Airwolf would have to have been one of my favourite shows from the late 80's. It had everything I was into as a late teen, helicopters, electronics, guns, rockets, all that sorta macho stuff. One of the better sequences was seen in the first series of a full startup of airwolf. It began with the camera zoomed in on an iguana sleeping peacefully on the nose gear wheel of the super-helicopter. Dominic Santini (Ernest Borgnine), and String-Fellow Hawke walked up to the aircraft, and boarded, this sequence was complete with the sounds of escaping air from the (presumably) constantly pressurized cabin. The Airwolf helmets and uniforms were unique, especially the helmets that (imaginationally) had a heads up display that the wearer could see. This was pronounced by a [ ] on the helmets outside when the visor was dropped and the pilot was locking onto a target. Continuing the scene, Dominic reaches up and presses the "Start 1" button. Following a sequence of beeping from the on-board computers, the aircrafts twin turbines would begin to spool up. The scene was further dramatized by the slowest ever startup of a turbine helicopters rotors, with the whoop whoop of the blades as they began to pick up speed, and different angles of the rotor blades, different views inside the cockpit of the different guages including : Weather Radar, Interstage Turbine Tempurature, Gas Generator RPM, Oil pressure, Exhaust gas temperature, Main Rotor rpm, Whacky(TM) compass thing, Electrical diagnostics panel, radar or gps map, fuel guages and a few others that flashed by so quick I don't recall. Following this, String raised the collective now that the rotors were at 100% rpm governor locked, and you see Airwolf get light on its heels, then lift off. Thanks to the magic of gravity, the end of the scene sees poor Mr Iguana suddenly find himself upside down, and drop to the ground (landing like a cat on all fours!), and Airwolf climbing, turning tail, igniting turbos (two rocket engines either side of the right and left wheel/chain-gun nacelles), and flying off into the distance.
Then the opening credits start! Other cool sequences from the series include Dom and String dropping airwolf out of a C130 Hercules (a bell222 b is too wide by several inches to fit inside a C130!), airwolf taking out fighter jets with their OWN rockets (she was demilitarized for some reason), and the best episode of all, was the first, with the big desert chase sequence, with hawke chasing down moffat, after he killed his girl by cooking her in the desert heat.
The show had many twists and turns, and lots of action to keep it watchable, and the theme is unmistakable, played by Sylvester Levy, had that 80's "synthesizer" sound, yet was upbeat enough to tap your foot along to when the action sequences, or titles came on.
All in all, still my favorite show, its why I have the boxed set and the episodes on my hard drive :)
Then the opening credits start! Other cool sequences from the series include Dom and String dropping airwolf out of a C130 Hercules (a bell222 b is too wide by several inches to fit inside a C130!), airwolf taking out fighter jets with their OWN rockets (she was demilitarized for some reason), and the best episode of all, was the first, with the big desert chase sequence, with hawke chasing down moffat, after he killed his girl by cooking her in the desert heat.
The show had many twists and turns, and lots of action to keep it watchable, and the theme is unmistakable, played by Sylvester Levy, had that 80's "synthesizer" sound, yet was upbeat enough to tap your foot along to when the action sequences, or titles came on.
All in all, still my favorite show, its why I have the boxed set and the episodes on my hard drive :)