User reviews

Old cartoon with poor visual quality for today but decent for the time it was made. Episode plots are bordering on the mundane and there are some awkward script choices. It's not bad but it has aged badly.

This TV series has yet to be released here in the United States on DVD. Among the uncut presentations of the episodes, fans also want the documentary "Spider-Man: On The Move" from CBS affiliates KDKA Pittsburgh and KPIX San Francisco, the teasers, the separate intros, and more. "Spider-Friends, GO FOR IT!!!!"

This was one of my favorite Spider-Man cartoons I saw growing up. I also saw the other 80s Spider-Man cartoon where he's by himself, but I liked it better with Iceman and Firestar. There were more supervillians and more guest superheroes (like Captain America, Iron Man, the Fantastic Four, The Incredible Hulk, and the X-Men) It was a very fun series which I very much enjoyed.

When I was a little kid I was going to have an apartment with a statue that, when moved, turned the place into a super hero base of operation when I grew up.

Now I have a few computers and a Kindle Fire and they are all in plain sight and not hidden at all and the little kid that still dwells within me hates me for not disguising them...even though now everyone owns a computer.

Anyway, Spiderman, Ice Man, and the made for TV hero that ended up still having a cool presence but not as cool or important as X23 named Firestar round off a cast includes Aunt May.

I still love it...and that transforming apartment.

the series is cool and....then they visit the X-Men and you are in little kid heaven even though at the time I was too young to really know what Comic books were or who the X-men were or why Spidey couldn't be on the team but I knew, i knew that it was important and awesome and...

...and this is a reason why My generation, the last to really experience Saturday Morning Cartoons feels so bad for the kids that came after us that only had video games to keep them occupied early in the mornings when they were stuck waiting for mom and dad to wake up.

It's hard to believe it's been nearly 14 years since the movie Iron Man kicked off the global phenomenon that has since become known as The Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise, a franchise that has turned a whole generation of movie goers into superhero fans.

Now with all the action transferred onto our television screens as well, with shows like Wandavision, Loki and Hawkeye the now predominant superhero genre is far from over and looks set to go from strength to strength.

But where did it all begin? Where did people like me, children of of the 70's and 80's get our superhero fix back in the day? Before the MCU (over)exposure?

Well of course it began with the comic books, but as classic superhero screen time goes, it was the Saturday morning cartoons that roused and maintained our interest and Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends was perhaps the best of them all.

Spider-Man first appeared in cartoon form back in 1967 with the now famous theme tune that boasted (rather inaccurately) how "Spider-Man, Spider-man, does whatever a Spider can" but it was a short lived project and apart from another short lived (and now extremely dated and cringeworthy) live action attempt in 1977 starring Nicholas Hammond the character was destined to remain comic book fodder indefinitely.

That was until the early 80's when thanks to Spidey co-creator Stan Lee and the newly found Marvel Productions there came a boom time for Superhero cartoons and Spider-Man was set to feature very highly in its plans. Two Spider-Man themed shows were rushed into production, almost simultaneously.

The first was 'Spider-Man' a solo series that pitted the webslinger up against many of the Supervillains on Marvel's roster. The other was this one 'Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends' which followed exactly the same premise.

Only two things differ between the two. Firstly Spider-Man/Peter Parker is voiced by a different actor in the latter series (otherwise he is identical) and in Amazing Friends and as the title suggests it gives Spidey two superhero friends to join forces with.

The first of these friends was Bobby Drake who was able to produce snow and ice from the molecules in the air and transform himself in to a human ice structure known as Iceman. Iceman was an old character originally featured in the X-men series of comic books dating back to 1963..only one year after Spider-Man's original debut. Iceman was the amiable and affable comic relief often the one with the one liner or gag to offer in any given situation and transported himself about everywhere on a self made ice slide which was pretty cool, but which seemed to disappear very quickly even as quickly as the next shot.

The other 'Amazing Friend' was Firestar/Angelica Jones. Where Iceman was all about the cold, Firestar generated her own inexhaustible supply of unlimited heat and fire, but to make her more than just the polar opposite of Iceman they made sure Firestar could fly as well.

Unlike Spider-Man and Iceman, Firestar was a brand new creation specifically invented for this show. She also had more than just a passing similarity to The Human Torch from the Fantastic Four series and that was by no means an accident.

The Human Torch, was set to be the third friend in this show, but it was decided at the last minute to leave the Johnny Storm character within the foursome to which he belonged, and so a brand new character was created along much the same lines..the main difference being that Firestar does not fully engulf herself in flames like Johnny Storm does.

When not out and about Superheroing, they all attend the nearby University and all have digs at Peter Parker's Aunt May's house. With one turn of a bust on the mantlepiece, their questionably rather spacious student digs transforms into a state of the high tech super hero base of operations which in one episode is explained as being a thank you gesture from none other than Tony Stark and he's not the only 'Avenger' they meet as the series progresses. There are a lot of crossover characters from other stories along the way.

This show really is the full package. Not only three great superhero's, but countless villains, humour, action and great GREAT music. What's not to like.

Spider-men will come and go, but this for me will always be my favourite 'incarnation' of the character. If such a word can be used for an animated drawing.

It's on Disney+ now which is the reason I've been able to revisit those long lost early 1980's Saturday mornings of my youth. Usually going back to things is a mistake. They are never quite as good as you remembered them to be. "Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends' is an exception to that rule, it is every bit as good.. maybe better.

This show was a really unexpected and pleasant surprise! I loved it, the episodes, the plot, all the characters, I got to know so many new Marvel characters!

I used to watch these over and over as a child thanks to Mum and Dad recording them when they were on the telly and now Disney+ has the whole lot! This really take me back to my childhood in a great way

As a kid I used to love this show. Unlike the Superfriends it balanced the humor with nice action sequences. Superfriends at times were a bit too silly but this show balanced it well. As well as having good plots. This was a very enjoyable show to watch and Iceman and firestar were amazing friends.

The only flaw this show has is that Frank Welker's Iceman sounds too much like Fred from Scooby-Doo.

This is my personal favorite TV show of all time-- and my favorite action cartoon of the 1980's.. I still remember the great fun I had watching new adventure of Spider-man with the "new" heroes Iceman and Firestar (the latter of course, being totally new). It introduced me to X-Men and other aspects of the Marvel Universe. It had great writing and funny, witty exchanges between all three characters. For whatever reason, nowadays certain people look down on it-- usually because of the animation quality-- Most of it wasn't groundbreaking, but it wasn't "Rocky & Bullwinkle" either... Overall, it was very satisfying for me. I wish I could get the show on a DVD boxed set. I even emailed Disney/Buena Vista, who currently own the video rights. They sent me a nice disclaimer/rejection letter, along with my original missive..

SPIDERMAN AND HIS AMAZING FRIENDS (1981-1986) is a cool classic animated superhero series, featuring Spiderman. The superhero trio / friends (Spider-man, Firestar and Iceman) team up to stop crime and save innocent people from criminal. This was a fun series!

"Spider-Man battles crime in New York City with the help of his good friends and colleagues Iceman and Firestar."

This series is fun to watch, especially as a Marvel-fan, superhero-loving kid. These throwback cartoons are still fun to watch even today, in my opinion. Watch if you enjoy Marvel cartoons, Spiderman and superhero action! ..

So amazing . . . This is a must see, and a true classic! You don't have to be a comic book fan to appreciate this!

This was and is one of best Spider-Man cartoons ever made. Previous Spider-Man cartoons (there were two) didn't explain the origins of Spider-Man or his enemies. Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends does this for Spider-Man, Ice-Man, Firestar and several of the villains. There were however some differences between the comics and the TV series. I must add that these differences will likely only be noticeable to Marvel comics fans.

First in the comics, Spider-Man and Ice-Man are much older than Firestar(10 years at least), so the idea of them all going to school together doesn't make any sense. Second the way Bobby Drake transforms into Ice-Man is way overblown, in the comics he merely wills the transformation and a coating of ice forms around his body. Lastly Ice-Man and Firestar were not members of the X-Men at the same time as shown in Firestar's origin story; when Firestar became a member of the X-Men, Ice-Man had long left the team.

Anyway these differences were probably done on purpose, the emphasis being on entertainment rather than realism. I enjoyed watching Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends twenty years ago and is definitely worth checking out!

I suppose most Spidey fans must despise this show because of it's rather small connection to the comics, but the main reason I liked it was because Spidey got Iceman (Bobby Drake) and Firestar (Angelica Jones) from the X-Men on his side, Iceman was mostly a neglected character in the Marvel Universe although he was one of the original 5 X-Men. Firestar didn't even exist until she was introduced into the show, but she later made her first comic appearance in Uncanny X-Men #193 . For the most part I watched the show because Iceman was my favorite superhero, Spider-Man still kicks ass though, Firestar was pretty cool..or should I say hot... I really enjoyed the show and you should check it out although by today's standards, this show is considered 80's trash to new fans, it is a guilty pleasure of mine and many other Spider-Man fans...

I was thinking this cartoon was only on a couple of years, but according to imdb it was on for a good while. Well, I watched it when I was a kid and I remember it being one of my favorite cartoons...though when I started to collect the comics I realized it was a kind of weird team-up. Iceman being a member of the X-men and I am not sure how Firestar was used in the comics back then. I do know that it worked and I am not the only one who liked this series otherwise it wouldn't have been on for so long. One episode I remember had the three friends and some other marvel superheroes going to this house of some villain (it might have been Kraven), and the villain uses the superheroes weaknesses against them. He pitted Firestar and Iceman against each other, and the Submariner accidentally swam in a pool full of alcohol. In the end Spiderman saved the day, as he didn't have an apparent weakness.

I loved this show as a kid, Spider-man, Iceman and Firestar all teaming up against the evil villains of new york city such as the Green Goblin, Kraven The Hunter and The Scorpion and many more.

I have a few of the episodes still on tape and I still love the show, even though the animation is seriously dated, the voice acting is superb for an 80's cartoon.

Frank Welker is easily recognisable as Bobby "Iceman" Drake in his Freddie "Scooby Doo" Jones voice as is Dan Gilvezan as Peter Parker/Spiderman voice as it's exactly the same voice he used for Bumblebee in Transformers.

I didn't recognize Linda Gary as Firestar though, guess that's what made her such a good voice actor.

But it was a classic show, alright it might not have the on-going storylines and spidey facing moral dilemmas as the 90's and MTV Spiderman shows have, but it was the 80's every kid back then who was a spider-fan loved these shows.

Bring on the DVD's of this show and the other Spider-man show of 1981 :)

Spider-Man cartoons have always been great and I think this series was probably the best.

Spider-Man teamed up with Iceman and Firestar every week to battle all kinds of villains. It was great fun watching the three superheroes battling the likes of Dracula. The voice artists responsible for the cartoon characters really seemed to put some emotion into the characters.

To the best of my knowledge this show hasn't been repeated in the UK that often since it first aired. I would recommend it to anyone who likes Spider-Man cartoons. And what can I say about Iceman? Wow!

Try and hunt down some videos of this show if you can.

Spider-Man was a loner and always has been. It's fun to see one favorite character to team up with another favorite character but this went a little out of hand. This series had Spider-Man, Iceman and Firestar (a character who did not exist in comics when this came around I believe) in an alliance against evil. Their alter egos also lived together in Aunt May's house. Really. I felt this show was not true in any way to Spider-Man unlike the other shows. It provides some enjoyment but not as much as the others.

this was good but not as good as the solo spider-man cartoons of the 80s these cartoons we never or hardly see the daily bugle why Ted Swartz never did do the voice of spider-man in this show is strange as this show was i think a follow up to the solo series of spider-man in the 80's though i did like the x-men as guests and seeing spider-man in the danger room other guest stars in show were the incredible hulk Dr strange prince namor captain America, x-men. some of the best shows here are the origin of the spider-friends the origin of firestar the origin of iceman. and my favourite along came a spider(spider-man's origin) for me tells spider-man origin the best out of all the spider-man cartoons

i hope these will be on DVD soon

One of the best series of the 80's, good fighting scenes and good characters. Undoubtedly, one of the best versions of Spiderman in cartoon. Highly recommend.

Spider Man and his amazing friends has given me the greatest memeories i had when i watched it. I remember this programme when i bought a video which contained some of the episodes, i remember the characters Iceman and the Firestar. I give this programme a great score 10 out of 10 because it is a programme that brings the memories back to you.

I loved this TV show as a kid, without having a problem with Spidey having friends.Firestar was my ideal, I loved Spidey, and Iceman had great sense of humour. Admire, emotions & laugh; I think these three things can get you totally attached to the main characters.

And here comes the big BUT. Knowing the original story, the "webisodes" of this series is like seeing Peter Parker's life in pink. His problems are always solved so easily, because his friends are always there to help him out, which of course they should do, but not having to face any bigger problems makes it less realistic. The other problem is that the series persists in ending every new adventure in 30 minutes. I personally hate it, when any kind of story is cut with a "To be continued..." sign, but from the point of view of the story, it can be useful if the writer has more time to work out the story, or add another great turn before the end.

All in all I think this series is like Peter Parker himself, before he had gotten his powers; a little odd, but loveable.