Filming of the pilot episode began with Richard Kiel (Jaws in the Bond films THE SPY WHO LOVED ME and MOONRAKER) as the green goliath but he was replaced during production when it was felt he lacked the required stature for the role. The only remaining shot of Kiel in the completed movie is a long-shot of the Hulk pushing a tree into a lake to save a little girl. Arnold Schwarzenegger was considered for the role but Lou Ferringo (Mr Teen America [1970], Mr America [1973], Mr Universe [1973 and 1974]) was slightly taller and won the part.
To protect the actor's feet on location, the Hulk can sometimes be spied wearing discreet green slippers. They can be seen, for example, in the episode TERROR IN TIMES SQUARE.
HULK RETURNS, THE INCREDIBLE
AIRDATE: 22 May 1988, NBC.
Following the 1986 sale of Marvel Comics Group (including the West Coast animation company headed-up by Stan Lee) by Cadence Industries to film and television production company New World International for $50 million, the new owners looked at Marvel properties which would be ideal for exploitation on-screen. Several, including Spider-man, were already licensed to other studios but The Hulk remained unlicensed so New World put together a package which basically recreated the Universal series (Universal, having allowed their live-action rights to the property to lapse, were not involved) as a reunion TV movie. Bixby, Ferrigno and Nicholas Corea (a key member of the original production team who directed the first reunion) returned but without Johnson behind-the-scenes to guide the show's creative direction.
Looking for ways to maximise their investment, Marvel's new owners intended to use the first reunion movie to introduce Thor to television viewers with a view to create enough interest to launch the character in his own TV project. A series of 'unusual' creative decisions made the character an annoying beach-bum and no-one expressed much interest in seeing him again.
Lou Ferrigno on the revival: “[Return of the Hulk] killed everyone in the ratings, including a Jane Seymour mini-series. In France, she came up to me and said 'I'm so mad at you. Your Hulk beat my series in the ratings.' I was impressed that Hulk still had so much power.” (Interview in Starlog Magazine issue 247, February 1998).
HULK, THE TRIAL OF THE INCREDIBLE
AIRDATE: 7 May 1989, NBC.
Second, of three, Hulk reunion TV movies and the first to be directed by Bill Bixby (who had also worked behind-the-camera extensively on the second season of New World's SLEDGE HAMMER!).
Following the failure of the introduction of Thor in the previous movie, New World tried again, this time with DareDevil (played by Rex Smith, previously of STREET HAWK), pitting both heroes against recurring Marvel villain Kingpin (played by John Rhys-Davies), the first time a Marvel villain (albeit one without super powers) had appeared in a live-action Hulk production. DareDevil remained blind but his traditional red costume was replaced with a black one which appeared to emphasis Matt Murdock's (still a lawyer) disability. As before, New World failed in its attempt to spin-off DareDevil and this remained the character's only live-action outing before the big budget Fox theatrical movie.
HULK, DEATH OF THE INCREDIBLE
AIRDATE: 18 February 1990, NBC.
Third, and final, Hulk TV movie reunion, once again directed by series star Bill Bixby.
This time, the movie was not used as a showcase for other Marvel characters although The Black Widow does appear.
The Hulk's easy death was much criticised by fans, it happens far too easily and doesn't fit with previously established facts.
Despite the title of the movie and it's conclusion, this was never intended to be the final entry in the series. NBC declined a fourth movie but New World planned to place the project at a rival outlet. Working titles for the next movie were Revenge of the Incredible Hulk or Rebirth of the Incredible Hulk. Bosses had hoped to use future movies to showcase Iron Man, Wolverine and She Hulk (in a script titled Metamorphosis). Before production could begin, Bill Bixby developed cancer and the idea of any further outings was scrapped.
Lou Ferrigno on the Hulk's death: “I was sad about it, but I knew Bill and I were gonna do another one. I was scared to do the character's death because it felt like a curse. I didn't like that title and I was leery about it, I don't know why. The network thought it was a great concept and we would come back with another TV movie with a great storyline – Hulk is revived with Banner's mind controling him. I believe it was going to be called The Revenge of the Hulk. Unfortunately, Bill got sick. It was one of the few shows I would like to forget. The death scene itself was scary becase it was done late at night. They had the airplane going and it was raining very hard. If I went outside, the makeup would run, so Bill (who directed the movie) told me 'run for the plane and as soon as you get close to the wing, make a banana turn and go beyond the plane.' With the rain and contact lenses, I could barely see. I turned and the plane's wing was right at face level. I put my head down just in time. If that wing had hit my head, I would have seen Jesus. On that show I incurred more injuries than any other.” (Interview in Starlog Magazine issue 247, February 1998).
To date, Seasons 1 & 2 have been released on DVD in the USA and the UK. A stateside release of the following two seasons is planned to coincide with the launch of the feature film. No UK release has been announced but is almost certain to happen courtesy of the Universal-Playback label.
The Hulk's human alter-ego in the Marvel Comics was Bruce Banner. Showrunner Kenneth Johnson hated the alliterating names all too common in comicbooks (Peter Parker, Bruce Wayne, Vikkie Vale etc) and also thought that Bruce sounded too “homosexual” for the leading man in a tv show. David was substuted but Banner's gravestone shows his full name to be David Bruce Banner.
In addition to the credited Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno, a third actor (as well as the occasional stuntman) also played The Hulk. Wrestler Ric Drasin occasionally played the creature mid-transformation. At other times, partial make-up was applied to both Bixby and Ferrigno for these 'mid-shots'.
The reasons for the Hulk's green skin are various, depending on wo is telling the anecdote. The character's earliest published appearences saw him coloured a boring grey but green was quickly substituted. One version of the tale is that green was the only colour the printers could reproduce consistantly, another is that they had too much green ink and could cut Marvel's accountants a good deal. More likely is that all monsters should be green and, besides, green is a pretty cool colour.
Ken Johnson didn't agree (“Is he the envious Hulk?”) and lobbied Marvel and Stan Lee for permission to change the Hulk's skin tone. It never happened. Ferringo's make-up proved a production nightmare as it rubbed off onto anyone or anything he came into contact with.
Universal's television operation was under pressure to reduce production costs by the time the time the show's 4th season was entering production. The Hulk's heavy reliance on effects, specialist make-up and location work, coupled with the complete absence of cost-saving regular standing sets made it an obvious target for eager accountants. The solution presented by Universal was to limited the Hulk's transformations to one per show and introduce a new character, following Banner around the country in a camper van, to introduce a quick-to-use standing set. The network, aware of the show's selling points, rejected these plans and, after a stand-off, eventually agreed to Universal's counter-demands for more money.
CBS cancelled the show after only seven episodes of the fifth and final season were created. The network believed the show had run its course. They were still angry at the studio for their attempts to cut costs (and subsequently playing hardball for a bigger fee from the network) the previous year. The decision to pull the show was made at the last minute giving Johnson and the writers no time to wrap-up the story. The studio requested six further episodes to allow them time to bring things to a conclusion but this was rejected.
In addition to the credited Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno, a third actor (as well as the occasional stuntman) also played The Hulk. Wrestler Ric Drasin occasionally played the creature mid-transformation. At other times, partial make-up was applied to both Bixby and Ferrigno for these 'mid-shots'.
The reasons for the Hulk's green skin are various, depending on wo is telling the anecdote. The character's earliest published appearences saw him coloured a boring grey but green was quickly substituted. One version of the tale is that green was the only colour the printers could reproduce consistantly, another is that they had too much green ink and could cut Marvel's accountants a good deal. More likely is that all monsters should be green and, besides, green is a pretty cool colour.
Ken Johnson didn't agree (“Is he the envious Hulk?”) and lobbied Marvel and Stan Lee for permission to change the Hulk's skin tone. It never happened. Ferringo's make-up proved a production nightmare as it rubbed off onto anyone or anything he came into contact with.
Universal's television operation was under pressure to reduce production costs by the time the time the show's 4th season was entering production. The Hulk's heavy reliance on effects, specialist make-up and location work, coupled with the complete absence of cost-saving regular standing sets made it an obvious target for eager accountants. The solution presented by Universal was to limited the Hulk's transformations to one per show and introduce a new character, following Banner around the country in a camper van, to introduce a quick-to-use standing set. The network, aware of the show's selling points, rejected these plans and, after a stand-off, eventually agreed to Universal's counter-demands for more money.
CBS cancelled the show after only seven episodes of the fifth and final season were created. The network believed the show had run its course. They were still angry at the studio for their attempts to cut costs (and subsequently playing hardball for a bigger fee from the network) the previous year. The decision to pull the show was made at the last minute giving Johnson and the writers no time to wrap-up the story. The studio requested six further episodes to allow them time to bring things to a conclusion but this was rejected.
To cash-in on the late 1970s fad for superhero and science fiction movies, Universal released both the Pilot episode and the second TV movie, BRIDE OF THE INCREDIBLE HULK (aka MARRIED), as feature films in the UK and other overseas markets. Both are available (as both a single disc and as part of the Season one box set) on DVD with excellent audio commentaries by Kenneth Johnson. Universal repeated the same trick with BATTLESTAR GALACTICA's opening episode, SAGA OF A STAR WORLD and Columbia did likewise with its' inferior pilot for THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (and then pulled the same trick again with two further two-parters).
The first season episode NEVER GIVE A TRUCKER AN EVEN BREAK proved to be Spielberg-baiting when it extensively reused footage from the director's 1971 TV movie DUEL (filmed in 10 days for a budget of $375,000) without consulting him first (as was Universal's right and common television practice). From this point, he insisted on a clause in all his contracts that footage from one of his films could not be used elsewhere without his express permission and input.
HULK RETURNS, THE INCREDIBLE
AIRDATE: 22 May 1988, NBC.
Following the 1986 sale of Marvel Comics Group (including the West Coast animation company headed-up by Stan Lee) by Cadence Industries to film and television production company New World International for $50 million, the new owners looked at Marvel properties which would be ideal for exploitation on-screen. Several, including Spider-man, were already licensed to other studios but The Hulk remained unlicensed so New World put together a package which basically recreated the Universal series (Universal, having allowed their live-action rights to the property to lapse, were not involved) as a reunion TV movie. Bixby, Ferrigno and Nicholas Corea (a key member of the original production team who directed the first reunion) returned but without Johnson behind-the-scenes to guide the show's creative direction.
Looking for ways to maximise their investment, Marvel's new owners intended to use the first reunion movie to introduce Thor to television viewers with a view to create enough interest to launch the character in his own TV project. A series of 'unusual' creative decisions made the character an annoying beach-bum and no-one expressed much interest in seeing him again.
Lou Ferrigno on the revival: “[Return of the Hulk] killed everyone in the ratings, including a Jane Seymour mini-series. In France, she came up to me and said 'I'm so mad at you. Your Hulk beat my series in the ratings.' I was impressed that Hulk still had so much power.” (Interview in Starlog Magazine issue 247, February 1998).
HULK, THE TRIAL OF THE INCREDIBLE
AIRDATE: 7 May 1989, NBC.
Second, of three, Hulk reunion TV movies and the first to be directed by Bill Bixby (who had also worked behind-the-camera extensively on the second season of New World's SLEDGE HAMMER!).
Following the failure of the introduction of Thor in the previous movie, New World tried again, this time with DareDevil (played by Rex Smith, previously of STREET HAWK), pitting both heroes against recurring Marvel villain Kingpin (played by John Rhys-Davies), the first time a Marvel villain (albeit one without super powers) had appeared in a live-action Hulk production. DareDevil remained blind but his traditional red costume was replaced with a black one which appeared to emphasis Matt Murdock's (still a lawyer) disability. As before, New World failed in its attempt to spin-off DareDevil and this remained the character's only live-action outing before the big budget Fox theatrical movie.
Stan Lee makes a brief cameo as a member of the jury. His role was originally larger but was reduced during post-production.
The film's title is slightly misleading: the trial is nothing to do with the death of Elaina Marks (for which Banner was pursued for by Jack McGee throughout the series) and is, in fact, a dream sequence.
HULK, DEATH OF THE INCREDIBLE
AIRDATE: 18 February 1990, NBC.
Third, and final, Hulk TV movie reunion, once again directed by series star Bill Bixby.
This time, the movie was not used as a showcase for other Marvel characters although The Black Widow does appear.
The Hulk's easy death was much criticised by fans, it happens far too easily and doesn't fit with previously established facts.
Despite the title of the movie and it's conclusion, this was never intended to be the final entry in the series. NBC declined a fourth movie but New World planned to place the project at a rival outlet. Working titles for the next movie were Revenge of the Incredible Hulk or Rebirth of the Incredible Hulk. Bosses had hoped to use future movies to showcase Iron Man, Wolverine and She Hulk (in a script titled Metamorphosis). Before production could begin, Bill Bixby developed cancer and the idea of any further outings was scrapped.
Lou Ferrigno on the Hulk's death: “I was sad about it, but I knew Bill and I were gonna do another one. I was scared to do the character's death because it felt like a curse. I didn't like that title and I was leery about it, I don't know why. The network thought it was a great concept and we would come back with another TV movie with a great storyline – Hulk is revived with Banner's mind controling him. I believe it was going to be called The Revenge of the Hulk. Unfortunately, Bill got sick. It was one of the few shows I would like to forget. The death scene itself was scary becase it was done late at night. They had the airplane going and it was raining very hard. If I went outside, the makeup would run, so Bill (who directed the movie) told me 'run for the plane and as soon as you get close to the wing, make a banana turn and go beyond the plane.' With the rain and contact lenses, I could barely see. I turned and the plane's wing was right at face level. I put my head down just in time. If that wing had hit my head, I would have seen Jesus. On that show I incurred more injuries than any other.” (Interview in Starlog Magazine issue 247, February 1998).
To date, Seasons 1 & 2 have been released on DVD in the USA and the UK. A stateside release of the following two seasons is planned to coincide with the launch of the feature film. No UK release has been announced but is almost certain to happen courtesy of the Universal-Playback label.
All three of the TV movies, produced without the involvement of either Ken Johnson or Universal, are also available on DVD.
The Hulk made his comic book debut (coloured grey) is Issue 1 of The Incredible Hulk ("The Coming of the Hulk") cover-dated May 1962. His initial solo run lasted a mere 6 issues (turning green with issue 2) before cancellation. He joined the line-up of Marvel's TALES TO ASTONISH (sharing billing with, of all people, Giant Man) with issue 60 (cover-dated October 1964) and remained until the title changed to "The Incredible Hulk" with issue 102.
Beginning in 1977, Marvel launched a Hulk black & white magazine, THE RAMPAGING HULK, as part of their short-lived line of magazines (intended to appeal to older buyers than their usual four-colour line). The title lasted nine issues before relaunching, from issue 1, as THE HULK with colour strips designed to mimic the realistic approach of the TV show. Issue 23's "A very personal hell" by future Marvel Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter proved controversial when Banner is almost raped by two gay men in, where else, a YMCA shower!
For a full account of the green goliath's US comic book adventures (including his solo titles, magazine, the future-set HULK 2099 and THE DEFENDERS), seek out the 2003 COMIC BUYER'S GUIDE to THE HULK published to coincide with the first feature film.
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