Tag: CBS

Banner boards flight 14, a Chicago-bound 747, hoping to meet with a neuroscientist about his condition. A passenger in a neighboring seat passes out after drinking coffee, and Banner goes to inform the pilot, who asks Banner to follow him into the hold…at which point Banner is shoved into a cage and locked in. The pilot and a member of the flight crew are not what they seem: they’ve drugged the flight crew and put the plane on autopilot, and plan to parachute out after stealing prized artifacts hidden among the cargo. The pilot plans to dispose of his inconvenient witness, only to discover that the tight, pressurized confines of a passenger airplane don’t mix with the Incredible Hulk.

written by Justin Edgerton
directed by Larry Stewart
music by Joe Harnell

Cast: Bill Bixby (David Bruce Banner), Jack Colvin (Jack McGee), Lou Ferrigno (The Hulk), Julie Gregg (Wanda), John Crawford (Tom Edler), Dean Santoro (Ed Campion), Don Marshall (Lee), Simone Griffeth (Cathy), John Dewey-Carter (Ambulance Attendant), John Dennis (Mechanic), Buck Young (Doctor), Phil Hoover (1st Patrolman), William Molloy (Registration Clerk), Paul Coufos (Officer), Charles Picerni (Charlie), Tony Miller (Pit Boss), Wally K. Berns (Texan), David M. Zellitti (2nd Patrolman)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Hitchhiking his way north from Las Vegas, Banner is picked up by a woman named Joanie, who says she’ll pay him to deliver a birthday note to her boyfriend. But it’s not a birthday note, and the man to whom Banner delivers it is not her boyfriend – and even Joanie isn’t what she seems, stealing a tanker truck from the man’s premises and taking off at top speed. Banner manages to pile into the truck with Joanie, where she tells him that she’s stealing the truck back from the man and his cohorts, who are hijackers. While Joanie stops to fuel up, Banner learns that the tanker contains not gasoline, but contraband computer parts…and wherever Joanie goes, the hijackers will follow her and stop at nothing to recover the contraband.

written by Kenneth Johnson
directed by Kenneth Gilbert
music by Joe Harnell

Cast: Bill Bixby (David Bruce Banner), Jack Colvin (Jack McGee), Lou Ferrigno (The Hulk), Jennifer Darling (Joanie), Frank R. Christi (Ted), Grand Bush (Mike), Peggy Doyle (Woman at Gas Station), Don Starr (Storekeeper), Charles Alvin Bell (Charles Alvin Bell)

Notes: This episode was written largely for comedic effect – it’s not the thugs threatening Joanie that drives Banner over the edge to become the Hulk, but rather an uncooperative telephone directory assistance operator. This episode also arrived before the peak of the 1970s trend of “trucker” movies and TV shows (for the record: two months prior to the U.S. premiere of Convoy, and six months prior to the TV premiere of the similarly-themed B.J. And The Bear). Long-haul trucking (or should we say truckin’?) was not an uncommon theme, as an episode of Gemini Man (Smithereens) had already used it as a plot device.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Hitchhiking to Oregon, Banner meets a fellow traveler, a homeless pregnant woman named Carrie. He accompanies her to a clinic simply called Matrix, and then proceeds to the nearby hospital where he has an appointment with geneticist Dr. Stan Rhodes. Rhodes may be able to isolate the genetic strands that transform Banner into the Hulk, though Banner naturally hasn’t shared many details of what problems his unique genes cause. Banner is nearby when another patient is brought in for Dr. Rhodes, a woman who’s missing her baby – and says Matrix took it. Banner leaves the hospital to double back and check on Carrie, but it just so happens that Dr. Rhodes is paying a visit to Matrix as well, and now believes he’s part of a sting operation. When Banner returns to the hospital, the injection he receives from Rhodes is not designed to help him, but is a dose of morphine large enough to kill him. His survival instincts kick in and the Hulk takes over…but the amount of morphine administered is enough to leave even the Hulk in a stupor.

written by James D. Parriott
directed by Jeffrey Hayden
music by Joe Harnell

Cast: Bill Bixby (David Bruce Banner), Jack Colvin (Jack McGee), Lou Ferrigno (The Hulk), Julie Adams (Ellen), Andrew Robinson (Dr. Stan Rhodes), Carl Franklin (Crosby), Diane Civita (Carrie), Mitzi Hoag (Chief Nurse), John Warner Williams (Dan), Sarah Rush (Young Woman), Gil Garcia (1st Detective), Judd Laurance (2nd Detective), Takayo (Young Nurse), Lillah McCarthy (Tina), Al Berry (Trucker), Ben Freedman (Man in Elevator)

Notes: This episode carries the unusual disclaimer “all characters, organizations, and events in this story are fictional”, either because the big mutating green guy lumbering around wasn’t enough of a clue, or because the production’s legal research department found a company named Matrix in a line of business adjacent to services for expecting mothers. Carl Franklin, later a director of such big-screen fare as Devil In A Blue Dress and One True Thing, had been one of the stars of The Fantastic Journey a year earlier on NBC. Andrew J. Robinson was still in the midst of a lengthy string of “creepy” roles stemming from his career-making 1971 big-screen debut as the killer in Dirty Harry; he would later branch out into such roles as Liberace in a 1988 TV movie of the same name, President John F. Kennedy in a 1986 episode of the revived Twilight Zone, and the Cardassian tailor Garak throughout all seven seasons of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Diane Civita was a friend of showrunner Kenneth Johnson, and would appear in many of his later series, including V (as Harmony) and the pilot movie for Johnson’s TV adaptation of Alien Nation.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Growing increasingly desperate to rid himself of the Hulk, Banner impersonates a nuclear safety inspector due for a visit at a nearby power plant, where he hopes to expose himself to another burst of radiation to try to cure himself. One of the plant’s staff members suspects something is amiss and double checks, discovering that Banner is an impostor, but before she can sound the alarm, a major earthquake strikes – and the nuclear plant is sitting directly over the fault line. Safety systems lock the facility down, but a runaway reaction is imminent…and unleashing the Hulk in this situation may make it even more dangerous for those trapped in the plant with him. Meanwhile, reporter Jack McGee is on the premises as a routine story about nuclear safety begins to spiral out of control.

written by Jim Tisdale & Migdia Varela
directed by Harvey Laidman
music by Joe Harnell

Cast: Bill Bixby (David Bruce Banner), Jack Colvin (Jack McGee), Lou Ferrigno (The Hulk), Sherry Jackson (Dr. Diane Joseph), Peter Brandon (Ted Hammond), Gary Wood (Turner), Kene Holliday (Paul), Lynne Topping (Nancy), Brett Hadley (Ron Harris), Roberta Sherwood (Mrs. Waverly), John Alvin (Dr. Patterson), Arthur Rosenburg (Larry Saenz), Diane Markoff (Janet), Robbyn Stuart (Reporter), Pamela Nelson (Marsha), Michael Wirick (Gate Guard)

Notes: This episode uses extensive footage from Universal Pictures’ 1974 disaster film Earthquake. (Universal’s television division also produced The Incredible Hulk.)

LogBook entry by Earl Green