Silverhawks

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.

There have been better, there have been worse.

Yes, this is the same people responsible for Thundercats. Yes, the "writing" is incredibly formulaic. Yes, there are gaping plot holes, inconsistencies, and an utter lack of realism.

THIS IS A CARTOON!!! It is something that we watched because it was on, and at the time it was kinda cool. Besides, Thundercats was kinda played out. THe intended age range is 4-8, not 30+. Some of the space fantasy was softened for midwestern tastes. I find it amusing that the goodguy musician is a CW/R&B player, where the bad gall musician is Cindy Lauper on steroids--very 80s pop rock girl band style. We all know how evil Rock music is, right? For some reason, the cowboy has more dialog than the "leader" for the first 6 episodes.

Hmmm, a lieutenant outranks a colonel, but not a commander. ???

Also, if you're going to rip the cartoon by citing the similarity in chants between Mumm-Ra from Thundercats and Mon*Star, get the chant right. It's "Moon Star of Limbo {animated sequence/pause} Give me the Might! The Muscle! The MENACE of MON*STARRRRRRR!" As for falling in space, and people not needing life support: well, Limbo Galaxy has an artificial sun (which, technically should be artificial star, but that's a mistake that StarTrek makes on a regular basis without getting yelled at), maybe they also have an artificial gravity plane, or a black hole or two. That would explain why everyone was afraid of falling, now wouldn't it. Maybe the ships have atmospheric shields that hold in air, but don't stop lasers. Some of the races are aliens, maybe they can survive in space for a short time.

OK, as to why in some episodes Hardware has to have a ship with him, and in others he has a collapsible Pteridactyl in his backpack is a little less explainable (maybe he just doesn't always carry it with him?).

It's cheesy, dated, fun. Not the height of 80's animation, but not as bad as He-Man or {shudder}She-Ra.

I'm a big kid. I am a big anime fan and an 80's fan, and I remember this show growing up. This was a good show just to sit back and simply be entertained by. I still get a laugh out of watching this and just seeing how far that animation has come. People can say that this was a blatant rip-off of ThunderCats, but it was done by the same studio and it worked once right? The characters were likable, the dialog was cheesy but as someone else said before, it's just a cartoon. I was pleased to learn that the show had finally made it's way to DVD. It's about time, too, now that Voltron has finally made it. For all of the show's flaws, it's still good just to sit back and turn off the thought process and just be entertained by it. The origin of the show was very well put together and the first two episodes set the rest of the series up well. I just enjoyed this show as a kid and I still enjoy it today.

Summary:A small group of individuals assigned to become a new crime-stopping fighting force. The only catch is that they must become cyborgs but apparently it didn't bother them. Yes it is another superhero squad show. What do you expect? This is a known case of 80's animation.

Review:Utter Garbage? The nadir of 80's animation? I don't think so.

This is old fashioned campy sci-fi this isn't kubrick's 2001. Sure even when you consider the material this isn't exactly the pinnacle of its kind. But it was a good show nevertheless.

Actually the animation of the show is better than most shows of its time. And it does have some of that cheeky campy humor charm that shows like these have. So it may not be cerebral but just because it isn't philosophical doesn't make it "dumb". Sure if you're the type that makes a big fuss over things like "Cliches" or things like that then don't bother. If you are a 80's animation fan like me then do see it. Sure it isn't the absolute best in 80's animation but it is quite far from the worst.

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