Hulk Mania!

Of the old-school, Bill Bixby variety, that is.

Yesterday was The Boy's end of year awards ceremony, so I took the day off.  My parents drove up from visiting friends in Charleston--yes, a 250 mile drive that started at the crack o' dawn:  do not thwart my mother in her quest to be present for every significant moment in The Boy's life, for you will be defeated--and Hublet took half a day as well, all so that we could have the honor of videotaping the back of my child's head as he received his awards.

Afterward, we all came back to the house and took a power nap--except for The Boy, who alternated between playing Indiana Jones Adventrues on the Wii and watching the all-day Incredible Hulk marathon on the sci-fi channel.

God, I loved that show as a kid, and after watching about 6 episodes yesterday, I still kinda love it, for the reasons enumerated below:

1. The plaintive plinky piano of "David Banner must move on, lest Mr. McGee catch him!"
2. The opening sequence and voiceover, which I could still recite word-for-word.  The only other TV show I can do that for is The A-Team, btw.
3. Lou Ferrigno in denim capri pants!  And a tattered shirt!  Which he inexplicably leaves on!  I wonder if Bill Bixby was uncomfortable with all that bare-chested hoo-ha, and asked for more covering...
4. And speaking of more covering, the non-toned, kinda flabby 70's bodies!
5. David Banner must be second only to Little Joe from Bonanza in the number of women killed by his love.  Seriously.  If he falls in love with you, you'll die horribly--car wreck, exploding lab, random brain tumor in a hurricane...the list goes on.
6. The sheer number of "menacing Hulk is menacing" shots, which basically involve Lou Ferrigno grimacing and flexing directly into the camera for about 5 minutes before he actually kicks anyone's ass.
7. "Ass-kicking" comprised primarily of picking up stuntmen and flinging them into convenient piles of dirt or moss or sand or mattresses.
8. The "hard-nosed reporter" demonstrating his hard-nosed-ness primarily by smoking a lot.
9. Bell-bottoms!
10. The "high-tech" transformation sequences, which consist of an image of Bill Bixby in contact lenses transposed over an image of Lou Ferrigno in a fright wig combined with a green tint and lights flashing in a seizure-inducing pattern.

Yep, I heart the Incredible Hulk.  Wonder if it's available on Netflix?