The Incredible Hulk (1. TV series)The Incredible Hulk is an American television series based on the Marvel Comics character The Hulk. The series aired on the CBStelevisionnetwork and starred Bill Bixby as David Banner, Lou Ferrigno as the Hulk, and Jack Colvin as Jack Mc. Gee. In the TV series, Dr. David Banner, a widowed physician and scientist, who is presumed dead, travels across America under assumed names (his false surnames always begin with the letter . In his travels, Banner earns money by working temporary jobs while searching for a way to control his condition.
All the while, he is obsessively pursued by a tabloid newspaper reporter, Jack Mc. Gee, who is convinced that the Hulk is a deadly menace whose exposure would enhance his career.
The series was originally broadcast by CBS from 1. The two- hour pilot movie, which established the Hulk's origins, aired on November 4, 1. It was developed and produced by Kenneth Johnson, who also wrote or directed some episodes. After the series ended, the fate of David Banner was a cliffhanger until 1. The filming rights were purchased from CBS by rival NBC. They produced three television films: The Incredible Hulk Returns (directed by Nicholas J.
Corea), The Trial of the Incredible Hulk and The Death of the Incredible Hulk (both directed by Bill Bixby). Haunted by his inability to save her, Dr. Banner, in partnership with Dr. Elaina Harding Marks (Susan Sullivan), who also works at the Culver Institute, conducts a study on people who, while in danger, summoned superhuman strength in order to save their loved ones. After months of work, the only two significant common factors they can find between the subjects are extreme emotional commitments and an abnormally high percentage of the adenine/thymine combination in their DNA. Banner has even higher levels of adenine/thymine than any of the subjects, yet was unable to summon the strength he needed to save Laura. Working late one night, Banner hypothesizes that high levels of gamma radiation from sunspots contribute to the subjects' increase in strength.
It's been two years since the Hulk has surfaced, and Dr David Bruce Banner is on the verge of curing himself of the Hulk. A device he helped create, the Gamma. Betty finishes developing a nutrient bath that can separate Bruce Banner from the Hulk. Doc Sampson attempts capture the Hulk and the two fight in the desert.
Studying a chart of gamma activity, he confirms that all the subjects performed their feats during periods of high gamma activity, while his wife's death occurred during a period of low gamma activity. Impatient to test his theory, Dr.
Banner conducts an unsupervised experiment in the lab, bombarding his own body with gamma radiation. Banner, the equipment has been upgraded, causing him to administer an accidental overdose of gamma radiation (1. Despite this, he exhibits no immediate increase in strength, and leaves the lab in frustration.
List of The Incredible Hulk (1978 TV series) episodes.
The Incredible Hulk is an American television series based on the Marvel Comics character The Hulk. The series aired on the CBS television network and starred Bill.
Driving home in a heavy rainstorm, Dr. Banner's frustration peaks when his car has a flat tire and he injures himself with a tire iron trying to change it.
This triggers his transformation into the Incredible Hulk, a 7- foot- tall (2. The Hulk destroys Banner's car and wanders off into the nearby woods. As the sun rises, the Hulk stumbles upon a girl and her father camping. In the ensuing confusion, the Hulk is shot by the girl's father, and responds by breaking his rifle and throwing him into the pond. Leaving the area, the Hulk eventually transforms back into Dr. Banner, with no memory of his time as the Hulk and little memory of the events immediately before or after. Wounded and confused, he visits Dr.
Banner's healing powers (his gunshot wound is nearly healed) is replaced by shock and horror when Dr. Banner tells her that he bombarded himself with gamma radiation. Drs. Banner and Marks relocate to a laboratory isolated from the rest of the Culver Institute but still on its grounds. Marks locks him in an experimental pressure chamber designed for deep underwater usage in an attempt to simulate the conditions which preceded the hole in his memory. When this fails to induce a transformation, Dr. Banner lies down to sleep. He has his recurring nightmare of his wife's death, which causes him to transform.
The Hulk breaks out of the chamber. Terrified but compelled by scientific fascination, Dr. Marks takes a blood sample from the Hulk's wounded hands and guides him to a couch, where he calms down and reverts to Banner.
They conclude that the Hulk has a very high metabolism and healing rate and that the transformation is caused by such extreme negative emotions as anger. The horrified Banner realizes and points out, . Banner and Marks try to reverse the process, reporter Jack Mc. Gee of a tabloid called the National Register, who had been probing Banner's research into the limits of human strength, investigates the campers' sighting of the Hulk and intrudes on the lab. While the scientists plead ignorance, Mc. Gee suspects they know something and sneaks into the lab, hiding in a chemical storage room.
Banner catches Mc. Gee hiding, and the startled reporter knocks a chemical off of a storage shelf. Banner takes Mc. Gee outside, the spilled chemicals set off a fire. Banner rushes back into the lab to save Dr. Marks injured and in grave danger triggers another transformation into the Hulk.
Marks away from the inferno into nearby woods, but she dies from injuries sustained in the explosion. Mc. Gee witnesses the Hulk carrying her away, and surmises that the Hulk killed both Banner and Marks. Although the authorities are skeptical of the existence of the creature Mc. Gee tells them about, he publishes a front- page headline in the National Register that proclaims, . Banner, now presumed dead, goes into hiding while trying to find a cure for his condition. In a manner vaguely similar to the popular series The Fugitive, this forms the basis of the TV series: Dr.
Banner endlessly drifts from place to place, assuming different identities and odd jobs to support himself and sometimes to enable his research. Banner finds himself feeling obliged to help the people he meets out of whatever troubles have befallen them. Banner's inner struggle is paralleled by the dilemmas of the people he encounters, who find in Dr. Banner a sympathetic helper. Kenneth Johnson stated, . David Banner, it happened to be anger.
In someone else, it might be obsession, or it might be fear, or it might be jealousy or alcoholism! The Hulk comes in many shapes and sizes. That's what we tried to delve into in the individual episodes. Banner inevitably finds himself in situations that trigger his transformations into the Hulk, yet the creature's rampages often assist in putting some other wrong right in the lives of the people Banner encounters. Meanwhile, Mc. Gee continues to pursue the mysterious monster, whom he believes got away with a double murder. Towards the end of each episode, Dr. Banner almost always flees the town, scared that publicity over the Hulk's rampages will eventually bring unwanted scrutiny of him from the local authorities or Mc.
Gee; Banner explains in Death in the Family, the second made- for- television film, . Another change was Banner's occupation, from physicist to medical researcher/physician. Although the comic book Hulk's degree of speaking ability has varied over the years, the television Hulk did not speak at all. Hulk co- creator Stan Lee later recounted, . Hulk get him!' I could get away with it in a comic, but that would have sounded so silly if he spoke that way in a television show. In the majority of episodes, the only science fiction element was the Hulk himself.
Johnson also omitted the comic book's supporting characters, instead using original character Jack Mc. Gee. David Banner for the TV series.
This change was made, according to Johnson, because he did not want the series to be perceived as a comic book series, so he wanted to change what he felt was a staple of comic books, and Stan Lee's comics in particular, that major characters frequently had alliterative names. It is visible on Banner's tombstone at the end of the pilot movie. His reasons given for this were because red, not green, is perceived as the color of rage, and also because red is a . However, Stan Lee, an executive at Marvel Comics at the time, said that the Hulk's color was not something that could be changed, because of its iconic image.
It was done by Ken Johnson, who's a brilliant writer/producer/director, and he made it an intelligent, adult show that kids could enjoy. He took a comic book character and made him somewhat plausible. Women liked it and men liked it and teenagers liked it.. It was beautifully done. He changed it quite a bit from the comic book, but every change he made, made sense.
David Banner, Kenneth Johnson cast Bill Bixby. Arnold Schwarzenegger auditioned for the role of the Hulk but was rejected due to his inadequate height, according to Johnson in his commentary on The Incredible Hulk . Actor Richard Kiel was hired for the role.
During filming, however, Kenneth Johnson's own son pointed out that Kiel's tall- but- under- developed physique did not resemble the Hulk's at all. Soon, Kiel was replaced with professional bodybuilder Lou Ferrigno, although a very brief shot of Kiel (as the Hulk) remains in the pilot. According to an interview with Kiel, who saw properly out of only one eye, he reacted badly to the contact lenses used for the role, and also found the green makeup difficult to remove, so he did not mind losing the part. The hard contact lenses Ferrigno wore to simulate the Hulk's electric- green eyes had to be removed every 1.
Hulk was made of dyed yak hair. Then an accidental overdose of gamma radiation alters his body chemistry. And now, when David Banner grows angry or outraged, a startling metamorphosis occurs. The creature is driven by rage and pursued by an investigative reporter.
Mc. Gee, don't make me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry. David Banner is believed to be dead. And he must let the world think that he is dead, until he can find a way to control the raging spirit that dwells within him. Prior to the beginning of the series, a different version was used for the second pilot movie, The Return of the Incredible Hulk (later re- titled .