Series: Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends
Title: “Video-Man”
Season 1, Episode 7
Production Code: 107
Production Company: Marvel Productions
Original Air Date: October 24th, 1981 (assumed)

Credits: Christy Marx

Feature Characters: Spider-Man, Iceman, Firestar

Supporting Characters: Flash Thompson, Aunt May, Ms. Lion

Villains: Electro (Max Dillon; first appearance in this series), Video-Man (first appearance)

Comments: The physics lab briefly seen in this episode is named the Osborne Science Building. Peter Parker suggests to Aunt May to go visit Ms. Watson next door, which is the first reference (though indirect) to Mary Jane Watson in this series.

No nicknames in this episode but we do get both a “Spider-Friends, go for it!” and a “let’s go for it!” Does that make up for it? Not in my heart.

Changed For TV: Electro is blue and yellow instead of green and yellow, because of the green paint shortage afflicting the world at the time (you did NOT want to be the Hulk’s colorist in 1981). Also Video-Man is a completely original character. Oh, no I mean he is a character that had never appeared before. The concept of Video-Man is total grand hackery.

This Month In X: Electro had the year off in 1981, not appearing between Spectacular Spider-Man #42 and #66. 

Synopsis: Christy Marx gives us a standard episode that hits all the usual plot points.

• Cute school-related activity up top - The Spider-Friends study in an arcade (you know, because their campus had an outbreak of typhoid) while Flash obsessively plays a video game.
• Firestar flirts with everything - It’s implied that she and Flash are dating, but she blows him off because he’s playing too much Video-Man. Also Iceman is jealous of Flash. You should be dude, chick’s totally sending you mixed signals. Not rad.
• Firestar fights the villain first before getting the men - This happens in EVERY episode. And it’s not like Firestar gets beaten up in the first fight of every episode. No, the bad guy usually just gets away after a half skirmish. But why can’t Firestar actually do some good? Or why can’t Iceman encounter the villain first?
• Aunt May and Ms. Lion hijinks - There’s an extended bit with the Spider-Friends keeping Aunt May from seeing their tech’d out crash pad. It involves Ms. Lion getting trapped behind a rotating bookcase and is as thrilling as that sounds.
• The Spider-Friends split up and Firestar and Iceman get captured - They get captured because they don’t know how to dodge energy blasts from slow moving villains.
• Ridiculous use of powers - Electro unleashes the video game monster Video-Man on the world. Video-Man’s blasts transport the victim into a computer, which is what happens to Flash, Firestar and Iceman. Firestar and Iceman’s powers somehow still work inside of the video game, sometimes ricocheting like a Pong ball, sometimes working like they do in the real world. I shrug my shoulders and move on.
• Spidey saves the day - I can’t fault the series for this. It is SPIDER-MAN and his amazing friends after all. Spidey destroys the superconductor Electro was using Video-Man to help build and the captives burst free. Flash Thompson forgets the entire adventure.
• Cute chuckle-worthy ending involving Ms. Lion - After being tortured by Electro with the video game Pongo (or Pong), the newly freed Flash goes back to playing video games. Firestar picks up Ms. Lion and asks Flash if she’d like to challenge Ms. Lion to a game of Pongo. Flash freaks out, having terror flashbacks to being tortured by Pongo. Ha ha ha, it’s hilarious how he’s scarred for life from that trauma that he doesn’t remember anymore! Also, why did you ask Flash if he wanted to challenge a dog, Firestar? Dogs can’t play video games! Do you understand how intelligent thought and opposable thumbs work?

Review: It’s a by-the-numbers edition of Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, yes. And it’s a Christy Marx episode, yes. Neither of those bode well. But this episode is…fine. It’s better than the worst but not as good as the best. The heavy use of early ’80s video game technology is both charming and extremely boring now. Seriously, if games of pong and generic cars racing in a direction don’t sound menacing to you, then you are going to think Electro is incredibly lame.

My big problem with Christy Marx’s episodes is that there are big chunks that don’t make sense. And I get that this is a kids’ show and not Oscarbait, but can’t it still make sense? Like why are the Spider-Friends studying in an arcade? I know there’s some business up top about Firestar helping Flash study, but it doesn’t happen. Why couldn’t the Spider-Friends have been playing video games too, and studying after? Why do Video-Man arcade games have to be delivered to places for Video-Man to travel through when it is shown over and over again that Video-Man can travel through power lines? Just choose one mode of transportation and stick to it.

So there’s some stupidity in this episode, but overall it didn’t aggravate me as much as previous episodes. 

Grade: C+

Quote: “And when the timer reaches zero, the game shuts off. Everything in it, including you, will be wiped out. Erased. You won’t exist.” Electro, this is an Electro quote, Electro is a bad guy and he said this

Series: Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends
Title: “7 Little Superheroes”
Season 1, Episode 6
Production Code: 106
Production Company: Marvel Productions  
Original Air Date: October 17th, 1981 (assumed)

Credits: Doug Booth (writer)

Feature Characters: Spider-Man, Iceman, Firestar

Supporting Characters: Aunt May, Ms. Lion, Sub-Mariner (Namor McKenzie; first appearance in this series), Shanna the Jungle Queen (Shanna O’Hara; first appearance in this series), Dr. Strange (Stephen Strange; first appearance in this series; latter three previously appeared in the first episode as Halloween costumes), Captain America (Steve Rogers)

Villains: Chameleon (Dmitri Smerdyakov)

Comments: Chameleon flies a helicopter with “Chameleon News” written on it. His desire to take over network news is not mentioned in this episode.

The episode is structured after Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, which I read in 8th grade as Ten Little Indians. As I discovered writing this entry, that was not the original title. To be reminded of how disgustingly racist society used to be, go check out the Wikipedia entry. Shocking and offensive!

Iceman loses his powers briefly in this episode and he doesn’t de-ice, just like he did in that Frump episode (I know you don’t want to be reminded of that episode).

• Spider-Man is called Spidey and Web-Head

Changed For TV:  Chameleon’s face mask looks the same, except he’s wearing a headdress reminiscent of Baron Zemo and a weird green military-inspired leotard and tights. Also Shanna the She-Devil is changed to Shanna the Jungle Queen, because a scantily clad female with devil in her name would have cause television sets to melt in the early ’80s.

This Month In X:  Shanna the She-Devil was appearing regularly in Ka-Zar the Savage, which was probably moderately popular since she was included in this episode.

Synopsis: Chameleon lures seven superheroes to his mansion, which is located on a remote island, by sending them invitations. The Spider-Friends go to the island with Ms. Lion (because Aunt May can’t take care of her for the weekend OKAY!) and run into the other four heroes (Captain America, Dr. Strange, Shanna and Namor). Chameleon then starts vanishing them one by one (he uses “vanish” instead of “kill”). The Spider-Friends realize that Ms. Lion, the bloodhound/Lhasa Apso that she is, can sniff past the Chameleon’s shape shifting. It eventually comes down to Spider-Man alone who finds the rest of the imprisoned heroes and sets them free. Chameleon attempts an escape by setting the timer on a bomb and taking off in his news helicopter (!) but Spider-Man and catches up to him, knocks him out and gets the rest of the heroes onto the copter. Except Ms. Lion who they forgot on the exploding island! Spider-Man webs Ms. Lion onto the helicopter and dubs her the “eighth little superhero.”

Review: I remember really loving Ten Little Indians in 8th grade, which is a big thing because I can’t remember loving many books in middle school. So this episode was pretty fun for that reason alone. The heroes are disposed of in some entertaining ways (Namor takes a dip in alcohol that is then SET ON FIRE) and Chameleon pits Firestar and Iceman against each other in a clever way. Aside from his ludicrous outfit and constant rhyming and cackling, Chameleon proves to be pretty effective. He tricks and confuses the heroes throughout the episode and proves to be one of the most formidable villains in this series so far. There’s one “say whaaat” moment, which is when Mr. Lion freaks out when Firestar spells the word “cats” out loud. So Ms. Lion can spell SHE’S A SPELLING DOG I can’t believe this didn’t become a cartoon on its own! But on the whole, there’s nothing downright dumb about this episode and the structure of it is fun.

Grade: B-

Quote: “I feel like a baked Alaska.” Iceman

Series: Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends
Title: “Swarm”
Season 1, Episode 5
Production Code: 105
Production Company: Marvel Productions 
Original Air Date: October 10th, 1981 (assumed)

Credits: Dennis Marks (writer)

Feature Characters: Spider-Man, Iceman, Firestar

Supporting Characters:  Professor Wells (first appearance), Flash Thompson, Aunt May, Ms. Lion

Villains: Swarm (swarm of bees possessed by alien entity, not the Nazi sympathizing Fritz von Meyer)

Comments: I’m pretty sure that Frank Welker voices both Flash Thompson and Bobby Drake, which is odd considering one is a super hero and the other is a jerk. And I’m pretty sure because Welker does little-to-nothing to differentiate the voices. OR MAYBE ICEMAN IS FLASH THOMPSON!

While running through New York City, Spidey and Iceman pass a corner building with “Marvel Comics” on the marquee. Its a tiny one-story building that looks more like a comic book shop than a comic book empire.

Iceman makes an O.J. Simpson reference when treating the meteor like a football. Growing up in the ’90s, O.J. was synonymous with murder and not football. I never got a good frame of reference on how popular he was as a football player; apparently popular enough to warrant a reference on Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends.

The nicknames are light in this episode, making me wonder if the golden era of nicknames is past.

• Spider-Man gets Spidey, Web-Head and Webs

Changed For TV: Swarm is completely re-envisioned for the cartoon. In the comic books he is a Nazi scientist whose body is devoured by bees after he attempts to enslave their queen So Swarm is a Nazi skeleton covered in bees taking a humanoid shape. Uh…the notion of bees devouring human flesh (can that even happen?!) is a little much for Saturday morning in 2011, let alone 1981. No wonder they changed him to an alien being.

This Month In X: Nothing new in the X-Men comics (again, this section is going to be hard until the late ’80s when X-Comics overtake the market). It’s interesting to note that unless Comic Book DB is inaccurate (which it might be) Swarm didn’t appear at all in the 1980s after appearing in Spectacular Spider-Man #36-37 in 1979. 

Synopsis: During their college rocket science course, a blue light enters Earth’s atmosphere and draws the Spider-Friends’ attention. Firestar saves a plane (it doesn’t crash!) that nearly collides with the meteor before it crashes on Earth. The meteor and blue light attracts a whole mess of bees who take on a humanoid shape and start creepily saying “swarm” over and over again. A neighboring farmer (you know in New York City) sees this and tells the floating swarm of bees in human form to “get out of here mister.” He does not notice that this mister is flying, repeating “swarm” in an otherworldly voice, or that he is completely made of bees. Firestar runs into Swarm and after being unable to handle him, she gets Spider-Man and Iceman. They get supered up and go after Swarm. Meanwhile, Swarm turns regular bees into GIANT bees and sends them out to abduct humans to become brainwashed human/bee-slaves (therefore eradicating individual thoughts, a real motive!). Aunt May is, of course, abducted even though Ms. Lion is RIGHT THERE and does NOTHING. What kind of dog are you, Ms. Lion? For shame. The Spider-Friends attack Swarm’s hive and are all swarm-washed, except for Spider-Man whose buggy DNA counteracts the swarm-washing. Spider-Man hypothesizes that the blue radiation is giving Swarm his power, so he lets his bee’d-up friends chase him to the college lab’s lead room to sequester them away from the radiation. It works and they return back to normal. Now the Spider-Friends launch an all-out assault on the hive, sneaking in using the characteristic blue eyes and antenna that swarm-washees have (got’em as part of the Swarm Halloween costume kit). They find the meteor, play some football with it (which is what you have to do if you are a cartoon character trying to keep a roundish object away from bad guys) and launch it into space in the rocket their class was learning about in the first scene of the episode. Swarm defeated!

After the battle, Aunt May cooks all of the Spider-Friends pancakes. She brings out honey because, as she points out, she has a craving for honey. Ms. Lion runs into the other room, whimpering in shame from retreating like a coward when her master was abducted by a giant bee.

Review: Dennis Marks does not disappoint. Yes, that one farmer scene is absolutely ridonkulous and blank-brained, but the rest of the characters adhere to the logic rules of this universe and have consistent motivations. On top of that, Marks and the animators concoct a number of sorta chilling scenes with Swarm, giving the whole episode a very horror film vibe. Plus it took me TWO viewings to catch on to the good guys using the rocket from the first scene in the climax. That indicates a level of storytelling previously unheard of on this series! It rewards repeat viewing!

The most negative/confusing aspect of this episode is Firestar’s continually scattershot love life. On top of constantly falling for whatever misguided male guest-star happens to be causing trouble for our heroes, she now admits to possibly going on a date with Flash Thompson by saying to Spider-Man after he asks her, “what do you think?” Well Firestar, since you just fell for Sunfire and then immediately made fun of your feelings as soon as he skipped town, I think you probably did go to the hoe down with Flash before writing mean things about him on the girls’ bathroom wall. Even more confusing is that Iceman admits to dreaming about Firestar in this episode. In the previous episode they were inexplicably holding hands. What is going on?!

So yeah, this episode is way better than the last bunch but it still had problems.

Grade: B-

Quote: “Going up! Second floor, bees! Third floor, bees! Fourth floor, BIG bees!” Iceman

Series: Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends
Title: “Sunfire”
Season 1, Episode 4
Production Code: 104
Production Company: Marvel Productions 
Original Air Date: October 3rd, 1981

Credits: Christy Marx (writer)

Feature Characters: Spider-Man, Iceman, Firestar

Supporting Characters: Sunfire (Shiro Yoshida; first animated appearance), Ms. Lion, Aunt May

Villains: Genju (Sunfire’s uncle; first appearance), Fire Monster (first appearance)

Other Appearances: Flash Thompson (cameo; first animated appearance)

Comments: Christy Mark doesn’t like nicknames, guys. This is one of the many problems I have with her writing. Not even bringing back the (way hip) Spider-Friends battlecry “Spider-Friends, go for it!” can change my opinion of her. Still I can count the following as nicknames:

• Iceman mistakenly calls Ms. Lion, a Lhasa Apso, an “ipso facto”
• Sunfire calls Firestar “Beautiful Firestar”

And that’s it. Seriously, Christy, step up your nickname game.

Changed For TV:  Sunfire is himself in name and powers only. Aside from obviously having the powers of the sun and being Japanese (both of these are conveyed just by looking at the guy), Sunfire is most known for being a jerk. A dousche. Rude, arrogant, prickly, take your pick. In this episode Sunfire is…a nice guy. He treats his uncle with respect and charms Firestar (but that’s no feat, this is the millionth guest star she’s fallen for in four episodes). Also Sunfire has an Uncle Shingen and not an uncle Genju.

I guess the comic book version of Sunfire was too hot for this TV show to handle. ZING!

This Month In X:  Uncanny X-Men #152 concludes the Storm/White Queen bodyswap storyline and features an ad for Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends on the cover. At this point, Sunfire hadn’t appeared in the comics since Uncanny X-Men #120, nearly two and a half years prior to this episode’s airing. I sure hope them kids were able to Wikipedia Sunfire back then to learn about him. Wait, what? No internet in 1981? You’re kidding. Then how did the Buggles upload all of their many different iterations of “Video Killed The Radio Star” to their Angelfire site? Ha, no internet in 1981. Gimme a break.

Synopsis: The Spider-Friends start off the episode doing what any cool college kids do for fun: playing with their telescope. Between this and that comic costume dance party they went to, I’m beginning to think the Spider-Friends are Spider-Just-Like-I-Was-In-College. But kidding aside, it’s a good thing they were nerding it up with their tele-geek-scope because they spied a big meteor heading straight for New York City. Firestar diverts the meteor, her power levels alerting the evil Uncle Genju to her existence. Genju, a Japanese electronics mogul, sends his nephew Sunfire to abduct Firestar so they can use her power to ignite his fusion reactor…or whatever. But surprise, Genju is secretly going to use their power to unleash a fire monster! The Spider-Friends now at a carnival discreetly using their powers for fun (Firestar pops popcorn! Iceman makes a snow cone! Spider-Man uses his spider-strength to twist the heads off of every little kid in the area). Aunt May mistakes a helicopter for a comfortable chair and gets in the helicopter to take a nap, even after her nephew tells her that it is a helicopter. Christy Mark. What are you doing? Of course the helicopter immediately has engine trouble after getting off the ground and Firestar saves the helicopter. She is aided by Sunfire, who is at the carnival as Shiro Yoshida to demonstrate Ichiban Electronics’ samurai robots and their sonic sticks. Iceman recognizes Sunfire and realizes that his alter ego is Shiro Yoshida, which leads Firestar into forcing Aunt May to invite him over for dinner. After dinner, Sunfire takes Firestar back to his uncle’s factory (note: I’m pretty sure Sunfire doesn’t know that Firestar and Angelica are the same person) for her to get attacked and immediately go back home. The next night, or later that night, some time at night, Sunfire sky-writes Firestar’s name in the sky, drawing Firestar (in costume) out to him. The two of them fly around, where they save a guy doing dirt bike racing from crashing.

SERIOUSLY CIVILIANS IN SPIDER-MAN AND HIS AMAZING FRIENDS. STOP USING VEHICLES. OF ANY KIND. YOU WILL NEARLY CRASH AND I ASSURE YOU THAT ONE OF THE THREE SPIDER-FRIENDS WILL NOT ALWAYS BE THERE TO SAVE YOU.

While the hot heroes are on Rescue 911: Date Edition, Spider-Man and Iceman investiage Ichiban electronics. They find the fusion reactor, get caught by Genju and fight Sunfire before being totally captured. Sunfire and Firestar use their powers to free the Fire Monster, whose appearance makes Sunfire regret helping his uncle. Sunfire turns on Genju and releases the Spider-Friends, and they spring into action against the Fire Monster. They defeat the Fire Monster by using fire tornados to suck up the entire East River, which is they frozen in a funnel shape by Iceman and then melted back into water by Firestar and Sunfire once Fire Monster steps into the riverbed. Wow. Christy. Mark. A for imagination, C for execution, Negative F Minus in common sense. With the Fire Monster destroyed, Sunfire takes Genju back to a hospital (…to cure him….) and bids Firestar farewell with a kiss. In the closing scene, Iceman and Spider-Man come up with ways to cheer Firestar up, until Firestar has Ms. Lion give the boys chopsticks and Aunt May serve them…a pizza! HA HA HA! FIRESTAR DOES NOT CARE THAT THIS GUY SHE LIKED LEFT THE COUNTRY! SHE IS OKAY! HA HA HA! Oh brother.

Review: Back to back awful episodes from Christy Mark. I admit, this one feels more like a Spider-Man episode than the previous one and it gets points by having Sunfire in it; there are no annoying original characters like Mr. Frump in this one. But aside from that nothing in this makes any sense. All the characters are morons (Aunt May sleeping in a helicopter and Spider-Man letting her, Firestar falling for a guy AGAIN, Sunfire saying that his uncle is sick and not just evil) and the plot is hacky (the continued use of malfunctioning vehicles as a plot device, sonic sticks, fire monsters). I don’t understand how things like this get made. Was no one reading the script? Was it typed on paper so expensive that a rewrite would have shattered the budget? The action sequences are the only thing worth watching in this episode. They’re quickly paced and fun, especially the Iceman and Sunfire standoff. So the action scenes bump this episode up a little bit. Still…Dennis Marks, please come back and write an episode. Please.

Grade: C-

Quote: “He works for his uncle, who is a wealthy, mysterious inventor.” Iceman

Series: Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends
Title: “The Fantastic Mr. Frump”
Season 1, Episode 3
Production Code: 103
Production Company: Marvel Productions
Original Air Date: September 26th, 1981 (assumed)

Credits: Christy Marx (writer)

Feature Characters: Spider-Man, Iceman, Firestar

Supporting Characters: Ms. Lion, Aunt May, Mr. Frump (first appearance), Mabel (cat Mr. Frump creates for himself; first appearance)

Villains: Dr. Doom (first appearance in this series), Boris (Dr. Doom’s henchman; first appearance)

Comments: No Easter eggs in this episode for me to comment on, unless they’re the eggs hidden in a pipe under some grass in the front yard (you know we’re only hiding eggs in the BACK yard, right dad????). This episode is surprisingly light on nicknames too. 

• Spider-Man gets two reruns: Web-Head and Spidey
• Firestar gets Hot Stuff again

The Spider-Friends haven’t used “go for it!” since the first episode. I now wonder if that’s a trademark of Dennis Marks.

This Month In X:  Same as two entries ago. I’m realizing now that this feature is going to be hard to fill in the ’80s with a weekly series and only one X-Men comic out a month. Should be easier in the ’90s when there are 37 comics a month. But according to Comic Book Database, Dr. Doom appears in Fantastic Four #236 which came out the month this episode aired.

Synopsis: Dr. Doom is doing that thing where he uses magic for his own evil gains (he could use this talent legally in Vegas and make a ton of money, but he’s not into selling out), this time mixing an amulet and lightning to grant him the POWER OF THE UNIVERSE…whatever that is. Cut to the Spider-Friends, totally amped after watching a basketball game. Mr. Frump ruins their victory strut by getting shoved out onto the street in front of them. See, in New York City circa 1981, when you get fired from a job you get physically shoved out of the building, potential bone fractures be damned. Boss don’t care about your safety, you shouldn’t have gotten fired!!! The Spider-Friends feel momentarily bummed for Mr. Frump until they realize that racing home is exactly the perfectest bestest thing they could ever do! And I know what you’re thinking, “how can the Super-Friends race home and not use their powers in front of everyone?” Well, duh, they chose to change into their alter-egos on the sidewalk during New York’s Inside Thirty, the half hour that everyone in New York City closes themselves off in a building to do things like write letters and tell tall tales. The early ’80s were crazy like that. So no one catches the Spider-Friends turning into their super hero identities on the sidewalk in broad daylight in New York City. While racing, Spider-Man runs across Dr. Doom’s experiment and wrecks it by knocking the amulet off the rooftop and into Mr. Frump’s possession (he hadn’t locked himself inside yet for Inside Thirty!). The experiment works and Mr. Frump gets zapped with universal power, giving him the ability to alter reality. Frump wishes for a hot dog with mustard and relish, new shoes, clothes, a gilded carriage with six black horses and finally someone to be his friend forever (this turns out to be a cat named Mabel). Frump then changes the color scheme of New York City from concrete gray and angst brown to RAINBOW POLKA DOTS. This blows his cover and leads Doom to him who turns Frump on the Spider-Friends. Frump gets lonely and calls for a friend (Aunt May, duh) and they all hang out in Frump’s fly new Roman-style coliseum. The Spider-Friends then enter into battle with more of Frump’s creations (you know, alien monster, a cyclops, Genghis Khan) until Aunt May falls into the arena. Frump transforms himself into Wonder Frump, the greatest hero of all time. The universe thinks the greatest hero has a nearly nude unitard and a moniker with the word “Frump”; guys, I don’t think the universe has good taste. Wonder Frump saves Aunt May. Doom teams up with the Spider-Friends to get rid of Frump’s powers (and, obviously, steal them for himself). An elaborate rooftop fight scene breaks out and the amulet is destroyed, robbing Frump of his powers and keeping Doom from getting them. Doom says he’ll just find another one and blasts off. The episode ends with everyone forgetting the whole thing happened (side effect of amulet) and Mabel, the conjured cat, still existing.

Mabel is a sentinel of the devil, there to corrupt Mr. Frump’s soul. Psyche, this isn’t a two-parter. Mabel’s just a cat now.

Ms. Lion gets a quick scene playing with an umbrella.

Review: I am rethinking the grade I gave the last episode now. I think I was way too harsh on it, because this episode is a bit of a mess. Seriously, I was kinda jazzed to see that this was a Dr. Doom episode. The guy’s so over the top, he’s made for animation. But instead of hanging out with Dr. Doom the whole time, we’re forced to sit at the nerd table with Mr. Frump. Worst lunch ever. There’s nothing wrong with this story, except that it feels like a generic ’80s cartoon episode where a plot device allows whatever to happen, giving animators license to go crazy!!! The Spider-Friends seem crammed into this episode and do next to nothing. There are a number of annoying plot holes (Iceman loses his powers but stays iced up, all the heroes’ powers come back inexplicably, and Iceman keeps a three-headed dog at bay with three ice cubes) that outweigh the awesome (when Dr. Doom whispers, it sounds CRAZY). This is a rough episode. Please, no more Mr. Frump.

Grade: D

Quote: Spider-Man: ”We’ve got to stop Doom from getting his amulet!”
Iceman: “We don’t want Doom to have his morning eggs?”

Series: Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends
Title: “The Crime of All Centuries”
Season 1, Episode 2
Production Code: 102
Production Company: Marvel Productions 
Original Air Date: September 19th, 1981 (assumed)

Credits: Donald P. Glut (writer)

Feature Characters: Spider-Man, Firestar, Iceman

Supporting Characters: Ms. Lion, Aunt May

Villains: Kraven (Sergei Kravinoff; first appearance in this series), Skelton (Kraven’s assistant; first appearance)

Other Appearances: Stan Lee (cameo as a pet store owner)

Comments: The Spider-Friends check out the film Dinosaur Destroyer starring Simon Williams (the Avenger Wonder Man) and Karen Page (Daredevil’s soap opera actress girlfriend who later becomes addicted to heroin. Fun!). Kraven throws Ms. Lion off his scent by leading her to a pet store called Stan’s Pet Store run by a guy with big sunglasses and a mustache, who is obviously Stan Lee.

And it wouldn’t be an episode of Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends without nicknames!

• Firestar gets the flattering or demeaning Hot Mama and Hot Stuff
• Spider-Man is called Petey, Wall-Crawler again, and the inaccurate Bug Man and Bug Boy
• Iceman is called Mr. Blizzard (why he didn’t ditch heroics and go for pro-wrestling after hearing that name, I don’t know) and the obvious Snowman
• Kraven is called Hippopotamus Breath (all scenes involving Kraven seducing a hippo were left in my bedroom)

Changed For TV: Spider-Man says that Kraven discovered the Savage Land which is different from the comics. In Marvel continuity, Lord Robert Plunder discovered the Savage Land. Now Robert Plunder’s only claim to fame is being Ka-Zar’s dad…and the liver damage caused by him drinking to forget being Ka-Zar’s dad. Aunt May’s dusting of the Spider-Friends’ dorm room (or room in Aunt May’s house, I don’t think this has been clarified yet) hits a trophy on the mantle, thus flipping over all the normal college student furnishings and revealing elaborate computer machines!!! Spider-Man’s always been a genius in the comics, but he’s never used it to create computers for fighting crime. When you consider all the effort he goes through swinging AROUND the city, one wonders why he couldn’t just rig up a GPS and police scanner at least.

Synopsis: Kraven the hunter is collecting dinosaur eggs in the Savage Land with the intent to take them to New York City and unleash fully grown dinosaurs on the city. Then, in a desperate cry for help, the city will surrender to Kraven because he’s the only person who knows how to stop the dinosaurs. To do this Kraven needs three things: a ruby, the specific type of heat source generated by Firestar, and a new Firestar picture to keep tucked in his trousers because that’s where he keeps it. Back in New York, Iceman is having trouble getting his rent together and asks Firestar for help, which she laughs at (Spider-Frenemies). The heroes run across Kraven who immediately catches Firestar’s attention with his Tom Selleck-y looks. He invites her to the unveiling of prehistoric animals ceremony he’s giving at the museum later. Back at the Spider-Dorm, Iceman asks Spider-Man for rent help, which Spidey can’t give because he has to buy more web fluid (Spidey then gives Ms. Lion a ball of webs to play with, no clue what Aunt May is going to make of that later). The Spider-Friends and Ms. Lion (yep) go to the ceremony (yep a dog in a museum ceremony) which turns to chaos when Kraven uses giant live prehistoric creatures to distract everyone from him stealing the ruby. Kraven then captures Firestar with a heat-seeking boomerang with freezing spray. Ms. Lion picks up the scent and leads Iceman and Spider-Man back to Kraven’s lair. Kraven has turned an abandoned blimp hangar into a full on Savage Land replica with active volcanoes and mountains (THAT BLIMP IS A PLANET). The Spider-Friends try to rescue Firestar and fail (even Ms. Lion!). Kraven makes Firestar Easy-Bake a dinosaur egg into a full grown T. Rex while the rest of the good guys figure out an escape. The good guys then tussle with the bad guys until they finally lasso the giant T. Rex into the tar pit Kraven has installed in his blimp hangar. Fear not, though, for Firestar uses her powers to shrink the T. Rex down to Ms. Lion’s size and THEY DO NOT KEEP THE DINOSAUR AS A PET WHAT COME ON! Kraven and sidekick go to jail. Fight finished.

Iceman tries to give Aunt May his rent that he got from selling cocaine on campus* but she tells him that his two roommates have already paid it for him. Iceman then took his rent money and went straight to Atlantic City.**

*This did not happen, but I have no idea where he got his rent money from so fast.

**This probably happened, but the episode didn’t show it.

Review: This one’s a mess. Actually it’s more like what I thought this series was going to be before I was pleasantly surprised by the grounded nature of the first episode When Firestar is told that dinosaurs still exist, she acts like Spider-Man is telling her that Ernest Borgnine is still alive. Hey Firestar, the existence of dinosaurs changes everything the world knows about everything! React! Also Kraven’s plot makes no sense. He uses full sized dinosaurs to terrorize New York City to distract the public from him stealing a ruby that will help him make full sized dinosaurs to terrorize New York City with. Hmmm….also Kraven incorrectly assumes that he is who New York will call upon to deal with the dinosaurs when it is shown twice that the Spider-Friends are both capable AND not covered head to toe in creepy animal pelts and (probably) slimy oils. And Ms. Lion goes on a mission in episode two. I knew her minimal involvement in the first episode was probably a fluke, but I hoped not. At least she was used as a tracker (even though she was thrown of the scent and they found Kraven’s improbable lair using Spider-Man’s detective work). Whatever. This episode was just way too ludicrous to be as enjoyable as the first.

Grade: C

Quote: It’s a tie between “Looks like we got ourselves a midget bloodhound!” or “Firestar, honey, I lava you!” Both are spoken by Iceman.

Series: Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends
Title: “The Triumph of the Green Goblin
Season 1, Episode 1
Production Code: 101
Production Company: Marvel Productions
Original Air Date: September 12th, 1981

Credits: Dennis Marks (writer)

Feature Characters: Spider-Man (Peter Parker; first appearance in this series), Iceman (Robert “Bobby” Drake; first appearance in this series), Firestar (Angelica Jones; first appearance)

Supporting Characters: Aunt May Parker (first appearance in this series), Ms. Lion (Aunt May’s pet Lhasa Apso; first appearance), Mona Osborn (first appearance)

Villains: Green Goblin (Norman Osborn; first appearance in this series)

Flashback: Norman Osborn takes the formula that, along with a lab explosion, turns him into the Green Goblin. 

Comments: The first act of the episode takes place at a high school comic book costume dance (WHY WEREN’T THOSE A REAL THING????) and the costumes are a delightful who’s who of late ’70s/early ’80s Marvel. Iceman goes as Captain America, Firestar goes as Jessica Drew-style Spider-Woman. Their friend Mona goes as Medusa and Spider-Man goes as himself. Also at the dance are people dressed as the Hulk, Hellcat, Storm, Ka-Zar, Shanna the She-Devil, Ms. Marvel, Namor, Black Widow, Wasp, Luke Cage, Yellowjacket, Scarlet Witch, Vision, Phoenix, Valkyrie, Thor, Dr. Strange, Thing, Falcon and Daredevil.

Judging by this first episode, this is going to be a nickname heavy series. In this episode…

• Spider-Man is called Webbed Wonder, Wall-Crawler, Web-Head, Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man and Webs
• Iceman is called Freeze Face, the Great Popsicle and Mr. Cool
• Firestar is called Sizzle Sis

Similarly, the Spider-Friends say “go for it!” twice.

Changed For TV: I could use this to get into Spider-Man discrepancies but…well, I’m not. This entire series gets included in the blog because of Iceman’s involvement (and to a much lesser extent, Firestar) so I’m only going to be noting discrepancies involving him. Iceman’s powers and personality are all fairly in line with how he is in the comics. He’s a brash jokester and performed with a lot of charm by Frank Welker. If I’m going to nitpick I can say that he’s a little too dim in this episode, but as long as he doesn’t take a Joey Tribbiani style dive (bet you weren’t expecting a Friends reference ever) it’s fine.

This Month In X: Uncanny X-Men #151 came out the month this episode aired and begins a multi-part story about Kitty Pryde’s transfer to the White Queen’s Massachusetts Academy. This is also the first story about the White Queen swapping bodies with an X-Man (Storm in this story Jean Grey and Iceman later on). The White Queen would go on to play a pivotal role in Firestar’s life in the comic books so this is a neat coincidence.

Synopsis: Norman Osborn, fresh out of the sanitarium, is the victim of a plane crash (what he gets for flying through a thunderstorm!) that triggers his goblin side. The Spider-Friends and Person-Friend Mona are having a swinging time at a comic costume dance party until Spider-Man’s Spider-Sense goes off. He checks out the high school lab and runs into the Green Goblin who discusses his plan (using the goblin formula to turn everyone into ugly goblins) and then traps Spidey and escapes. Green Goblin kidnaps his niece Mona right out from Iceman’s care in an attempt to locate the formula. The Spider-Friends regroup and go after Osborn. Spider-Man finds the Goblin’s lair and Mona, who has already spilled the beans. Spider-Man frees Mona and the Spider-Friends deduce that Green Goblin is going to poison the water with goblin formula. The trio then fights Green Goblin, knocking him into power lines and reverting him back to an amnesiac Norman Osborn. Iceman freezes the water supply and the formula, and Firestar then uses her heat powers to extract the formula. All’s good! Norman Osborn volunteers to return to the sanitarium until he’s better. 

When asked how Ms. Lion feels about Spider-Man, she runs and gives Peter Parker a big ol’ doggie kiss. Oh, Ms. Lion!

Review: Wow, what a difference fifteen years makes. The animation is crisp and lively, the voice acting is dynamic and the story-telling is basic, but also follows an internal logic. This was a lot of fun. I was really not expecting the animation to be this good. I mean, it is NOT great but it is better than, well, Hanna-Barbera (I swear I’m not going to reference them in every post). Frank Welker is great as Iceman, of course, and I always hear Ray Stantz from The Real Ghostbusters every time I hear his voice. So overall it was a fun episode, but it’s also very kid friendly. That’s not a bad thing, but it scrapes by with the barest of plots and attempts nothing greater than what it is. Also the inclusion of Ms. Lion, a dog just to have a dog, is perplexing. Thankfully she didn’t help out with the fighting. Oh brother when she does. Also it’s interesting to note that Spider-Man really makes fun of Iceman, outright joking about his intelligence a number of times Ease up, dude!

Grade: B

Quote: “What is this, cream of garbage juice?” Spider-Man

Series: The Marvel Super Heroes
Title: “Dr. Doom’s Day”
Season 1, Episode 59 (approximate episode number)
Production Code: Unknown
Production Company: Grantray-Lawrence Animation
Original Air Date: November 1966 (approximate date)

Credits: No credits are given, but the episode is based on Fantastic Four #6 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

Feature Character: The Sub-Mariner (Namor McKenzie)

Supporting Characters: Professor X (Professor Charles Francis Xavier), the Beast (Henry “Hank” McCoy), Iceman (Robert “Bobby” Drake), the Angel (Warren Kenneth Worthington III), Cyclops (Scott “Slim” Summers), Marvel Girl (Jean Grey; first animated appearance of all six, who together constitute the X-Men); Thor, Iron Man (Anthony “Tony” Stark), Captain America (Steve Rogers), Hawkeye (Clint Barton; latter four constitute the Avengers)

Villains: Dr. Doom (Victor Von Doom), Mole Man (Harvey Rupert Elder), Mandarin, Kang the Conqueror (Nathaniel Richards), Mad Thinker, Awesome Android, Grey Gargoyle (Paul Pierre Duval), Super Skrull (Kl’rt), Attuma, Electro (Maxwell “Max” Dillon), Executioner (Skurge), HYDRA

Flashback: The entire episode is a story being told to the viewer by Namor.

Comments: The X-Men make their debut in this episode but are never referred to as the X-Men, nor are any of the characters besides Professor X called by name. Instead they are called the “Allies for Peace” and, aside from one “Avengers assemble” rallying cry, it’s inferred that all the heroes in this episode are members of the Allies. Iceman sounds exactly like Jack Nicholson, which is an odd choice for a teenage boy. An animation error colors all of the dark blue/black parts of Angel’s costume flesh toned, making his costume look like something out of a gladiator film.

Changed For TV: Most notably, the X-Men are not called the X-Men even though they are all presented exactly how they appear in the comics. This was apparently done because the production company didn’t have the rights to the Fantastic Four, who starred in the comic book story that this episode is pulled from. Also I don’t think Professor X has ever used the phrase “mutant brain” in the comics.

This Month In X: X-Men vol. 1 #28 (January 1967) hits the stands introducing future X-Man Banshee as a brainwashed adversary for the X-Men.

Synopsis: Namor tells a story of how he teamed up with Dr. Doom once and how it (surprisingly) didn’t go that well. Dr. Doom reads an infuriating newspaper article titled “ALLIES FOR PEACE…TO DEDICATE NEW PEACE BUILDING!” and decides that he just HAS to crash that party. Seriously, peace allies dedicating a peace building? Those peace nerds are just asking for a super villain wedgie. Doom floods New York City with bad vibes (yup) and causes bad guys from all over to attack the Peace Building (does that need to be capitalized?). An equally extensive list of heroes counter and quell the attack. Dr. Doom then gives Namor a super magnet gadget, has him infiltrate the Peace Building (by walking right in) and using the magnet to rip the building off Earth and into space. Namor realizes he’s been tricked and, by hopping from asteroid to asteroid, defeates Doom and returns the building back to Earth.

Review: The Marvel Super Heroes is the series that is going to forever keep me from doing a blog dedicated to EVERY Marvel animated series. Seriously, having to start with 65 of these episodes would make my brain implode. The series features crude animation, truly the first ever “motion comics” (as iTunes brands them now). There’s no real animation, just comic book panels slapped directly on the screen with very minimal movement. This series makes Hanna-Barbera look like Pixar. And it’s not that this is necessarily a BAD idea for a cartoon IF the stories are solid. The issue this is based on is goofy and campy but still enjoyable, but this is a mess. Characters are introduced at a breakneck pace, ninety percent of which are not properly introduced or given a reason to be there. I know this series wasn’t made by people that wanted to put solid art out into the world. It was made to promote merchandise and sell comics. I ain’t eating Taco Bell and expecting five stars here (although I love me some Bell). If either the story OR the animation was better it would have been a lot easier to watch. So I’m not faulting this for not being up to modern day post-Avatar: The Last Airbender and Toy Story 3 standards (SERIOUSLYTHOSETHINGSAREAMAZING), I’m just saying it was rough to get through.

Grade: D+

Quote: “My mutant brain senses danger!” Professor X

Welcome to Mutant Television, where I am going to summarize every animated appearance of the X-Men ever! Yeah!

So since some of you are going to be around for the long haul, I figure a proper introduction is in order. I was first introduced to the X-Men thanks to the debut episode of their ’90s animated series on Fox. That changed my life more than any other media event. Seriously, I have over 4000 comics sitting in my living room taking up an entire wall now because of “Night of the Sentinels.” I then watched the ’90s series weekly until it ended five seasons later and…well that was about it for me and X-Men cartoons. I still continued to read the comics and do to this day (vampires vs. mutants!) but I never bothered to watch more than a few episodes of X-Men: Evolution or Wolverine and the X-Men. And for a guy that professes to know EVERYTHING about the X-Men, those seem to be two big gaps in my knowledge.

Hence this blog.

But because I like projects, I thought it’d be fun to REALLY dive into the animated existence of my favorite mutants. To watch every appearance, catalogue who was in what episode, stats, credits, the whole shebang. Plus the ’90s animated series FINALLY came out on DVD (I mean, the box art for the season 1 DVD box set that I made for myself back in 2003 is pretty rad, but whatever) and I haven’t watched anything past season one since it aired. Also the ’90s series aired out of order after season two so I’ve never even watched that series how it was INTENDED to be seen. So yeah, now I’m going to.

Here’s how every entry will be laid out. I’m modeling this after the iconic (to me and other Marvel nerds) Official Marvel Index titles put out in the ’80s and ’90s that summarized every issue of mainstay long-running Marvel series. Each entry will include…

Series: the name of the series
Title: the title of the episode
Season number and overall episode number
Production Code: which is written like 305 (standing for season 3 episode 5 of season 3)
Production Company: and distributors and all that, the people that made it
Original Air Date: exactly what it sounds like. But note that in the case of the ’90s series, I am going in production order since that was the intent of the creators. Episodes from seasons 3 through 5 of the ’90s series aired YEARS out of order, and in the case of the episodes around “The Phoenix Saga,” that made things really confusing.
Credits: the writer and director of the episode
Feature Characters: the X-Men that appear in the episode, with their real names in parenthesis after for clarification. Note that this doesn’t mean they are called this during the episode. Things like a character’s real name being mentioned for the first time will be noted down in the comments section. 
Supporting Characters: are all the other non-X-Men/non-villain characters that appear in the episodes
Villains: the people who mess things up for our heroes
Other Appearances: covers things like quick cameos and characters that appear on monitors in episodes
Flashback: indicates if there was a flashback in an episode
Comments: is for any weird thing about the episode, like airing out of order, or noteworthy things, like first appearances
Changed For TV: is where I discuss what about a character or story has been altered for TV 
This Month In X: is where I discuss what was happening in the X-Men comics the month that the episode aired, focusing on parallels if they are there. Note that Marvel Comics come out two months in advance (March 2011 dated comics will be hitting the stands soon) so I’ll be taking that into account 
Synopsis: where I tell you what happened in the episode
Review:  where I tell you my very important thoughts on the episode
Grade: where I give you a quick glance-able letter grade in case you don’t want to read all this junk 
Quote: which is where the best/best out of context quote from the episode goes.

And that’s it. Let’s get down to business!