Episode #1 - Return Of The Beast, Part One
Original Airdate September 8, 1996

Banner's attempts to cure the Hulk are stopped by Major Talbot, who places Banner under military arrest. Whilst impounded Banner recalls the story of how The Hulk was created.

Credits
Written By: Bob Forward
Directed By: Rich Trueblood Music Composed By: Shuki Levy and Kussa Mahchi
Animation Services By: Toyko Movie Shinsha (TMS)
Guest Starring: Neal McDonough as Dr. Robert Bruce Banner, Lou Ferrigno as The Hulk, Genie Francis as Betty Ross, John Vernon as General 'Thunderbolt' Ross, Luke Perry as Rick Jones, Kevin Schon as Major Glenn Talbot, Matt Frewer as The Leader and Mark Hamill as Gargoyle.

Review: With the booming success of Spider-Man and X-Men on FOX, UPN wanted a piece of Marvel’s animation success, and so a new series was commissioned. Given the popularity of the character, and most of Marvel’s heavy hitters were either already on FOX or had been done before, at this point in time, it simply had to be The Incredible Hulk. Marvel obviously wanted The Hulk in his own show too, as there was not one, but two backdoor pilot attempts in both Fantastic Four.

Thankfully, this version of The Hulk is far superior to the ones that appeared in those shows, mainly because more of his supporting cast was introduced, and of course, the show is allowed to focus more on Banner than Hulk.

This particular episode perfectly displays the shows premises, whilst delivering plenty of action. Whilst there would be a lot of episodes that topped this one, it still stands out as one of the series best. It’s also made apparent that Banner has become Hulk for several years, and unlike the previous 80’s show, the Military are fully aware that Banner is ol’ jade jaws and feel The Hulk is a threat to national security and must be stopped. General ‘Thunderbolt’ Ross and Major Ned Talbert thankfully don’t fit into the 2 dimensional “Must kill Hulk” role that is far too common in animation (Chief Ramos in The Batman being the best example!) mainly because of their relationship with Ross’ daughter Betty.

The beginning is a perfect example of how well this show portrayed Bruce vs. Hulk. A nice family picnic ruined by his transformation and how General Ross always comes between Bruce and Betty. A great, symbolic way to open the series.

My favourite part of the episode however, is after Banner is captured and he talks about Hulk’s origin sequence. His speech is first class material, and it works perfectly over the flashback sequence.

“I’m so sorry, Betty, for all of it. Losing control of the gamma reactor test, and for… and for everything that’s gone so wrong since. I don’t know why it had to happen. In one fractured second, one cowardly act of sabotage later the domino started toppling, one after another faster and faster, relentless in it’s spiral to disaster. Threatening to take with it one innocent who was unknowingly trapped in it’s unforgiving path. So I attempted to oppose fait that day… and that day… I lost.”

The animation standards in this show are above those of other Marvel shows, and this episode was no exception. The designs, however, were a little mixed. The supporting cast such as Doc Sampson, Major Talbot, General Ross etc looked fine, as did Gargoyle and Banner. Hulk was a little lacking, mainly his face. He seemed to look like he was pouting rather than full of rage. The worst offender however, is The Leader. Orange and black, the hell? What’s especially irritating, is that a perfect Leader design was used in Screenshots: