SilverHawks


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-based equivalent of their previous series, ThunderCats.
As was the case with ThunderCats, there was also a SilverHawks comic book series published by Marvel Comics under the imprint Star Comics.
Lorimar-Telepictures was purchased by Warner Bros. in 1989, and the rights to SilverHawks are now held by Warner Bros. Television Distribution.

Overview

Production and development

followed up their successful ThunderCats series with this series about a team of heroes in the 29th century who were given metal bodies and 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.

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 who uses a "keytar" that fires musical notes.
Quicksilver leads the SilverHawks, with his metal bird companion Tally-Hawk at his side. Twins Emily and Will Hart became Steelheart and Steelwill, the SilverHawks's technician and strongman respectively. Country-singing Bluegrass piloted the team's ship, the Maraj. 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, retractable under-arm wings, thrusters on their heels, and laser-weapons in their shoulders.

Characters

Silverhawks

Main Silverhawks

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. They are often seen playing cards on the planet Fence.
Despite being in outer space, Limbo has breathable air and characters are seen to fall off their vehicles as if in a gravity field. During the series various planets are shown:

Stars

On October 14, 2008, Warner Home Video released SilverHawks: Volume 1 on DVD in Region 1 for the first time. 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 release, available exclusively through Warner's online store and Amazon.com. The 4-disc set contains the remaining 33 episodes of the series.

List of episodes

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 Kenner's Super Powers Collection toyline, 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 Kidd with Laser Discs, and the Copper Racer vehicle were not produced but were shown in the 1988 Kenner toy catalog. The Hawk Haven Fortress was also never released, due to the high production costs it would incur. Many recurring characters were never made, including Yes-Man, Melodia and Poker-Face.

Weapon-birds

The weapon-birds are cyborg animal companions released with most of the action figures. While Tally-Hawk appeared in almost all of the episodes in the series, all other "weapon-birds" only appeared in a handful of episodes. In the episode "The Fighting Hawks", the weapon-birds for the Steel Twins were accidentally switched from the toy versions. The weapon-birds are listed below, with their toy partner's name in parentheses.
' kid-friendly imprint Star Comics released a seven-issue series. Writers included Steve Perry, who also wrote for the animated series.
IssueTitleCover DateSynopsis
1The Origin StoryAugust 1987When Mon*Star escapes Penal Planet 10 and breaks out the rest of the Mob, Commander Stargazer calls Earth for reinforcements. Four human volunteers and one volunteer from the Planet of Mimes are transformed into Silverhawks and are soon on their way to the Limbo Galaxy and Hawk Haven, their home for the next few centuries. But Mon*Star organizes a welcome party.
2KidnappedOctober 1987When Tallyhawk catches Mon*Star and Hardware planning on kidnapping Commander Stargazer, Stargazer decides it is his chance to get all of the Mob's secrets from their computer banks.
3ClementineDecember 1987The Space Bandit jumps a claim on Automata and his loud mouth brings Melodia to get the gold for Mon*star. Bluegrass goes to bring them in, but soon needs rescue himself. But it turns out Automata has secrets no one but the prospector knew.
4Copper Kidd Beats The OddsFebruary 1988The gambler Percunius Wadsworth Wellington shows up at Hawkhaven saying he's been robbed by the Mob. Poker-face has a new game at the Starship Casino and wasn't happy that Wellington won big before Poker-face rigged it. But the Silverhawks can't do anything to help him - the Starship Casino lies beyond the Lightyear Limit - the end of their jurisdiction. Copper Kidd volunteers to take him home but decides to help him win back his money instead. Stargazer orders the other Silverhawks to stop him because Earth would disband them if he beat the Mob and what the Mob would do to him isn't worth mentioning.
5FantascreenApril 1988Hardware builds a machine that'll show someone's greatest fantasy and make them a mindless slave. When Steelwill is enslaved by it, Steelheart and the other Silverhawks go to his rescue. But what will Steelheart do when she's the only one left?
6A Few Laughs With The Old CrowdJune 1988When Stargazer bungles the Silverhawks capture of the Mon*Star and the Mob, he decides to head back to Earth for upgrades. But what's he going to do when Mon*Star conquers Hawkhaven and Copper Kidd is the only one left to call for help?
7DarkbirdAugust 1988Lord Cash of the Bankworld of Dolare calls help when Quicksilver appears to attack. But Tallyhawk has a report from Brim*Star - Hardware built a fake Silverhawk for Mon*Star! Can the Silverhawks defeat Darkbird?

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. Pajamas were also produced, which included wing flaps under the arms to more resemble the characters.

''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.