Airwolf


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 ran four seasons, from January 22, 1984 until August 7, 1987.
The main cast for the first three seasons is Jan-Michael Vincent, Ernest Borgnine, Alex Cord, Deborah Pratt, and Jean Bruce Scott. 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 composed and conducted mainly by Sylvester Levay.

Plot

The fictional Airwolf is an advanced prototype supersonic helicopter with stealth capabilities and a formidable arsenal. Airwolf was designed by Charles Henry Moffet —a genius with a psychopathic taste for torturing and killing women—and built by the Firm, a division of the Central Intelligence Agency. 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. Moffet takes Airwolf to Libya, for acts of aggression such as sinking an American destroyer, as a service for Muammar Gaddafi, in exchange for giving Moffet sanctuary on Libyan soil.
Archangel recruits the reclusive Stringfellow Hawke, a former test pilot during the development of Airwolf, to recover the gunship. Archangel leaves his assistant Gabrielle Ademaur —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, 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 US. 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". Hawke refuses to return Airwolf until the Firm can find and recover his brother, St. John, 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.
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 take 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 US 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 of the first episode was also released on home video in the UK and several other countries; it received a theatrical release in Indonesia. The show was broadcast in several international markets. Parts of the series were filmed in Monument Valley, Utah.

''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", 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" — 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.

Season 1

Airwolf was a late-season replacement on CBS with a pilot episode completed but not yet aired. A decision was made to order an initial eight episodes. Airwolf ranked in the top 60 of TV shows towards the bottom while sitcom shows such as The Golden Girls, The Cosby Show, Cheers and Family Ties all remained at the top of ratings. Despite this, the ratings were good enough to extend the season with a 'back nine' order to bring season one up to twelve episodes in total, with the pilot making up two of those episodes. Much footage shot for the pilot episode was re-used by editors throughout the show which helped reduce production costs for aerial footage and special effects.
The two pilot episodes were later edited into a theatrical-style movie for home video release titled Airwolf: The Movie, and included a number of differences such as later-style music from the show, shorter scenes and dialogue changes for an older audience. It has since been released on DVD and Blu-ray as a stand-alone title separate to the TV series.

Season 2

Season two was commissioned for thirteen episodes initially with a later 'back nine' order for the remaining nine episodes to complete the season.
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 and new stories that were domestic and more action oriented. 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. Series star Jan-Michael Vincent's problems with alcoholism also contributed to the show's problems. Bernard Kowalski stepped in as executive producer for the third season, but the ratings remained low and the series was cancelled by CBS.

Season 3

Season three was produced in the same manner as season two, however the show's loss of original production staff, ratings decline, escalating problems behind the scenes and significant increases in production costs led to CBS selling off the show to the new USA Cable Network.

Season 4

The USA Network funded a fourth season in 1987, to be produced in Canada by Atlantis and The Arthur Company in association with MCA. This was intended to increase the number of episodes to make the show eligible for broadcast syndication so that a return could be generated against the series' overall production costs. 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. Stringfellow's brother St. John Hawke,, 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.

Cast

Season 1 – two-hour pilot and ten additional episodes.
  • Jan-Michael Vincent – Stringfellow Hawke
  • Ernest Borgnine – Dominic Santini
  • Alex Cord – Michael Coldsmith Briggs III
  • Deborah Pratt – Marella, Archangel's assistant
Seasons 2–3 – two seasons of 22 episodes each.
  • Vincent, Borgnine, Cord, Pratt, and
  • Jean Bruce Scott – Caitlin O'Shannessy
Season 4 – 24 episodes, bringing the total hours to 80.
The flight-capable Airwolf helicopter was a cosmetically modified Bell 222, serial number 47085 and tail number N3176S, sometimes unofficially called a Bell 222A. During filming of the series, the helicopter was owned by Jetcopters, Inc. of Van Nuys, California. Andrew Probert designed the Airwolf uniform insignia patch worn by the flight crew members, a snarling bat-winged wolf's head wearing a sheepskin.
After the show was canceled, the modifications were removed from the aircraft and are now owned by a private collector.
The helicopter was repainted and eventually sold to the German helicopter charter company, Hubschrauber-Sonder-Dienst, and given the registration number D-HHSD. While operating as an air ambulance, the helicopter crashed into a mountain in fog on June 6, 1992, killing all three occupants.
A new, full-size replica of the Airwolf helicopter was created by Steven W. Stull for display in the short-lived Helicopter Headquarters museum in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee that opened in August 2006, using a non-flying Bell 222 with molds taken directly from the originals used in the show. The museum was unsuccessful, and offered the replica for sale through eBay. The replica was housed between 2007 and 2015 in the Tennessee Museum of Aviation in Sevierville, Tennessee. It was then sold to a private collector in California, having been further modified at West Coast Customs during September 2015. The replica was then placed on top of a mansion in Bel Air, California.