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. At present, Warner Brothers owns the rights to the series.
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.
Story
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 Yes-man, the blade-armed Buzz-Saw, the "bull"-headed Mumbo-Jumbo, weather controller Windhammer, shapeshifter Mo-Lec-U-Lar, robotic card shark Poker-Face, weapons-heavy Hardware, and "the musical madness of" Melodia (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’ technician and strongman respectively. Country-singing Col. 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 Copper Kidd (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, Copper Kidd was quizzed (along with the home audience) on various space facts by Col. Bluegrass.
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.
Characters
Heroes
The SilverHawks in the show's title sequence. Left to right: Copper Kidd, Bluegrass, Quicksilver (with Tallyhawk perched on arm), Steelheart, Steelwill.
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Other Supporting Characters
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Villians
Other 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 monions.
Space Bandit spends most of the time on the planet Fence, playing cards with his two friends - Rhino and Cyclops.
Rhino is a rhinoceros-like mutant who spends most of this time on the planet Fence, playing cards with the Space Bandit and Cyclops.
Cyclops is a balloon body creature who spends most his time on the planet Fence playing cards with the Space Bandit and Rhino.
DVD releases
On October 14, 2008 Warner Home Video released Silverhawks: Volume 1 on DVD in Region 1 for the very first time. The 4-disc set contains the first 32 episodes of the series.
On October 4, 2011, Warner Brothers 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. The 4-disc set contains the remaining 33 episodes of the series.
List of episodes
Broadcasted episodes
| Number | Title | Original Airdate | ||
| 1.01 | The Origin Story | September 8, 1986 | ||
| 1.02 | Journey To Limbo | September 9, 1986 | ||
| 1.03 | The Planet Eater | September 10, 1986 | ||
| 1.04 | Save The Sun | September 11, 1986 | ||
| 1.05 | Stop Timestopper | September 12, 1986 | ||
| 1.06 | Darkbird | September 15, 1986 | ||
| 1.07 | The Backroom | September 16, 1986 | ||
| 1.08 | The Threat of Dritt | September 17, 1986 | ||
| 1.09 | Sky-Shadow | September 18, 1986 | ||
| 1.10 | Magnetic Attraction | September 19, 1986 | ||
| 1.11 | Gold Shield | September 22, 1986 | ||
| 1.12 | Zero The Memory Thief | September 23, 1986 | ||
| 1.13 | The Milk Run | September 24, 1986 | ||
| 1.14 | The Hardware Trap - Part 1 | September 25, 1986 | ||
| 1.15 | The Hardware Trap - Part 2 | September 26, 1986 | ||
| 1.16 | Race Against Time | September 29, 1986 | ||
| 1.17 | Operation Big Freeze | September 30, 1986 | ||
| 1.18 | The Ghost Ship | October 1, 1986 | ||
| 1.19 | The Great Galaxy Race | October 2, 1986 | ||
| 1.20 | Fantascreen | October 3, 1986 | ||
| 1.21 | Hotwing Hits Limbo | October 6, 1986 | ||
| 1.22 | The Bounty Hunter | October 7, 1986 | ||
| 1.23 | Zeek's Fumble | October 8, 1986 | ||
| 1.24 | The Fighting Hawks | October 9. 1986 | ||
| 1.25 | The Rengade Hero | October 10, 1986 | ||
| 1.26 | One on One | October 13, 1986 | ||
| 1.27 | No More Mr. Nice Guy | October 14, 1986 | ||
| 1.28 | Music of the Spheres | October 15, 1986 | ||
| 1.29 | Limbo Gold Rush | October 16, 1986 | ||
| 1.30 | Countdown to Zero | October 17, 1986 | ||
| 1.31 | The Amber Amplifier | October 20, 1986 | ||
| 1.32 | The Saviour Stone | October 21, 1986 | ||
| 1.33 | Smiley | October 22, 1986 | ||
| 1.34 | Gotbucks | October 23, 1986 | ||
| 1.35 | Melodia's Siren Song | October 24, 1986 | ||
| 1.36 | Tally-Hawk Returns | October 27, 1986 | ||
| 1.37 | Undercover | October 28, 1986 | ||
| 1.38 | Eye of Infinity | October 29, 1986 | ||
| 1.39 | A Piece of the Action | October 30, 1986 | ||
| 1.40 | Flashback | October 31, 1986 | ||
| 1.41 | Super Birds | November 3, 1986 | ||
| 1.42 | The Blue Door | November 4, 1986 | ||
| 1.43 | The Star of Bedlama | November 5, 1986 | ||
| 1.44 | The Illusionist | November 6, 1986 | ||
| 1.45 | The Bounty Hunter Returns | November 7, 1986 | ||
| 1.46 | The Chase | November 10, 1986 | ||
| 1.47 | Switch | November 11, 1986 | ||
| 1.48 | Junkyard Dog | November 12, 1986 | ||
| 1.49 | Window in Time | November 13, 1986 | ||
| 1.50 | Gangwar - Part 1 | November 14, 1986 | ||
| 1.51 | Gangwar - Part 2 | November 17, 1986 | ||
| 1.52 | Sneak Attack - Part 1 | November 18, 1986 | ||
| 1.53 | Sneak Attack - Part 2 | November 19, 1986 | ||
| 1.54 | Moon*Star | November 20, 1986 | ||
| 1.55 | The Diamond Stick-Pin | November 21, 1986 | ||
| 1.56 | Burnout | November 24, 1986 | ||
| 1.57 | Battle Cruiser | November 25, 1986 | ||
| 1.58 | Small World | November 26, 1986 | ||
| 1.59 | Match-Up | November 27, 1986 | ||
| 1.60 | Stargazer's Refit | November 28, 1986 | ||
| 1.61 | The Invisible Destroyer | December 1, 1986 | ||
| 1.62 | The Harder They Fall | December 2, 1986 | ||
| 1.63 | Uncle Rattler | December 3, 1986 | ||
| 1.64 | Zeek's Power | December 4, 1986 | ||
| 1.65 | Airshow | December 5, 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 series 1 Hawk Haven Fortress was never produced either, due to the high production costs it would incur. Figures for many characters, including Melodia and Poker-Face, were never made.
Comics
The Marvel Comics imprint Star Comics (which also published ThunderCats) released a seven-issue series. Writers included Steve Perry who also wrote for the animated series.
Merchandise
Several other pieces of SilverHawks merchandise were released in the 1980s including a board game, puzzles, 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.