The Incredible Hulk : Synopsis, Pictures, Photos, Trivia, Filming Locations

. Arnold Schwarzenegger was considered for the role of The Hulk but, even at 6' 2", was reportedly not tall enough (Lou Ferrigno is 6' 5").

. The Hulk's nemesis, newspaper reporter Jack McGee, was modeled after Javert, the policeman from the novel "Les Miserables."

. Steven Spielberg was displeased to learn that Universal used footage from his movie 'Duel (1971/I) (TV)' in the episode "Never Give A Trucker An Even Break". Unable to sue on the matter (due to the studio's ownership of both the film and Hulk series), he insisted that all his future contracts list a clause designed to protect his movies from being used as stock footage.

. The episode "The Psychic" features Bill Bixby's first wife, Brenda Benet. (By the time the episode aired in February 1980, the couple had divorced.)

. After its debut, the series was described by Starlog magazine as "one of the most promising shows to appear in some time."

. Richard Kiel was originally chosen to play The Hulk. However, as the pilot began filming, the producers felt that he wasn't bulky enough. Although his scenes were re-shot with Lou Ferrigno, one scene with Kiel as the Hulk in the pilot remains intact. (The scene in question is a brief high-angle shot of the Hulk looking up at a tree just before he saves a girl from drowning in the lake.)

. Bill Bixby wouldn't allow his son to watch the show, fearing that it would scare the boy to see his own father transforming into a green-skinned creature.

. Various episodes have in-joke references to show producer Nicholas Corea. This includes the episode "Jake", when a man announced over a loud speaker that there was a lost boy named Nicky Corea.

. CBS initially did not want to continue with the series for the fall of 1981, even though the show's ratings were still respectable. The network (which underwent a change in management at the time) felt that the series had run its course. With seven new episodes already filmed, producer Kenneth Johnson tried to persuade CBS to commission more episodes, but to no avail. Nevertheless, the network aired those seven shows sporadically during the 1981-82 season. Due to the sudden cancellation, the producers never had a chance to write and film a series finale, in which David Banner would have been successfully cured of the Hulk.

. In the comic book, the Hulk's alter-ego is named Bruce Banner (although his full name is Robert Bruce Banner). For the show, however, the character was renamed David, in part because the name "Bruce" was considered too homosexual. A contributing factor was Kenneth Johnson's dislike for alliterative names, which are typically used in comic books; Johnson decided that "David" (his son's name) was more solid.

. Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno appeared on screen together only twice during the run of the series. Once in 'Married' during a dream sequence when Banner was trying to trap the Hulk. The second time was when Lou Ferrigno played a body builder in the episode "King of the Beach."

. Kenneth Johnson wanted the Hulk's skin color to be red, believing that it would reflect the character's anger. However, Stan Lee rejected the idea.

. The stylized "CA" airline logo on the plane featured in the episode "747" turns up much later in the episode "Prometheus", this time as the logo for a brand of condensed soup in the blind woman's cupboard.

. One episode contains a reference to "Six Million Dollar Man, The" (1974). In the episode "Prometheus, Part 2" after the Hulk causes a power overload, the voice of a technician is heard reporting, "I've got a blowout in Damper Three. Ganger base to zero: Basic out... I can't hold her." Excluding the additional line "She's breaking up, she's breaking up, she..." this is verbatim what Steve Austin was saying as his spacecraft was going down, as used in the opening credits of each episode of that series.

. The word "Anger" is the first thing seen onscreen in every episode. The camera pulls out to reveal that it is the word "danger" on the Gamma Ray device.

. In 1980, Universal tried to reduce the show's budget (which was a minimum of $600,000 per episode). The studio's proposed cuts included reducing the special effects and having the Hulk appear only once per episode. Another proposed change was to add a character who would travel with David via a motor home (providing at least one stock set to be used, and curtailing the number of sets used in each episode). However, all those ideas were dropped when CBS provided more money to keep the quality of the show intact.

. In some episodes, it is mentioned that Robert Steinhauer is the name of the publisher of the National Register (the newspaper that Jack McGee works for). This is an in-joke reference to the show's production manager/co-producer Robert Bennett Steinhauer.

. To avoid sweating (which caused his green makeup to come off), Lou Ferrigno spent much of his time on the set in a refrigerated motor home.

. In most episodes, David Banner turned into the Hulk twice. The first transformation typically occurred 20 to 30 minutes after the start of the show, while the second transformation took place during the climax.

. The Hulk is always barefoot, but in outdoor scenes Lou Ferrigno often wore Hulk-green slippers to protect his feet. These are most noticeable in "Terror in Times Square", as the Hulk storms through the streets of New York (Ferrigno once joked that even the mighty Hulk wouldn't want to go barefoot in Times Square in the 1970s).

. The episode "The Disciple," which guest-starred Rick Springfield, served as a pilot for a proposed spin-off series that ultimately never went into production.

. Whenever Dr. Banner chose an alias, he always used the first name of David, his own first name, and his last name always began with a "B", since his last name was Banner.