Silverhawks

Partly metal, partly real.

In the world of the 80's animation we can find plenty of different cartoons that had their time in the spotlight. 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.

Silverhawks are a cartoon! what else can you expect? most of the 80's cartoons we watched,  were watched because they were on, and at the time it was kinda cool. Besides, Thundercats was kinda played out. The intended age range of the Silverhawks was  4-10, 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.

Molecular could take any shape he wanted.

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?).

Mon Star, the greatest criminal mind.

It's cheesy, dated, fun. Not the height of 80's animation, but not as bad as most of the 80's cartoons that were only made for selling toys. The reason behind making the space opera rendition of the Thundercats is definitely smart producers, Jules Bass, Lee Dannacher & Arthur Ranking Jr. lust for more. After all, they were trying to take the Thundercats success into new cartoons, and I believe they succeeded. Now, 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. Besides, the japanese animation was definitely state of the art, even surpassing the original's source animation quality (yes, the Thundercats again)

The amazing Silverhawks toyline!

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.

Wing it!

Quicksilver, a natural born hero.

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. The cartoon ran for a 65 chapters season, and just like in the Thundercats it featured new characters by the second half of the season.

Overall, a great cartoon from the wonderful 80's, in fact I think the Silverhawks are the improved version of the Thundercats, in terms of animation, action and storytelling. Silverhawks weren't as predictable as the Thundercats were after watching half the first season.  Definitely the Silverhawks should be taken to an art museum, to display newer generations the high quality standards a mere cartoon could reach in the 80's.

Here's the amazing opening song, with a killer guitar solo:

And the amazing tv ads about the great toyline: