Saturday, January 25, 2020

My Crazy Youth: The Time that Spider-Man Fought Dracula, The Wolfman and The Frankenstein Monster!

If the Centurions and Defenders of the Earth can get a scrap with the Count, why not a Marvel Character?

After all, Marvel did big business with Dracula in the 1970s.  His Comic ended in 1979 and this Show came out shortly thereafter.

Let's see how you mix a Kid's Cartoon Show with a guy who drains people's bloods to live in...
At a College Dance (sure!), a man hypnotizes Angelica (aka Firestar) while her friends bicker.

That man- Dracula!
He's super-impatient, so they immediately leave.  He tries to fly her to Transylvania alongside his Wolfman Butler.

His real face is, well, less dashing.
He also took some cues from The Master.

#WhoWoreItBetter
I couldn't properly Screen Cap this through Disney Plus, but let me tell you that there is an extended bit with Spider-Man and Iceman casually standing on a plane flying 20,000 feet in the air.

It is flying adjacent to Dracula's...as you do.

Anyhow, they get to Transylvania and Starfire transforms...before getting hypnotized again.  Who says that there no good roles for Women?
To make a long story (or a 23 minute one) short, Spider-Man and Iceman must fight Dracula's Werewolf Butler and his Frankenstein-style Monster.

Dracula's plan is foiled in two parts.  First- the Monster wants to destroy Angelica (untransformed) since, well, fire bad.
He's stopped when she transforms back and blasts Dracula, breaking his control!

This makes the Butler return to normal and the Monster...um, fall apart, since it was apparently a robot.

Also Dracula transforms to normal...which is very confusing.  Before you can think too much, the Episode ends.
Weird, glorious fun.  This is just plain silly.  It only has 23 minutes to do the whole story, so really rushes through the first part.  In the first five minutes, we have the setting, she meets Dracula, he hypnotizes her and they leave.  She never got to find out if someone spiked the punch!  Following that, our heroes- as mentioned- casually ride on an airplane!  There's so much 'oh, come on!' in this part that I really want this Episode featured with Guest Commentary from the Mythbusters!  So many weird things to discuss.  I won't mention them all- you really need to see it.  The high point: Iceman catches a falling Spider-Man (he was knocked off of Dracula's plane) by making on an ice bridge from the plane he's on, sliding down it to catch Spidey and then riding it back to the same plane!  By the time our Heroes fight a Wolfman and a Robot Adam, I'm almost too exhausted to see how weird that is!  Of course, this Show also had Stan Lee doing the narration, so it is verbose and ridiculous.  Between an earlier Marvel Cartoon appearance (no SPOILERS), the Anime based on the Gene Colan Comic and this, he sure stayed busy!  Hell, he'd be a major player in a later Avengers Cartoon, only now he's got Castlevania-style Armor and more clear super-powers.  Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends wasn't a great Show, but it was a great time!  For instance, I can share this Screen Cap with you and provide no context...
A strange aside that doesn't really fit in with the Series as a whole.  Granted- none of the Series really feels cohesive, so maybe that is the idea.

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