Spider-man and The Dragon's Challenge - SPIDER-MAN 77 Fan Site

Spider-man and The Dragon's Challenge - Plot
Feature length pilot episode. First aired on Friday, July 6th 1979.
Plot written by Matthew Fittes

Min Lo Chan, a successful businessman in Hong Kong, boards a Pan Am flight to New York, unaware that his actions are being watched by the aide of an associate to a rival businessman by the name of Zeider. Stunned as to how he was allowed to leave Hong Kong with charges to his name, and informed that there is someone in America who can prove Chan is innocent, Zeider sends his associate, known as Evans, to go to New York and, although opposed to violence, orders Evans to kill Chan.

In New York, Chan, along with his niece Emily, have gone to the offices of the Daily Bugle with J Jonah James on after having lunch, and while Rita looks after Emily by going on a tour of the place, Chan discloses to Jameson about his activities regarding being an agent whose task was to obtain secret information about Mao and his army, with the aid of three US Marines stationed in China during 1946. These three Marines Chan is trying to find, but when Jameson says he can get his friends in the State Department to help, Chan says he doesn't want them involved and then reveals about the specific charges against him name, that being the murder of a schoolteacher who brought Chan and the Marines together. Jameson comes up with an alternative, being that of a US Major that Peter Parker did a feature about and gets hold of Parker to see if he would be able to get the information required.

The next day Parker and Chan are down in the morgue of the Daily Bugle where they try to find files on the three marines which they now have names for, one being Jonathan Fleming who Parker searches for first, but the presence of an assassin disguised as a maintenance man triggers Parker's spider sense, prompting him to excuse himself. Chan continues to look for the files, with the assassin stalking the area and almost nearing Chan's location after hearing him cough due to blowing off dust from the file he removed from the cabinet, only to be stopped by the presence of Spider-Man who blocks the assassin's path by pushing over the filing cabinets close by. A chase ensues in the main printing area of the Bugle, ending with the assassin being stopped and knocked cold by Spider-Man after throwing a bundle of copies of the Bugle at his legs. The police are called and the assassin taken into custody. Jameson is astounded that the assassin was able to get into the building undetected, and when told by Rita that coverage of the attempt will be in the next edition of the Bugle she and Parker are told to kill the story and not to talk about it.

Parker goes to visit Chan the following day at his niece's apartment with the information on the three Marines, unaware that Evans and his goons are sitting in a car waiting to go in and take out Chan. It is while he is sitting with Chan and Emily that his spider sense is triggered by Evans et Al at the door and armed. Parker slowly moves towards the bedroom before quickly entering and closing the door. One of Evans's goons goes after him but finds the room empty and the window open. Evans says it doesn't matter as the got what they after and takes the files before they are about to kill Chan. But they are thwarted again as Parker returns as Spider-Man. Evans gets away with the files leaving the goons to take on Spider-Man but to no avail as he knocks them cold and binds them with his webbing. The shock of all that happened causes Chan to suffer a heart attack, and is seen taken away on a stretcher when Parker returns. Emily blames him for running away, calling him a coward and telling him to leave her and her uncle alone.

Later that evening Parker is at his apartment talking to Julie Masters, telling her that Rita has taken the information regarding one of the Marines whose name is revealed as Lou Stemple, and that he wants Julie to look for another whose name is Martin Fulmer, while Parker says he will take Fleming. He tells her to stick to using the phone as the ones who tried to kill Chan also have the information. Julie asks if he knows how Chan is doing to which he says he doesn't, with Julie reassuring him that the heart attack seemed to have been brought on by the thugs entering and waving their guns around while Parker says that he is being blamed by Emily for running off. He shuts himself off and Julie leaves.

In his hotel room, Evans talks to Zeider on the phone telling him that Chan is in hospital, and asks about what to do about Parker, to which Zeider tells him to get rid of him. The next day the man Evans gets to tail and dispose of Parker follows Parker to the University where he has found Fleming, working as a Professor under the name of Roderick Dent. Parker's spider sense alerts him of the man tailing him before he finds Dent and asks if he could speak with him. Dent informs him that he has got an urgent dental appointment but can spare a couple of minutes. Parker confronts him about Min Lo Chan and tells him that he knows his real name which angers Fleming, raspily telling Parker that he is going to ignore the conversation before going off to his appointment. Parker drives back to town, noticing the man tailing him in his rear view mirror, and prompting him to drive into a nearby car park where he rushes out and changes into Spider-Man. The man following him stalks the car park to see if he can find Parker, who as Spider-Man is hiding between two cars nearby. He removes a wheel nut from one of the cars, tosses it to get the attention of the man who turns to where the nut hit, and binds him with his webbing while he is distracted. An interrogation of the man leads him to reveal they plan to kill Chan in the hospital he is in as well as obtaining a microfilm reel from the Subway museum in the city. Spider-Man leaves the bound man for the police to find and put into custody.

Later that evening Parker, Jameson, Julie and Emily are at the hospital visiting Chan when Parker discloses that there will be another attempt to kill Chan the next night. When Emily asks how he knows this he tells her the information came from Spider-Man and that they're both friends. The four of them agree on an idea to fake Chan's death by reporting it in the Bugle and the Register, which Chan also agrees to. Chan also says he will help fund Parker's and Emily's trip to China with the ex Marines to testify and help clear his name.

The next day Parker spots two goons going to the Subway and follows them down to where they are going to pick up the microfilm on the three ex Marines. He changes into Spider-Man and climbs on top of the car where the microfilm is hidden. When the goons obtain it, he jumps down between them and knocks the microfilm out of their hands. After picking it up himself, Spider-Man gets away by running down the railtrack, but is soon immobilised by one of the goons who shoots him. Going to finish the job, the goon is told by his colleague to leave him there as the train will finish him off. As the train comes along, Spider-Man regains consciousness and swiftly gets off the track just before the train passes him by. Still stunned by the shot, he gets away.

Later that day, Parker is met by both Rita and Julie outside his apartment block with the editions of both the Bugle and the Register with the fake story of Chan's death. They also inform him about the ex Marines they were assigned to look into - Stemple is dead and Fulmer is in intensive care. Parker tells them that he has found Fleming but tells them that he ran away when confronted with the truth of who he is. Julie tells him that he needs to get Fleming to co-operate which Parker agrees with.

In Evans's hotel room, the goon hired to get the microfilm tells him that Spider-Man took it, and that he must've been tipped off about it. Evans fake shoots him by just pointing the gun and shouting 'bang' at him before laughing. The goon wonders what is going on, to which the other hired goon who was in the hospital the night before throws him the edition of the Bugle with the story of Chan's death. Evans tells them to keep an eye on Parker while he returns to Hong Kong to give Zeider the good news.

The next day, Parker goes back to the University where Fleming is teaching at and confronts him again, this time with the ammunition of knowing Fleming robbed and killed the teacher who brought him, his Marine buddies Fulmer and Stemple, and Chan together. Fleming reveals to Parker that is was his buddy Stemple who shot the teacher and stole the money, as well as disclosing he has a letter from Stemple asking for Fleming's forgiveness. Parker says that with that letter and testimony he could be able to help clear Chan's name. Fleming finally agrees and hopes that this will help to clear his own name in the process.

Evans has returned to Hong Kong with a copy of the Bugle showing the article of Chan's death and shows it to Zeider. Zeider tells him that he has been fooled, that the article was a ruse. He also tells him that Parker, Emily and Fleming are coming to Hong Kong to testify and clear Chan's name, and that they need to be liquidated, else the Hong Kong newspapers will learn of Evans's death. Evans decides that he will pick the men he needs to do the job.

Parker, Emily and Fleming arrive in Hong Kong, and are greeted by someone with a message for Emily. The message tells her to meet Chan's cousin, which makes Parker a little suspicious as nothing was said prior to this. Emily and Fleming reassure him that this is Hong Kong, not New York, and that everything should be fine. But they are unaware that their actions are being watched by two of Evans's men.

Parker, Emily and Fleming go and meet with Chan's cousin, who proves he is by a photo he had been given by Chan of Emily. He provides them with protection in the form of two aides who will be their guards while they tour the city until the red tape is lifted in order for them to cross the border.

The next day the three of them, along with the two bodyguards, are touring the city, still unaware that they are being followed by Evans's aides. While watching some of the citizens doing their shadow boxing routine, Evans is choosing the men who will be responsible for trying to liquidate the trio.

During the course of the tour of the city, a female who has been following the trio hears what they plan on doing after lunch, which is a visit to the Aberdeen Street Market. She reports this to her colleague, who in turn reports this to Evans. This gives them the perfect opportunity to ambush them.

Parker, Emily and Fleming arrive at the market. Parker notices that it could get really crowded in there, and slips a tracer into Fleming's jacket pocket undetected. They go into the market, with the guards closely behind. However the men chosen by Evans to ambush them are waiting near a stall selling fabrics, which the three of them are walking by. They quickly push a cart inbetween them to separate them, and that gives them the perfect opportunity to kidnap Fleming. The guards go in to stop them, Parker tells Emily to run back to the hotel, and while the fight goes on he slips away to change into Spider-Man. Ad Spider-Man he appears on the harbour to see the hired thugs cart an unconscious Fleming onto one of the boats. They start to get away while Spider-Man gets into another boat and tails them. He is soon spotted by one of them, and they turn to try and ambush him. Spider-Man's boat runs out of fuel and as the thugs close in on him he gets away by spinning a strand from his webshooter and scales it.

Evans visits Zeider and tells him that they have apprehended Fleming, which pleases Zeider. Evans tells him that they will take him to a farm in the new territories, where he says he will not be known and can have a peaceful death. While this is going on, posters of Fleming have been placed around Hong Kong, and Parker and Emily scour the city and the surrounding areas in a helicopter to try and find him; it is then that Parker reveals he put a tracer in Fleming's pocket in order to help locate him. It's as they circle the farming area that the tracer gives off the strongest signal. They land and Parker puts on a disguise of a Chinese local so as not to be easily recognised by those who took Fleming.

By use of walkie talkies, Parker and Emily communicate with each other. While Parker is out searching for where the signal came from, Evans and one of the men leave a nearby store with a crate of soda when Evans spots a poster showing Fleming's face. They go back to where they are keeping Fleming, who is now blindfolded and bound so as not to be able to escape. After seeing the posters of Fleming, he calls Zeider from where they are holding Fleming to inform him about the posters the police have put up. He says he will wait for Zeider to call him back upon his decision about what to do with Fleming.

Zeider calls back, and tells him to move Fleming away from the farm and to the Aberdeen Harbour. They get a crate which they saw outside the store they bought the soda from and put him in that before transporting him in a van. While this is happening, Parker is wandering round following the signal from the tracer, and when the van passes him he notices the signal goes from being really strong to getting weaker. When he mentions this to Emily she points out the van which passed him. He tells her to pick him up where he got dropped off and from the air they follow the van to the restaurant on the harbour.

At the harbour Parker pretends to be unloading some stuff off a cart while keeping surveillance of the henchmen Evans hired to ambush the trio at the Aberdeen Street Market. After seeing the ones on the rooftop patio of the Hong Kong Restaurant he rushes off to change into Spider-Man. He takes them on and after knocking them to the ground he traps them in a web before preparing to stop Evans and the remaining henchmen down below, now on a junk with the crate containing Fleming. When one of them spots Spider-Man he fires a tranquillizer dart which hits Spider-Man in the arm. Feeling dizzy, Spider-Man falls into the water below. The henchmen escape, leaving Spider-Man to float unconscious in the water.

A junk soon comes along and the two people in it pick up Spider-Man and take him to the edge of the harbour where Emily and some aides come down and collect him. They take him to a doctor who pulls out the dart which knocked him out. Emily signals to remove Spider-Man's mask, which to her shock reveals that he is Peter Parker. The doctor starts to use acupuncture to bring Parker around. Parker slowly wakens and when he opens his eyes he sees Emily standing there. She says she feels a fool for calling him a coward and not knowing that he is Spider-Man. He asks Emily where Fleming got taken, but Emily tells him the doctor says he should rest. Parker insists that she tells him where Fleming is, to which she tells him they followed them to the Connaught Tower. Parker asks Emily to tell the doctor to remove the needles, which she does and the doctor reluctantly complies.

In the Connaught Tower Zeider arrives to his office, where he finds Evans sitting there waiting and Fleming tied to a chair. Zeider isn't impressed seeing them there, even after being told that they were ambushed by Spider-Man at the harbour. He tells Evans that they will wait until it is dark to deal with Fleming.

Meanwhile Spider-Man is scaling the outside of the Connaught Tower towards the top where Fleming is. As he gets to the top he spots one of the henchmen on patrol. He climbs over the barrier after checking the signal of the tracer and shoots a line from his webshooter, binding the henchman. He then proceeds to try and locate the exact position of Fleming via his tracer. He is then blocked by two more henchmen, who he immobilises by shooting a web before carrying on to find Fleming. The signal gets stronger and finally locates Fleming, and as soon as Spider-Man is about to get to the outer entrance of Zeider's office where Fleming is held he is stopped by another henchman who tries to stop him. Spider-Man soon overpowers him and binds him to the rail before entering Zeider's office. They spot Spider-Man and try to stop him. Evans pulls out a gun but Spider-Man swiftly slides across the table to knock him to the ground. Zeider tries to leave but Spider-Man quickly gets to the end of the table near the door, shoots a line from his webshooter which latches onto the handle, and yanks the door to knock Zeider out. He then takes off the blindfold which was covering Fleming's eyes, allowing him to notice Spider-Man there and being surprised to see him outside of New York, and unties his hands from the chair before calling the police who arrive to take Evans, Zeider and the henchmen away.

The following day Parker and Fleming are preparing to leave for New York when Emily comes to thank Fleming for clearing Chan's name and telling him that he his doing much better. Parker takes Emily by the hand and asks if his secret - him being Spider-Man - is safe with her to which she says it is, before saying she won't have anyone to tell as she is staying in Hong Kong to learn what it is to be Chinese. Parker understands and tells her that he will miss her, but also says that he now has a reason to return to Hong Kong when Emily asks him if would ever return. After kissing Emily he tells her he will always remember her in Chinese, and after being told he said it perfectly she tells him the same but in English, and goes with Parker to see him off on the plane to New York.