Silverhawks

I remember being an eight year old boy sitting in front of the tele watching the Silverhawks. Man, what a great cartoon. There were its flaws. I'm not sure why a commander and a lieutenant outranked a captain (must be some sort of Limbo galaxy military ranking thing). I'm not sure how a Steelheart survived with a metal heart. I'm not sure how the Silverhawks breathed in space. But I don't care. It was fantasy. It was fiction. And there was always a basic 'good prevails over evil' trend. Plus, the Copper Kidd thing at the end was very educational. This is far better than the crap that comes on the tele now. There are cartoons on now that I wouldn't dare let my children watch. And I don't mean adult cartoons like "Family Guy" or "South Park" or "Aqua Teen". I mean children's cartoons that come on children's networks. Is the Silverhawks cheesy? Of course it is...it was the 80's. Everything was cheesy. But in the end, the morals were pure and the message was good. That's what makes it great. 10/10

Okay, first the little matter that the producers of "Thundercats" ripped off their own show by doing a space opera version called "Silverhawks" - I grew up outside the States, in Ecuador, and "Silverhawks" was actually shown there before "Thundercats!" So I've never had that issue.

And why can't "Silverhawks" simply be judged on its own merits? The science may have been wildly inaccurate, but that's why it's called Science FICTION!! Just shut your mind off and enjoy. I certainly had no problem doing it, with all the brightly colored characters against backgrounds of futuristic buildings and machines and black skies with shimmering stars.

Most of all, "Silverhawks" had GREAT villains. Their leader, Monstar, may have been a Mumm-Ra ripoff, but I think his ritual transformation was way creepier than Mumm-Ra's. Instead of getting all muscular and bursting out of a cloak and bandages, Monstar would burst out of his own SKIN, and come out looking like some kind of cyborg-demon! And Monstar's underlings were a memorable bunch: his ridiculously obedient sidekick, a chimp/snake named Yes-Man; Hardware, the troll with a backpack full of gadgets; Windjammer, with his long blonde hair and gaunt face and weather-control staff; Mumbo-Jumbo, a minotaur on steroids; Buzzsaw, a robot with built-in blades; Molecular, the shape shifter; Pokerface, the lounge lizard/walking slot machine; Time-Stopper, a teenage brat with a clock on his chest which could manipulate time; Melodia, the Queen of Rock with a (literally) killer guitar.

That was something else special about Silverhawks: the villains were so much cooler than the smug, boring heroes. Even though they always lost in the end, it was almost subversive that a cartoon could have young viewers (or, at least this young viewer) rooting for the villains. It was very cathartic, a healthy way of embracing one's dark side without doing other people harm.

Silverhawks was a great show, it deserves much more respect than it gets. I'm hoping this might be remedied during its 20th anniversary in 2006.

Confession Time: When I was a kid, I preferred this series to Thundercats.

Sure, the Thundercats are more iconic and all that, but...For some reason, I always found this series more entertaining.

Is honestly a bit unfair how people tend to dismiss this show as a mere Thundercats "rip-off", since it had enough merits to be just as fondly remembered as Transformers, The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, He-Man, and the aftermentioned Thundercats.

The intro song is awesome.

This Thundercats-ish cartoon takes that show's style to space. Although it has decent heroes, the villains are the draw in this one. This would be great for a big budget live action film, considering it has more style than substance going for it. Still, the villains are original enough and the clashes between them and the bird-theme-armored heroes exciting enough to make this a better-than-average entry.

I remembered loving Silverhawks when I was a child. At 20, I still love the show. True, the heroes are not always well drawn and there is some cheesy writing, but aside from that it is a great underrated show that doesn't deserve the flack it's gotten. Thundercats to me is the superior show, but Silverhawks I do not consider a rip-off at all, there is a difference between being a rip-off and having something that is conceptually similar and from the same company of which Silverhawks falls into the latter category. The animation is detailed and vividly atmospheric. What's more it does still hold up. The scoring matches the mood of each scene and episode with no problem at all, and the theme song is one of the coolest of any animated show from the 80s. The writing has some cheesy moments, but there is a campy charm and fun and thoughtful moments that is difficult to resist. The story lines are engrossing and well-thought out with some exciting action and heartfelt emotion. Say what you will about Silverhawks having bad science, but people are always going to say that Silverhawks has never tried to be a science-fiction documentary but a piece of escapism and should be seen as that, and actually I do have to agree. I know I have often complained of bad science in the Sci-Fi/SyFy channel movies, but unlike with Silverhawks these were stupid scientific errors that didn't hold water for a second and the movies on their own terms were not entertaining and had no excuse to not be. The characters are good, Tallyhawk is the best characters of the heroes, who are likable at least but not as well-sketched, but the heroes are outshone by the villains, who are interesting and wholly original. The voice acting is great, especially from Earl Hammond and Peter Newman. Summing up, a great show and very underrated and misjudged in my personal opinion. 9/10 Bethany Cox