Bill Bixby's HULK wins!

[RobertScorpio]

Bill Bixby's version of the Hulk will remain the one that most people will look at as the only TRUE version of The Hulk....

"Most people" is a great "weasel" phrase. Increasingly, "most people" don't remember who Bill Bixby was. If TIH made a mistake it was in assuming otherwise and over-promoting the few connections between that TV series and the new movie.

The only TRUE version the The Hulk was drawn by Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko.

And yet Bill Bixby, IMO, out acted both Bana and Norton...that's the crux of this thread.

Rob
scorpio

 

[Christopher]

If TIH made a mistake it was in assuming otherwise and over-promoting the few connections between that TV series and the new movie.

You're falsely assuming that it was done purely out of the belief that the audience would respond to it. It wasn't. It was done because the director and star were big fans of the Bixby series and made the movie they wanted to see. That's what creative people do, if they're any good -- rather than just hollowly pandering to the audience's presumed desires, they tell the stories that they themseves are inspired to tell.

The only TRUE version the The Hulk was drawn by Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko.

Nobody's disputing the value or validity of the original work. The thread is simply comparing different screen adaptations against each other.

 

[Santaman]

The only TRUE version the The Hulk was drawn by Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko.

Pretty difficult to get an autograph from that Hulk or the CGI ones..

 

[Hermiod]

^I'll bet it's easier to get an autograph from Stan Lee than it is Bill Bixby.

 

[Santaman]

Ferrigno is still around

 

[RobertScorpio]

^I'll bet it's easier to get an autograph from Stan Lee than it is Bill Bixby.

Low!

 

[Hermiod]

^I'll bet it's easier to get an autograph from Stan Lee than it is Bill Bixby.

Low!

It'd still be easier if Bixby was alive.

 

[Kryton]

I'm guessing autographs are about the only thing Stan Lee writes these days.

 

[RobertScorpio]

I'm guessing autographs are about the only thing Stan Lee writes these days.

Or "how much I hate Jack Kirby"...

Rob
Scorpio

 

[flandry84]

Bixby version for me too! Great memories of watching this show .
Isn't it funny that a cheap and formulaic show from the 80's(?) is more fondly regarded than two multi-million dollar,studio blockbusters?

The potrayal of the Hulk as a sort of urban-myth of Americas backroads and truck stops seems perversly more realistic than the big scale Hulk Vs. the army scenario.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

And yet Bill Bixby, IMO, out acted both Bana and Norton...that's the crux of this thread.

Not on the best day of his life.

(Waving hands in air as if trying to locate something invisible) "Uncle Martin? Uncle Martin?!"

 

[RobertScorpio]

Bixby version for me too! Great memories of watching this show .
Isn't it funny that a cheap and formulaic show from the 80's(?) is more fondly regarded than two multi-million dollar,studio blockbusters?

The potrayal of the Hulk as a sort of urban-myth of Americas backroads and truck stops seems perversly more realistic than the big scale Hulk Vs. the army scenario.

Yep..oh the younger crowd won't agree, but then again..wisdom is something that comes with age..

Rob

 

[Christopher]

Isn't it funny that a cheap and formulaic show from the 80's(?) is more fondly regarded than two multi-million dollar,studio blockbusters?

Well, it wasn't cheap; it was one of the most expensive productions on television at the time thanks to the extensive location work, lack of permanent sets, prosthetic makeup, and elaborate stunt/FX sequences. As for formula, aside from the two-Hulkouts-per-episode requirement, the show was structured more as an anthology drama in the vein of The Fugitive, telling a wide range of different stories about different people and situations. Today we consider serialization to be the quintessence of good drama, but back then only soap operas, comic strips, and some sitcoms were serialized, and the classy shows in the '50s and '60s had been anthologies, so that standalone episodic storytelling was considered the classy way to go. It wasn't until Dallas and Hill Street Blues that serial drama began to become respectable.

So by the standards of the late '70s and early '80s, The Incredible Hulk was an exceptionally adult, sophisticated interpretation of a comic-book superhero. It was certainly better-made and more intelligent than its contemporary live-action superhero shows Wonder Woman and The Amazing Spider-Man.

 

[RobertScorpio]

Isn't it funny that a cheap and formulaic show from the 80's(?) is more fondly regarded than two multi-million dollar,studio blockbusters?

Well, it wasn't cheap; it was one of the most expensive productions on television at the time thanks to the extensive location work, lack of permanent sets, prosthetic makeup, and elaborate stunt/FX sequences. As for formula, aside from the two-Hulkouts-per-episode requirement, the show was structured more as an anthology drama in the vein of The Fugitive, telling a wide range of different stories about different people and situations. Today we consider serialization to be the quintessence of good drama, but back then only soap operas, comic strips, and some sitcoms were serialized, and the classy shows in the '50s and '60s had been anthologies, so that standalone episodic storytelling was considered the classy way to go. It wasn't until Dallas and Hill Street Blues that serial drama began to become respectable.

So by the standards of the late '70s and early '80s, The Incredible Hulk was an exceptionally adult, sophisticated interpretation of a comic-book superhero. It was certainly better-made and more intelligent than its contemporary live-action superhero shows Wonder Woman and The Amazing Spider-Man.

True...totally true. That SPIDERMAN show, which starred Charlie X right, was awful...or was it one of the kids from Sound of Music? Or both?

Rob
Scorpio

 

[ToddPence]

True...totally true. That SPIDERMAN show, which starred Charlie X right, was awful...or was it one of the kids from Sound of Music? Or both?

The actor was Nicholas Hammond, who did indeed appear as a child in "The Sound of Music".

 

[Christopher]

^^I didn't know that about Hammond. Anyway, yeah, he was Peter Parker, Robert F. Simon was an atypically avuncular J. Jonah Jameson, and Michael Pataki (Korax from "The Trouble with Tribbles") played the obligatory gruff detective who clashes with the hero (as Peter, of course, since Spidey sequences took up a limited amount of each episode). Plus there was a cute love interest/rival for Peter (who was not named Betty, Gwen, or MJ) in one season and a comely black female strictly-platonic-friend for Peter (who was not named Glory) in the other season. No Aunt May except in the pilot, no Uncle Ben ever (!!!), no other characters from the comics, period.

 

[ToddPence]

As a kid, Hammond was also in "Lord of the Flies".

 

[A beaker full of death]

That being said, I agree Bill Bixby's The Incredible Hulk is the best onscreen version of the Hulk

as do I -- obviously.
Man, imagine if they had gone with Richard Kiel?

 

[The Nth Doctor]

That being said, I agree Bill Bixby's The Incredible Hulk is the best onscreen version of the Hulk

as do I -- obviously.
Man, imagine if they had gone with Richard Kiel?

Yeah. I love Richard Kiel to death, but he's only large, not muscular like Lou Ferrigno.

 

[A beaker full of death]

I liked the Bixby/Ferrigno series, but I wouldn't have minded seeing a few more elements from the comics added. For instance, in "Prometheus" it might've been nice if a General Thaddeus Ross had been in charge of the compound. And I would've liked to see at least one episode where David's attempts at a cure allowed him to retain partial intelligence as the Hulk so that Ferrigno could've spoken (although maybe something more articulate than "Hulk smash puny humans").

Ferrigno was always a big advocate of that too, naturally. But Prometheus showed us they would go the other way - have Bixby play the half-Hulk in close-up, and a bodybuilder in the long shots. It really was best - Louie's a great guy, but if you need to choose an actor, you go with Bixby.

Conversely, I wish there were a Jack McGee in the comics. I'm surprised they didn't add such a character to the comics while the show was on. Comics generally adjust themselves to be closer to a popular TV or film adaptation ...

Yeah, but this tv show was modeled on The Fugitive and Kung Fu. The McGee character was an embodiment of the impetus for the character to remain anonymous and get into new situations in new locations every week (just like Lt. Gererd). It was an element of this type of series, not of the style of stories appearing in the comics.