LOGIN
REGISTER
RSS
HOME
Loved that show as a kid, watched it every week.
Damn theme at the end of every episode could bring a tear to your eye.
One doesn’t need to see every episode to follow the adventures of David Banner (Bill Bixby). The opening credits alone give you all that you need to know what is going on with David Banner and his alter ego the Hulk (Lou Ferrigno). David Banner as the Hulk is wanted for a murder he didn’t commit. David is on the run and in constant search for a cure. An investigative reporter, Jack McGee (Jack Colvin) is always one step away from exposing David as the Hulk. David, being on the run, gets involved with people’s lives and the show really is a great mixture of Dr. Jekyll and Mister Hyde, Kung Fu and The Fugitive.
The Incredible Hulk TV series does have a formula to it that many younger viewers might find ridiculous. The show is one contained episode with only two recurring characters: David/ Hulk and Jack McGee. David always gets in over his head or tries to make a difference in someone’s life. He’ll then become the Hulk at the eighteen to twenty minute mark. David will remerge and be ready to move on again. All so he won’t endanger anyone but he’ll have to stay only to become the Hulk one more time. Then, cue the sad music, David will face the open road all alone again. Pretty simple, but it works over and over again.
There isn’t a cliffhanger from season two so we simply find David along the side of the road rescuing a female KISS type singer played by Mackenzie Phillips (One Day at a Time). “Metamorphosis” is obviously dated with hits “hard edged music”. The same song is played over and over again, and it has a “very special episode” approach towards drug use. Fans of producer’s Kenneth Johnson’s work will obviously recognize Gary Graham in a small role. Graham would go on to play Detective Matthew Sikes on Johnson’s Alien Nation TV Series. This was also one of the few episodes of the season that did have the surreal struggle between the Hulk and David Banner caged in the desert. Plus we get to see the Hulk on acid. Those “very special episodes” always have a fun pay off.
“The Slam” finds David sentenced to work on a chain gang. Willing to do his time and get out in thirty days, David is chained to the one guy who, of course, plans on escaping the day after David arrives. In this episode you’ll find a few choice genre actors. Blake, the escaping prisoner is played by Charles Napier (Rambo: First Blood Part 2). The warden is played by Marc Alaimo, Gul Dukat from Star Trek: DS9, making this his second appearance in the series. Robert Davi, the singing brother Jake Fratelli from the Goonies also has a small part. The episode basically starts out as the Great Escape but David actually uses Jack McGee’s obsession with the Hulk to benefit the plight of the prisoners and their harsh living conditions. This is probably one of the only episodes of the series to have the Hulk attacking from a tree.
“Behind the Wheel” hit a little too close to home (currently) with its social commentary about high gas prices (another joke would be made in this season’s “Deathmask” episode). Esther Rolle, Florida Evans (Good Times) plays a down on her luck, Taxi cab company owner who dupes David into working for her. David discovers that the mob is trying to close her down and tries to help out. It is your basic good guy to the rescue episode which wasn’t bad but there was one huge character flaw in the episode. David is driving a pregnant woman to the hospital and she goes into labor. Fearing they won’t make it on their near empty tank David goes for gas and has to wait in line. Then all this social commentary happens about people helping each other and believing when someone really is in need. The pregnant woman goes into labor as David gets into a fight and becomes the Hulk. David Banner is a physician and a scientist. Why didn’t he just pull over and deliver the baby? The Hulk fighting a rodeo bull in the previous episode “Jake” was more believable than David not helping this woman give birth.
“Homecoming” started out with David coming home to see his sister Helen, Diana Muldaur (Doctor Pulaski on Star Trek: TNG) for Thanksgiving. His whole family, like the rest of the world, believes him to be dead. Seeing them brings back memories and the entire back story to why David became a doctor. McGee, of course, comes to talk to them about seeing the Hulk near the property and realizes that these people are Banner’s family. Why he didn’t interview them sooner became a lingering question but the guy never really could catch Banner to begin with so he must have been too bright. The coup de grace of the episode is the Hulk coming face to face with his father and the father realizing what his son has done to himself.
In the very next episode David falls into “The Snare” which is this show’s version of The Most Dangerous Game. At first David becomes the unwitting prey for a rich man with too much time on his hands. After he learns David becomes the Hulk the hunt is really on. The funny thing is instead of switching weapons to something bigger the hunter keeps with his bow and arrows. Only in the seventies will you find someone hunting the Incredible Hulk with a bow and some arrows. This is a better than average episode for a plot that has been used in nearly every dramatic TV show in history.
“Proof Positive” is a great episode that starts out as a clip show episode but tells the story of reporter Jack McGee. McGee comes to find that his Hulk story has been cancelled by his rag of a tabloid called the Inquisitor. Gears for the episode quickly change and it becomes a love story and a story about redemption as McGee tries to convince his beautiful new editor in chief that he isn’t mad and that the Hulk does exist. It becomes a vindication for the character and a chance for Jack Colvin to show off his acting range.
The second to last episode titled “Nine Hours” finds David blackmailed by the mob. David has to allow hitman into a hospital so they can rub out a turncoat mob boss. David receives help from a drunken former police detective, Joe Lo Franco, played by none other Marc Alaimo. The story really is about Franco’s redemption. Here is what the show did best by having David help others see their worth and help them find their own place in the world as he was trying to do the same for himself. The Hulk fails to save the day in the first half of the episode but, fear not, Franco and the Hulk save the day in two different instances. Look for a young Dennis Haysbert (24) as an F.B.I. agent.
In hindsight, I found the series to be lacking the subplots that make shows like Heroes and Battlestar Galactica (current incarnation) so appealing. Having the Incredible Hulk episodes totally self contained became frustrating because I saw so many places where tiny moments could have lead to a bigger overall plot. David is constantly working for other scientists and doctors and each time there could have been a small piece to the puzzle for the cure. Someone hunting the Hulk to use him as a weapon also could have been another great subplot to the show. Another missed opportunity is that the show, until the late Eighties TV movies, never featured another Marvel hero.
The Incredible Hulk TV series is still great TV. Bill Bixby is nothing less than superb and Ferrigno will forever be a force to be reckoned with. If the new Incredible Hulk movie disappoints or not, pick up the Incredible Hulk TV series. As the episodes roll by you’ll find yourself sympathizing with David Banner and discovering that the true hero is the one that lies within.
