The Incredible Hulk TV series

[Michael Knight]

Working my way through the box set of this at moment and I'm enjoying it just as much as when I a kid with my dad. For me Bill Bixby made this show with his portrayal of 'David' Banner! A fantastic actor who went before his time (sadly like my own father).
I cant believe Marvel made two Hulk standalone films and still cant get it right. 

[Jim_Campbell]

'Grayson' and 'Joyride' writer Jackson Lanzing recently made the very astute observation that the difference between the Bixby TV series and the movie versions of the Hulk is that Bixby Banner is a man more or less paralysed by fear and that Ferrigno Hulk is his conscience unbound.

Ferrigno Hulk frees Bixby Banner to act... the man is empowered by the monster, so we root for him in a way that we don't when the movie versions try very hard to convince us that Banner is the hero and Hulk is the villain, requiring them to provide an even worse villain to justify releasing the Hulk.

Cheers

Jim

[Dandontdare]

I used to get really frustrated with the TV series as a kid because there just wasn't enough Hulk, and he wasn't nearly strong enough - all he ever did was growl; and toss people about; and occasionally lift a car slightly or punch through a thin plaster wall.

It was also the first time I really noticed how formulaic some shows were because you could set your watch by it - there would be precisely two hulk-outs per episode, one about half way through and one at the end, the remaining 45 minutes would be some soppy housewife single mum mooning over Bill Bixby.

[JamesC]

Yeah these old shows were very formulaic but I really rate The Incredible Hulk. Bixby really is terrific as Banner and Ferrigno is a slightly cheesy but loveable Hulk (when he's not chucking blokes over low walls in slow motion he has the odd tender moment with a child or innocent bystander). I too used to love watching this with my dad.

With the success of Batman 66 I wonder if Marvel may consider a Bixby Hulk comic? While they're at it they could do my dream team up of 70s TV wandering adventurers - The Incredible Hulk and The Littlest Hobo.

[Michael Knight]

A bixby Hulk comic in the vein of batman 66 would be great!

[Heath C Ackley]

Loved the show as a kid. Funny, every time I hear the end theme now I'm reminded of this:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=94pEjQAzGG8

[SuperSurfer]

When Marvel started producing comics in the UK, it felt like a bad dream when the weeklies changed format. And in the new Hulk comic the (other) green skinned behemoth went all TV Hulk on us.

[JamesC]

^^^Needs to be reprinted.

[Mardroid]

I really liked Bixby's Banner. And the show was definitely good, but I never really took to itlong term because it was so very repetitive.

I remember really enjoying the made for TV film with the Thor battle and team up. That was a cheesy rather stupid version of Thor, (the Marvel Thor is actually very intelligent) but it was a fun film which did something a bit different.

As for the Hulk films,.I found the Ang Lee Hulk film rather pretentious. I liked the portrayal of the Hulk himself though. The way he moves is probably the closest to the comics we've ever had.

I rather liked the Marvel Hulk film though. It's not the best of the Marvel films by a long shot, but I thought it a decent film, and the depiction of Banner and the Hulk seemed pretty spot on.

[TordelBack]

As for the Hulk films,.I found the Ang Lee Hulk film rather pretentious. I liked the portrayal of the Hulk himself though. The way he moves is probably the closest to the comics we've ever had.

Yeah, the Hulk himself is a fantastic creation - his leaping about in the desert is hypnotic, great stuff.  As for the rest, pretentious twaddle covers it. Like most of Ang Lee's work, IMHO.

While the Incredible Hulk movie Hulk model is okay, and the Avengers Hulk rather better, both of those latter Banners are simply terrific: Ed Norton in a very true-to-the-comics way, Mark Ruffalo in a just plain awesome character way.

Sadly I never found the Bixby/Ferrigno series anything but disappointing and frequently depressing. The episode where Banner remembers his grandmother's death for half the running time sticks in my mind as the point my young self gave up on any hope of seeing Hulk fighting the Mole Man.



Can't you just hear Moore intoning: "But there we must leave Ed Edkins to brave the elements..."?

[Professor Bear]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5zsprxUTBM

[ThryllSeekyr]

I used to get really frustrated with the TV series as a kid because there just wasn't enough Hulk, and he wasn't nearly strong enough - all he ever did was growl; and toss people about; and occasionally lift a car slightly or punch through a thin plaster wall.

It was also the first time I really noticed how formulaic some shows were because you could set your watch by it - there would be precisely two hulk-outs per episode, one about half way through and one at the end, the remaining 45 minutes would be some soppy housewife single mum mooning over Bill Bixby.

Loved the series as a kid more than you have, but could never bring myself to buy the very first adaption of the full television series in a time when that film was made back in the early naughts. (2001 or 2 or 3).

Speaking of that type of television series the same footage of a very tall man dress as one of the great  cryptic legends leaping high into the air because it was easier & cheaper to it this way.

Bigfoot & Wild Boy

Looking back on it now, I miss that type of show (It was one of the better ones from that Kroft-Super-Show) and still think it's marvellous work with the costume. Still looks authentic to me to this day & better than what I had seen in recent tele-movie I watched over a fortnight ago about a similar creature. I originally thought this was Harry & Hendersons, but turns out to be sorry imitation.

 
About that reused footage.....

Maybe not!

[DaveGYNWA]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5zsprxUTBM

Ha - I loved the show back when I was a kid but I remember that fight clearly and thinking "Nah, done."...it was later in my life that I realised it was a "jumped the shark" moment that I had experienced.

Fun Fact re: the Hulk movie with Thor in it, which was mentioned earlier - if you have kids who watch a Disney TV show called "Good Luck Charlie" then tell the kids that the dad in that used to be Thor.

[Theblazeuk]

My favourite bit of the Incredible Hulk was when he visited Sunderland:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x36i88b

Dr David Banner... runnin'. Always runnin'.

(Literally the only thing I can think of whenever I see the Hulk)

[CrazyFoxMachine]

My favourite bit of the Incredible Hulk was when he visited Sunderland:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x36i88b

Dr David Banner... runnin'. Always runnin'.

(Literally the only thing I can think of whenever I see the Hulk)

YES I quote this ALL OF THE TIME.