It's been just over a week since Universal
officially announced the upcoming
July 18th release of
The Incredible Hulk - The Complete 1st Season. Fans have waited a long time to get season sets of this classic series starring Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno, and they're very pleased to have their chance at it, finally! And Universal is ready to spread the word to retailers, too, having just unveiled a half-page ad that will run in trade magazines such as
Home Media Retailing this coming week:
None of our readers can possibly be more pleased than I am, having been a huge fan of this show and campaigning for a DVD release of it even prior to joining Gord here at TVShowsOnDVD! But one who comes close must be Matt Hankinson, who's been in touch with fellow fans, with us, and even with
Hulk Executive Producer Kenny Johnson, trying to get word to the studio that this is the perfect opportunity for a lenticular cover. You know, one of those where the picture changes depending on how you tilt the angle of the box? Matt thought that there should be a special cover that showed off the change from Banner to Hulk, and we never found a sole who disagreed with him...and apparently the folks at Universal had that very same thought! We don't know if Matt's efforts actually influenced the studio, or if they just had the same idea already in the works, but the trade ad show above very clearly shows that
the artwork recently revealed is from one angle of a lenticular cover. Here's a close-up of what the ad is showing:
Will the other shots be "over the shoulder" of the Hulk as pictured there, or is that just a re-arrangement for the ad? Probably the latter, and I imagine that the actual cover will have all versions of the transformations front-and-center. Either one is a bit different than Matt's mock-up concept, so again we're sure that this is just a coincidence. But we always gush when we see someone with Matt's enthusiasm!
There's one other thing to note about the trade ad, though. In mentioning the list of extras on this set, it claims that the bonus features will include a gag reel. Here, see for yourself:
And because of that, we're sure that some retailers (and possibly other DVD news websites as well) will include that in their list of supplements on this release. But hold on, we're not so sure that this aspect of the trade ad is correct. Kenny Johnson's website has already said (
as we reported earlier this month) that the gag reel isn't in the first season, and won't possibly show up until maybe the 3rd Season set (assuming sales warrant continued releases).
With a mystery on our hands, we checked at Universal's password-protected press site to see if the gag reel was listed among the extras in the
Hulk listing there. Nope. So we communicated with Kenny Johnson himself, and he is certain that this is just a mishap in the ad. As far as he knows, nothing has changed with that gag reel, and he believes the studio would need additional time than they have had to obtain the necessary legal clearances to include that item among the bonus material.
So if you hear about that gag reel in the first season set, please take it with a grain of salt. We'll try to check in with the studio this coming week to get the final word on the subject, though. IF we find out that the studio somehow squeezed that into the extras at the last minute somehow, we'll be sure to let you know! Our thanks to Ken Johnson for all of his time and assistance...he's a really incredible guy!
