NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

Elephant Films, out of France, bring the late 70's Marvel-based TV series The Incredible Hulk to REGION FREE Blu-rays. I have the first Season to review here but the entire 87 episode series is available from Elephant Films (see below.) The first (of four discs for Season One) has the 95-minute TV movies The Incredible Hulk and The Incredible Hulk: Death in the Family from 1977 - represented as pilots for the series - both with Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno in their respective roles. The remaining three Blu-rays have the ten, 50-minute, episodes of the first season (3, 3 and 4 respectively).

NOTE: There is a notice that the is the only video in this boxset that does not have a French DUB, available in the rest of the set - but offers only French subtitles - that are removable (as are all in the package) via my Oppo Blu-ray player.

While these Blu-rays are in 1080P the bitrate are modest and despite the image being shot in 35mm it looks good but not as tight as in The Six Million Dollar Man (also with episodes written by Kenneth Johnson) Blu-ray collection. It looks thick and we have compared to some SD captures below and it does definitely improve in the higher resolution with richer colors and better detail plus there is more information in the original 1.33:1 frame. 

These are presented in 2.0 16-bit linear PCM audio tracks in original English or a similarly encoded French DUB. Effects center around the transformations and imposing growls of the dark side of our protagonist with the creature often moving in slow-motion. Some may recognize the opening narration by Ted Cassidy. The series music is credited to Joseph Harnell (The Bionic Woman) which is quite memorable and an ending theme "The Lonely Man Theme" (also by Harnell) There are optional French subtitles for the series episodes on these Region FREE Blu-rays.

Blu-ray One offers an English-language commentary by writer, director, producer and creator of the series Kenneth Johnson on the two feature length movies and he has a lot to share with details only privy to someone so involved as he was so key in many of the episodes. There is also a French-only supplement on the first disc "Le Titan De Marvel" running almost 25-minutes about the Hulk character's evolution in comics. On Blu-ray four we have another French only extra (produced by Elephant Films); L'Adn De La Creature: Les Origins de L'Incroyable HULK running over 1/4 hour about the origins of the titular hero.

The Incredible Hulk capitalized on The Fugitive TV series with David Jansen - both with a 'doctor on the run' for a murder neither committed (well, The Hulk allegedly committed). So each episode he travels and interacts with new characters, situations, adventures - generally helping people as he seeks a resolution to his problem.  The Blu-ray seems adeptly transferred and the commentaries have value to fans. I enjoyed the revisitation... "Dr. David Banner—physician, scientist...searching for a way to tap into the hidden strengths that all humans have. Then an accidental overdose of gamma radiation alters his body chemistry. And now, when David Banner grows angry or outraged, a startling metamorphosis occurs. The creature is driven by rage and pursued by an investigative reporter." This has some heavy nostalgia and Bixby was always great.

Gary Tooze