Thursday, June 20, 2019

SciFiNow: On The Incredible Hulk

"And despite Stan Lee putting his foot down when (Kenneth) Johnson suggested they change the Hulk's skin colour to red, the veteran TV producer was successful in removing almost every other link to the comics. Every supporting character was ditched in favor of a revolving door of weekly guest stars, while the origins of the Hulk were changed from exposure to the gamma radiation of a nuclear explosion to a more realistic laboratory accident.  Furthermore, Bruce Banner's first name was changed to David, although the reasons for this remain contentious to this day. Johnson has previously claimed that he disliked the alliterative nature of comic book names such as Peter Parker and Matt Murdoch, while Stan Lee believes the changes were to avoid the homosexual connotations of the name Bruce. In keeping with the low-budget nature of the decade's TV shows, the sci-fi elements in The Incredible Hulk were kept to a minimum, with only Dr. Banner's transformation into the Hulk showing any signs of the show's pulp origins. Even the Hulk himself was realized in a low-tech manner with former body builder Lou Ferrigno painted green and shoved in front of the camera to run around in slow motion for several minutes.  ….The show was a huge hit at the time but by today's standards offers little more than a kitsch looking glass into TV production methods of the 1970s."

-SciFiNow #5-


I'd like to think The Incredible Hulk was a little more than that last assessment. We certainly give the series more focus than that here at Musings Of A Sci-Fi Fanatic.  It deserves more than being relegated to the dustbin of TV production history. Come on now, don't make me angry.

No comments:

Post a Comment