Rankin/Bass · 1986 · The ThunderCats sister show

SILVERHAWKS

Partly metal, partly real.

In the year 2839, in the far Galaxy of Limbo, a squad of cyborg lawmen is sent to stop the crime lord Mon*Star. This is the complete guide to Rankin/Bass's boldest swing after ThunderCats.

Watch the clips Meet the squad
The SilverHawks team lined up: Bluegrass, Steelwill, Steelheart, Quicksilver and the Copper Kidd
The squad, from the show's title sequence

The Story

A galaxy that needed a new kind of law

Before the first ThunderCats episode had even aired, Jules Bass was already sketching its successor. The idea, fleshed out by ThunderCats story editor Peter Lawrence, traded swords and sorcery for chrome and stars: a team of humans from the Federal Interplanetary Force who volunteer to have parts of their bodies replaced with machine, so they can survive the long journey to a galaxy a hundred light-years from Earth.

That galaxy is Limbo, and it has a problem named Mon*Star. A feline-bodied crime boss, he breaks out of Penal Planet 10, frees the worst criminals in the system, and builds a mob. Drawing the light of Limbo's Moon*Star through a transformation chamber, he turns himself into a spiked, armored monster wielding the crimson Light Star, then rides out on his space-squid Sky-Runner to take the galaxy apart.

Against him stand the SilverHawks, working out of the orbital station Hawk Haven under the old bionic lawman Commander Stargazer. They are "partly metal, partly real," and each one flies with a robotic Fighting Hawk at their side.

Moving pictures from Limbo

Clips

Short scenes lifted from the broadcast. Press play.

The full opening titles: partly metal, partly real
Mon*Star's transformation and Melodia's betrayal
The Great Galaxy Race begins
The Blue Door: the SilverHawks give chase
Stargazer's refit, and Mo-Lec-U-Lar strikes
A dogfight over the Limbo galaxy

Partly metal, partly real

The SilverHawks

Quicksilver Quicksilver in SilverHawk armor

Quicksilver

Capt. Jonathan Quick

Steel-haired leader of the team and the show's emblem. Quick reflexes, a level head, and the Fighting Hawk Tally-Hawk riding his shoulder.

Role
Field leader and tactician
Fighting Hawk
Tally-Hawk
Voice
Peter Newman
Steelheart Steelheart in SilverHawk armor

Steelheart

Sgt. Emily Hart

One half of the Hart twins. An artificial heart and an empathic bond with her brother Steelwill; the team's engineer and second set of eyes.

Role
Technician
Fighting Hawk
Rayzor
Voice
Maggie Wheeler
Steelwill Steelwill in SilverHawk armor

Steelwill

Sgt. Will Hart

The muscle. Twin to Steelheart, sharing the artificial heart and the empathic link. When one twin is hurt, the other feels it.

Role
Strongman
Fighting Hawk
Stronghold
Voice
Bob McFadden
Bluegrass Bluegrass in SilverHawk armor

Bluegrass

Bluegrass

A country-singing cowboy who flies the team ship Maraj. The only active SilverHawk who cannot fly on his own; he fights with a sonic guitar and a lasso. Voiced by Lion-O himself, Larry Kenney.

Role
Pilot and second-in-command
Fighting Hawk
Side Man
Voice
Larry Kenney
The Copper Kidd The Copper Kidd in SilverHawk armor

The Copper Kidd

Copper Kidd

The youngest hawk and the only non-Earthling, from the Planet of the Mimes. He speaks only in whistles and tones, throws razor discs, and out-calculates the ship's computers.

Role
Navigator and math genius
Fighting Hawk
May-Day
Voice
Pete Cannarozzi (effects)
Commander Stargazer

Commander Stargazer

Stargazer

The bionic veteran lawman who recruited the team and runs operations from Hawk Haven. He has chased Mon*Star across the galaxy for a lifetime.

Role
Commander
Fighting Hawk
Sly-Bird
Voice
Bob McFadden

Reinforcements arrived mid-season to seed a second wave of toys:

  • Hotwing. Magician whose mystic powers recharge every 14 years. Bird: Gyro.
  • Flashback. A time-traveling SilverHawk from the far future. Bird: Backlash.
  • Moon Stryker. Cyclone propellers and a marksman's aim. Bird: Tail-Spin.
  • Condor. A retired ally turned private eye, with an energy whip. Bird: Jet Stream.

Brim*Star

Mon*Star's Mob

Mon*Star

Mon*Star

Crime lord of Limbo · Earl Hammond

The feline-bodied boss who broke out of Penal Planet 10. Channeling the light of the Moon*Star through his transformation chamber, he gains spiked armor, a restored eye, and the crimson Light Star. He rides the armored space-squid Sky-Runner. Voiced by Mumm-Ra's Earl Hammond.

Mo-Lec-U-Lar

Mo-Lec-U-Lar

Shapeshifting hitman · Doug Preis

A hitman who disassembles into gold spheres and reforms in any shape, the disc on his chest spinning as he reassembles. The mob's master of disguise.

Poker-Face

Poker-Face

Casino robot · Larry Kenney

Top hat, a card-suit cane, and the Starship Casino. He gambles with other people's lives.

Melodia

Melodia

Sound weapon · Maggie Wheeler

The mob's only woman, armed with the keytar-like Sound Smasher that fires destructive musical notes. The dark mirror of Bluegrass.

Mumbo-Jumbo

Mumbo-Jumbo

Robot minotaur · Peter Newman

A robotic minotaur who bulks up to crush his foes. Steelheart's recurring nemesis.

Windhammer

Windhammer

Weather terrorist · Doug Preis

Wields a tuning fork that bends the weather across whole planets, and even airless space.

Hardware

Hardware

Weapons-maker · Bob McFadden

The mob's inventor and armorer, with a bottomless Roll-Up Bag of gear. He built the Quicksilver clone, Darkbird.

Buzz-Saw

Buzz-Saw

War machine · Bob McFadden

A sentient war machine whose circular blades double as flying projectiles.

Yes-Man

Yes-Man

Mon*Star's toady · Bob McFadden

The snake-like sycophant who works the transformation chamber and never says no to the boss.

The sound of Limbo

Bernard Hoffer's score

The same composer who scored ThunderCats wrote a denser, more electronic palette for deep space. Audio lifted from the broadcast and the soundtrack.

Opening titles

The sung main theme, "Partly metal, partly real," with the Tally-Hawk call-out.

The Hoffer score

A suite of Bernard Hoffer's orchestral and synth cues from across the series.

Voices of Limbo

The voice cast

Almost the entire ThunderCats ensemble came back to play the galaxy.

Larry Kenney

Bluegrass, Poker-Face, Timestopper, Moon Stryker

Lion-O on ThunderCats

Peter Newman

Quicksilver, Mumbo-Jumbo, Flashback

Tygra and WilyKat on ThunderCats

Maggie Wheeler

Steelheart, Melodia, all female roles

Credited in 1986 as Maggie Jakobson; later Janice on Friends

Bob McFadden

Stargazer, Steelwill, Yes-Man, Buzz-Saw, Hardware, Condor

Snarf on ThunderCats

Earl Hammond

Mon*Star

Mumm-Ra and Jaga on ThunderCats

Doug Preis

Mo-Lec-U-Lar, Windhammer, Hotwing

Multiple roles across both shows

Then and now

Legacy

Toyline

Kenner, 1987. LJN (who made the ThunderCats figures) was set to produce SilverHawks but passed at the last minute. Each figure shipped with a companion Fighting Hawk. Several catalog items, a Copper Kidd figure and the Copper Racer among them, were never produced.

Comics

A seven-issue Marvel Star Comics tie-in ran 1987 to 1988. Decades later Dynamite revived the property and crossed it over with ThunderCats.

Music

Bernard Hoffer scored both SilverHawks and ThunderCats. The sung main title, "Partly metal, partly real," is one of the most recognizable hooks of the era. No official album of his original score was ever released.

Legacy

Remembered as "ThunderCats in space," SilverHawks never escaped its sibling's shadow but kept a devoted cult following for its villain designs, Hoffer's score, and the Mon*Star transformation. Mon*Star even cameos in the 2011 ThunderCats reboot.

Keep exploring

More SilverHawks on thundercats.org

Episode Guide

All 65 episodes, summarized.

Vintage Toys

The Kenner figures, vehicles and birds.

Super7 Figures

The modern Ultimates and ReAction lines.

ThunderCats x SilverHawks

The Dynamite crossover comics.