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The Incredible Hulk Returns / The Trial of the Incredible Hulk
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These backdoor pilot TV movies(designed to launch a solo Thor and Daredevil series)may have failed to excite audiences of the time, but the fun and adventure are preserved on DVD.
I remember anxiously awaiting the broadcast of both of these movies when they originally aired and I feel the same way about them now, that I did then. Even as a kid I knew that Thor was missing his cape and that Daredevil dressed in red, not black, but the excitement and creativity of the interpretation kept me glued to the set.
As always, Bill Bixby's David Banner is a tortured soul, who still manages to help those in need but the new heroes are almost as enjoyable. I especially enjoyed the relationship between Thor and Don Blake in The Incedible Hulk Returns and I think it could have made for at least a fun single season of fish our of water/buddy cop type stories. Also, Rex Smith as Daredevil and his Police Seargant accomplice would have made for a good crime fighting duo for a year or two, as long as they increased the budget to make a decent costume.
I actually enjoyed these TV Movies more than the series itself, which always seemed repetitive and predictable, and I'm glad to own it. For this price, you should be, too!
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The Incredible Hulk Returns is a great TV movie! This Incredible Hulk TV movie was released in 1988. The TV movie aired on NBC back in the late 1980s. You still have the original cast from the TV series, Bill Bixby, Lou Ferrigno, and Jack Colvin. This particular movie David Banner had not transformed into the Hulk in two years and he meets up with an old friend Donald BLake, his character has spiritual connection with Thor. Hulk and Thor actually meet in ths TV movie which makes it worth waiting for! The other Incredible Hulk Movie is the Trial of the Incredible Hulk (1989)! This is second Incredible Hulk TV movie that aired on NBC in 1989. after David Banner meets Lawyer Matt Murdock played by Rex Smith. Matt Murdok is actually DareDevil, the blind Superhero from the Marvel comics universe. This is interpredation of DaveDevil pretty good. Rex Smith does a better job playing the Matt Murdock/DareDevil then Ben Affeck did in DareDevil 2003 movie!! Some how David Banner is accused of a crime he did not commit and DareDevil thinks the Wilson Fisk, aka KingsPin is responsible. Both Incredibl Hulk TV movies are great as well as the special features. There is an Interviews with Stan Lee and Lou Ferrigno. There also a slide show presentation from the TV movies courtsey of Lou Ferrigno! A+ 4 stars
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The whole Hulk, Thor, Daredevil thing is kind of crazy, but what was so good about The Incredible Hulk series, in my view, was that they took the incredible and made it somehow believable. Not saying that it wasn't unbelievable, but it seemed so down to earth that it had an air of believability about it. What it all boils down to is that it's a great show with great actors who did a splendid job.
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I'm an Incredible Hulk fan, so I do love these movies. What more can be said? Incredible Hulk rocks.
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During the 70s, the Incredible Hulk was my favorite non-space sci-fi series. Like Doctor Kimble of the 60s Fugitive series, Doctor David Banner was forced by circumstances beyond his control to wander like a fugitive from state to state and city to city, seeking low-profile work and a way to undo the serious condition that an extremely high dose of gamma radiation has left him with. While Kimble sought the one-armed man who killed his wife, Banner, on the other hand, must discover a way to reverse his condition. The condition is a physical transformation which he experiences whenever his anger turns into an uncontrollable rage; the huge green beast which Jack McGee, the reporter that hounds him, has labeled the Hulk.
Of the two movies included in this package, The Trial of the Incredible Hulk is the better one. The Incredible Hulk Returns was okay, but somehow, pairing him up with the Mighty Thor, another comic book hero, while obviously a bit of fun, didn't quite make the kind of impression that the original series did. It was interesting to revisit Banner's situation almost a decade later, after the series ended, but having Thor enter the scene at the lab and suddenly begin breaking things didn't go over so well. It was too much like, oh, here we go again, so close but yet so far, poor Banner gets set back again...
Apparently, Doctor Banner had worked for years with a very highly advanced scientific company experimenting with a new source of alternative energy, and suddenly, Blake appears with Thor and begins to smash it all to pieces. Hasn't Banner suffered enough already? This kind of treatment, while obviously part of the story-line, was simply very difficult to sit through. After that, it was just another overdone story about an insider in the company selling industrial trade secrets and getting in too deep over his head with the wrong kind of criminals. An attempt at theft at the company is thwarted by the Hulk, then his girlfriend is kidnapped, and Thor and the Hulk rescue her, etc...
But The Trial of the Incredible Hulk was much more than all that. In this movie, we see the Doctor Banner that we learned to sympathize for and love for his amazing ability to tolerate what so many of us know too well; the down-side of human society, where hard knocks and poverty combine to make a very cruel reality. Right from the start, Banner is seen working in an irrigation ditch, on a large farm, with a gang of roughians, in the cold of the late autumn or winter, and a bully pushes him into a small pool of cold water and laughs, then urges Banner to start a fight with him. Banner is tempted, but declines, and leaves, obviously sick of being bullied by the brute.
From there, he collects his last pay and heads for the nearest city. In the city, while Banner checks into a seedy, low-rent hotel and goes out to look for work, we're introduced to a blind lawyer, entering his office, who basks in the sunlight of the window while he updates the situation with his secretary and partner. From them, we learn about an extremely powerful crime-lord that has been corrupting the city-government, whom they are determined to take down. Later, we see the blind lawyer change into the Dare-Devil, a local super-hero, destined to meet the Hulk.
In the next scene, we see some of the crime-lord's team in action, as they rob a large cache of diamonds from a jewelry store in broad daylight. After the heist, 2 of the main thugs escape the scene on a subway and one begins to make a move on an innocent female passenger. Unfortunately, Banner is sitting quite close to the woman and she asks for his help. The thug is obviously a very egocentric fool that thinks he can take whatever he wants in the city, including any attractive female he sees on a subway. A few other passengers are scared away, but Banner caves in to the pleas of the woman and confronts the man. Seconds later, both of the men are on Banner and he gets tossed behind some seats. Enter the Incredible Hulk, and the story begins.
What happens is the incident results in the accidental death of an innocent bystander when one of the thugs tries to shoot him and when the cops enter the scene, the Hulk runs off into the dark subway tunnel and gets lost in some dark corner. When the cops find him, they arrest him for the killing of the innocent bystander, and the thugs get to the girl in the hospital and threaten her family, so that she is forced to place the blame on Banner. While Banner is being held, the blind lawyer talks to him and agrees to defend his case, because he knows that the crime-lord's thugs are the real problem and Banner has given them a lead on them.
Well, I'm not going to tell the whole story, but the point is, it is much more interesting than The Return and the plot isn't so thin. It has some fascinating characters and a much thicker plot with deeper implications. City government corruption makes for a very realistic theme and the Dare-Devil, as a super-hero, is much more believable than the mighty Thor.
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