Customer Reviews

Street Hawk: The Complete Series

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

You know how you go back and watch shows and movies that you loved as a child and now they're terrible and/or stupid? I gambled that Street Hawk would not fall into that category and won. I have a television station in my city called MyTV and it shows things like the A-Team and Kojak and the like, and I realized that, when I watch Knight Rider, I am still never exactly sure who he's supposed to be or what he's supposed to be doing, and it leaves me a little nonplussed. Like the A-Team, Street Hawk is simple and formulaic; I don't have to work to understand it. Often I don't want that, but when I was a kid, it was all I wanted. Watching those shows now take me back to that time. I also recommend Misfits of Science, if you can get hold of it. Same deal. Radical, awesome, and whatever else we said when we were 12.

It's about time they finally released this short-lived 13-episode high-tech drama out on DVD about a former motorcycle cop & former amateur dirt-bike racer named Jesse Mach(Rex Smith)who was secretly chosen to test a top-secret project-all terrain attack supercycle capable of speeds up to 300 MPH that even outclassed the Knight 2000 on KNIGHT RIDER after Jesse got injured in the line-of-duty & lost his police partner(Marty)in the process just like Michael Knight(David Hasselhoff)on KNIGHT RIDER had lost his police partner in-the-line-of-duty on his last assignment with the police before Michael's identity change.

Backing the supercycle was a computerized command system that allowed its operator to provide the supercycle's rider with real-time information from various sources & to autopilot the Street Hawk motorcycle during its high-speed runs after clearing traffic along the intended route and had weaponry like AIRWOLF had that KNIGHT RIDER didn't even have either which even made KITT look pale by comparison, especially since KNIGHT RIDER started getting overshadowed by STREET HAWK during this shows 3 1/2 month run on ABC since Jesse stole "The Man The Machine" motto away from Michael Knight(David Hasselhoff)among many other things.

Norman Tuttle(Joseph Regalbuto)who was an engineer employed by the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration of the Department of Justice, was the designer of the Street Hawk supercycle & reluctantly chose Jesse to test it out which contributed to Jesse living a double-life as a public relations officer from the fictional Metropolitan Police Dept. in L.A. in the daytime & anonymous crime-fighter at night-time, which was a tad similar to how Michael & KITT got started too since Michael was an ex-police officer nearly killed in the line-of-duty who became a freelance crime-fighting investigator with a brand new identity & a super-car built with capabilities beyond imagination by a dying eccentric billionaire Wilton Knight(Richard Basehart)for Michael to combat urban criminals who were above the law that nobody else dared to touch.

Additionally, STREET HAWK was originally planned to premiere in the Fall of 1984 on Mondays at 8PM, but then ABC had changed their minds when the short-lived Summer series from 1984 CALL TO GLORY did well & STREET HAWK was pushed to mid-season which resulted in STREET HAWK making its debut in the Winter of 1985 at 9PM on Friday nights instead, but then STREET HAWK flopped after only 2 months since it was already apparent that they weren't going to have a 2nd Season underway for the Fall of 1985 since this show wasn't getting the ratings that ABC wanted, despite the fact that STREET HAWK had developed a cult fan base like KNIGHT RIDER and AIRWOLF did since STREET HAWK was an instant smash when it premiered on ABC for the very first time on Friday January 4, 1985; except this show didn't even last unlike KNIGHT RIDER & AIRWOLF since STREET HAWK hit a speed-bump all of the sudden by the Spring of 1985 since people were probably getting bored with watching too much of the same thing every weekend like another reviewer stated about this show since STREET HAWK was too similar to KNIGHT RIDER & AIRWOLF since STREET HAWK was on ABC every Friday night, AIRWOLF was on CBS every Saturday night, and KNIGHT RIDER was on NBC every Sunday night giving people too much competition & redundancy, despite the fact that STREET HAWK had stole KNIGHT RIDER's thunder during this shows brief run along with the fact that the creation of STREET HAWK was inspired by the creation and premiere of both KNIGHT RIDER & AIRWOLF, especially KNIGHT RIDER which also inspired the creation of AIRWOLF.

In addition to what helped lead to this shows cancellation; STREET HAWK also premiered too soon after AIRWOLF and KNIGHT RIDER both did too since this show debuted only a year later after AIRWOLF did and 2 1/2 years later after KNIGHT RIDER did since STREET HAWK made its debut on ABC in the Winter of 1985, AIRWOLF made its debut on CBS in the Winter of 1984, and KNIGHT RIDER made its debut on NBC in the Fall of 1982.

Therefore STREET HAWK had started becoming overshadowed by KNIGHT RIDER & AIRWOLF and after the "Murder Is A Novel Idea" episode of this show was shown on ABC on 3/7/85 was a good sign that this show wasn't going in the right direction & that the next episode wasn't going to be shown until 2 months later since STREET HAWK was already cancelled in mid-March of 1985 after only 9 weeks of being on ABC, but then ABC had brought STREET HAWK back on the air temporarily in May of 1985 to finish off STREET HAWKs remaining last 3 episodes of this short-lived series before ABC had cancelled STREET HAWK permanently in the Summer of 1985 when KNIGHT RIDERs 4th Season was underway for the Autumn of 1985 on NBC & while AIRWOLFs 3rd Season was in the works for September of 1985 on CBS which was very similar to what CBS did with THE INCREDIBLE HULK in it's last season after it's 4-year run on CBS since THE INCREDIBLE HULK was cancelled all of the sudden in the middle of the Hulks 5th Season on such short-notice in mid November of 1981 despite its strong ratings, due to budget cuts and a change in management at CBS which contributed to the Hulk's 1981-82 Season being only half a season with only 7 episodes in the can, but CBS had cancelled THE INCREDIBLE HULK after its 5th 1981-1982 Season episode which was the "Triangle" episode which original air date was Friday November 13th, 1982; but then CBS brought the Hulk back on the air temporarily in the Spring of 1982 to finish off its remaining last 2 episodes in May of 1982 which were "Slaves" and then "A Minor Problem" and then CBS axed THE INCREDIBLE HULK permanently in June of 1982.

STREET HAWK was also the bomb on Friday nights in the Winter of '85 just like KNIGHT RIDER was the bomb on Friday nights from the Fall of 1982 thru the Summer of 1983, especially since STREET HAWK had stole many viewers away from KNIGHT RIDER, but on the other hand this show had its share of problems, flaws, & disadvantages too like KNIGHT RIDER & AIRWOLF did since STREET HAWK's rider didn't have total control of the STREET HAWK supercycle as opposed to the Knight 2000 & the Airwolf superchopper since Mach always needed Norman's help in controlling it while on a mission which also makes you wonder how was STREET HAWK able to never accidently hit anything in its way while hitting hyperthrust mode, but unlike Mach, Michael mostly had control of KITT & Hawke mostly had control of AIRWOLF aka "The Lady" along with the fact that STREET HAWKs disadvantages were often overlooked & overshadowed by the disadvantages that Airwolf & the Knight 2000 had on top of that.

In addition to what made this show an over-the-top smash, STREET HAWK was the hybrid of KNIGHT RIDER & AIRWOLF since STREET HAWK was like a cross between AIRWOLF and KNIGHT RIDER with its supercycle spectacular capabilities that KNIGHT RIDER and AIRWOLF both had & didn't even have, despite the fact that STREET HAWK wasn't as successful or as everlasting as AIRWOLF or KNIGHT RIDER were since STREET HAWK didn't even last a year and it bit the dust after only 13 episodes.

Overall, I still like KNIGHT RIDER the best out of AIRWOLF, STREET HAWK, & KNIGHT RIDER and I like AIRWOLF the 2nd best out of the following 3 too along with the fact that KNIGHT RIDER was the most successful and longest lasting of those 3 Universal high-tech futuristic dramas.

It was also interesting seeing
-George Clooney in the "A Second Self" episode before his co-starring days on E.R. and before Clooney was even a star
-Bernard White in "The Adjustor" episode before his co-starring days as homicide detective(Sgt. Carl Molina) on the short-lived police drama THE NEW DRAGNET
-James Whitmore, Jr. in the "Dog Eat Dog" episode during his co-starring days as Hunter & McCall's incompetent fellow officer(Det. Bernie Terwilliger)on the police drama HUNTER
-Keye Luke in the "Chinatown Memories" episode after his co-starring days on KUNG-FU
-Joanna Kerns in the "Hot Target" episode before her co-starring days as Maggie Seaver on GROWING PAINS
-Dennis Franz in the "Female Of The Species" episode before his co-starring days as Detective Andrew Sipowitz on NYPD BLUE & before his co-starring days as Det. Norman Buntz on the police drama HILL STREET BLUES
-John Aprea in the "Follow The Yellow Gold Road" episode after his co-starring days as Houston's police investigator buddy(Lt. Vince Novelli) on MATT HOUSTON

The bonus feature also tells us about the experience & joys Rex Smith, Jeannie Wilson, & Joseph Regalbuto of doing STREET HAWK & how they ran this show by using at least 5 different motorcycles and quite a few stuntmen in Jesse Mach's black STREET HAWK outfit to do the stunts just like they used at least 4 Trans Ams to do the series KNIGHT RIDER since they had to use a stripped down version & model of the STREET HAWK motorcycle for a stuntbike to do the jumps and leaps just like they had to use a stripped down version of the Knight 2000 Trans Am for the stunt cars to do all the impressive stunts on KNIGHT RIDER by using a stripped down version of the '82 Pontiac Trans Am.

Additionally, the bonus feature explains how this show ended up being axed even though its ratings seemed high enough to kick off a 2nd Season in the Fall of 1985, but somehow I think STREET HAWK would've ended up lasting longer for at least a 2nd Season if STREET HAWK made its debut in September of 1984 instead of January of 1985 since STREET HAWK was the biggest smash on prime-time since KNIGHT RIDER back then & was an even bigger smash than AIRWOLF was too which reminds me that I think the producers of this show had to give Rex Smith's characters last name as Mach instead of Hawk even though this shows title was STREET HAWK due to the fact that Jan-Michael Vincent already had the last name Hawke for his character on AIRWOLF which debuted the year before STREET HAWK did.

Therefore you could say that STREET HAWK was one of the most popular short-lived classic TV shows of all times, at least from the 1980's along with the fact that STREET HAWK was the biggest high-tech phenomenom on TV since KNIGHT RIDER back then.

Something else that I noticed about STREET HAWK is even though there was an episode when a deadly laser rifle was used and stolen in which was the "Hot Target" episode, this show never had an episode with STREET HAWK being shot at and disarmed by a laser as opposed to the episodes on KNIGHT RIDER & AIRWOLF where Michael(David Hasselhoff)and Hawke(Jan-Michael Vincent)were sent on a mission involving stolen lethal laser rifles like the "Knight Strike" & "Knight & Knerd" episodes of KNIGHT RIDER and like the "Annie Oakley" episode of AIRWOLF which resulted in Airwolf & KITT being temporarily damaged, disabled, short-circuited, and/or weakened leaving the Knight 2000 and Airwolf barely being able to function and solve their missions at the end, but I guess the producers felt that STREET HAWK was worthless battling a laser & would've made Mach(Rex Smith) a lot less protected & a lot more prone to being hit by the laser rifle than Hawke & Michael were which would've resulted in STREET HAWK getting burned or short-circuited & even more damaged than KNIGHT RIDER or AIRWOLF did when they got hit by a laser and/or the producers of STREET HAWK just simply didn't make enough episodes to show an episode like that since this show didn't even last as opposed to KNIGHT RIDER & AIRWOLF.

The thing that sucks about this STREET HAWK DVD box set is it doesn't provide any Closed Captioning mode on it to display the subtitles on the screen in case you have difficulty understanding what they say plus this DVD box set doesn't even posts the original air-dates to any of the episodes either, unlike Universal did with KNIGHT RIDER & AIRWOLF & all the other DVD's made by Universal, which I suspect is perhaps due to todays sluggish economy, but I hope somehow that Universal re-releases STREET HAWK on DVD in order to provide the Closed Captioning & subtitles that KNIGHT RIDER & AIRWOLF have on theirs, especially in DVD mode which would be awesome.

So now that Shout has STREET HAWK in the works to be released on DVD this Summer, I'm hoping to see other classic favorites released on DVD soon like CHiPs-Season 3 and MATT HOUSTON-Season 2.

In the meantime, I'm really looking forward to STREET HAWK being released out on DVD on Tuesday July 13th, 2010.

It is about time that this series got the release it diserves.... ABC has a NASTY habit of killing off great shows in the past.. I think that Streeet Hawk is so much better then Knight Rider as the bike can get through situations better then a car could...

It will be cool to see the unaired version of the pilot... The Interviews are fantastic! It was so nice to see most of the characters taking part in it... From what I could see from that, the show holds nothing but fond memories for all involved.

I hope that you all will watch the series with an open mind... I did when I was 13 and I sure will again....

Not many people I talk with remember Street Hawk. I thought it was a great show back when it began and it's still just as fun to watch.
I would love to see a remake movie/TV series. The problem with a remake is that they always fail to capture what made the show a hit. An example is Team Knight Rider, Knight Rider 2010. KR 2010, and Team Knight Rider are good ford commercials but KITT Was not a ford and the original show was actually watchable. When they change all the characters/hero's, theme music, and general design they create an entirely different entity. The new creation is usually a shocking mutilation of the original work. I'm not sure who makes these decisions but its a very consistent problem. Airwolf is another show that is deserving of some positive recognition.

One of the best made for TV series with one of the shortest runs. It was great to be able to obtain the complete series of one of my favorite TV series of this era. The thing that strikes me most now is that the show still is enjoyable to watch today even with all the filming and stunt advances used in today's productions. It has withstood the test of time. Street Hawk is a great series for fans of action films.

I remember watching the first episode on tv in the 80s and thinking how cool this bike looked and how advanced it was. Fast forward a few decades, and the bike is still cool, and his suit would actually look good today too. While the writing can be unintentionally hilarious at times, it is still a great series, with great action scenes. I watched em all in 3 days. Rex Smith rules!

I think it is a great show for tv I had seen this on tv many years ago and now that I have it to own I can watch it when ever, I do hope that they do a remake of it with updated Tech and Better cars and motorcycles