The Incredible Hulk

Dir: Kenneth Johnson

1977

***

By the late seventies TV studios had finally discovered the popularity of comics and realized the potential of Superheroes. The kids who grew up watching the early serials of Superman, Batman, The Shadow etc had grown up. Marvel were doing very well and Universal Television (now known as NBC) purchased the rights of several of their characters. At first, writer Kenneth Johnson refused the original offer to pick any character he wanted to develop but soon changed his mind and decided to write a Hulk show. When asked what it was that changed his mind he said he was inspired by Les Miserables and the similarities Hulk had with the story. I'm not sure I see where he was coming from, the character Jack McGee (that I always thought was a little bit pointless) is supposedly based on the character of Javert in Les Mis but I don't quite see it myself, still the man did good. Spider-man and Captain America hadn't quite got it right in the late seventies but DC's Wonder Woman had shown the way somewhat and of all the characters on offer Hulk was probably the most interesting but also one of the hardest to get right. Johnson stated his dislike for the comics (amazing he got the job really) but Stan Lee was ever the gent and allowed him to make necessary changes without argument. Lee agreed that Hulk should no longer be able to talk and understood why he should have a reduction in strength. Johnson's simplistic and lower-key origin story was far more intelligent and believable than in the comic, even though it was as nonsensical. Lee praised the changes and credited Johnson in making an adult show that teenagers could also enjoy. However, Lee, Lou Ferrigno and others at Marvel were a little disappointed that CBS changed the name of Bruce Banner to David Banner because they said openly that they thought the name Bruce sounded 'too gay' and bit their collective tongue when no other character from the comics appeared in the script but they put their foot down when Johnson wrote the Hulk as being bright red ('a more human colour' as he put it) rather than classic green. It worked, and 1977's feature length original pilot episode was a huge hit that pretty much stands up today. Bill Baxby was first choice for Banner and he played the part brilliantly. Arnold Schwarzenegger was rejected after auditioning as he was seen as being far too short and Richard Kiel was hired. However, Johnson's son is said to have persuaded his dad to sack him as he clearly didn't look anything like the character from the comics. What a brat. Kiel didn't mind so much though as he said that the contact lens worn for the part hurt his eyes and he could never get scrub the green paint off at the end of the day. Lou Ferrigno was hired (although Kiel's Hulk can be seen in certain scenes of the original episode) and it is now impossible to see anyone else in the part. The series wasn't always perfect with episodes ranging from amazing to absolutely diabolical but the original feature length episode isn't too shabby at all.