5
(voodoo rituals, vague allusions to biblical principles)
7
(mild violence, a little strong language, drug use)
5
(see at least once)
When I think back on the most memorable Incredible Hulk episodes of years past few of the ones from season 3 come to mind. It might just be the only season with none that stand out. That didn’t stop me from getting or enjoying it, I'm just saying maybe it's not the best one to check out if you're deciding if you want to watch the whole series or not.
If you’re not familiar with this incarnation of the Hulk you really need to start with the pilot movie, not necessarily the whole series since the episodes don't really affect each other, but at least the pilot itself. You can understand what’s going on if you have a basic knowledge of his history, but it’s different here than in the books so knowing the series past as opposed to the original lore will help. It’s actually very similar to the movies’ origin explanations (more so the Ed Norton one than the Eric Bana but closer to both than to the books).
In the series David (AKA Bruce) is a loner on the run. He’s trying to rid himself of his metamorphic curse and must avoid anyone finding out who he really is in order to do that. The problem is that his green mutation tends to draw attention, particularly that of reporter Jack McGee, which means to avoid his name and affliction gracing the pages of a newspaper David must keep moving into communities that don’t know who he is.
If there’s one standout thing about this season it’s that it starts breaking the mold of a hulk-out every half hour. Typically the episodes follow a formula: David arrives in a new place (usually a place with a pretty, single, young lady for him to meet) and finds a reason to hulk-out near the middle and end of each story. That's not always the case this time. In one episode we start with the Hulk running around, in another we come in on a disoriented David as he returns to normal in a strange place, yet another focuses entirely on Jack rather than the Hulk at all.
Not surprisingly the show’s effects are not up to today’s standards. Many of the superhuman moments show their “strings” (such a green paint rubbing off Hulk) or are otherwise unconvincing. Still, it offers a lot of fun moments of Hulk breaking through walls or holding off some massive bit of machinery. There’s nothing as extravagant as him being enveloped in a violent helicopter explosion, but that doesn’t keep me from getting my geek on when he bends a metal bar. I guess it will just depend on how much flash you need to enjoy your super heroics. It’s no worse than having some bit of CG looking cartoony that happens in today's shows.
Stories can be hit or miss. I enjoy most of them although they can occasionally get slow. Sometimes they can be emotionally engaging (perhaps less so in this season which may be why there are fewer stand-outs) while others are more about being little more than fun entertainment.
There is a good bit of 70’s-early 80’s influence (bell-bottoms, dated music, etc.), the acting can sometimes be pretty bad at least with the guest talent, and the whole thing can come across pretty cheesy, especially when there isn't as much strong emotion to carry it so if any of that bothers you a great deal chances are you’re not going to be very fond of the show.
You can check out the episode guide for specific details, but here is an idea of the kinds of moments you can expect this year. Jack gets close enough to David to directly confront him on more than one occasion. He actually even comes face to face with him. How does David keep up the illusion of his death after that? You won’t get such spoilers out of me. Jack is commanded to drop the Hulk story by his boss. You know he’s not going anywhere, but again I won’t reveal the resolution. David reconnects with his family, and he gets pulled into some darker than usual stories.
Morality
This is quite a tame show. There is a little strong language in nearly every episode, but it's mild and usually not much more than one or two uses.
The Hulk causes plenty of destruction, but for the most part he acts in true heroic fashion – saving people even if they don’t really deserve saving. Serious injuries are rare and death even more so. David is constantly worried about Hulk hurting someone, and his focus is generally on helping other people selflessly.
He often shares mild tender moments with women, but there is rarely any overt sexual suggestion (none in this particular season that comes to mind, in fact). The closest we get to anything like that is Hulk walking in on a woman getting out of the shower. He clearly enjoys the sight, but we, the audience, see little more than bare calves and shoulders.
The Hulk yelling and growling could potentially be scary to very little kids, but I watched it as a youngster (this show is among my earliest memories of TV), and I feel that it had a positive impact on me. I've also shown it to my young nieces who are far more prone to being scared than I was at ther age and they love him, too.
There is some drug use in one episode, but it is painted in a very bad light.
Spirituality
David is Christ-like in some ways which I talked about in the season 1 review. Beyond that there is just a little in the way of direct spirituality in this season. The first episode of the season deals with a rock star not being satisfied with fame and the party lifestyle. It's not presented as “sinful” from a biblical perspective, but it does present the idea that there is more to life than partying it away. Despite its positive message it's not one of my favorite episodes.
“Babalao” deals with the world of Voodoo. It's more about the nature of people using Voodoo than it is about the practices themselves.
“Falling Angels” is interesting because it looks at manipulating people in order to control them. The antagonists fill a young girl's head with bigoted lies in order to keep her from trusting David. By putting her faith in them rather than the one who is selflessly trying to help her she allows herself to be lead down a bad path. It's something of an illustration of Philippians 4:8 as well as an admonition about where we put our faith.
Politicians have something to gain from your loyalty, God doesn't. If you reject God until the day you die it will not reduce His position or power, He will still be the eternal I Am. You, on the other hand, have everything to gain by trusting the one who is the king of kings, the one who is above the worldly power of politicians and rumors and beyond the problems that such men pretend to be able to fix for you.
Final Thoughts
"The Incredible Hulk" is easily my favorite classic TV show. While this season doesn't have the kinds of amazing episodes like “Prometheus,” “Mystery Man,” or “The First” it does have some strong moments and is overall very enjoyable. If you're going through the series you're going to want to make sure you don't miss this one. If you're just looking to hit the high points you might want to check out some other episodes.
Buying Guide
If you've read the guide on the previous seasons "The Incredible Hulk" season 3 is going to mostly just be a copy so you might want to just skip down to the details about the extras and episodes.
You can get season 3 by itself which what I'll be covering. You can also get it as part of a box set. While those are the only options for the entire season I'll touch on the sampler pack called the “Ultimate Collection” as well.
The series box set is the exact same thing as the seasonal sets except that all of the slim cases are taken out of the lenticular boxes and dumped into one large series exclusive box. Otherwise you get nothing more or less than buying the 5 seasons individually. The set includes the Pilot but not the 3 follow-up movies.
Be careful with the one called the “Ultimate Collection” as it is anything but “ultimate.” It only has 18 episodes and no extras at all from what I've read. I guess if you want a sampling of the series as a whole this might be worth checking out, but if you're a true fan you should concentrate on getting the whole series rather than a few random episodes. OK, so maybe they're not entirely random, it does include some of the best episodes ever, but the series had far more than 18 great episodes.
Final Recommendation:
As great as the show itself is there isn't a lot of bang for your buck with the TVD set. You can stream the episodes these days, and you won't be missing much by doing so. Just the same, as a big fan of the series I'm excited to have the unlimited access to them that having them on my DVD shelf allows.
The Complete Third Season is a 5 disc TVD set.
Video
1.33:
This is the TV standard ratio. You can tell this is an older TV show. The image is a little fuzzy and has a little trash that is most notable when the screen fades to black. It's still better than my old VHS tapes, though.
Audio
2.0 Dolby:
The sound is clean but is very noticeably mono. It sounds thin and shallow, but all of the dialogue and other sounds come through distinctly. There is a little fill in the rear channels, but it's not enough to make a difference.
There's no mind-blowing restoration here, but this is better than any version of the series I owned previously.
Packaging
The outer box is sturdy and features a lenticular cover (it moves when you tilt it). Seeing Banner change into the Hulk on the cover is quite eye-catching (which is, of course, the point!)
There are 5 single-sided DVD’s in 5 thin clamshell cases. Oh how happy I was that they didn’t stack all the DVD’s on top of each other like some packages do!
The interface features some animation and sound.
My one complaint is that preview trailers play on disc 1. I hate watching ads when I put a DVD in.
Extras
-Remembering The Incredible Hulk (17:35) This behind-the-scenes look is lengthy and very good. It looks at the approach and direction of this season and then talks about the cast particularly getting into some of Bixby’s real-life tragedies.
-The Incredible Hulk Sneak Peek (3:57) This is a quick look at the Ed Norton movie. It’s little more than a promo with interviews talking about how great the movie will be (and indeed it delivered) although it does touch on the ties between it and the series.
Episodes
The set offers 23 episodes each right at or a little over 48 minutes long. That’s 6-8 minutes longer than most of the “hour-long” shows I’ve been seeing recently. So as far as that goes you’re getting a lot in this set.
Chapter division is well done allowing easy skipping of the 2 minutes of preview and intro that preface each episode. There is then a stop at each commercial break which has proved convenient when needing to jump around in an episode.
There’s a play all option to minimize trips to the menu.