History Series / TheIncredibleHulk1977

%%* {{Area 51}}: "Prometheus."

* AntiVillain: Jack [=McGee=] only after The Hulk because he believes Hulk is responsible for the deaths of David and Elaina Marks. In "The Mystery Man" however, when he finds out where The Hulk actually comes from, he wants to help the man who becomes the Hulk, unaware that he was talking to David.

Oddly, despite the many radical changes made to the concept -- ranging from the character's first name[[note]]Depending upon who you talk to, either the producers didn't want an "alliterative comic-booky name", or they thought the first name "Bruce" sounded stereotypically gay. Though it's also quite likely that there was another famous [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Bruce used as a civilian identity]].[[/note]] all the way up to his enemies and locale -- it managed to embrace and faithfully support the core idea of the original comic book. It remains one of three superhero adaptations from the 1970s that is remembered fondly to this date, the others being ''Series/{{Wonder Woman|1975}}'' and ''Film/{{Superman|TheMovie}}''. Hulk fans keep it close to the heart and future projects with the character from comics, games, and film frequently make reference to it as MythologyGags.

%%* SuperHero

-->'''David:''' How about Davidia?\\
'''Woman:''' Nah.

** Julie shows she's [[HiddenDepths tougher than she thinks]] when the Michael, the old hermit helping them out, is bitten by a rattlesnake. She asks the Hulk to help, then quickly realizes the Hulk doesn't have most of David's memories. She then all but ''shoves'' the Hulk aside and tends to Michael's wound herself.

** Julie in "Death in the Family;" for two-thirds of this two-hour episode, she's about as much use to David as a bag full of sand. Mainly because she's been thoroughly convinced through psychological torment that she's paraplegic and can't fend for herself because of it.

** Coincidence or not, two episodes ("Another Path" and "The Disciple") feature Asian characters and martial arts. As mentioned in HandicappedBadass above, Li Sung, who appears in these episodes, is an old and blind awesome martial artist, like Master Po from ''Kung Fu''.

* StrawberryShorthand: In season 2 opener, "[[Recap/TheIncredibleHulk1977S2E1Married Married]]," newlywed David feeds his bride, Carolyn, these as they sit in a gazebo right after their wedding. She tells him she'll eat all the strawberries he wants to give her and they share a passionate kiss.

* SureLetsGoWithThat: David's usual response when someone suggests the Hulk ran away. In one episode he saved a woman who was hallucinating her dead twin from drowning, when it was over she told him he wouldn't believe how her psychoses made him look.

-->'''Doctor''': I've found that, contrary to the saying you ''can'' judge a book by its cover.
-->'''David''': [[SarcasmMode That's amazing]] doctor. You can stand all the way over here, on the other side of the room, and just from a glance, you can tell that that man doesn't have a broken arm.

* {{Area 51}}: "Prometheus."

** The title character of the episode "My Favorite Magician" is played by Ray Walston, Bixby's co-star in ''Series/MyFavoriteMartian''.

* MirrorReveal: In the original pilot movie, after his first transformation into the Hulk and back again, Dr. David Banner sees his reflection in the edge of a stream and notices something different about himself for a brief moment. Later recounting the event to a trusted friend, he says, "My eyes were white." Little did he know...

* TwinSwitch: See DeadPersonImpersonation above.

As stated in the opening narration above, David Banner is a widowed scientist who was studying humanity's ability to unleash hidden super-strength when under duress along with finding the source of said ability. Trying to make himself stronger through gamma radiation, he ends up accidentally giving himself an overdose. Now, whenever Dr. Banner gets angry or faces great emotional pressure, he transforms into a giant, green-skinned man-monster capable of great strength and driven by rage. With his alter-ego blamed for a double murder (David is believed to be one of his victims) and chased down by a tabloid journalist, David is forced to let the public believe he is dead as he travels the country searching for a cure for his condition. Unfortunately for him, he often finds himself involved in situations that require him to unleash the beast that lives inside him.

** Taken further in "Dark Side," where David develops an [=ID=]-driven split personality, which in many ways hews closer to the original novel. (David and "evil David" share a consciousness, like the original Jekyll and Hyde, in contrast to David having no memory of the Hulk's actions.)

** Played straight in the episode "Dark Side," where an attempt at a cure instead unleashes David's [=ID=] in the form of a second personality, only concerned with his own immediate needs and perfectly willing to use the Hulk to achieve them. David swaps back and forth between the two personalities during the course of the episode. The Hulk likewise becomes more aggressive and nearly kills several people before snapping back to normal.

** David does say it again in the episode "Dark Side," but it's delivered in a taunting fashion to a group of people who lash out at him at a nightclub (after he starts the fight by trying to sucker-punch one of them), due to David accidentally altering his own personality and unleashing his [=ID=], and now he ''wants'' to become the Hulk.

* DecompositeCharacter: In the MadeForTVMovie ''The Incredible Hulk Returns'' ComicBook/TheMightyThor appears; but instead of Don Blake [[SharingABody turning into Thor]], Blake and Thor are separate characters. Blake calls upon Odin while holding Thor's warhammer and Thor magically appears. Presumably in the spinoff series that never happened, [[WunzaPlot one's a doctor, one's a Norse warrior]]. Together, TheyFightCrime.

* ProppingUpTheirPatsy: In the episode "Of Guilt, Models and Murder", the Hulk is suspect of murdering a woman. As David Banner doesn't retain the memories of when he's the Hulk, he fears the suspicions can be true. However, a victim's friend, Sheila Cantrell, tells David that the victim was dead when the Hulk arrived and the creature was saddened for arriving too late to save her. It turns out that Cantrell was the murderer.

** ''The Trial of the Incredible Hulk'' features similar examples. While the Kingpin had been appearing on the screen since ''WesternAnimation/SpiderMan1967'', this was his first portrayal in live action and differs from what came after by never being referred to as "the Kingpin", only by "Wilson Fisk", having facial hair as well as averting BaldOfEvil, by actually having hair. Likewise, this was the first portrayal of Daredevil, as ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManAndHisAmazingfriends'' had only portrayed him as Matt Murdock, and rather than the red suit everyone is familiar with , he wears a black ninja-like outfit and was inspired by a police man to be a hero, rather than seeking to avenge his father's death.

* ILoveNuclearPower: The Hulk was originally created by exposure to too much gamma radiation, and further exposure can affect the transformation, as seen in "Prometheus."

Oddly, despite the many radical changes made to the concept -- ranging from the character's first name[[note]]Depending upon who you talk to, either the producers didn't want an "alliterative comic-booky name", or they thought the first name "Bruce" sounded stereotypically gay. Though it's also quite likely that there was another famous [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Bruce used as a civilian identity]].[[/note]] all the way up to his enemies and locale -- it managed to embrace and faithfully support the core idea of the original comic book. It remains one of three superhero adaptations from the 1970s that is remembered fondly to this date, the others being ''Series/{{Wonder Woman|1975}}'' and ''Film/{{Superman|TheMovie}}''.