I'm sorry but this is probably one of the best filmed scenes in history. The music, along with the stress David is going through is captured perfectly.

This actually frightened me incredibly as a child, and I was watching real horror films at the same time with my Pop, like Carrie and Nightmare on Elm Street in the 80s. This still ranks as a best scary film above anything, Bill Bixby made the audience believe, made us feel the pain he does in this pilot episode, and the elements we can all probably relate with, loss of control, anger, violence. Rest in peace Bill. You made the best mark in entertainment you could, immortalised. Peace.

Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno were fantastic. Nothing beats the intensity of the transformations in this series.

It was reported that The Hulk in this pilot looked too frightening so they had to make changes to Lou's makeup for the rest of the series. I like this Hulk MUCH better!

Now this is how I like to see the Hulk....not computer generated.

Oh, my gosh..I'm getting teary-eyed and goosebumps watching this again! Everything is there to make this scene worthwhile: Bill Bixby's acting, Joseph Harnell's dramatic music, the "thousand monks chanting" as Banner changes into the Hulk. The scene is played out at a normal pace so our brains can take it all in with none of the cliched, flashy, whiplash, quick-cut camera work and editing that so many TV shows and films have succumbed to these days as studios try and appeal to a public that has a shorter attention span thanks partly to MTV.

the best transforming sequence in the entire history of the incredible hulk franchise.

Imagine someone casually driving by and seeing this.

Bill Bixby what a Great Great actor! No one has played Bruce Banner better than him. That kook he gave you when he was about to transform is Priceless!!!!

Remember this scene well when it first played on TV. Nothing like it before and nothing like it since. Great series. Thanks for posting!

Holds up surprisingly well. Passes the "If the Hulk were real" test. A literary Hulk.

Did everyone take notes? Hulk just showed us all how to properly change a tire. I honestly love Bixby and Lou. Not even all that new CGI bull can top the job these two men did in this series. Lou, you're the man. Bill, I miss you so much. I wish you were still with us. Rest in peace.

Exactly! If you pay attention, he never screamed when he was transforming, he just growled quietly. He screamed two times because of the pain when he cutted himself, but the second one was louder because he felt the stress overcome him, making the transformation begin.

the best Hulkout even tho you can see he is wearing shoes at 4:43 still remember this scene when I was a kid and it scared the shit out of me then.

This brings back some memories. I can remember watching this very scene with my family wayy back in the day. Loved the Hulk. In fact as an adult myparents bought me a hulk shampoo bottle as a little reminder of how much they knew I loved it as a kid .

Even with all the technology, special effects and CG we have nowadays, I say that this is THE transformation. The soundtrack makes is even creepier. It still has the ability to disturb me whenever I watch this scene.

The scene that scared the $hit out of me as a child. I couldn't comprehend as to why I felt so scared whenever he was transforming.

This is my most favorite moment in TV history.

best transformation ever

Lou Ferrigno was the original and the best incredible Hulk. No one will ever replicate him!

This hulk was way better than the hulk we’re getting in the mcu

This hulk was much more scarier, and more haunting. You know what makes it more scarier is that he looks like Edward Hyde. If you read the short story of Jekyll and Hyde, he looks like this hulk

One of the greatest shows ever! Lou and Bill you were great together!

Lou was saying, "I do all my own stunts."

This scene is perfect man. The music, atmosphere and the growing sense of rage. Always creeped me the fuck out when I was a kid

My childhood right here

My favorite transformation "hands down" goes to the episode, "THE FIRST: Part II" after Dell Frye's Hulk had destroyed Banner's cure. Bill Bixby did a great job at displaying his heartbreak after seeing what he had sought after for so long slip away.

David Banner leaving the lab was wrong: he should have calmed down a bit and wait for the storm to calm, All elements were given that night for his first metamorphosis. Great first double episode

When i first saw this and especially this scene I thought this is the best classic transformation ever!!!

I love the lighting and the makeup in this scene. Keeping Lou's features in shadow really works. It's probably the best looking transformation, until the Ed Norton Hulk movie was made.

Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno were fantastic but we must not forget the growls and roars of Ted Cassidy.

it gave me the creeps when banner suddenly turned to the camera with those green eyes as weel as the soundtrack playing, this is the ultimate and far mmore better transformation of all time past or present.

Timeless .... so many things work right in this scene/episode... the orig. filmmakers really did their job. I won't list all the "rights" but one effective device is not overblowing the strength ...like the movies, cartoons, and comic series do. Keep things in the REAL WORLD as much as possible and you have a formula that works.

Absolutely. Just because the CGI Hulks are bigger doesn't mean anything. Plus, the series is much more realistic. Sure, they don't have the best effects, but if they made this series with the same cast with current technology, I'm sure everyone would love them over the rest. I think I like the non-CGI hulk for 2 main reasons. It doesn't look computer-generated, and on Lou's face, there are actually emotions. There's actual talent involved.

Amazing how we've had power creep in our superheroes and supervillains. Modern Hulk would have batted the car into the next county on that first punch.

This one is tied with his transformation in "the First" where he fights Dell Frye's Hulk. It's a really sad and touching performance.

Thanks for loading this. I have a box set, and also pretty much every episode gathered on various DVDs.......I saw this when I was about 5 years old - the makers knew how to work a script, and how to shoot with great camera angles and speed to make Ferigno truly incredible as the Hulk......and Bixby....when he did that slight shiver as his eyes went - it has never been bettered................

Best Hulk Ever

I remember watching this when it first came out when I was about 8 years old and being absolutely transfixed by it. The music added a lot.

This was genuinely terrifying. The eerie 2001 style score when the transformation starts, Bill Bixby's eyes and the utterly ferocious monster Hulk. He's also much bigger in the pilot physically. It seems like they used a slightly scaled down car prop next to him making him look ten feet tall or more.

Hulk8000000

After seeing the CGI Hulk's level of damage, first thought comes to mind is "That all you got, Lou?" lol. j/k. Always a classic scene in my book.

Oh, and my entire childhood was based on seeing Bixby look at me with white/green eyes. I still get a slight rush when I see them and hear that high note :D

Bill Bixby though what an actor that guy was so hope he gets a Hollywood walk of fame which he rightfully deserves

I definitely agree.. I always think of that scene.. It was so sad and intense.. seeing the last of the antidote that would of cured him all splattered on the wall... he is touching it with tears pouring out his eyes.. yelling "NO!!..NO!!" then you see his eyes turn white.. it was so freaking awesome. special effects are so impressive now... but i miss that strong emotional human element that is gone now... they probably wouldn't even show a man crying.

Always Be MY Incredible Hulk

I remember going to see this at my local cinema with my mum. Also going to see a double bill of star wars, the original and the empire strikes back, we also had an odeon cinema before people didn't go to the cinema so much and it got knocked down, I went there again with my mum to see sinbad followed by the main film which was the first spiderman film in the 1970s, I remember that before the film came on, night fever song by the bee gees was playing and every time I hear that song on the radio, I immediately think of that time. Bless you mum and dad.

3:35 and on...Poor Hulk! I know exactly how you feel there. It's just too bad that in reality cars won't explode like that when you shove them down a slope. Seriously, this is one of the best film scenes ever made! It's a classic at par with Hitchcock's shower scene in Psycho i'd say. I see that now as an adult. I was a little child when i saw this for the first time and back then it freaked me out. I remember i ran, crying and shouting after mommy. Now i see the art...

I remembered watching this tv series back in the 1980s in Singapore. Nice to see a old Toyota Celica. :)

I agree, the build-up and tension they put into the viewer is incredible, love it!

I just purchased the entire 4th season yesterday from iTunes yesterday. Love "THE FIRST."

I agree...he really nailed the part of a pacifist on the run tormented by a creature from within. No other actor (despite their credibility) has been able to fully capture that same intensity & sadness of one who has lost everything. Bill Bixby set the bar very high & continues to do so after so many years.

I remember ages ago I used watch this with my dad and I always was scared especially this scene but looking back on it now actually is still pretty eerie with the disturbing sounds and David getting overwhelmed and the monstrous hulk appearing like Mr Hyde or something..no wonder I was so scared....also I like the way in this he is not really a superhero but more like a transforming creature!

Grew up as a kid in total awe but fear looking at the hulk

Great atmosphere created by 'outdoor studio' and very minimal artificial lighting. Excellent cinematography, editing, pacing ... with great musical scoring (the voices are G. Ligeti, IIRC) ... and w/p/d Johnson chose a scenario(s) most of us can relate to: unsuccessful research project (academia), thunderstorms, driving, flat tire, having a "bad day", loss of loved one in accident, physical pain, emotional anger, etc. Unfortunately, this near-perfect film-making/plotting/story-telling did not make it to the rest of the series. This pilot was unique.

HULK 20000000000000000

Loved this series just wish they had called him Bruce like the comic

Thanks to your reminder I just purchased the entire 4th season of THE INCREDIBLE HULK on iTunes yesterday. As far as I'm concerned, Bill Bixby remains the best actor to ever portray Banner. He really nailed the part of a fugitive pacifist tormented by an enraged creature from within. Sure they downplayed THE HULK's capabilities due to the limited special effects of the 1970's. However, it somehow worked as a result of using the whole Bigfoot sighting factor, which was quite big at the time.

3:57 Car lights are on. 4:33 Car lights are off. 4:42 Car lights back on again.

Yeah! This rocks! What every American boy growing up in the 70s and 80s dreamed of being--that iswhen they weren't out running in the streets and pounding the iron to be just like Rocky Balboa. Wow! Were those ever the days, Man! The Incredible Hulk was the one everybody wanted to be who ever got picked on or beat up by the schoolyard bully.

Something that I noticed in the show, is seatbelts always seem to jam in dangerous situations and people who don't wear them get safely thrown from their cars. Were seatbelts that deadly back in the 70's?

That is pretty incredible firs tthey start with Bill Bixby with Green contacts, then it shows the clothes ripping, then he has a slight tint of green in his face, then it shows the muscles building, his face is slightly greener not much, his muscles get bigger and the clothes are tearing more, then his face is fully green with black hair, then eventually boom its Lou Ferrigno!!

Bill bixby/lou ferrigno era is the best 😮

I remember this scene scared me a lot when I was a kid 🤯

imagine the Hulk using a Microsoft product with the continuous bloody updates.

I also like the haunted zombies sound when he starts transforming it gives it a real kick to the scene

MY FAVORITE-SCENE IN THE WHOLE SERIES!!!

David Banner would have been great on Worlds Wrost Handyman..He's always getting hurt doing simple things....lolol.. Now..this is the best Hulkout ever..First one so they had to make it awesome...

Lou Ferrigno's screams are awesome!

70's tv was brilliant.. well written, lot of talent, although the hulk was a bit slow, fix the car dude.

The problem with Computer Generated Images, is that they look very cartoonish, no offence to the fx teams who use it; they look too artificial and phony. One of the very few times in which CGI actually got it right in terms of realism is Jurassic Park.

HULK 5000000005

My dad graduated in 1978 and I remember looking in the page where I read the page that said Favorite TV Shows and he wrote The Incredible Hulk and my mother wrote in the same page in her year book in 1981 she wrote Favorite TV shows.

The Incredible Hulk The Incredible Hulk Returns The Trial of the Incredible Hulk The Death of the Incredible Hulk

I love the close-ups where you see David start to slip away when the change comes over him. He starts to try again with the lugnuts but then stops as his personality starts to shift. His sense of self lost in the sea of anger as the transformation taking over his body, dragging him into primordial fury.

When this hulk turns up in “Avengers Secret Wars”.

Sums up 2020! Still freaks me out this scene

I am glad to know that more people agree with me. It means that more people DO know that the classic transformation is still the BEST one. In my humble opinion, if the new theatrical movies had used two actors or an actor in a suit, the effects would be much more convincing. I'm sorry for my poor English. It is not my mother tongue. Greetings.

wow best video in my life

the "thousand voices" sounded a lot like dark cultest monks chanting some horrid ritual that's what I think of when I hear them chant the transform of David Banner to the Hulk. WI-KKED!!!

Le personnage de hulk aurrai du garder cette aspect là, il est très impressionnant dans cette série pilote ! Tout y est , hulk est parfait. Il a vraiment l esprit et l apparence primitif que l on ne retrouve absolument pas par la suite et dans les autres séries de l incroyable hulk. C est dommage ! Mais bon , la série reste très bien , à voir où à revoir. Bill bixby et lou ferrigno sont 👍 là transformation est un moment que je préfère !

The 5 dislikes are from gray hulk fans....

@BlaineBingham Another thing, if you noticed, was when he started jacking up the car, all of a sudden he's jacking it up using the handle of the lug wrench, a few seconds beforehand, he's not using one.

This would have been far less impressive without the music of the late Joe Harnell, who also composed music for the Bionic Woman at the same time. His music along with the "thousand voices" transformation sound was unforgettable.

great...how are you going to get home, now?

a classic back in 1978

HULK 180000

The Best

They changed the look of the Hulk after season 1. He became less menacing, the hair was shortened, and the green paint not as dark. I think the season one Hulk scared the children, so they made the minor changes.

OW I HURT MYSELF CHANGING THIS TIRE!!!!

BEST HULK EVER!!!

Just noticed this - pay attention to the car headlights. At 4:00 when David has changed into Hulk, the car lights are on, then at 4:34 when Hulk pounds the hood, the lights are off. Then at 4:40 when Hulk lifts car to overturn, the headlights have mysteriously come back on again!

@BlaineBingham And when he was smashing the top of the car, the headlights were off but when he lifts the car, they're back on again, and didn't david take the key out of the car?

Still my sentim,ental favourite Banner

You know, Lou Ferrigno actually tipped the car over? With nothing to help him. SO AWESOME.

I love it

"I have learned that there is no way to succeed in anything unless you are willing to try, and trying means you run the risk of failure." - Bill Bixby

I remember this... #HULKSMASH

He bent the lug wrench. Now he'll never get that tire off.

Damn, that is some damage he did there, especially back then. The Hulk must have scared a lot of people back then.