Same episode over and over
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AutoexecBatman — 9 years ago(October 22, 2016 06:46 PM)
Sometimes "The Incredible Hulk" episodes felt like deja vu all over again. But many TV shows are formulaic.
But, there is a difference between being 'formulaic' and being 'predictable and repetitive', which the 1970's Hulk series became.
There is nothing wrong with formulaic entertainment, some of the best entertainment in the world is formulaic. Star Trek is formulaic, The X-Files is formulaic, Sherlock Holmes is formulaic, but these things are formulaic but are able to avoid the problems that plague the 1970's Hulk TV series.
Look, I criticize this show pretty brutally sometimes, but I am a fan, which is why I'm here, just because I like something doesn't mean that I am unable to see its flaws or to criticize its weaknesses.
It's like the original, 1960's Star Trek TV series, sure, I'm a fan, but I can recognize that in many ways, it is pretty bad, as Frey said on Futurama there are '79 episodes, about 30 of them good.' I still watch it, even the bad ones, but I recognize that the bad episodes are bad, I don't try to justify that they aren't bad.
I first learned of the Hulk by reading the comic book, when the TV show was announced, I was excited to see the character I loved appear on in a TV series, but I was disappointed by the show because it had very little of what I love about the character was reflected in the show, but I kept watching it because it was all there was, and because I like Bill Bixby's acting. As the show went on into the second, third and fourth seasons, I became bored with it because every episode seemed to be the same thing and the story never seemed to advance, I don't remember exactly when, maybe in the third season or maybe in the fourth, but I quit watching before the series was cancelled.
But I like the show and I am a fan, but I can be critical of it, especially critical of how boring the show can get and how nothing of lasting consequence ever seems to happen. -
glynis23-282-577521 — 9 years ago(October 23, 2016 07:56 AM)
There were things in the comic that they couldn't get away with in television at the time. It's difficult to translate a comic book into live action because comic books live in their sort of reality that is very different from ours.
Hulk not speaking and becoming the Hulk in a lab mishap was fine but there were changes like Bruce Banner to David Banner and chased by a reporter not by a military general. -
AutoexecBatman — 9 years ago(October 25, 2016 06:55 AM)
It is true that they were restricted by the budget, however, the bigger problem was the attitude of creator Kenneth Johnson. His attitude was that adapting a comic book is something that was beneath him, that the Hulk is inherently stupid or ridiculous, and that if it was going to be brought to television, then he had a responsibility to 'fix' the Hulk by eliminating all the comic book stuff and making it 'real'. In short, he was motivated by a contempt for the source material, that was the bigger problem.
There are moments in the series that do come close to really representing what the Hulk is really about. I am thinking in particular of the second half of the 'Prometheus' episode when Hulk was being underground in the military base and he begins smashing his way out. That's the moment that comes closest to representing what the Hulk is: a powerful, unstoppable force of nature that simply cannot be contained. That episode is pretty awesome actually. -
glynis23-282-577521 — 9 years ago(October 25, 2016 07:36 AM)
With Ken Johnson's contempt for comic books it feels like why do it if your gonna change everything? Why not create your own character?.
It's meant that subsequent Hulk adaptations have been overly influenced or overshadowed by nostalgia of the show. -
AutoexecBatman — 9 years ago(October 25, 2016 09:02 AM)
The TV show has influenced the comics and later adaptations to an extent, and the influence hasn't been negative. Even in the MCU version of the Hulk, Bruce Banner has become a kind of wandering do-gooder, wandering around the world trying to help people. That definitely comes from the TV series. I'm not opposed to that kind of interpretation of Bruce Banner's character.
What I don't like is the lack of development in the TV series. McGee does get closer and closer to finding the identity of the Hulk, but only in a superficial way, and David never seems to make any improvement in his ability to control his transformations, nor does he ever come to think that maybe turning into the Hulk can be a blessing as well as a curse, because all the people that he helped, he never would have been able to do that if not for the Hulk. In almost every episode, David is nearly killed, and it is only the Hulk that can save him. You would think that maybe after the Hulk saves his life for about the 15th time, that he would come to appreciate that the Hulk can be a great force for good, but he never does. -
glynis23-282-577521 — 9 years ago(October 25, 2016 09:16 AM)
If there was a Hulk show now there would more developments like Gray Hulk, Professor Hulk etc. The show was done at a time they set up a dynamic that never changes, fear was once McGee knows who the Hulk is or once Banner controls his transformations the show would take a nose dive.
Like the show the movies and Ultimate Marvel have Banner become the Hulk in a lab and have his eyes turn. -
terryc316 — 9 years ago(October 21, 2016 11:10 AM)
One of the problems of this show it was the same thing over and over, basic premise that never changes
I think you have your premises mixed up with your plots. The premise doesn't change. The plot does. The premise was actually quite good.
It was a very 70's type of show
HmmmMaybe because it was, indeed, a show in the 70s.
at least the first couple seasons. It ran from 1977-1982. -
glynis23-282-577521 — 9 years ago(October 21, 2016 12:04 PM)
Premise is great but as any show progresses through like 3, 4 or 5 seasons maybe you have to make changes to keep it going. Not so much the premise that doesn't change but the character arc, situations not so much as it was back then, had no turning points like a character you think is a good guy turns out to be a bad guy or a bad guy becoming a good guy or have the show built like a novel with all the seasons being like different chapters.
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terryc316 — 9 years ago(October 30, 2016 12:00 PM)
You obviously haven't seen every episode. There were situations where Banner almost felt sorry for McGee, even though Banner KNEW McGee was after the hulk. There are also situations where McGee was GRATEFUL that the hulk saved his life.
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amyghost — 9 years ago(October 31, 2016 04:24 AM)
If the show had continued, rumor has it that the story was going to turn to McGee's discovery that David was the creature; however, instead of turning him in, circumstances were going to be such that McGee was going to become David's ally, going on the run with him to help him find that ever-elusive cure. The series' cancellation put and end to that (and Jack Colvin's failing health probably would have as well); and of course, the change in format would probably have still been played out episodically, which would have inevitably led once again to some repetitivenessbut if Ken Johnson had had his way and TIH had stayed on the air, there would have been a probable shift in direction ahead.
50 Is The New Cutoff Age. -
AutoexecBatman — 9 years ago(October 31, 2016 02:52 PM)
Allegedly, the fifth season was going to be the final season and all the story lines were going to be resolved for good, with David either being cured or learning to control the transformation, and McGee finally figuring everything out. It was apparently designed to be like The Fugitive and come to a definitive end.
Then the TV movies in the 80's came along and so the only ending we ever got was the death of Banner, which really sucked. There was supposed to be another movie where Banner came back to life, but Bill Bixby got cancer and they weren't able to do it, he did tragically shortly after, at the comparatively young age 59. -
terryc316 — 9 years ago(January 27, 2017 10:01 PM)
I think Bixby must have known fans were pretty disappointed in the movie, particularly the nature of the Hulk's death and everything leading up to it, after all he'd been through in the series. Bixby himself was working on (a screenplay) bringing the Hulk back despite "The Death of TIH". Unfortunately, cancer took Bixby only 3 years after that final TV movie.
I liked the story of the professor that wanted to help him "rid" him "of this thing", but the way he died was pretty poor. And unfortunately, Jack Colvin aka Jack McGee was having health issues and couldn't appear either, as you said.
I always thought a good finale would be Banner actually does cure himself, and then makes peace with McGee and gives McGee his ultimate newspaper story, that Banner was the Hulk all along. Then, McGee goes on to be an editor at The NY Times or The LA Times or some other major newspaperor maybe Editor-in-Chief of the National Registerkind of a sequel to "Stop the Presses", and maybe even more so, "Proof Positive", but this time, McGee actually finds out the truth about his biggest story. -
drewstewartcolumbia — 9 years ago(December 03, 2016 03:12 PM)
Prior to the advent of message boards and on demand video people were content to accept what they saw on camera without reading much into it. Now with message boards and on demand services, Hulu Netflix and the like viewers aren't as willing to accept carbon copy programs. So a show like the Hulk could catch on and viewers would watch simply enjoy the program without reading much into it. Shows like "Little House on the Prairie" and "The Incredible Hulk" got away with goofs and discrepancies all the time.