – The show is cancelled and the
Crew goes their separate ways.
“Not With a Bang Part 2” (12/5/98) – The Kitchen Crew reunites to
repel the alien invasion and save their show.
For the history of Spider-Man, check out the post here.
FOX
was quickly growing in popularity, especially their Fox Kids programming block. X-Men: the Animated Serieswas a hit, but Marvel Comics, as a business, was steadily
sinking. Needing something to help alleviate the bleeding, Marvel sought to
bring Spider-Man back to television. Enter: Spider-Man:
the Animated Series.
Aunt May keeps Peter healthy and strong.
Spider-Man
followed the adventures of Peter Parker (Christopher Daniel Barnes) after
he was bitten by that fateful irradiated spider and became a super hero. He had
to juggle his heroics with his job as a freelance photographer for The Daily Bugle, attending
Empire State
University, doting over his elderly Aunt May (Linda Gary until her death,
then Julie Bennett), dating the outgoing Mary Jane Watson (Sara Ballantine) and
the snobbish heiress Felicia Hardy (essentially a stand-in for Gwen Stacy who wasn’t used
due to her
inevitable demise, voiced by Jennifer Hale), and being there for his best
friend Harry Osborn (Gary Imhoff). A supporting character from the 1970s
comics, Debra Whitman (Liz Georges), found new life as a research assistant and
girlfriend of bully Flash Thompson (Patrick Labyorteaux). Like X-Men before it, Spider-Man would take stories directly from the comics while adding
its own spin to accommodate their original narrative and available characters.
As well as giving Marvel a
much-needed boost, the series also served as a commercial for a line of toys
produced by Toy Biz,
which was run by series producer Avi
Arad. To produce the series, a new animation studio was created called Marvel Films
Animation, initially located in the New World Studios
building until they had to move locations during production. The entire studio
had to be staffed and equipped as pre-production of the series was underway
under the supervision of Supervising Producer Bob Richardson. Unfortunately,
problems began to arise early on when the original showrunner proved unable to
write the series and left amidst all the politics and disagreements by everyone
involved. John Semper, Jr.
was hired as the new showrunner/head writer, and came in to utter chaos. With
no time left in the schedule to properly prepare the series, Semper had to plot
out the show while simultaneously writing scripts in order to have a finished
product on time. Other writers on the series included comic veterans J.M. DeMatteis, Len Wein and Gerry Conway, as well as Stan Berkowitz, Jim Krieg, Mark Hoffmeier and Ernie Altbacker.
Hobgoblin threatens Felicia Hardy.
The first season had a different
structure than the rest of the series. Arad had pushed for an episodic format
in order to introduce as many characters that could be turned into toys as
possible. Semper, however, favored the structure of the comics where every
issue had its own story while tying into a larger overreaching subplot that would
pay off later down the line. It was because of the toys that the flying
mercenary Hobgoblin
(Mark Hamill) was introduced
before the Green Goblin--the only surviving remnant of Semper’s predecessor--due
to the fact Arad had already initiated production on his figure. Semper was
given free rein to use any characters he wanted, with special consideration
given to certain characters Toy Biz wanted to produce figures of at a given
time. The only ones off-limits were Electro
and Sandman, who were slated
to appear in James Cameron’s
unproduced Spidey
film (and wouldn’t end up appearing until The Amazing Spider-Man 2and
Spider-Man 3, respectively). Semper, however, ended up creating
his own version of Electro (Phillip
Proctor) as the son of the villainous Red Skull (Earl Boen) in season 4.
Conversely, other shows were not allowed to use Spidey.
Black-suited Spidey fights Hobgoblin amidst a CGI New York City.
Although the animation was primarily
handled by Tokyo Movie Shinsha,
most of the preliminary art and design was handled by Marvel Films. Dennis Venizelos
served as background designer and art director, Vladimir Spasojevic as a
production designer and layout artist, Hank Tucker as the head of the
storyboarding crew, Dell Barras
handled the finished character designs and Wayne Schulz oversaw the use of
props. In addition to traditional animation, in order to give the series a more
realistic feel, some backgrounds were computer-generated by studio Kronos to
bring the city to life. The backgrounds were originally intended to be entirely
CGI in order to accurately recreate the city and show off the hours of research
the crew put into it, but budget constraints forced the producers to limit
their use. To deal with the extensive amount of characters the show featured,
especially considering New York would actually feature a background populace
rather than typically empty streets found in other urban cartoons, the series
primarily employed digital coloring rather than traditional ink and paint,
handled by Allyn Conley and Derdad Aghamalian.
Spider-sense...tingling!
Spidey’s spider-sense had also
gained an upgrade. In the comics, it was usually represented by a series of
wavy lines around his head, or by half of Peter Parker’s face becoming Spidey’s
mask to the readers. In previous shows, Spidey’s eyes would glow with an
accompanying sound effect to symbolize his early-warning sense. For this
series, Spidey would become darker as a flurry of images would dance around in
the background with an accompanying sound. This was the most visually dynamic
representation of Spidey’s spider-sense to date.
The Lizard is having a bad day.
TMS’ acceptance of the full
65-episode order was nothing short of ambitious. Because they were an overseas
animation company, producers couldn’t be there to keep a constant eye on what
was being produced. As a result, problems constantly arose where the animation
didn’t look quite right for a particular scene, necessitating the series’
constant use of stock footage to fill the gaps. Notably, specific actions or
shots of characters talking would be reused, sped up or slowed down to fill in
the space allotted and sort-of match up with the scene’s dialogue. As scripts
became more complex and the yen-to-dollar exchange began costing TMS more,
animation quality progressively degraded throughout the seasons. The preview
episode, “Night of the Lizard,” was often regarded as being the most
visually-stunning episode of the series; showcasing the highest quality
animation out of every episode.
Regardless, Spider-Man: The
Animated Series proved a success when it finally debuted in February of 1995
after airing “Night of the Lizard” as a preview in November. Its opening
montage of various clips from the show went through four different
incarnations, varying in length and integrating footage from newer seasons as
the show progressed. The original opening sequence featured introductory animations
to some of Spidey’s core villains with a noticeably different style than the
rest of the series. A proposed
opening sequence was produced by Shawn Van Briesen, Jim Peebles and James Bauer that was ultimately
rejected, but the shots of Peter’s spider-bite (for the first season) and the
ending bit with Venom were retained for the openings that were used. The
series’ end credits
were superimposed over background images of production artwork. The theme was
composed and sung by Joe Perry from
the band Aerosmith. Interestingly
enough, Aerosmith in its entirety would go on to compose their own version of the
classic 1967
theme for the 2002 Spider-Manmovie.
Spider-Man teaming up with the Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Captain America, Storm, Black Cat and...the Lizard?
A page from the series' style guide.
The series’ distinctive logo was designed by Todd Klein. Marvel had been using
relatively the same logo for Spidey and all his books since his debut, with
some modifications over the years and the occasional new, brief logo change.
Marvel wanted to change it up while keeping brand recognition, and Klein
obliged them by modifying the logo and giving it heavier outlines. Although
Marvel liked it, a licensee had used Klein’s logo from the 1993 Sabretoothmini-series
on a piece of Spidey merchandise and they liked it better. Klein was asked to revise his
logo to be more in line with Spidey, and it became the official logo for
all comics and merchandising for the next decade; making its official debut on Amazing Spider-Man #395, cover-dated
the same month as Spider-Man’s
preview.
The Kingpin controls all he surveys.
Along with the familiar Spidey origin (with his tenure as a TV star
simplified to remaining a wrestler until Uncle Ben’s [Brian Keith] death), all of
Spidey’s supporting cast made an appearance; including his boss, J. Jonah
Jameson (Ed Asner, in a bit of stunt casting harkening back to his Lou Grant role
from The Mary Tyler Moore Showand his own show),
Jonah’s right-hand man Robbie Robertson (Rodney Saulsberry), and his current
comics secretary Glory Grant (voiced by Nell Carter, although there were plans
for the original, Betty Brant,
to appear on the series that went so far as to produce a character model sheet).
Kingpin (Roscoe Lee Browne), a ruthless businessman who also controlled all the
crime in the city, was introduced as the series’ puppet master; directing many
of the events from behind the scenes in his headquarters inside the Chrysler
Building (it should be noted that while Kingpin has become more known as a Daredevil
villain, he began as one of Spidey’s). The aforementioned Felicia Hardy, who
was introduced in
the comics as already being the cat burglar The Black Cat, was changed into
a wealthy girl of means in order to contrast Mary Jane and make the character
more interesting. In fact, her alter-ego wouldn’t be introduced until season 4
and was given abilities through the Super Soldier serum that created Captain
America (David Hayter).
The Insidious Six: Chameleon, Doctor Octopus, Scorpion, Mysteriou, Shocker and Rhino.
The series also introduced all of Spidey’s most well-known villains,
including The
Lizard, the alter-ego of Dr. Curt Connors (Joseph Campanella) upon using a
lizard-based serum to regrow his lost arm; big game hunter Sergei Kravenhoff,
aka Kraven the Hunter (Gregg Berger), who in this
iteration was driven to violent tendencies through a special serum; the
mechanical-armed Dr. Otto Octavius, aka Doctor Octopus (Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.); the
master of illusion Quentin Beck, aka Mysterio
(Berger); the Scorpion (Martin Landau & Richard Moll), who was
small-time crook Mac Gargan until Jonah paid to have him given a super suit and
mutated with scorpion DNA; the shape-shifting Chameleon, who was kept mute in
his normal form and changed appearances via an image-capturing belt buckle; and
Venom, a living symbiotic
costume from space that bonded with Peter’s photography rival Eddie Brock (Hank Azaria) after Spidey
rejected it.
Pre-Twilight, Felicia found Morbius' new vampire state more off-putting than sexy.
Semper still had a strict edict
against using season-long story arcs, however he snuck one into the second
season anyway. By the time anyone noticed, it was too late to change course and
the season went out as planned. All episodes in the second season received the
“Neogenic Nightmare” prefix, followed by the actual episode title, and focused
on a variety of mutations. Spidey’s powers were mutating, which led him on a
hunt for a cure and a ratings-grabbing guest-appearance by the X-Men (all voiced by their X-Men actors, although their appearances
differed slightly due to the different animation studios). ESU student Michael Morbius (Nick Jameson) accidentally
transformed himself into a living vampire using a device called the Neogenic
Recombinator, although this version, due to standards and practices, absorbed
plasma from victims through suckers on his hands rather than drank blood in
typical vampire fashion. A mystical Tablet of Time served to turn Kingpin’s
primary rival Silvermane (Jeff Corey) into an infant (Leigh-Allyn Baker), while also
giving the aged Adrian Toomes the technology to absorb others’ youth to become
the high-flying Vulture
(Eddie Albert). Peter
Parker’s wardrobe was also changed to make him cooler and less-dated as the
series went on; swapping out his white green-striped shirt for a red shirt
under a jacket.
The Green Goblin kidnaps Mary Jane for a final confrontation.
The continuing success of the series
allowed Semper more freedom, and he continued his season-long story arcs
unabated. Season 3’s “Sins of the Fathers” saw Norman Osborn (Neil Ross,
reprising his role from Spider-Manand Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends)
finally become the Green Goblin. Kingpin’s son Richard Fisk (Jameson) was
introduced and immediately began causing legal problems for Peter Parker and
eventually Robbie on behalf of his new acquaintance, albino gangster Tombstone (Dorian Harewood). Of course,
when there’s legal problems about, it’s probably a good idea to hire a lawyer;
leading to the appearance of blind lawyer Matt Murdock and his alter ego Daredevil
(Edward Albert, Jr.). The sociopathic
spawn of Venom’s symbiote, Carnage (Scott Cleverdon), also made his
debut, albeit a bit toned down from his comic counterpart to comply with
Saturday morning rules. Iron Man
(Robert Hays), fresh off the
conclusion of his own
series, made his first two of three appearances on the show along with War Machine (James Avery, reprising his role
from Iron Man’s first season). Season
4’s “Partners in Danger” saw Spidey teaming up with the likes of Kraven, Black
Cat and Blade the Vampire Hunter
(J.D. Hall).
The marriage of Peter Parker and the Mary Jane clone.
Season 5 was the culmination of the
ongoing stories, broken up into several smaller arcs rather than a single story
across the whole season. “Six Forgotten Warriors” introduced several Golden Age
characters from Marvel’s time as Timely Comics, including the Black Marvel (Paul Winfield), Miss America (Kathy Garver), the Whizzer (Walker Edmiston) and the Thunderer (Hansford Rowe), as well as
Captain America and Red Skull. “The Return of Hydro-Man” was a two-parter that
revealed Mary Jane, who had returned after disappearing into a portal with the
Green Goblin at the end of the third season, was a clone made from ex-boyfriend
Hydro-Man’s (Rob Paulsen) DNA, and that the
real one was still lost somewhere (as a way to keep Spidey from “getting the
girl” and undo the season-opening wedding episode). “Secret Wars” was a
three-episode adaptation of the mini-series
of the same name, which featured return appearances by Captain America and
Iron Man, and the show’s debut of the Fantastic Four (only Quinton Flynn reprised his role
as the Human
Torch from the second season of the recently-cancelled series
as Semper really wasn’t a fan of that show). Originally, all the X-Men were to
be featured again, but due to time constraints they were cut out of the final
story. Storm was chosen to represent them as her original actress from their
series, Iona Morris,
was the only one based in Los Angeles where Spider-Man was recorded (X-Men
was recorded in Canada). Hulk and She-Hulk were also supposed to
appear, but couldn’t due to their own series running
on rival network UPN at the time
(Semper did go on to write two episodes for that series).
The legion of Spider-Men gather to take on Spider-Carnage (bottom).
While Semper had always known how
the series was going to end, he left it open for future installments if so
ordered. Unfortunately, additional episodes were not forthcoming. Margaret Loesch, head
of Fox Kids, was often at odds with Arad and used the series as a weapon
against him. Production ended and Marvel Films closed up shop following their
sale, along with parent company New World Entertainment, to News Corporation/Fox. Until Ultimate Spider-Mandebuted
in 2012, the series had the most episodes of any Spider-Man-based series. As of
this writing, it still holds the title for the longest-running show at five
seasons. The series was nominated in 1996 for an Image Award for “Outstanding
Animated/Live-Action/Dramatic Youth or Children’s Series/Special” while Semper
won an Annie Award in 1995 for “Best
Individual Achievement for Writing in the Field of Animation” for the episode
“Day of the Chameleon.”
As mentioned, the series was heavily
influenced by the toys,
and the toys themselves came to be influenced by the series. Six waves of
figures were made under the “Animated Series” banner before subsequent series
began receiving their own themed names and accessories. Although not as
directly tied into the show as the first six waves, appearances of certain
characters on the show led to consumer demand for their inclusion; including Dr. Strange, Captain America,
and Electro. 10” versions of these figures were also produced, as were small steel
figure two-packs. In 1995, McDonald’s
featured a set of 8 toys
in their Happy Meals with a combination of full figures and vehicles.
Spider-Man Adventures featured a simpler style compared to other comics.
The first season was adapted into
comic form as Spider-Man Adventuresfor the first 13 issues of the series,
with the first four later reprinted in Kellogg’s Froot Loops Mini-Comics#1-4. The final two issues began
telling original stories set in the animated universe, and the comic was
rebooted and retitled as The Adventures of Spider-Manfor an additional 12 issues of original
tales. In 1996, Toy Biz released several CD-Rom
comics that featured several full comics,
clips from the cartoon, and narration by Barnes on the Spidey version. Barnes,
as Spidey, also instructed users on how to navigate around the discs and their
content.
Along with a wide assortment of
merchandise including clothing, stickers
and playing
cards, in 1995 Ralston released
a limited-edition
cereal based on the series. It had web pieces with spider-tracer, pumpkin
bomb, camera and Kingpin marshmallows. It also came with a set of trading cards to
collect, a different one in each box. Chef
Boyardee released cans of Spider-Man pasta, which had webs, his face and
Spidey leaping as shapes, and Betty
Crocker produced themed Fruit Roll-Ups. Barnes
reprised his role for the commercials, which featured similar but cruder
animation in comparison to the series.
Spider-Man's card from the 1995 Fleer Ultra series.
Spider-Man
was represented in trading card form. For the 1995 Fleer Ultra
Spider-Man set, characters who appeared on the show received a television
in place of their first appearance cover on the backs of their cards and a
factoid about the show. The series was also featured in the 1995 Fox Kids trading card
set with other network shows and as part of the 1996 Marvel Vision
set along with the other three early 90s Marvel cartoons.
Western Technologies released a video game based on the show
through Acclaim
for Sega Genesis and LJN for Super
Nintendo. Both versions featured the same story and most of the same
characters, although the SNES version had additional characters and levels.
While it featured designs used on the show, the game did include characters who
had yet (or never did) appear on it; including the Fantastic Four as
collectible helpers (two years before “Secret Wars”). Knowledge
Adventure released Spider-Man Cartoon Maker, which
allowed users to create their own movies using settings and animated sprites from
the show. Barnes provided narration, while an example story retelling Spidey’s origin
was written by Semper and directed by Joseph Adler.
The United Kingdom release of the complete first season.
Before recently, Spider-Man was the only pre-2000 Marvel series
to receive regular
DVD releases by Walt
Disney Studios Home Entertainment, which were conversions of their
previously released VHS
collections. Most of the sets featured four episodes with a similar theme,
and occasionally a bonus episode from the 1967 series. The release of Daredevil vs. Spider-Man also featured
the 1990s Fantastic Four episode “And
a Blind Man Shall Lead Them.” In Canada, the “Mutant Agenda” DVD was a re-issue
of the 1997 Marvel-New World/Telegenic VHS and contained two bonus 1990s Iron Man episodes. “The Hobgoblin” was a
re-release of the 2002 VHS that contained the two-part introduction of the
character. In the United Kingdom, Sweden and Germany, Clear Vision Ltd. released all five
seasons and a complete collection between 2009 and 2011. Although still to be
released as a whole in North America, the series was made available on streaming
sites and on Marvel.com. In 2019, it became one of the launch titles for the
streaming service Disney+.
At 2014’s Comikaze Expo, Barnes, Ballantine, Hale,
Imhoff, Saulsberry, Berger and Labyorteaux, along with Semper and a
pre-recorded message from Asner, gathered together to celebrate the show’s 20th
anniversary with a panel. There, Semper announced a crowdfunded animated
series for 2015 called War of the Rocket Menfeaturing the voices of those
mentioned, and Larry Mandley.
Semper also launched Cartoonspiderman.com,
a website devoted to the production of Spider-Man,
and a Facebook
group where he often delves into stories about it. It was there that Semper
laid
to rest the long-standing rumors that his show was under heavy network
censorship (such as denying Spidey the ability to punch anyone), which arose
from an off-handed comment in an interview about some of the sillier notes the
network did supply (a standard occurrence in animation). Semper, who
knew from experience what would fly in children’s animation, simply chose to
keep the violence minimal and have Spidey find other ways to beat his foes.
Black Cat and Spdey from the 2000 Spider-Man game.
“Night of the Lizard” (11/19/94) – Spidey’s teacher Curt Connors turns
himself into the Lizard, and Spidey must stop his kidnapping spree.
“The Spider Slayer” (2/4/95) – Norman Osborn has Spencer Smythe make a
Spider Slayer robot to kill Spidey, resulting in Spencer’s own death.
“Return of the Spider Slayer” (2/11/95) – Kingpin recruits Spencer’s son
Alistair by offering to help him get revenge on Spidey, and Alistair creates
new Spider Slayers for him.
“Doctor Octopus: Armed and Dangerous” (2/18/95) – Doc Ock kidnaps
Felicia Hardy in order to extort money from her mother for his experiments.
“The Menace of Mysterio” (2/25/95) – Disgraced special effects artist
Mysterio disguises himself as Spidey when he commits his robberies.
“The Sting of the Scorpion” (3/11/95) – Jonah has crook Mac Gargan
turned into the Scorpion in order to destroy Spidey.
“Kraven the Hunter” (4/1/95) – An interview with Dr. Mariah Crawford
turns into a rescue when her former lover, Kraven the Hunter, returns for her.
“The Alien Costume (Part 1)” (4/29/95) – Rescuing John Jameson from a
shuttle crash gives Spidey a new black suit while Eddie Brock attempts to frame
Spidey for stealing from the crash.
“The Alien Costume (Part 2)” (5/6/95) – Jonah learns the truth and
fires Brock, while Spidey learns his costume is a living symbiote that’s slowly
taking him over.
“The Alien Costume (Part 3)” (5/14/95) – Brock merges with the
symbiote to become Venom.
“The Hobgoblin (Part 1)” (5/20/95) – Norman Osborn hires Hobgoblin to
assassinate Kingpin, but he’s rescued by Peter Parker.
“The Hobgoblin (Part 2)” (5/27/95) – Hobgoblin attempts to take
Kingpin’s empire, forcing Kingpin to turn to Norman Osborn for help in
reclaiming it.
“Day of the Chameleon” (6/11/95) – S.H.I.E.L.D. recruits Jonah to help
them stop the Chameleon, a master of disguise, from stopping the signing of a
peace agreement.
Season 2 (“Neogenic Nightmare”):
“The Insidious Six” (9/9/95) – Spidey’s powers keep cutting out just
as Kingpin hires Rhino, Shocker, Doc Ock, Mysterio, Scorpion and Chameleon to
kill him.
“Battle of the Insidious Six” (9/16/95) – The Six manage to capture
and unmask Spidey while Dr. Connors learns more about Spidey’s condition.
“Hydro-Man” (9/23/95) – As Spidey deals with the fact that he’s
mutating, Mary Jane is stalked by an ex-boyfriend who has become the aquatic
powered Hydro-Man.
“The Mutant Agenda” (9/30/95) – Spidey goes to the X-Men for help with
his condition and Beast directs Spidey to Herbert Landon who is working on a
cure for mutants.
“Mutants’ Revenge” (10/7/95) – A fight between Spidey, Wolverine and
Hobgoblin causes Landon to be dosed by his own chemicals and mutated into a
giant energy-hungry creature.
“Morbius” (10/28/95) – Dr. Crawford devises an untested cure for
Spidey while Michael Morbius steals Peter’s blood sample and accidentally turns
himself into a plasma vampire.
“Enter the Punisher” (11/4/95) – Dr. Crawford’s cure gives Spidey
extra arms, while the Punisher, believing Spidey a criminal, sets his sights on
him.
“Duel of the Hunters” (11/11/95) – Spidey transforms into a human
spider, forcing Dr. Crawford to recruit Kraven to help catch him and administer
a new cure.
“Blade, the Vampire Hunter” (2/3/96) – Spidey has to cure Morbius
before Blade manages to kill him.
“The Immortal Vampire” (2/10/96) – Blade and Spidey team-up in order
to stop Morbius from transforming the entire city into vampires.
“Tablet of Time” (11/18/95) – Kingpin and Silvermane each want an
ancient artifact for their own ends.
“Ravages of Time” (11/25/95) – The Tablet reverts Silvermane to an
infant and changes the Lizard back to Connors before Kingpin ultimately obtains
it and disposes of it.
“Shriek of the Vulture” (2/17/96) – Adrian Toomes uses technology
based on the Tablet to steal youth and make himself The Vulture in order to
destroy rival Norman Osborn.
“The Final Nightmare” (2/24/96) – Vulture absorbs Spidey’s youth,
turning himself into the Man-Spider while Spidey seeks Connors’ help to restore
his vitality.
Season 3 (“The Sins of the Fathers”):
“Doctor Strange” (4/27/96) – Baron Mordo lures Mary Jane into a cult
using the guise of her father, while Dr. Strange and Spidey keep his master
Dormammu from entering their dimension.
“Make a Wish” (5/4/96) – Spidey considers quitting when mystic Madame
Web introduces him to his biggest fan, a little girl named Taina.
“Attack of the Octobot” (5/11/96) – Fighting Doc Ock’s Octobot leaves
Spidey with amnesia, which Ock uses to his advantage and makes Spidey his
accomplice.
“Enter the Green Goblin” (5/18/96) – Osborn’s new weaponized gas for
Kingpin causes an explosion and a new goblin—the Green Goblin—appears to
eliminate all of Osborn’s enemies.
“Rocket Racer” (9/14/96) – Gifted youngster Robert Farrell becomes the
Rocket Racer to help his ailing mother, and ends up helping Spidey to stop The
Big Wheel’s crime spree.
“Framed” (9/21/96) – Richard Fisk frames Peter for selling government
secrets, and Matt Murdock serves as his defense attorney.
“The Man Without Fear” (9/28/96) – Daredevil reveals Kingpin’s
identity to Spidey as they set out to prove Peter’s innocence.
“The Ultimate Slayer” (10/5/96) – Kingpin turns Smythe into a cyborg
Spider-Slayer in order to get revenge on Spidey over the jailing of his son.
“Tombstone” (10/12/96) – Tombstone uses his past acquaintance with
Robbie to kill a story naming Alisha Silver as the new head of the Silvermane
family.
“Venom Returns” (11/2/96) – Dormammu brings the symbiote back to Earth
to restore Venom so that he can steal a device from Stark Enterprises that can
free Dormammu.
“Carnage” (11/9/96) – Venom rebels against Dormammu, forcing him to
team-up with Iron Man and Spidey when Carnage kidnaps his love, Dr. Ashley
Kafka, while serving Dormammu.
“The Spot” (11/26/96) – An accident merged Dr. Jonathon Ohnn with his
Time Dilation Accelerator invention, turning him into the portal-slinging
criminal The Spot.
“Goblin War!” (11/16/96) – Felicia becomes engaged to Jason Philip
Macendale while the goblins fight over The Spot’s device.
“Turning Point” (11/23/96) – Spidey and Green Goblin learn each
other’s identities, and a battle results in both Mary Jane and Goblin
disappearing into portals.
Season 4 (“Partners in Danger”):
“Guilty” (2/1/97) – Tombstone befriends Richard Fisk in jail, and he
asks Kingpin to work up a frame on Robbie in return.
“The Cat” (2/6/97) – Doc Ock attempts to extort money from Anastasia
Hardy again by threatening to reveal that Felicia’s father was a criminal known
as “The Cat.”
“The Black Cat” (2/15/97) – Kingpin blackmails The Cat for a secret
super-soldier serum formula he memorized, which is then tested out on Felicia
turning her into The Black Cat.
“The Return of Kraven” (2/22/97) – Dr. Crawford was exposed to the
same serum that drove Kraven made, turning her into Calypso.
“Partners” (5/3/97) – Smythe captures Black Cat to force Spidey to
capture Scorpion or Vulture in order to restore Silvermane’s adulthood.
“The Awakening” (5/10/97) – Morbius is brought back to the city and
captured by the Insidious Six so that Landon can restore him to his original
vampiric state.
“The Vampire Queen” (5/17/97) – Blade learns Miriam the Vampire Queen
is his mother, and she has discovered Morbius and plans to carry out his plan
to transform people into vampires.
“The Return of the Green Goblin” (7/12/97) – Osborn manages to contact
Harry telepathically, whittling away at his sanity and transforming him into
the next Green Goblin.
“The Haunting of Mary Jane Watson” (7/19/97) – Believed-deceased
actress Miranda Wilson thinks Mysterio’s equipment is meant to transfer her
mind into a similar body—Mary Jane’s.
“The Lizard King” (7/26/97) – Mary Jane accepts Peter’s proposal and
asks Connors to give her away, but he’s kidnapped by giant lizards resulting in
his becoming The Lizard again.
“The Prowler” (8/2/97) – Hobie Brown steals Mary Jane’s purse, landing
him in jail where he befriends Richard Fisk and winds up released with a new
super suit.
Season 5:
“The Wedding” (9/12/97) – The wedding is interrupted by Scorpion
kidnapping Aunt May and Harry attacking as the Goblin, demanding HE be married
to Mary Jane instead.
“Six Forgotten Warriors, Chapter I” (9/19/97) – Learning his parents
were accused of treason, Peter travels to Russia to clear their names.
“Six Forgotten Warriors, Chapter II: Unclaimed Legacy” (9/26/97) – The
race is on to keep the Red Skull’s doomsday device out of Kingpin’s hands with
the help of the Wildpack.
“Six Forgotten Warriors, Chapter III: Secrets of the Six” (10/3/97) – Spidey
must find and recruit the Six Forgotten Warriors, champions of WWII, before the
Insidious Six do.
“Six Forgotten Warriors, Chapter IV: The Six Fight Again” (10/10/97)
–Captain America and the Red Skull are set free from the vortex they were
trapped in.
“Six Forgotten Warriors, Chapter V: The Price of Heroism” (10/17/97) –
The son of the Red Skull gains electricity powers and becomes Electro.
“The Return of Hydro-Man, Part 1” (10/24/97) – The honeymoon is
interrupted when Mary Jane is kidnapped by Hydro-Man.
“The Return of Hydro-Man, Part 2” (10/31/97) – Spidey learns that Mary
Jane and Hydro-Man are clones created by Miles Warren.
“Secret Wars, Chapter I: Arrival” (11/7/97) – The Beyonder introduces
evil to a planet devoid of it as a test, and Spidey must recruit a team of
heroes to help restore the planet.
“Secret Wars, Chapter II: The Gauntlet of the Red Skull” (11/14/97) –
Spidey recruits the Black Cat to help them while Doc Ock and Smythe join the
Red Skull.
“Secret Wars, Chapter III: Doom” (11/21/97) – The heroes must rescue
the Thing from Dr. Doom, who has stolen the Beyonder’s powers.
“Spider Wars, Chapter I: I Really, Really Hate Clones” (1/31/98) –
Beyonder puts Spidey in charge of a group of alternate Spider-Men to stop
Spider-Carnage from destroying all reality.
“Spider Wars, Chapter II: Farewell, Spider-Man” (1/31/98) – Finally stopping
Spider-Carnage, Spidey is able to continue his quest for Mary Jane after a
brief detour.
