This is the Blu-Ray set of the five seasons of The Incredible Hulk series that starred Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno (and in theory, but not always in practice, Jack Colvin) that ran from 1977 to 1982. It was created by Kenneth Johnson, who created series like the original Bionic Woman, the Six Million Dollar Man, and the original V series, among others. The hook of this series is that it was not a straight comic book adaptation that involved the military trying to resurrect the super-soldier program and had Hulk fighting both the military and supervillains. Instead, the premise was that David Banner (played by Bixby) is a scientist trying to understand the potential for superhuman strength when under stress because he was not able to tap into that kind of strength to save his wife after a car accident. He ends up dosing himself with a massive amount of gamma radiation which does not kill him but instead turns him into a huge green creature that is dubbed "The Hulk" (played by Ferrigno) by a reporter named Jack McGee (played by Colvin) who sees the creature and then makes it his life pursuit to capture the creature. The series then involves David moving from town-to-town trying to find a way to get rid of the creature and avoid being exposed by McGee. Along the way, he seems to find the one person in town (usually a damsel in distress) that needs protecting from the worst person in town.
The series definitely feels like it is set in the 1970s and early 1980s, in terms of the look of the film that the show was shot on, the clothing, and the dialogue. There are definitely things that they were able to do in the show back then that would never fly today, yet many of the themes are timeless and could easily be made today with some slight updating. One big difference between the show and the superhero shows of today is that it was never big on continuity, using the same guest stars to play totally different roles throughout the series run. For example, Gerald McRaney played three different characters in the first three seasons. It did include a lot of recognizable character actors as well as actors who would become A or B list actors (like Kim Catrall, Markie Post, and Ernie Hudson) in roles very early in their careers.
The extras mostly carryover from the DVD sets. The only things that are missing are some of the promos for the three TV movies that were made after the series ended, which are also not a part of this set. There are some DVD collections that include the last three tv movies, but this does not have those. The crown jewel of the extras are the commentary tracks by Kenneth Johnson on the various two-part episodes that he directed. The man either kept copious notes that he worked off of, or he has a photographic memory, because he could rattle off days of the week that things were filmed on, as well as the CVs of nearly every cast and crew member before and after the series ended. He also gave a lot of insight into what working with Bixby and Ferrigno was like, and provided a lot of insider details that may not have been well known (like Ferrigno was not the first choice to play The Hulk) and described the tricks they used to make Ferrigno look bigger than he was, for example, using special lenses, filming him from below, etc. The other extras include a gag reel that basically is about seven minutes of Bixby swearing and a couple of retrospective documentaries on making the series that include interviews with Johnson and the writers. Again, all carryovers from the DVD releases. The A/V quality of the set is an upgrade from the DVDs but it did not get a high-quality restoration like some movies and shows get, so it may not be worth the upgrade for some people who already own the DVDs.
Overall, the series is good but dated. Some of the storylines and themes hold up well even 40+ years down the line, and others do not. It could be very, very cheesy at times, and at other times was very well written and acted. My big complaint about the entire series is that Jack Colvin was very underused. So much so that it was almost criminal. He was a very good actor and there were many episodes that he did not appear in, or appeared for all of a minute. He could have been included a lot more. Also, the series ended very abruptly with a truncated fifth season that consisted of seven stand-alone episodes that were filmed at the end of the fourth season in case a possible writer or director strike that was looming between 1981 and 1982 came to pass, and there were episodes to run at the beginning of the season. Unfortunately, the show was canceled between the fourth and fifth season, so those episodes which did nothing to give the series a proper ending were all that were aired. Johnson lobbied for and failed to get, an additional six episodes to get a half-season run and give the show a proper series finale. That never came to pass and the series ended with an okay episode, but nothing worthy of being a series finale.
The series definitely feels like it is set in the 1970s and early 1980s, in terms of the look of the film that the show was shot on, the clothing, and the dialogue. There are definitely things that they were able to do in the show back then that would never fly today, yet many of the themes are timeless and could easily be made today with some slight updating. One big difference between the show and the superhero shows of today is that it was never big on continuity, using the same guest stars to play totally different roles throughout the series run. For example, Gerald McRaney played three different characters in the first three seasons. It did include a lot of recognizable character actors as well as actors who would become A or B list actors (like Kim Catrall, Markie Post, and Ernie Hudson) in roles very early in their careers.
The extras mostly carryover from the DVD sets. The only things that are missing are some of the promos for the three TV movies that were made after the series ended, which are also not a part of this set. There are some DVD collections that include the last three tv movies, but this does not have those. The crown jewel of the extras are the commentary tracks by Kenneth Johnson on the various two-part episodes that he directed. The man either kept copious notes that he worked off of, or he has a photographic memory, because he could rattle off days of the week that things were filmed on, as well as the CVs of nearly every cast and crew member before and after the series ended. He also gave a lot of insight into what working with Bixby and Ferrigno was like, and provided a lot of insider details that may not have been well known (like Ferrigno was not the first choice to play The Hulk) and described the tricks they used to make Ferrigno look bigger than he was, for example, using special lenses, filming him from below, etc. The other extras include a gag reel that basically is about seven minutes of Bixby swearing and a couple of retrospective documentaries on making the series that include interviews with Johnson and the writers. Again, all carryovers from the DVD releases. The A/V quality of the set is an upgrade from the DVDs but it did not get a high-quality restoration like some movies and shows get, so it may not be worth the upgrade for some people who already own the DVDs.
Overall, the series is good but dated. Some of the storylines and themes hold up well even 40+ years down the line, and others do not. It could be very, very cheesy at times, and at other times was very well written and acted. My big complaint about the entire series is that Jack Colvin was very underused. So much so that it was almost criminal. He was a very good actor and there were many episodes that he did not appear in, or appeared for all of a minute. He could have been included a lot more. Also, the series ended very abruptly with a truncated fifth season that consisted of seven stand-alone episodes that were filmed at the end of the fourth season in case a possible writer or director strike that was looming between 1981 and 1982 came to pass, and there were episodes to run at the beginning of the season. Unfortunately, the show was canceled between the fourth and fifth season, so those episodes which did nothing to give the series a proper ending were all that were aired. Johnson lobbied for and failed to get, an additional six episodes to get a half-season run and give the show a proper series finale. That never came to pass and the series ended with an okay episode, but nothing worthy of being a series finale.
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