Impossible’ is ready for a reboot

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Aerial Wolf debuted in 1984, one of two series featuring an advanced helicopter following the success of the 1983 film. Blue Thunder. The film’s television spin-off was the second, but was canceled after only 11 episodes. Aerial Wolfhowever, lasted 4 seasons, a much sleeker and cooler helicopter (like Knight Rider‘S KITT with rotor blades), than that of Blue Thunder it looked like a flying Tesla truck. This made a beautiful lead star Jan-Michael Vincentand marked Hollywood icon Ernest Borgninethe return to a regular television series, with that of 1962 McHale’s Navy his last successful race before. He got mixed up Top Gun with Mission: Impossibleand it deserves a reboot.

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Aerial Wolf debuted in a television landscape loaded with action series with some awesome walksincluding Team Athe GMC Vandura, The Dukes of Hazzardthe orange Dodge Charger and The fall guythe GMC Sierra, just to name a few. The sleek supersonic helicopter, with a healthy arsenal and stealth technology to boot, fits right in. In a storyline that runs through the first two episodes of the series (later released together as Airwolf: the movie), the prototype Aerial Wolf Copter is designed by a psychopathic genius named Charles Henry Moffet (David Hemmings), and built by a division of the CIA called “The Firm”. (How many others Tom Cruise references can we fit in?) During a real firearm test, Moffett steals the helicopter and opens fire on the Firm bunkertaking the life of an American senator and almost deputy director of the Firm, Michael Coldsmith-Briggs III, alias Archangel (Alex Cordon), then commits further atrocities in the name of Muammar Gaddafiin exchange for refuge in Libya.

Archangel calls on Stringfellow Hawke (Jan-Michael Vincent), a former test pilot who worked with Aerial Wolf during development, with the aim of recovering the supercopter. With the help of the assistant of Archangel Gabrielle Ademaur (Belinda Bauer) and fellow pilot – and father figure – Dominic Santini (Ernest Borgnine), Hawke locates Aerial Wolf and retrieves him, but too late to save Ademaur, who was taken by Moffet, tortured and killed. A vengeful Hawke obliterates Moffet with Aerial Wolffrom the arsenal, and only then does he bring the gunship back to America… but not directly to the Cabinet. Instead, Hawke and Santini hide Aerial Wolf in a remote location, refusing to return him until the Firm finds and recovers his brother, St. John (Christophe Connelly), missing in action during the Vietnam War. Archangel agrees, and in exchange for finding Hawke’s brother and preventing other government agencies from reestablishing themselves. Aerial WolfHawke and Santini undertake missions of national importance on behalf of the Firm.

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Aerial Wolf may have shared the gnarly vehicle aspect of its action peers, but that’s largely all it had in common. Aerial Wolf was a darker series, with an emotional depth and maturity that its parents lacked. The scenarios were interesting from this international espionage angle, and more intelligent. The ambiguous nature of the Cabinet – partner at one time, adversary at another – added an underlying tension to the proceedings. The dynamic between Vincent’s moody hero and Borgnine’s good-natured sidekick workedand the opening credits of the series, with shots of Aerial Wolf plunging from the clouds among explosions galore to the rhythm of his electrifying themesets the tone for each episode.

‘Airwolf’ Ended in Tragedy, But It’s the Perfect Time for a Reboot

In an effort to improve audiences after this first season, the studio changed course, giving the series a lighter and more “friendly” atmosphereinvolving a female character, Caitlin O’Shannessy (John Bruce Scott), and moved towards scenarios that remained in the United States. The stunning aerial photography, so essential to its success, has been reduced, with scenes from the first season reused. The series has remained popular, but the problems behind the scenes worsened when a helicopter crash during filming in 1985, cost the life of a 22-year-old stuntman, Reid Rondell.

Then, that of Vincent off-screen struggles alcohol and drugs, as well as allegations of domestic violence, took their toll on the charismatic actor, and his acting on the show varied wildly as a result. The nail in the coffin came with the series moving to USA Network for its fourth season, reducing production costs from $1.2 million per episode to an incredibly low $400,000and move filming to Canada. The helicopter scenes were now almost exclusively from previous episodes, “the Firm” was now “the Company” and a whole new cast had arrived. Aerial Wolf was fortunately closed in 1987 like a weak, cheap shadow of himself.

But now is the perfect time to take Aerial Wolf out of the hangar and let it fly again. With advanced CGI, the flying scenes the series needs to succeed are much less expensive and dangerous. Viewers have become more demanding, and television as a medium has grown with that, so an action series with real depth, like its first season, would give Aerial Wolf an advantage. While the original script relied on the Cold War for its plots, today’s international scene is not so far removed from that era. Aerial Wolf reach beyond US borders would again be warmly welcomed. With the right people involved, a Aerial Wolf the reboot would be really successfuland certainly not Risky business (another Cruise reference, under the thread).

Release date: 1984 – 00/00/1986
Directors: Ken Jubenvill, Virgil W. Vogel, Alan J. Levi, Sutton Roley, Harvey S. Laidman, Bernard L. Kowalski, Brad Turner, Patrick Corbett, Alan Simmonds, Bernard McEveety, Bruce Pittman, Daniel Haller, David Hemmings, Don Medford, Donald A. Baer, Georg Fenady, J. Barry Herron, Ray Austin, Tom Blank, Alan Cooke, Bruce Seth Green, Dennis Donnelly, Don Chaffey, Donald P. Bellisario
Writers: Burton Armus, Chester Krumholz, Michael Mercer, Ts Cook, Alfonse Ruggiero, Rick Kelbaugh, BW Sandefur, Chris Haddock, Edward J. Lakso, Nicholas Corea, Rick Drew, Calvin Clements Jr. Brown, Michael Halperin, Jana Vverka, Christopher Crowe, Clyde Ware, David Westheimer, Deborah Pratt, Joseph Gunnan, Katharn Powers, Robert Blees