I recently checked up on old favorites from my kiddy days. You know, Spiderman, Highlander series, not to mention the Gummi Be… Anyway, point is, it was a trip down memory lane that brought up some fun classics from the past. Some of these shows are laughably funny now while others still look pretty awesome. How bad did it get in the good old days? Have we learnt since then?

The Amazing Spider-man

Does anyone remember this gem from the 70's? It was called The Amazing Spider-Man and it was laugh-out-loud funny. It's nothing like the modern spidey movies; no fancy fights, no diabolical plots by evil geniuses, nothing. It was more of a half-hearted attempt to reel in viewers who were not comic book fans. I didn't watch all the episodes of this one. But I do remember a number of episodes where good old spidey gets caught or injured and the female character kept taking off his mask. Considering there was a new female character for every other episode, this did not bode well for old spidey-legs. Even if they promised to keep his secret. Somewhere out there, there is a secret society of women who have made out with spidey and have sworn to keep his ID secret. This could be a series in itself! By the way, it seems that Stan Lee was quite 'meh' about this show. He thought it was a bit on the kiddy side. And yet, Disney + Spidey is okay?

The Incredible Hulk

Then there was The Incredible Hulk, again from the 70s. When I rewatched it recently, it was cheesiness personified. Which was a shame since I was quite impressed with this series when I was a kid. It must have been a theme for the 70s; again, my memories of this series consist of a bulky figure running through walls in order to save some woman or the other. Funnily enough, his car lifting, wall-smashing tactics was quite endearing and we were willing to forgive the lack of plot. But then I was 8 or 9, what did I know? By the way, here's a weird fact for you. You know why they didn't use the name 'Bruce Banner' for hulk in this show? Er, apparently one of the behind the scenes guy thought it “was too homosexual”. Oh my, what kind of stupid justification is that?!

Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman

Alright, I admit it, I watched this once upon a time. This is more embarrassing than admitting I liked the Hulk series. To be fair, it was the character interaction … no, there is no way I can justify it. This show was more about the love angles and friendships between various characters as opposed to exploring any cool superhero activities. You know, like fighting Doomsday and such. Wonder if I will still like that episode where they pick his costume? I just found it and yep, it's still awesome (who can hate that song!).

Bionic Woman

From the 70s, not the nightmarish remake that came out 3 years ago. This was a must-watch series when I was a little brat. A strong kickass woman with superhero-like fighting all sorts of enemies … what's to dislike? Again, this seems more cheesy now and might appear dated compared to modern stuff. I mean, the hair, the clothes, some of the really bad effects? Then again, I don't think modern TV shows do justice to female characters anyway. If I think about it, this show still remains as a great SF show with an awesome female role model.

Mutant X

Initially, I was excited about this show. How bad could it be? Superheroes with powers similar to X-men, I mean it might work out better than some of the movie adaptations. Turns out, it didn't. I think they had a nice idea going there but I figure they lost the plot when it came to creating the various characters. For a while there it seemed like they wanted to add to the folks' powers as opposed to developing each character as they become more used to their abilities. One series that got it right in this regard is Sanctuary. Similar concept but with a better storyline and excellent direction.