Opinion: Why Spider-Man would work better as a TV show.

With the future of the Amazing Spider-Man movie franchise steeped in doubt not to mention Sony Pictures failing ability to produce an acceptable Spider-Man movie. One that is capable of reaching or at least matching the levels of Marvel Studio's movies. Maybe it's time that Sony Pictures considered another avenue for the Worlds greatest Superhero to ply his adventures on. The medium of television.

After all it's happened before. Back in the late 1970's there was a live action T.V series of The Amazing Spider-Man starring Nicholas Hammond as Peter Parker/Spider-Man. the problem was at that time there were no recognized Spider villains for Spidey to go up against due to budget constraints and production costs. So in that case they has an under-powered Spider-Man taking on normal criminals and general crime. there were other aspects to the show that made it camp and a bit rubbish. These days however it seems to have garnered a bit of a cult following. You can find a number of episodes today on youtube and who could forget the funky opening credits music or sequences,

 

That shouldn't be a down point though, as Television and most certainly technology has moved on significantly from the days of the 1970's. just take a look at the comic book adaptations that are on TV nowadays, There's The Walking Dead, Arrow, Constantine, Marvels Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D, The Flash. In the coming year we can expect, Agent Carter, Daredevil, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones and no doubt more on the horizon.So why should there be a Spider-Man live action television series? 

For one, the technology is now available to do the character justice, granted the budget would have to be quite big but television is big business today and coupled with the technology at television comanies disposal the production values provide a better visual medium. just look at shows such as Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D. or the Flash. both of those shows regularly display super-humans with fantastic powers on a week to week basis or even Doctor Who where the production budget is relatively modest in comparison. 

The Flash's Blackout

The last Spider-Man movie "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" had production costs and a budget of around $250 mullion dollars, and yet The Flash has no where near that amount and still managed to show a more realistic electrical antagonist in "Blackout" that what we were given with Electro. Blackout even had the more realistic origin, one that closely resembled that comic book origin of Electro as opposed to Amazing Spider-Man 2's adaption of one of Spidey's more deadly foe's.

It just shows that If a show with a hugely less production budget such as The Flash can depict a character with super powers ala Electro then the arguments against a Spider-Man TV show on the basis of costs are in fact moot. For anyone who has seen the Flash episode "Power Outage" where Blackout makes his debut will know what i mean. The other interesting viewpoint is the Flash has a more Marvel'esque feel to the whole show. As you can see from the picture of Electro the production looks over the to top and flashy to compensate for the dodgy story line and hokey origin fo the character. If however The Amazing Spider-Man was a television show could concentrate more on the character development and gave a natural evolution to the characters of the show, this is where the Spider-Man films have severely lacked in the past. including the Raimi movies. 

In fact one of the best adaptations of our favorite wall-crawler was also produced by the CW network and that was The Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon. You know the one right? if not here's a reminder.

If course it would still be an expensive show to produce that's undeniable after all you can't simulate a wall-crawling web-swinger wonder on a cartoon budget, but who's to say that Peter Parker would have to every episode. there could be a number of episodes leading to a huge confrontation in the season finale with side arcs showing Peter struggling with the responsibility of being Spider-Man and trying to live a normal life. a Television show would also benefit the supporting cast of the character giving us the viewer a better understanding of the relationships between them and Peter as opposed to quick intro's and expecting us to then give a shit about them when tragedy happens to them. ala the movie versions of Curt Connors, Harry Osborn, Max Dillon Flint Marko Eddie Brock Jr. all those characters would and could have worked better with more detailed character development. so too could Flash Thompson, Mary Jane, The entire Bugle crew and Aunt May. 

It's not all that far fetched after all it's already being done with certain shows on air. This way it would allow us to better relate to Peter Parker seeing his struggles in daily life played over a few episodes rather than a few minutes in a montage, The fact is a television show would be less restrictive to the character in some ways as it would offer other avenues to explore than on the cinema screen. after all there's only so much story you can tell in a 2 hour slot, whereas Television offers at least 13 episodes. So what would you prefer a 2 hour movie every three years or 9 hours of Spider-Man, every year? I know which I'd prefer.

So what side of the argument are you on? do you feel that a live action Spider-Man show is out of the question? if so why? and lets debate this. why not comment below. or click the button to follow on google+ or follow on twitter @TelFirth for blog updates or additionally like our Facebook Page The Man who Collects Spider-Man

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