The Incredible Hulk (1978–1982)
10/10
Incredible
23 May 2013
Warning: Spoilers
We were spoiled back in the 70's and 80's with American Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Drama series with gems such as The Six Million Dollar Man, The Bionic Woman and many more but my favorite has to be The Incredible Hulk.

I remember watching this many years ago and when i saw the whole series was available in a DVD box set i had to have it.

When you watch them all on DVD you soon notice how many actors and actresses re-appear throughout the series in different parts and most i decided to check out on IMDb to what else they have been in and most go through all of the TV series i mentioned above and more.

The 1st season stand-out is the 1st for obvious reasons, add the 2nd episode and you are all sorted and ready for this monster of a journey. Another is Never Give A Trucker An Even Break which uses a LOT of stock footage from the Steven Spielberg Duel movie, also we have...well...pretty much all of the 1st season is a highlight as its all still new and fresh.

Season 2 starts with Married a 2 parter and earned Mariette Hartley an Emmy as Best Actress in a Drama series. Another 2 parter i have to mention is Mystery Man part 1 and 2 where David Banner and the ever present Reporter Jack McGee spend most of the time together but with Davids face covered in bandages Jack never gets to see him in this one. The Hulk does save Jack in this one and i think it may be the start of the turning point for Jack starting to believe.....just a little...that this green monster isn't so much of a monster after all like he 1st thought. Kindred Spirit is another one worth mentioning where David joins an expedition that found evidence that there may have been another Hulk many many years ago.

The 3rd season doesn't have the cracking start like the 1st 2 had, i think Mystery Man would have been a good one to start season 3 but again we are treated to the mini mysteries with lots of scenes of David always loosing a a fight and then lots of shirt ripping and The Hulk taking care of business just how we love it to be. In this season we have David loose his sight in Blind Rage, we see David be a Magician's assistant in My Favourite Magician and mention that he knows nothing about being a magician (Little amusing as he place a Magician in another good and successful series), we get to meet David's Sister and Father all of which makes season 3 also a must see.

WOW season 4 starts with a cracking opener Prometheus a 2 parter that is more like a movie than a TV series. Here we get to see David stuck half way between David and The Hulk, then getting captured and then...oh you will have to watch to find out. We get the gangster style episode Goodbye Eddie Cain directed by Jack Colvin.The episode we thought we would never see, King Of The Beach where top billing goes to Lou Ferrigno, not just as the hulk but as Lou with a speaking role and doing what he does best, working out. What a treat we get, we get Lou AND The Hulk in the same shot...brilliant...and they still managed to make it look like The Hulk is much taller than Lou.

Still with season 4 we are again given a great 2 parter called The First where we get to see another Hulk and the 2 Hulks go head to head. I have to say the other Hulk is awful and way too camp but very tall...i won't give any more away than that...but this would have been entertaining enough to be a good season opener. This is followed by The Harder They Fall where we see David paralyzed, so what will happened with him in this state and he turns into The Hulk?? watch it and see. Then we have Interview With The Hulk where Emerson Fletcher, a colleague of Jack McGee at the National Register manage to get a lead on The Hulk and convinced David to do an interview which he captures on tape. Now i thought these tapes may surface again in a later episode but we don't know what ever happened to them other than Emerson had them again. A future story could have been made from this one. The rest of the season is OK and nothing special...maybe because we had been spoiled so much with earlier episodes in this season but still remains the best season.

Season 5 starts as OK like season 4 ended which led me to believe that these episodes were just left over from season 4 and i read somewhere that they were apart from the final 2. This season's last 2 episodes Slaves and A Minor Problem felt like they may have been the real season 5 episodes. A Minor Problem was the final episode of The Incredible Hulk, it was a good one but certainly not a series ender. I understand that everyone was keen to carry on with the series but no one really said why it ended, maybe it was costing too much?

It's Sad that both Bill and Jack are no longer with us. There was talk of other episodes that had been thought about, i think Bill or Lou may have mentioned one about The Hulk talking and director Kenneth Johnson had an idea about bringing David's Sister back into it and needing a blood transfusion from David. Love to see those two.

This is my 1st review on IMDb and all i have left say is long live The Hulk. :)
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