Forty years ago today , on May 17 , 1978 , Tokyo Channel 12 aired the very first episode of a Marvel goggle box legend : Toei ’s marvelously weird Spider - Man . Forty class on , its legacy remains in some pretty bizarre ways , but we mostly remember it for give us a take on the webslinger that ’s unlike anything we ’ve see since .
Born out of athree - year licensing quite a little between Stan Lee and Toeito trade character from each other ’s roll of heroes , Spider - Man almost turn out very differently . Originally , Toei design to fetch a funnies - faithful version of Spider - Man into a series about Yamato Takeru , a fabled ancient prince of the Yamato dynasty , who would ’ve time - locomote to the present sidereal day . Which would ’ve been … unearthly . But rather , Toei decide to make Spider - Man the master character and went even weirder . In a great way !
Spider - Man instead tells the story of Takuya Yamashiro , a immature motorcyclist who finds himself gifted with wanderer - alike powers by an alien ( from the Planet Spider , of course ) after encountering its crashed spaceship . Now blessed with the powers and identity of Spider - Man ( oh , and also a gargantuan robot describe Leopardon ) , Takuya is tasked with safeguarding Earth from Professor Monster and the Iron Cross Army , alien warmonger who want to rule the creation .
It ’s by all odds not Spidey as we ’ve known and loved him all these year , and that ’s really what get Spider - Man such a delightful and exciting show to watch — a slenderly campy but fun military action serial publication that just take place to star someone who look a wad like Spider - Man , has the same abilities as Spider - Man , but is just off enough that you’re able to be enthralled by the uniqueness . It ’s also , as you’re able to see by the television above , a TV show with an absolute firecracker of a theme tune .
Spider - Man would only run for a twelvemonth , and as far as the Western world is occupy , is consigned to the obscurities of history — a weird bit of Spidey - trivia that , outside of therare brash reference in the comic strip , is largely left alone . Its legacy or else can still be found in other Japanese tokusatsu shows — specifically Super Sentai , the franchise that wouldeventually come over to the west as Power Rangers .
The addition of Leopardon to Spider - Man ’s arsenal may have been born out of merchandising gimmicks , but Toei loved the idea so much it started giving its Sentai Hero gargantuan mechs , too , starting with Battle Fever J , and they ’re now a beloved staple of the franchise . fundamentally , if Spider - Man did n’t exist , the Megazord as we bang it would n’t either !
Sure , it ’s a weird , 40 - yr bequest to have . But it just would n’t be Toei ’s Spider - Man if its lasting effect was n’t something as delightfully derisory as a gargantuan Spider - Man golem .
MarvelPower RangersSpider - ManStan LeeSuper SentaiToeiTokusatsu
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