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Airwolf Season One DVD boxset
01/07/2006 . Source: Geoff Willmetts 
DVD. Universal Playback 8238304. 564 minutes 13 episodes no extras. Price: £28.99 but shop around cos I got mine for £17.89 (UK). Stars: Jan-Michael Vincent, Ernest Borgnine, Alex Cord and Deborah Pratt. Buy Airwolf Season One in the USA - or Buy Airwolf Season One in the UK  check out website: www.universal-playback.com
You know how it is, you're looking around on the Net and suddenly discover the first season of 'Airwolf' was not only released in April in the UK but wasn't even advertised in the usual places.
Is 'Airwolf' Science Fiction? Maybe. How many sleek grey and white Mach One attack helicopter-cum-convertiplanes do we have in the skies? There are only a limited number of popular TV transport icons. The 1960s Batmobile. Lady Penelope's pink rolls royce FAB ONE. KITT from 'Knight Rider'. Yet there is only one in the air and that's Airwolf - a lady of elegance that makes the film and short lived TV series that suggested the idea, 'Blue Thunder', look ugly and cheap by comparison. Then again, how could a surveillance chopper in the hands of the American police compete with a CIA financed project that could conceal its real intentions? If 'Knight Rider' can be reviewed here, then so can 'Airwolf'. Did you know that President Ronald Regan seeing the show instigating the development of attack helicopters for the USAF? For a series created in 1984, 'Airwolf' still holds up pretty well and is one of the last series that relied on physical effects for all its destruction. It was also something that frequently put it over budget.
The first thing that struck me was the pilot episode was a little longer than the last video release. All of three minutes longer, developed a scene at the beginning and completely at the end where Archangel has a discussion with Hawke and Santini as to what to do with Airwolf. Don't throw away your UK video edition when you get this one though, as this version doesn't have the throwaway swear word which surprised even me when I watched the video the first time.
Airwolf was designed by Doctor Charles Moffitt and after successfully passing a test of its capacity, destroys the base where people were monitoring and flees to Tripoli. The deputy leader of the Firm, Michael Coldsmith Briggs III codenamed Archangel (actor Alex Cord), persuades the only other test pilot, Stringfellow Hawke (actor Jan-Michael Vincent), with experience flying Airwolf to go and get it. He in turn, gets his mentor Dominic Santini (actor Ernest Borgnine) to help. They succeed but Hawke refuses to hand Airwolf back, demanding that the Firm finds his missing in action brother, St. John Hawke, first. Archangel sees this as an opportunity for Airwolf to be used on behalf of the Firm on some missions in the meantime. Officially, Airwolf is wanted back and various agencies are determined to locate it. From here, we break off into various episodes and various missions.
Of the three series, the first is probably the most dynamic. With the various tales, it's also obvious that the scriptwriters themselves were playing with what they could do with this series. It's a shame that we have no audio commentary with inside information. Outside of a couple novelisations and a rare technical manual (before you ask, yes, I do own a copy) there is little written on the subject. Model merchandise is quite the reverse and treasured by the series' fans.
'Airwolf' is also a series that doesn't compromise. If you attack and don't surrender, Hawke will shoot you out of the sky. As a virtual recluse, Hawke is also a very unlikely hero as people he becomes involved with frequently die. Then again, to have a happy hero in such situations would be wrong. Santini balances the mix a little but the overall chemistry of the leading cast still makes for compelling viewing and well worth picking up to relive your youth or show your kids spectacular shows long before computer effects.
GF Willmetts
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