Street Hawk: The Complete Series

Good program. Packaged well. Wish they still made shows like this.

Excellent

Awesome series

THE STORY: Rex Smith is Jesse Mach, a motorcycle police officer who is wounded and his partner killed by some ruthless criminal types (led by a bizarrely miscast Christopher (Taxi, Back to the Future, etc.) Lloyd. Shortly afterwards, Jesse is selected by a shadowy government agency as the best candidate to pilot Street Hawk, a prototype motorcycle that does 300+ MPH, has lasers, machine guns, can jump 100ft in the air and pretty much does everything but cook dinner and fold the laundry. Jesse gets a secret replacement knee operation to allow him to operate the bike AND use his "injury" as a perfect cover story so that no one will suspect he's the mysterious, 2-wheeled man in black. Unfortunately, Jesse is forced to team up with uber-dork Norman Tuttle, the creative brains behind the super bike. Norman and Jesse of course are initially at odds but soon iron things out and work together to stop criminals who operate above the law. THOUGHTS: Street Hawk is in the same lightweight action/adventure vein as Knight Rider, Airwolf and Blue Thunder. Show's star Rex Smith had good looks & plenty of smooooth charm, but by the time Street Hawk hit the streets the "futuristic vehicle show" craze was running out of gas. And it didn't help that it got stuck in a crappy timeslot either. Thus it only lasted 13 episodes. Too bad. The bike was badass, and the catchy synth score from Europe's techno New Age boys, Tangerine Dream, fit the futuristic proceedings to a "T". I really enjoyed this short-lived series. Joe Regalbutto is a lot of fun as government super-nerd Norman Tuttle. He & Rex have good chemistry together and make an amusing duo: Mach on the bike and Norman keeping everything running behind the scenes, (despite Jesse's inclination to ignore Norman's orders and go rogue every chance he gets. LOL) THE DVD SET: STREET HAWK arrives on DVD in pretty good shape. The picture is decent for an 80's TV show; bright, strong colors and fairly sharp, but there is some pixelation. Audio portion is equally good with no hissing, muffling or dropouts. A few nice extras add to the fun and up the value, including on screen interviews with the 3 main cast members and several promotional, concept art and behind-the-scenes photo galleries. A restoration on Blu-ray would be sweet, but honestly it's just nice to have this obscure, short-lived TV show as a legit release after years of grainy crap-quality bootlegs. This is probably all we'll ever get, so take it or leave it. 5 hyperthrusting STARS for the innocent 80's fun of STREET HAWK. >>>Trivia tidbit: Concept artist Andrew Probert not only did designed the Street Hawk bike, but was also responsible for some of the coolest craft of the 1980's, including the Airwolf helicopter, insignia & flight suits, and the USS Enterprise 1701-D from Star Trek: The Next Generation!<<<

I'm very happy to have found this forgotten 80s gem here on amazon as I couldn't find it anywhere else. Street Hawk was a show I remember watching at least once when I was a kid, although I don't remember any specific episode prior to watching it on DVD. Rex Smith plays Jesse Mach a.k.a. Street Hawk, who fights urban crime with the help of his high - tech motorcycle, much like Knight Rider. The difference being that while the basic functions of the motorcycle are run by Jesse, the special controls, like hyper - thrust, are controlled by Norman Tuttle (Joe Regalbuto) from a secret base of operations. I always thought it was cool how the doors to the base opened and Street Hawk flew out through them on his motorcycle, similar to how Knight Rider came out the back of a semi trailer, only with more style. I found the show an enjoyable and fun watch after three decades. Some episodes were directed by Virgil W. Vogel, who also directed episodes of Knight Rider and Airwolf, so the similarities are apparent. The "hyper - thrust" mode to make the bike go faster is the equivalent of the "super pursuit mode" in Knight Rider and the "turbo boost" in Airwolf and, of course, because it's 80s, they sped up the camera to make it look like the motorcycle is going faster than it really is. That said, I have to agree with some other reviewers here who say the show is less campy than Knight Rider. Absolutely. At least Street Hawk had some decent story ideas and not some tired, cheesy plots like Knight Rider had towards the end of its run (such as the season three episode "Circus Knights" where Michael and Kitt investigate the death of a circus performer. Booorring.) One of my favorite episodes is "Female of the Species," which is a complex plot about a young man who is the son of a rich and powerful family who is protected by a federal agent. Jesse is approached by a reporter to get information on the man, but finds out the woman isn't who she says she is. It features Dennis Franz (pre - NYPD Blue) and Ann Turkel, an actress who also featured in several episodes of Knight Rider. It had some great detective work and some fun action scenes with the bike towards the end. All in all, an entertaining show. I know the show had a short run, so I wasn't expecting a lot of episodes (13 total), but I do think they are re - watchable so that's a plus. I do have a few gripes. Like some have said, I think they could have remastered the picture and sound more, especially when you compare it to Knight Rider and Airwolf (Airwolf has superb surround sound quality for an 80s show). It sounded a bit muffled upon viewing the first few episodes, so I had to turn up the volume, but once I did that, it was decent enough, but still could have been better. Also, it took a long time for the DVDs to read on my DVD player and at least two out of the four discs wouldn't even play, hence the 4 stars. Thankfully, I have a Blu - ray player, which will read almost anything, and so I was able to play the discs on there, otherwise, I would have been stuck with DVDs that didn't play. It is unclear to me why my DVD player would not read some of the discs. I bought the Street Hawk DVD new and there are no major defects on them that I can see, so I'm not sure what the issue is, but I am still able to play them and that's what counts. The special features include a documentary with updated interviews of Rex Smith and the rest of the cast and crew, stills galleries, and biographies. I like that they included an episode guide booklet with the package, which also includes some blueprints of the bike. The discs come in the usual plastic case, but the discs are stacked on top of each other, which could allow them to get scratched. I would have preferred the flip holders like the ones that came with Knight Rider, but that's a minor gripe. All that said, if you are a fan of 80s' shows like Knight Rider and Airwolf, then Street Hawk is for you. Cheesy? Yes. Entertaining? Absolutely.

If you love Knight Rider or Airwolf, you need this in your collection. Brings back a lot of nostalgic memories. LOVE IT

One of my favorite shows

I remember watching this TV series when I was a kid with my dad.

helt otrolig och inponerande motorcykel som kan som en biker mice from mars motorcykelar

Alles was tip top inorde op tijd geleverd zonder beschadigingen

Awesome TV show from my youth..fast service and shipping..showed up a week faster than expected.

👌👌👌

Tolle Serie, so schön 80er ;) Schade, dass es nur so wenige Episoden gibt.