Spider-Man TV (1967) - Season 1, Episode 20 (Story 2)

Background

This is the final episode of season one. It's also the final episode produced by Grantray-Lawrence Animation. More on this later, first - the review!

Story 'Trick or Treachery'

The Patterson twins (identified as "Stan" and "Lee") have been released from prison. They immediately return to their criminal past and rob the Diamond Imports LTD building, framing Spider-Man for the crime.

The next day Jonah is ecstatic about the evidence against Spider-Man. Circumstantial or not, it's enough for Jonah.

Peter learns of the Fly twins' release and quickly realizes that one of them could have easily impersonated him. He decides to start looking for them at their previous hideout in the abandoned amusement part.

This is exactly what the Flys want him to do. When he arrives at the amusement park, they plant their own "fly tracer" on him as part of their latest scheme. And proceed to throw him around a bit using their acrobatic tricks. When Spider-Man digs himself out, the Flys have left.

Spider-Man begins to look for them and finds one of them in front of Smith Jewelers. When he comes out of the building with a bag, Spider-Man captures the Fly. He soon discovers that he's holding a bag of apples. The Fly mentions that perhaps he should assist the police; they're headed toward the bank. When Spider-Man arrives, he realizes that the incident at the jewelry store was a distraction while the other brother robbed a bank.

While mulling over this embarrassing incident, Peter discovers the fly tracer on his costume. He reverses the signal, allowing him to locate the Flys.

He finds them robbing the Fur Exchange, one inside and one stands guard. He makes his presence known and allows himself to be led on a chase away from the Fur Exchange. When the Fly doubles back, Spider-Man is waiting for them and webs them up for the police. [What purpose did that serve, exactly?]

Jonah is beside himself when he learns that Spider-Man was once again innocent of the crimes.

General Comments

I will give the team credit, this is good episode. They had the Flys actually outsmart the hero. Granted it was only once, but without a full show dedicated to it, once is all they have time for. This is something that has not been done in this series. And this was a decent trick for a cartoon.

I wish that they had provided some type of origin for the Fly Twins. It would have been helpful to explain why they can stick to walls like Spider-Man. Given that the series didn't waste time providing an origin on most characters, this is perhaps asking a bit too much.

Overall Rating

3.5 webs. The Flys are the best series-created villains by far. Both appearances present them as a serious but light-hearted threat to Spider-Man. The pacing of this show is quick and enjoyable.

Footnote

As stated this represents the last cartoon produced by Grantray-Lawrence Animation. They went bankrupt around this time and thus were unable to continue. It should be noted that this company also produced the "Marvel Super-Hero" series, featuring less-animated cartoons than this one. Difficult as that may be to believe, it is true. This marks the end of the cleanly-drawn, light-hearted episodes that anyone that watched the series will remember. Despite some of the odd storylines and restricted motion they did provide a TV series for the immensely popular character.

The remainder of the episodes in this series was produced by Krantz Films, Inc. Brace yourself - the animation budget was actually reduced when this changed hands. I will go into more detail in season 2.