The narration during the opening credits of The Incredible Hulk claims that this show will present a serious context and an epic, story-based, developing struggle with David Banner searching for a cure to his condition of transforming into the Hulk beast involuntarily.
Yet, that is *not actually* what the content of the show presents. Almost every single episode follows the exact same, very silly, simplistic formula. A formula that never changes or evolves. The worst part is, the formula has almost *nothing* to do with *the Hulk* whatsoever.
The narration belongs on a different, *better* show --- not the show they *actually made.*
Really, "the Hulk" on this show is just a superfluous gimmick that is barely related to the content of any episode.
They could have made almost exactly the same show, with *no* Hulk scenes or references, with *very few* changes to any of the scripts.
This show is basically just: "A drifter goes from town to town doing odd temporary jobs and/or befriending locals whom he asks for money and hospitality from" + "a few tacked on scenes of a Hulk creature smashing some things, then running away".
The tacked-on parts *include* the "fights" Banner gets into before the Hulk comes, because they too are contrivances that need not be present in these "drifter story" scripts.
Subtracting the Hulk scenes from the equation wouldn't take away much from the show, because they don't add much to the show in the first place.
"The Incredible Hulk" premise is *mostly irrelevant* to the *content* of this show.
The vast majority of screen-time is spent showing Banner be Dr. Phil to every "random stranger of the week" he meets. The formula of this show is: 90% "David Banner: Self-Help Guru" and 10% "The Hulk appears and uses the environment in some way to 'boff' the bad guys (Ie: pulling the rug out from under them) or throws them around a bit (the Hulk never actually punches anyone with his fists in this show) and then runs away just in time to avoid being captured."
All that self-help content is *completely irrelevant* to the premise of "The Incredible Hulk", therefore the amount of screen-time it gets is *ludicrous*.
This show has no on-going story whatsoever, it is 'episodic.' Which means that by the limitations of this primitive storytelling-killing formula, there is no way they could have developed Banner, Hulk, or his quest for a cure even if they wanted to, unless they *first* had the fortitude to discard this primitive formula completely. Perhaps this show is a victim of it's times, as primitive 'episodic'-handicapped stories were 'the norm' back then. But it is what it is, and now in 2008 it is apparent that The Incredible Hulk's lack of any story or character development whatsoever does not bode well for it's standing in history as an artistic show.
Banner & the Hulk start again from zero at the beginning of every episode, therefore everything that happens in the series is a moot point since it has zero relevance to evolving Banner's or the Hulk's story in any way. Nothing *meaningful* ever can or does happen.
In the comics, the Hulk speaks. He's an intelligent being capable of communication. In this show, he's dumbed-down to a big green ape who is incapable of doing anything other than grunting, running, lifting, smashing, and throwing things. Hulk remains dumb for the whole series. You *already know* what's gonna happen with the Hulk *before the episode starts*, because it always follows the *exact* same formula.
There's no reason to *care* about the Hulk presented in this series since he's just a big dumb green ape with no potential to change in any subsequent episodes.
Banner's quest for the cure is almost completely ignored. Granted there are a scant few episodes that deal with this, but for something that is central to the show to be ignored *most of the time* is absurd. *Especially* since the opening narration before every episode drives home that searching for a cure is *supposed* to be what the show *is*, even though it generally has *nothing* to do with that!
Banner spends almost *zero* screen-time looking for a cure. All he ever does with his time is hang out with locals, or take temporary jobs. Time spent looking for a cure seems to be non-existent. This show ignores/abandons it's own opening narration "Banner is looking for a cure" premise by refusing to devote screen-time to showing Banner doing it.
As with the Hulk, the Banner character never grows or changes on this show one iota. The maximum amount of development that Banner got was in the pilot where he changed from being obsessed and angry all the time about not helping out his wife, to mellowing-out and completely forgetting about her. However, that is the *entire extent* of all the development Banner *ever* got in the series. After the pilot, he's *exactly* the same character from the first episode to the last.
If they *did* make the show into an epic story where Banner, the Hulk, and the search for a cure, all got developed in a new and continual way in each and every episode -making every episode truly *matter*- it *could* have been one of the best shows ever made: a work of art rather than merely entertainment.
On the plus side, Bill Bixby's acting is excellent. He's very sympathetic and convincing. Bixby had an inherent quality about him that simply makes people wanna like him. However, his fine acting can only go so far since he was given *nothing* to work with on the script level.
This show is marginally entertaining, but *not* as a *Hulk show*.
By abandoning & ignoring it's *Hulk* premise, The Incredible Hulk, fell epically short of it's potential for greatness.
Yet, that is *not actually* what the content of the show presents. Almost every single episode follows the exact same, very silly, simplistic formula. A formula that never changes or evolves. The worst part is, the formula has almost *nothing* to do with *the Hulk* whatsoever.
The narration belongs on a different, *better* show --- not the show they *actually made.*
Really, "the Hulk" on this show is just a superfluous gimmick that is barely related to the content of any episode.
They could have made almost exactly the same show, with *no* Hulk scenes or references, with *very few* changes to any of the scripts.
This show is basically just: "A drifter goes from town to town doing odd temporary jobs and/or befriending locals whom he asks for money and hospitality from" + "a few tacked on scenes of a Hulk creature smashing some things, then running away".
The tacked-on parts *include* the "fights" Banner gets into before the Hulk comes, because they too are contrivances that need not be present in these "drifter story" scripts.
Subtracting the Hulk scenes from the equation wouldn't take away much from the show, because they don't add much to the show in the first place.
"The Incredible Hulk" premise is *mostly irrelevant* to the *content* of this show.
The vast majority of screen-time is spent showing Banner be Dr. Phil to every "random stranger of the week" he meets. The formula of this show is: 90% "David Banner: Self-Help Guru" and 10% "The Hulk appears and uses the environment in some way to 'boff' the bad guys (Ie: pulling the rug out from under them) or throws them around a bit (the Hulk never actually punches anyone with his fists in this show) and then runs away just in time to avoid being captured."
All that self-help content is *completely irrelevant* to the premise of "The Incredible Hulk", therefore the amount of screen-time it gets is *ludicrous*.
This show has no on-going story whatsoever, it is 'episodic.' Which means that by the limitations of this primitive storytelling-killing formula, there is no way they could have developed Banner, Hulk, or his quest for a cure even if they wanted to, unless they *first* had the fortitude to discard this primitive formula completely. Perhaps this show is a victim of it's times, as primitive 'episodic'-handicapped stories were 'the norm' back then. But it is what it is, and now in 2008 it is apparent that The Incredible Hulk's lack of any story or character development whatsoever does not bode well for it's standing in history as an artistic show.
Banner & the Hulk start again from zero at the beginning of every episode, therefore everything that happens in the series is a moot point since it has zero relevance to evolving Banner's or the Hulk's story in any way. Nothing *meaningful* ever can or does happen.
In the comics, the Hulk speaks. He's an intelligent being capable of communication. In this show, he's dumbed-down to a big green ape who is incapable of doing anything other than grunting, running, lifting, smashing, and throwing things. Hulk remains dumb for the whole series. You *already know* what's gonna happen with the Hulk *before the episode starts*, because it always follows the *exact* same formula.
There's no reason to *care* about the Hulk presented in this series since he's just a big dumb green ape with no potential to change in any subsequent episodes.
Banner's quest for the cure is almost completely ignored. Granted there are a scant few episodes that deal with this, but for something that is central to the show to be ignored *most of the time* is absurd. *Especially* since the opening narration before every episode drives home that searching for a cure is *supposed* to be what the show *is*, even though it generally has *nothing* to do with that!
Banner spends almost *zero* screen-time looking for a cure. All he ever does with his time is hang out with locals, or take temporary jobs. Time spent looking for a cure seems to be non-existent. This show ignores/abandons it's own opening narration "Banner is looking for a cure" premise by refusing to devote screen-time to showing Banner doing it.
As with the Hulk, the Banner character never grows or changes on this show one iota. The maximum amount of development that Banner got was in the pilot where he changed from being obsessed and angry all the time about not helping out his wife, to mellowing-out and completely forgetting about her. However, that is the *entire extent* of all the development Banner *ever* got in the series. After the pilot, he's *exactly* the same character from the first episode to the last.
If they *did* make the show into an epic story where Banner, the Hulk, and the search for a cure, all got developed in a new and continual way in each and every episode -making every episode truly *matter*- it *could* have been one of the best shows ever made: a work of art rather than merely entertainment.
On the plus side, Bill Bixby's acting is excellent. He's very sympathetic and convincing. Bixby had an inherent quality about him that simply makes people wanna like him. However, his fine acting can only go so far since he was given *nothing* to work with on the script level.
This show is marginally entertaining, but *not* as a *Hulk show*.
By abandoning & ignoring it's *Hulk* premise, The Incredible Hulk, fell epically short of it's potential for greatness.