The Incredible Hulk

The Incredible Hulk (1982) was an NBC children's saturday morning cartoon. The show followed the comic book story for the most part. But the real problem that has been bothering me for the longest time was that whenever Dr. Bruce Banner turned into the Incredible Hulk how in the hell did his clothes and shoes re-materialize? I mean you see the poor guy morph into the green brute but whenever he transformed back into the good doctor, his pants are nice and creased and the shoes are nice and shinny. Besides the faults and little errors between the comic book and the cartoon story lines it's an okay show. I wouldn't go out of my way to watch it however.

No wonder he'd incredible. Believe it or not that has bothered me for the longest time. I guess it's one of the mysteries of life. Like why does every football game you play, the computer is down by 56 points and there's 30 seconds left in the game. When they finally score a touchdown not only do they go for the two point conversion but they try the onside kick-off?

Average stuff.

C

I still remember the episode "Enter:She-Hulk" where they introduced us the cousin of our troubled gamma-genes doctor. I must say the 1996 series treated her better as the witty and extravertido character she was rather than "Ms. Broken Clothes". Yet that episode was powerful stuff. Jen could change at will, maintain her 'human' mind and regenerate her clothes too! While in the current cartoon Dr. Banner changed only one or two times into Hulk, Jen changed a total of FOUR times and do a lot of damage to their enemies, crippling whole bases of HYDRA in a matter of minutes! (I suggest strongly to see the fourth transformation where she reduces her own car to scraps in order to save her life and Bruce's). And better yet, Bruce looked at her as a way to cure him form being the Hulk. As well as I remember the Hulk gained a doses of intelligence in the chapter...hmmm, too bad she never got her own toon.

Out of all the Hulk series ever to hit television, this is the best one. This series usually followed up Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends on Saturday mornings, making for a fantastic viewing hour. It had quality animation, great music which I still remember by heart, and great stories. It was faithful to the comic, which the 70s live action series was not. The original 60s series contained animation which was an insult to the viewer. The 90s series has the unfortunate burden of following the comic's storyline of "Now he's the grey Hulk. Now he's Banner Hulk. Now Rick's the Hulk. Now he's the pink polka-dotted Hulk." The only good Hulk was the savage Hulk, and this series did a great job serving him up.

This show is another under the radar gem, this is another of the lost visual Marvel Comic show treasures. Believe it or not, I never even heard of this show despite being a kid from the 80's, though I'm honestly not alone in that as this show didn't really last that long. Let alone I honestly was a rookie in the comic book game as I haven't read enough Marvel comics at the time, I never got to nor was into the Hulk at least not until the 70's live action TV show which is a story for another time.

However, for those that have seen this it was a huge hit with them and as time went on it's became a sleeper cult gem. In a way this show was a gateway show for viewers that never read the Hulk series let alone Marvel comics; much as the Ruby Spears "Superman" show (another under the radar gem and one I've reviewed) was my gateway show into "Superman" and DC comics.

The animation is solid, it's your basic classic 80's animation but for that decade I wouldn't want it any other way as it's accurate to some of the silver age comic issues of the series at the time. From the character models down to the action scenes and effects, watching this show now is interesting as it can be a little educational giving new generation viewers a feel of what the comic run back in the decade looked and felt like.

The voice acting is solid, has a good cast of a few veteran voice actors that are probably well known now. Really like the voice of the Hulk as it' s played by one of my favorite voice actors Michael Bell. He's one of my favorite Hulk voices as it really feels like that what the character would sound like mainly in some of the retro issues of the series in my book. I really like how it's true to the character balancing between raging mainly but also a strong gentle spirit. Like in the comic I really like that we have him in the Hulk form longer which means a little more dialog and action, but this gives us a better glimpse and handle on his character. Despite not too strong or slow in the intellect department, he has a strong sense of ethos and common sense which we see him utilize well in this show.

Of course there is his alter ego and human identity Bruce Banner whom is still the torture soul on a never ending journey for salvation while doing good in the process. Though I like that Bruce is a little less moapy and is actually not afraid of being assertive but still keeping his emotions in check. I also like that we also see in episodes some of his back and forth with the characters from the lore like his significant other Betty Ross, cousin Jennifer Walters whom we all know as She Hulk, and of course side kick and best friend Rick. And last there was the late great comic creator Stan Lee, as the narrator for the show.

I really like the theme song which is one of my favorite theme songs, it fits the comic series as it's a big orchestra score which just makes you excited and sings out big hero and big action coming your way.

The writing and stories are solid, feels true to the silver age run of the series. There are some memorable episode, the one that of course stands out the best is when Jennifer Walters/ She Hulk and Bruce Banner/Hulk team up to stop a current threat. Always like the stories whenever both of them work together, it was always interesting but always had a good character dynamic going on.

But of course, there is the action which is solid, for the fans of the comic series we always love seeing the Hulk doing what he does best which is to wreck things and put on the hurt business toward evil. There are plenty of well-choreographed fights and animated effects from property destruction to the explosions.

The only depowering part of this show was that unlike the Hulk didn't jump the long distance. The show was a hit but unfortunately it wasn't enough to get a second season. Which was really too bad for fans in the 80s, there was so much more they had yet to see, made me wonder if this show was going to be the start of a Marvel Comics 80's animated block, with She Hulk in one episode it made me wonder if any other characters from Hulk lore would come. Or better yet may 'be other heroes/superheroes from the Marvelverse; that could have been awesome and part of the start of something even bigger but sadly this never happened for this show. Though I wouldn't fret too much as Hulk smashed and stomped once more in the 90's cartoon which is a story for another time.

If you're a fan of the Hulk comic series or Marvel, or even just vintage 80's cartoons then this lost visual Marvel comics green gem is worth uncovering.

Rating: 3 stars.

I noticed that someone else who reviewed this said that this was the best Hulk cartoon. I totally agree with that comment.

The 1966 cartoon was cheezy and poor. The 1996 cartoon was average. This was the best show. I shall tell you the reasons why.

Firstly, I liked Dr. Banner in this cartoon. He was not a wimp like the comic book Dr. Banner. He was quite tough and not afraid of much.

The animation was also good. The Hulk looked awesome in this.

Betty Ross was in it too and she was also a lot more independent than her comic book counterpart. She was cute too.

The best thing about this series was the stories. Throughout the series we saw situations such as the Hulk getting shrunk, Banner's secret exposed, the Hulk battle Quasimodo, the Hulk meet the She-Hulk and many other fantastic adventures too.

If you like the Hulk then forget the other two cartoons and watch this one instead. It was very good-even if the Hulk did change back to Banner with clothes intact.