YouTube Spotlight: Chariots of the Gods?

As a treat for this week's YouTube playlist devoted to our look at Spider-Woman, we wanted to give a little taste of one of the seminal "aliens & pyramids" works of the 1970s.



Erich Von Daniken's book, originally published in Germany in 1968, swept the USA in its English translation by Michael Haron. The German documentary of the same name (seen here in the trailer) was a box office hit here in 1970, and Von Daniken's best seller continued to be popular well into the 1970s despite a lack of critical appeal and a wave of authorities debunking its fantastic claims.



Of course, the book has another BOTS connection. Alan Landsburg's re-edited version of the film, In Search of Ancient Astronauts, and follow-up In Search of Ancient Mysteries, inspired the TV series In Search Of... with Leonard Nimoy replacing Rod Serling as narrator/host. if only In Search Of... explored some of the amazing phenomena featured on Spider-Woman!

BOTNS Investigates: The Voice of Spider-Man

When preparing the show notes for the latest episode, the Crack Research Team thought it might be enlightening to discover who actually voiced Special Guest Star Spider-Man in Pyramids of Terror, the debut installment of Spider-Woman. Unfortunately, the series has generic credits for voices, listing everyone who has a role in any episode, not just any particular one, and they aren't matched with the characters.

Well, it's 2020, so this should be easy, right? Well, not so much. IMDB and TV.com don't help. Wikipedia doesn't help.

According to this article, Paul Soles voices Spidey in both his appearances on Spider-Woman, but he sure sounds different in his return in episode 7. The Kongo Spider. I believe the article is incorrect. Soles voiced Spider-Man in the immortal 1967 cartoon series (which should be on Disney Plus NOW), but it certainly isn't him in both Spider-Woman appearances, and maybe not even in either one.

Adding to the confusion, Spider-Man's voice in his 1981 solo series is Ted Schwartz. I love that, by the way, and want it to sink in for a minute: Ted Schwartz.



(Schwartz (1934-2014) was also Thrasher in G.I. Joe and starred in a Transformers arc as well.)

In Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends a year later, Dan Gilvezan is Spidey.



And just for the record, 1977's live-action series stars Nicholas Hammond.



So that's 5 different Spider-Men in about 5 or 6 years, and I still don't know who it is in Pyramids of Terror.

Does anyone know this man's secret identity?

Or this one?

Spider-Woman playlist is now live!

After listening to this week's Spider-Woman episode of the pod, click below to enjoy this week's video playlist! See Web Woman! Canadian kids ask Stan Lee about his favorite comic book characters! Vintage footage of Egypt in the 1970s! And if that doesn't make you feel good..."Make a Saturdae!"



Remember you can always visit our official YouTube channel for playlists like this one as well as our archive of past episodes!

Show Notes: Episode 7-5: Spider-Woman

*Spider-Woman aired on ABC in 1979 (September 22-January 5, 1980, to be precise) and only lasted 16 episodes.



*The debut episode, Pyramids of Terror, aired September 22 at 11:00 A.M. against The All-New Popeye Hour on CBS and The New Adventures of Flash Gordon on NBC.

*The comic book character first appeared in Marvel Spotlight #32, cover dated February 1977. Archie Goodwin and Marie Severin are credited with developing Jessica Drew.




*Tarzan and the Super 7, a Filmation animated series, aired on CBS 1978-1980. It was an action-oriented show with one live-action segment, Jason of Star Command.  Jason later "graduated" to his own half-hour Saturday morning series, and much of the rest of the show morphed into a rerun show called Batman and the Super 7 on NBC.

You see, Tarzan and the Super 7 followed The Batman/Tarzan Adventure Hour, also produced by Filmation, which offered reruns of The New Adventures of Batman. So when the whole thing moved to NBC, Batman came back, and--you know, I don't remember Saturday morning cartoons being this complicated.

*Web Woman (Linda Gary) was one of the "Super 7" segments. Legend has it (isn't that much better than an actual source?) that news of this character directly inspired Marvel to come up with a "Spider-Woman."

*The Julia Carpenter version of Spider-Woman was a regular in the 1994 Iron man cartoon.

*Series scribe Jeffrey Scott is indeed the prolific writer of numerous Super Friends and hundreds of other era cartoon episodes.

*Justice magazine remains a mystery to us and our crack research team.

*A massive King Tut exhibition toured the USA from 1976-1979.

*Dullard co-reporter (?) and pilot Jeff is the voice of Bruce Miller, who has only two other screen credits! Here is his IMDB bio, as written by...himself!

Born Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Studied at Bristol University, then trained at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, England. 1970 moved to South Africa. Played Jesus in Godspell and Joseph in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. He also had a very successful career as a pop singer. His international movies include Safari 3000 (with Stockard Channing & David Carradine), Oh Brother! and Rogue Lion. These days he is a radio broadcaster and producer of Radio Drama for SAfm Radio in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Episode 7-5: Spider-Woman "Pyramids of Terror"

If you ever wanted to watch a cartoon featuring a spider-powered heroine who also runs a magazine with her know-it-all nephew and sexist photographer as they face off against space mummies, travel the world in seconds, and make Spider-Man look like a dope, then we have the cartoon for you! 1979's Spider-Woman cartoon, based on the Marvel character of the same name, has literally everything...in the first episode "Pyramids of Doom."

Check out this episode!

Tomorrow on Battle of the Network Shows...

2019 BOTNS Show of the Year!

It's time to begin a new annual tradition: the selection of a Show of the Year! To be the Show of the Year, a TV program need not be the "best." It need not even be "good" nor even "coherent." 

Also, this is not one of our shows--so, not a podcast episode. It doesn't need to be something we covered on the show in 2019. It is outside the world of the Battys. It just has to be something that made an impact in the past year, something that provided joy, entertainment, or massive confusion.

I am pleased to announce that the Battle of the Network Shows Show of the Year for 2019 is...

Spider-Woman!

Yes, the 1979 cartoon aired just one season and 16 episodes on ABC, but it brought me immeasurable happiness with its bizarre villains, nonsensical storylines, and utter disinterest in internal logic.

I could go on and on about the show itself (and maybe I--and Mike--will at some point; would you like to see us cover this on the pod?) but let me focus on some of the more symbolic reasons this is Show of the Year.

Spider-Woman showed that even in the vast and famous Disney library there are gems lurking and that we shouldn't ignore the value of the back catalog when considering the streaming services proliferating. Sure, Disney + is thriving because of originals like The Mandalorian, but folks like me (and I suspect many of our listeners) are just as excited to see 40-year-old TV cartoons.

The series has an important spot on Disney +, too. If you go to the Marvel section and sort by year (doesn't everyone have the instant impulse to find the oldest material first on any streaming service?), guess which TV/movie appears first? The '67 Spider-Man? No. The live-action 1977 Spidey series? No. The 1967 Fantastic Four cartoon? No.  

The 1978 Dr. Strange TV movie? No.

The 1979 Captain America? No.

Well, gee, now I'm upset again that all that stuff is missing. The point, though, is that the very first thing people see, the symbolic oldest piece of Marvel content on the service, is Spider-Woman. For fans of vintage television, that means something.  

I am tempted to figure out a way to auto-play the show all day and rack up the streams because I want Disney + to give us more like this show.  Well, I shouldn't say more like this show because there is nothing like this.  That's why it's so much fun and one reason why it is Show of the Year.