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Bill Bixby's HULK wins!

I really enjoyed THE INCREDIBLE HULK TV show of the 70s. I didn't really care for the TV-movies they did later on, but I did like the show. Sure, it was formulatic. And I half expected him to crossover with Highway To Heaven (okay different decade)...but something tells me that with neither of the Hulk movies dominating the box office, 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....

And that is fine with me...being the old Baby Boomer I am!!!

Rob
Scorpio
 
This should be in Science Fiction & Fantasy.

That being said, I agree Bill Bixby's The Incredible Hulk is the best onscreen version of the Hulk, largely due to Bixby's incredible (as it were) acting. However, I can see why some people would not agree just due to presentation and loyalty to the comic.
 
This should be in Science Fiction & Fantasy.

That being said, I agree Bill Bixby's The Incredible Hulk is the best onscreen version of the Hulk, largely due to Bixby's incredible (as it were) acting. However, I can see why some people would not agree just due to presentation and loyalty to the comic.

Yeah, maybe it should be over in that forum...but this is a thread in tribute to that old TV show...so I put it hear as a victory for TV.

As for the masses? The "mass" of America has decided that TOS and The Voyage Home are their favorite Trek(s)..we may not agree with the 'mass', but the mass is what decides what's in the history books.

And yes, I agree about your summation of Bixby. Does that make him a better actor than Bana and Norton? Good question...but I am sure that some of our more 'prudish' forum friends will scoff at that idea..

Rob
Scorpio
 
This should be in Science Fiction & Fantasy.

That being said, I agree Bill Bixby's The Incredible Hulk is the best onscreen version of the Hulk, largely due to Bixby's incredible (as it were) acting. However, I can see why some people would not agree just due to presentation and loyalty to the comic.
Yeah, maybe it should be over in that forum...but this is a thread in tribute to that old TV show...so I put it hear as a victory for TV.
Except plenty of shows are discussed in the Science Fiction & Fantasy forum.

And yes, I agree about your summation of Bixby. Does that make him a better actor than Bana and Norton? Good question...but I am sure that some of our more 'prudish' forum friends will scoff at that idea..
I can't say anything about Norton yet since I haven't seen the movie yet (but I expect he'll be good), but I thought Bana was awful. Tobey Maguire awful.
 
This should be in Science Fiction & Fantasy.

That being said, I agree Bill Bixby's The Incredible Hulk is the best onscreen version of the Hulk, largely due to Bixby's incredible (as it were) acting. However, I can see why some people would not agree just due to presentation and loyalty to the comic.

Largely? well Ferrigno IS a very large guy and without him there wouldn't have been a Hulk TV series, give the guy some incredible credit.. ;)
 
This should be in Science Fiction & Fantasy.

That being said, I agree Bill Bixby's The Incredible Hulk is the best onscreen version of the Hulk, largely due to Bixby's incredible (as it were) acting. However, I can see why some people would not agree just due to presentation and loyalty to the comic.

Largely? well Ferrigno IS a very large guy and without him there wouldn't have been a Hulk TV series, give the guy some incredible credit.. ;)
D'oh! How could I possibly forget about Lou?! :o

Yes, having Lou Ferrigno as oppose to a CGI monstrosity gives the show a unique flavor that movies can never capture.
 
This should be in Science Fiction & Fantasy.

That being said, I agree Bill Bixby's The Incredible Hulk is the best onscreen version of the Hulk, largely due to Bixby's incredible (as it were) acting. However, I can see why some people would not agree just due to presentation and loyalty to the comic.

Largely? well Ferrigno IS a very large guy and without him there wouldn't have been a Hulk TV series, give the guy some incredible credit.. ;)

I bow to you sir...you are so correct...

And as for CGI version? I have no problem with it but why? I mean, its not as if the Hulk says anything of value, so why not some kick ass muscle freak dude instead of a cartoon character?

Rob
Scorpio
 
I really enjoyed THE INCREDIBLE HULK TV show of the 70s. I didn't really care for the TV-movies they did later on, but I did like the show. Sure, it was formulatic. And I half expected him to crossover with Highway To Heaven (okay different decade)...but something tells me that with neither of the Hulk movies dominating the box office, 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....

And that is fine with me...being the old Baby Boomer I am!!!

Rob
Scorpio
Do not count me in that number. Having read the comic before hand, the TV Hulk was weak and pathetic. The Hulk sequences of Ang Lee's movie were a nearly flawless interpretation of the character. Lee went wrong by adding in all the crap with Banner's father and making him into a bad version of the Absorbing Man.
 
This should be in Science Fiction & Fantasy.

That being said, I agree Bill Bixby's The Incredible Hulk is the best onscreen version of the Hulk, largely due to Bixby's incredible (as it were) acting. However, I can see why some people would not agree just due to presentation and loyalty to the comic.

Largely? well Ferrigno IS a very large guy and without him there wouldn't have been a Hulk TV series, give the guy some incredible credit.. ;)

*A-HEM* He beat out Arnold Schwarzenegger for the role of the Hulk.
 
I really enjoyed THE INCREDIBLE HULK TV show of the 70s. I didn't really care for the TV-movies they did later on, but I did like the show. Sure, it was formulatic. And I half expected him to crossover with Highway To Heaven (okay different decade)...but something tells me that with neither of the Hulk movies dominating the box office, 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....

And that is fine with me...being the old Baby Boomer I am!!!

Rob
Scorpio
Do not count me in that number. Having read the comic before hand, the TV Hulk was weak and pathetic. The Hulk sequences of Ang Lee's movie were a nearly flawless interpretation of the character. Lee went wrong by adding in all the crap with Banner's father and making him into a bad version of the Absorbing Man.

And yet because of Lee's version, which I prefer to the newer one, and the latest Ed Norton's lack luster version, Bill Bixby's version (Ferrgino too) will be remembered by the 'general' population as the more popular version...A bad first impression, and a second one as well, means Hulk will be, and should be, a minor character if the Avengers movie ever gets made...

Rob
Scorpio
 
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").

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 while it's around (and sometimes the additions are permanent, like the Daily Planet, Perry, Jimmy, and kryptonite from the radio series, or the Barbara Gordon Batgirl).

Although I guess the problem is redundancy. If you have a general with the whole weight of the US military behind him as the Hulk's relentless pursuer, then a tabloid-journalist Javert seems kind of penny-ante. He'd probably be shut out by military intelligence at every step anyway. Also, isn't the Banner-Hulk connection pretty widely known in the comics, so that there's no real motivation for a series-type pursuit by a reporter? But maybe a comics McGee could've been focused on exposing military excesses in pursuit of the Hulk.
 
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").

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 while it's around (and sometimes the additions are permanent, like the Daily Planet, Perry, Jimmy, and kryptonite from the radio series, or the Barbara Gordon Batgirl).

Although I guess the problem is redundancy. If you have a general with the whole weight of the US military behind him as the Hulk's relentless pursuer, then a tabloid-journalist Javert seems kind of penny-ante. He'd probably be shut out by military intelligence at every step anyway. Also, isn't the Banner-Hulk connection pretty widely known in the comics, so that there's no real motivation for a series-type pursuit by a reporter? But maybe a comics McGee could've been focused on exposing military excesses in pursuit of the Hulk.

Well, I think they went with McGee because he was cheaper to do than a full military tactical team...but, I also think it works better in the TV show since the whole Betty Ross thing isn't even played up there, so no need for her father to be in it either...

I think the weakness of the Hulk story is the fact we know he can never find a cure, be it on a TV show (which worked better) or in a movie. The fact he is trying to find a cure, or someone who can help him, is just crap because we all know he can't ever control the monster inside of him or the story is over...

The next hulk movie, which I doubt there will be now, but if there were? Get rid of finding a cure. It's just a waste of valuable screen time that they could be spending on something else..like...action.

Rob
Scorpio
 
Instead of that lame Death of the Incredible Hulk revival movie we got, I wanted to see a finale movie that ended with David finding a cure. I envisioned a situation where McGee finds out that Banner is alive and is the Hulk, and is in a position to expose him and break the story of the century and gain the respect and legitimacy he always wanted, but then decides instead to pass that up in favor of helping David get his cure and go on to lead a normal life.
 
The next hulk movie, which I doubt there will be now, but if there were? Get rid of finding a cure. It's just a waste of valuable screen time that they could be spending on something else..like...action.
Or just go straight to the grey-skinned Las Vegas bouncer version? ;)
 
My wife took my son to see the current movie and when she spotted the Ferrigno cameo, she told him "look, it's the Hulk." He was "duh, mom.. the whole movie is about him.."

He had no clue what she meant.
 
My wife took my son to see the current movie and when she spotted the Ferrigno cameo, she told him "look, it's the Hulk." He was "duh, mom.. the whole movie is about him.."

He had no clue what she meant.
Foolish kid. You need to educate him properly.
 
The true, one and only Hulk is this guy. No CGI, no Lou Ferrigno, only pencil, pen and ink.

And strictly speaking, Bill Bixby never played the Hulk, only puny Banner. :)
 
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.
 
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