The Incredible Hulk
1977
Original language: English
- sci-fi & fantasy
- action & adventure
- drama
The story
During an experiment gone bad, radiation turns a scientist into a raging green behemoth whenever he becomes agitated. Unable to control his transformations, David Banner searches for a cure as he crosses the country, fugitive-style, with a dogged tabloid reporter on his trail.
What it’s like
Warm, grainy 1970s television light: sunsets over dusty highways, motel-room lamps with yellow bulbs, and wood-panelled interiors that feel lived in. The camera stays mostly conventional and steady, with plenty of medium shots of worried faces and lingering wide shots of empty roads and rural towns that give each episode a sense of drifting. Sound is period-typical, with a brassy, heroic synth-and-orchestra score that swells at moments of rage, and quieter guitar and piano cues during the melancholy stretches between towns. The show's vibe is earnest, wistful and a little bruised, the kind of comfort-watch you put on for a rainy weekend afternoon or an evening wind-down rather than a binge. Pacing is episodic and unhurried, built around a self-contained situation each week, and the emotional register is sincere and sad: a gentle, self-doubting man repeatedly hurting people while trying to do right, with a stubborn reporter slowly becoming his ally. Intensity is moderate: there are fistfights, smashed sets and some menace, with the transformation sequences more thrilling than gory, and little blood or sexual content. Suits viewers who enjoy old-school heroic melodrama, tragic-hero stories and understated nostalgia.
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