HouseTV: Thursday is Retro Day

At least it is this week. I was going to revisit a few older cartoons today, and certainly a few quirkier ones. But because of a conversation I had yesterday, I felt inclined to cover this pair in more detail. Fans of piggybacking (or straight ripping off) concepts will love this particular discussion.

True glory lies within...



Let's be honest. If you were a child of my generation (meaning you're now an adult in your 30's.. embrace it), then you clearly know of the Thundercats. In fact, Thundercats were relatively popular even outside of my childhood. Panthro, the engineer who was clearly black even though he wasn't (the man had nunchucks and he drove the van... er, Thundertank). Tigra and his whip of... illusion (sigh... well, he was useful once or twice). Cheetara the speedster who single-handedly proved that a brown one piece could, in fact be disturbingly hot. Wily Kit and Wily Kat, the kids who were always trapped or captured. And of course Lion-O, wielder of the greatest phallic symbol known to toondom, the Sword of Omens.

But my story today is not about them. No, my story today is about their lesser known "cousins" if you will. Made of silver, nerves of steel. Partly metal, partly real? I speak of course, of the Silverhawks.

Now, anyone with half a brain could see that the show was a near and clear ripoff of Thundercats. Not that this is a surprise. Anytime something on television is a big succes, someone looks to emulate it. In this case, it is still the same production company, which means that the show itself was terribly similar in concept.

Having said that, there were only a few true recurring themes. The main premise, that of being half-human, half-something (cat-person/metal-person... or specifically metal hawk-person) and the bad guy who inexplicably became more powerful by transforming while reciting mantra (Mumm-Ra/Mon-Star) being the most notable. But from there the shows diverge heavily. While the Thundercats struggled to survive on their new planet Third Earth, the Silverhawks fought crime in the galaxy of Limbo.

And how could you not love these guys? Leader Quicksilver and his bird Tally Hawk. The twin siblings Steelheart and Steelwill. The Copper Kid from the Planet of Mimes (and they should have gone there at least once; the beeping alone could have caused Pokemon level seizures), and Bluegrass. Now I should note here that I was having a discussion yesterday about this show, and Bluegrass was the only one of the original Hawks that I couldn't name. It should be no surprise then, that I had an uber geek moment at work and ended up sending this e-mail to someone I know at 2:52 AM:

His name was Blue Grass. He flew the ship, and
played Hot Licks, his guitar.

No, I did not look it up. Yes, it was still
bothering me. Yes, I should be up at this time of night.

-TH

It was not until I stumbled upon Wikipedia later that I remembered that there were, in fact four other Silverhawks over the course of the show and they each ended up with weapon birds (that's how you sell the toys, yo). But enough pointless rambling. You're here for the clip, right?

Things of note/interest from the intro:

• Bluegrass was lame in retrospect, but cool at the time. Sure, Roy Rogers played his guitar while riding a horse, but did he ever do it while riding his horse through an asteroid field? I think not. Also, Bluegrass could kick Shipwreck's butt any day of the week.


• This show took place back in the olden days, where a rainbow had no implications other than being pretty colors. In this day and age, someone would no doubt be trying discover who was sending a "hidden message" by including one in the exhaust stream of the Hawks' ship, The Maraj. Despite the fact that it's even mentioned in the intro song.


• Shoulder mounted twin lasers are made of win.


• Not seen here but equally cool were the "space quizzes" at the end of the show where Bluegrass would question Copper Kid about his knowledge of space. See, Copper Kid wanted to pilot The Maraj, and this was Bluegrass' way of making him ready. I note this only becasue there were a few select times when Copper Kid did in fact pilot the Maraj. Also, learning is cool.


• Like many intros of the day (and now even), this intro is a measure of degrees better than the actual show was quality-wise. That's probably why I love it so much.

But for those of you who really, really remember your toonage, I'm sure that you also recall that the creators of the above listed shows went to the well one more time with this concept and created the Tigersharks.

Yes, Tigersharks. The show covered the adventures of a team of deep sea specialists exploring a virtual waterworld. Unlike their other toon-mates, however, the Tigershark team didn't remain in their hybrid forms permanently, but instead transformed into them by entering the "Fish Tank" (which is exactly what it sounds like)

Things of note/interest about the intro:

• The Tigersharks show was a part of a syndicated block called The Comic Strip. Since each episode was broken into parts to coincide with the other shows' 15 minute formats, the Tigersharks intro is notably shorter than the average show of the time.

• The only character I really noted on the show was Dolph, who became (naturally enough) part dolphin. This was relevant mainly because of all the other Tigersharks, Dolph was the only one that had to occasionally leave whatever they were up to to and go to the surface for air. Which, considering the goal was to change forms to remain underwater, had to suck for him.

• Unlike the other two shows, I have no doubt that I wouldn't find Tigersharks nearly as entertaining as I do the other two. But then, I didn't follow it nearly as closely either. As an early syndicated block, it was prone to rescheduling and preempting by the network that aired it at will.

• Yes, that guppy looking thing right near the end was a sidekick/pet. Every team needs a lovable sidekick/pet. Ugh...

• Not seen here but fondly remembered was the rally cry used by the team, a telepathic transmission of the message, "Catch a tiger by the tail." This would lead to the responding heroes responding, "Hold on, Tigershark." So the theme song makes more sense, then. Ehh....

And now, because I couldn't leave without giving it up, the original and the greatest: