| rdfs:comment | - Airwolf theme. Velen onder ons zullen deze serie nog wel kennen uit de jaren 80
- Airwolf transforms into a jet helicopter with enough velocity to reach FTL speeds. Due to some minor damage to her personality matrix in an accident a few million years ago, she can only speak the truth. This made her less than popular with the troops, and especially with her commanders. She had few friends and learned not to say too much. Despite that, she was one of the very few allowed to temporarily resign from the Decepticon Army, due to her excellent service record.
- Airwolf was devised by Donald P. Bellisario, and concerned a prototype supersonic attack helicopter. Stolen by its developer Dr. Moffett and flown to Libya, Airwolf is retrieved by one of its test pilots, the reclusive Stringfellow Hawke (Jan-Michael Vincent) and his close friend Dominic Santini (Ernest Borgnine). Both have been recruited by Michael Coldsmith Briggs III (Codename: Archangel) who works for 'The Firm', a covert branch of the CIA who commissioned the helicopter. But Hawke has his own agenda, and hides Airwolf, flying on secret missions for Archangel in return for information on his brother Saint-John, 'Missing-In-Action' in Vietnam. But both the conventional allied and foreign forces are keen to get their hands on the helicopter which, as introductions on early episodes state
- Airwolf is an American television series that ran for four seasons from 22 January 1984 to 7 August 1987. The program focused on the crew of a high-tech military helicopter, code named Airwolf, as they undertook various missions, many involving espionage, with a Cold War theme. The show was created by Donald Bellisario for CBS. The first three seasons starred Jan-Michael Vincent, Ernest Borgnine, Alex Cord, and Jean Bruce Scott. The final season, for the USA Network, was recast. Adapted from the Wikipedia article on Airwolf.
- The hero of the show, Stringfellow, was an extravagant, gay hairdresser that had been recruited into the Military by fellow homosexual, Commander BA Baracus. Alan moved from his lush Beverly Hills mansion to a remote location outside of LA, where he lived in a tree. Stringfellow is constantly harrassed by a fierce bloodhound called "Tit", who keeps him awake at night barking and scratching at his tree. Becoming increasingly depressed by his lack of interaction with anyone other than violent terrorists, criminal masterminds, military dictators and international drug smugglers, Alan took up knitting to remain calm. Stringfellow's only real friend is Derek Santini - a 97 year old heroin addict with senile dementia.
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| abstract | - Airwolf theme. Velen onder ons zullen deze serie nog wel kennen uit de jaren 80
- The hero of the show, Stringfellow, was an extravagant, gay hairdresser that had been recruited into the Military by fellow homosexual, Commander BA Baracus. Alan moved from his lush Beverly Hills mansion to a remote location outside of LA, where he lived in a tree. Stringfellow is constantly harrassed by a fierce bloodhound called "Tit", who keeps him awake at night barking and scratching at his tree. Becoming increasingly depressed by his lack of interaction with anyone other than violent terrorists, criminal masterminds, military dictators and international drug smugglers, Alan took up knitting to remain calm. Stringfellow's only real friend is Derek Santini - a 97 year old heroin addict with senile dementia. Called upon at a moments notice by an organisation known simply as "The Firm", Stringfellow would put down his knitting, hop in his helicopter and zoom off to blow up his next target. Constantly distracted by introverting voices that tell him he is just a no-good pussy, that he will never amount to anything and that everyone wishes he were dead, Stringfellow would travel half way round the world to seek out a targeted criminal and unleash the full force of Hairwolf's arsenal on them, often decimating an entire town or village to ensure that he got his man.
- Airwolf transforms into a jet helicopter with enough velocity to reach FTL speeds. Due to some minor damage to her personality matrix in an accident a few million years ago, she can only speak the truth. This made her less than popular with the troops, and especially with her commanders. She had few friends and learned not to say too much. Despite that, she was one of the very few allowed to temporarily resign from the Decepticon Army, due to her excellent service record.
- Airwolf was devised by Donald P. Bellisario, and concerned a prototype supersonic attack helicopter. Stolen by its developer Dr. Moffett and flown to Libya, Airwolf is retrieved by one of its test pilots, the reclusive Stringfellow Hawke (Jan-Michael Vincent) and his close friend Dominic Santini (Ernest Borgnine). Both have been recruited by Michael Coldsmith Briggs III (Codename: Archangel) who works for 'The Firm', a covert branch of the CIA who commissioned the helicopter. But Hawke has his own agenda, and hides Airwolf, flying on secret missions for Archangel in return for information on his brother Saint-John, 'Missing-In-Action' in Vietnam. But both the conventional allied and foreign forces are keen to get their hands on the helicopter which, as introductions on early episodes state, was 'too dangerous to remain in unenlightened hands'. The first short season of Airwolf', airing in 1984, was an interesting format with unconventional characters. Hawke was a brooding, almost anti-hero, and while Archangel and his glamorous girl-pilot assistants usually wore white, their motives could be dubious. However, the CBS network in America disliked the darker elements, wanting the show more 'family-friendly', and for the second season Hawke was softened and a female lead introduced in Caitlin O'Shannessy (Jean Bruce Scott), a Highway Patrolwoman who joins Santini Air, becoming a backup pilot for Airwolf itself. This 'softening' continued into the third season, by which time 'Look-In' caught up for a tie-in strip in the autumn of 1986. There was a broad hint the publication had the rights for a while before, with an Airwolf text story sandwiched between perennial favourites The A Team and Knight Rider in the 'Look-In TV Action Holiday Special' a few months earlier. As a result, the strip lacked the edge of the earlier episodes, or even 'Look-In's own gripping style that had made stories 'must-reads' through the 1970s and early 1980s. Two of the three colour strips, drawn by the excellent husband and wife team of Gordon And Maureen Gray, were very 'kiddie-centric', and their superb likenesses of the central characters enlivened the somewhat dull scripts. While the second and longest tale, concerning a reporter nearly blowing the helicopter's cover, is much more in the flavour of early episodes, it fails to quite cut it and one senses a slight unease with the Gray's handling of the central helicopter itself. The final black and white strip was drawn by Barrie Mitchell, taking a brief break from The A Team. When the series was cancelled after the end of the third season, the USA Network revived the format of Airwolf for a fourth year to bump the number of episodes for syndication. This was produced on a low budget, and with none of the original characters. Hawke's brother Saint John was played by Barry Van Dyke ('Dillon' in the similarly bastardised 'Galactica 1980' - you'd have thought he would have learned a lesson there!), accompanied by Michele Scarabelli as Santini's niece Jo, who inherits her uncle's company after his death. Thankfully the 'Look-In' strip came to an end before this could be considered as a continuation. As such, Airwolf was the last of the true adventure strips featured in 'Look-In', and marked the end of an era for the title. (Article by Shaqui Le Vesconte)
- Airwolf is an American television series that ran for four seasons from 22 January 1984 to 7 August 1987. The program focused on the crew of a high-tech military helicopter, code named Airwolf, as they undertook various missions, many involving espionage, with a Cold War theme. The show was created by Donald Bellisario for CBS. The first three seasons starred Jan-Michael Vincent, Ernest Borgnine, Alex Cord, and Jean Bruce Scott. The final season, for the USA Network, was recast. In its original conception, the protagonist of Airwolf is Stringfellow Hawke (Jan-Michael Vincent), a recluse who lives in a cabin in the woods, but was once a test pilot for an advanced supersonic helicopter with stealth capabilities and a formidable arsenal. This "Airwolf" was built by the FIRM, a division of the CIA. When the helicopter is stolen by its creator, Hawke is persuaded to recover it; but he then refuses to return it until the FIRM recovers his brother, St. John, who has been missing in action since the Vietnam War. To get access to Airwolf, the deputy director of the FIRM (Alex Cord) offers Hawke protection in exchange for flying missions of national importance. Bellisario left both the studio and the series after Season Two; and Bernard Kowalski stepped for the third season. Ratings remained low; and the series was canceled by CBS. However, the USA cable network funded a fourth season. Production moved to Vancouver, with a budget that was less than one-third of the original CBS budget. The production crew no longer had access to the original Airwolf helicopter, and all in-flight shots were recycled from earlier seasons. Furthermore, the original cast was completely written out. The character of Stringfellow Hawke was replaced by his brother (Barry van Dyke), who was suddenly revealed to have been working for many years under deep cover for American intelligence. From the perspective of Forever Knight fans, this fourth season is of particular significance because one of the new characters, Major Mike Rivers of the U.S Air Force, was played by Geraint Wyn Davies, who would later go on to star in Forever Knight. Adapted from the Wikipedia article on Airwolf.
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