SUMMARY: RUNNING TIME: 1 Hour, 40 Min.
After a nearly six-year hiatus following CBS-TV’s cancellation of the original TV series, NBC-TV broadcast the first Incredible Hulk reunion film on May 2, 1988. Bill Bixby produced and (unofficially) co-directed the movie with its screenwriter/credited director, Nicholas Corea, in the first-ever, live-action team-up of Marvel Comics super-heroes.
Notes: The movie’s co-producers: New World Television (Marvel Comics’ then-owner) and Bixby’s production company excluded series creator Kenneth Johnson from participation. Unlike the two subsequent reunion films, Returns was more scenically filmed in Southern California with a larger budget – i.e. filming Maggie Shaw’s ‘home’ on Malibu’s shoreline; recycling archival footage from the original 1977 TV pilot; and re-editing the TV show’s opening credits segment for this film.
It has been two years since David Banner’s (Bill Bixby) last explosive Hulk-out. Now re-established in Los Angeles, as the enigmatic ‘Dr. David Bannion,’ Banner is romantically involved with his colleague, bio-geneticist Dr. Maggie Shaw (Lee Purcell).
More so, Banner is the project leader for the Lambert Institute’s new ‘Gamma Transponder,’ which is hyped for its massive potential recycling radioactive waste energy. While Banner’s ulterior motive is to use the Transponder to finally cure himself, an Lambert Institute insider sells the Transponder’s experimental technology on the black market.
Banner’s efforts are further complicated by the arrival of former student and now-physician, Dr. Donald Blake (Steve Levitt), with his own unwanted, Marvel-friendly partner: the battle-happy Thor (Eric Allan Kramer). Due to the Hulk and Thor’s repetitive interference, two ruthless Cajun mercenaries and their gang become increasingly desperate to obtain the Transponder’s secrets.
Perhaps even worse yet for Banner is the threat of his old nemesis: tabloid journalist Jack McGee, who smells a connection between this elusive ‘Dr. Bannion’ and the resurfaced Hulk.
Dr. David Banner / Dr. David Bannion: Bill Bixby
The Hulk: Lou Ferrigno
Dr. Margaret “Maggie” Shaw: Lee Purcell
Dr. Donald “Don” Blake: Steve Levitt
Thor: Eric Allan Kramer
Joshua “Josh” Lambert: John Gabriel
Zack Lambert: Jay Baker
Mike Fouche: Charles Napier
Jack LeBeau: Tim Thomerson
Biker Bar Girl: Peisha Arten (aka Peisha McPhee)
Roy (Security Guard): Uncredited
Jogging Beach Girl: Uncredited
Mark (McGee’s Editor – voice only): Uncredited
LeBeau’s Henchman: Nick Costa; Carl Ciarfalio; Bobby McLaughlin; Burke Denis; & Donald Willis
TV Series Credits Narrator: Ted Cassidy (uncredited archival voice)
More Notes: As a double-feature, this title, along with its 1989 sequel, “The Trial of the Incredible Hulk,” has been released to DVD. Among various logic and visual gaffes one might spot, there’s even a verbal contradiction of the original TV series. Blake’s dialogue remembers a then-bearded, academic Banner as “his favorite scientist” and a “resident Merlin” at Harvard a decade before. That claim doesn’t jive with the show’s first-season time frame (1978) where a ‘dead’ Banner was already the Hulk and on the run as a fugitive.
REVIEW:
In spite of its adherence to the TV series opening credits and Lance Rubin’s mimicking of Joseph Harnell’s familiar theme music, The Incredible Hulk Returns makes no pretense to Kenneth Johnson’s insistence upon character depth. Along with its rudimentary dialogue, this film’s easy-to-digest, action-adventure plot is built for undemanding all-ages entertainment, i.e. Thor’s guest presence in a backdoor pilot for his own possible TV series.
It’s then no surprise that Bill Bixby’s normally Emmy-caliber acting seems utterly phoned in this time. Though Bixby isn’t at his best, he still re-establishes the reliable TV magic shared with Lou Ferrigno & Jack Colvin. Consider that a welcome solace, as compared to what little characterization their supporting cast is given to work with.
In particular, the cardboard TV baddies played by familiar suspects Tim Thomerson and Charles Napier too often resort to simplistic clichés and catchphrases explaining their rationale as black market cutthroats. Fortunately, Lee Purcell and Steve Levitt, given their own circumstances, still conjure up likable efforts, along with Eric Allan Kramer’s not-so-mighty/bright yet amusingly goofy Thor.
Overcoming its ultra-cheesy special effects and a deliberately hokey plot, The Incredible Hulk Returns easily surpasses its two successors, in terms of both Hollywood production values and pure entertainment value. Suffice to say, with some help from the first live-action ‘Thor,’ Bixby & Ferrigno’s welcome reunion offers all a Late 80’s TV movie budget reasonably can, with nostalgic charm to spare.
BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING: 6 Stars
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