HE THINKS, HE FEELS
Has The Hulk Turned
Into a Green Hunk?
By B. Mills
Kansas City Star,
May 22, 1988
The Incredible Hulk lounges
in a bathrobe behind a camera as a young woman in the prop department
does her job, picks up a couple of 20 foot girders and tosses them
aside like matchsticks.
Later in the day,
the camera will roll on another scene of comic mayhem in “The
Incredible Hulk Returns”, in which Lou Ferrigno will sweat and
strain while lifting those same plastic girders and tossing them
aside like
matchsticks.
Ferrigno is back where
Hulkomania began, wearing a full-body wrap of green pancake makeup,
his pectorals bluging like twin lime pies, his brow looming menacingly
like a bundle of broccoli on top of the fridge.
Bulkier than ever,
Ferrigno has undergone four years of acting lessons to get in
shape for his return as Bill Bixby’s alter ego. In this
movie, “The Hulk is thinking more,” Ferrigno says. “He communicates,
he shows his feelings. Something inside him makes a connection
with others. You’ll see it because of the acting experience I’ve
had since the series ended in 1982.
What’s this? A sensitive
Hulk? The Hulk helping little old ladies across the street?
Not exactly, Ferrigno
says. “This time, the Hulk has to be more sophisticated because
he teams up with The Mighty Thor and they work together.”
Ohhh. It seems that
“The Incredible Hulk Returns” is not just another TV movie revival
of a defunct TV series. It’s a way to introduce a new Marvel Comics
superhero for a possible series of his own. If the plan succeeds,
watch for the Hulk to return again and again, each time teamed
up with a new superhero. There are 300 Marvel characters. You
have been warned.
In this show, Dr.David
Banner has developed a transponder by which he can alter his gamma
polarity. This will stop him from changing into an angry green
troll every time he feels frustrated.
But just as Banner
is about to pull the plug on the Hulk forever, one of his former
students arrives needing help with his own alter-ego, a 12th century
Nordic warrior named Thor. The gimmick here is that the
magnificent Norseman (Eric Kramer) isn’t a mad-time replacement
for nerdy student (Steve Levitt), he’s the full time sidekick.
A good thing too,
because some evil empire builders covet Banner’s transponder.
So, after a little initial misunderstanding between Thor and the
Hulk, the three and a half of them combine forces against the
baddies. In the end,Banner is back on the road,on the run from
himself.
Bill Bixby had thought
he’s permanently dehulkified himself. “I’ve been asked to do a
Hulk revival before, but lately I’ve been more interested in directing”
he says. After “the Incredible Hulk” ended a four year run in
1982,he did one series,“Goodnight,Beantown”
in 1983-84 but has performed sparingly since.
“I took off and played
golf,” he says. “When I came back, I came back to direct. I would
take a series if it was something interesting, a ‘dramedy’ as
they call them now. I’d like to get something in that arena. If
not, I’m happy to direct.” At first Bixby was going to direct
this “Hulk” return, but he chose at the last moment to turn that
chore over to Nicholas Corea and concentrate on acting.
“I never thought I’d
go into another action show like this,” he says. “You know before
you start that somewhere, sometime, you’re going to eat it.
In order for the Hulk to show up, I’ve got to get beaten up, thrown
into a fire, tossed into an acid bath…”
Bixby’s troubles don’t
bother Ferrigno, who is happy to show up and roar. The Hulk’s
return gave this ex-Mr.Universe an excuse to spend four months
adding 50 pounds of muscle to his previous walk-around weight
of 225.
The new Hulk has more
bulk and definition, he says. “Bodybuilding is much more popular
than it was when the series was on. The yuppies and the public
in general now want to see your maximum physique.”
Do they want to see
a Hulk who’s more than throbbing green anger tissue? “The Hulk
was always a sensitive character,” Ferrigno says. “People
see the Hulk doing things they all itch to do themselves when
they’re mad. The Hulk acts out their own fantasies. Kids especially
see the sensitivity of the Hulk.”
“The Incredible Hulk”
did somehow strike a chord deep in people’s psyches. But the show’s
subtext of schizophrenia will become overt if there ever is a
“Mighty Thor” series. Steve Levitt, as the young researcher,
says his connection with to the Thor character is something like
channeling, the new age version of holding hands around a table
and summoning spirits.
“Our relationship
is a cross between ‘Moonlighting’ and Steve Martin’s ‘All of
Me’” Levitt says. “I’m neurotic and indecisive. He’s an ancient
warrior who doesn’t immediately understand proper dating behavior
or how to act in a 20th century supermarket.
“This stuff may be
out of a comic book but what excites me is the opportunity to
base it in reality. I think Shirley MacLaine will love it.”
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