Street Hawk Comp Series

Street Hawk was a show that ran briefly back in 1985 on ABC. It starred Rex Smith as Jesse Mach, a motorcycle cop who was injured and relegated to a desk job. Joe Regalbuto starred as Norman Tuttle, a government engineer who builds a super-powered motorcycle named "Street Hawk". Each week, Jesse and Norman would take on the evil-doers of the world and make the streets safe for law-abiding citizens.

The show's premise comes across to me as a bit of The Lone Ranger being crossed with another popular '80's TV show, Knight Rider. No one knows who the hero is under the mask (or in Street Hawk's case, the helmet) but he rides a computer-enhanced motorcycle replete with futuristic functionality and weaponry.

On to my review of the product itself. Equipment used to view the series was a Sony HDTV, upconverting Toshiba DVD recorder, and 6.1 Sony Home Theater surround sound.

I enjoyed re-watching these shows as I hadn't seen them since they last went off the air in 1985 on ABC. The suspension of dis-belief was still needed, of course, as the show was geared toward a younger audience but still it was fun seeing them again for the first time in 25 years.

However, I am docking this DVD release two stars for two big reasons:

1) The video presentation was faded and looked awfully washed out. Yes, I know the show is 25 years old. By contrast, the commercial DVD releases of TJ Hooker as well as Starsky and Hutch look better on my HDTV than this release did and those shows are older than this one.

2) The sound was awfully weak in some of the episodes while decent in others. I really found myself wishing that Shout! would have taken the time to re-mix the sound into 5.1, as Universal did with their release of Miami Vice.

I think cleaning up the video and re-mixing the sound would have added a lot more bite to the release. Considering the amount of dubbed in sounds such as the motorcycle itself, laser & gunfire sounds, etc. it would have enhanced the viewing experience significantly.

On the plus side, the new interviews with Rex Smith, Joe Regalbuto and Jeannie Wilson were interesting. If Mr. Smith happens to read this, I wish him the best of luck in finding one of the bikes from the series to show to his kids. I've heard there's one overseas in a museum display and there is one that one of the stuntmen from the show restored and is shown riding it on a Youtube video.

The DVD case itself is good and sturdy. Good thinking on Shout!'s part to put in the episode guide so that a viewer can find his or her favorite episodes quickly. Putting some of the bike's blueprints in the guide was a nice touch.

All in all, this was an ok release that I feel could have been done better; however, I am surprised it was released at all considering how short the series run was. It's too bad that the show didn't last longer as it was a fun ride and an excellent example of '80's escapism at its finest.

Street Hawk was an excellent 80's scifi/action/adventure show. While the show may have been overshadowed by Knight Rider and Airwolf, Street Hawk held its own ground and provided great entertainment. Sure, some of the dialogue was sappy/corny at times...but in my opinion, this was a reflection of the (Don't Worry Be Happy) 80's and all good fun. And hey...since the show only lasted for 13 episodes, we never had to sit through an evil alter ego episode (eg. Michael Knight/Garth Knight...that was very imaginative writing...hello).

This DVD release is great. The extras are nice (includes cast interviews, making of, unaired pilot, etc.). The video quality is good...and did I mention the soundtrack? The theme music and some of the incidental music in the show was provided by Tangerine Dream (an awesome German electronic music/krautrock group). This music was a perfect match for this high tech/high energy show.

Look...if you like motocross mixed with machine guns, rockets, lasers and computer assisted super speed...then Street Hawk is for you. You will believe a motorcycle can fly!!!

For the past couple of years I have been checking Amazon (at least once a month) to see when Street Hawk was going to be released on DVD. Boy was I ever surprised to find it finally listed. Of course I bought it right away. I was 11 when the show came out and didn't remember much about it, but I remembered I liked it. My kids think (especially my 16 year old son) that I'm a big nerd. Being female doesn't help any if I was a guy I think he would understand better. OK so my phone plays Le Parc (LA Street Hawk) by Tangerine Dream. What I remember from my youth was Knight Rider, Airwolf, and Street Hawk. I loved all three of these shows and I own the ONLY three seasons of Airwolf. Season 4 to me does not count because none of the original cast is in it. I would be like if they re-casted Harry Potter right in the middle. See told you big nerd here. I did own seasons 1 and 2 of Knight Rider, but me being the pain in the butt I am sold them because the boxes weren't in the best shape. When I was watching the extras I was surprised to hear that Rex Smith did a lot of the motorcycle driving himself. Of course the stunts were left to the professionals. I don't know if its still on there but on [...] the Street Hawk page there is an article from July 1, 2010 that says that Rex is trying to revive Street Hawk. That would be awesome! Make sure it's not on NBC though because they have proven that they can't remake a series. I'm happy to finally have Street Hawk in my TV on DVD collection!

Excuse me, pardon me, nerd coming through.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 25 reviews  4.7 out of 5 stars