Airwolf

Last updated
Airwolf
AirwolfTitlecardOR.jpg
Genre
Created by Donald P. Bellisario
Starring
Theme music composer Sylvester Levay
Composers
  • Sylvester Levay (S1–3)
  • Udi Harpaz (S2–3)
Country of origin
  • United States
  • Canada (S4)
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons4
No. of episodes
  • 79 (first-run)
  • 80 (syndication)
(list of episodes)
Production
Running time45–48 minutes
Production companies
Original release
Network
ReleaseJanuary 22, 1984 (1984-01-22) 
August 7, 1987 (1987-08-07)

Airwolf is an American action military drama television series. It centers on a high-technology Attack helicopter, code-named Airwolf, and its crew. They undertake various exotic missions, many involving espionage, with a Cold War theme. It was created by Donald P. Bellisario and was produced over four seasons, running from January 22, 1984, until August 7, 1987.

Contents

The main cast for seasons one through three consist of Jan-Michael Vincent, Ernest Borgnine, Alex Cord, Deborah Pratt (who left after season two when Bellisario left the series), and Jean Bruce Scott (who was added as a regular in seasons two and three). The program originally aired on CBS and was cancelled after the third season. USA Network picked up the show for a fourth season that was completely recast, with Jan-Michael Vincent having only a minor role in the first episode. The fourth season was filmed in Canada, with the aerial scenes relying heavily on stock footage or repeated footage from the first three seasons.

The distinctive musical score was originally orchestral, shifted to more synthesizer-based arrangements early in the second season, and was composed and conducted mainly by Sylvester Levay. Udi Harpaz conducted the scores for many later second- and third-season episodes.

Plot

A full-size replica of Airwolf was on display at the Tennessee Museum of Aviation in Sevierville, Tennessee. Full-size replica of the Airwolf.JPG
A full-size replica of Airwolf was on display at the Tennessee Museum of Aviation in Sevierville, Tennessee.

The fictional Airwolf is described as an advanced prototype supersonic helicopter with stealth capabilities and a formidable arsenal. Airwolf was designed by Charles Henry Moffet (David Hemmings)—a genius with a psychopathic taste for torturing and killing women—and built by "the Firm", a division of the Central Intelligence Agency (a play on the term "the Company", a nickname for the CIA). Moffet and his crew steal Airwolf during a live-fire weapons test. During the theft, Moffet opens fire on the Firm's bunker, killing a United States Senator and seriously injuring Firm deputy director Michael Coldsmith-Briggs III (code name "Archangel"). Moffet takes Airwolf to Libya, where he begins performing acts of aggression—such as sinking an American destroyer—as a service for Khaddafi, in exchange for giving Moffet sanctuary on Libyan soil. [1]

Archangel recruits the reclusive Stringfellow Hawke (Vincent), a former test pilot during the development of Airwolf, to recover the gunship. Archangel leaves his assistant Gabrielle Ademaur (Belinda Bauer)—who becomes Hawke's love interest—at Hawke's cabin to brief him for his mission. One week later, after an undercover operative in Libya is killed in the line of duty, Gabrielle is sent in undercover and Hawke is sent in sooner than originally planned. With the assistance of pilot and father figure Dominic Santini (Borgnine), Hawke finds and recovers Airwolf, but Gabrielle is tortured and killed by Moffet. Hawke obliterates Moffet with a hail of missiles from Airwolf before returning to the United States. Instead of returning the gunship, Hawke and Santini booby-trap Airwolf and hide it in "the Lair", a large natural cave in the remote "Valley of the Gods" (actually filmed in visually similar Monument Valley). Hawke refuses to return Airwolf until the Firm can find and recover his brother, St. John (Christopher Connelly), who has been missing in action since the Vietnam War. To obtain access to Airwolf, Archangel offers Hawke protection from other government agencies who might try to recover Airwolf; in return, Hawke and Santini must fly missions of national importance for the Firm. [1]

The Firm, during the first three seasons, serve as both ally and enemy for Hawke and Santini; when an opportunity to seize Airwolf arises, Firm operatives often took it. The first season of the series is dark, arc driven, and quite reflective of the contemporary Cold War, with the Firm personnel distinctly dressed in white, implicitly boasting that "wearing white hats" distinguished them as good instead of evil. Hawke remains unconvinced, and Santini is skeptical. Early episodes detail the efforts of the United States government to recover Airwolf from Hawke, who is officially charged with having stolen it. Because CBS wanted to make the series more family oriented, the program was transformed during season two into a more light-hearted show, with Hawke and Santini portrayed as cooperative partners with the Firm. This persisted into the fourth season with the newly introduced "Company" and the new crew of Airwolf.

Production

The series ran for 55 episodes on CBS in the United States in 1984 through 1986, and an additional 24 episodes, with a new cast and production company, aired on the USA Network in 1987, for a total of 79 episodes. A reedited version (produced in Germany) of the first episode was also released on home video in the UK and several other countries; it received a theatrical release in Indonesia. [2] The show was broadcast in several international markets. Parts of the series were filmed in Monument Valley, Utah. [3]

Magnum, P.I. connection

Creator Donald P. Bellisario first toyed with the idea of the adventures of an ace combat pilot in a third-season episode of Magnum, P.I. titled "Two Birds of a Feather" (1983), starring William Lucking, which, in turn, was inspired by several episodes of Bellisario's Tales of the Gold Monkey  — "Legends Are Forever" and "Honor Thy Brother" (1982) — in which Lucking had played a similar character. The Magnum episode was intended as a backdoor pilot, but a series was not commissioned. Bellisario heavily reworked the idea, and the final result was Airwolf. [4]

Seasons 2 and 3

To improve ratings, the studio wanted to add a regular female character and jettison the dark and moody tales of international espionage. This was accomplished at the start of the second season with the addition of Caitlin O'Shannessy (Jean Bruce Scott) and new stories that were domestic and more action oriented. [4] These changes proved unsuccessful, however, and while production costs remained high, creator Bellisario left both the studio and the series after Season 2. Bellisario's then-wife, Deborah Pratt, also left at that time (she was nearly three months pregnant with their daughter, Troian, as Season 2 drew to a close). Series star Jan-Michael Vincent's problems with alcoholism also contributed to the show's problems. [5] Bernard Kowalski stepped in as executive producer for the third season, but the ratings remained low and the series was cancelled by CBS.

Season 4

The USA Network funded a fourth season in 1987, to be produced in Canada by Atlantis and The Arthur Company (owned by Arthur L. Annecharico) in association with MCA. This was intended to increase the number of episodes to make the show eligible for broadcast syndication. The original cast was written out of the fourth season: Jan-Michael Vincent appears in a first transitional episode; a body double for Ernest Borgnine seen only from the back represented Santini, who was killed off in an explosion; Archangel was said to have suddenly been assigned overseas. "The Firm" was replaced by "the Company"; no mention was made of Caitlin. St. John Hawke, played by Barry Van Dyke, was suddenly revealed to be alive, having been working for many years as a deep undercover agent for American intelligence, contradicting characterizations in the previous three seasons. St. John replaced Stringfellow as the central character. Production moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on a reduced 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; the original full-size studio mockup was re-dressed and used for all interior shots. Actress Michele Scarabelli, who played Jo Santini, said in a Starlog magazine interview that all 24 scripts were in place before the cast arrived, leaving the actors little room to develop their characters.

Airwolf helicopter

The flight-capable Airwolf helicopter was a cosmetically modified Bell 222, serial number 47085, sometimes unofficially called a Bell 222A. [6] During filming of the series, the helicopter was owned by Jetcopters, Inc. of Van Nuys, California. [7] The helicopter was eventually sold after the show ended and became an ambulance helicopter in Germany, where it crashed in a thunderstorm and was destroyed on June 6, 1992, killing all three crew members. [8]

The concept behind Airwolf is a supersonic armed helicopter that can be disguised as a civilian vehicle—"a wolf in sheep's clothing". Andrew Probert designed the Airwolf uniform insignia patch worn by the flight crew members, a snarling bat-winged wolf's head wearing a sheepskin.

Cast

Season 1 (CBS, 1984) – two-hour pilot and ten additional episodes.

Seasons 2–3 (CBS, 1984–1986) – two seasons of 22 episodes each.

Season 4 (USA Network, mid-1987) – 24 episodes, bringing the total hours to 80.

Music

Airwolf Themes is a two-CD soundtrack album for the television series released in February, 1999. The 73-minute soundtrack was created over a five-year period by a fan, Northern Ireland-based graphic designer Mark J. Cairns, in collaboration with original composer Levay, with a foreword by the series' creator, Bellisario.

After the original CBS series was cancelled in 1986, Cairns headed the International Airwolf Appreciation Association for nearly 10 years (1988–1998). He decided in early 1994 to produce his own high-quality soundtrack for the series using the episodic scores from the three seasons of the series to create the first 22 synthesizer-based tracks on the soundtrack, including various medleys and character themes. Only one thousand copies were made.

The first digital download-only EP release, titled Airwolf Main Themes was made available in September 2009. It contains four tracks based on variations of the series' Main Theme and was a preview of the future Extended Themes release.

A further 42-track, 146-minute, enhanced two-CD, limited-edition soundtrack album release called Airwolf Extended Themes (containing both a CD of the series' main theme variants, and a second CD of the episodic themes) was released on March 26, 2014. Bulgarian-Polish musician, Jan Michal Szulew, was the main arranger and orchestrator on the first CD, and Mark J. Cairns the arranger and overall producer of the second CD on this soundtrack. Two thousand copies were made.

Books

During the original series run, two books were published. [4] Both were written by Ron Renauld and are titled Airwolf and Trouble From Within, respectively. [9] A graphic novel was published in August 2015, titled Airwolf Airstrikes, which recasts Archangel as a woman, and Dominic Santini's son, who is black. [4] [10]

Merchandise

A series of tie-in novels was printed by Star, adapted from the scripts of various episodes, and coloring books for children (printed in the UK by World Publishing), and a UK annual, which, though produced in 1985 (to cover 1986), was based around the first season. For several years, the children's TV comic magazine Look-In ran an Airwolf comic strip to tie in with the original UK broadcast of the series.

Video games

Home media

Universal Studios has released the first 3 seasons of Airwolf on DVD in regions 1, 2, and 4. Earlier releases consisted of single episodes on VHS (double episodes in the UK and some countries, edited together into "movie" format; later in the UK, a selection of first and season episodes were released by Playback on both VHS and DVD), including a United Kingdom 18 certificate cut of the pilot episode, presented as a standalone film (reshuffling and reworking many scenes, and removing much of the continuity ties with the following series, as well as incorporating footage from the first-season episode "Mad Over Miami", and with profanity that was not present in the aired version). [20]

Season 4 was released in Region 1 on February 1, 2011. [21]

On September 6, 2011, Shout! Factory released Airwolf: The Movie on DVD in Region 1 for the very first time. This single-disc set features the two-hour pilot tele-film fully restored and uncensored. It also contains special features including a new interview with Ernest Borgnine. [22]

On March 8, 2016, it was announced that Mill Creek Entertainment had acquired the rights to the series and would release Airwolf - The Complete Series on DVD and Blu-ray for the first time on May 3, 2016. [23] They also re-released the first season on DVD on the same day.

Fabulous Films have released an all-new, High Definition Series 1–3 Blu-ray (Region B) box-set for the UK market during April 2014. The new HD transfers were created by Universal Studios.

Fabulous Films have since released single season Blu-ray (Region B) box sets, plus the equivalent DVD (Region 2) season box sets including, for the first time, a Canadian Airwolf II Season 4 set from the newly restored prints.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ernest Borgnine</span> American actor (1917–2012)

Ernest Borgnine was an American actor whose career spanned over six decades. He was noted for his gruff but relaxed voice and gap-toothed Cheshire Cat grin. A popular performer, he also appeared as a guest on numerous talk shows and as a panelist on several game shows.

<i>JAG</i> (TV series) American legal drama television series (1995–2005)

JAG is an American legal drama television series with a U.S. Navy theme, created by Donald P. Bellisario, and produced by Belisarius Productions in association with Paramount Network Television. The series originally aired on NBC for one season from September 23, 1995, to May 22, 1996, and then on CBS for an additional nine seasons from January 3, 1997, to April 29, 2005. The first season was co-produced with NBC Productions and was originally perceived as a Top Gun meets A Few Good Men hybrid series.

Magnum, P.I. is an American crime drama television series starring Tom Selleck as Thomas Magnum, a private investigator (P.I.) living on Oahu, Hawaii. The series ran from December 11, 1980, to May 1, 1988, during its first-run broadcast on the American television network CBS. Magnum, P.I. consistently ranked in the top 20 U.S. television programs in the Nielsen ratings during the first five years of its original run, finishing as high as number three for the 1982–83 season. The series entered syndication in 1986 under the title Magnum in order to differentiate reruns from new episodes still airing under the original title on CBS.

<i>Tales of the Gold Monkey</i> American television series

Tales of the Gold Monkey is an American adventure drama television series broadcast in prime time on Wednesday nights by ABC from September 22, 1982, until June 1, 1983. Debuting the year following the release of Raiders of the Lost Ark, the series featured the romance of early aviation, exotic locales, and cliff-hanging action. Creator Don Bellisario said it was based on the film, Only Angels Have Wings.

<i>Walker, Texas Ranger</i> American action crime television series

Walker, Texas Ranger is an American action crime television series created by Leslie Greif and Paul Haggis. It was inspired by the film Lone Wolf McQuade, with both this series and that film starring Chuck Norris as a member of the Texas Ranger Division. The show aired on CBS in the spring of 1993, with the first season consisting of three pilot episodes. Eight full seasons followed with new episodes airing from September 25, 1993, to May 19, 2001, and reruns continuing on CBS until July 28, 2001. It has been broadcast in over 100 countries and spawned a 2005 television film entitled Trial by Fire. The film ended on a cliffhanger, which was never resolved. DVD sets of all seasons have been released. At various times since 1997, reruns of the show have aired, in syndication, on the USA Network and Action in Canada. Reruns are currently seen on CBS Action, WGN America, CMT, INSP, getTV, Pluto TV, Heroes & Icons, Grit, 10 Bold, Peacock TV, Up TV and Hulu.

<i>Touched by an Angel</i> American fantasy drama television series (1994–2003)

Touched by an Angel is an American television drama television series that premiered on CBS on September 21, 1994, and ran for 211 episodes over nine seasons until its conclusion on April 27, 2003. Created by John Masius and executive produced by Martha Williamson, the series stars Roma Downey as an angel named Monica, and Della Reese as her supervisor Tess. Throughout the series, Monica is tasked with bringing guidance and messages from God to various people who are at a crossroads in their lives. From season three onward, they are frequently joined by Andrew, the Angel of Death.

<i>My Favorite Martian</i> Television series

My Favorite Martian is an American sitcom that aired on CBS from September 29, 1963, to May 1, 1966, for 107 episodes. The show stars Ray Walston as "Uncle Martin" and Bill Bixby as Tim O'Hara. The first two seasons, totaling 75 episodes, were in black and white, and the 32 episodes of the third and final season were filmed in color.

<i>Cagney & Lacey</i> American police procedural television series (1982–1988)

Cagney & Lacey is an American police procedural drama television series that aired on the CBS television network for seven seasons from March 25, 1982, to May 16, 1988. The show is about two New York City police detectives who lead very different lives: Christine Cagney is a career-minded single woman, while Mary Beth Lacey is a married working mother. The series is set in a fictionalized version of Manhattan's 14th Precinct. The pilot movie had Loretta Swit in the role of Cagney, while the first six episodes had Meg Foster in the role. When the show was revived for a full-season run, Gless portrayed the role for six consecutive years. Each year during that time, one of the two lead actresses won the Emmy for Best Lead Actress in a Drama, a winning streak matched only once since in any major category by a show.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Donald P. Bellisario</span> American television producer and screenwriter (born 1935)

Donald Paul Bellisario is an American television producer and screenwriter who created and wrote episodes for the TV series Magnum, P.I. (1980), Tales of the Gold Monkey (1982), Airwolf (1984), Quantum Leap (1989), JAG (1995), and NCIS (2003). He has often included military veterans as characters.

<i>Nash Bridges</i> American police drama television series

Nash Bridges is an American police procedural television series created by Carlton Cuse. The show stars Don Johnson and Cheech Marin as two Inspectors with the San Francisco Police Department's Special Investigations Unit (SIU).

<i>Eight Is Enough</i> American comedy-drama television series (1977–1981)

Eight Is Enough is an American comedy-drama television series that aired on ABC from March 15, 1977 to May 23, 1981. The show was modeled on the life of syndicated newspaper columnist Tom Bradford, a real-life parent with eight children, who wrote a book by the same title.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jan-Michael Vincent</span> American actor (1944–2019)

Jan-Michael Vincent was an American actor known for portraying helicopter pilot Stringfellow Hawke in the TV series Airwolf (1984–1987) and the protagonist, Matt Johnson, in the 1978 film Big Wednesday. He also starred as Byron Henry in the 1983 miniseries The Winds of War.

<i>Tour of Duty</i> (TV series) American military drama TV series

Tour of Duty is an American military drama television series based on events in the Vietnam War, broadcast on CBS. The series ran for three seasons, from September 24, 1987, to April 28, 1990, for a total of 58 one-hour episodes. The show was created by Steve Duncan and L. Travis Clark and produced by Zev Braun.

<i>The Rifleman</i> American Western television program

The Rifleman is an American Western television series starring Chuck Connors as rancher Lucas McCain and Johnny Crawford as his son Mark McCain. It was set in the 1880s in the fictional town of North Fork, New Mexico Territory. The show was filmed in black and white, in half-hour episodes. The Rifleman aired on ABC from September 30, 1958, to April 8, 1963, as a production of Four Star Television. It was one of the first primetime series on US television to show a single parent raising a child.

<i>Airwolf</i> (video game) 1987 video game

Airwolf is a series of shooter video games based on the TV series of the same name. The first game based on the series was released for the ZX Spectrum by Elite Systems in 1984. The game also was released on the Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, and Atari 8-bit family. A sequel, Airwolf II, was released in 1986.

<i>Airwolf</i> (helicopter) Fictional television series aircraft

Airwolf is the helicopter from the 1980s American television series of the same name. Its fictional features included stratospheric ceiling, stealth noise signature, a wide range of weapons and supersonic speed. The Airwolf helicopter was a conventional Bell 222 helicopter modified by attaching some film props.

NCIS is an American military police procedural television series and the first installment in the NCIS media franchise. The series revolves around a fictional team of special agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, combining elements of the military drama and police procedural genres with comedy. The concept and characters were initially introduced in two episodes of the CBS series JAG. A spin-off from JAG, the series premiered on September 23, 2003, on CBS. To date, it has entered into the 20th full season and has gone into broadcast syndication on the USA Network. Donald P. Bellisario and Don McGill are co-creators and executive producers of the premiere member of the NCIS franchise. As of 2022, NCIS is the third-longest-running scripted, live-action U.S. prime-time TV series currently airing, surpassed only by Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999–present) and Law & Order ; it is the seventh-longest-running scripted U.S. prime-time TV series overall.

<i>Highway to Heaven</i> American television series

Highway to Heaven is an American fantasy drama television series that ran on NBC from September 19, 1984, to August 4, 1989. The series starred Michael Landon as Jonathan Smith, an angel sent to Earth in order to help people in need. Victor French, Landon's co-star from his previous television series, Little House on the Prairie, co-starred as Mark Gordon, a retired policeman who travels with and helps Smith with the tasks or "assignments" to which he is referred. The series was created by Landon, who was the executive producer and also directed most of the show's episodes. French directed many of the remaining episodes. It was Landon's third and final TV series and his only one set in the present day, unlike Little House on the Prairie, and Landon's first TV series, Bonanza, both of which were Westerns. It was the final screen appearance for French, who died two months before the final episode aired, aged 54 years old; Landon went on to appear in two films, one of which was a pilot for a new series, prior to his own death at 54 in 1991.

<i>CHiPs</i> American television crime drama series (1977–1983)

CHiPs is an American crime drama television series created by Rick Rosner and originally aired on NBC from September 15, 1977, to May 1, 1983. It follows the lives of two motorcycle officers of the California Highway Patrol (CHP). The series ran for 139 episodes over six seasons, plus one reunion television film in October 1998.

References

  1. 1 2 Season 1, episode 1 "Shadow Of The Hawk"
  2. Staff (1986). "Emmy, Volume 8". Emmy. Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS). 8: 20.
  3. D'Arc, James V. (2010). When Hollywood came to town: a history of moviemaking in Utah (1st ed.). Layton, Utah: Gibbs Smith. ISBN   9781423605874.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "10 facts about 1980s series starring Jan Michael Vincent and Ernest Borgnine"
  5. Dangaard, Colin, "Danger: Falling Idol", Los Angeles Magazine, March 1997: 54–64
  6. Van Hoten, C: "The Wolf's Lair, Issue 3, p. 6" Archived 2008-01-03 at the Wayback Machine . Veritas Fan Publishing, 2005. wolfslair.airwolf.tv
  7. Credits at the end of the episodes state "Helicopters provided by Jetcopters, Inc."
  8. "Rund um Ramsbeck Archiv – Juni 1992". rund-um-ramsbeck.de.
  9. Airwolf Series
  10. Airwolf Airstrikes Vol 1
  11. Video of Helmet working, youtube.com
  12. "Lemon – Commodore 64, C64 Games, Reviews & Music!". Lemon64.
  13. "cpczone.net".
  14. "Airwolf – World of Spectrum". worldofspectrum.org.
  15. Airwolf at MobyGames
  16. Airwolf, ataricave.com Retrieved 2007-03-13.
  17. Airwolf at MobyGames
  18. Airwolf at MobyGames
  19. "Airwolf II – World of Spectrum". worldofspectrum.org.
  20. "Airwolf – the Movie [VHS][1984]". amazon.co.uk. 17 June 2002.
  21. "Airwolf DVD news: Announcement for Airwolf - Season 4 - TVShowsOnDVD.com". tvshowsondvd.com. Archived from the original on 2010-10-30.
  22. "Airwolf DVD news: Press Release for Airwolf - The Movie - TVShowsOnDVD.com". tvshowsondvd.com. Archived from the original on 2011-06-18.
  23. "Airwolf DVD news: Announcement for The Complete Series". tvshowsondvd.com. Archived from the original on 7 July 2016. Retrieved 22 June 2016.