Holding the Line.

The first line of defence against the martian invaders. SpaceHawk is a massive space battlecruiser designed to destroy any unauthorised spacecraft approaching earth. She is crewed by nearly 100 "Zeroid" robots and one Human commander.

From Gerry Anderson and Christopher Burr's "Terrahawks". Spacehawk was designed by Philip Rae and was the first craft made for the show. I quite like the design, I't honestly looks like something NASA would come up with. It's also literally covered with disposable razor parts earning the nickname RazorHawk on set.

Terrahawks rarely gets any love these days, I was barely aware it existed until I picked up the DVDs in 2005. The "Radio Times guide to science fiction" gives it a 1 out of 5 branding it as "Sloppily produced and embarrassingly childish".

The question is, is it though? Well it has its faults but its not THAT bad.

It's actually a visually very impressive series, the designs are cool, special effects are vastly superior to what Doctor Who was doing at the time, the robot Zeroids are fully class in the way they operate. Richard Harvey's score is also awesome and probably my most revisited Fanderson CD. The puppets take a while to get used to but are otherwise fine.

For me where the series falls down is the writing. Terrahawks is basically a battle between Science and the supernatural with the Terrahawks team having to find logical ways around the villain Zelda's magical powers. It's actually a pretty cool concept yet they never use it to it's full potential. Also after a strong start with several episodes that skilfully evoke tension and drama, the show takes a bit of a nose dive and gets very childish with far too many catchphrases, over used jokes and 3 main villains that aren't the least bit threatening. Which is sad because they have potential.

At the same time the characters feel a bit off, and are completely over shadowed by their Robotic co-stars, the Zeroids. Led by the brilliant Windsor Davies, at times you kind of wish the show was just about them.

It's not all doom and gloom though. Terrahawks has many good episodes that makes it worth watching, series 2 is a vast improvement in many ways, my favourite Episodes being Close call, To catch a Tiger and Terratomb.

My advice, buy a volume before you buy the whole show and see if it's for you. Some people I know enjoy the shows humour. Maybe this is a sign that studying Film and TV has mad me a sad old git...

Made with.
Vue 10
Simply 3d
Google Sketch-up
Photoshop
A torch
A camera
Phillip Rae's "Terrahawks" Blueprint set.