Spider-Man TV (1967) - Season 3, Episode 8

Background

Are we gonna have have Spider-Man involve himself in a roller-skating championship for the world? You may laugh but it's not completely out of the question.

Story 'Rollerama'

A giant boulder roll through Manhattan, crushing everything in its path. [Just like "Raiders of the Lost Ark" only without any setup whatsoever. ]

Peter and his classmate Suan are searching through the house of infamous botanist Dr. Carl Von Glutz [Von Glutz!!] where the rolla-boll ball originated to find some clue to stop it before the city's missile site is destroyed.[That's what they're called? Lame. Again this looks familiar.]

While searching through the house, Fred and Daphne .. I mean "Peter and Susan" ... discover a box containing a much smaller rolla-boll. Wondering how it got this way they soon discover a machine that - according to Von Glutz's [Von Glutz!!] journal leads to the land of Crystal Creation. [Crystal meth, more like it]

They read from the journal and learn that he has retrieved a seed pod that grows exponentially when exposed to air and has malevolent character traits. [A giant sentient rock.] They turn around and realize that the rolla-boll now matches its older sibling in size and beings rolling toward the city. [Yeah, this is totally "Vine". Losers.]

Unable to stop it on his own, Peter enters the Von Glutz machine [Von Glutz!!] to find an answer, telling Susan he has no choice -"Our whole free enterprise system is at stake". [They're giant sentient rocks, not sleeper Nazi agents. They can't change policy, just flatten buildings!]

Peter goes through the machine and back in time. After changing to Spider-Man he begins the search for Von Glutz [Von Glutz!!]. He is soon captured by natives of the dimension and brought before Veggio, leader of the plant people [Eat your heart out, Poison Ivy]

Veggio explains that their land was once a garden, but now is a wasteland, thanks to Dr. Von Glutz [Von Glutz!!]. Spider-Man explains that he's here to bring him back to their home planet. Veggio then explains the current status quo. The crazed scientist discovered the rolla-bolls and learned that the grow in extreme cold. He then turned this world into a freezer to study the rolla bolls. The Vegeton people want revenge against Von Glutz [Von Glutz!!] their former friend for his actions; it is growing too cold for them to survive. Their former capital Summit City houses the nuclear generator that creates the freezing temperatures. Shut that off and they may both have a chance for survival. Spider-Man agrees to help and makes his way toward Summit City.

In Summit City, the plant leader (vine leader) is made aware of Spider-Man's approach. It is revealed that Von Glutz [Von Glutz!!] was killed years ago by these plants. He makes plans to capture him and force him to fight Goliath.

Spider-Man arrives in Summit City and finds the generator. When he tries to shut it down, he's captured by the vine creatures. He is forced to fight Goliath, but wins. He then deactivates the nuclear generator by stealing the power cells, which then kills the vine creatures.

Spider-Man returns to New York and gives the power cell to the military who then fire it into the rolla-boll, destroying it.

General Comments

There was another boulder mentioned in this episode. What happened to it, genius? Now that you've used the nuclear power cells to destroy one smart rock, how do you propose to get the other one?

Overall Rating

1/2 web. Not only did they rehash yet another episode they forgot about another giant boulder. No excuse for that.