35 Years On: Nicholas Hammond Reflects on Spidey

“Most importantly – Nick, who wins?  Spidey vs. Hulk…?”

Recently the L.A. Times’ Hero Complex feature ran an interview with the star of Spidey’s first live action series, Nicholas Hammond, who had some remarks on Spidey for the 35th anniversary of the CBS Spider-Man series from 1977.  Some highlights from the interview:

HC: What did you like about playing Peter Parker?

Nicholas Hammond: “The thing that any actor would love about playing Peter Parker is his vulnerability. The fact that he’s vulnerable and not a muscle-bound, rock-jawed superhero. He has asthma, he lives with his Aunt May, and he’s the nerd of all nerds. To go from that to having this burden thrust upon you… How do you deal with the moral responsibility of having this power? I thought that was an interesting question. I used to say, “I would really like it if someone tuned in late and they didn’t know they were watching a show based on a comic book.” I would want them to become involved in the story of a young man dealing with his problems. I would want it to come as a surprise that he’s also a superhero. I didn’t want the human part to be irrelevant. I wanted to investigate the idea that if he has to keep his identity secret what happens with girls? Any woman that he allows in his life becomes a target. If he entrusts her with his secret, then it’s going to be hugely dangerous to her. I was always intrigued by that idea. He’s a young guy who is very interested in girls but he can’t have a relationship. That’s his moral dilemma. We touched on it a little bit in a couple of episodes. I always thought it would be great to do an entire show on that — where he’s fallen head over heels for some girl and really wants to pursue her, but he can’t.”

“One of the things that I was very happy about — and I know that this didn’t please the orthodox comic book fans — but I was very happy that the nemeses that my Peter Parker faced were real people. They weren’t cartoon monsters. I know that in the films and because of the miracle of what they can do – that they can now have larger than life and fantastic evil forces that Peter goes against. Because of our budget limitations it would have been stupid for us to have attempted that. I was happy that Peter went up against drug syndicates, corrupt scientists and criminals. It kept the series more rooted in a world that I could relate to. If I were standing there with a sword in my hand and attacking a giant bumblebee, I would have thought, “Why am I here? This isn’t what I do.” If you convey three different emotions conflicting with one another — on one hand I want to save the woman who is about to die but on the other hand I don’t want her to find out my secret and at the same time I want to get my pictures back to the newspaper because I don’t want to lose my job — that to me is fun. That to me is acting.”

But who does he pick when it’s Spidey vs. Hulk?  You’ll have to head to the L.A. Times’ website and find out for yourself!

–George “This Makes Me Feel 5 Years Old Again” Berryman!