THE INCREDIBLE HULK

JOE HARNELL

Rating:

Original Review: Don't make me angry. You won't like me when I'm angry. These words were regularly heard in my house when I was growing up - either being used as a mock-serious threat by my mom when she was getting annoyed with me, or coming from our TV set, which used to be tuned to the latest instalment of The Incredible Hulk every week without fail. For those who don't know, The Incredible Hulk was a 1980s TV series adapted from the classic Marvel comic strip about Dr. David Banner (Bill Bixby), a brilliant scientist who, after a massive overdose of gamma rays, is forever cursed to turn into a massive, green-skinned, snarling giant (Lou Ferrigno) whenever he becomes stressed out.

I loved the series as a kid, but I never paid any attention to the music at that time. Ah, the follies of youth! But, with this new release of Hulk music from those wonderful folks at Supertracks, I can fully appreciate now what I had been missing all those years ago. The music is by American composer Joe Harnell, whose credits include several other popular TV series including The Bionic Woman, Cliffhangers, 'V' and Alien Nation, but who has vanished from the mainstream scoring setup in recent years. The CD includes score from the original pilot of the series, plus music from four episodes and, as a bonus, a couple of cues from the aforementioned Cliffhanger.

Harnell's music is full of wonderfully retro cheesiness, and slavishly adheres to many of the familiar super hero musical clichés of the era. Special mention should go to the trio of recurring themes Harnell wrote as the musical cornerstones of the series - especially the Twilight Zone-style opening and whizz-bang propulsive melody of the 'Main Title', the massively overblown but undeniably romantic string and piano histrionics of the 'Love Theme' and the admittedly quite lovely piano solo in 'The Lonely Man Theme', which accompanies Dr Banner's long and desolate trudge into oblivion at the end of each episode.

A little less impressive is the episodic underscore itself, which tends more often than not to remain a little anonymous and nondescript when compared to the central melodies. Despite having a way with inventive dissonance and clever action (as heard in the creepily effective 'Gamma Ray Treatment', the bombastic and nervous 'First Hulk Out/Second Hulk Out/Transformation', the superbly rousing 'Arrival at Project Prometheus' and the cleverly percussive 'The Sectre Empire Suite'), a light touch with more romantic fare (such as the sweeping 'The Wedding' and the folksy, homespun 'Ricky Montage'), and despite regularly incorporating Banner's 4-note motif into the morass of the music, the underscore nevertheless sounds just a little too formulaic to be truly great.

I'm not saying that Harnell's music is bad - it's just that I seem to remember virtually every 80s sci-fi series sounding like this and, unlike the musically rich series Star Trek and The Twilight Zone, there is nothing that leaves a lasting impression. But, for posterity's sake, it is a good thing that The Incredible Hulk has finally been released after all these years, and it is a good thing that the undervalued Mr. Harnell is having some of his work represented on disc. But, when all's said and done, it is hardly an essential purchase, even for fans of the original series such as myself. Despite the CD being a limited edition promotional release, the curious should be able to pick up a copy from the usual specialty outlets such as Supercollector or Intrada.

Track Listing: Running Time: 74 minutes 01 seconds

Super Tracks JHCD-02 (1999)

Music composed and conducted by Joe Harnell. Orchestrations by Joe Harnell and Don Davis. Piano solo on "The Lonely Man" performed by Joe Harnell. Originally edited by Herbert D. Woods. Digitally edited and mastered by James Nelson. Album produced by Joe Harnell and Ford A. Thaxton.

Cinemusic Online
Filmtracks: Review by Christian Clemmenson (***)
Movie Wave: Review by James Southall (***)
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