Silverhawks (1986) User Reviews (22)

I loved this show as a kid

[diegofer-55689 · 8/10 · 11 September 2021]

I used to watch this as a kid, like most people that reviewed this probably. Back then in the 90's, the TV only had 1 channel with cartoons in my country Argentina and I would watch anything on it no matter how good or bad it was. I guess I came in the end part of this type of shows because I barely remember much of the Thundercats or He-man but I remember a lot of this show. That's why I'm not objective, this was my childhood. I'm seeing it with rose-tinted glasses here.

I started watching it again as an adult and dear God this cartoons were bad. Corny and extremely cheesy. Also kind of boring and simplistic plots. This is all fine because the cartoon is not for adults, it's for kids. People complaining about them breathing in space are missing the point. And if you didn't realized the show was for kids through the episode then at the end you have an educative section where they teach you a bit about space. Really basic stuff. The show is so old that they still thought that Pluto was a planet back then.

I had to change the narrative of the show in my head to make it a bit more interesting as you can tell for my reviews of each episode. The show it's basically a space gang against space cops. Every episode the gang tries to do something new and the good guys simply stop them. The bad guys are quite unique and different from each other while the good guys are pretty generic and similar. This is why I would always root for the bad guys, they were just more interesting and they were the ones trying to do interesting things each episode.

Recommend? Of course not. Like I said, rose-tinted glasses. If you watched it as a kid, and you want to watch it again, you will do it no matter what anybody says. If you didn't watch it as a kid and you are curious if this is could be a good cartoon to watch, let's just say: "You had to be there". Now watching it for the first time, it's not worth it if we are honest.

Truly tremendous!

[marcusman48 · 7/10 · 17 January 2019]

More than thirty years later, it's amazing how impressive a figure the production values, music, and storylines of this animated gem still cut. A true original, obviously owing great debts to the Japanese "futurist" aesthetic and (to some extent) the gritty style of animation popularized by Ralph Bakshi, but still one-of-a-kind...and darn near unsurpassed in terms of entertainment value! So many gimmicks worth remembering: Bluegrass's friendly Western drawl, Copper Kidd's constant tweeting and electronic warbling, Melodia's theatrical insanity, and of course Mon*Star's remorseless evil! Obviously a tribute to the exhilarating sci-fi kiddie shows of the 1950s and '60s, but brought electrifyingly up to date with phantasmagoric animation and synthesized rock music every bit as haunting as it was thrilling. SILVERHAWKS forever!

One of my favourite 80's cartoons.

[imdb-3243 · 15 March 2004]

It's been some time since I've been able to watch this on TV. But I can still remember the theme song and the cool looks of all the characters.

If I take a look at todays Cartoon Network program, I wonder how this garbage came on in the first place. Besides Scooby Doo there's nothing of the old shows running and the new one's, I think, are really bad.

If they'd bring cartoons like the Silverhawks back on TV, I'm convinced the kids would devour them the same way I did. They are animated nicely, the music is great and even though the story appears a bit weak to me now that I'm "old", it is still a great show.

The most underrated cartoon of the 80s

[phoenix2rachelsummers · 10/10 · 10 August 2005]

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.

This is a good show

[raoh73 · 9/10 · 23 October 2006]

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.

Love It

[lindamcculley · 10/10 · 29 November 2005]

Silverhawks, essentially, is a 1940's Chicago cop show set in outter space. The evil criminal Mon*star and his gang of thugs has escaped from prison, and must be stopped. Unfortunately, he's on the other side of the galaxy, and no human could survive the journey to get there. So, a team of heroes volunteer to be transformed into cyborgs, partly metal, partly real, that can withstand the rigors of the journey. Once there, they set up headquarters and police the sector. Voiced by many of the same voice actors of Thundercats, it featured some of the most interesting character designs of the decade. THEY SHOULD MAKE A MOVIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bring it Back!!!!

[lramlu1 · 10/10 · 21 May 2006]

Silverhawks was a very good show! I enjoyed every time I watched it with my family. I hope they bring them back, only new and improved. I think they should make a movie of it with real actors; just like they did with fantastic 4 and the X-men. I want my kids to watch Silverhawks too. Every time I talk to them about it, the say they want to watch it. There are three more shows I enjoyed, Thundercats and Mazinger and last but not least, Ultraman. Nothing better than the old cartoons and TV shows. I think we should do something about it, but where to start. Thank you for reading this comment, I know you agree. Sometimes at work, my co-workers an I begin talking about the old shows and cartoons, and we talk about Silverhawks, Thundercats, Ultraman etc, etc, etc. We always agree on the same thing. We (the parents) have the right to live a little too, don't you think. Everybody has their favorite, but I know we all miss them.

Utter Garbage

[Ken-120 · 1/10 · 16 January 2000]

Flush from the success of Thundercats, Rankin-Bass thought that lightning could strike again with this show. Well, lightning does often strike high points more than once, but it didn't happen here in the creative sense. In short, this show is terrible.

First thing, the villain is a copy of Thundercats' Mum-Ra and the heroes are worse. They barely display anything resembling a personality and show only the threadbare cliches of what proper heroes should be. The dialogue is stilted and written with obviously no creativity in any sense of the word. The setting is ludicrous with it being set in outer space, but characters seem to be able to operate without any protection as if it all had the equivalent ground level Earth atmosphere. I've heard of children who scoffed at this insult to their intelligence and they had every right to be offended.

It was truly the nadir of the 1980's toy cartoon craze that makes you value what quality shows we do have today.

*** out of 4 stars a visually stylish and good-old fashioned piece of science fiction.

[PJS-5 · 13 October 2000]

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.

A great underrated show

[TheLittleSongbird · 9/10 · 9 March 2013]

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

Kinda like thundercats but underrated

[justin-fencsak · 10/10 · 6 May 2019]

Coming out a year after thundercats this show didn't live a long life yet became a cult hit and sold lots of action figures and had some killer animation.

The best cartoon I saw in my childhood

[diezveintisiete · 10/10 · 22 January 2009]

This is a great cartoon. I say so because I used to think it was the best one when I was a child. And now, that I'm an adult, I still think it's a great cartoon. Maybe the second best I've ever seen (only surpassed by The Simpsons).

The characters are great (especially the villains who are very complex and have many different abilities). To name some, The BountyHunter, The time-stopper, Mo-Lec-U-Lar, Windhammer, Mon-star, Zero, the memory thief, Melodia, Buzz-Saw etc.

As for the names, I don't think they are bad. But I say that the Spanish translations are better. For example: "SilverHawks" means Hawks made of silver, but not all of them were made of this metal: The Copper kid, SteelHeart, Steelwill, C. Stargazer (gold), Hotwing (gold) and Flashback (green). In Spanish they were called "Halcónes Galácticos" which means "Galactic Hawks" which is a better name, or at least more descriptive of them all.

The setting is amazing. There's an Artificial sun and the planets are beautiful: The Penal Planet, Hawkhaven, Bedlama, Dollare, The hanging Rock, etc.

I agree with the person that said (As for falling in space and characters not needing life support) that Limbo Galaxy has an artificial sun (which, technically should be artificial star...), possibly there is artificial gravity or a black hole.

Finally, I would love Hollywood to make a Silverhawks movie o Warner to make a new season of the Greatest Hawks ever.

An Honest Review

[generationofswine · 10/10 · 14 October 2019]

I just bonded with a co-worker about this. I guess I'm the only person his age that he found that actually remembers the cartoon... which we both had fond and exceedingly vague memories of.

We remember how cool it actually looked. Everything was sleek and stylistic and shiny against the contrast of black space.

And we both had one of the toys, which was cool, but bigger than GI Joe and not as bit as He-Man toys... so it always was kind of the odd toy out. Which was probably why it didn't sell. But it was still cool, as awesome as the cartoon.

And it was brief, but the animation was fantastic, and it sucked your little boy mind in the cool flash and contrast and, of course space.... because everything space was cool, and even more so than everything dinosaur, and they were like human birds so.... yeah, of course 6 year old me was going to drool over the cartoon.

Just kind of a shame that the toys didn't fit in.

Decent

[kikiboo_8 · 5/10 · 29 May 2022]

The animation is very well done, especially considering it was the 80s, where most other animated shows were animated far worse than this. It's detailed, beautiful, complex and meticulously done.

Other than that the show seems like a basic, formulaic superhero show and doesn't really spike my interest much.

Great Show

[Leo_Stryke · 11 August 2003]

I loved this show growing up and it still holds fond memories in my heart. It does require a bit of a suspension of disbelief ( but what 80's kid show didn't? ). The characters were cool, Mon-star had an interesting design for sure. I'd love to see this series on DVD as well as the other 2 Rankin Bass classics : Thundercats and Tigersharks.

Good times, good times.

Complain

[cholo-gkssj · 10/10 · 18 November 2006]

I don't anger; but I'm getting tired of those Thundercats fans that criticize so toughly this wonderful cartoon. If you want to know my reasons read my board message. Mainly I tell that the villains in Silverhawk are really better that Thundercats', the last ones are silly and useless. The Thundercats seem like almighty gods, no one is able to defeat or hurt them badly. Is that correct or follows the logic?

Neither Mum-Ra nor Lunatacs are rivals for them, and all of the Third Earth inhabitants are defenseless weaklings who always need the help of the Thundercats, who know the planet even better that Mum-Ra.

I just keep wondering why the hatred towards this cartoon? but you fans keep stating silly reasons for the support of your hatred. What a shame!

80's retro throwback

[koohii · 28 June 2005]

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.

Pretty good Sci-Fi

[formula44xxx · 17 April 2001]

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.

Education and Morals

[kendallphoenix · 23 September 2005]

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

A childhood favorite

[Rectangular_businessman · 28 October 2021]

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.

Thundercats was bad but this inferior copy was even worse

[Nic_hse · 1 October 2003]

I feel like I'm repeating myself with these comments. Silverhawks has every flaw that Thundercats had and more. This show was bad enough to insult a child's intelligence. I'll try to make this quick.

SILVER HAWKS USED THE SAME VOICE ACTORS AS THE THUNDERCATS:

SilverHawks has almost all the same voice actors from the Thundercats. That's not a good thing. The Silverhawks main villain "Monstar the Planet Master" is voiced by the same actor who voiced Thundercat's main villain "Mumm-ra the Ever Living". The two names look very similar don't they? This is made even worse by the fact that Monstar and Mummra both say a similar chant to transform from their weaker forms to a more powerful one. Mummra's chant was "Ancient spirits of evil, transform this decayed form to Mumm-ra the Ever Living!". Monstar's chant was "Moon star of Limbo Transform this ********** into Monstar the Planet Master!". No attempt was made to make Monstar sound any different from Mumm-ra. This is a big deal when you consider that both Silverhawks and Thundercats were shown back to back in 1986 on weekday afternoons. Talk about a lack of creativity.

THE PLOT WAS WEAK AND THE CHARACTERS WERE SILLY JUST LIKE THUNDERCATS:

The strongest plot this series ever managed to come up with was when the Silverhawk Hotwing came from the future. After the storyline finished however they didn't put him to any good use. The series didn't seem to know whether it was trying to be serious or funny. The characters were equally as silly as the plots. They had silly names like Zeak the Beak, Seymour the space cabbie, Mumbo Jumbo, and Poker Face. Their gimmicks were just as dumb as their names. Bottomline the characters were terrible.



INCONSISTENT ANIMATION QUALITY:

Just like Thundercats, Silverhawks animation varied greatly with each episode, The animation in the intro is an example of when the animation is good. The animation quality can be really rough with some episodes and the Silverhawks almost look fat sometimes. Really bad.



BOTTOMLINE:

Bottomline is the Silverhawks is a shameless, cheap ripoff of the Thundercats and little effort was made to avoid it. Thundercats wasn't a good series either. An inferior copy of an inferior show. You can't get much lower than that.

Worst cartoon ever!

[telex1-1 · 23 April 2004]

This was the worst example of formula writing I ever seen. No only were the characters carbon copies of the Thundercats, they were bad copies. The villain had the same transformation that Mum-ra did.

I remember one episode in particular. Where one of the Silverhawks was hit by a laser blast and started falling...in space!?! Where was he falling to? Exactly which way was down in space? And then one of the other Silverhawks flies to catch him. Before what, he hits a planet on the way down? Argghhh! This used to frustrate me to no end.

And to top it off they would end every episode with some thinly disguised science lesson.

Silverhawks was a lazy attempt to make a franchise off something that worked. I do believe they even tried a sea version of this but the title escapes me.