SilverHawks

For the baseball team, see South Bend Silver Hawks.
SilverHawks

SilverHawks logo
Created by Rankin/Bass
Directed by
  • Arthur Rankin Jr.
  • Jules Bass
Voices of
Composer(s) Bernard Hoffer
Country of origin United States
No. of episodes 65 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)
  • Arthur Rankin Jr.
  • Jules Bass
  • Lee Dannacher
  • Masaki Ihzuka
Running time 23 minutes
Production company(s)
Distributor
Release
Original network First-run syndication
Original release September 8 – December 5, 1986

SilverHawks is an American animated television series developed by Rankin/Bass Productions and distributed by Lorimar-Telepictures in 1986. The animation was provided by Japanese studio Pacific Animation Corporation. In total, 65 episodes were made. It was created as a space-bound equivalent of their previous series, ThunderCats.

As was the case with ThunderCats, there was also a SilverHawks comic book series published by then-Marvel Comics imprint Star Comics.

Currently, Warner Bros. (which purchased Lorimar, and Telepictures, in 1989) owns the rights to SilverHawks and other TV series made by Lorimar and/or Telepictures.

Overview

Production and development

Rankin/Bass followed up their successful ThunderCats series with this series about a team of human heroes in the 29th century who were given metal bodies and hawk wings to stop organized crime in the Galaxy of Limbo. SilverHawks featured many of the same voice actors who had worked on ThunderCats, including Larry Kenney, Peter Newman, Earl Hammond, Doug Preis and Bob McFadden.

Launching from their satellite base, Hawk Haven, the SilverHawks flew into battle five days a week for one season. The series was closely associated with ThunderCats, sharing the same production company, the same style of story lines, and virtually the same voice cast. Mon*Star, the main villain, has a voice similar to that of Mumm-Ra, the main villain of ThunderCats, who is also voiced by Earl Hammond.[1]

Plot

A bionic policeman called Commander Stargazer recruited the SilverHawks, heroes who are "partly metal, partly real," to fight the evil Mon*Star, an escaped alien mob boss who transforms into an enormous armor-plated creature with the help of Limbo’s Moonstar. Joining Mon*Star in his villainy is an intergalactic mob: the snakelike Yes-Man, the blade-armed Buzz-Saw, the "bull"-headed Mumbo-Jumbo, a weather controller called Windhammer, a shapeshifter known as Mo-Lec-U-Lar, a robotic card shark called Poker-Face, the weapons-heavy Hardware, and "the musical madness of" Melodia; this last uses a "keytar" that fires musical notes.

Quicksilver (formerly Jonathan Quick) leads the SilverHawks, with his metal bird companion TallyHawk at his side. Twins Emily and Will Hart became Steelheart and Steelwill, the SilverHawks’s technician and strongman respectively. Country-singing Colonel Bluegrass played a sonic guitar and piloted the team’s ship, the Miraj (pronounced "mirage" on the series, but given that spelling on the Kenner toy). Rounding out the group is a youngster “from the planet of the mimes,” named "The Copper Kidd" and usually called "Kidd" for short, a mathematical genius who spoke in whistles and computerized tones. Their bionic bodies are covered by a full-body close-fitting metal armor that only exposes the face and an arm, the armor is equipped with a retractile protective mask, retractile wings under-arm (except Bluegrass) thruster on elbows, and laser-weapons over the body. At the end of every episode, the Copper Kidd was quizzed (along with the home audience) on various space facts by Col. Bluegrass.

Characters

Heroes

The SilverHawks in the show's title sequence. Left to right: Copper Kidd, Bluegrass, Quicksilver (with Tallyhawk perched on arm), Steelheart, Steelwill.

Main Silverhawks

Minor Silverhawks

NOTE: Only TallyHawk appeared in almost all of the episodes in the series. All the other "weapon-birds" only appeared in a handful of episodes. Per the episode "The Fighting Hawks", the Hawks for the Steel Twins were accidentally switched in the toy versions.

Supporting characters

Villains

Three Outlaws from Fence

They appear in many episodes and are friendly to Melodia and Poker-Face, though the three are usually betrayed by the Mon*Star's minions.

The Galaxy of Limbo

During the show the galaxy looks peculiar. It's got breathable air and some type of gravity because characters fall down off their vehicles. During the series various planets are shown:

DVD releases

On October 14, 2008 Warner Home Video released Silverhawks: Volume 1 on DVD in Region 1 for the very first time.[6] The 4-disc set contains the first 32 episodes of the series.

On October 4, 2011, Warner Bros. released Silverhawks: Volume 2 on DVD in region 1 via their Warner Archive Collection. This is a Manufacture-on-Demand (MOD) release, available exclusively through Warner's online store and Amazon.com.[7] The 4-disc set contains the remaining 33 episodes of the series.

List of episodes

  1. The Origin Story 09/08/1986
  2. Journey To Limbo 09/09/1986
  3. The Planet Eater 09/10/1986
  4. Save The Sun 09/11/1986
  5. Stop Timestopper 09/12/1986
  6. Darkbird 09/15/1986
  7. The Backroom 09/16/1986
  8. The Threat of Dritt 09/17/1986
  9. Sky-Shadow (09/18/1986)
  10. Magnetic Attraction 09/19/1986
  11. Gold Shield 09/22/1986
  12. Zero The Memory Thief 09/23/1986
  13. The Milk Run 09/24/1986
  14. The Hardware Trap, Episode 1 09/25/1986
  15. The Hardware Trap, Episode 2 09/26/1986
  16. Race Against Time 09/29/1986
  17. Operation Big Freeze 09/30/1986
  18. The Ghost Ship 10/01/1986
  19. The Great Galaxy Race 10/02/1986
  20. Fantascreen 10/03/1986
  21. Hotwing Hits Limbo 10/06/1986
  22. The Bounty Hunter 10/07/1986
  23. Zeek's Fumble 10/08/1986
  24. The Fighting Hawks 10/09/1986
  25. The Renegade Hero 10/10/1986
  26. One on One 10/13/1986
  27. No More Mr. Nice Guy 10/14/1986
  28. Music of the Spheres 10/15/1986
  29. Limbo Gold Rush 10/16/1986
  30. Countdown to Zero 10/17/1986
  31. The Amber Amplifier 10/20/1986
  32. The Saviour Stone 10/21/1986
  33. Smiley 10/22/1986
  34. Gotbucks 10/23/1986
  35. Melodia's Siren Song 10/24/1986
  36. Tally-Hawk Returns 10/27/1986
  37. Undercover 10/28/1986
  38. Eye of Infinity 10/29/1986
  39. A Piece of the Action 10/30/1986
  40. Flashback 10/31/1986
  41. Super Birds 11/03/1986
  42. The Blue Door 11/04/1986
  43. The Star of Bedlama 11/05/1986
  44. The Illusionist 11/06/1986
  45. The Bounty Hunter Returns 11/07/1986
  46. The Chase 11/10/1986
  47. Switch 11/11/1986
  48. Junkyard Dog 11/12/1986
  49. Window in Time 11/13/1986
  50. Gangwar, Episode 1 11/14/1986
  51. Gangwar, Episode 2 11/17/1986
  52. Sneak Attack, Episode 1 11/18/1986
  53. Sneak Attack, Episode 2 11/19/1986
  54. Moon*Star 11/20/1986
  55. The Diamond Stick-Pin 11/21/1986
  56. Burnout 11/24/1986
  57. Battle Cruiser 11/25/1986
  58. Small World 11/26/1986
  59. Match-Up 11/27/1986
  60. Stargazer's Refit 11/28/1986
  61. The Invisible Destroyer 12/01/1986
  62. The Harder They Fall 12/02/1986
  63. Uncle Rattler 12/03/1986
  64. Zeek's Power 12/04/1986
  65. Airshow 12/05/1986

Spin-offs

Action figures

The SilverHawks action figure collection based on the animated series was produced by Kenner and first released in 1987. LJN, the makers of the ThunderCats figures, originally were to produce the SilverHawks figures but decided to pass on the project at the last minute. Each figure was packaged with a companion bird and, similar to the popular Super Powers Collection, had an action feature of some type. The second series of figures is harder to find than the first with Ultrasonic Quicksilver being the most difficult. The MonStar with Laser Lance, Copper Kid with Laser Discs, and the Copper Racer vehicle were not produced but were shown in the 1988 Kenner toy catalog. The Season One Hawk Haven Fortress was never produced either, due to the high production costs it would incur. Figures for many recurring characters, including Yes-Man, Melodia and Poker-Face, were never made.

Comics

The Marvel Comics imprint Star Comics (which also published ThunderCats) released a seven-issue series.[8] Writers included Steve Perry who also wrote for the animated series.[9][10]

Merchandise

Several other pieces of SilverHawks merchandise were released in the 1980s including a board game, puzzles, bed sheets, and a plastic pencil pouch with the main characters on one side with a metal zipper. A set of pajamas were also produced which included wing flaps under the arms to more resemble the characters while wearing them.

ThunderCats (2011)

In the 2011 ThunderCats remake, Mon*Star briefly appears in a cameo in the episode “Legacy”. He was seen on a monitor in the bridge of Mumm-Ra's ship.[11]

References

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