Spidey Super Stories
| Spidey Super Stories | |
|---|---|
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|
| Created by |
Stan Lee (comic book) Steve Ditko (comic book) |
| Starring | Danny Seagren |
| Country of origin |
 United States
|
| No. of episodes | 29 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 5 minutes |
| Release | |
| Original network | PBS |
| Original release | 1974 – 1977 |
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | Spider-Man (1967 TV series) |
| Followed by | The Amazing Spider-Man (1977 TV series) |
"Spidey Super Stories" is a live-action, recurring skit on the original version of the CTW series The Electric Company. Episodes featured the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man, provided to the Children's Television Workshop free of charge, and was played (always in costume) by puppeteer and dancer Danny Seagren. It premiered during the premiere of The Electric Company's fourth (1974–1975) season, show 391.
Stories involved the masked superhero foiling mischievous characters who were involved in petty criminal activities, although sometimes the crooks would commit more serious crimes such as assault or larceny. The cast of The Electric Company played the roles of the various characters in each story, with another serving as narrator. In many of these sketches, in keeping with Stan Lee’s writing style, viewers were addressed as "true believers".
Unlike other live-action and cartoon productions of Spider-Man, this version of the web-slinging hero did not speak out loud, instead communicating only with word balloons (having a similar role to Clarabell the Clown of Howdy Doody), in order to encourage young viewers to practice their reading skills because he was drawn without a mouth. Due to the series' budget limitations, comic book panels were interspersed through each skit in lieu of special effects. However, aside from Spider-Man himself, no characters from the comic series ever appeared on "Spidey Super Stories".
The theme song that plays at the beginning and end of the shorts was written by Gary William Friedman. The lyrics are as follows:
Approximately one dozen "Spidey Super Stories" segments were produced during The Electric Company's 1974–1975 season, with another twelve or so during the 1975–1976 season, and an undetermined number during the series' final season.
A 4-DVD boxed set was released by Shout! Factory and Sony BMG Music Entertainment on February 7, 2006, named The Best of Electric Company. It featured 20 episodes from 1971–1977 (D4D 34121), three of which contained Spidey segments.
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