Welcome

Welcome to my ever-evolving blog. It started out as a blog on Beachbody workouts and products, mainly when I was a Beachbody coach. I no longer coach, not because I don't believe in Beachbody's programs (I subscribe to Beachbody on Demand and use their workouts every day), I am just not a salesperson and hated that aspect of it. I am more than willing to answer questions about my experiences with their products and the various workouts, and I feel freer to do so without the appearance of giving a biased review of something.

I have also started adding reviews for various things I have purchased like movies, books, CDs, and other products. This was brought about by a fight with Amazon in which all of my reviews were removed over a completely bullshit allegation that I posted a review that violated their terms of service. After going back and forth with the morons in the community-reviews department (even after they admitted that my posts did not violate their guidelines) they restored my account (which took them six months to do), but I have been posting my reviews on my blog to have them preserved in case something like that happens again. And here, I will post uncensored reviews so I will swear from time to time and post reviews that may be longer than Amazon's character limit. Everything I post here on any topic or product is my personal opinion, and I take no compensation for any product reviews I post. I am a member of Amazon's vine program and because I get those products for free, I keep those reviews on Amazon only, but everything I have purchased with my own money, whether from Amazon or some other store/website/outlet, I will post here.  

I also plan to do some longer blog posts on various topics, such as how to learn physics, how to get through calculus, and longer reviews of workout programs as I do them. Basically, whatever strikes me as interesting at the time.  As you can see if you navigate around the blog, I had many years in between postings. During that time I was going back to school to get an engineering degree, and learning material that I avoided my first time through college was a different experience and one that gave me a lot of insight into how to do well in those classes, which I will try to impart here for those who are looking to get a science or engineering degree. 

Tuesday, May 31, 2022

DVD/TV Movie Review: The Death of The Incredible Hulk

 


This was the third of the disconnected TV movies that aired after the Incredible Hulk series starring Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno went off the air. The title gives away what happens, so it is not a spoiler (especially after 30+ years) to say that the Hulk dies, but I think how it was done was kind of dumb, especially given what the Hulk's real powers are (as opposed to what is portrayed in the series).

The crux of the story is that David is still trying to find a way of curing himself of the Hulk metamorphosis. He ends up working as a janitor at a top-secret government lab where a doctor, played by Philip Sterling, is working on an experiment that may help cure David. In the meantime, an Eastern European spy played by former Miss America (and alleged Bill Clinton one-night-stand) Elizabeth Gracen is tasked to steal Dr. Pratt's research. I will not spoil the rest of the story from there, but needless to say, the Hulk finally dies in the end, finally bringing a resolution to the storyline that was never finished in the TV show because it was canceled after the fourth season, and only aired a few remaining yet to be aired episodes as a very short fifth season.

The DVD just has the movie itself. I think there are multiple versions running around out there, but the version I got was an import from the UK (the US version seems to be out of print and very hard to track down) So, on this version, there are no extras. Of course, Bixby died a few years after making the movie so having any meaningful commentary track was impossible, but there was no making-of or behind-the-scenes material included either. Overall, the movie is better than the two other movies (The Incredible Hulk Returns and The Trial of the Incredible Hulk), but that is not saying a lot since those were pretty awful. It does give a nod to the super-soldier program that was the basis for the comic book story but does not go too deeply into it. Unfortunately, Jack Colvin either did not come back or was not brought back for this so there was really never a resolution for his character, which is too bad. He was horribly underused in the tv series and was only on screen for a few minutes in The Incredible Hulk returns never to be seen again.

Chances are, most of the people who are going to watch this are those who are fans of the TV series. It is definitely not like the superhero series of today by any means, both in being faithful to the comics, or the special effects. Of course, in this, they were still painting Lou Ferrigno green and using cutaways during the Hulk-outs. The handful of special effects that were used (mostly at the end) was very basic and fake-looking. I cannot say that everyone will love this, but if you like the series it is worth watching to see the full story arc.

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