Sat down and rewatched the original TV movie. Thought it was pretty good. They open with establishing a happy time in David Banner's life, which ends in tragedy, followed by an obsession.
Unless you count Jack McGee as an antagonist, there is no villain of the week. Which probably was a good idea. They avoid the common "the same day/night as David gets his powers, a villain just happens to come to town" scenario. Instead they're allowed to focus on fleshing out the character.
Liked that they set up some science and established David having a genetic anomaly, that would grant him superhuman strength, if he's subjected to high levels of gamma radiation. It gives some logic to the character. As they also presented several others with the same genetic anomaly, it also opens the possibility that there could be others with superpowers out there (though, I think that the actual series only explored that matter twice). David is not set up as a unique being on Earth. While also making his mutation the result of an unusually high dosage of gamma radiation. Thus explaining why everyone with this genetic anomaly doesn't become a Hulk, every time that there are high levels of gamma rays around them.
Looking at the TV movie, on its own (ignoring the rest of the series), the genetic anomly showed a lot of potential. With David, we see what can happen if someone with it is subjected to almost 2 million units of gamma radiation. What would happen if someone was subjected to just half that? What would happen if the gamma radiation worked in conjunction with another element. Just to throw something out there, lets say if a college student (with this genetic anomaly) got bitten by a radioactive spider (crazy, I know). How might that affect him? This aired on CBS, which also aired the live-action The Amazing Spider-Man (1977-1979) television movie and series. Today, these two shows would've been set in the same universe, and there'd be crossovers.
The TV movie changed the character's origin from being the result of a gamma bomb, to a lab accident. This I can get behind. It makes it simpler. Nuclear weapons testing could date it. Would also tie his origin into more of a unique incident. Meaning that the only possibility of there being others out there, would've been if they had been in this one specific area, at one specific time.
The TV movie also changed the name "Bruce Banner" to "David Banner". There are two versions to why. Kenneth Johnson claims that he did it, because he disliked alliterative names often found in comic books (he also wanted to change the Hulk from green to red. Meaning that we would've gotten Red Hulk like 30 years ahead of schedule). Stan Lee and Lou Ferrigno claimed that it was because CBS felt that "Bruce" sounded gay.
Liked Susan Sullivan as Elaina Marks. Too bad that they had to kill her. When I've rewatched episodes, from time to time, I've often wished that David could've had a regular travel companion, who knew his secret and that he could always confide in. Always speak openly as David Banner. Granted, they wouldn't need Elaina to fill that role (could've had a version of Rick Jones or something). Not to mention, if they had taken her out of her current situation, they might've ended up essentially removing the scientist aspect (and just had her be a love interest).
Will try to rewatch some more episodes, but not all. Just ones that seems quite interesting or had untapped potential. Or just have something worth talking about.
Unless you count Jack McGee as an antagonist, there is no villain of the week. Which probably was a good idea. They avoid the common "the same day/night as David gets his powers, a villain just happens to come to town" scenario. Instead they're allowed to focus on fleshing out the character.
Liked that they set up some science and established David having a genetic anomaly, that would grant him superhuman strength, if he's subjected to high levels of gamma radiation. It gives some logic to the character. As they also presented several others with the same genetic anomaly, it also opens the possibility that there could be others with superpowers out there (though, I think that the actual series only explored that matter twice). David is not set up as a unique being on Earth. While also making his mutation the result of an unusually high dosage of gamma radiation. Thus explaining why everyone with this genetic anomaly doesn't become a Hulk, every time that there are high levels of gamma rays around them.
Looking at the TV movie, on its own (ignoring the rest of the series), the genetic anomly showed a lot of potential. With David, we see what can happen if someone with it is subjected to almost 2 million units of gamma radiation. What would happen if someone was subjected to just half that? What would happen if the gamma radiation worked in conjunction with another element. Just to throw something out there, lets say if a college student (with this genetic anomaly) got bitten by a radioactive spider (crazy, I know). How might that affect him? This aired on CBS, which also aired the live-action The Amazing Spider-Man (1977-1979) television movie and series. Today, these two shows would've been set in the same universe, and there'd be crossovers.
The TV movie changed the character's origin from being the result of a gamma bomb, to a lab accident. This I can get behind. It makes it simpler. Nuclear weapons testing could date it. Would also tie his origin into more of a unique incident. Meaning that the only possibility of there being others out there, would've been if they had been in this one specific area, at one specific time.
The TV movie also changed the name "Bruce Banner" to "David Banner". There are two versions to why. Kenneth Johnson claims that he did it, because he disliked alliterative names often found in comic books (he also wanted to change the Hulk from green to red. Meaning that we would've gotten Red Hulk like 30 years ahead of schedule). Stan Lee and Lou Ferrigno claimed that it was because CBS felt that "Bruce" sounded gay.
Liked Susan Sullivan as Elaina Marks. Too bad that they had to kill her. When I've rewatched episodes, from time to time, I've often wished that David could've had a regular travel companion, who knew his secret and that he could always confide in. Always speak openly as David Banner. Granted, they wouldn't need Elaina to fill that role (could've had a version of Rick Jones or something). Not to mention, if they had taken her out of her current situation, they might've ended up essentially removing the scientist aspect (and just had her be a love interest).
Will try to rewatch some more episodes, but not all. Just ones that seems quite interesting or had untapped potential. Or just have something worth talking about.
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