Spider-Man: The Dragon's Challenge

The third of these Spider-Man omnibus movies, The Dragon's Challenge,  happens to the first one I ever saw. I can still remember seeing the cassette cover when I was just a child, and getting excited about the discovery of a live-action Spider-Man. This was at least five years before Toby Maguire made his on screen debut so it felt like a big deal.

The cover to this video cassette was a little misleading.  It features the arresting image of Spidey in combat with Chinese martial artists in the Streets of Hong Kong. While Spider-Man does fight martial artists in China, there are rarely with more than two adversaries at a time and Spider-Man beats them fairly easily. The title on the box is also misleading. The Dragon's Challenge was originally broadcast as a two part story titled The Chinese Web. The original title certainly suits the story more, which is places greater emphasis on industrial espionage than on martial arts and dragons.

The story begins when J Jonah Jameson is receives a visit from an old friend, Min Lo Chan, Minister for Industrial Development in China. Min is suspected of having robbed and murdered a Chinese schoolteacher who was working for the American forces in the Second World War. Min needs Jonah's help to find three ex-marines who know that Min is innocent. However, Min has been followed to New York by goons working for Chinese industrialist, Mr Zaider. This Mr Zaider wants
Min imprisoned or killed so that he will get a contract to build a steel mill in Shan Thung. He sends his American goon, Evans, to go to New York and kill Min.

The first half of this story, has Peter searching New York city for the whereabouts of the three Marines while as Spider-Man he holds off Evans' assassins, who are working to kill Min. Events are complicated when Min suffers a heart attack. Peter is able to find and convince Jonathan Flemming to testify with him to  China. Flemming has a convenient letter of confession written by the murder of the Chinese schoolteacher.

In order to testify that Min is innocent, Peter, Emily and Flemming have to travel to China, the setting for the second half of this story. You can tell the production team really enjoyed filming here because
the plot literally grinds to a halt so that Peter , Emily and Flemming can hang around temples and enjoy the local culture. While it's nice to get a bit of background on China. There is no threat or tension, save for a couple of Evans' spies tailing them. It's more like a travelogue than a superhero show.

The plot starts to move again when Evans hires some Karate Masters to kidnap Flemming. These Karate Masters succeed in ambushing Flemming in a marketplace and make off with him, evading a short and dull boat chase with Spider-Man. Fortunately Peter had earlier managed to place a Spider-tracer in Flemming's pocket and uses it to track him down. We then get another paceless scene of Peter Parker chasing after Flemming while he sits around. There's no time limit on Flemming's life, so no reason for us to worry for his safety.

Spider-Man traces Flemming to a building where Evans, Zaider and the Karate Masters are waiting with the kidnapped Flemming. The video blurb promised a "duel with various Karate masters"And how does Spider-Man deal with this dangerous fight? He webs them up....Yeah. That's it. That's the solution. A lot of build-up for very little payoff.

The previous two films didn't have any costumed super villains, but at a least a brainwashing scheme or a terrorist threat felt like big enough threats for a superhero. Plans involving contracts and espionage feel unworthy of Spider-Man.

6/10

Spider-Man: Spider-Man Strikes Back

The second of the three Nicholas Hammond Spider-Man 'Movies' was originally a two part story named 'The Deadly Dust'.

The story gets off to an interesting good start with Spider-Man rescuing a woman who was going to commit suicide by jumping off a ledge.  It's not the most pacy of action sequences, but it keeps your attention. This gets the attention of the editor of the Weekly Examiner newspaper, based in Miami. This editor assigns the journalist Gale Hoffman to investigate Spider-Man.

Back in New York, one of Peter's Professor announces that he is bringing plutonium to the college for a demonstration. Peter and the other students are understandably worried about this decision. Three students decide that the best way the dangers of the plutonium is to steal the plutonium. Spider-Man interferes and naturally gets the blame. The students decide to one up their stupidity by building an actual bomb. These numpties entirely deserve what comes to them.

Meanwhile, in Switzerland, the mysterious Mr White, who gets a hilarious introduction being bathed by beautiful ladies before showing off his karate skills. He reads about the plutonium theft and travels to New York to obtain it.

One of the students, inevitably fall ill and the device is stolen by Mr White's henchmen. Peter Parker attempts to track down the plutonium. Gale Hoffman acts as a chain around his neck. The story often resembles a farce, with Peter having to change in and out of costume without being noticed and come up with excuses for using the Spider-Tracer or being absent from  situations where Spider-Man is present.

Mr. White getting away and vows revenge on Spider-Man, though this doesn't lead anywhere since the character apparently never returned in the TV series.

Overall, this is a decent enough piece and I would argue the best of the three films. There is little to no web swinging, and the scenes of Miami and Switzerland are obviously stock footage, but as with other shows like the original run of Doctor Who, at least there is some sense of ambition behind this. Although scenes are long, most of them at least lead somewhere without relying on padding.  The director also has a sense of humour, making the cut between the students boiling the plutonium and Peter boiling a kettle of water. We also get the scene of J Jonah Jameson riding around on a tricycle.

The cast are decent enough. Nicholas Hammond continues to be a decent Peter and Spider-Man.
Robbie Robertson has been replaced by Rita, played by Chip Fields. Although it's a shame to lose a Marvel character, Rita is likable enough to be a worthwhile replacement.Mr White is a fairly two dimensional villain, but the fact that he can do karate at least means he is a more physical villain than the one in the previous film.

Of the three Spider-Man films I would say this is my favourite. There is no origin story to slow the pace down.

7/10

Spider-Man: The Amazing Spider-Man

With Spider-Man due to return to our screens in Homecoming, now felt like as good a time as any to take a look back at the very first live action spider-man: Nicholas Hammond.

The Amazing Spider-Man is the first of three 'movies' which were adapted from the 1977 live action TV show. It came out roughly around the same time as the Incredible Hulk TV series. But while the exploits of David Banner have been repeated, the Spider-Man TV show has rarely been broadcast in the UK at leasts. Most people know about this show through the VHS releases in the 80s and 90s.

Adaptions always make changes, sometimes for necessity and other times because of the whims of creators. The origin story for this Spider-Man is somewhat different. Peter is already a college student when he gets bitten by a radioactive spider. There's no high school setting and no Uncle Ben. Peter decides to become Spider-Man because he can, and because he can make money selling photos of himself as Spider-Man to the Daily Bugle. Only J Jonah Jameson and Robbie are somewhat reminiscent of the originals. May Parker is in this, but with no Uncle Ben her plight is diminished.

Trying to make Spider-Man look convincing on a 1970s TV budget, does prove to be a struggle. Spider-Man climbing up and down the wall was achieved as well as possible, but is obviously using back projection. Webbing is basically just a rope and Spider-Man can't really web swing around the city. In fairness the production team do try to make the effort.

The plot revolves around a self-help guru, who is brainwashes his patients. At one point these people are brainwashed to jump off the Empire State Building, a very similar scene to one in the Doctor Who story, The Christmas Invasion. Ultimately Spider-Man saves the day. It''s a pity that Spider-Man could not have been given better enemy to fight. None of the live action series had any supervillains but they could at least have used someone like the Kingpin or Silvermane.

Nicholas Hammond is pretty good as Peter Parker. He has the kind of awkwardness that is needed for the role. It was also nice to see that his image was recycled for the 1994 animated series. The rest of the cast are decent in their roles.

7/10