Inhumanoids, episode 2: "The Evil That Lies Within, Part 2"

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Tendril continues ripping through the ruins of Earth Corps HQ, but runs off after Liquidator hits him with a beaker of acid.

At the Shore Foundation, Sandra enters her brother's office just as Blackthorne finishes a call to a Senator where he uses an upcoming election to threaten the man into cutting Earth Corps' funding. Sandra confronts Blackthorne on this, as well as pictures she sees of Tendril being freed by a Shore drilling platform, and as she leaves, a group of his goons jump her. She kicks their asses and drives off.

Inhumanoids, episode 1: "The Evil That Lies Within, Part 1"

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What appears to be a miraculously preserved dinosaur is found in Big Sur national park, fully encased in a massive piece of amber. Journalist Barbara Walker is doing a report on the transportation of the monolith and tries to get a few questions in with Herman "Herc" Armstrong, the armor suited leader of Earth Corps, asking him about reports of strange voices heard by workers at the site of the discovery. Before he has a chance to answer, a shadowy figure in the woods pushes a giant tree on the two. Herc manages to knock Walker out of the way in the nick of time, and the figure is gone.

Our next Showcase will be.... Inhumanoids!

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Noel

A lot of people don't remember that, back when Rhino put out the very first season sets of Transformers and G.I. Joe, they also released a pair of single disc releases for another Hasbro/Sunbow production called Inhumanoids. Only 9 of the show's 13 episodes were included on the discs, and the production quality was awful, with a sound mix that made the background music so faint as to be invisible, even during the opening sequence. Nonetheless, their rarity has made the discs rather pricey collectibles here in the States as, unlike in the UK, they have yet to be replaced by a full series set.

Our Final Thoughts on Street Hawk

Tony

With a spray of gravel and a mechanical shriek, Street Hawk came hyperthrusting back into my life after a 27 year absence. For 13 weeks, the strains of Tangerine Dream's unforgettable theme music wrapped me in a blanket of warm nostalgia, and the rocket powered adventures of Jesse Mach, Norman Tuttle, and their hi-tech wonder bike ripped down memory lane, pulling me along happily in their wake. But that's not to say the road didn't have a few bumps.

There’s a saying that goes “Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades,” and so Street Hawk, being neither a horseshoe nor a hand grenade, gets only partial credit for proximity to greatness. The series, suffering from a lack of vision at the top, never lived up to its premise or the talents of those involved.

Street Hawk, novelization #4: Danger on Target

Noel

Here we are with the fourth and final novelization from UK publisher Target Books. I highly doubt the author, David Deutsch, is the noted Israeli physicist of the same name and is instead, like the authors of the last three volumes, likely just a pseudonym. As with the past three, this book adapts two non-sequential episodes of the series, with the common link that both deal with a woman from each of our heroes' pasts.

Street Hawk, novelization #3: Golden Eyes

Noel

Sorry. I said last week I was hoping to get through both the third and fourth novelizations in time for this post, but I was only able to get through Volume 3. Yet another release by Target, this installment was written by Charles Gale instead of the Jack Roberts who wrote the initial pair. Like Roberts, I can't find any information on Gale, who may very well be a pseudonym. As with the second book, this adapts two episodes from the series out of sequence from how they aired.

Street Hawk, novelization #2: Cons at Large

Noel

As with the pilot episode novelization, which I covered a couple months back, this and the two books I'll be covering were published by Target Books, a division of MCA Publishing known for their breezy film and television tie-ins, most notably adapting nearly every episode of the classic Doctor Who series. Also like the pilot, this novelization was written by Jack Roberts, an author I know nothing else about, with a name generic enough that it may very well have been a pseudonym. Unlike the pilot adaptation, each of the remaining books adapts a pair of episodes. I was curious if they'd keep each adaptation separate, like in the Star Trek books by James Blish, but was pleasantly surprised to find bridges and revisions that attempt to link the two stories into a single whole.

Street Hawk merchandise

Thanks to 80sKID for again giving us permission to use some of his pictures for this article. Check out 80sKID.com to see his full collection of merchadise, as well as great items for Automan, Greatest American Hero, and other fun shows of yesteryear.

Tony

Back when I wrote the merchandising article for Automan, I used the biblical verse "A prophet is respected everywhere except in his hometown," to illustrate that, even though American-based corporations had essentially ignored the series, elsewhere, particularly in the UK, it got more love. In doing the research for this article on Street Hawk merchandising, I came across the same phenomenon, causing me to tweak Mark 13:57 just a bit to now read: “A profit is expected everywhere except in his hometown.”

Street Hawk, episode 13: "Follow the Yellow Gold Road"

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A squad of heavily armed men in ski masks (led by Harry Northup and John Aprea) break into a Federal Gold Depository at night. They blow the safe, make off with a ton of gold, and put a couple bullets in a guard when he triggers the alarm.

In a dark side of town, Phil Simkins (Robert Costanzo) gathers a large force of friends and fellow blue collar workers - The 12th Street Protective Association - who, armed with baseball bats, surround the hangout of the Pugs, a street gang who's been attacking local women. Jesse had been patrolling the area on Street Hawk, and when he sees the Pugs pull out guns, he has Norman call the police and races into the scene, keeping both sides at bay until the cops show up.

Street Hawk, episode 12: "Female of the Species"

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Street Hawk lingers in the shadows of daylight just outside of LAX. World famous industrial heir and philanthropist Steven Cavanaugh (Paul Rossilli) is in town and the place is swarming with Feds - lead by grizzled pin-striper Frank Menlo (Dennis Franz) - who are on edge because of threats made against Cavanaugh by international terrorists bitter at him for his father's past political ties, despite the young man not sharing them. Phillip Truman (Marc Alaimao - Gul Dukat!), a terrorist disguised as a nurse, suddenly pulls a gun and fires on the Feds. Street Hawk interrupts the hit and Truman hops in a car. Street Hawk pursues, but Norman orders Jesse to back off when airport security cars take up the chase. When Jesse returns to the Command Center, he's furious to learn Truman got away.

The Feds take out an entire floor of the hotel where Cavanaugh is staying, filling it with agents and a command post working round the clock to sort things out. Altobelli shows up and chews Menlo out for not making use of the local cops, and Menlo gets right back in his face for allowing Street Hawk to continue roaming the streets. After getting a brush off, Altobelli tells Rachel to work the press and Jesse to keep an eye on the hotel.