Spider-Man TV (1967) - Season 2, Episode 12

Background

In case you were wondering, this episode does not feature Billy Dee Williams and a deal with the Empire. I too was disappointed in this discovery. Now on with the show.

Story 'Cloud City of Gold'

Peter participates in a student exchange program that takes him to South America. As he flies in with his host Senor Fuentes on his private plane [Oooooh fancy] they encounter an electrical storm that sends them off course. In between the lightning strikes, Peter notices that the Andes Mountains have a golden aura to them. Fuentes tells Peter about the legend of a city of gold hidden among the clouds from which no explorers ever return [Thank you, General Exposition]

The plane's engine stalls, forcing them down into the jungle, populated by a savage tribe with golden weapons. Peter ducks away from the crash site and changes to Spider-Man for no particular reason and returns to Fuentes and his pilots. He tells them that they're in grave danger and they need to follow him [Ok, how does he know this and how does he know where to go? You don't have spider-sense of direction.]

They fashion a raft [A very nice raft. Huckleberry Finn would be proud.] and begin floating down the river. They soon encounter a massive whirlpool that drags them into an underground cave. [Instead of drowning them, naturally] After navigating through a water hazard involving stalactites and leopard bats [Is that even right? They sound like some sort of Wuzzle. ] they emerge in the legendary City of Gold. They are quickly attacked by an Aztec War bird. Spider-Man eventually defeats the mystic creature and causes it to shatter into thousands of pieces.

Spider-Man returns to the city to find that his companions have been captured by the ruler of the city, De Vargas, the latest in a line of conquistadors that have ruled this city. He is threatening to throw them into the volcano Krapowa. Spider-Man grabs a battle axe and attacks him but De Vargas' archers sever his web, forcing him into the volcano [Without trying to web anything? Nice.]

Spider-Man lands on a giant web created by the guardian of the volcano – a giant spider. This guardian is soon defeated by the costumed hero. [Mostly because he's too big to move around effectively against his agile adversary].

In retaliation De Vargas fires one of his cannons into the volcano. [Not sure what that was supposed to accomplish.] This causes a massive eruption that ultimately destroys the city. Spider-Man frees Fuentes and his friends and barely escape the destruction. [They also manage to go up the whirlpool. Anything to reuse animation.]

The rescue plane arrives [Why couldn't they just wait for it in a clearing? Oh, no let's go on an adventure...] and carries them back to civilization.

General Comments

I'm guessing that it was Spanish week during the production of this episode. Everyone was permeeted to speek weeth the bad Spanish acCENT. People that think Speedy Gonzales cartoons poorly represent the Hispanic community should watch this and cringe.

Overall Rating

½ web. Did you really think that a story involving Spider-Man vs. Aztec Smith would be interesting or at the very least well constructed? I will answer in Spanish: no.