History Series / TheIncredibleHulk1977

[[caption-width-right:350:"''Within each of us, offtimes, there dwells a mighty and raging fury.''"]]

''The Incredible Hulk'' is a LiveActionAdaptation of the classic Creator/MarvelComics [[ComicBook/IncredibleHulk character]] produced by [[Creator/{{Universal}} Universal Television]] and developed by Kenneth Johnson, laced thoroughly with intentional AdaptationDistillation. Airing on Creator/{{CBS}}, it starred Creator/BillBixby as Dr. Banner and bodybuilder Creator/LouFerrigno as his violent super-powered alter-ego.

* HighVoltageDeath: Attempted but averted when a KISS-like heavy metal singer (played by Mackenzie Phillips) plans to do this and make it look like an accident during a concert in order to teach her fans a lesson about...something or other. But when she sees David Hulk Out and the fans are still screaming for more, she realizes that her death will make no difference to them.

** Outright stated by David in "Married" when he is hinting his condition to Dr. Caroline Fields after she realizes who he really is.

%%* WrenchWench: Irene in "Ricky."

* CreatorCameo: Creator/JackKirby appears as a police sketch artist in the episode "No Escape." He is sketching a witness's description of the Hulk. Quite expectedly, the sketch resembles his own comics style of the character rather than Creator/LouFerrigno. Creator/StanLee would make the first of his continuing cameo appearances in ''The Trial Of The Incredible Hulk.''

* CrashCourseLanding: In "747", David has to land the eponymous aircraft, ''while hulking out''. He somehow manages to slow the transformation's pace, because, while he needs extra strength to move the control stick, which was stuck, he also needed to retain intelligence enough to follow the flight controllers' instructions. After the landing, the transformation goes full course (and his intellect goes away), and a teenager that David befriended early on enters the cockpit, helping the Hulk to activate the brakes and stop the plane.

** In the episode "747," the boy who helps the Hulk safely land the plane is played by Brandon Cruz, Bixby's co-star in ''Series/TheCourtshipOfEddie'sFather''.

Now has a [[Characters/TheIncredibleHulk1977 characters page]] and a [[Recap/TheIncredibleHulk1977 recap page]] that needs more love.

* CriminalDoppelganger: An episode had David Banner cross paths with a criminal who looked exactly like him (Bill Bixby with a mustache and a suit). Despite trying to frame Banner, the criminal was caught by police and attempted to weasel out of it by saying, "There's a guy who looks exactly like me." The police dismissed the idea as inane.

* MightAsWellNotBeInPrisonAtAll: Jack McGee plays with this during an episode wherein he infiltrates a secret government base that has captured the Hulk and is examining him, thinking he's an extraterrestrial life form. When caught, the people running the installation are desperate to keep the place a secret and threaten to have him imprisoned for trespassing. Jack tells them to go right ahead and send him to prison, saying a lot of good books have been written in prison. They get the point and back off, since they can't shut him up by sending him to prison, where he'll do exactly what they are trying to prevent

* ShoutOut: In "Stop the Presses," the name of the publisher of McGee's newspaper, the National Register, is R.B. Steinhauer. One of the series' producers at the time was named Robert Bennett Steinhauer.

* BenchBreaker: From time to time, David gets tied to a chair and then Hulks out, breaking the chair more or less automatically.

* ExtraStrengthMasquerade: The Hulk is treated as an urban myth for far longer that should be considered possible considering he has been seen by large crowds in public quite a few times. He appeared at a rodeo, at a professional football game, in televised boxing and wrestling matches, and even running down the street in broad daylight...through Times Square, no less. His existence was acknowledged by police in many cities, and there were clear pictures of him published in various big-city newspapers (not just the tabloid [=McGee=] worked for). Yet somehow, the next town over, nobody had ever heard of this green creature before.

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: The [[HuntingTheMostDangerousGame villainous hunter chasing David]] in the episode "The Snare" accidentally hit himself with [[spoiler: the tip of one of his poisonous arrows. It led to his KarmicDeath]].

* HuntingTheMostDangerousGame: One classic episode had Banner trapped on an island with a wealthy retired hunter who becomes ''delighted'' when he first sees the transformation:
-->"I saw that beast you turned into David, unbelievable! What was it, how do you do it? It was magnificent, David, magnificent! Make it come back? '''You hear me, David! Make it come back!'''"

* MagicPants: [[TropeCodifier Goes without saying that this is in place;]] what is of note is when this trope is defied…
** Immediately following the second [[spoiler:(full)]] [[HulkingOut transformation]] of ''Prometheus,'' the creature [[BattleStrip actively discards his pants]] in favor of fighting in his equally indestructible [[UnderwearOfPower underwear.]]

* TookALevelInBadass: In the climax of ''Trial of the Incredible Hulk'', it's David who successfully saves the day, not the Hulk. The Hulk doesn't show up at all.
* TranquilizerDart: IntrepidReporter Jack [=McGee=] at one point has a tranq gun to use on the Hulk. Sure enough, the Hulk shows up and [=McGee=] shoots him, to seemingly no effect even though he uses several darts. After the Hulk grabs & destroys the gun and runs off, he starts being affected, in an [[AvertedTrope aversion]] of InstantSedation. [=McGee=] accidentally shoots himself too, but he's able to chase the Hulk for a little while before he falls unconscious.

* EvilCounterpart: "The First," [[spoiler: a Hulk-like creature created in a similar experiment 30 years before David Banner's. Unlike Banner, the other man was selfish, paranoid, and a murderer even before his transformation, traits that were only exacerbated after he transformed.]]

* CanonForeigner: David's sister Helen Banner.

* HandicappedBadass: Li Sung of "Another Path" and "The Disciple." He's old and blind, but a very skilled martial artist, easily defeating the villain of his first episode alone, along with many of his mooks. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxZionzIYpU Even the Hulk was just cleaning up after him rather than defusing the threat himself.]]

* CanonImmigrant: Hulk's father DW Banner, whose comics version appeared three years ''after'' the TV version, with a [[AdaptationNameChange different name]] (Brian) and [[AdaptationalVillainy personality]].

Now has a [[Characters/TheIncredibleHulk1977 Characters page]] and a [[Recap/TheIncredibleHulk1977 recap page]] that needs more love.

'''Banner:''' Mister [=McGee=], don't make me angry. YouWouldntLikeMeWhenImAngry.\\\

* ComicBookMoviesDontUseCodenames:
** You can count on one hand the amount of times most people use the name "the Hulk." Almost literally. Almost everyone, including David, calls it some variation of "the creature" (or "that green thing"). Jack [=McGee=] is the only one who calls it "the Hulk" regularly (since he created the name for his newspaper), but even he calls it "the creature" from time to time.
** In the episode "The First," the other Hulk is explicitly credited as "[[spoiler:Frye's]] Creature" rather than any variation of "Hulk."

* NeverFoundTheBody: "David Banner is believed to be dead." Obviously Elaina Marks' body is found (the Hulk carried her out of the building), hence her burial. But no human remains can be found that could be connected to David. It takes an extremely hot fire to destroy bones, and even then teeth usually survive. Then again, the fire was started by a chemical explosion and continued to send a column of flame high into the sky as it burned, so who-knows-what other chemical reactions and electrical shorts might have made the fire even hotter.
** There was also mention of faking a radiation leak in a way that implied such a leak would be plausible to actually happen; it might be that the site is considered too dangerous to go in and search through rubble for tiny little fragments and teeth, just to look for a man who was last seen trying to get inside and had no known reason to hide if he were still alive.

* NeverFoundTheBody: "David Banner is believed to be dead." Obviously Elaina Marks' body is found, hence her burial. But no human remains can be found that could be connected to David. Even burned bodies leave behind something. The nature of the lab explosion was not anywhere enough to completely incinerate a body without a trace. Strange that no one has ever postulated searching for David as a suspect.

* SuperStrength: David wanted to tap into "the hidden strength that all humans have;" he succeeded in his goal and then some! The Hulk's feats of strength are not quite as epic as his comic book counterpart (due to being made on a 1970s TV budget), but on the other hand, he seems to have no upper limits, either. In his most impressive feat, he easily (if unintentionally) destroys an entire government facility by overloading the hydraulics.

* RoarBeforeBeating: It is the Hulk, after all.

''The Incredible Hulk'' is a LiveActionAdaptation of the classic Creator/MarvelComics [[ComicBook/IncredibleHulk character]] produced by [[Creator/{{Universal}} Universal Television]] and developed by Kenneth Johnson, laced thoroughly with intentional AdaptationDistillation. Airing on Creator/{{CBS}}, it starred Creator/BillBixby as Banner and bodybuilder Creator/LouFerrigno as his violent super-powered alter-ego.

''The Incredible Hulk'' is a LiveActionAdaptation of the classic Creator/MarvelComics [[ComicBook/IncredibleHulk character]] produced by [[Creator/{{Universal}} Universal Television]] and developed by Kenneth Johnson, laced thoroughly with intentional AdaptationDistillation. Airing on Creator/{{CBS}} from 1977 to 1982, it starred Creator/BillBixby as Banner and bodybuilder Creator/LouFerrigno as his violent super-powered alter-ego.

Preceded by a pair of {{Pilot Movie}}s — ''The Incredible Hulk'' and ''Death in the Family'' (no, not ''that'' [[ComicBook/ADeathInTheFamily Death in the Family]]) — the series proper was in turn followed by three late-'80s {{Made for TV Movie}}s. The first was a PoorlyDisguisedPilot for a ''[[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]]'' series, the second was a Poorly Disguised Pilot for a ''{{ComicBook/Daredevil}}'' series (neither of which got made), and the last ended with the Hulk being KilledOffForReal, though this was ''not'' originally the intention, as the Hulk was going to be resurrected in a fourth film. However, it was cancelled due to low ratings, then any plans for a fourth film ended permanently with the death of Bill Bixby in 1993.

* AdaptationNameChange: Sort-of. Bruce is still his middle name, but Banner goes by his first name, which was changed from "Robert" to "David."

* AgeLift: While Bruce Banner in the comics is one of those characters kept eternally in their early 30s by ComicBookTime, Bill Bixby was 44 when he took the role of David Banner, and in his mid 50s by the last TV movie.

* AlmightyJanitor: David typically took on menial jobs such as janitor, dishwasher, and manual labor. In ''Death of the Incredible Hulk'', he actually secretly corrected a scientist's formulas overnight while posing as a mentally handicapped janitor.

* BarehandedBarBending: The Hulk did this all the time, to remind the TV audience just how strong he was.

* ButtMonkey: David, of course. Some people go their whole lives without getting into a violent confrontation. He can't walk ten feet down the street.
** Interestingly, Bill Bixby was a former Marine and therefore fairly adept at hand-to-hand combat. However, having the fighting skills of a Marine wasn't exactly something that could fit with Banner's background.

* CanonImmigrant: Jackie [=McGee=], a {{Gender Flip}}ped and {{Race Lift}}ed version of Jack [=McGee=], makes her comic debut in 2018's ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk''. There's also Hulk's father DW Banner, whose comics version appeared three years ''after'' the TV version, with a [[AdaptationNameChange different name]] (Brian) and [[AdaptationalVillainy personality]].
* CartwrightCurse: Goes with David's status as a CosmicPlaything. He loses two wives and later [[spoiler:joins them.]]
* TheCasanova / CluelessChickMagnet: David stands somewhere between the two with a little bit of CovertPervert thrown in.

* ChronicHeroSyndrome: For a man who's supposed to be in hiding David really gets involved in people's business.

* CursedWithAwesome: As much as his condition has made David's life a complete shambles as a fugitive, the only reason he survives his adventures, or recovers from paralysis, is by transforming into the Hulk in times of need.
** BlessedWithSuck: On the other hand, if his condition hadn't wrecked his life, he'd be living quietly as a research scientist, and wouldn't be getting into trouble to begin with. He also has no memory of HulkingOut, leaving him worried about just what he did and who he might have hurt (or killed).

* EyeAwaken/ EyeColorChange: As in the Hulk is waking up. Whenever David crossed the threshold for the Hulk to manifest, he would close or cover his eyes for a moment, and when they were shown again, the irises would have changed from brown to pale, bright green as the transformation sound/music started. This particular Eye Take became so iconic that the 2008 theatrical movie used it as well.

* {{Flanderization}}: [=McGee=] in ''The Incredible Hulk Returns'' where he's stripped of all his CharacterDevelopment and reduced to a comedic buffoon. Even his {{leitmotif}} is played on a tuba.

* FriendToAllChildren: David, even as the Hulk, although kids are generally told to stay away from the latter.
* GentleGiant: The show strictly follows the "just wants to be left alone and will only attack if provoked" characterization of the Hulk, [[AdaptationalHeroism toning down his disdain for "Puny Humans"]] (aside from his disdain for "puny Banner"), and almost always gives him a PetTheDog moment before he turns back.

* HealingFactor: While not as dramatic as in the original comics, the Hulk can recover from nearly any injury and with incredible speed. Also unlike the original comics, most of the healing seems to take place during the transformation itself. However, one transformation is not always enough for more serious injuries.
** In "The Harder They Fall," where Banner was paralyzed and later transforms, the Hulk initially flops around and pounds his numb legs, but after a few seconds he's capable of at least standing and hobbling along. When he changes back, David is able to trade his wheelchair for leg braces and crutches. Later, a second transformation fully restores his ability to walk.
** Another example is the first-season episode "Life and Death," where David is given a lethal injection of poison. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMmsANtYDLU The first transformation]] only partially gets rid of the poison, leaving both the Hulk and David groggy and dizzy, until [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K55hEP9VXt0 the second transformation]] purges the rest.
** Another example: in "Two Godmothers," David's right hand is completely crushed by a boulder, triggering his first transformation, and his hand is still broken after he transforms and reverts. It's not until the second transformation that it's fully healed.
* HeroAntagonist: Jack [=McGee=] genuinely does think the Hulk is a threat to society but, despite that, won't let others kill him, for the sake of the Hulk's alter-ego. He could be considered a HeroOfAnotherStory if his presence didn't constantly make David's situation worse. Some of that is David's fault: Jack becomes a far more sympathetic character as the series goes on, and is more than willing to help the man who becomes the Hulk find a cure, but David doesn't know this and only sees him as a threat rather than a potential ally.
** In at least two episodes ("Hulk Breaks Las Vegas" and "Prometheus"), Jack ''almost'' succeeded in having a calm conversation with Hulk/David, but, in both occasions, [[InterruptedCooldownHug other people ruined these attempts]].
* HeroicBSOD:
** David goes into one in "The Psychic" when [[spoiler:he sees that a teenager the Hulk had attacked died in the hospital. David, who had always clung to the belief that the Hulk would not kill anyone, is driven to the brink of suicide until he finds out the Hulk didn't do it.]]
** In ''The Trial of the Incredible Hulk'', Daredevil suffers this after he falls into Fisk's trap and is overwhelmed until the Hulk saves him. Aside from the rigorous beating, the villains used intense sound to disorient him, so he thinks that means they know he's blind. David tries to shake him out of it by pointing out Fisk employed assorted disorienting techniques all at once, including bright lights.
* HiddenInPlainSight: The main reason David avoided Jack as long as he did was because when not hulked-out he's such a GenericGuy nobody could ever give a good description of him. Lampshaded by Jack in "Proof Positive."

* HulkSpeak: Mostly averted in this version, where the Hulk only growls and roars. The Demi-Hulk that David is stuck as in "Prometheus" is the closest the series comes, but even then he still uses full sentences and proper pronouns, he just uses shorter and simpler words (like calling a meteor "a rock from the sky").

* InformedAttribute: Hulk is repeatedly described as being a monster over seven feet tall. While Creator/LouFerrigno is pretty tall at 6'4", it's obvious he isn't over seven feet with how he is always standing next to people.
%%* InspectorJavert: Jack [=McGee=]
* InterruptedCooldownHug: In his more sympathetic moments, Jack [=McGee=] actually tried to calmly talk to Hulk at least twice, but both attempts are ruined by other people, who tried a more violent approach to the protagonist:
** In the episode “Hulk Breaks Las Vegas,” although not quite understanding Jack’s words, Hulk was calm enough in his presence to start reverting to Banner. The episode’s BigBad, however, was hidden nearby and shot Hulk’s shoulder, interrupting the transformation (which was in the very beginning) and making him flee.
** In “Prometheus,” David was locked in mid-transformation. This time, he was able to understand [=McGee=]’s words and was almost trusting him. But then, the guys near Jack decided to take a more violent approach, shooting David with tranquilizers and harassing a female friend near him. This completed his transformation into Hulk, then he saved the woman and fought the guys, fleeing with her afterwards.
* IntrepidReporter:
** Jack [=McGee=] is a complicated example. [=McGee=] may be chasing a tabloid-like tale of a giant green monster (and gets mocked for it by his colleagues), but he's keen on reporting the truth. On occasion he reports on other breaking news and scandals that deserve coverage. Furthermore, when a hunter offers to kill the Hulk, [=McGee=] is the most adamant against that for the sake of the human containing the creature. He starts out as an InspectorJavert, but by the end of the series, he's a much more sympathetic HeroAntagonist.
** Other episodes show his fellow journalists in less-than-flattering lights.
** Emerson Fletcher in "Interview with the Hulk" is another complex example. [[spoiler:He was a respected science reporter until his daughter's tragic death, at which point his career fell apart. He steals a tip from [=McGee=] about the Hulk in the hope that landing the story will help him regain his professional standing, and uses deception to get close to David and get him to tell his story. But after listening to David for a while, he starts to remember the integrity and decency he used to have, and by the time [=McGee=] catches up he has decided to help David escape.]]

* TheLostLenore: Banner's wife Laura, who was the whole reason he went into studying how humans become stronger in times of danger (and, more importantly, why he didn't when he needed to save her), which ultimately led to his "curse." He still has nightmares about her death, even years later (which always triggers a transformation).

* MightAsWellNotBeInPrisonAtAll: Jack McGee plays with this during an episode wherein he infiltrates a secret government base that has captured the Hulk and is examining him, thinking he's an extraterrestrial life form. When caught, the people running the installation are desperate to keep the place a secret and threaten to have him imprisoned for trespassing. Jack tells them to go right ahead and send him to prison, saying a lot of good books have been written in prison. They get the point and back off, since they can't shut him up by sending him to prison, where he'll do exactly what they are trying to prevent.
* MistakenForMurderer: The Hulk is suspected in Elaina Marks' death, even though he was just trying to save her from the fire that did kill her.
** MistakenForOwnMurderer: The Hulk is also suspected in David Banner's death because almost no one knows his secret.
* MisunderstoodLonerWithAHeartOfGold: The Hulk himself. He's very animalistic and most people are terrified of him, but he's still David Banner under it all.

* ObfuscatingStupidity: Sometimes David felt it best to hide his education. Not everyone was fooled.

* ThemedAliases: David Banner always used a last name that started with a B. David Banner to David Bradley, etc. The only time he didn't use that was when he ran in to his IdenticalStranger, a mobster named Mike Cassidy, and he tried to use that to get out of a scrape. Banner uses the Mike Cassidy alias when he comes face-to-face with his personal InspectorJavert, Jack [=McGee=], who up until the moment he sees him thinks Banner is dead. Banner uses one of his usual aliases when running into the mobsters looking for Cassidy, but they don't believe him.
* ThouShaltNotKill: Elaina Marks assures David in the pilot that the Hulk won't kill, "because David Banner wouldn't kill." David isn't entirely convinced, and he constantly frets that the Hulk might eventually cross the line. Of course, if those crooks weren't all MadeOfIron, then surely one of the countless thugs the Hulk launches through walls would have died sooner or later.

* UnstoppableRage: It's what the Hulk ''is''.

* VagueAge: David is supposedly in his early 30s when the series starts (Bill Bixby was 43 at the time of the original movie so it's an extreme case of DawsonCasting). When given descriptions of said "John Doe," he is most often described as about 34. Given that he was already a renowned researcher, he might have been older than that, since for a physician/scientist, being in his early 30s wouldn't make him that far removed from his medical school/residency days. At the time of the first TV movie, seven years had passed for him as in realtime. Add to the number of years that the series lasted, that would make him about eleven years older, so mid forties by 1988. Don Blake is said to be a contemporary of David, having been in the same class but he clearly looks like he would have still been in undergraduate college when David was already established in his career.
* WalkingTheEarth: Looking for a cure.

* WouldntHurtAChild: In many instances whenever he Hulks out, he never hurts a child. However, he does hurt one child's father for attacking him. The mother, on the other hand, he just either stares at or runs away. Most times, children aren't even scared of him. The young girl in the Pilot episode who the Hulk tries to save from drowning is a rare exception.

* WronglyAccused: The creature is wanted for ''two'' murders he didn't commit: Elaina Marks and David Banner.