SilverHawks: Volume One

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Rating: Not Rated

Starring:
Bob McFadden as Cmdr. Stargazer
Earl Hammond as Mon-star
Larry Kenney as Bluegrass
Peter Newman as Mumbo Jumbo
Maggie Wheeler as Melodia / Steel Heart
Doug Preis as Mo-Lec-U-lar
Adolph Caesar as Hotwing

Special Features:
– Partly Metal, Partly Real: Remembering SilverHawks
– The Origin and Evolution of the SilverHawks Gallery of Characters and Action Figures
– Exclusive Sneak Peek at DC Universe’s Wonder Woman

Other Info:
Fullscreen (1.33:1)
Dolby Digital Mono Sound
Spanish and French Language
Running Time: 714 Minutes

Synopsis:
The following is from the official DVD description:

“Rocket chases, space battles and out-of-this-world adventures!

Created as a follow-up to the successful ‘Thundercats’ TV series, ‘SilverHawks’ pits a cybernetically engineered team of heroes – Quicksilver, Tally Hawk, Blue Grass, Super Twins Steelheart and Steelwill, Commander Stargazer and The Copper Kid – against the universe’s most dangerous villain Mon-Star and his ruthless band of criminals. Starring Thundercats voice actors Earl Hammond, Larry Kenney, Peter Newman and Bob McFadden, this action-packed weekday series launched into battle for one soaring, spectacular season. Steel yourself for the first 32 episodes of that golden time: more than 11 hours of cosmically cool entertainment plus a New Retrospective Featurette with creator interviews in a Deluxe 4-Disc Collection that’s a must-own for any classic animation collector.

Disc One:
– The Origin Story
– Journey to Limbo
– The Planet Eater
– Save the Sun
– Stop Timestopper
– Darkbird
– The Backroom
– The Threat of Dritt

Disc Two:
– Sky-Shadow
– Magnetic Attraction
– Gold Shield
– Zero The Memory Thief
– The Milk Run
– The Hardware Trap Part 1
– The Hardware Trap Part 2
– Race Against Time

Disc Three:
– Operation Big Freeze
– The Ghost Ship
– The Great Galaxy Race
– Fantascreen
– Hotwing Hits Limbo
– The Bounty Hunter
– Zeek’s Fumble
– The Fighting Hawks

Disc Four – Side A:
– The Renegade Hero
– One on One
– No More Mr. Nice Guy
– Music of the Spiders
– Limbo Gold Rush
– Countdown to Zero
– The Amber Amplifier
– The Saviour Stone

Disc Four – Side B:
Special Features ”

“SilverHawks: Volume One” is not rated.

Mini-Review:
I remember watching “SilverHawks” back when it first aired in 1986. I remember enjoying it, but not much else. So when the DVD hit again, I thought it might be fun to show it to my kids. Now watching it 22 years later, I have to say… man, this was an oddball show.

There was actually a mix of cool, imaginative stuff in here along with “holy crap, what were they thinking” stuff. It was like there were three writers in a room creating the show. Two were coming up with cool stuff, the third was smoking crack.

“Let’s have one character that is silver, can fly, and shoot lasers!”
“Let’s have another that’s an alien kid!”
“And let’s have a another that’s a cowboy with a guitar that can shoot stuff! And give him a mohawk!”
“…..Huh?”

“Let’s have a lead bad guy that transforms and has red armor with spikes!”
“And another that can change into any shape!”
“Let’s make another a punk rock girl named Melodia with a laser firing guitar!”
“Huh? Seriously?”
“Yeah! And the lead bad guy should ride a giant space squid! Dude!”
“Uhhh…OK.”

I bet those were some really interesting development meetings. Anyway, the animation looks pretty good, but it’s the standard anime-looking stuff you saw all over the place in the ’80s. But as I watched the show, I thought, “Mon-Star sure sounds a lot like Mumm-Ra from ‘Thundercats.'” Well, that’s because he was the same guy. In fact, most of the cast were also on ‘Thundercats.’ Who knew? I was also shocked to discover that Steel Heart and Melodia were both voiced by the actress who played the annoying Janice on “Friends”! You learn something new every day.

If you have some nostalgia for “SilverHawks,” then you may want to pick up this DVD. Kids will be entertained by it and my own boys have asked to see several episodes since. (Though my 9-year-old daughter declared it “Stupid”.)

There’s only one bonus feature on here and it’s a retrospective with some of the creators (not sure if it’s one of the crack smoking ones) and Maggie Wheeler (Melodia / Steel Heart).