Release Date: October 21, 2008 Rating: 2  (This rating based on 3 stars for the series, and one taken back for this package)Starring: Bill Bixby, Lou Ferrigno and Jack Colvin From the Comic Book Created By: Stan Lee Executive Producer: Kenneth Johnson The Incredible Hulk: The Complete Series is a box set that collects all 20 DVDs of the individual season sets as a single omnibus package. The DVDs and DVD cases in the box here are literally the same ones that can be found in the earlier packages. There are no new special features here. If anything, the “special feature” still included of bonus episodes from later seasons in the Season 1 and Season 2 discs, is now irrelevant, but since the same DVDs are being used, they are still present. This series package is probably best for fans of the series who either have not bought any of the DVD releases of the series before, or who perhaps only picked up one season and would like to find this package at a reduced rate. For those who haven’t seen the series before, it is a dramatic adaptation of the Marvel comic book about a man who transforms into a raging green creature whenever he becomes angry. For the series, almost all the comic book details have been dropped and the story concerns Dr. David Banner, a scientist who accidentally overdoses himself with gamma radiation and winds up wandering the US looking for a way to cure himself or at least stay out of trouble. And typically, he finds trouble wherever he goes, leading to two Hulkouts per episode and a finale each week that finds him hitchhiking down the road again to Joe Harnell’s mournful “Lonely Man” theme. As I have already listed the contents of the DVDs for the 3rd, 4th and 5th seasons in prior reviews here, I will dispense with that. Suffice it to say that every episode of the original series is present here, along with the original pilot movies and a few bonus features. The bonus features here, already discussed on prior reviews, include scene specific commentaries by Kenneth Johnson for the three episodes he directed himself (The original pilot film, the second season premiere “Married”, and the fourth season premiere “Prometheus”), a collection of interview featurettes mostly drawn from a single long interview with Johnson but intercut with some of the other writers for the show, a shortened gag reel at the end of the 5th season, a quick photo gallery from “Prometheus” and a sneak peek of the 2008 Edward Norton film of the Hulk.  VIDEO QUALITY: 3/5 The Incredible Hulk: The Complete Series offers full-frame presentations of the best masters available. As discussed before, the image here is what you saw when these episodes originally aired. Picture quality varies throughout, but this is to be expected from 30 year old prints made on a television schedule. As far as the transfer itself goes, it is an accurate representation of the series as it was telecast. AUDIO QUALITY: 3/5 The Incredible Hulk: The Complete Series is presented in an English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono mix that essentially gives us what we heard during the original broadcasts up to 30 years ago. The dialogue is mostly clear, as is the music and the sound effects of Hulkouts, roars and growls. IN THE END... The Incredible Hulk: The Complete Series can only be recommended to completist fans of the series, and specifically those who have either not picked up any of the season sets or who have only picked up one. Since the discs in the box are identical to what is already available in the season sets, there is no reason to get this set if you already own more than one season. Kevin Koster November 8, 2008 |
11/8/08 at 10:54pm
