I don't usually give a lengthy review of one episode of an old TV show. But it's a rainy afternoon and not a lot else to do, so I'm just in the mood. I understand Prometheus to be a favorite among fans of the Incredible Hulk series. I just watched it on MeTV, and I'd call it solid but just a bit overrated. I'll assume anyone reading this knows the basic plot of this two- part episode.
It's rightly given credit for impressive production values. Particularly at the beginning of the second hour when the Hulk has been captured and is being taken in that orange capsule into Project Prometheus' headquarters, you get a very long leisurely view of these huge complex equipment structures, with a continuous stream of scientists' communications. You have to keep in mind for a 1970's (or early 1980's ?) weekly television show, this was pretty impressive stuff. Not too shabby even by the standard of what's possible today.
Now let me make a little disclaimer here. I'm an old guy, i.e. old enough to remember watching the Incredible Hulk in original prime time broadcast. And I was in my teen and early college years then. So I tend to see entertainment from an earlier era a little differently than these young whipper-snappers on IMDb do.
But that being said, even I found the lengthy dwell on the Hulk capture a bit drawn out. I found myself thinking, "OK, it looks cool enough. I get that. Can we move on with the plot, please?" I actually fast-forwarded through some of it.
Which leads me to my second criticism. I usually find many of these older programs charming in that they take more time and don't seem in such a rush. I recently jumped the shark on watching the current Supergirl weekly series, in part because I felt it tried too hard. So much action. Everything has to be so super all the time. I have an attention span; I don't need to be continually knocked senseless to stay interested. OK, that's a review for another day. But that being said, I feel that with this episode of the Hulk if you boil the story down to its essentials, there's not really two hours worth of plot. I sometimes can get a little tired of reading presumably young impatient reviewers frequently write about old shows or movies, "The same story could have been told in less time." But in this case, yeah the same story could have been told in less time.
Plus, there are some unanswered questions. We never really find out much about why David was getting stuck between that half-Hulk-half-David state. I assume radiation from that meteor or whatever it was. I guess it's kind of nice that the episode trusts us to use our imagination. But I would have like to have explored it a bit more. And was that really a meteor or an alien probe or what?
But at the end of the day, it's a good episode if a bit flawed. Bixby and Ferrigno gave sincere performances as always. It was especially nice to see Ferrigno be given more to do. And some of the feats he performed this time were quite impressive. And as usual for this Incredible Hulk series, it had heart and made me care about the characters.
It's rightly given credit for impressive production values. Particularly at the beginning of the second hour when the Hulk has been captured and is being taken in that orange capsule into Project Prometheus' headquarters, you get a very long leisurely view of these huge complex equipment structures, with a continuous stream of scientists' communications. You have to keep in mind for a 1970's (or early 1980's ?) weekly television show, this was pretty impressive stuff. Not too shabby even by the standard of what's possible today.
Now let me make a little disclaimer here. I'm an old guy, i.e. old enough to remember watching the Incredible Hulk in original prime time broadcast. And I was in my teen and early college years then. So I tend to see entertainment from an earlier era a little differently than these young whipper-snappers on IMDb do.
But that being said, even I found the lengthy dwell on the Hulk capture a bit drawn out. I found myself thinking, "OK, it looks cool enough. I get that. Can we move on with the plot, please?" I actually fast-forwarded through some of it.
Which leads me to my second criticism. I usually find many of these older programs charming in that they take more time and don't seem in such a rush. I recently jumped the shark on watching the current Supergirl weekly series, in part because I felt it tried too hard. So much action. Everything has to be so super all the time. I have an attention span; I don't need to be continually knocked senseless to stay interested. OK, that's a review for another day. But that being said, I feel that with this episode of the Hulk if you boil the story down to its essentials, there's not really two hours worth of plot. I sometimes can get a little tired of reading presumably young impatient reviewers frequently write about old shows or movies, "The same story could have been told in less time." But in this case, yeah the same story could have been told in less time.
Plus, there are some unanswered questions. We never really find out much about why David was getting stuck between that half-Hulk-half-David state. I assume radiation from that meteor or whatever it was. I guess it's kind of nice that the episode trusts us to use our imagination. But I would have like to have explored it a bit more. And was that really a meteor or an alien probe or what?
But at the end of the day, it's a good episode if a bit flawed. Bixby and Ferrigno gave sincere performances as always. It was especially nice to see Ferrigno be given more to do. And some of the feats he performed this time were quite impressive. And as usual for this Incredible Hulk series, it had heart and made me care about the characters.
