Incredible Hulk Complete Series Blu-ray Review

[@CerealAtMidnight]

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[@Longlostpuss]

Good review. Can you just confirm if all the teasers are present before each episode, because I noticed on one or two episodes they were actually missing in the DVD box set? It was the same for other Universal TV box sets I got back in the day and I thought that was a bit odd.

[@HakeCollector]

Does it have subtitle?

[@willrodgers136]

The Incredible Hulk is my number one all time favorite TV series for life. While I have other favorite shows, none will ever top the Hulk as my number one. Bill Bixby was my childhood idol and hero, who sadly, I never got to meet. But I have had the honor of meeting Lou Ferrigno quite a few times over the years. I loved watching the Hulk on Friday nights as a kid, and that must have stayed with me, because even today, while I have the complete series on DVD, plus the reunion movies, and even though I can watch them anytime I want, I still like to save them and watch my Incredible Hulk TV series DVDs on Friday nights. I even remember my first episode. It was late in the short first season in the spring of 1978. It was the episode Never Give a Trucker An Even Break. It guest starred Jennifer Darling from the Bionic Shows and it was a controversial episode because it used stock footage from the 1971 thriller movie, Duel. And even though it pissed off Steven Spielberg, that episode made me a fan of the Duel movie itself. My first Hulkout was in the phone booth and David Banner yelled "I DON'T HAVE TWENTY FIVE CENTS!". I am a lifelong Hulkaholic. 👍👍😃😃

[@adamkane7513]

Do you think *Bill Bixby* would have charged you $20 if you had met him..?

[@keith5220]

The audio commentaries by Kenny Johnson are fantastic. He really comes fully prepared and gives you a ton of behind the scenes stories and production info. A great listen all around!

[@HucksPopCultureCafe]

That 2 hour pilot is incredible…no pun intended 😉 Love this show. weird question, Heath. Do you work for Kino Lorber? You seem to get everything they release haha!

[@ricardolozano5356]

did you like the picture quality?

[@SamLovesMovies25]

My Dad always talks about how, back when he was in college, he loved watching this show with his friends and he recently talked about how he would love to watch it again. I'm gonna get him this set for Christmas!

[@LeeTheVet]

Agreed, Universal looks good even on DVD when played back through the 4K player.

[@mathewguglielmi8451]

Kenneth Johnson, the Executive Producer and creator of the tv series has said his inspiration for the show was Les Miserables, with Dr. Banner being pursued by newspaper reporter Jack MacGee , being the show's counterparts to Jean Valjean and Inspector Javert. The man on the run being hounded by officialdom type of story is a theme that recurs in popular culture such as the immensely popular 1960's tv show, The Fugitive and The Invaders.

[@CerealAtMidnight]

Those themes of good men on the run tied in perfectly with what was happening in society during the sixties and seventies, too.

[@philipberrian6606]

@@CerealAtMidnight How is the picture quality and do they show the original teasers meaning the original promo episodes and is the picture quality remastered they should have used the wetgate scan to remove the dirt I would love to see the series one day getting the 4k restoration what do you think about that?

[@justinturley7071]

This TV Series was a really great show. Kenneth Johnson wanted to create a different version of the Hulk, as he really didn't like the comic book version, and he wanted to create a more serious version of Banner and the Hulk, he told Stan Lee, that the Hulk shouldn't talk in my show, and Stan agreed, because he also thought it would look and sound silly with the seriousness tone of the show. I think that he did it good, and I like it better than the movies later on in the 2000s.

[@Krypton_Ken]

Sweet! Really appreciate you doing the review on this, going to pick it up asap, definitely will use your link. Haven't watched the series in a while but caught the first pilot movie about a decade ago and was amazed at how well it held up, just a great all around movie.

[@thepagemaster2963]

I remember watching Lou furigno get interviewed by mr.Rogers

[@Chopperwocky]

Iv always been disappointed that the show was cancelled so suddenly that it never got a proper ending with McGee finding out that Banner was alive and Banner being cured.

[@darrenblizzard3851]

I grew up on this show as well and am stoked to see this come out. I have the DVDs and was eyeing off that nice French Blu ray set with the book but it was expensive and of course the book is in French so I never pulled the trigger. But I don't need to worry about it now as I can get this to add to my Night Stalker, Night Gallery and I Dream of Jeannie nostalgia fests! Who says physical media is dead!

[@landrya9938]

My guess about the Edward Norton exclusion is that the movie is obviously not being promoted anymore even though it was made by Universal. Those DVD’s were probably coming out around the time that the 2008 movie came out.

[@bobw1811]

The 2008 movie was distributed by Universal, but it was made by Marvel Studios. Marvel (now Disney) has had the production rights for the Hulk since 2006 or 2007 I believe. Those rights reverted back to Marvel after Universal didn't move forward with a sequel to the 2003 movie. Universal has the "right to the first refusal" of distribution, what this means is that if Disney decides to make another Hulk movie, they have to offer Universal the chance to distribute it. If Universal refuses, then Disney can simply distribute it themselves as they do all their other MCU movies, they just need to offer distribution to Universal first. There's this myth among MCU fans that Universal is somehow stopping another Hulk movie from being made (because that's how Feige and other Disney reps have talked about it publicly), but that's simply not true.

[@landrya9938]

@@bobw1811 I honestly had no idea about some of that. Thanks for the background info!

[@keithdancer1668]

The only thing that is missing is Bill Bixby's Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, which is still a mystery to this day.

[@zombiefulci3301]

Bill Bixby was not loved or appreciated by Hollywood, he was despised for being a difficult actor but he was a perfectionist that took his craft seriously. I loved him. Michael Landon hated Bill and used his influence to keep him down and that was prob the reason Bill doesn't have a star. I think Landon was a jerk

[@MrPoestyle]

If you want a star , I have heard that you have to pay for it . Just what I have heard .

[@NitroNEXT]

Didn't even know this was on Blu ray. Despite being a 90s kid I grew up with this through reruns and it's very nostalgic. I've never met anyone else who enjoyed it though, sadly.

[@bigneon_glitter]

Missed opportunity that it doesn't come in a ripped denim slipcase.

[@johnh2566]

Love the Incredible Hulk.................

[@Terry.W]

Yes I always felt sorry for him at the end of a story..

[@Bond-ik1vn]

In Australia i did not have a colour TV in 1978 I watched this weekly on a Astor 25 inch TV black and white it looked great on a big TV 25 inch was big in 1978

[@Murdersville]

The TV show has more then a passing resemblance to The Fugitive.

[@ben8447]

Magnum PI is the one I want on Blu ray out of all my childhood favorites but they are so darn expensive. Maybe rightfully so but I really think the only people who can afford to drop £80 (that's British pounds) on a series is probably someone single with lots of expendable income. I'm married with two kids and if I told my wife I'd paid £80 for a picture upgrade on a show I already have on DVD she would hit the roof. So nice picture quality or not, I choose to pay the mortgage this month!

[@adamkane7513]

How attractive is your wife? Could she make £80 on 0nlyFans..?

[@bionicman71]

it would be great to have a blu ray release of the reunion movies

[@MichaelMcCormackMusic]

My all time favorite TV show! PS: For future reference, Heath will be filing his Hulk series in section H of his collection, located under the Apple tree in his front yard. 😂

[@LeeTheVet]

Another TV iconic show is Wonder Woman on Blu-ray. That is a great improvement over the DVD releases.

[@alancheatley4378]

I Prefer this version of the Hulk to the movies, I want this boxset!!

[@adamkane7513]

*Lou Ferrigno* at his biggest is more impressive than CGI Bollox!

[@KungFuHotdog]

Wow, fantastic review! I want to buy this series as well as the TV movies. Prefer this over the MCU Hulk. Hoping to buy The Magician as well, love Bill and Lou.

[@bobw1811]

I'm in the middle of watching my complete series DVD boxset of this right now, and honestly, it looks great. I'm watching them on a blu-ray player that has 4K upscale, and a 4K TV (which I believe also upscales DVDs to 1080p, but I might be wrong about that). So maybe that's why. But since Universal didn't actually go back and do a new scan of these and just put them on blu-ray discs, I'm really on the fence as to whether or not this would be worth the purchase for me.

[@lincc8452]

I remember my dad tivoing episodes of this when I was a little kid and I went crazy for this. Definitely gonna pick this up now.

[@Vicki_Benji]

I already have two copies of the series and all the movies, DVD, and digital on my MacBook. I'm ok w/o Blu-ray, but thanks for the review!

[@kirok2011]

I have this set on blu ray as well , one thing I hadn't noticed until your review its says 2 feature movies , But in fact there is and it is included , 3 films last being Married aka (bride of the incredible hulk) second season opener. I love my this version , they did a nice job cleaning up the picture. I do wish the blu ray had new extras , I was a little disappointed other then that it was well worth the cost , good review , I too recommend it

[@davidbixby8682]

Good review, I agree with everything you said, and the Blu-ray set has a prominent place on my shelf. As you can gather from my username and avatar, I'm a big fan of this series, and I really looked up to David Banner as a surrogate father figure. Shame it was cancelled prematurely, though I have a head canon story that brought proper closure to the unresolved plot and fate of Banner. The reunion movies were largely disappointing and misguided to be honest.

[@ben8447]

Surprised you think the body building stuff hasn't aged well. Ferrigno was massive and his height was 6ft 5 which I think was a decent height over the average guy.

[@CerealAtMidnight]

Not all of it, just some of it. I don't mean to imply he's not jacked. Also, the directors of the show don't always shoot him from low angles to make him look bigger either. Sometimes the green paint rubs off, sometimes you can clearly see the seams on the makeup...some of the shots do Ferrigno no favors at all, like one where the Hulk walks into the woods like a guy headed to his coffee break. But usually, they did the best they could.

[@CKForensics2020]

It’s funny as a kid I didn’t the missing paint like I do now. That being said. I don’t like the CGI and the comic book movies. What could be done to improve is use a modern bodybuilder combine with an updated paint look combined with no talking hulk

[@beandude99]

Thanks for this amazing review. My order of it should arrive today. I’ll pay extra attention to the Season 1 discs because of your heads up on the stacking.

[@Megatron-xs2qe]

My season 1 blu ray is even more strange because it has 4 trays, even though it has only 3 discs.

[@keith5220]

Thanks for reviewing this. Classic tv series, my favorite version of the character.

[@cinemalord9055]

Got it the first week it was out good pickup 👌

[@joshuachristian5443]

That show is so cheesy but it is still my favorite 70s television series. My favorite spoken line from the series was when a black dude at the car wash sees the Hulk and says, "Now thats what I call a colored man".

[@johnashton4776]

Fantastic 😍 well done 👍🏾.

[@ajzeg01]

The Edward Norton Hulk movie is actually Universal, not Disney.

[@bensmovieworld371]

One of the best shows ever!

[@Jay-lz6uj]

This is the only Incredible Hulk I like I did not like to follow up movies and I don't like the movies in the 2000's.

[@JJUniverseChannel]

Nice video man 😎!

[@marlonk1976]

just ordered mine. thanks

[@Jusnzl]

Loved the series when I was a kid, although was at such a young age I basically only watched for the Hulk segments. Looking forward to re-watching it and appreciating the other aspects, even if it is basically The Fugitive in another form (not a bad thing). Pity they didn't do the cases green like some of the Hulk animated movies, but still a great set to pick up.

[@MediaArchiveMike]

The Ed Norton Incredible Hulk movie was not Disney, it was Universal, Disney did not own the character yet. Disney still has yet to make a solo Hulk movie. Stay tuned, I am sure Disney will make a solo Hulk film eventually, I think they are in the early planning stages of one.

[@vjpearce]

I hate it when DVDs gets stacked, or the type that has their own tray, but still overlap with another disc.

[@joe10117]

dose anyone know if "Married " is broken down parts 1 of 2 or sae 90 minutes please let me know

[@CinemaDaveMedia]

Hi Heath. Great showcase and overview of this set. One of my favorite shows growing up and now on my wishlist. Hope you and your family have a Happy Thanksgiving!

[@CerealAtMidnight]

Thank you Dave! Good to hear from you. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours as well!

[@strumdogg1]

Paused at 0:47 Having the BEAUTIFUL DVD set, and the movies already on DVD... Heath will need to do some convincing to upgrade. Take it away, Heath! 0:48

[@CerealAtMidnight]

If you're happy with the DVDs, that's all that matters. I do tend to prefer the best format for things, but I am by no means a format snob. I'd rather people see it in the first place! On that note, sounds like you're good. Edit: Also, this set cost me MUCH less than the original DVDs cost me back in the day ($30 a season, if memory serves), so if someone doesn't have the show on disc and wants it, this is the way I'd go.

[@giorgiolutri7356]

Currently available on the market are the German edition (the oldest perhaps), the UK edition, the French edition and the American one. Which is the best?

[@Chopperwocky]

How does the picture quality compare to the Fabulous box set which was a little dark

[@thetoythief8940]

I usually replace the case if I pick this up I might grab a new case that's better for the first season

[@spiritualED]

Too be honest going from the DVDs to this blu-Ray set is not a huge upgrade. I’m sorry. I did a comparison. Look to Time-Life’s release of The Six Million Dollar Man complete DVD set (those were remastered apparently) to the newly released Shout blu-ray set, and it IS night and day. The T-L DVD release from 2010 look like VHS transfers. I kid you not. Either way, if one is truly an Incredible Hulk fan they’ll probably want to pick this up. I just wished these looked noticeable better.

[@user-us1us7lk3q]

The Edward Norton movie was a Marvel production but distributed by Universal so kind of a Disney movie but that bonus feature would be promoting something Universal owns

[@CerealAtMidnight]

Maybe it’s just old news now. Honestly, I don’t miss it.

[@crazytexan7532]

Not sure Disney has the Norton film, it's actually not included on Disney+

[@CerealAtMidnight]

I think Universal retains some ownership alongside Disney, but I haven't really looked into it. Maybe they dropped the extra since it's over a decade outdated and doesn't really have much to do with the series itself as much as it's a puff piece for the movie.

[@crazytexan7532]

@@CerealAtMidnight could be, it's like with the Spiderman movies since Sony retains rights so it's possible it's just the streaming rights idk. It is unfortunate that the Norton interview is absent, but probably more so about the other films, I have Trial and Return on DVD along with the trainwreck Reb Brown Captain America films and the Peter Horton Dr Strange. Love your channel by the way.

[@beandude99]

Awesome review. 😎

[@delboy3k1]

The uk dvd set had booklets in them. The bluray I'd not with the episode titles in the sleeves. Shame that

[@movieflicktube]

Just wondering - Does this set have the same number of discs as the Fabulous Films set (reg B)?

[@paulicke3483]

I bought that blu ray boxset a couple of yrs ago 😂

[@CerealAtMidnight]

I think literally every region got this US show on Blu-ray before the US.

[@jerryhollis7039]

Do you own or have you reviewed the Elephant Films release of the Blu Ray of this series?

[@CerealAtMidnight]

No.

[@jakelockley1726]

Great video! You mentioned selling your old dvds to finance the blu rays. I’m thinking of doing the same. Do you sell your old media on eBay/ Craigslist yourself? Or do you just trade them in to a local shop?

[@CerealAtMidnight]

Usually eBay, but sometimes I take them into Second and Charles. They pay so little, though, it's almost like giving them away.

[@kenpope5798]

Do you happen to know if these transfers are the same ones that are on the elephant import set?

[@CerealAtMidnight]

I can't say for sure, but I would think all the Blu-ray version of this show come from the same transfers from Universal, so they should all look very similar.

[@ernestog20]

Love the show. I have the blu ray set but maybe it’s just mine but the pilot on disc 1 of season 1 has audio sync issues when hearing the audio commentary. It’s severely delayed. I don’t know how to contact Universal for a replacement or if this is something going on with all copies of this set.

[@CerealAtMidnight]

I haven't listened to the commentary yet, but that sounds like something that would be hardwired into the original encode itself. Probably won't be a recall, in that case.

[@klel68]

If you ever have audio sync issues, press pause and then press play. It works for me at times.

[@ernestog20]

@@klel68 appreciate the tip but unfortunately it didn’t work, it still has the audio delay. I’ve tried it across multiple blu-ray players and it still gives me the same results. It seems this is an issue happening to multiple people who bought the set.

[@griffredux9966]

I need this set in my collection. Might have to wait till after Xmas though... Everyone save me a copy!! :P

[@michaelmaurer6923]

I just purchased a brand new, still sealed set of this on Ebay. Would you believe that disc 3 (in my set, disc 3 was on top of disc 2, on the hub, instead of vice-versa) has multiple scratches on it, just like you touched upon as being a possibility. I watched the blu-ray in its entirety, expecting it to freeze up or skip... but miraculously, it played without issue. Even though a scratched disc DOES bother me, the important thing is that it plays okay. I mean, to try to return it for a replacement set, I'd run the risk of having the same thing happen again. In your experience, if a blu-ray has scratches, yet somehow, its playback is unaffected, does that mean the disc will probably be okay for the long haul... or will it likely start freezing up at some point, in the future? It's too bad that, for multiple disc sets like this, it's not possible to purchase individual blu-rays to replace whichever one(s) are defective. Oh, well. I'll just be thankful that in my case, the blemish is merely cosmetic and not dysfunctional. (I was under the impression that IF a blu-ray did manage to get scratched, it would almost assuredly render it unwatchable?) 💿

[@CerealAtMidnight]

I'm amazed you had no playback issues. The slightest scratch on a Blu-ray should usually impact playback. Also, you're brave, ordering from Ebay! So many bootlegs and fakes on that site.

[@lookingforahookup]

I understand the first season has 4 discs, not 3 discs, in the original DVD sets. Why then, go to 3 discs on this Blu-ray set?

[@CerealAtMidnight]

Because Blu-ray discs hold approximately five times the data of a DVD. Three 50 GB Blu-rays is plenty of room for the two TV movies and ten episodes of season one. Rest assured, the episodes look great and show no sign of compression on Blu-ray.

[@lookingforahookup]

@@CerealAtMidnight What I mean is why does season 1 contain only three Blu-ray discs instead of four if the Blu-ray discs have more capacity than the DVDs.?

[@seanberg916]

@@lookingforahookup As Heath mentioned, all the contents fit on 3 Blu-ray Discs. There’s no need for a 4th Blu-ray Disc. With the DVD’s, due to compression issues they needed to spread the episodes out over 4 discs to maintain a level of good quality. With blu-ray since there’s more space they were able to get all the episodes onto 3 discs rather than 4 and not only does quality look better than the DVDs but they’ve spent less money by not needing a 4th disc.

[@klel68]

Great review, is it pillar boxed or full screen?

[@CerealAtMidnight]

4:3, OAR!

[@Halloween1031]

I have the dvd box set but do you think the Blu-ray is better quality?

[@CerealAtMidnight]

Oh, definitely. The Blu-rays are double the resolution of the DVDs.

[@zombiefulci3301]

​@@CerealAtMidnightDo you know if this Universal Blu-ray is as good as the Elephant Films French Hulk Blu Ray, same source material?

[@bionicbobt]

Is this an all new remaster by Universal or the same blu ray version that was released in Europe a few years ago?

[@CerealAtMidnight]

Probably the same masters.

[@808physicalmedia9]

You rather have stack discs or sliding discs from digi-book?

[@CerealAtMidnight]

Stacked.

[@808physicalmedia9]

@@CerealAtMidnight 🍻lol👍

[@Hadam10Rose]

But "the Incredible Hulk" isn't a Disney movie. Unlike Iron Man 1, 2, Captain America, Thor, and Avengers Assemble which Disney got from Paramount, Universal still owns the Hulk film. But with that film not leading anywhere for them I can see them not wanting to bring it up. Although they won't let Disney have the streaming rights to it, so they still care about it in some way.

[@CerealAtMidnight]

That’s true, but it was produced by Marvel Studios, just like Marvel (Disney) is also in the mix on all these Sony movies like Venom and Morbius. It complicates things. In theory, everyone makes money, so it’s good for all involved, but I wonder if that’s how Universal sees it, since it’s a big advertisement for the MCU.

[@GrimCellar]

The Incredible Hulk movie (with Norton) as released by Universal wasn't it? i.e. rather than it being a Disney movie.

[@GrimCellar]

P.S. Great review by the way, I'm in the UK but I've been waiting to see how the overseas releases turned out. The UK box (from Fabulous Films, who seem to do a lot of Universal stuff) contained flawed transfers - excessive contrast in places, so I'm assuming this didn't afflict the US set based on what you're saying.

[@CerealAtMidnight]

That’s true! A representative from Universal reached out to me and confirmed that the Ed Norton piece isn’t here because it’s more a promotion for the movie than the series.

[@dylanringproductions160]

I'm getting this for my dad because we used to watch it on streaming and it's been hard to find! So I just wanted this set that I will never loose. I was wondering, how is the video quality? I've heard it can be really dark at scenes, is this true?

[@CerealAtMidnight]

I don't notice it to be particularly dark. I think it looks GREAT! The best it's ever looked.

[@dylanringproductions160]

@@CerealAtMidnight awesome! I didn't get the DVD set before but I figured I might as well aim for HD.

[@CerealAtMidnight]

Good call! I had the DVD sets, which looked good, but this is a step up from that.

[@garydinsdale]

The story about the poor black comes from the Fabulous Films release; which was awful black crush. The Elephant release didn't have this (and had 19 discs as opposed to 16). This set is from the same transfers so look great. I still have the Elephant set, ripped all the French out, and it's amazing. Get this set.

[@dylanringproductions160]

@@garydinsdale so this new set is the best transfers? Or does it still look dark? Thank you for knowing what I'm talking about

[@joe10117]

please verify if " married "" is finally broken down as parts 1 and two or same 90 minutes before loosing contact with kenith by email I made my complaint about that

[@CerealAtMidnight]

It's the 90 minute version, just as it originally aired on September 22, 1978.

[@CKForensics2020]

Complain about what? 90 min vs p1 & p2?? 😂

[@joshua2814]

I know the final movies (the ones not in the set) better than the show, but I liked that too. Will have to put this on the wish list.

[@CKForensics2020]

Not even ckose

[@Col_Fragg]

Actually, Lou Ferrigno is not average height at all. He's 6'5" The reason that he looks small is the fault of the cinematographer. It's a problem that I even noticed as a kid. Lou Ferrigno is a huge guy but somehow they always managed to minimize his size on camera.

[@CerealAtMidnight]

Agreed.

[@CKForensics2020]

That first Hulk they did right

[@agrenier2884]

No French audio, sadly. The voices of the childhood are gone...

[@movieflicktube]

French audio on the Elephant Films set

[@agrenier2884]

@@movieflicktube I know but the Elephant set is for the France market. Not available in Québec/Canada. The version we get is this North American. Distributors must take us into account.

[@randybradley4151]

10:25 He's not much taller? I guess everyone else on set was 6'5".

[@CerealAtMidnight]

I’m not sure why I’m being taken to task by a few of you guys for this comment. So he’s six-eight inches taller than the average actor. He’s supposed to be a massive monster, shot from low angles, towering over everyone else, and sometimes that’s exactly how he’s photographed. As has been pointed out though , the cinematography does Ferrigno no favors in many episodes, shooting him like he’s everybody else. Also, the Hulk in comics (which this is based on) is over 8 feet tall. When you have the right director and right camera man, Ferrigno looks like a towering giant. But this care was not always taken…

[@randybradley4151]

@@CerealAtMidnight Maybe so but don't say he wasn't much taller. If you didn't even make a comment about this fact people wouldn't care so much.

[@CerealAtMidnight]

Gotcha culture at its worst, Randy. We could use some more kindness in fandom and less calling each other out for things that ultimately don't matter. Even after my explanation, your reply is essentially "you shouldn't have said it, then." Life's too short, man. let's be better to each other.

[@CKForensics2020]

The only thing I could say is in the original series people described The Hulk as 7 feet 300 lbs That being said I do know what you mean when you say he wasn’t much bigger. There are certain times when he faced bigger guys that he looks very similar in size

[@zombiefulci3301]

This set is garbage compared to the French Elephant Films release

[@CerealAtMidnight]

The one that looks like it was created by an 8-year old with crayons? Okay, to each their own, I guess. For what it's worth, the transfers are the same and so is the disc count.