Tuesday, October 14, 2008

TALLEY HAWWWWWKKK!!!!


Partly metal, partly real.
(INSERT APPROPRIATE HAWK SCREECH HERE)
Silverhawks!
That either sparked a huge memory synapse just now, or you think I'm crazy as a loon. Well, it's a little of both, but that's neither here nor there. What this is is the Season One box set of one of the coolest cartoons to come out of the 80's. I speak, of course, of SILVERHAWKS.
What's that you ask? Glad you did, this is it in a nutshell;

Bionic policeman 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 aid of Limbo’s Moonstar. Joining Mon*Star in his villainy is an intergalactic mob: the snakelike Yessman, the blade-armed Buzz-Saw, the "bull"-headed Mumbo-Jumbo, weather controller Windhammer, shapeshifter Mo-Lec-U-Lar, robotic card shark Pokerface, weapons-heavy Hardware, and "the musical madness of" Melodia who uses a "keytar" that fires musical notes.

To oppose them, Quicksilver leads the SilverHawks, with his metal bird companion Talley Hawk at his side. Twins Emily and Will Hart became Steelheart and Steelwill, the Silverhawks’ technician and strongman respectively. Country-singing Col. Bluegrass played a sonic guitar and piloted the team’s ship, the Maraj. Rounding out the group is a youngster “from the planet of the mimes,” named Copper Kidd, usually called "Kidd" for short, a mathematical genius who spoke in whistles and computerized tones. At the end of every episode, Copper Kidd was quizzed, along with the home audience, on various space facts.

Launching from their satellite base, Hawk Haven, the SilverHawks flew into battle five days a week for one season. The fictitious Galaxy of Limbo in which the series takes place apparently has an atmosphere; characters speak in space and operate "open-air" vehicles, and Windhammer's powers work even when he is not on an actual planet. There is also gravity; characters not "flying" tend to fall downward relative to whatever vehicle, satellite, or other platform with which they lost footing. However, since Silverhawks is a fantastical children's cartoon, it should not be held to high standards of realism.

It was the whole Galaxy Of Limbo concept that always fascinated me. They were in space, but not suffering explosive decompression from their bare skin hitting space. It was a nice, warm friendly kind of space.
It was so obvious that this was in direct response to the popularity of THUNDERCATS, but you don't catch lightning in a bottle everytime. It was a good solid cartoon with 65 episodes that comprise Season One.
In addition to the first 32 episodes this DVD set also has a featurette on the show along with a sneak peek at the new Wonder Woman animated film coming from Warner Bros.

Now, if you'll excuse me it's time to go immerse myself in my childhood.

(INSERT APPROPRIATE HAWK NOISE HERE.)

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