The
Incredible Hulk - The Complete Series (1977 - 1982/Universal DVD
Box Set)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C+ Episodes: B-
PLEASE
NOTE: This set has finally been issued on Blu-ray in the
U.S. after being issued in France in the format, et al, from the same
video masters apparently, but they look and sound better than this
set, so that is now the set recommended until a 4K set is possibly
issued. The new Blu-ray set adds no new extras either.
Having
only covered the first and last seasons, I was amused when The
Incredible Hulk - The Complete Series (1978 - 1982) arrived and
had huge, heavy packaging. Fortunately, the fancy box top is a nice
plus, though fanatics will still collect all the newer packages with
the lenticular covers. Here is our previous coverage of the first
and last/fifth seasons:
One
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4016/The+Incredible+Hulk
Five
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/7664/The+Incredible+Hulk
Performance
through all five seasons is consistent with a show its age and the
prints are in pretty good shape as noted before, though you only get
lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono throughout with no upgrades, the 1.33 X
1 framing is fine. The Fifth
Season was pushing it a bit and the telefilms more so, so
when did the show start to run out of energy? Part of it simply was
by following a Fugitive-style and not adding/licensing more of
the comic book characters, they did everything they could have done.
That is apparent by the end of the fourth season when a Hulk-like
creature turns up, though the Third Season is the last full
set of shows where the energy was at its height. Bill Bixby and Lou
Ferrigno could not have been cast better.
There
are shows that show their age more than others (like Banner taking a
job at a disco), but for the most part, the series has aged well
enough to still be more realistic than the 2003 feature film disaster
and hold its own against the 2008 restart feature (and al the
incarnations since). If you buy this set, you get 18 DVDs
individually packaged in their own ultra-thin cases, exactly like the
separate boxes. Many will find it initially heavier than most DVD
sets, but that seems to fit the idea of The Hulk, himself, heavy,
green and more formidable than his counterparts.
Extras
are not bad across the seasons, even though some seasons include a
bonus show from the next season/set. You also get intros and audio
commentaries on select episodes by producer Kenneth Johnson, a photo
gallery for the Prometheus episode, a sneak peak at the 2008 film and
two featurettes: Remembering The Incredible Hulk - An American
Classic and Creating An Iconic Character: The Hulk. The
only thing missing is a gallery of all the great toys and tie-ins on
the character at the time. Though none of the toy companies directly
licensed the character from the TV show, many were out there with
items and no less than three companies did Hulk action figure toys.
(Mego
was the first, with everything from 8-inch and 12-inch action figures
a few years before the TV show hit, with only the 1960s cartoon on
syndicated TV. The 12-inch version even offered a fly-away action
version. Hulk was among the first-ever 3 3/4-inch action figures,
another Mego invention, plus they made a die-cast metal Hulk and
Stretch Hulk that you could pull in all directions. Remco added an
impressive Electronic Hulk and Tara Toys did a playset and helicopter
to go with the larger Megos. Add other non-action figure items and
that would have been the icing on the cake for this set, but there is
always 4K Blu-ray.)
In
the meantime, The Incredible Hulk - The Complete Series makes
for a great gift set and was the first live-action breakthrough for
Marvel Comics on film. Without it, we would not have the Marvel
films we have now.
For
more on the 2008 film, try this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/7743/The+Incredible+Hulk+(2008/Blu-ray)
Also,
since we covered this DVD box, we actually interviewed
creator/producer Kenneth Johnson when The Bionic Woman was
issued on DVD (no signs of any Blu-ray set there either, yet) and he
talked about Hulk, so you can read more about that at this
link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/interview/10735/An+Interview+With+Kenneth+Johnson
-
Nicholas Sheffo
