Terrahawks was produced by none other than Gerry Anderson of ThunderBirds and Captain Scarlet fame (alongside Christopher Burr). Terrahawks includes just as many rockets and space vehicles etc. as ThunderBirds, but for me it just has that extra something, but this may just be because I was brought up in the 1980's when this was released!
The Terrahawks were an elite fighting squadron set up to defend Earth from Alien invasion, which is pretty lucky as no sooner do they come into being than aliens from the Planet Guk (yep, that's it's real name) invade. The aliens are led by Zelda some sort of evil Space Witch, that is also an android . . . she turns up in 2020 and attacks the Mars base. Once she has crushed the Mars Base, she takes over the planet and uses it to launch attacks on the Earth, against which the Terrahawks stand as the last line of defense. For some reason this show went pretty quiet after it's first airing finished in 1986, but luckily in the UK the Terrahawks has now been released on DVD, so what are you waiting for?
Dr 'Tiger' Ninestein
Dr Ninestein is the leaderof the Terrahawks, he is also the outcome of a secret U.S. cloning project and as such is one of nine idenitcal clones. His father donated some of his genetic material to the project and a few years later nine Dr Ninestein's were born! This is why he is known as Tiger - i.e. cat's and nine lives. Dr 'Tiger' Ninestein is the creator of the Terrahawks Earth Defence Squadron and an all round genius. When things aren't going too well, or he is surprised, or he spills his drink or for any of a hundred other reasons he loves to shout ' Flaming Thunderbolts!', he also loves to play a very basic, but fun looking space invaders game.
Captain Mary Falconer
Captain Falconer is a British astro-physicist, who also Captains the Battle-Hawk space vehicle alongside Dr Ninestein. Mary had two brothers, but both of these were killed in space shuttle accident, and so she is now an only child. Mary quite often has to smooth the relationship between Dr Ninestein and Sgt Major Zero.
Captain Falconer is the Second in Command of the Terrahawks (after Dr Ninestein).
In theory Dr Ninestein shares command of the Terrahawks with Colonel Johnson, the head of the World Aeronautics and Space Administration. However in reality the only person he really ever defers to is Kate.
Lt. Hiro
Lt. Hiro is the commander of the SpaceHawk, the space based orbiting Terrahawk platform. Lt Hiro is not alone on th eplatform, he has Space Sergeant 101 to keep him company along with 100 Zeroids under his command. Lt Hiro is often found talking to his plants, he has convinces Space Sgt 101 that talking to the plants, playing them music and reading them poems will help them grow. Hiro is a bit of a genius and he is responsble for designing the Terrahawks Command Centre, he also flies the TreeHawk (the spaceship that appears out of the tree!)
Captain Kate Kestrel
Most memorable for her bright red hair, Captain Kate Kestrel is Canadian and just 25 years of age. Kate's father is Commander John Wesley, whose footsteps she followed in when her family moved to Canada from the Islands of Martinique. As well as being a pilot and flying the Hawkwing, Kate is also a medical expert and serves as the team's doctor when required.
Sergeant Major Zero
Sergeant Major Zero is my favourite character in Terrahawks, he is voiced by Windsor Davies (who also did the Wispa adverts in the1980s and was Battery Sgt Major Williams in 'It Ain't Half Hot Mum'). He has got a very distinctive voice, and if wikipedia is to be trusted he apparently applied for the position of being the talking clock in the UK, but just lost out to Brian Cobby. Sergeant Major Zero is the most senior of the Zeroids, he is fearless, brave and loyal to his men.
Favourite Catch-Phrase is 'Stroll-On!'
Space Sergeant 101
Space Sgt 101 is the leader of the 100 Zerids that are based on the SpaceHawk with Lt Hiro. The Zeroids are computers that (to Dr Ninestein's frustration) display very human like emotions and intelligence. The Zeroids carry out alot of the heavy duty work for the TerraHawks, they provide Intellignece and Reconnaisance, they pack a large amount of fire-power in the form of lasers, and they also can make themsleves as heavy as they wish [they can artificially increase theuir weight] so that when they roll on to the cry of 'Stroll-on!' they can crush anything in their path.
The Cubes
The Cubes are of course the anti-Zeroids. The Cubes perform similar functions to the Zeroids except that they have no real personalities and they work for the bad-guys. Whereas the Zeroids can make themselves incredibly heavy and have strong individual intelligence, the Cubes work well as part of a team. For example in one episode they club together to form a forcefield trapping Hudson, Kate and Dr Ninestein, and in another episdoe they join together to create a powerful cannon attack.
The cubes are not the only bad guys with powers. Zelda (see right) has th eability to transport people with the power of her mind, and then even better - once the Terrahwaks have crushed her would-be conquering heroes, she tidies up after herself and brings them back to Marsagain with the saying 'Zelda recalls her own!'. Zelda also occassionally uses her powers to make her space-craft/baddies grow in size.
Zelda
Zelda is th eevil alien mastermind that is constantly attacking Earth. In the first episode we find out that she is from the Planet Guk, where her kind (robots that worked for humans) overthrew their Masters and then became like them. So Zelda is basically an android, a robot with living flesh on top. Zelda advises that she and all her kind modelled themselves on the most beautiful humans! (these being in their minds the eldest and wisest). Her base on Mars is made up from her ship and assorted other ships being linked together. Within her base she has a huge assortment of baddies in cryogenic storage. Basically each episode she wakes one or two of them up and sends them to Earth in her ZEAF (Zelda's Earth Atmospheric Fighters), where they are promptly trounced by the Terrahawks!
Hudson
Hudson in basically another one of those smug artificially intelligent cars - a cross between Lady Penelope's limousine and KITT from KnightRider. Hudson belongs to Dr Ninestein (although Hiro created all of the electronics). Hudson has the ability to camoflauge his skin at will to any colour or background, he also has a range of technical gadgets etc. at his disposal. In case you were wandering Hudson stands for Heuristic Universal Driver with Sensory & Orbital Navigation, but I expect you guessed that!
Lt. Hawkeye
Hawkeye, or Hedley Howard Henderson the Third as he is known to his friends is the American pilot of the Hawkwing. Hawkeye is so called as he has got two artificial eyes, due to an accident in earlier life. These eyes give him excellent targetting ability when flying the Hawkwing. He often flies in tandem with Captain Kestrel, on reconaissance and defence missions.
The White House
This is the house where the Terrahawks live. All is not as it seems, the statue is actually a hi-tec radar, the house and one of the trees can split apart to launch space-craft and even the swimming pool turns into a whirlpool from which a space-ship is launched!
Terrahawks
The Terrahawks used SuperMacroMation, which was a spin on the SuperMarionation that Anderson used for the Thunderbirds. The main difference being that Terrahawks puppets were not controlled by strings, but were latex puppets over people's hands,which meant they could move around the set more easily & the puppets themselves looked great!
According to Wikipedia, Tony Barwick one of the series argest contributors in terms of script writing used many humorous pseudonyms in the credits to the show. All of these ended in 'stein' in honour of Ninestein, including 'Ann Teakenstin' and 'Felix Catstein' to name a few. The only episode in which he is credited with his real name is 'The Midas Touch' written with Trevor Landsdowne.
Terrahawks: Resources
Lots and lots of fan-sites, plus some clips of my favourite character Sgt Major Zero!
The 39 episodes of Terrahawks were split over two seasons. The first twenty-six episodes aired in 1983/84, then we were left two years before the final 13 episodes aired in 1986!
Here is a great guide to all the episodes on Wikipedia:
Here are all of the various call signs that the TerraHawks use during the series! (courtesy of the fab1 website listed above in the Resources Section).
