‘CLOUD CITY OF GOLD’

Please feel free to comment on my review.

This ‘Spider-Man’ episode has our web-slinging hero in a different part of the world for a change – the Andes. Judging from the episode’s title, you’d think the story would take place on an actual city in the clouds – like in the ‘Star Trek’ episode ‘The Cloud Minders’. But I don’t believe that’s the case.

Peter Parker flies over the Andes with a professor called Señor Fuentiz. They also have an unnamed pilot and an unnamed crewmember with them. I don’t know who this Professor Fuentiz is since he only makes one appearance in this ‘Spider-Man’ episode. We don’t even know how Peter met him.

Why is Peter travelling with this professor over the Andes? Is it for a newspaper story he’s doing? Speaking of which, we haven’t seen J. Jonah Jameson and Betty Brant in a while, have we? The plane that Peter, Fuentiz, the pilot and the crewmember travel in crash-lands onto an island, I believe it is.

The professor, the pilot and the crewmember survive but they find Peter gone. Very soon, Spider-Man swings in. I’m surprised that the professor, the pilot and the crewmember didn’t put two-and-two together that Spider-Man and Peter Parker were the same person. Can they be that dumb here?

Spidey with Professor Fuentiz, the pilot and the crewmember end up on a river journey to the Cloud City of Gold, ruled by a 15th century conquistador called DeVargas. The river journey could be exciting if it wasn’t for the animation feeling so static, despite a number of bats attacking our heroes.

The villain DeVargas isn’t all that impressive. I mean, I don’t know why he and his Aztec kind hate Spider-Man, the professor, the pilot and the crewmember so much when they come into his city. Mind you, I’m glad they didn’t have DeVargas as a green-skinned foe compared to some other foes.

I did get lost halfway through the episode when Peter was caught inside some sort of volcano since I was thinking about something else. That’s what these episodes tend to do when you’re watching them. They make you drift away. The fight between Spidey and the gold-made eagle was fun in this.

Very soon, Spidey and his friends escape before they’re rescued by helicopter. As I indicated, I’m surprised the professor, the pilot and the crewmember didn’t question whether Peter and Spidey was the same person. Peter waits for his friends at their damaged plane whilst Spidey has swung off.

‘Cloud City of Gold’ rating – 5/10