While he seems super jazzed (along with the rest of the world) about the release of Spider-Man: Homecoming, Marvel legend Stan Lee is not a fan of the 1970's TV series The Amazing Spider-Man. Lee took some shots at the production with the backhanded compliment that the series was too ahead of its time for its own good. In his words:
Years ago, when they had the TV series --- and the actor was good; everything was good --- but they didn't have the ability, the special effects. They couldn't make it look like he was sticking to the wall as he crawled up the wall. Those little things. When they tried the special effects, they looked a little corny because it was too soon. They hadn't been invented yet. And also, they didn't have a big budget. It wasn't as good as it should have been.
Well, at least he didn't throw shade at The Amazing Spider-Man actor Nicholas Hammond, right? Stan Lee's complaints to Daily News would appear to be rooted in the anti-classic television series looking incredibly dated when measured up against the Spider-Man properties that have been done since -- or even when measured up to a jr. high school production -- but it's actually goes back much farther than Sam Raimi's films. In fact, the Marvel creator has been bashing this show as far back as 1978, when the show was still in production during its second season.
Back then, Lee commented that The Amazing Spider-Man was "too juvenile," and now his viewpoint has evolved so that he know considers it too ahead of its time. Or too ahead of its effects department's capabilities. Stan Lee battled with CBS on the show's direction during its development, but was ultimately powerless, as he sold the rights to the character for the series.
The kickass CGI effects may not be there for Amazing Spider-Man, but that bass riff in the opening will put even the best porno soundtracks and Michael Giacchino scores to shame. Take a listen, and see some of those corny effects in action below:
The effects, while dwarfed by the modern technology that the Spider-Man _franchises have taken full advantage of, don't appear quite as awful as Lee touted them to be. In fact, some of those shots look like the kind of stuff today's crews could only capture with Go-Pros attached to their heads, so props to the original crew for pulling all that off with their massive cameras. In addition, the short wall-crawling sequence looked pretty well done and tasteful when compared to some of the whackier stuff Lou Ferrigno did in _The Incredible Hulk. Stan Lee's distaste for The Amazing Spider-Man TV series spans decades, so maybe it's not all that surprising the character's creator will take the chance to shoot it down whenever it comes up.
Let's hope some robot version of Stan Lee isn't here in 30 years bashing Spider-Man: Homecoming, which hits theaters on Friday, July 7th. To get pumped for that, be sure to check out why Tom Holland didn't get the script for Avengers: Infinity War or why his newest film cannot be anywhere near as bad as The Amazing Spider-Man 2. For all information regarding present-day television premiering this summer, visit our summer premiere guide.
