The Incredible Hulk (1978–1982) 6.9
A fugitive scientist has the curse of becoming a powerful green monster under extreme emotional stress. |
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The Incredible Hulk (1978–1982) 6.9
A fugitive scientist has the curse of becoming a powerful green monster under extreme emotional stress. |
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| Complete series cast summary: | |||
| Bill Bixby | ... |
Dr. David Bruce Banner
(82 episodes, 1977-1982)
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Jack Colvin | ... |
Jack McGee
(82 episodes, 1977-1982)
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| Lou Ferrigno | ... |
The Incredible Hulk
(82 episodes, 1977-1982)
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Bruce Banner in the Animated version. Dr. David Banner is a brilliant scientist but, one day, a lab experiment that he is working on goes terribly awry. Since that time, whenever he is under extreme stress, his body undergoes a transmogrification and he morphs into 'The Incredible Hulk.' The Hulk is about seven feet tall, hugely muscular and powerful, and has bright green skin. After destroying whatever threatens Dr. Banner, he morphs back to normal human form with only amnesia and tattered clothing as evidence of what just transpired. As you can well imagine, this situation is quite troubling for Dr. Banner and causes him no end of problems. Written by Tad Dibbern <DIBBERN_D@a1.mscf.upenn.edu>
I recall when the original series came out, I was a big fan of Marvel Comics and especially The Incredible Hulk. At first, I was disappointed with the TV series since it lacked any super-villains like The Abomination, Wendigo, The Wrecker, etc. However, after a while the show grew on me.
It helped a lot that Bill Bixby was the lead actor. I had seen him in The Courtship of Eddie's Father, and I think that his being cast in The Hulk was a stroke of genius. Bixby was the opposite of what the Hulk is. Bixby was a very nice, calm, friendly person in every show that he ever worked on. His character, David Banner, was essentially the same.
Banner went from town to town in search of a cure for his Gamma radiation sickness (that caused him to become The Hulk), and usually failed to find a cure while getting involved in some kind of conflict that only the Hulk could resolve. While this was not exactly the same as what Bruce Banner was doing in the comic books, it was certainly a valid interpretation of what could have happened to The Hulk and Banner in an alternate TV universe.
For those who complain that The Hulk never fought any super-villains, check out The First, a two-part story where The Hulk fights a proto-Hulk played by Dick Durock, who later played The Swamp Thing. So you can say that The Hulk fought the Swamp Thing (and crushed him like a grape).
Overall, the reason I have always liked this series is because Bill Bixby gave it a very thoughtful and contemplative slant on the power of The Hulk. Bixby played it like he was any unemployed guy looking for a job. I have been there, job to job, and I can relate. People complain that Bixby played his character like a wimp. That is what made him so cool. He could have gone into any town and been a jerk, knowing that The Hulk could bail him out of any problem. But he always avoided conflicts, and yet they found him.
In many ways The Hulk TV series reminds me of the Zatoichi movies. Similar to Banner/Hulk; Zatoichi the blind samurai is always going from town to town trying to avoid any conflicts; and yet trouble always finds him. Also similar to Banner/Bixby, Zatoichi is always concerned about the quality of life of the people that he meets on the road. Unselfish and caring, that is what made the Bixby/Banner character (and Zatoichi) very special.
Sadly, Bill Bixby passed away many years ago, so there will never be any new Hulk TV movies. Lou Ferrigno is also getting pretty old, so their era is over. For those of us who grew up when this show was on, The Hulk was a great TV show.