I came across what is apparently a defunct website on the 1970s Incredible Hulk television series in the Internet Archive, and decided to post the link and excerpts hereso it can be found in the future...
''...In order for a show which involved a man changing into a giant green monster to survive in a competitive television market, Johnson recognized that the story of the Hulk would have to be adapted considerably. Johnson wanted the series to appeal to adults as well as children and made many changes which surprised longtime readers of the comic. Bruce Banner's name was changed to David Banner because "Bruce" sounded too stereo typically gay and because Johnson disliked the alternating name sequences so often used in comic books (Clark Kent, Lois Lane, Matt Murdock, Peter Parker etc). Also ousted was the notion of Banner getting exposed to radiation when a missile explodes on a nuclear testing ground. In its place was a storyline involving Banner researching the effects of adrenalin on human strength - an interest which consumes him after he is unable to free his wife from a burning vehicle. The antagonist of the story was changed too. In the comic book, Banner and his green-skinned alter-ego were pursued largely by other Super Beings and the United States army, commanded by a crazy General. In the television series, the Hulk's main nemesis was a struggling tabloid reporter bent on convincing the world that a raging creature was out and about causing havoc, in order to use the story to revive his stagnating career. Modeled after the character of Javert from Victor Hugo's "Les Miserables", Jack McGee pursued David Banner and the creature relentlessly throughout the series' run. The Hulk himself was only seen for a few minutes during each episode while the rest of the storyline involved Banner working his way through whatever dilemma faced him, trying desperately to control his transformations. Unlike the comic character, the television Hulk never spoke and was somewhat more vulnerable to what his attackers could throw at him...''
Second Season
The second season continued with the familiar formula so popular with fans (David's two transformations during a one hour episode) but added a new scope in that it dealt with social issues such as alcoholism, child abuse, mental retardation, mental illness and depression. The series also took a new direction with its recurring storyline when Jack McGee learned that the Hulk actually escapes detection by transforming back into a human being and disappearing into the crowd...''
Third Season
''...In the third season, beginning in September 1979, Jack McGee was more relentless than ever in trying to learn the real identity of "John Doe", his name for the man who became the creature. David found it harder and harder to avoid McGee as traveled the country: in "Behind The Wheel", David had the unpleasant surprise of having Jack McGee get into the cab he was driving; and in "Equinox", a disguised Banner found himself cornered by McGee at a masquerade ball. McGee himself found it harder and harder to stay on the path of the creature as he faced increasing opposition from his own newspaper which grew weary of funding the "hunt for a giant green monster." The most touching episode of the Incredible Hulk's third season was "Homecoming", which found a lonely Banner revisiting his estranged father and sister at Thanksgiving. The episode ended with David and his father mending long broken fences and was topped off with a lonely Jack McGee being invited to Thanksgiving dinner with Mr. Banner and his daughter. But perhaps the most notable episode of the third season was noteworthy not because of it's storyline but because of the sad circumstances surrounding it. "The Psychic", which aired in February 1980, saw Bixby co-starring with his wife Brenda Bennet. The two separated later that year and tragedy was to follow when their son Christopher died in a hospital waiting room. Bennet later committed suicide...''
On Jul 19, 2:21 am, Will Dockery <will.dock...@gmail.com> wrote:
>. Bruce Banner's name was changed to David Banner because ... and because Johnson disliked the > alternating name sequences so often used in comic books (Clark Kent, > Lois Lane, Matt Murdock, Peter Parker etc).
And this is what pisses me off about people in charge of comics in another medium. He didn't like alternating names so he decided to change it? It's been a part of superhero comics since their inception to use allliteration in names. So just because one guy in charge "doesn't like it", he feels important enough to change it? If you don't like how comics do things, then DON'T DO A COMIC ADAPTATION.
Thankfully the comic movies of late have actually stayed pretty true to character and details, but things like the above just get on my nerves.
> >. Bruce Banner's name was changed to David Banner because ... and because Johnson disliked the > > alternating name sequences so often used in comic books (Clark Kent, > > Lois Lane, Matt Murdock, Peter Parker etc).
> And this is what pisses me off about people in charge of comics in > another medium. He didn't like alternating names so he decided to > change it? It's been a part of superhero comics since their inception > to use allliteration in names. So just because one guy in charge > "doesn't like it", he feels important enough to change it? If you > don't like how comics do things, then DON'T DO A COMIC ADAPTATION.
> Thankfully the comic movies of late have actually stayed pretty true > to character and details, but things like the above just get on my > nerves.
And /then/ Johnson hired the actor to play his renamed David Banner... Bill Bixby. Stan Lee stated at least once that the reason Johnson changed the name from Bruce was actually because he thought ''Bruce'' sounded ''gay''... never mind that Bruce Springsteen and Bruce Lee smahed that concept better than the Hulk could have.
Even more annoying is the changes in the origin, which seems like a perfectly good origin, and scrapping the characters of Thunderbolt Ross, Betty Ross and Rick Jones, which obviously work well, as the two Hulk films of this decade prove.
> The Hulk TV series refrained from using other superbeings because of a > creative decision? Oh, yeah, as if producers of it and the 1950s > Superman series had a choice.
> Superman in the 1950s and the Hulk in the 1970s abstained from the use > of additional supers because their freaking budgets were limited. The > blurred background of Superman in flight always showed the same > buildings and sky in every episode. The exact same shirt ripped down > Banner's back every time too. If the production crews could not manage > new scenes of the series mainstay, how the heck can they be expected to > provide super guest stars of the week?
> The best Hulk I recall was a two parter when Banner goes where local > lore says a green monster once terrorized the vicinity. Banner learns a > dead doctor had experimented with gamma radiation and he speaks to an > old man who had once been transforming into a hulkoid. All that was > needed was another muscle man and some green dye for that guy's skin and > green wig and forehead/eyebrows.
> The advent of CGI and its cheapness has certainly helped fantasy/SF TV. > Two or three supers can be managed every episode.
Well, sure, but there does seem to be an aversion to comics, and the Hulk storyline specifically, from the series ''creator'' Kenneth Johnson. He mentions in the commentary on the DVD butting heads with Stan Lee, who we know is the real ''creator'' of the Hulk, with Jack Kirby, over the non-use of fantastic or supernatural elements on the show. There was a scene where the Hulk was to wrestle a man in a bear suit, Stan said ''You should make it a robot bear...'' and Johnson said something like, ''No, the audience will only allow one /buy/ in an episode... they'll buy the idea that Bixby turns into Ferigno, but not /another/ fantastic element...''.
From what I've seen/heard from Johnson, and from the fact that he pretty well completely changed the origin and supporting cast, he was determined to make the Hulk /his/ creation... as the ''Created by Kenneth Johnson'' byline shows, and the lack of credit to Stan Lee/ Jack Kirby, only a ''Based on the Marvel Comics character'' line.
Johnson really seems to have wanted a ''realistic'', ''adult'' oriented storyline... a Fugitive kind of thing, which he really copped from the comic, mostly, anyhow.
''...In early 1977, Frank Price, head of Universal Television, offered producer and writer Kenneth Johnson a deal to develop a TV show based on any of several characters they had licensed from the Marvel Comics library. Johnson turned down the offer at first, but then, while reading the Victor Hugo novel, Les Misérables, he became inspired and began working to develop the Hulk comic into a TV show. Johnson saw fit to change the name of the Hulk's comic book alter ego, Dr. (Robert) Bruce Banner, to "Dr. David Banner" for the t.v. series. This change was made, according to Johnson, because he did not want the series to be perceived as a comic book series, so he wanted to change what he felt was a staple of comic books, and Stan Lee's comics in particular, that major characters frequently had alliterative names [...] Johnson also omitted the comic book's supporting characters from his TV adaptation. Instead, he opted for a variety of more realistic, 'regular person' characters -- most of whom changed with each episode. Additionally, Johnson changed the character's origin story. Rather than being exposed to gamma rays while saving someone who had wondered on-grounds during a botched atomic testing explosion, "David" Banner was gamma-irradiated in a laboratory mishap. Yet another significant change was altering Banner's occupation, from nuclear physicist (in the comics) to medical researcher/physician. Although the comic-book Hulk's degree of speaking ability has varied over the years, the television Hulk did not speak at all -- he merely growled and roared repeatedly. Finally, despite its Marvel Comics roots, fantasy and science fiction themes were minimized in the series. In the majority of episodes, the only supernatural element was the Hulk himself...''
So, sure, the budget kept things pretty minimal on the Hulk series, but there really seems to be a concious choice to stay as far away from the source material as possible anyway.
> > >. Bruce Banner's name was changed to David Banner because ... and because Johnson disliked the > > > alternating name sequences so often used in comic books (Clark Kent, > > > Lois Lane, Matt Murdock, Peter Parker etc).
> > And this is what pisses me off about people in charge of comics in > > another medium. He didn't like alternating names so he decided to > > change it? It's been a part of superhero comics since their inception > > to use allliteration in names. So just because one guy in charge > > "doesn't like it", he feels important enough to change it? If you > > don't like how comics do things, then DON'T DO A COMIC ADAPTATION.
> > Thankfully the comic movies of late have actually stayed pretty true > > to character and details, but things like the above just get on my > > nerves.
> And /then/ Johnson hired the actor to play his renamed David Banner... > Bill Bixby. Stan Lee stated at least once that the reason Johnson > changed the name from Bruce was actually because he thought ''Bruce'' > sounded ''gay''... never mind that Bruce Springsteen and Bruce Lee > smahed that concept better than the Hulk could have.
Not to mention you had Bruce Jenner, 1976 Olympic decathlon winner, who was also very prominent on TV shows at the time. I remember the MAD comic parody of the Hulk TV show saying something to the effect of using David instead of Bruce because Bruce sounded gay and in the background you see Bruce Jenner on tv winning the gold medal and the annoucer saying Bruce is the most athletic man in America.
> >. Bruce Banner's name was changed to David Banner because ... and because Johnson disliked the > > alternating name sequences so often used in comic books (Clark Kent, > > Lois Lane, Matt Murdock, Peter Parker etc).
> And this is what pisses me off about people in charge of comics in > another medium. He didn't like alternating names so he decided to > change it? It's been a part of superhero comics since their inception > to use allliteration in names. So just because one guy in charge > "doesn't like it", he feels important enough to change it? If you > don't like how comics do things, then DON'T DO A COMIC ADAPTATION.
> Thankfully the comic movies of late have actually stayed pretty true > to character and details, but things like the above just get on my > nerves.
I've been going through the Incredible Hulk episodes thanks to the DVD collections, and while the constantly changing locale/jobs of David Banner are much less unrealistic than the continuity of Stan Lee's Hulk, the third season episode ''Homecoming'' is a blast, introducing Banner's sister Helen, his father and a similar but much more understated and ''realistic'' version of Banner/Hulk's rage over his childhood... and he still holds his father responsible for the death of his mother.
As far as I know, and correct me if I'm wrong, but this seems to be the first exploration of Banner's past, although in the ''alternate universe'' of Marvel-television, or from what I've been reading, the Hulk of Marvel UK, which apparently used this version in stories written by the likes of Alan Moore... now, /those/ would sure be interesting to have a look at...
> > >. Bruce Banner's name was changed to David Banner because ... and because Johnson disliked the > > > alternating name sequences so often used in comic books (Clark Kent, > > > Lois Lane, Matt Murdock, Peter Parker etc).
> > And this is what pisses me off about people in charge of comics in > > another medium. He didn't like alternating names so he decided to > > change it? It's been a part of superhero comics since their inception > > to use allliteration in names. So just because one guy in charge > > "doesn't like it", he feels important enough to change it? If you > > don't like how comics do things, then DON'T DO A COMIC ADAPTATION.
> > Thankfully the comic movies of late have actually stayed pretty true > > to character and details, but things like the above just get on my > > nerves.
> I've been going through the Incredible Hulk episodes thanks to the DVD > collections, and while the constantly changing locale/jobs of David > Banner are much less unrealistic than the continuity of Stan Lee's > Hulk, the third season episode ''Homecoming'' is a blast, introducing > Banner's sister Helen, his father and a similar but much more > understated and ''realistic'' version of Banner/Hulk's rage over his > childhood... and he still holds his father responsible for the death > of his mother.
> As far as I know, and correct me if I'm wrong, but this seems to be > the first exploration of Banner's past, although in the ''alternate > universe'' of Marvel-television, or from what I've been reading, the > Hulk of Marvel UK, which apparently used this version in stories > written by the likes of Alan Moore... now, /those/ would sure be > interesting to have a look at...
While the Moore Hulk material will no doubt be in limbo for at least years to come, there seems to be a hefty bit of Marvel UK material based more on the Bixby-Ferigno/Kenneth Johnson Hulk...
Like many titles published by the company under Dez Skinn, Hulk Comic featured new material produced by British creators such as Steve Dillon, David Lloyd and Steve Parkhouse—along with a smattering of American reprints drawn from the Lee/Kirby Marvel back-catalogue.
[...]
The title included new Hulk material drawn by Dave Gibbons and Steve Dillon. This material was significant in that it portrayed the illiterate, wandering Hulk of the 1970s television series. Issue 15 to 20 included Hulk being trapped on an island with Dr Scarabeus - the first mainstream comic work for writer Alan Moore (with penciller Paul Neary and inker David Lloyd)[2][3] Once the title began featuring American reprints, it chose to display the Marvel Universe Hulk as depicted by Sal Buscema. Dave Gibbons (born April 14, 1949) is a British writer and artist of comics. ... Steve Dillon is a British comic book artist. ... Literacy is the ability to use text to communicate across space and time. ... This article is about the live action series. ... For other persons named Alan Moore, see Alan Moore (disambiguation). ... Paul Neary is a British comic book artist, writer and editor. ... Cover art for the collected edition of V for Vendetta by David Lloyd David Lloyd (born 1950) is a British comics artist best known as the illustrator of the graphic novel V for Vendetta, written by Alan Moore. ... This article is about the shared universe setting used by many Marvel Comics titles. ... Incredible Hulk, The Hulk and The Incredible Hulk redirect here. ... Cover to Avengers Annual #17. ...
Characters: Add/remove characters to this story Hulk (from 1970's TV show)
Synopsis: After being struck by lightning in the small town of Arbory, Hulk touches random metal objects through town, instinctively finding a way to discharge the electricity from his body. In the process he re- illuminates a darkened street, serving up two petty criminals to the oncoming police. After firing their guns at the police, the crooks try to escape by car. Hulk stands in the way of their oncoming car, and the impact kills them. However, the car acts as a lightning rod for Hulk's over-electified body. When the cops make it to the scene, they find the two dead crooks and a car that looks smashed, but—having never actually seen Hulk at all—they surmise that the car must've been struck by lightning. His biochemistry returning to normal levels, Hulk stumbles away from his mindless—albeit helpful—rampage, to transform back into Dr. Bruce Banner.
Notes: Banner never appears in this strip, and Hulk himself is obviously not literate. Though an American setting is convincingly displayed here, British spellings of words bely that this is an original Marvel UK story.
On Sat, 19 Jul 2008 00:21:46 -0700 (PDT), Will Dockery
<will.dock...@gmail.com> wrote: >Modeled after the character of Javert >from Victor Hugo's "Les Miserables", Jack McGee pursued David Banner >and the creature relentlessly throughout the series' run.
...The whole adaptation was more of a knock-off of "The Fugitive" than of "Les Miserables", when you get down to it. Same general logic: guy on the run, comes across someone in deep shit, finds that it's safer for all if he resolves the problem rather than getting the cops involved, ends up hightailing it out of town just as his pursuer catches up with him. Shake, stir and repeat next week.
OM -- ]=====================================[ ] OMBlog - http://www.io.com/~o_m/omworld [ ] Let's face it: Sometimes you *need* [ ] an obnoxious opinion in your day! [ ]=====================================[
Bill Steele <w...@cornell.edu> wrote: > Kate Halleron wrote: > >"Adam H. Kerman" wrote: > > > Bill Steele wrote: > > > >Will Dockery wrote:
> > >>Modeled after the character of Javert > > > >>from Victor Hugo's "Les Miserables", Jack McGee pursued David Banner > > > >>and the creature relentlessly throughout the series' run. > > > >Yeah, sure. In no way was the show modeled after The Fugitive.
> > > Oh, come on. It's completely different. "The Fugitive" was accused of > > > killing his wife, whereas the Creature is accused of killing, well, himself.
> > > How can you think they ripped off the idea?
> > Kenneth Johnson, the producer and creator of the Hulk TV series, has > > never hidden the fact that his Hulk storylines owe a great deal to > > "The Fugitive."
> > That both shows were influenced by "Les Miserables" is a more > > overlooked point, one that KJ has often referred to.
> > Might as well steal from the best.
> > Kate
> People are always confusing plot with premise. Doesn't matter who he > killed, or even if somebody got killed (although I assume that comment > was sarcastic). The premise is just "Character moves from place to place > seeking something, being pursued by something else."
> Among others:
> The Fugitive > Hulk > Werewolf > Kung Fu > Starman > Supernatural
> The prototype might be The Odyssey, although nothing was really chasing > him.
Besides, the theme of Banner being pursued went back to the actual comic book, with Thunderbolt Ross on his trail issue after issue.
