Spider-Man TV (1967) - Season 2, Episode 17

Background

From the title alone, it seems that we're going to have a eager young lad embarking on a dangerous career path with his new-found abilities. Will he be a source for good or evil? And most importantly will we care which?

Story 'Spider-Man Meets Skyboy'

At the League For Scientific Studies awards ceremony, Dr. Irving Caldwell is the recipient of the Curie Award for his work on astro-wave projection. [What does the Jetson's dog have to do with this?] As he walks to the podium to accept the award, he mysteriously vanishes without a trace.

Caldwell's son Jan was attending the ceremony when his father disappeared. News reports indicate that his invention - the "astro helmet" was the cause of his disappearance. Since Jan's father showed him how to use the helmet and the accompanying suit, he takes it upon himself to find his father. He decides to use himself as bait to lure the kidnappers out into the open.

Jan puts on the full uniform and adds a cape for flair and takes to the skies. [Holy crap it looks like he's wearing a Coleman Lantern on his head. If the cost of being able to fly is to look this dorky, I'll just walk.]

Later while out on patrol, Spider-Man spots Caldwell and begins chasing him. This ends up in a dogfight between the two, mostly out of jealously on Spider-Man's part. Their fight is photographed by Jerry Muldoon of the Evening Star, a rival paper. The next day Jonah is livid for being scooped about the arrival of the new superhero named "Sky Boy".

Elsewhere another set of eyes reads the paper. These eyes belong to the kidnapper, Dr. Zap [Wow. Really? Can't we do better than this?] who is kidnapping scientists and stealing their inventions for revenge against his peers for rejecting his ideas. Despite Caldwell's insistence to the contrary, Zap deduces that Jan is the mysterious Sky Boy. He places a call to the Caldwell residence and tells Jan to come to Lightning Mountain if he ever wants to see his father again.

While out on patrol, Spider-Man spots Sky Boy flying toward Lightning Mountain. He has been ordered by Jameson to get a picture of Sky Boy or else, so he's brought his trusty camera. He follows him toward his destination. Once on the mountain, Spider-Man and Sky Boy resume their pointless fight until they are both captured by Dr. Zap.

Once Zap removes the astro-helmet Spider-Man realizes that he's Jan Caldwell. [As if you couldn't tell before. He didn't exactly cover his face, genius.] Zap removes his goggles, exposing his light-sensitive eyes. Spider-Man then blinds Dr. Zap with the flash attachment, causing him to back into the master control panel, short circuiting it, and somehow destroying the hideout. [It'd be nice if just once they'd try to explain why this happens. Then again, that wouldn't make sense either.]

Spider-Man frees Dr. Caldwell and leads them all out of the laboratory just before it explodes. Jan thanks Spider-Man for his help. Spidey accepts and warns him that one superhero is enough for this town.

General Comments

Do you think Spider-Man's ego got in the way during this episode? He's attacking a possible ally on the basis that he's jealous. He didn't actually do anything other than fly around, but that is enough to invoke the wrath of the spider.

Overall Rating

1 web. The episode showed potential then as usual didn't live up to it. To make matters worse, we see a really bad side of Spider-Man.