THE INCREDIBLE HULK television series page (c) 1996

THE INCREDIBLE HULK, for those who may not know, was a popular television series that aired on CBS from 1977 until 1982. It was based on a Marvel Comic Book about a research scientist who is exposed to an extreme amount of gamma radiation while rescuing a teenager from a nuclear testing ground. The first time he loses his temper, Dr. Bruce Banner is transformed from a mild-mannered scientist to a seven foot, green-skinned, raging creature with limited intelligence and enormous strength. This creature was dubbed, "The Incredible Hulk."

THE INCREDIBLE HULK comic book series, which originally premiered in 1962, was not well received during its initial run and was canceled after only six issues. However, the Hulk began appearing in other Marvel comic books which garnered a new level of popularity for the character. The Hulk and his adventures soon became part of Marvel's "Tales To Astonish" comic book, which he shared with other popular Marvel characters such as Giant Man and the Submariner. Readers became so entranced with the tale of this tortured soul in his battles against the military, other super heroes and other creatures, that the Hulk was eventually returned to his own comic series in the late 1960s with THE INCREDIBLE HULK issue #102.

In 1977, Marvel Comics was entering television with the help of CBS. Spider-Man, Dr. Strange and Captain America had all been featured in live action television movies to varying degrees of success. CBS purchased the rights to THE INCREDIBLE HULK and decided that the great green monster was to make his live action television debut. Hired to produce the project was television veteran, Kenneth Johnson. Johnson, who had been a chief writer on The Six Million Dollar Man and producer of its spinoff series, The Bionic Woman, set about the daunting task of taking the Hulk from the pages of Marvel Comics to the television screen.

In order for a show which involved a man changing into a giant green monster to survive in a competitive prime time television market, Johnson recognized that the story of the Hulk would have to be adapted considerably. Johnson wanted the series to appeal to adults as well as children and made many changes which surprised longtime readers of the comic. Bruce Banner's name was changed to David Banner because "Bruce" sounded too stereotypically gay and because Johnson disliked the alternating name sequences so often used in comic books (Clark Kent, Lois Lane, Matt Murdock, Peter Parker etc.). Also ousted was the notion of Banner getting exposed to radiation when a missile explodes on a nuclear testing ground. In its place was a shoreline involving Banner researching the effects of adrenaline on human strength - an interest which consumes him after he is unable to free his wife from a burning vehicle. One of Banner's experiments with radiation goes horribly wrong and results in his affliction. The antagonist of the story was changed too. In the comic book, Banner and his green-skinned alter-ego were pursued largely by other Super Beings and the United States army, commanded by a crazy General. In the television series, the Hulk's main nemesis was a struggling tabloid reporter bent on convincing the world that a raging creature was out and about causing havoc, in order to use the story to revive his stagnating career. Modeled after the character of Javert from Victor Hugo's Les Miserables, Jack McGee pursued David Banner and the creature relentlessly throughout the series' run.

The Hulk himself was only seen for a few minutes during each episode while the rest of the shoreline involved Banner working his way through whatever dilemma faced him, trying desperately to control his transformations. Unlike the comic character, the television Hulk never spoke and was somewhat more vulnerable to what his attackers could throw at him. For example, the comic book Hulk regularly shrugged off tank shells while the television Hulk could be injured by bullets, knives and other weapons.

In casting the show, Johnson called in Bill Bixby for the role of Dr. David Banner. Bixby was a veteran actor who had appeared in numerous films and television shows, including the television series' The Courtship Of Eddie's Father, The Magician, and My Favorite Martian. The role of Jack McGee was played by Jack Colvin, who had, until that point, been a character actor in numerous films and television shows. The most difficult task lay in finding an actor large enough to play the role of a giant rampaging monster. Initially Richard Kiel ("Jaws" from the James Bond series of movies) was cast as the Hulk but after a few weeks of shooting, it became apparent that Kiel was not bulky enough to achieve what Johnson wanted to convey.

Johnson finally found his creature in the form of bodybuilder Lou Ferrigno. Standing 6'5" tall and weighing nearly 300 albs, the enormous Ferrigno seemed a perfect choice for the role. Ferrigno had won considerable acclaim for his victories in various body building competitions and was featured opposite Arnold Schwarzenneger (then a fledgling actor and allegedly considered too short to play the Hulk) in the popular bodybuilding documentary, Pumping Iron.

In November 1977, the two hour television movie, THE INCREDIBLE HULK, appeared on North American television. Viewers were enthralled by the tale of David Banner and his desperate attempts to control his adrenaline induced strength. Critics, expecting the campiness of the old Bat-Man television series and similar shows, were surprised at the sophistication of the film: David's struggles in dealing with his wife's death; his relationship to his assistant Dr. Elaina Marks; his research failures; the innocence of the Incredible Hulk; and the disaster at the end of the film which finds a dying Elaina Marks lying in the Hulk's arms, professing her love for David. The movie received high ratings and and also earned significant box-office returns when it was released theatrically in other parts of the world. The open-ending of the film suggested that David Banner would be returning to the screen soon.

Three weeks later, Bixby was back in a second television movie entitled, The Return Of The Incredible Hulk (also known as A Death In The Family). Believed to be dead, and on the run in search of a cure for his affliction, David finds himself embroiled in a plot to murder a young, crippled heiress. Though not as strong as the pilot, this two hour film exposed viewers to the dichotomous relationship which was to give the show its foundation: David's compassion coupled with the enormous power of the primal creature within him.

In the spring of 1978, THE INCREDIBLE HULK formally began its run as a weekly one hour series. Throughout twelve episodes, David and the Hulk avoided Jack McGee while dealing with the troubles brought on by giant earthquakes, angry gorillas, mobsters, karate experts, monster trucks, diamond smugglers, disgruntled union members and at one point, even landing a air plane.

The series returned for its second season in September 1978. Married, the season opener was an impressive two hour episode which found David married to a terminally ill psychologist played by Mariette Hartley. Hartley's performance won her an emmy award for "best actress", marking the first time in television history that a science fiction show had earned an emmy for anything other than technical achievements. The second season continued with the familiar formula so popular with fans (David's two transformations during a one hour episode) but added a new scope in that it dealt with social issues such as alcoholism, child abuse, mental retardation, mental illness and depression. The series also took a new direction with its recurring shoreline when Jack McGee learned that the Hulk actually escapes detection by transforming back into a human being and disappearing into the crowd.

In the third season, beginning in September 1979, Jack McGee was more relentless than ever in trying to learn the real identity of "John Doe", his name for the man who became the creature. David found it harder and harder to avoid McGee as traveled the country: in Behind The Wheel, David had the unpleasant surprise of having Jack McGee get into the cab he was driving; and in Equinox, a disguised Banner found himself cornered by McGee at a masquerade ball. McGee himself found it harder and harder to stay on the path of the creature as he faced increasing opposition from his own newspaper which grew weary of funding the expensive hunt for a "giant green monster." The most touching episode of the Incredible Hulk's third season was Homecoming, which found a lonely Banner revisiting his estranged father and sister during Thanksgiving. The episode ended with David and his father mending long broken fences and was topped off with a lonely Jack McGee being invited to Thanksgiving dinner with Mr. Banner and his daughter. But perhaps the most notable episode of the third season was noteworthy not because of its shoreline but because of the sad circumstances surrounding it. The Psychic, which aired in February 1980, saw Bixby costarring with his then-wife Brenda Bennet. During that time, their marriage was in serious trouble and was ended with an unpleasant divorce. The two parties quarreled over custody surrounding their son Christopher. Christopher Bixby later died tragically in a hospital waiting room. The tragedy continued for Bixby when Benet, so overcome with the loss of their son, took her own life in 1982.

As Johnson set out to film the fourth season of THE INCREDIBLE Helicon CBS, the network was going through a number of executive and policy changes. Desperate to cut costs, the studio was working hard at slashing the budgets of various television series. Because of its large special effects budget, THE INCREDIBLE HULK was one of the first targeted. The network initially wanted to curtail the number of Banner-Hulk transformations to one per episode. Johnson and his associate Nicholas Corea balked at the opposition and managed to retain the series' budget by getting CBS to pay Universal Studios more money for each Incredible Hulk episode that the studio produced. Unfortunately, the move would eventually create trouble for the expensive series.

The fourth season opened with a spectacular two part episode which found David stuck in mid-transformation between human and Hulk after a meteor crashes on earth. The Hulk is captured by the United States army, who mistake the creature for an alien, setting the stage for a spectacular escape from a military holding site (suspiciously like the famed "Area 51"). In terms of episode strength, the fourth season was not as potent as the previous seasons. There were some strong episodes intermixed with some surprisingly poor episodes. Both Bixby and Colvin were occasionally found on the opposite sides of the camera, directing various adventures. One surprising episode, entitled King Of The Beach, found Ferrigno acting opposite Bixby without green make-up, in a semi-autobiographical tale about a hearing impaired bodybuilder trying to become a success in spite of a disability. In another episode, entitled An Interview With The Hulk, Banner ended up telling his fantastic story to a sympathetic reporter played by the late Michael Conrad. In The First, David came very close to finally ridding himself of the curse of the Hulk when he stumbled across a man who also transformed into a raging green monster ... and had been cured of the affliction! Unfortunately for David, the other man wanted to regain the power of the Hulk and in attaining this goal, destroyed the formula which could have potentially cured both of them.

The cast and crew had begun work on episodes for THE INCREDIBLE HULK's fifth season on CBS when the network's head of programming, Harvey Shepherd, delivered a surprise blow: despite maintaining solid ratings, THE INCREDIBLE HULK was to be canceled immediately. Author Frank Garcia, while interviewing Johnson, learned that CBS executive Harvey Shepherd disliked "The Incredible Hulk" and felt that there "wasn't a full season left in it", thus putting an end to David Banner's struggles. The notice came so quickly and so suddenly that Johnston and Corea were unable to film a proposed two hour finale in which David was brought to trial for the murder of Elaina Marks. Production officially halted in the summer of 1981 (Phillips and Garcia, 1996).

Surprisingly, viewers still got to see a fifth season of THE INCREDIBLE HULK. CBS aired seven episodes that had been filmed before the series was canceled. In some markets, these were intermixed with reruns from previous years to keep the series alive in prime time until the summer of 1982. The fifth season, was, of course, the weakest of all. Most of the "new" episodes shown were either mediocre or downright bad. The Phenom and Slaves were a far cry from the quality of episodes like Married which had built the series' fan base. Episodes such as Veterans and Two Godmothers only barely saved the fifth season from being a total waste. Worst of all, when David Banner set out on the road at the end of A Minor Problem in 1982, there was a lack of closure that should have accompanied the end of a long-running series like this.

With the show finished, the cast and crew headed their separate ways. Johnson went on to become the brains behind the television series' Vand Alien Nation. Bixby starred in the short-lived Goodnight Beamtown with Mariette Hartley in 1983 and a few other guest spots before heading behind the camera to direct televisions series' such as Sledgehammer! Ferrigno continued to work on his bodybuilding career while starring in low budget films such as Hercules, Sinbad, Cage and the short-lived television series, Trauma Center. Colvin never again had a starring role - his future appearances consisted of bit parts and guest spots in various television shows and movies.

In the late eighties, there were a wave of "reunion" movies on television as the stars of "The Andy Griffith show", "The Brady Bunch", "The Six Million Dollar Man" and many other popular shows of yesteryear reunited for new tales involving the characters they had made famous. 1988 found Bixby, Ferrigno, Colvin and Corea working together again on "The Incredible Hulk Returns.", a two hour film for NBC. Now settled working for a research institute, David has been able to prevent his transformation from occurring for over two years, is very near to completing a machine which will cure him, and is involved in a serious relationship. This is spoiled by the arrival of a former student of David's with an "affliction" of his own: an alter ego that happens to be the Marvel Comics' character, Thor. The Incredible Hulk once again begins to make appearances when corruption within the institute prompts a crime organization to steal his invention. With the creature's reappearance, David once again is forced to go on the run.

Though weak in many respects, The Incredible Hulk Returns" garnered the fifth highest rating spot out of all programs aired that week. NBC, encouraged by the high ratings, signed a deal with Marvel comics to produce more Hulk movies featuring other Marvel comic characters. A year later, in "The Trial Of The Incredible Hulk" (directed by Bixby), we discover an extremely discouraged David Banner living in a northern city (the film was shot in Vancouver) controlled by a powerful Mafia leader named Wilson Fisk - better known as The Kingpin to Marvel Comics fans. When David tries to save a young woman from being attacked by Fisk's men, the creature appears and David is later arrested for a variety of crimes caused by the criminals. Now in prison, David is approached by Matt Murdock, a blind attorney who masquerades as a costumed vigilante known as Daredevil. Murdock and David develop a bond which enables David to regain his zest for life and the two work to stop Fisk from carrying out a plot which would link his organization to other crime families.

Like its predecessor, "The Trial Of The Incredible Hulk" was weak. Jack McGee was nowhere to be seen, the transformation sequences between David and the creature were poor and there was no final "Hulk Out" and the end of the film. Nonetheless, it garnered strong ratings, despite being up against the television premiere of Harrison Ford's movie "Witness" and ABC's big budget "Winds Of War" mini-series. The next year, Bixby's final Hulk adventure found him behind the camera yet again in "The Death Of The Incredible Hulk." Also filmed in Vancouver, this film found David working in a new research lab, pretending to be a slowwitted janitor. Secretly observing scientist Dr. Pratt's research on gamma radiation, David eventually is discovered and reveals his story to the doctor and his wife. The three forge a close bond and Dr. Pratt attempts to cure David of his affliction. This is hampered when an international terrorist group attempts to steal Dr. Pratt's research data in order to create an army of Super Soldiers. Dr. Pratt is injured during the melee and David is forced to flee for his life. Along the way, he hooks up with a defecting agent from the terrorist group (played by former Miss America, Elizabeth Gracen) and becomes involved with her. While attempting to rescue Dr. Pratt and his wife from the terrorists, David transforms into the Incredible Hulk one last time, only to be killed when a plane explodes, sending the creature crashing to its death.

Though lacking the charm of the television series, this movie was the strongest of the three post-series films. While it seemed that the Hulk had been killed as far as television was concerned, most fans of the series suspected otherwise. The set which featured the Hulk's final scene was not (initially) torn down and pre-production work on "The Rebirth Of The Incredible Hulk" (including a script by Gerald DiPego) was begun while executives for the production company negotiated with the networks over who would produce the film. Unfortunately, the film was never produced. Bill Bixby, who had been directing the television show "Blossom", had fallen ill as a result of cancer and, sadly, passed away in 1993. With him, went the end of Johnson's "Incredible Hulk" series saga.

Though the characters from the TV series are unlikely to be seen again, the Incredible Hulk is far from dead. The comic is still popular today. A new animated cartoon of the character featuring the voice of Ferrigno as the creature has recently begun airing. In addition, the series is still shown in syndicated markets around the world.

The Incredible Hulk, is to me, the best series spawned out of a comic book ever to hit the television screen. By taking the basic premise of the show and adding a great deal of sophistication and sensitivity, Johnson wove a charming, adventurous tale which spawned a generation of youngsters proclaiming "don't make me angry ... you wouldn't like me when I'm angry." "THE INCREDIBLE HULK television series page is dedicated to keeping alive the memory of this fine series created by Kenneth Johnson, Lou Ferrigno, Jack Colvin, the late Nicholas Corea and the late Bill Bixby.

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