Jack Colvin is the journalist Jack McGee, who follows up stories and sighting of the Hulk. He thinks that David Banner died and David Banner wants him to keep believing that, which makes it difficult for David because McGee is constantly just one or two steps behind him. The Narrator is Ted Cassidy, whom you most likely know from The Adams Family where he is Lurch and he also guest-starred on Star Trek where he is 3 characters: Ruk, the Gorn and Balok's Puppet. Following his death in 1979, his narration was kept for the rest of the series, though a new actor (Charles Napier) voiced the Hulk's roars, which Cassidy also did up until his death.

What I always really like about watching (very) old TV shows, is the familiar faces of actors you recognize from other TV shows and movies over the years. I will name a few here but there are many more! In the pilot we meet Dr. Elaina Marks, played by Susan Sullivan whom we know from shows like: Falcon Crest; Dharma & Gregg; Castle; Last Man Standing and many more. William Daniels, KITT voice from the Knight Rider. He doesn’t appear in the credits though. Other guest stars are: Loni Anderson, Jeremy Brett, Robert Alda, father of Alan Alda, Pamela Susan Shoop, a very young Andrew Robinson, Diane Carey, James Sikking (aka James B. Sikking) and Sheila Larken (mother of Dana Scully in The X-Files).

General:

The Incredible Hulk is an enjoyable show, yes, there of course is a story-arc because David Banner is on the run, he wants to lose his alter ego, the Hulk, so he is searching for ways to get in a lab to do some testing, trying to find people who might be able to help him without telling the real story. In the meantime he travels through the United States, trying to get a menial job, often comes in situations where people he works with, need help and he always tries to help and every episode his alter ego makes his appearance, which is another reason for him that he never can stay somewhere because he knows McGee will come after him.

In the first season we get only a few episodes where the story-arc is the A story of the episode, which is a shame, at least, that is how I see it. Most episodes are mostly procedural where we see the hulk a few times but overall, most of the first season is standard storytelling where the story-arc is ignored or on the back burner. I really hope the upcoming seasons have a bit more stories where the story-arc is the A story because to be honest, some episodes are really mediocre at best.

Episodes:

The pilot is a move called “The Incredible Hulk” and this, to me, is the best ‘episode’ of the first season. This is because of the story-arc, where Banner gets the alter ego because of accidental overexposure to gamma radiation. Susan Sullivan is Dr. Elaina Marks, and she really is an interesting, strong female character and it is such a pity she dies at the end of the pilot movie. A tearjerking finale where David Banner, aka the Hulk saves Dr. Elaina Marks, but she dies from her wounds shortly afterwards. She says in her dying moments she has always loved him. But she is saying this to the Hulk. Later when he, as David, visits her grave, he appears not to have the same mind as the Hulk because he tells her that he loves her, and he knows she loved him even though she never told him. McGee thinks the Hulk is responsible for the deaths of Elaina Marks and David Banner. Interesting was that Dr. Elaina was convinced that because David Banner would never intentionally kill someone, the Hulk wouldn’t either. That is also nice about this show, nobody dies from physical violence and firearms.

In the “Beast Within” the story-arc returns somewhat, was an okay episode, a little better than the previous episodes and what I did not remember from my first watch is that the Hulk can be really vulnerable, which I really like. Episode “747” is kind of strong, no story-arc but it is an entertaining, past paced episode. “The Hulk Breaks Las Vegas” was also a better story, what I liked was that David Banner and MacGee come awfully close together, as the Hulk he even saves MacGee. He almost is a witness to the Hulk being transformed into David Banner again. I wonder if this episode changes MacGee’s opinion about the Hulk (not in the remainder of the first season). Because of this, the episode is a little better than most of them. Episode 10 “Life and Death” was one of the better episodes which goes back to trying to solve David’s immediate problem regarding his alter ego. Meanwhile, he tries to help a young woman who is pregnant but wants to give up her child. Of course these two storylines come together. In this episode also a very young Andrew Robinson guest stars.

The last two episodes are okay, but again the same formula as most of the season. I know, it was a different time back then, but I really hope I remain interested in these procedural stories. Only two or three episodes really deal with him trying to lose his alter ego, and to me, these just are the more interesting stories. As I said, the pilot movie definitely was the best of the bunch. At the end of each episode, we see David Banner moving on from where he was during that episode. This is accompanied by a beautiful and sad theme which is called: The Lonely Man theme. It is so gripping, it gives me goosebumps every time.

Final Word:

It took me awhile to start the rewatch because I was a bit apprehensive to start because what I wrote here, about the way of storytelling, that it is more procedural, I suspected this and I am just someone who loves a bit more story-arc. Still, there are parts which I really enjoy, and I really hope the story-arc will surface a few times more in the upcoming seasons than in the first season.

Screencaps taken from: IMDb

I've added the word document with the episode ratings with descriptions and comments for the ones who are interested in this. Just be aware, it is a draft document, sometimes also can be confusing because of grammar errors and some sloppiness.