Spider-Woman (TV series)
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Spider-Woman was an animated television series, based on the Marvel Comics character Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew). The series was produced by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises and Marvel Comics Animation, and aired on 1979 to 1980 on the ABC.
[edit] Plot
Jessica Drew, voiced by Joan Van Ark, is editor of Justice Magazine, a publication which had its own skyscraper and helicopter yet showed only two other employees - photographer 'Jeff' and Jessica's teenage nephew 'Billy'. When trouble reared its ugly head, Jessica would come up with an excuse to slip away and change into her Spider-Woman secret identity. Spider-Man also guest starred in the series.
The cartoon differs somewhat from the comic book and lasted for one season of sixteen episodes. The animated Spider-Woman retained the ability to fire bursts of energy from her hands called "venom blasts," but they are white instead of green and can apparently be used an unlimited number of times. And she had (like Spider-Man) a "spider-sense": a kind of clairvoyance that would allow her to see dangers as they happened, no matter where she was (she would close her eyes and see the event outlined by a spider-web.) The animated Spider-Woman also had the ability to change into costume merely by spinning around, an idea borrowed from the Wonder Woman television series starring Lynda Carter. (Not to be confused with the animated superheroine Web Woman, a Filmation superheroine cartoon launched at around the same time, which reportedly prompted Marvel into creating a Spider-Woman character to secure the copyright.)
As of 2006, similar to the majority of the other Disney-acquired Marvel Comics animated series, there are no plans to release this series on DVD.
| Episode Name | Airdate | Synopsis |
| Pyramids of Terror | Sept 22nd 1979 | Guest stars Spider-Man. The Justice Magazine crew investigate an alien invasion in Egypt. |
| Realm of Darkness | Sept 29th 1979 | A powerful demon emerges on a Pacific island, threatening to enslave mankind. |
| The Amazon Adventure | Oct 5th 1979 | Stolen gold from Fort Knox leads the Justice Magazine team into the Amazon, where they uncover a plot to take over the world. |
| The Ghost Vikings | Oct 12th 1979 | A 'ghost' Viking ship emerges off the coast of Norway. The crew plan to steal the riches of the world, before returning to their own time. Spider-Woman travels back to 952 A.D. to defeat them. |
| The Kingpin Strikes Again | Oct 19th 1979 | Angered by a recent Justice Magazine article, the Kingpin steals an experimental invisibility ray and seeks revenge on its editor, Jessica Drew. However, while invisible, he witnesses her transform into Spider-Woman, and opts for a blackmail plot instead. |
| The Lost Continent | Oct 26th 1979 | After US Air Force planes vanish in the Bermuda Triangle, the team from Justice Magazine investigate. They soon find themselves thrown into a hidden dimension, where dinosaurs roam the Earth. |
| The Kongo Spider | Nov 2nd 1979 | Guest stars Spider-Man. While covering the filming of a movie, the Justice Magazine team encounter a giant spider (in a plot inspired by King Kong). |
| Games of Doom | Nov 9th 1979 | Athletes in the World Athletic Games in Moscow are being kidnapped and replaced by android doubles. Jessica Drew goes undercover as a Long Jumper to investigate. |
| Shuttle to Disaster | Nov 16th 1979 | The Justice Magazine team find themselves on a hijacked space shuttle, heading towards the moon, where the villain 'Steeljaw' intends to enslave mankind and put it to work digging for valuable gems. |
| Dracula's Revenge | Nov 23rd 1979 | The world's population are threatened with being turned into werewolves. |
| The Spider-Woman and the Fly | Nov 30th 1979 | Jessica confronts a former research assistant to her father, who has been mutated into a human fly after a lab accident. Deducing her secret identity, he creates a formula which will rob Jessica of her spider powers. |
| Invasion of the Black Hole | Dec 7th 1979 | A UFO attempts to swallow the Earth in a black hole, in readiness for an invasion. |
| The Great Magini | Dec 14th 1979 | Magician, the Great Magini, attempts to steal the World's most famous landmarks. |
| A Crime In Time | Dec 21st 1979 | An experimental time machine unleashes an invasion of Wookiee-like creatures. Jessica is forced to reveal her secret identity to her fellow magazine crew, in order to save mankind. |
| Return of the Spider-Queen | Dec 28th 1979 | Spider-Woman is brainwashed by an alien race of human spider creatures, who believe she is their long lost queen. |
| The Deadly Dream | Jan 3rd 1980 | An alien threatens the World with her sleep inducing powers. |
