Spider-Man TV (1967) - Season 2, Episode 5

Background

Technically it's not the bottom of the world. More like deep within the world. The title promises subterranean adventures - perhaps the Mole Man! Why not, they keep mixing up plots for this series with ones for the Fantastic Four, why don't they just rip him off properly?

Story 'Menace From the Bottom of the World'

Peter arrives at the Daily Bugle to start his shift. Jonah gives him an assignment to follow up on an eccentric scientist named Orloff that claims he's getting radio signals from the center of the Earth. Another employee gets a story about a disappearing bank.

Peter makes his way to Orloff's residence via Spider-Man shuttle. The excitable scientist plays his recordings which mention an attack on the Windsor Street bank at 12 PM. Peter realizes that these people must be responsible for the other bank disappearance and excuses himself.

He makes his way to Windsor Street and watches as the building is pulled underground by an unknown force. Spider-Man follows the bank down the giant hole and begins to explore the underground labyrinth. He makes his way to an open area where he finds a giant platform that was used to steal the bank.

He continues to look around and finds a race of Subterraneans [Actually they remind me of talking Water Buffalo hats from the Flintstones] From his hiding spot, he listens as their leader congratulates them. He has instructed them to abduct surface people in retaliation for mining gold and silver that is rightfully theirs.

Spider-Man introduces himself and quickly defeats the blue furry people and captures their leader. After a few pointed questions, he unmasks the leader who is actually "Mugs" Reilly the notorious bank robber. After saving Reilly from an angry mob of Subterraneans for manipulating them, they are all returned to the surface.

General Comments

Once I saw how goofy the Subterranians looked, it was difficult to take them seriously. They're harmless, noble savages that look like something Fred Flintstone would wear on his head.

I have taken to watching these 'toons on fast forward with captions on. Not missing too much due to the stock footage of Spider-Man web-swinging on various backgrounds.

Overall Rating

2 webs. When you hear about Spider-Man going underground, you never expect it to be literal.

Overall it followed the standard format for an episode. In this case it became quite noticeable when they began recycling the footage to make it a full-length episode. Some of the underground denizens were very bizarre characters that were out of place in a Spider-Man story.

This episode came across as half-hearted. They were probably desperate to just get it completed under budget.