What's incredible is when these guys are talking about an "adult" hulk show, they say things about his character and the themes. They call it a drama. Now when someone says "adult version", they just mean they're going to make sure it's rated R. How sad
In today's America, the so-called left & right aren't really divided, they are different sides of the same coin - they demand absolutely no nuance and that every single issue is black/white right/wrong and only their particular side has the magical answers. Life is messy shit and we're all responsible and only all of us working together to figure out any solutions.
I’ve heard he did as well, but wasn’t because Arnold was doing Conan. Arnold wanted a film career, snd he didn’t need the money, so he didn’t want a tv role, in which he wasn’t the lead, and with dialogue. Conan was in his sights, and he got the role and it went into production a few years later. Conan wasn’t in production until 1979-80, while Hulk aired in 77’.
@@NelsonVlog66Because CBS had a President of TV named Harvey Schiller and he thought The Hulk was getting tired and needed a rest Kenneth Johnson talked him into half a season of The Incredible Hulk before it was cancelled in spring 1982
I can tell a lot of love, time, and effort went into making this video. Thank you! Listening to these wonderful, friendly, talented, and highly intelligent people talk about the show was so beautiful. It’s how I used to think of these creatives back in the day. They understood they were stewards of the IP and that no matter what you make; if you connect with your audience using universal themes and respect their intelligence, then they will enjoy your content - across all demographics. I found it so interesting how the writers and producers were women - back then in the 70’s & 80’s. It shows they were already “progressive” back then, and not how current media attempts to rewrite their incredible history in a bad ist/phobe light. Seeing Mr. Rogers and how consummate Bixby & Ferigno were as performers being filmed (as themselves) makes me long so much for the times back then (as a fellow Gen-X’er). It’s sad how the entertainment and media industries have devolved (with the rest of society). Competency, Decency, Wholesomeness, and Humbleness abound in your video of a time I long for. I feel sorry for the recent generations who have fewer and fewer good role models to look up to. I had no idea about Bill Bixby’s tragic life and how superhuman he truly was in handling all of it in a gracious and inspiring way. You can just hear the love when these people talk. Then you juxtapose it to the trash garbage being generated today and you can see how vapid, self-absorbed, and ultimately spiteful these “creators” (really destroyers) truly are. Thank you for this. It hurts and frustrates me with what I see nowadays; and this reminds me why - we had better and still deserve better.
Thank you for watching and for your thoughtful comment. I’m so glad to hear the story I wanted to tell came across the way I wanted it to. Thanks again!
"Have you considered using a female hulk on your show?" "I've considered it. That's as far as I went. Because a female hulk would be bigger than I am." 😂
I will be 62 in March 2024. Before the Hulk, people my age knew Bill Bixby not from My Favorite Martian, which originally aired when I was one. but as the dad in The Courtship od Eddy's Father, which originally aired when I was seven. The Hulk originally aired when I was 15, so, for my generation, it was subconsciously watching a protective, loving father figure constantly trying to control his anger. Bixby proved to be the best asctor to play Banner. Sometimes, it was just his facial reactions that gutted you (like when an evil Hulk destroed the cure for his condition and he is at the loss and is so crushed he begins to change).
Thanks so much for this... It means a great deal to have our Gen X life experiences saved and shared in such an incredibly poignant and appreciative way.
Somehow, the idea of Mister Rogers meeting the Incredible Hulk sounds like a funny story in the making. But I am glad that he was able to introduce kids to the behind-the-scenes work, and showing that the Hulk was just a man who was playing pretend. This along with his episode with Margaret "The Wicked Witch of the West" Hamilton are quite enlightening experiences for children.
@DeantheLaughingMann ...... I liked seeing MR. Roger visit the Hulk set and show kids how the show was done same with the Wiched Witch from Wizard of OZ. I heared the reason she appeared on Mr. Rogers show was to show the Witch was not really Evil.........this was done because Margaret Hamilton appeared as the Wiched Witch on Sesame Street and afterwords angery letters were sent to the people who make the show that the Witched scared their children giving them nightmares.....so the episode only aired one time and never again not even in reruns all thanks to a bunch of crybaby parents protesting.........I saw the show as a child and it did not scare me... couple years ago I heared that episode was found in the vaults and is now on youtube.
I wish I'd seen that Mr. Rogers episode back when I was a little kid. It would've helped out with my Hulk phobia. I always got so scared when Bill Bixby got the white eyes and his shirt tore open to reveal the green skin. I was aged two to six when The Incredible Hulk was on the air, and is probably the first character that I learned came from something called a comic book. My brother saw that I was scared when I was watching a Hulk episode and told me that it was just a big guy painted green. That was a revelation for me. I think my fascination with makeup and special effects stemmed from that. I wondered, how did they turn Bill Bixby into Lou Ferrigno? The answer was pretty simple. They had Lou's stuntman, Manny Perry, rip out of the too-small shirts and boots that had been precut so they would come apart easier. Back before computer imagery, the simple way was the best way. Plus, you had to hand it to the stunt performers back then, being thrown through the air using pneumatic catapults to show The Hulk's strength. Between The Dukes of Hazzard and this show, stuntmen were never out of work. A simpler, I'd say better, time for television and entertainment in general.
Hats off to these two women. They admitted that they didn’t always like when Bixby would challenge their writing choices, but they knew it would make them better at the craft. Nowadays, Bixby would be accused of misogyny or “trying to silence their voices”. Jessica Gao and her She-Hulk crew are actually proud of how ignorant and incompetent they are, and everyone is afraid to tell them how terrible they are at their job.
Very interesting that adult women were the main audience for "The Incredible Hulk." I think a lot of people not knowing any better would automatically assume the target audience would be younger men and boys, and that women would avoid the show.
The truth is, the Hulk is NOT an easy character to do well - even though experienced writers might think otherwise. If that weren't so, the Hulk would have had a higher 'success ratio' as the character has been brought back a number of times, with different creative teams and contexts. Even looking at the TV show (which I obsessed over as a kid) - most of the episodes were mediocre. The true standout episodes were the ones that Ken Johnson himself wrote and directed, plus a small handful of others. Out of the 82 episodes that the TV series produced, there are maybe 12-15 that are true standouts. Ken Johnson did six of them. Kenny has by far the highest 'winning formula' with the character - and he did it by abandoning the Stan Lee superhero/supervillain formula. (Maybe the one exception to where creators are urged to 'return to the character's roots' to find what made them so compelling in the first place.) In 60 years, no one has done better than the Ken Johnson episodes of the TV series. (The 'echoes' of the series that were intentionally placed into the 2008 movie, were welcome, and made the movie watchable to the extent that it was.) This suggests that to make the character wonderful again, Kenny's vision must be returned to: A Hulk that is 'grounded' in the real world, not part of the MCU; A hulk with fixed, limited power, not being pursued by a 'Thunderbolt Ross' and who is not a giant, obvious threat to National Security; A Hulk whose narrative purpose is to haunt David Banner - 'the man who was cursed.' A psychological drama which explores, "how good a person are you capable of being... even though you ARE cursed?"
I wonderful video. I’m at awe with the story behind the scenes and on the screen of the tv show. Bill’s life was tragic but the dedication he had to his work says a lot about his character. If anything this video showed me how far Hollywood has fallen with this character, Mark Ruffallo just doesn’t cut it for me and his Hulk is nowhere near as tragic as Bill’s and that’s what spoke to the audience
Thls (1977-1982) LIVE ACTION TV SERIES OF THE INCREDIBLE HULK, has ALWAYS been the GREATEST portrayal of THE HULK AND DR. BANNER when it comes to the TRUE ESSENCE AND CHARACTER of HULK/BANNER. And no other actors have EVER done a better job at portraying the character than BILL BIXBY AND LOU FERRIGNO. The TV SERIES might have lacked the HI-TECH SPECIAL EFFECTS to fully capture THE HULK'S physical prowess and capabilities, but the TV SERIES DEFINITELY captured the QUINTESSENTIAL NATURE of THE HULK/BANNER CHARACTER 100% in FULL EFFECT.
Bill bixby to me was the only person that could pulled it off playing David banner. Arnold playing the hulk i don't see it. Lou was the perfect choice to play the hulk.
2:05. Here is where Kenneth Johnson explains the real reason why he changed the name from Bruce Banner to David Banner, which had nothing to do with Bruce sounding too “homosexual.“ rather, he explains that he was trying to get away from the comic book roots of the character.
This series did what everyone says is wrong. Completely ignore the comic origins and change everything about the characters except the basic premise. And that made it 1 of the most successful comic book series ever made. Anybody who talks about the Hulk doesn't think the CGI monstrosities of the 21st century movies, it's all about Bill Bixby, a muscle man painted green and that final scene of David Banner walking down a road to the solo piano
Thank you for adding the toy commercials, very tastefully I might add. I was 10 and some change when this Series debuted. Jack McGee was truly a unique villain to my young lad eyes, for I knew nothing about Sgt Javier or Victor Hugo's book.
That was genius, for Fred Rogers to show the difference between Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno and the characters they played. I was absolutely terrified and yet utterly fascinated at the moment when Banner became the Hulk. I think it definitely affected my later desire (and ability) to capture a highly dramatic moment in my writing.
This was also true with both iconic games and iconic companies in the videogames industry. Roberta Williams was one, creator of the King's Quest franchise and cofounder of Sierra Entertainment one of the biggest computer games companies in the 80s and 90s. She even recently released a game in tribute to Collosal Cave Adventure which has been swept under the rug by activists.
The Incredible Hulk was my jam growing up, and it's sad to see the character's profile deteriorate as the MCU sputters onwards. One thing that has gone missing is stewardship, understanding that the social dimension includes a debt and duty to curate these characters with diligence, oversight, and workmanship. This accountability is felt by its absence in Disney IPs across the board; Mark Ruffalo's passivity is in stark contrast to his predecessors and is symptomatic of larger issues!
21:57. I’m still wondering how they explained this scene that David banner has a mustache and beard, but when he changes into the incredible Hulk that they suddenly disappeared. Is it because it was just a dream sequence, which dreams often don’t make sense?
The way Ken Johnson went about "I don't want a comic book TV show, I want drama" may seem immature, and it kind is, as by the time the show got made there were plenty of great stories, be from Hulk or other superhero. But the difference with Johnson and someone like Gao is that he wanted to make a character that genuinely felt human, and it worked. If you haven't watched the show, just watch the pilot. It's fantastic, and blows out of water what the MCU has been doing. Gao on the other hands, and others like her, is more concerned with inserting herself and wanting to prove a point.
loved the tv show. watched and collected everything hulk. i loved my elastic latex hulk. even now, if i ever smel latex, i think about the latex hulk. great tribute to the hulk series. thank you
Disney certainly did ruin this terrific Marvel character! The best screen adaptation of it will always be the Bill Bixby/Lou Ferrigno television series from Kenneth Johnson and Universal Studios, hands down!
@mysocalledgenxlife Thank you for this documentary. The TV show and the television movies with Bill Bixby are still much better than the later films... Also thank you for including Fred Rogers in this documentary. That is someone you should do a full length documentary chronicling... It doesn't get anymore "Gen X" then the wonderful Mr. Fred McMurray Rogers.
18:25. The fact that they made an episode starring Bill Bixby‘s real life wife whose character was contemplating suicide because she couldn’t stop the death of a young boy, and then only a year or so later the actual actress actually commits suicide over the death of their real life son is so tragic and a real life example of life imitating art, unfortunately. How sad! I wonder if she reflected back to that episode, and I wish it could’ve helped her.
"when I became a man, I put away childish things-- including the childish need to be thought so very grown up." How sad that these hollywood types have never grown up even that much.
I really like your videos.... They don't look amateur, and are really entertaining and informative. I just wonder, aren't you going to have trouble with copyright?
Thank you! I did have to make some cuts to the Hulk video (like the opening theme to the tv series) in order to avoid copyright issues. The clips that I use are fair use and pass the copyright inspection from RUclips. Thanks for your comment!
Thanks for that. For decades now, I believed the rumor that they changed his name because "they wanted a more masculine sounding name". To hear straight out of the mouth of the man, who made the show, that he wanted to avoid the comic book alliteration tropes.
"We predicted the toxic fans' reaction". Sure, maybe because the fans predicted that you where going to turn the IP into shit with a garbage social agenda, then blame fan's negative reaction on toxic fandom. Just like you did with Ghostbusters 2016 and Disney's Star Wars trilogy. The FANS aren't the problem.
When they killed The Hulk by falling out of the sky, I literally laughed, because it was so damned stupid. I loved the show, but I hated the t.v. movies.
Agreed. The tv movies were such a disappointment. It was a literal attempt at an MCU, but done so poorly! It breaks my heart they didn’t get to end the show properly.
This is incredible! I want to shut this off and watch the series again. I'm a Xenial, and I remember watching this on Sci- Fi back in the 90's. It's a very dark show, and it's relatively cheap by today's standards. Why we can't get that excellence again is beyond me. All this backstage footage makes me love Mr. Bixby even more. He just seems like the real Bruce, um David Banner. I'd never want to make him angry. R.I.P.
I just had a thought. Had Banner just gave McGee an interview at the start of the 1st episode. Then the lab explosion and death of Elaine wouldn't have happened. Then maybe Banner and Elaine would have found a cure. In any even Banner wouldn't have been forced to take off and be by himself traveling around.
I don't care who wrote it, it was the best series Marvel ever made. It's a shame Disney won't let Universal make more solo Hulk movies or series (the deal allows Hulk to appear in team ups for Disney but solo projects are Universal properties). I enjoyed She-Hulk, but The Incredible Hulk is unmatched in Marvel television...
I was born July 1977, so I remember this show vividly. I wasn't scared of much, but this show gave me a memorable nightmare with the Hulk chasing me through a grocery store. It didn't stop me from watching this show, though. 😂
Mark Ruffalo is the worst Bruce Banner I've ever seen. He comes off like he's acting in a damn soap opera. I really miss Edward Norton. He was the perfect Bruce Banner.
I think The Incredible Hulk TV show is a great example of taking the spirit of the source material and creating something equally great but different without alienating or insulting its original readers/audience. What really grinds my gears these days about modern comic book movies (especially the MCU) is the complete disrespect and lack of care from the writers toward the source material they are adapting. It's almost like two sides of a coin when looking back at the people working on the Incredible Hulk and modern comic book writers. On one side you have Kenneth, who wasn't a fan of the Hulk or comic books in general but he still maintained the themes and spirit of the comic book and put it in a more grounded setting to make it work. He never disrespected the audience or fans of the comic books. Then on the other, you have someone like Taika Waititi whose lack of care and respect for what he is adapting is so massive that it begs the question of why adapt something if your care for it is on equal grounds with the piece of paper you wiped your ass with five years ago?
For me, the Hulk will ALWAYS BE Bill Bixby! Every person to portray (David) Bruce Banner in the Hulk movies since the incredible Bill Bixby hasn’t even come close to capturing the magic. I remember being so excited every Friday when I had an opportunity to watch it. I looked up the information on the years it ran. I was 6 when it started, 10 when it ended, & I will always love it. Here is the info on The Incredible Hulk: The series began with two, two-hour made-for-TV movies on November 4 and 27, 1977. Regular one-hour episodes began on March 10, 1978 and ended on May 12, 1982. Edit: I am not really a Mark Ruffalo as the Hulk fan, but he’s better than Eric Bana & Edward Norton. I did watch the She-Hulk & I didn’t like it. It had so much potential & I think they ruined their opportunity to tell engaging, allegorical stories by concentrating on the woke men-hating that’s permeating our culture. Religion & politics have proven that a common enemy unites people but how much are we expected to choke on as people are pushing their agendas without giving us a satisfying, allegorical story that can teach everyone something of value?
Loved this show growing up still watch it a lot. I have the series and the movies on my plex media server. The one thing I would change about the show was the with the episode the first which was a 2 parter. The Hulk version of Banner's counter part who was the "first person to turn in to a hulk" per the TV show. Was not muscular at all when Ferigno fights that hulk it just looked off the other guy looked so small. Love the commercial for the stretch Hulk toy in this video I had that toy it was part of a group of stretchable heroes. I had the Hulk, Spiderman, Batman and Superman
Like your feature on the Hulk show, and especially that I'd never noticed before it was written by two women. As a big Wonder Woman and Bionic Woman fan, that's something I should have known! And yes, of course, the recent She-Hulk series was garbage. But Jen Walters herself is a fantastic character. I bought the very first Savage She-Hulk #1 when it came out and followed her through the Byrne years, even when she joined the Fantastic Four in the 90s. Honestly, all the new TV show should have done was just do some stories from the Savage and Sensational runs, and they would have been fine. They didn't do that, but guess what? There's a filmmaker named Garrett Gilchrist who in 2009 put together an entire narrative film called "Shamelessly She-Hulk", and it's pretty fun. They even use two actresses to portray Jen and Shulkie which is what the original Hulk series did. If you haven't seen Garrett's channel, check it out!
I still remember this show (was only 8 when it began)... but I can BARELY remember a single episode of SHE HULK. Like Captain Marvel, I WANTED to like it
I still can't believe that they screwed up The She Hulk. I love that character, but they really screwed that character, as well as screwed up Hulk's son.
One of my favorite superheroes is The Hulk despite not being a big comic book reader but I grew up loving the series. Post made for television movies the only Hulk incarnations I liked were the Edward Norton movie and the first Avenger film. As far as the She-Hulk is concerned I was looking forward to it and I liked the first couple of episodes (really liked the look of the actress who played Jennifer) However I hated the ending and hearing the creator or writer of the show wanted to troll the trolls instead of putting the effort to make a good story? Talk about lazy booking! At the end of this and seeing Bill's last interview just really broke my heart. I like Disney for the stuff it put out bad in the day that was theirs like The Cat from Outer Space but these franchises that they have snatched really feels like they are just taking a big dump on.
this is exactly why she hulk was soooooooo bad. that cast of people who worked on this never read comic books. They made up who she is. The actress who plays her was sooooooo CORNY
The Trial of the Incredible Hulk TV movie. It was a dream sequence and the movie was a backdoor pilot for a potential Daredevil series, which unfortunately never happened. The 3 TV movies are very good if you liked the series...
29:40. 2022 She-Hulk was such a huge disappointment. Instead of heeding to Stan Lee’s warning that fans will only accept superhero movies if they are done right, instead the producers of She-Hulk attempted to push their woke narrative down our throats. This is why it was an utter failure with fans. People don’t go to movies to get a “message“ but instead to be entertained. But Hollywood repeatedly ignores this and other movies continue to lose hundreds of millions of dollars at the box office, like Terminator: Dark Fate. Stop attempting to do things different for the sake of doing things different, instead go with what works, and more importantly with the fans will actually respond positively to.
I grew up watching the Hulk TV series and it was great both Bill and Lou did wonderfull in the roles of Banner and the hulk......Kennith Johnson did a great job with the series, The Hulk TV series and Wonder Woman Series were the best at the time of super hero shows taken seriously............I did not care for the Spider-Man TV show. as for the 1960's Batman series that was funny and the Superman TV series of the 1950's both I enjoyed in reruns.
The only complaint I would have is in the Movie Death of the Incredible Hulk. Investigative reporter Jack Magee wasn't in it. Imagine Jack seeing the Hulk transform back to Banner and realize the Hulk didnt kill David Banner after all.
Easy. The women that wrote The Incredibale Hulf were good wriiters, and the ones that wrote SHe-Hulk are not. Plus the writers on She-Hulk seemed to be writing with an ax to grind, while the writers for The INcredible Hulk seemed to be writing to make a good show.
To begin with Disney got the Hulk right, but they screwed it up, like they always do. As a comic book reader, and a child of the 70's, I enjoyed the t.v. show, although it was far from the source material. The biggest problem I had with the show was how weak they made the Hulk. They turned him from a powerhouse, to a slight inconvenience for the United States military.
From a deep, interior voyage about inner demons ('70s Incredibile Hulk), to the pure, over the top, comic version (early MCU), to conclude to pandering wokeism (M-She-U She-Hulk)
I like Mark Ruffalo as Banner. he does a great job in the role. Bill Bixby is and always be David Banner....but Mark Ruffalo does a good job and my second favorite as Banner.
@@u571scooter3 because the video tells the story of how great it was in the 1970s and 80s...and then how Disney ruined it later. Did you not watch the video?
@@u571scooter3 my friend, Disney took the character over in 2012 and proceeded to destroy what had been built with the original TV show. As the video explains, the people who created the TV show put a lot of love and care into making a drama with good characters and exploring rage and inner demons. Then, Disney took the character of the Hulk and Dr. Banner, and turned him into a joke...along with destroying She Hulk. I'm sorry you don't get the video.
Hey that’s me!!!
What's incredible is when these guys are talking about an "adult" hulk show, they say things about his character and the themes. They call it a drama.
Now when someone says "adult version", they just mean they're going to make sure it's rated R. How sad
Those last segments on how you should address social issues in drama and shouldn't talk down to the audience. Perfect🙂
In today's America, the so-called left & right aren't really divided, they are different sides of the same coin - they demand absolutely no nuance and that every single issue is black/white right/wrong and only their particular side has the magical answers.
Life is messy shit and we're all responsible and only all of us working together to figure out any solutions.
The only thing wrong with the She Hulk show is tthe Daredevil walk of shame episode.
Bill and Lou are the Hulk.
I never knew that Arnold Schwarzenegger suggested Lou Ferrigno for the role of the Hulk. That's pretty cool!
I’ve heard he did as well, but wasn’t because Arnold was doing Conan. Arnold wanted a film career, snd he didn’t need the money, so he didn’t want a tv role, in which he wasn’t the lead, and with dialogue.
Conan was in his sights, and he got the role and it went into production a few years later.
Conan wasn’t in production until 1979-80, while Hulk aired in 77’.
@@CorbCorbinThe Incredible Hulk ended in early 1982.
@@NelsonVlog66Because CBS had a President of TV named Harvey Schiller and he thought The Hulk was getting tired and needed a rest Kenneth Johnson talked him into half a season of The Incredible Hulk before it was cancelled in spring 1982
@@NelsonVlog66Cancelled by a guy who was President of CBS for all of twenty minutes
"The answer lies in the audience themselves."
Wow. Bill Bixby. Amazing actor. Great man. Lovely human being.
I couldn’t agree more. Absolutely adore him.
I can tell a lot of love, time, and effort went into making this video. Thank you!
Listening to these wonderful, friendly, talented, and highly intelligent people talk about the show was so beautiful. It’s how I used to think of these creatives back in the day.
They understood they were stewards of the IP and that no matter what you make; if you connect with your audience using universal themes and respect their intelligence, then they will enjoy your content - across all demographics.
I found it so interesting how the writers and producers were women - back then in the 70’s & 80’s. It shows they were already “progressive” back then, and not how current media attempts to rewrite their incredible history in a bad ist/phobe light.
Seeing Mr. Rogers and how consummate Bixby & Ferigno were as performers being filmed (as themselves) makes me long so much for the times back then (as a fellow Gen-X’er).
It’s sad how the entertainment and media industries have devolved (with the rest of society).
Competency, Decency, Wholesomeness, and Humbleness abound in your video of a time I long for. I feel sorry for the recent generations who have fewer and fewer good role models to look up to.
I had no idea about Bill Bixby’s tragic life and how superhuman he truly was in handling all of it in a gracious and inspiring way. You can just hear the love when these people talk.
Then you juxtapose it to the trash garbage being generated today and you can see how vapid, self-absorbed, and ultimately spiteful these “creators” (really destroyers) truly are.
Thank you for this.
It hurts and frustrates me with what I see nowadays; and this reminds me why - we had better and still deserve better.
Thank you for watching and for your thoughtful comment. I’m so glad to hear the story I wanted to tell came across the way I wanted it to. Thanks again!
"Have you considered using a female hulk on your show?"
"I've considered it. That's as far as I went. Because a female hulk would be bigger than I am." 😂
I will be 62 in March 2024. Before the Hulk, people my age knew Bill Bixby not from My Favorite Martian, which originally aired when I was one. but as the dad in The Courtship od Eddy's Father, which originally aired when I was seven. The Hulk originally aired when I was 15, so, for my generation, it was subconsciously watching a protective, loving father figure constantly trying to control his anger. Bixby proved to be the best asctor to play Banner. Sometimes, it was just his facial reactions that gutted you (like when an evil Hulk destroed the cure for his condition and he is at the loss and is so crushed he begins to change).
Ken Johnson says that alliterate names are too comic book-ish and not like real life. Meanwhile, the lead actor's name is Bill Bixby.
Thanks so much for this... It means a great deal to have our Gen X life experiences saved and shared in such an incredibly poignant and appreciative way.
Love this, great edit!
Awww Mr. Rogers and Bill Bixby! That got my heart!
Somehow, the idea of Mister Rogers meeting the Incredible Hulk sounds like a funny story in the making.
But I am glad that he was able to introduce kids to the behind-the-scenes work, and showing that the Hulk was just a man who was playing pretend.
This along with his episode with Margaret "The Wicked Witch of the West" Hamilton are quite enlightening experiences for children.
@DeantheLaughingMann ...... I liked seeing MR. Roger visit the Hulk set and show kids how the show was done same with the Wiched Witch from Wizard of OZ. I heared the reason she appeared on Mr. Rogers show was to show the Witch was not really Evil.........this was done because Margaret Hamilton appeared as the Wiched Witch on Sesame Street and afterwords angery letters were sent to the people who make the show that the Witched scared their children giving them nightmares.....so the episode only aired one time and never again not even in reruns all thanks to a bunch of crybaby parents protesting.........I saw the show as a child and it did not scare me... couple years ago I heared that episode was found in the vaults and is now on youtube.
I wish I'd seen that Mr. Rogers episode back when I was a little kid. It would've helped out with my Hulk phobia. I always got so scared when Bill Bixby got the white eyes and his shirt tore open to reveal the green skin. I was aged two to six when The Incredible Hulk was on the air, and is probably the first character that I learned came from something called a comic book.
My brother saw that I was scared when I was watching a Hulk episode and told me that it was just a big guy painted green. That was a revelation for me. I think my fascination with makeup and special effects stemmed from that.
I wondered, how did they turn Bill Bixby into Lou Ferrigno? The answer was pretty simple. They had Lou's stuntman, Manny Perry, rip out of the too-small shirts and boots that had been precut so they would come apart easier. Back before computer imagery, the simple way was the best way.
Plus, you had to hand it to the stunt performers back then, being thrown through the air using pneumatic catapults to show The Hulk's strength. Between The Dukes of Hazzard and this show, stuntmen were never out of work.
A simpler, I'd say better, time for television and entertainment in general.
Hats off to these two women. They admitted that they didn’t always like when Bixby would challenge their writing choices, but they knew it would make them better at the craft.
Nowadays, Bixby would be accused of misogyny or “trying to silence their voices”. Jessica Gao and her She-Hulk crew are actually proud of how ignorant and incompetent they are, and everyone is afraid to tell them how terrible they are at their job.
You said all that needed to be said with this comment. Well put, my friend!
Very interesting that adult women were the main audience for "The Incredible Hulk." I think a lot of people not knowing any better would automatically assume the target audience would be younger men and boys, and that women would avoid the show.
Of course they were ATTRACTED by Lou's GREEK GOD PHYSIQUE, BUT.....
FORGOT ABOUT BILL'S CHARMING PERSONALITY WITH HIS FEMALE FANS!!!
The truth is, the Hulk is NOT an easy character to do well - even though experienced writers might think otherwise. If that weren't so, the Hulk would have had a higher 'success ratio' as the character has been brought back a number of times, with different creative teams and contexts.
Even looking at the TV show (which I obsessed over as a kid) - most of the episodes were mediocre. The true standout episodes were the ones that Ken Johnson himself wrote and directed, plus a small handful of others. Out of the 82 episodes that the TV series produced, there are maybe 12-15 that are true standouts. Ken Johnson did six of them. Kenny has by far the highest 'winning formula' with the character - and he did it by abandoning the Stan Lee superhero/supervillain formula. (Maybe the one exception to where creators are urged to 'return to the character's roots' to find what made them so compelling in the first place.)
In 60 years, no one has done better than the Ken Johnson episodes of the TV series. (The 'echoes' of the series that were intentionally placed into the 2008 movie, were welcome, and made the movie watchable to the extent that it was.)
This suggests that to make the character wonderful again, Kenny's vision must be returned to: A Hulk that is 'grounded' in the real world, not part of the MCU; A hulk with fixed, limited power, not being pursued by a 'Thunderbolt Ross' and who is not a giant, obvious threat to National Security; A Hulk whose narrative purpose is to haunt David Banner - 'the man who was cursed.' A psychological drama which explores, "how good a person are you capable of being... even though you ARE cursed?"
I wonderful video. I’m at awe with the story behind the scenes and on the screen of the tv show. Bill’s life was tragic but the dedication he had to his work says a lot about his character. If anything this video showed me how far Hollywood has fallen with this character, Mark Ruffallo just doesn’t cut it for me and his Hulk is nowhere near as tragic as Bill’s and that’s what spoke to the audience
Thls (1977-1982) LIVE ACTION TV SERIES OF THE INCREDIBLE HULK, has ALWAYS been the GREATEST portrayal of THE HULK AND DR. BANNER when it comes to the TRUE ESSENCE AND CHARACTER of HULK/BANNER. And no other actors have EVER done a better job at portraying the character than BILL BIXBY AND LOU FERRIGNO. The TV SERIES might have lacked the HI-TECH SPECIAL EFFECTS to fully capture THE HULK'S physical prowess and capabilities, but the TV SERIES DEFINITELY captured the QUINTESSENTIAL NATURE of THE HULK/BANNER CHARACTER 100% in FULL EFFECT.
Bill bixby to me was the only person that could pulled it off playing David banner. Arnold playing the hulk i don't see it. Lou was the perfect choice to play the hulk.
2:05. Here is where Kenneth Johnson explains the real reason why he changed the name from Bruce Banner to David Banner, which had nothing to do with Bruce sounding too “homosexual.“ rather, he explains that he was trying to get away from the comic book roots of the character.
Johnson is also the guy behind "V".
Oh yes. That was a phenomenal mini series and a memorable one from my childhood. Also, the six million dollar man and bionic woman.
Thank you so much for this
I want this channel to grow strong 💪
This series did what everyone says is wrong. Completely ignore the comic origins and change everything about the characters except the basic premise. And that made it 1 of the most successful comic book series ever made.
Anybody who talks about the Hulk doesn't think the CGI monstrosities of the 21st century movies, it's all about Bill Bixby, a muscle man painted green and that final scene of David Banner walking down a road to the solo piano
Thank you for adding the toy commercials, very tastefully I might add. I was 10 and some change when this Series debuted. Jack McGee was truly a unique villain to my young lad eyes, for I knew nothing about Sgt Javier or Victor Hugo's book.
I miss adults and professionals
At 0:40, Stan Lee refers to Dr. Banner as "Bruce Banner". I guess he never got used to the character being renamed "David" for the TV show.
I haven't seen that segment from Mister Rogers in 40 years. Man, so good!
So glad you enjoyed it! Mr. Roger’s and Bill Bixby together was a treat.
Ken Johnson was a genius.
That was genius, for Fred Rogers to show the difference between Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno and the characters they played. I was absolutely terrified and yet utterly fascinated at the moment when Banner became the Hulk. I think it definitely affected my later desire (and ability) to capture a highly dramatic moment in my writing.
I never liked this hulk as a child prefered the 90s cartoon but as an adult I can see that it's was a great drama
This was also true with both iconic games and iconic companies in the videogames industry. Roberta Williams was one, creator of the King's Quest franchise and cofounder of Sierra Entertainment one of the biggest computer games companies in the 80s and 90s. She even recently released a game in tribute to Collosal Cave Adventure which has been swept under the rug by activists.
Man...Fred Rogers was the man! What an absolutely legendary human being.
The Incredible Hulk was my jam growing up, and it's sad to see the character's profile deteriorate as the MCU sputters onwards. One thing that has gone missing is stewardship, understanding that the social dimension includes a debt and duty to curate these characters with diligence, oversight, and workmanship. This accountability is felt by its absence in Disney IPs across the board; Mark Ruffalo's passivity is in stark contrast to his predecessors and is symptomatic of larger issues!
Awesome presentation.
21:57. I’m still wondering how they explained this scene that David banner has a mustache and beard, but when he changes into the incredible Hulk that they suddenly disappeared. Is it because it was just a dream sequence, which dreams often don’t make sense?
The way Ken Johnson went about "I don't want a comic book TV show, I want drama" may seem immature, and it kind is, as by the time the show got made there were plenty of great stories, be from Hulk or other superhero. But the difference with Johnson and someone like Gao is that he wanted to make a character that genuinely felt human, and it worked. If you haven't watched the show, just watch the pilot. It's fantastic, and blows out of water what the MCU has been doing. Gao on the other hands, and others like her, is more concerned with inserting herself and wanting to prove a point.
I would have loved to see banner find a cure
I didn't expect Mister Laid back, Jay 😲 Cool 🌟
loved the tv show. watched and collected everything hulk. i loved my elastic latex hulk. even now, if i ever smel latex, i think about the latex hulk. great tribute to the hulk series. thank you
Disney certainly did ruin this terrific Marvel character! The best screen adaptation of it will always be the Bill Bixby/Lou Ferrigno television series from Kenneth Johnson and Universal Studios, hands down!
These docs are great!
Thank you Kenneth Johnson because I grew up loving this show
@mysocalledgenxlife
Thank you for this documentary. The TV show and the television movies with Bill Bixby are still much better than the later films...
Also thank you for including Fred Rogers in this documentary. That is someone you should do a full length documentary chronicling...
It doesn't get anymore "Gen X" then the wonderful Mr. Fred McMurray Rogers.
Bill Bixby did a show called Against The Odds in the early 80s about historical figures. Please consider doing video on it.
That final season sounds like it would've been so good!
18:25. The fact that they made an episode starring Bill Bixby‘s real life wife whose character was contemplating suicide because she couldn’t stop the death of a young boy, and then only a year or so later the actual actress actually commits suicide over the death of their real life son is so tragic and a real life example of life imitating art, unfortunately. How sad! I wonder if she reflected back to that episode, and I wish it could’ve helped her.
"when I became a man, I put away childish things-- including the childish need to be thought so very grown up." How sad that these hollywood types have never grown up even that much.
I really like your videos.... They don't look amateur, and are really entertaining and informative. I just wonder, aren't you going to have trouble with copyright?
Thank you! I did have to make some cuts to the Hulk video (like the opening theme to the tv series) in order to avoid copyright issues. The clips that I use are fair use and pass the copyright inspection from RUclips. Thanks for your comment!
I was wondering the same
Thanks for that.
For decades now, I believed the rumor that they changed his name because "they wanted a more masculine sounding name".
To hear straight out of the mouth of the man, who made the show, that he wanted to avoid the comic book alliteration tropes.
Nowadays we use a solvent to make removing the prosthetics easier. It still hurts but slightly less 🤣🤣🤣
I would love to see a video explaining that.
@@mysocalledgenxlife oh I think I might have one or two 🤣🤣
"We predicted the toxic fans' reaction". Sure, maybe because the fans predicted that you where going to turn the IP into shit with a garbage social agenda, then blame fan's negative reaction on toxic fandom. Just like you did with Ghostbusters 2016 and Disney's Star Wars trilogy. The FANS aren't the problem.
you knew yall was making a super corny series. cornballs & gay asf
they* it was so bad. cant blame fans for the cornball work they did. bunch of arrogant 🌈 people who shouldnt touch stan lee’s characters
When they killed The Hulk by falling out of the sky, I literally laughed, because it was so damned stupid. I loved the show, but I hated the t.v. movies.
Agreed. The tv movies were such a disappointment. It was a literal attempt at an MCU, but done so poorly! It breaks my heart they didn’t get to end the show properly.
@@mysocalledgenxlife All because of a CBS executive's decision about cancellation.
This is incredible! I want to shut this off and watch the series again. I'm a Xenial, and I remember watching this on Sci- Fi back in the 90's. It's a very dark show, and it's relatively cheap by today's standards. Why we can't get that excellence again is beyond me. All this backstage footage makes me love Mr. Bixby even more. He just seems like the real Bruce, um David Banner. I'd never want to make him angry. R.I.P.
I remember watching this on Mr Rogers
The MCU Hulk is ridiculous. The TV show was serious drama. The MCU is for babies.
He is now. He was cool until endgame
I just had a thought. Had Banner just gave McGee an interview at the start of the 1st episode. Then the lab explosion and death of Elaine wouldn't have happened. Then maybe Banner and Elaine would have found a cure. In any even Banner wouldn't have been forced to take off and be by himself traveling around.
I don't care who wrote it, it was the best series Marvel ever made. It's a shame Disney won't let Universal make more solo Hulk movies or series (the deal allows Hulk to appear in team ups for Disney but solo projects are Universal properties). I enjoyed She-Hulk, but The Incredible Hulk is unmatched in Marvel television...
She Hulk was so "delicious" that it got cancelled.....lol. Disney has ZERO clue as to what they're doing and it's obvious.
I was born July 1977, so I remember this show vividly. I wasn't scared of much, but this show gave me a memorable nightmare with the Hulk chasing me through a grocery store. It didn't stop me from watching this show, though. 😂
Mark Ruffalo is the worst Bruce Banner I've ever seen. He comes off like he's acting in a damn soap opera. I really miss Edward Norton. He was the perfect Bruce Banner.
Finally someone agrees with me. I’m not alone.
I think The Incredible Hulk TV show is a great example of taking the spirit of the source material and creating something equally great but different without alienating or insulting its original readers/audience.
What really grinds my gears these days about modern comic book movies (especially the MCU) is the complete disrespect and lack of care from the writers toward the source material they are adapting.
It's almost like two sides of a coin when looking back at the people working on the Incredible Hulk and modern comic book writers. On one side you have Kenneth, who wasn't a fan of the Hulk or comic books in general but he still maintained the themes and spirit of the comic book and put it in a more grounded setting to make it work. He never disrespected the audience or fans of the comic books.
Then on the other, you have someone like Taika Waititi whose lack of care and respect for what he is adapting is so massive that it begs the question of why adapt something if your care for it is on equal grounds with the piece of paper you wiped your ass with five years ago?
For me, the Hulk will ALWAYS BE Bill Bixby! Every person to portray (David) Bruce Banner in the Hulk movies since the incredible Bill Bixby hasn’t even come close to capturing the magic. I remember being so excited every Friday when I had an opportunity to watch it. I looked up the information on the years it ran. I was 6 when it started, 10 when it ended, & I will always love it. Here is the info on The Incredible Hulk: The series began with two, two-hour made-for-TV movies on November 4 and 27, 1977. Regular one-hour episodes began on March 10, 1978 and ended on May 12, 1982.
Edit: I am not really a Mark Ruffalo as the Hulk fan, but he’s better than Eric Bana & Edward Norton. I did watch the She-Hulk & I didn’t like it. It had so much potential & I think they ruined their opportunity to tell engaging, allegorical stories by concentrating on the woke men-hating that’s permeating our culture. Religion & politics have proven that a common enemy unites people but how much are we expected to choke on as people are pushing their agendas without giving us a satisfying, allegorical story that can teach everyone something of value?
Loved this show growing up still watch it a lot. I have the series and the movies on my plex media server. The one thing I would change about the show was the with the episode the first which was a 2 parter. The Hulk version of Banner's counter part who was the "first person to turn in to a hulk" per the TV show. Was not muscular at all when Ferigno fights that hulk it just looked off the other guy looked so small.
Love the commercial for the stretch Hulk toy in this video I had that toy it was part of a group of stretchable heroes. I had the Hulk, Spiderman, Batman and Superman
Like your feature on the Hulk show, and especially that I'd never noticed before it was written by two women. As a big Wonder Woman and Bionic Woman fan, that's something I should have known! And yes, of course, the recent She-Hulk series was garbage. But Jen Walters herself is a fantastic character. I bought the very first Savage She-Hulk #1 when it came out and followed her through the Byrne years, even when she joined the Fantastic Four in the 90s. Honestly, all the new TV show should have done was just do some stories from the Savage and Sensational runs, and they would have been fine. They didn't do that, but guess what? There's a filmmaker named Garrett Gilchrist who in 2009 put together an entire narrative film called "Shamelessly She-Hulk", and it's pretty fun. They even use two actresses to portray Jen and Shulkie which is what the original Hulk series did. If you haven't seen Garrett's channel, check it out!
I still remember this show (was only 8 when it began)... but I can BARELY remember a single episode of SHE HULK. Like Captain Marvel, I WANTED to like it
The Hulk and Spider-Man💪🏿‼😤 my two favorite Super Heroes!
I'm Gen X, and this was my favorite show when I was a kid.
If anyone who hasn't seen this show before wants to see how really great it was, I recommend "Mystery Man" parts 1 and 2 from season 2.
I've seen every episode of the Incredible Hulk plus the tv movies. I didn't make it past the first episode of She Hulk.
I still can't believe that they screwed up The She Hulk. I love that character, but they really screwed that character, as well as screwed up Hulk's son.
Did you ever read the original early 1980's She-Hulk comic?
@@NelsonVlog66I've searched the comics and other adaptations. MCU's She Hulk is everything opposite of the comics.
Disney had none to do with the first two hulk movies it was universal
The theam will always be the incredible hulk theam
As a kid I had and still have my favorite episodes 😊
One of my favorite superheroes is The Hulk despite not being a big comic book reader but I grew up loving the series. Post made for television movies the only Hulk incarnations I liked were the Edward Norton movie and the first Avenger film. As far as the She-Hulk is concerned I was looking forward to it and I liked the first couple of episodes (really liked the look of the actress who played Jennifer) However I hated the ending and hearing the creator or writer of the show wanted to troll the trolls instead of putting the effort to make a good story? Talk about lazy booking! At the end of this and seeing Bill's last interview just really broke my heart. I like Disney for the stuff it put out bad in the day that was theirs like The Cat from Outer Space but these franchises that they have snatched really feels like they are just taking a big dump on.
I kind of felt sorry for Mr. Magee because he was right and no one believed him.
Totally!
this is exactly why she hulk was soooooooo bad. that cast of people who worked on this never read comic books. They made up who she is. The actress who plays her was sooooooo CORNY
22:25 Stan Lee on the jury?
Yes. That was his first cameo in any on screen Marvel project.
The Trial of the Incredible Hulk TV movie. It was a dream sequence and the movie was a backdoor pilot for a potential Daredevil series, which unfortunately never happened. The 3 TV movies are very good if you liked the series...
29:40. 2022 She-Hulk was such a huge disappointment. Instead of heeding to Stan Lee’s warning that fans will only accept superhero movies if they are done right, instead the producers of She-Hulk attempted to push their woke narrative down our throats. This is why it was an utter failure with fans. People don’t go to movies to get a “message“ but instead to be entertained. But Hollywood repeatedly ignores this and other movies continue to lose hundreds of millions of dollars at the box office, like Terminator: Dark Fate. Stop attempting to do things different for the sake of doing things different, instead go with what works, and more importantly with the fans will actually respond positively to.
The tv movies from the 80s were bad but "Death" is tolerable.
Ok, wait...was that "Greg's"mother from DHARMA & GREG?
Yes!
Way better than MCU Hulk imo.
Why do women have to be everyone? Can we please come up with our own characters and stories? That is why I love Wonder Woman
The real Incredible Hulk will always be Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno to me #MiamiMike
I grew up watching the Hulk TV series and it was great both Bill and Lou did wonderfull in the roles of Banner and the hulk......Kennith Johnson did a great job with the series, The Hulk TV series and Wonder Woman Series were the best at the time of super hero shows taken seriously............I did not care for the Spider-Man TV show. as for the 1960's Batman series that was funny and the Superman TV series of the 1950's both I enjoyed in reruns.
No it was so bad. I loved it as a kid. But to watch it now? Its so so bad
In then out. I don’t understand this X channel 😮
The only complaint I would have is in the Movie Death of the Incredible Hulk. Investigative reporter Jack Magee wasn't in it. Imagine Jack seeing the Hulk transform back to Banner and realize the Hulk didnt kill David Banner after all.
Easy.
The women that wrote The Incredibale Hulf were good wriiters, and the ones that wrote SHe-Hulk are not.
Plus the writers on She-Hulk seemed to be writing with an ax to grind, while the writers for The INcredible Hulk seemed to be writing to make a good show.
To begin with Disney got the Hulk right, but they screwed it up, like they always do. As a comic book reader, and a child of the 70's, I enjoyed the t.v. show, although it was far from the source material. The biggest problem I had with the show was how weak they made the Hulk. They turned him from a powerhouse, to a slight inconvenience for the United States military.
What did Disney ruin though? All the did is legit bring the comic version to the big screen.
From a deep, interior voyage about inner demons ('70s Incredibile Hulk), to the pure, over the top, comic version (early MCU), to conclude to pandering wokeism (M-She-U She-Hulk)
yep. it's soo sad to see
brilliant series i also like eric banners movie of hulk
I feel like they just repackaged the fugitive . This wasn’t the hulk show. It was a show with hulk in it
I like Mark Ruffalo as Banner. he does a great job in the role. Bill Bixby is and always be David Banner....but Mark Ruffalo does a good job and my second favorite as Banner.
She-Hulk was sooooo franklin' good!
She-hulk tv series.....🤣🤣🤣🤣....ffs that was trash. Like anything Marvel since like a decade. Their comics are dead and the movies too. Good thing.
The Hulk tv series was a Universal production. Disney had nothing to do with as they didnt own Marvel in 1978,
Right…never claimed they ruined it in 1978. If you watched the video, Disney ruined it after 2012.
@@mysocalledgenxlife Then why does the title of the video say Disney ruined it?
@@u571scooter3 because the video tells the story of how great it was in the 1970s and 80s...and then how Disney ruined it later. Did you not watch the video?
@@mysocalledgenxlife ruin what? again, they had nothing to do with the Incredable Hulk tv series.
@@u571scooter3 my friend, Disney took the character over in 2012 and proceeded to destroy what had been built with the original TV show. As the video explains, the people who created the TV show put a lot of love and care into making a drama with good characters and exploring rage and inner demons. Then, Disney took the character of the Hulk and Dr. Banner, and turned him into a joke...along with destroying She Hulk. I'm sorry you don't get the video.