Earthquakes Happen

DVD, The Incredible Hulk S1 (Earthquakes Happen)

Banner's most daring escapade so far involves him going undercover (when does he not!), this time to use the gamma ray inversion equipment at St. Tomas Nuclear Research Facility. He's broken into some important places before, usually with charm and medical knowledge, but this is his biggest challenge yet and he has to use all his guile to pull it off, including wearing some big glasses! It's funny that he's pretending to be a doctor when he actually is one, albeit a dead one, so I can forgive him taking on a different persona for the role of Dr. Patterson, though it still takes Dr. Diane Joseph, the designer of this nuclear plant, a while to become suspicious. The tragedy, once again, is in Banner getting so close to what he wanted to do, three seconds away from zapping himself again and hoping to reverse his affliction - but who's to say that another burst of gamma rays will be a certain cure? Couldn't he just mutate into an even bigger, more terrible creature, or does he have a real basis to hope for a reversal? We don't find out this time as Joseph flips the switch and prevents the operation taking place, shortly followed by a massive earthquake. Perhaps she saved his life, there's no knowing what interrupting the gamma burst might have done!

There's certainly an effective impression of scale thanks to them filming in a real power plant or factory, a location that looks genuine. Those high-tech corridors full of mysterious pipes and doors could almost have come out of the original 'Star Trek,' a fitting observation when the earthquake starts and everyone does the Trek shake - rolling around and trying to fool us into thinking the entire set is wobbling! There are even polystyrene rocks bouncing around, so I half expected a Klingon or Gorn to emerge. Of course the only big, green nonhuman to appear was the Hulk, and this time he's trapped in a room, not something we've seen before as he's always been able to smash his way through anything, but this time solid steel doors and massively thick walls prove too much although he gives it a jolly good go. He's activated by a cabinet falling on Banner this time and it may be one of his more ineffective Hulk-outs since nothing is achieved aside from moving Dr. Joseph out of the rain of polystyrene ceiling rocks!

The second Hulk-out is much more integral and substantial, saving the small group of plant members by turning the cooling wheel and then escaping through a massive concrete wall full of iron bars. But bars get bent and people are saved galore, even if the actual Hulking-out appeared to be almost an afterthought - Banner doesn't get particularly angry or frustrated, he just can't turn the valve. Usually they make more a thing of his loss of control, but here it was almost as if he were calling on the beast within, so non-reactive was he. Still, it achieved the desired result and was a relief the Hulk didn't get spooked by the steam and run off before finishing the job, but maybe he's not as stupid as he seems? Banner certainly isn't, that's for sure, as his careful ruse shows - it's unfortunate that McGee, his nemesis, is already on site when he shows up as Dr. Patterson (the first time he uses an alias whose first name isn't David, unless Patterson's first name is also that - it would make life difficult if he refused to use the alias of somebody unless their first name was the same as his! It's probably the first time he's used two aliases, too, as he contacts the real Patterson to delay him and take his cover, pretending to be safety officer Ted Hammond, one of the people he ends up trapped with).

McGee comes the closest he's ever been (conscious), to recognising Banner, the time he walked past him at the hospital in 'Life and Death' not counting as he wasn't paying attention to him. This time he runs after him and must be suspicious at continually seeing this guy who fits the height and haircut of Banner, if he didn't know the guy was dead, of course. He once again gets a tantalising taste of the creature after hearing it was down in the facility, but another reporter scorns his interest, saying they're here for a 'real' story, showing that his colleagues in the profession don't think much of his obsession! Having McGee snooping around as an extra person to avoid while infiltrating the facility would have added more personal danger, but I enjoyed Banner's bluffing and astute reactions to questions. Most of all I have to praise the broom trick! A vital door opens to let a couple of workers through and after they've walked away Banner slides a broom towards it before it can fully close! He'd make an excellent curling player!

The story turns into a disaster film towards the end, a popular genre of the time, when Banner, Joseph, Hammond, a belligerent guy called Turner, and Paul, the injured security guard are trapped down in the Gamma Ray section. I understand the need to get out, but wasn't it a bit risky to whack high voltage electrical cables with a metal axe? Just asking… I also understand the sentiment of ladies first, but into a potentially highly dangerous conduit? Chivalry might have dictated Banner went first in such a situation, though I'm not sure etiquette would cover such an obscure mix of circumstances! I mistakenly thought Joseph didn't have much of an eye for detail, and I wasn't talking about the safety problems inherent in her building design - Hammond gives her the security dossier on the real Dr. Patterson and she looks for something to prove Banner's a fake: he uses a cane, she finds, but I thought she was ignoring the details that he's Irish and apparently 6' 11"! At least that's what I thought when glimpsing the document during the episode, although I went back and checked, and it was his date of birth that was 6 11!

The stock footage was fine, the canvas of the story nice and big, (but look out for a pink foot when Hulk kicks the rubble away at the end!), the setting was appropriate and I liked the way the story flowed and that Banner was doing something he could potentially get into major trouble over and his identity be revealed. I was also pleased to see a couple of clips from the first episode when Banner remembers back to one of his first Hulk-outs, and discussing it with Elaina, a more potent use of the footage than if they'd been flashing back every episode. This time he was hoping his problem would be over with the use of the Gamma laser. Sadly, it was not to be and he's back on the road again, no one he saved knowing who really did the deed, though fitting in a way as he was partially responsible for the problem even if he couldn't have predicted an earthquake at that specific time.

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