WARNING: REVIEW CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS
Good fun for nostalgists, with Bill Bixby, as ever, bringing poignancy to what should be a ludicrous story but somehow works. The Incredible Hulk may have gone out with more of a whimper than a bang the television series became more formulaic, and the comeback TV movies, particularly The Incredible Hulk Returns, failed to impress but there's an earnestness about the early episodes that still hold up today.
What really makes it work is that this is less a series about the title character, but one about the human scientist behind him. While Lou Ferigno may wear the silliest wig in genre television (Beating even Star Trek's Walter Koenig hands down), the creature only emerges three times throughout the 90m runtime, giving Bixby the weight of the plot. His slightly feminine nature is perfectly contrasted with the Hulk's ultimate personification of physical masculinity, producing arguably the finest television depiction of a superhero. Who can forget Nicholas Hammond and his rubbish two-way mirror eyes in Spiderman? A television series could never have the budget to create an army of superfoes each week, so The Incredible Hulk sensibly avoids trying, and opts instead for a respectful reworking that debatably improves the source material.
While not exactly high art, the script is surprisingly literate, namechecking Dr. Jekyll and referencing Universal's Frankenstein. And while they changed the Marvel Comic Character's name to David, Bruce is kept as his middle name on his gravestone.
Surprisingly, it still stands up fairly well. It's a little slower than you might remember, then there's Jack McGee's Joan Collins sunglasses, a policeman with a Village People moustache and Bixby's flared jeans, but generally it doesn't look all that dated. Particularly impressive is the massive explosion at the climax. How rubbish a reporter is Jack McGee anyway? He spent five years researching the same story.
Susan Sullivan is likeable as Bixby's assistant Elaina, but in hindsight it's obvious that she has to die by the climax. The series was basically a relative of The Littlest Hobo, with Bixby as the mangy Alsatian, travelling from place to place, always lonely. It may be a little too twee and sentimental, but with an end where he talks to her grave, remarking how he loved her and "I think you loved me too... although you never said it." (She said it to the creature, Banner having no recollection when he changes back) Well, if you can watch that, combined with the tinkly piano end titles music, and not get a lump in the throat, then you're a very hard-hearted person indeed. 6/10.
Good fun for nostalgists, with Bill Bixby, as ever, bringing poignancy to what should be a ludicrous story but somehow works. The Incredible Hulk may have gone out with more of a whimper than a bang the television series became more formulaic, and the comeback TV movies, particularly The Incredible Hulk Returns, failed to impress but there's an earnestness about the early episodes that still hold up today.
What really makes it work is that this is less a series about the title character, but one about the human scientist behind him. While Lou Ferigno may wear the silliest wig in genre television (Beating even Star Trek's Walter Koenig hands down), the creature only emerges three times throughout the 90m runtime, giving Bixby the weight of the plot. His slightly feminine nature is perfectly contrasted with the Hulk's ultimate personification of physical masculinity, producing arguably the finest television depiction of a superhero. Who can forget Nicholas Hammond and his rubbish two-way mirror eyes in Spiderman? A television series could never have the budget to create an army of superfoes each week, so The Incredible Hulk sensibly avoids trying, and opts instead for a respectful reworking that debatably improves the source material.
While not exactly high art, the script is surprisingly literate, namechecking Dr. Jekyll and referencing Universal's Frankenstein. And while they changed the Marvel Comic Character's name to David, Bruce is kept as his middle name on his gravestone.
Surprisingly, it still stands up fairly well. It's a little slower than you might remember, then there's Jack McGee's Joan Collins sunglasses, a policeman with a Village People moustache and Bixby's flared jeans, but generally it doesn't look all that dated. Particularly impressive is the massive explosion at the climax. How rubbish a reporter is Jack McGee anyway? He spent five years researching the same story.
Susan Sullivan is likeable as Bixby's assistant Elaina, but in hindsight it's obvious that she has to die by the climax. The series was basically a relative of The Littlest Hobo, with Bixby as the mangy Alsatian, travelling from place to place, always lonely. It may be a little too twee and sentimental, but with an end where he talks to her grave, remarking how he loved her and "I think you loved me too... although you never said it." (She said it to the creature, Banner having no recollection when he changes back) Well, if you can watch that, combined with the tinkly piano end titles music, and not get a lump in the throat, then you're a very hard-hearted person indeed. 6/10.