Never Give A Trucker An Even Break

DVD, The Incredible Hulk S1 (Never Give A Trucker An Even Break)

Well, that was an odd one! An episode that would have been spoiled by the teaser showing the death threat David delivers to Teddy if it hadn't all been so comedic. Maybe they felt that after such a serious story as McGee catching up with the Hulk they should do a 'Smokey and The Bandit'-style car chase in the country. In some ways this wasn't the series to do something like that on because unless Banner's driving he's not in control (a metaphor for the creature?), and if the hero's not in control he's just a passenger, literally… At the same time he makes that crucial decision to get involved and not walk on by (would have been a long walk!), so while he isn't the mover and shaker so much, depending on the feisty Joanie for that, (except the bit where he does drive at the end, and crashes!), he's still there by choice, something that couldn't be said initially when he gets involved under good intentions, duped by the girl. He's quick to forgive and just seems to enjoy the company of this madcap trucker girl, something else that adds more than the usual level of comedy to what, I suppose, is generally a fairly bleak tale of a man searching for answers, though Banner is a warm, friendly person which stops the series from being depressing to watch.

With crazy chase antics, inept and laughable bad guys that never had an ounce of threat in their makeup (except when Teddy orders two of his employees to hold Banner - he should have explained that he was only a hitchhiker), and a 'Wacky Races' mentality, not to mention musical cars where first Joanie, then the baddies, then David, each take turns jumping in and driving either the car or the truck, it's a little hard to feel sorry for Banner in the usual way. Perhaps that's why the traditional ending of him walking forlornly along the highway is inverted so that it takes place at the beginning and other points during the episode, and instead he's allowed the first happy ending he's had in a long time. He's not likely to hang around with Joanie for longer than the promised meal, I can imagine him just moving right along again, but we've not seen things end in a positive way before. Even McGee, who naturally sniffs out the latest sightings of the Hulk, only gets the briefest of mentions that he's asking questions in the area, so it's very much an episode that's turned on its head compared with the norm.

I liked that the travelling has a continuity to it - David admits he's coming from Las Vegas, where the previous episode was set, and is now going through Nevada. It makes the series feel like one continuous whole. It's also good to see that details were being kept in mind, such as the fact that when he's Hulk he does have those cream-coloured trousers rather than standard 'Hulkwear' denim. He even gets in a line about needing to buy stretchy shirts, as well as bringing out a second shirt from his bag after the first Hulk-out. I'm sure people can understand, even today, the frustration with technology that makes him change this time, though I'm sure it wouldn't be as satisfying to throw a mobile phone to the ground in anger than biff a pay phone into next week and burst the entire booth apart! I'm surprised Joanie couldn't use a CB radio on her truck to call for assistance, but it's not the sort of episode where you question why things happened, they just do, often to the sound of banjos and harmonicas. I give them credit for some very dramatic camera views during the chase scenes with the camera presumably bolted out on a rig so you get those views from the corner of vehicles. The destruction of the truck lacked lustre, but seeing the Hulk atop the hill gurning and roaring, and waving his arms about at the destruction made even that moment funny.

That's it, though - it wasn't much more than funny. As jolly a ride, and as unexpected as Joanie was, I would have liked some fear to the proceedings, like when she's trying to use the phone as the truck speeds up. I thought it was going to smash through all the picnic tables and take out the phone as they just drove away by the skin of their teeth, but it didn't happen (though the crushed hubcap was a nice touch). There was no alias again, just David, and it's two Hulk-outs for us this time. The second had already been preempted by the teaser showing us Hulk swinging a telegraph pole into the truck, but it was fun seeing him hurl Teddy's men around at the warehouse. This Hulk is more believable as a character compared with more modern iterations because he can't do 'anything,' he has his limitations. He can't run faster than the truck to catch it up, or stop it when it threatens to run him down, instead pushing the car into its path. And, just like the action figure I have of the character from the nineties, he bends a steel bar! But what about Mike, Teddy's associate: did he die leaping from the truck? It was unclear.

**