Spidey Super Stories — Season 1, Episode 5: Spider-Man Meets the Can Crusher
5 min • 3 seasons, 29 episodes
Episode synopsis
Long ago, a young boy visited a soup factory, but lost his pet frog in a vat of tomato soup. As an adult, the Can Crusher (Jim Boyd, sporting a Don King-type hairdo, a large red nose and wearing a black jumpsuit) visits supermarkets to find the can where his beloved frog may be, smashing them with a large hammer, causing a disturbance and a food shortage whenever he destroys cans in his vain efforts. Spidey is called on to help, and the Can Crusher disguises himself as the store manager. Spider-Man initially smashes the Can Crusher into a can display, but the Can Crusher retaliates and returns the blow, knocking Spidey unconscious. After his victory, the Can Crusher tells the viewer his story as told above, then escapes. Spidey then comes to and begins to contemplate how to defeat the Can Crusher the next time.
About Spidey Super Stories
A live-action, recurring skit on the PBS children's television series The Electric Company. Episodes featured the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man, provided to the Children's Television Workshop free of charge, and was played by puppeteer and dancer Danny Seagren. Stories involved the masked superhero foiling mischievous characters who were involved in petty criminal activities. The cast of The Electric Company played the roles of the various characters in each story, with another serving as narrator. In many of these sketches, viewers were addressed as "true believers." Unlike other live-action and cartoon productions of Spider-Man, this version of the web-slinging hero did not speak out loud, instead communicating only with word balloons, in order to encourage young viewers to practice their reading skills because he was drawn without a mouth. He also never appeared out of his costume as Peter Parker and, given the series' budget limitations, used his web-shooters sparingly.