Season four of The Incredible Hulk follows the same format that the prior seasons have. Mostly, one-shot and done stories of the week, with really the only arc running through the series is the fact that the reporter Jack McGree is following David/The Hulk around trying to find out who he is. As is the case with the other seasons, the quality of the episodes runs the gamut from kind of dumb to very good. The standout episodes this season include the two-part season premiere titled "Prometheus" involving a meteor that crashes to Earth and affects David's transformation into the Hulk, "King of the Beach", in which Lou Ferrigno has an actual speaking role, playing a bodybuilder and wannabe restaurant owner, the two-part episode "The First" in which David discovers another person who has undergone the metamorphosis, and "The Interview" in which David tells his story to a reporter who manages to track him down.
For those who get the DVDs, the extras include commentary tracks on both episodes of Prometheus by Kenneth Johnson, the series creator and executive producer, a feature called "Inside the Hulk" in which Johnson and some of the show's writers discuss how the show created the character of the Hulk and the process Bixby and Ferrigno had to go through to bring the character to life, and a photo gallery for the Prometheus episode. Johnson's commentaries are always informative, and the guy either has a photographic memory or uses copious notes when he does the commentaries because he knows the dates (and day of the week) scenes were filmed and can rattle off the filmography of nearly every member of the cast and crew. And, he gives a lot of insight into what the working relationship between himself, Bixby, and Ferrigno was like.
Overall, the show is mostly good but definitely has some "clunker" episodes. The writing and acting were both sometimes very cheesy, and there are definitely some episodes that do not hold up extremely well with the passage of time. Others, however, are very much timeless and tackle issues that are still very much relevant over forty years later. The show is much different from the superhero shows of today as the Hulk was not battling super villains, David always just found himself in the worst situation possible in whatever town he happened to end up in, and usually had to help someone being threatened by bad guys. And, the show was rarely ever concerned about continuity as it often recycled guest stars to play different roles/characters than they played before. Although Gerald McRaney did not have a guest-starring role this season as he did in the first three seasons, so, there is that. The show is definitely a "blast from the past" for those of us who grew up either watching it as it originally aired, or watching the re-runs when it aired in syndication. I cannot say that everyone who likes the superhero shows of today like the Arrowverse shows or the various Marvel series like Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist will like this, but for those who are in their mid-forties and up, it is a pretty nice nostalgic trip down memory lane.
For those who get the DVDs, the extras include commentary tracks on both episodes of Prometheus by Kenneth Johnson, the series creator and executive producer, a feature called "Inside the Hulk" in which Johnson and some of the show's writers discuss how the show created the character of the Hulk and the process Bixby and Ferrigno had to go through to bring the character to life, and a photo gallery for the Prometheus episode. Johnson's commentaries are always informative, and the guy either has a photographic memory or uses copious notes when he does the commentaries because he knows the dates (and day of the week) scenes were filmed and can rattle off the filmography of nearly every member of the cast and crew. And, he gives a lot of insight into what the working relationship between himself, Bixby, and Ferrigno was like.
Overall, the show is mostly good but definitely has some "clunker" episodes. The writing and acting were both sometimes very cheesy, and there are definitely some episodes that do not hold up extremely well with the passage of time. Others, however, are very much timeless and tackle issues that are still very much relevant over forty years later. The show is much different from the superhero shows of today as the Hulk was not battling super villains, David always just found himself in the worst situation possible in whatever town he happened to end up in, and usually had to help someone being threatened by bad guys. And, the show was rarely ever concerned about continuity as it often recycled guest stars to play different roles/characters than they played before. Although Gerald McRaney did not have a guest-starring role this season as he did in the first three seasons, so, there is that. The show is definitely a "blast from the past" for those of us who grew up either watching it as it originally aired, or watching the re-runs when it aired in syndication. I cannot say that everyone who likes the superhero shows of today like the Arrowverse shows or the various Marvel series like Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist will like this, but for those who are in their mid-forties and up, it is a pretty nice nostalgic trip down memory lane.
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