The story of an angry scientist forced to walk the earth (in bell bottoms) to find a way to control the monster that lurks inside him. Along the way, he works tons of low-wage jobs, involves himself in situations that will only make him angrier...and then trashes stuff. Which all inevitably leads him to go on the run again.
In bell bottoms.
The Sci-Fi Channel airs this in a weekly marathon where I live. Though I've seen most of the episodes, I still sit down and watch whenever I can.
Don't Make Me Angry: The Incredible Hulk
Started by
DimSome
, Mar 18 2005 09:04 PM
51 replies to this topic
#1
Posted Mar 18, 2005 @ 9:04 PM
#2
Posted Mar 18, 2005 @ 11:49 PM
In bell bottoms.
That were clearly made out of unstable molecules.
Or other FCC approved wardrobe material.
#3
Posted Mar 19, 2005 @ 3:11 AM
I've been watching this show via some bootleg and bargain-bin DVDs, The Ultimate Collection, Pilot, and the three late-80's movies. I was prepared for some major cheese.
First of all, this guy is so innocuous and bland. He's just basically a nice guy trying to help folks solve their problems. And yet, everywhere he goes, someone almost immediately starts to beat the crap out of him. And talk about karma, every time dude gets in a car it gets struck by lightning or a tree falls on it or something, and yet the very next episode he'd be a chauffer or a cab driver. WTF? EVery time he fell in love, she died.
Seriously, this guy would stand at ground zero if he thought it wouild cure him, but really, the problem was not that he was radioactive, it was just that he freaked out every time he didn't have change for the pay phone. He didn't need all that radiation to cure him, he just needed some lithium. Were mood stabilizers big in the late 70's?
And Jack McGee? Let's walk through this. He knows 1) The creature first appeared at the lab of DAVID BANNER, and in fact the creature was blamed for Banner's death, 2) There is a man who turns into the creature, 3) Everywhere the creature appears, a man named DAVID B-SOMETHING is just one step ahead of him. WTF kind of investigative reporter is he?
All my ranting aside, I'm surprised how well this show stands up after all this time. Kenneth Johnson had such a deep understanding of the characters, and Bill Bixby was truly a remarkable actor. The show could so easily have decended into a caricature of itself, the plots lent themselves to so much formula, yet it seems so many times the writers rose above their limitations and made some truly great television.
I'm still working my way through The Ultimate Collection, so hopefully I can come back with some more specific comments. Til then, I must let the world think that I am dead, til I can find a way to control the raging spirit that dwells within...
First of all, this guy is so innocuous and bland. He's just basically a nice guy trying to help folks solve their problems. And yet, everywhere he goes, someone almost immediately starts to beat the crap out of him. And talk about karma, every time dude gets in a car it gets struck by lightning or a tree falls on it or something, and yet the very next episode he'd be a chauffer or a cab driver. WTF? EVery time he fell in love, she died.
Seriously, this guy would stand at ground zero if he thought it wouild cure him, but really, the problem was not that he was radioactive, it was just that he freaked out every time he didn't have change for the pay phone. He didn't need all that radiation to cure him, he just needed some lithium. Were mood stabilizers big in the late 70's?
And Jack McGee? Let's walk through this. He knows 1) The creature first appeared at the lab of DAVID BANNER, and in fact the creature was blamed for Banner's death, 2) There is a man who turns into the creature, 3) Everywhere the creature appears, a man named DAVID B-SOMETHING is just one step ahead of him. WTF kind of investigative reporter is he?
All my ranting aside, I'm surprised how well this show stands up after all this time. Kenneth Johnson had such a deep understanding of the characters, and Bill Bixby was truly a remarkable actor. The show could so easily have decended into a caricature of itself, the plots lent themselves to so much formula, yet it seems so many times the writers rose above their limitations and made some truly great television.
I'm still working my way through The Ultimate Collection, so hopefully I can come back with some more specific comments. Til then, I must let the world think that I am dead, til I can find a way to control the raging spirit that dwells within...
#4
Posted Mar 19, 2005 @ 11:41 AM
I haven't seen this show in years. Although a big fan of Bill Bixby's, I never got into it.
However, I would love to sit through a snarky marathon with all of you. Especially so we could chorus "In bell bottoms!" at appropriate moments.
However, I would love to sit through a snarky marathon with all of you. Especially so we could chorus "In bell bottoms!" at appropriate moments.
#5
Posted Mar 19, 2005 @ 12:08 PM
Thanks so much for your responses. For a lil bit, I was afraid that no one else liked this show! But how could you not? There was Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno...and bell bottoms!
I would love the company. Sometimes my roommate and I make grilled cheese sandwiches and blood mary's and sit on the floor yelling at the TV!
I believe that David liked losing his shit and hulking out. The man weighed 120lbs soaking wet, yet each week, he made sure to start fights with the biggest mouthbreathers he could find. Suddenly, he'd be thrown behind a couch/Dumpster/car and POOF! It's party time. David Banner was passive aggressive. All his life, people had picked on him probably (skiinny, smart science nerd) so when gamma rays turned him into a monster, I think he secretly like it.
What proves my theory? Each week, he went to a new town and started shit. He wanted to get the snot beat out of him. Hulking out was probably a big rush.
However, I would love to sit through a snarky marathon with all of you. Especially so we could chorus "In bell bottoms!" at appropriate moments.
I would love the company. Sometimes my roommate and I make grilled cheese sandwiches and blood mary's and sit on the floor yelling at the TV!
He didn't need all that radiation to cure him, he just needed some lithium. Were mood stabilizers big in the late 70's?
I believe that David liked losing his shit and hulking out. The man weighed 120lbs soaking wet, yet each week, he made sure to start fights with the biggest mouthbreathers he could find. Suddenly, he'd be thrown behind a couch/Dumpster/car and POOF! It's party time. David Banner was passive aggressive. All his life, people had picked on him probably (skiinny, smart science nerd) so when gamma rays turned him into a monster, I think he secretly like it.
What proves my theory? Each week, he went to a new town and started shit. He wanted to get the snot beat out of him. Hulking out was probably a big rush.
#6
Posted Mar 21, 2005 @ 10:33 AM
{Sad, solo piano theme of existential angst and endless wandering}
Despite my typically geeky, fanboy reaction to the name change (it's ROBERT Bruce Banner, dammit!), I thought Kenneth Johnson and the writers did about as well as they possibly could here. You're not going to have the budget for the big Hulk v. military or Hulk v. supervillain battles, so they pared the concept down to its bare essentials.
{chord change}
And they had the right leading man. Bill Bixby, in his THIRD successful prime time series (My Favorite Martian and Courtship of Eddie's Father). Bixby had just the right mixture of warmth and intelligence, empathy and hidden anger. He may have died too young, but while he was in his creative prime, everything Bixby touched on TV seemed to turn to gold. Even his one huge flop ("Goodnight, Beantown!") wound up paying off when his "Beantown" co-star, Mariette Hartley, came in for a Hulk episode ("Bride of the Hulk") and won an Emmy.
Kudos also to Lou Ferrigno, who doesn't get nearly enough credit for his expressive acting--in green makeup and gamma irradiated bell bottoms.
Never liked how they tried to use Hulk TV movies to try to spin off other Marvel superheroes, but it didn't diminish my affection for the series overall. I do miss it.
{ominous final chord}
Despite my typically geeky, fanboy reaction to the name change (it's ROBERT Bruce Banner, dammit!), I thought Kenneth Johnson and the writers did about as well as they possibly could here. You're not going to have the budget for the big Hulk v. military or Hulk v. supervillain battles, so they pared the concept down to its bare essentials.
{chord change}
And they had the right leading man. Bill Bixby, in his THIRD successful prime time series (My Favorite Martian and Courtship of Eddie's Father). Bixby had just the right mixture of warmth and intelligence, empathy and hidden anger. He may have died too young, but while he was in his creative prime, everything Bixby touched on TV seemed to turn to gold. Even his one huge flop ("Goodnight, Beantown!") wound up paying off when his "Beantown" co-star, Mariette Hartley, came in for a Hulk episode ("Bride of the Hulk") and won an Emmy.
Kudos also to Lou Ferrigno, who doesn't get nearly enough credit for his expressive acting--in green makeup and gamma irradiated bell bottoms.
Never liked how they tried to use Hulk TV movies to try to spin off other Marvel superheroes, but it didn't diminish my affection for the series overall. I do miss it.
{ominous final chord}
#7
Posted Apr 19, 2005 @ 2:41 PM
I like this show... Maybe because of the low-budget special effects, maybe because of the pretty but depressing theme-song, or maybe because David is just that cute.
I've seen the three TV-movies too, and they're hilarious. Especially the one in which David Banner/The Hulk meets Thor. Talk about a slaughter of myths. (btw, the guy who played Thor, didn't he play Little John in Men in Tights?)
I've seen the three TV-movies too, and they're hilarious. Especially the one in which David Banner/The Hulk meets Thor. Talk about a slaughter of myths. (btw, the guy who played Thor, didn't he play Little John in Men in Tights?)
#8
Posted Apr 19, 2005 @ 7:08 PM
Oh man, that Thor/Hulk movie is TERRIBLE. Bill Bixby looks so embarrassed. And isn't there some sort of subplot about aerobics or jogging or some other 80s fitness fad?
#9
Posted Apr 20, 2005 @ 3:34 AM
If anyone finds a website that lists every alias Bill Bixby used on the show (David Bramson, David Bentley, David Bigbootay, etc) please link it here, thanks!
#10
Posted Apr 20, 2005 @ 8:15 AM
TVTome has a really good Episode Guide that includes his alias as part of each episode's summary.
#11
Posted May 29, 2005 @ 2:24 AM
Oh, I miss this show! I used to watch this as a little girl & just loved it. Every now & then, I find it while channel-surfing and I have to watch. When I was about 6 or 7, I read an article about how Lou got his makeup applied to become The Hulk and was just devastated that he wasn't real. Now, my 4 yr old finds him scary & I try to explain how he doesn't hurt anyone and actually tries to help them.
I would probably by this on DVD, but wouldn't tell MrTDoc72 for fear he'd make fun of me.
Poor David Banner! He would always get settled in a new town w/a new job and then have to move on.
And the end music, makes me want to sob my heart out. Truly, the saddest music I've ever heard.
I would probably by this on DVD, but wouldn't tell MrTDoc72 for fear he'd make fun of me.
Poor David Banner! He would always get settled in a new town w/a new job and then have to move on.
And the end music, makes me want to sob my heart out. Truly, the saddest music I've ever heard.
#12
Posted May 29, 2005 @ 3:51 PM
Watching this show when I was a kid used to turn me into an emotional wreck: the Hulk used to seriously scare me in the way that people talk about Dr Who scaring them back in the day. Even now in my thirties, any time I have a bad dream, there's the Hulk stomping around. And then of course, there was just the misery my young self used to feel for poor old David Banner. He could never catch a break and he was always thumbing a lift at the end, forced to leave town for whatever reason. The cars would never stop for him and that damn music at the end had me almost in tears. Scratch that, I was in tears most of the time.
Kudos to all involved though, they managed to create a show that gave you a character to empathise with even if some of the episodes were formulaic. Bill Bixby managed to rise above the material though. Sad to think he's no longer with us.
There was a two parter episode I vaguely remember though where David Banner gets stuck in mid transformation thanks to an asteroid that's fallen nearby or something. The only person he can trust is a blind woman and they're in a cabin in the woods while military forces (and one can only presume Jack McGee) are closing in. I've always wondered what happened in those eps and it really pisses me off that the last time I was in NYC, I never got to go to the Museum of Television and Radio and check if they had them in their archive and sit and watch them. My next New York trip will be much better planned, let me tell you!
Kudos to all involved though, they managed to create a show that gave you a character to empathise with even if some of the episodes were formulaic. Bill Bixby managed to rise above the material though. Sad to think he's no longer with us.
There was a two parter episode I vaguely remember though where David Banner gets stuck in mid transformation thanks to an asteroid that's fallen nearby or something. The only person he can trust is a blind woman and they're in a cabin in the woods while military forces (and one can only presume Jack McGee) are closing in. I've always wondered what happened in those eps and it really pisses me off that the last time I was in NYC, I never got to go to the Museum of Television and Radio and check if they had them in their archive and sit and watch them. My next New York trip will be much better planned, let me tell you!
#13
Posted Jun 4, 2005 @ 8:37 AM
On the "24" season finale episode thread a lot of posters are comparing the last scene, where Jack Bauer puts on his sunglasses, hoists his backpack and walks off into the sunrise towards an unknown future to... you guessed it... the end of almost any episode of "The Incredible Hulk".
So as you see, David Banner and his long, lonely search have gone down in pop culture history.
So as you see, David Banner and his long, lonely search have gone down in pop culture history.
#14
Posted Jun 4, 2005 @ 12:02 PM
It would be funny if he had a different alias every episopde next season:
Jack Branson
Jack Butofsky
Jack Banner
Jack Bigbootay
etc.
Jack Branson
Jack Butofsky
Jack Banner
Jack Bigbootay
etc.
#15
Posted Dec 23, 2005 @ 1:46 AM
Jack Colvin, the actor who played dogged reporter Jack McGee, died earlier this month. He was 71.
He was so great in this role. Tenacious, yet flip and a little bitchy. I loved to hate him. Though I'm convinced that had David used a last name with an initial other than B (would it have hurt him to be David Mankiewitcz for a few days?) Jack never would have found him every week. But only if David would have stopped picking fights and throwing giant, green tantrums.
He was so great in this role. Tenacious, yet flip and a little bitchy. I loved to hate him. Though I'm convinced that had David used a last name with an initial other than B (would it have hurt him to be David Mankiewitcz for a few days?) Jack never would have found him every week. But only if David would have stopped picking fights and throwing giant, green tantrums.
#16
Posted Mar 14, 2006 @ 7:30 AM
#17
Posted Mar 14, 2006 @ 10:30 AM
It really is about time. I hope the DVD's get a region 2 release as well.
#18
Posted Mar 18, 2006 @ 4:00 AM
Isn't S1 only like 5 episodes?
#19
Posted Mar 18, 2006 @ 9:54 PM
Isn't that sad theme called, Lick My Love Pump?{Sad, solo piano theme of existential angst and endless wandering}
I always watched this show way back when, and always seemed to enjoy it. Maybe because I was too young to know any better? But, Bill sure did get around alot in said bell bottoms. Dingos too I think, no? Or at the very least the clunky shoe version of the Dingo Boots!
#20
Posted Mar 19, 2006 @ 12:07 AM
FINALLY! Now I can pop my big, green monster into my DVD player whenever I need a good laugh. Or cry. The bellbottoms of pain will be mine, dammit!
I'm not sure. I'll track down an episode guide.
Goodness, but this show holds up. SciFi ran some eps this Thursday, and I was riveted. Bill Bixby sure knew how to bring it. The show would probably not be such a classic had another actor played the David Banner role.
HA! I love the 70s and early 80s. Couldn't tell him he wasn't styling.
Isn't S1 only like 5 episodes?
I'm not sure. I'll track down an episode guide.
Goodness, but this show holds up. SciFi ran some eps this Thursday, and I was riveted. Bill Bixby sure knew how to bring it. The show would probably not be such a classic had another actor played the David Banner role.
Or at the very least the clunky shoe version of the Dingo Boots!
HA! I love the 70s and early 80s. Couldn't tell him he wasn't styling.
#21
Posted Mar 19, 2006 @ 5:35 PM
I thought the complete series was already available on a box set at Best Buy for like $60?
#22
Posted Mar 19, 2006 @ 7:22 PM
Do you mean The Ultimate Collection, cagewench?
From Amazon.com
This set contains 18 of our supposed "favorite" episodes. It's supposed to be comprehensive. I'm glad they're releasing the seasons separately, though. I'll be the judge of my favorites, thank you very much.
From Amazon.com
The Original TV series that helped to inspire the "HULK" phenomenon. This comprehensive six-disc Ultimate Collection includes all of your favorite episodes. Starring Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno.
This set contains 18 of our supposed "favorite" episodes. It's supposed to be comprehensive. I'm glad they're releasing the seasons separately, though. I'll be the judge of my favorites, thank you very much.
#23
Posted Mar 21, 2006 @ 4:17 PM
The "Ultimate Collection" doesn't have the two-hour pilot movie or the two-part "Married"--my favorite episode. It does have "Prometheus," "Mystery Man" and "The First," all highly recommended. Not bad if you're just dipping your toe into the gamma radiation but Hulk enthusiasts should wait for the season sets.
Season 1 started with two two-hour movies (the pilot and "Death in the Family") and came back with 12 one-hour episodes. So sixteen hours in all for S1.
Season 1 started with two two-hour movies (the pilot and "Death in the Family") and came back with 12 one-hour episodes. So sixteen hours in all for S1.
#24
Posted Mar 23, 2006 @ 5:12 PM
DimSome wrote:
In bellbottoms of course...
I believe they kind of got that subtext in the Hulk movie that was recently released. Interesting thing to explore. Kind of an addiction in a way. David would lose his stuff, Hulk out, come down and then be all remorseful and worried about who got hurt while he was Hulking out.I believe that David liked losing his shit and hulking out. The man weighed 120lbs soaking wet, yet each week, he made sure to start fights with the biggest mouthbreathers he could find. Suddenly, he'd be thrown behind a couch/Dumpster/car and POOF! It's party time...
What proves my theory? Each week, he went to a new town and started shit. He wanted to get the snot beat out of him. Hulking out was probably a big rush.
In bellbottoms of course...
#25
Posted Mar 24, 2006 @ 1:45 PM
Super expanding bellbottoms ;-)
#27
Posted Mar 31, 2006 @ 12:22 PM
Never really saw the show. I was a little young when it aired. I did get a kick out of the three tv-movies they did in the 80s. I especially liked The Death of the Incredible Hulk, but I liked all three.
#29
Posted Apr 10, 2006 @ 12:35 PM
I liked The Trial of the Incredible Hulk myself. It looks a little cheap but Rex Smith is in it and I had the biggest crush on him when I first saw it, despite not knowing very much about him at the time. It wasn't until I got internet savvy a few years later that I was able to finally find out a bit more about the man of my teenage dreams.
I would love to get the box sets. I'm still cross with myself that when I ventured into the Museum of TV & Radio in NYC a few years ago, I never thought to see if they had the episode 'Prometheus'' for me to watch. It's been years since I saw it and I don't remember much about the end but for some reason, I've forgotten a whole bunch of other stuff and remembered that particular episode. It would have been a big thrill for my sci-fi loving self to have seen it. And I don't know when I'll get back to New York on hols. Stupid family committments and the Atlantic Ocean all in my way.
I would love to get the box sets. I'm still cross with myself that when I ventured into the Museum of TV & Radio in NYC a few years ago, I never thought to see if they had the episode 'Prometheus'' for me to watch. It's been years since I saw it and I don't remember much about the end but for some reason, I've forgotten a whole bunch of other stuff and remembered that particular episode. It would have been a big thrill for my sci-fi loving self to have seen it. And I don't know when I'll get back to New York on hols. Stupid family committments and the Atlantic Ocean all in my way.
#30
Posted Apr 19, 2007 @ 7:37 AM
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