Product Details

• Actors: Barry Van Dyke, Michael Scarabelli, Geraint Wyn Davies, Anthony Sherwood, Jan-Michael Vincent
• Format: Box set, Color, Dolby, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 5
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Universal Studios
• DVD Release Date: February 1, 2011
• Run Time: 1121 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0049GYXCW
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #50,448 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Airwolf heads to the skies for its stunning final flight in all 24 episodes in the fourth season of one of the most action-packed adventure series ever made. Piloted by Stringfellow Hawke’s long-lost brother, Saint John (Barry Van Dyke), the stage is set for air battles unlike anything seen before. Joined by a new crew comprised of Dominic’s resourceful niece, Jo (Michele Scarabelli), rebellious Major Mike Rivers (Geraint Wyn Davies), “Company” agent Jason Locke (Anthony Sherwood) and Newman, Locke’s mysterious supervisor and F.I.R.M. agent (William B. Davis), Airwolf faces down its greatest challenges yet: from the threat of nuclear meltdown to contraband weapons and radioactive clouds. It’s explosive action from start to finish in the show that took adventure to new heights.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 38 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Awful December 11, 2010

By Loves Toys

Format:DVD

In a nutshell, the 4th season is horrendous. Truly awful in every way compared to the first 3 seasons. Its videotaped rather than filmed and it shows when they insert the recycled stock footage from the first 3 seasons, the "special effects" are just plain lame and the audio and rolling camera effect (to simulate flying) when they are in the chopper is terrible too. The acting, accents, and writing is just plain bad. I don't know how anyone who was a fan of the original version can stand to watch this one, let alone pay money for it!

23 of 26 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars The St. John Season November 3, 2010

By Taheen Lopez

Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase

It's about time they got this season of the new AIRWOLF series released on DVD, especially since Universal has already had AIRWOLFs first 3 seasons out on DVD since the Spring of 2007, despite the fact that this season wasn't as good as its predecessor since this season had no Stringfellow Hawke, no Dom (Ernest Borgnine), no Archangel(Alex Cord), & no Caitlyn O'Shannessy(Jean Bruce Scott) anymore in this revived series of this show after AIRWOLF was cancelled by CBS in the Spring of 1986, due to remaining low ratings.

Therefore, the USA Network decided to revive this series in the Winter of 1987 with the original cast & crew completley written out this abbreviated 4th Season with only Jan-Michael Vincent appearing in the 1st transitional episode for a last time when Dominic Santini(Ernest Borgnine) is killed off in an explosion & gets replaced by Michelle Scarabelli as Dom's niece(Jo Santini)who inherits Santini Air from Dom; the hard-nosed Michael Archangel(Alex Cord) was said to have suddenly been assigned overseas with the FIRM and got replaced by Agent Jason Locke(Anthony Sherwood)from a government agency called "The Company", but had no mention made about Caitlyn which was replaced by Air Force Major Mike Rivers(Geraint Wyn Davies).

Additionally, Hawke's long lost kid brother(St. John Hawke)who had been missing in action since Vietnam is suddenly revealed to be alive & well, having been working for many years under deep cover for American Intelligence & Locke's predecessor(Archangel) knew where St. John was the whole time and was just using the recluse Stringfellow to control Airwolf in the original series that ran on CBS from 1984 thru 1986.

St.... John Hawke(Barry Van Dyke) was rescued & subsequently replaced his predecessor Stringfellow Hawke(Jan-Michael Vincent)to control Airwolf as the central character and production moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with a smaller budget that was less than 1/3 of the original CBS budget.

Therefore, the production crew no longer had access to the original Airwolf chopper, and all in-flight shots were recycled from earlier seasons; the original full-size studio mock-up was re-dressed & used for all interior shots leaving the new actors of this revived series little room to develop their characters along with the fact that this revived revived version of AIRWOLF flopped after only 24 episodes leading to this shows cancellation in the Summer of 1987, not to mention this season doesn't even compare to the original 3 season series from CBS on top of that either.

In the meantime, Universal will be releasing AIRWOLFs Fourth Season on DVD Tuesday February 1st, 2011 for you AIRWOLF fans out there. Read more ›

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Airwolf Season four review February 11, 2011

By Deejay

Format:DVD

Ah, the much maligned fourth season of the cult series Airwolf. When CBS cancelled the series due to high production costs and low ratings(and possibly Jan Michael-Vincent's alcoholism)the show had a total of 58 episodes. Not nearly enough for a successful syndication run. So, following the example of other early-cancelled shows(The 80's Twilight Zone, 80's Alfred Hitchcock Presents) a new, cheaply made season would be filmed in Canada, specifically Vancouver. These 24 episodes existed merely to bump up the total amount of episodes so Airwolf could be sold to more syndication markets. The belief was a series had to have more than 70 episodes to be aired on second run stations.
The expensive original cast had to go, but Vincent came back for the first episode Blackjack. Vancouver offered tax breaks that helped keep production cost down. With the exception of Barry Van Dyke in the lead and the occasional guest star, all the other cast and crew were Canadian. The show was filmed on 35mm film and then transferred to videotape where all the post work was done. This was a common technique in the 80'. Other shows like Star Trek The Next Generation(the first two seasons), Friday The 13th, The Series, etc were also filmed this way. It does occasionally give the show a cheaper video-looking quality in comparison to the earlier seasons.
Van Dyke is good in the lead, very much the squared jawed traditional hero. Geraint Wyn Davies is the joker of the group but has some good dramatic moments too. He seems to fly the copter more often than the Dyke. Michele Scarabelli is cute and tough. Much better than Jean Bruce Scott who was too annoying. Anthony Sherwood is a fine replacement for Archangel.
The other cast member not returning to this season was Airwolf itself.... The copter had been sold off already so season 4 is loaded with stock footage. All 24 episodes were filmed in 6 months, a hectic schedule, and in what appeared to be the wettest year of Vancouver's history.
Despite all the limited resources, stock footage, reduced budget, bad weather, this final season of Airwolf is actually not that bad. Many of the stories are as good as the early seasons and there is a return to the international flair of the first season. The copter stock footage is reasonably well incorporated and the new cast do their best to put on a good show. Some of the guest stars are weak but all in all it just seems like everyone tried to make it work.
It sure is nice to finally have this season on DVD. Universal has done a great job cleaning up the print. With the film-to-video conversion this was never the prettiest looking show, but the episodes actually look great here. Colors are bright and sound is acceptable. Squeezing five shows on one disc is pushing it though. No extras sadly. Each single sided disc comes in a thin plastic case that holds two discs and has a printed summary of each episodes. Hilariously, some of the summaries are completely wrong! Read more ›

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars The Horrible USA Network season... September 24, 2009

By Yvhuce

Format:DVD

This season was made by the USA Network. They were unable to procure the Airwolf helicopter after the show was canceled by Universal, so all of the Airwolf footage is recycled from seasons 1-3. While the acting is alright, this season is very poor quality. Also, despite the product details, Earnest Borgnine does not actually appear in this season. A stunt double was used for the scene where his character is killed. Because they couldn't hire the actors from the origional show, they had to re-cast the show with new characters.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Airwolf Season 4: The Final Season Doesn't Quite Soar, but At Least Give It a Chance March 16, 2011

By Hound Dog

Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase

Like many "Airwolf" fans, I considered for years the 1987 final season as a horribly cheap knock-off of the original 1984-86 CBS television series. However, after having recently sampled a few free episodes online, I opted to take a chance on this package of 24 episodes, and, despite its flaws, I must say I'm pleasantly surprised.

When "Airwolf" went off the air in mid-1986, a fourth season based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada was quickly concocted in order to boost the series into a full syndication package (where 70-80+ total episodes were required at the time). USA Network, in conjunction with Universal Studios, then aired this new "Airwolf" in January of 1987 through the end of the summer. The last few minutes of Episode 24 ("Welcome to Paradise") made absolutely no effort to create any sense of a series closure, so presumably a fifth season was at least possible. While that obviously didn't happen, the fourth season at least proved that it could often match up with its far more expensive predecessor.

Kicking off the 4th season is the transition episode, "Blackjack," where Jan-Michael Vincent makes a final appearance as surly master pilot, Stringfellow Hawke, who is soon seriously injured in a helicopter explosion that kills co-pilot Dominic Santini (no Ernest Borgnine here, just a quick cameo by a padded stand-in). Meanwhile, String's long-lost brother, St. John (newly cast Barry Van Dyke), has been sending him secret messages from a prisoner camp in the Burmese Highlands, initially unaware that Col. Ray "Blackjack" Bouchard is scheming to use the captive Hawke to steal Airwolf by setting up a deadly trap.... Newly introduced are affable Major Mike Rivers (Geraint Wyn Davies), Dom's niece Jo (Michelle Scarabelli), and Archangel's replacement, Jason Locke (Anthony Sherwood), who quickly put the puzzle pieces together and rescue St. John rather easily. This entertaining yet implausible installment is personally my season favorite, especially Vincent's poignant, final on-screen moments as Stringfellow Hawke leaving his character's ultimate fate as suitably ambiguous.

Among the show's numerous retroactive changes, you are supposed to believe that the now-departed Archangel (he's off somewhere in the Far East) apparently knew all along where deep-cover St. John really was while manipulating String to control Airwolf for his own agenda. All in all, once spelled out, this premise mostly works. Still, it may be hard to swallow that, as sophisticated as Airwolf is purported to be and how only an experienced test pilot like Stringfellow Hawke could even fly her in the original series; this new quartet instantaneously all can fly Airwolf with apparent ease. Hence, I suppose a few trained chimps could also probably fly Airwolf now, too, with a little practice, but let's leave it as a loose plot contrivance.

New star Barry Van Dyke, though not the most naturally charismatic lead, is pretty solid with his Harrison Ford-esque persona as St. John. Able and witty support comes from Geraint Wyn Davies as co-pilot Mike Rivers, while Michelle Scarabelli and Anthony Sherwood's efforts make this "Airwolf" far more a cohesive ensemble piece than it was simply as a star vehicle for Vincent and Borgnine. As for the formulaic scripts, yes, they are often clichéd and sometimes poor imitations of the original series, but, considering the program's obviously limited budget, they are still entertaining and are not as bad as you might think (at least, not all of them). Also, yes, the new optical special effects (like Airwolf's cheapo laser beam) are beyond hokey. Frankly, though, these amusing moments are at least worthy of some good chuckles. On the plus side, in addition to the lush Canadian scenery, the recycled aerial shots of Airwolf are still terrific to see and help compensate for the show's deficiencies.

In the end, my only suggestion is to first preview "Airwolf: Season 4" online wherever you can find it before making an informed decision as a consumer.

Rating: 7.5/10 (After a quarter-century, this underrated version of "Airwolf" is finally ripe for re-discovery by a new generation). Read more ›