The Incredible Hulk

My comments refer to the first season of The Incredible Hulk since it's the only one readily available as of yet.

Although the shows are fairly simple and monotonous they're very entertaining. Dr. Banner travels cross country hoping to some day finding a cure for his condition but along the way he gets into all sorts of trouble that forces the Hulk to surface and square matters. Every episode ends with David leaving before relentless reporter Jack McGee tracks him down.

The shows are made with passion, that's evident. Good quality writing for the most part, well done action sequences (compared to a 70's TV show anyway), compelling story lines in most episodes, nice location crew work and fantastic actors. As said, the premise is fairly simple as David transforms about 20-25 min. into each episode and during the climax. Also, he somehow manages to get into a whole lot of trouble by just being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

The first season shows are not all great and do showcase the limitations budget wise. The episode "Never give a trucker an even break" shamelessly borrows footage from Steven Spielberg's Duel, even the classic ending is fitted into the storyline. "Earhquakes happen" borrows quite a lot from Earthquake, the 70's disaster flick, but that's not as blatant as the previous example. Also there is a lot of stock footage used every now and then. Sometimes it's little snippets of Hulk action and sometimes it's David on the road hitchhiking.

But these quirks aside, there is a lot of professionalism on board here and a big effort put into making each episode. Series that are constantly on the road are expensive as there are no sets that can be used often and studio work is minimal. Instead viewers get a show that's always bringing new scenery in late 1970's America and the "on the road" feel has a big charm about it.

The Las Vegas episode "The Hulk breaks Las Vegas" is a personal favorite. Has some knockout Hulk action and a well written and suspenseful near confrontation between McGee and Banner. "747, The Waterfront story, Terror in Times Square and Life and Death" are all well written and produced episodes that should give a good example as to why the series has such a good afterlife.

And finally the cast is perfect. I doubt seriously that viewers would be as interested in David's quest had he not been played by Bill Bixby. Not only was Bixby a real quality actor with good range but also an irresistibly appealing guy who you find easy to sympathize with. Jack Colvin is also excellent as McGee, a convincing and charming actor who had a great presence on the episodes he was featured in. And Lou Ferrigno was the best possible choice to play the green giant. Managing to be both menacing and sincere is his depiction of David's primal side, he's simply great on the shows.