The Incredible Hulk (1996 animated TV series)

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This article is about the 1996 Animated TV Series. For other uses, see Hulk.
The Incredible Hulk (1996 TV series)
Format Animated
Starring Neal McDonough
Lou Ferrigno
Luke Perry
Genie Francis
Cree Summer
Country of origin Flag of the United States United States
No. of episodes 21 (List of episodes)
Production
Running time 30 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel UPN
Original run September 8, 1996 – November 23, 1997
External links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

The Incredible Hulk is an animated TV series that lasted 21 episodes, two seasons, from 1996 to 1997, on UPN. Lou Ferrigno returned to play the Hulk, after portraying him on the live-action TV series, this time as his voice.

The series continued the concept of a shared Marvel Animated Universe with numerous episodes featuring characters from other Marvel cartoons of the period. In the second season, the show's format, after UPN decided that Season 1 was too dark, was changed, and to give "female viewers a chance"[1], they made She-Hulk a regular co-star. As a result, the series was officially renamed The Incredible Hulk and She-Hulk. The second season also featured the Grey Hulk. There was also greater emphasis on humour.

Contents

[edit] Series overview

[edit] Season 1

The first season begins with Dr. Robert Bruce Banner already established as the Hulk and on the run[2], captured by the military after another attempt at ridding himself of the beast within goes awry. He eventually escapes, and falls into the hands of The Leader (voiced by Matt Frewer), but the intervention of mutated cave dwelling gamma creatures, Banner's loyal friend Rick Jones, and the love of his life Betty Ross, is enough to liberate The Hulk and he becomes a fugitive again, with a more ruthless General Ross, Betty's father, continuing his pursuit.

Traveling across the nation and beyond, even venturing into the coldest depths of Canada, Banner meets kindred spirits also battling similar problems, fights beings of pure energy, and must endure an alliance with the Gargoyle to provide the antidote to a viral epidemic that nearly takes Betty's life and countless others. Not even his family is safe from the terror his hidden powers bring, as his best friend and cousin Jennifer Walters is critically injured by Doctor Doom, forcing Banner to give her a blood transfusion that transforms her into the She-Hulk.

Over the course of the season running sub-plots gradually unfold. centering mostly around several of the supporting cast, the season slowly covers the following:

  • Betty's attempts to construct a Gamma Neutriant Bath that will separate Banner from the Hulk with the aid of Doc Samson.
  • The Leader's fragile association with The Gargoyle slowly breaking down, shattering completely before eventually reforming before the finale.
  • The Leader succeeding in bringing to life obedient mutant Gamma Warriors.
  • General Ross' tempered alliance with Agent Gabriel Jones of S.H.I.E.L.D., a ruthless covert operative whose orders were to destroy the creature completely upon capture.

These plot threads all come together in the three part season finale "Darkness and Light", where Betty's gamble pays off and the Hulk and Banner are separated. However, with this comes a price, the Hulk is now mindless, unrestrained. Banner feels responsible and confronts the creature in an armoured battle suit. The Leader finally gains the power of the Hulk, but the strength drives him mad and renders him a near brute, forcing him to abandon the power and restore it to the creature.

Perhaps the most damaging of the character arcs belonged to General Ross, betrayed by Agent Jones during the finale, Ross slowly showed signs in the third part of breaking down, his sense of trust shattered, coupled with things working out for his most hated enemy as Banner prepared to marry Betty despite being in a critical condition, Ross finally snapped. Interrupting Banner's wedding ceremony, Ross threatened to kill him, until a cardiac arrest took Banner down first, the separation from the Hulk finally taking it's toll, this leads his friends into concluding that he and the Hulk must be merged again, or both will perish

Ross fled as Banner was attended to, but would make his presence felt again just as the attempt to restore the two entities began, attempting to sabotage the experiment, he was interrupted by Rick, whom he hurtles into the vat containing Banner and the Hulk. The experiment malfunctions, and the vat erupts, from it emerges a gamma-powered, hulk-like Jones, who escapes into the night, as the grieving but healthy Banner transforms into a grey variation of his nightmarish inner demon.

[edit] Season 2

The Incredible Hulk and She-Hulk begins where the first season concluded, with the Grey Hulk on a rampage in the mountains, pursued by the still insane Ross. An altercation between the two results in an avalanche that puts Ross in a coma, and knocks out Banner, when he comes to, he is arrested and placed on trial, whilst Rick Jones, almost an afterthought, continues his own reign of terror.

Banner calls in his cousin Jennifer, the She-Hulk, to help him out in court. After defending the entire court house from an attack by the Leader and successfully locating and restoring Rick to normalcy, both Banner and Jennifer travel together, lying low.

Aside from a small continuation of the premiere episode, the season featured very little ongoing arcs, the only ones of note were the following:

  • General Ross hospitalised.
  • The Gargoyle displaying strong affections for She-Hulk.

The remainder of the season saw Banner and Jennifer either team-up with characters such as Doctor Strange, battle Doctor Doom once more, or participate in a fight during Jennifer's high school reunion party. The Grey Hulk's mob persona of "Mr. Fixit" eventually surfaced for a brief appearance

The series concluded on a heavily rushed and happier note than the previous one, with Ross emerging from his coma and deciding to end his hostility towards Bruce, but little else was resolved, including Banner's inner conflicts with his green and grey Hulk transformations.

This season won an Emmy award for "best audio editing" for the work on the episode "The Lost Village."

[edit] Season 1 vs. Season 2

The first season was exceptionally dark in storytelling, with endings either bittersweet or complete downers. The Ghost Rider, still a relatively popular seller on the comic stands at the time, appeared in the show during this darker phase of the series, in the episode "Innocent Blood". The first season also boasted strong guest performances from the likes of John Rhys-Davies as Thor, and Mark Hamill as The Gargoyle.

The much lighter tone introduced during the second season in the hopes of increasing the appeal of the series ultimately backfired, alienating its core fanbase[3]. Rick Jones and Doc Samson gradually vanished, as did the Gamma cave dwellers. Betty Ross even became less of an important character. The Leader, the series' most prominent adversary, made his final appearance alongside the Gargoyle during "Fashion Warriors", a parody of Die Hard which involved Betty and Jennifer leading a group of near-amazonian female scientists clad in bathing suits to battle The Leader's Gamma Mutant Warriors.

As a result of overwhelmingly poor feedback, the show was swiftly cancelled. No new Hulk series has been attempted, although the character returned to animation during the Ultimate Avengers series of direct-to-DVD movies, and both Hulk and She Hulk guest starred in episodes of Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Season 1

[edit] Season 2 additions/replacements

[edit] Episode list

Main article: List of Incredible Hulk (1996 TV series) episodes

[edit] Reruns and DVD releases

The show was briefly aired on ABC Family following the release of the live-action movie in 2003, as well as a DVD release. This has been the one DVD release so far with only a few episodes included.

In 2008, this series was released on Region 2 DVD in the UK in by Liberation Entertainment as part of a release schedule of Marvel animated series.

In June it is being rerun in marathons on Jetix.

[edit] References

  1. ^ MAA: What happened in season 2? Why did the quality drop to such a low level? Sebast: Well, this cuts to the heart of a not uncommon problem in this business. The UPN executive assigned to the show really had no feeling for what the Hulk was about or what was most important to an action-adventure show in general, or to Marvel fans in particular. (There were a host of creative differences, but what I most remember of those network meetings was her obsession with fashion—she kept insisting that everyone look like they just-stepped out of a shop on Rodeo Drive—hardly a look that would fit any of the main characters.) Anyway, to cut to the chase, let’s just say that the episodes delivered to network tended to reflect the creative choices of the production company over those of network. (See what’s coming…?) Cut to season 2. The axe falls. The edict came down from network that the show would be pulled from New World unless there were a change of creative personnel who would toe the line; so the second season got a new producer, director and crew. Not unexpectedly, I never viewed any of the second season episodes, so I’ll accept your assessment of the overall quality.
  2. ^ Like I said, this series is fairly faithful to the comic with some notable exceptions. First, we are told that the Hulk was not created by a Gamma Bomb explosion, but by a Gamma Reactor experiment sabotaged by Samuel Sterns (who would later become The Leader).
  3. ^ By the end of the first season, we were even given an appearance by the Grey Hulk! However, by the second season, things went downhill as studio executives decided to make the cartoon more light-hearted and paired the Hulk with She-Hulk. I was so disappointed by those turn of events that I'm not going to even consider the second season in this comparison.

[edit] External links


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