This feature length pilot episode of "Spiderman" deserves a much higher rating. I enjoy this television film in different ways as it is well acted, the dialogue is pretty good and the essence of the Spiderman character is captured most effectively. I first saw this back in 1986 when I rented the video. All these years later, I still like this 1977 effort. Nicholas Hammond immediately made the character of Peter Parker his own. I can actually envision him in the role and I have yet to see another actor play that character just as well. It is common knowledge that a stunt double was employed for the scenes with Spiderman but that's OK. Being a pilot episode, the regular series made a few changes: David White is cast as J.Jonah Jameson and the actress who plays Aunt May here is different. The character of Robbie Robertson was written out by the time the regular series began, Rita had yet to make an appearance, the sets for the Daily Bugle are different to those used for the later episodes and the music is completely different. Only Michael Pataki as the gruff Police Captain remained for the series, apart from Nicholas Hammond. The plot is fairly straightforward which is good. Thayer David is good as the main villain as he extorts the city of New York for a total of $50,000,000. He has under his control, the lives of several New York citizens who have been brainwashed into carrying out various robberies across the city. After being bitten by a radioactive spider, Peter Parker narrowly avoids being run over by a car that is being driven by one of the brainwashed citizens. There follows Parker's efforts to adapt to his newly acquired superpowers by scaling walls, stopping a thief, saving a man who nearly jumps out of a window. As Spiderman, he locates the hideout of the villains on top of a skyscraper (naturally) and engages in a pretty good fight scene against three armed guards. There is one good shot where the stunt man is able to attach himself to the ceiling and this was done in one take. I still don't know how this was achieved. It's true that some of the shots of Spiderman scaling walls aren't so convincing but lack of time and money are a factor here. The recent films of the last few years may be riddled with CGI but they make for terrible viewing all the time. Also, we see two different camera shots of some brave soul who swings his way from the top of one skyscraper to another! It's not surprising that scenes like this were rare as it was too dangerous. David White makes for a very good J. Jonah Jameson. He is rather harsh on both Peter Parker and Spiderman. With the former, Jameson never fails to become cantankerous and disagreeable and with the latter character, he always criticises Spiderman for being "a one-man army," for being a threat to society etc. It is difficult to decide who was the best J. Jonah Jameson as Robert F. Simon is brilliant later on in the series. There is always something of interest happening in "Spiderman." I love the scenes at the Daily Bugle, there are some very good lines. This, along with the pilot episode of "The Incredible Hulk" from the same year, is by far the most satisfactory attempt by Hollywood in adapting "Marvel Comic" superhero characters for the small screen. The pilot episodes of "Captain America" and "Doctor Strange" weren't so successful. Watch this very first live action "Spiderman" television film and enjoy!