Tag Archives: Cold War

One Ping Only: The 30th Anniversary of The Hunt For Red October

The name Tom Clancy is now synonymous with the techno spy thriller and realistic military-based stories. For most younger people it is also synonymous with several video game series including Rainbow Six, Ghost Recon and Splinter Cell, among many others. Clancy’s early career was in insurance however he used to write novels in his spare time. In 1984 he sold his first novel for $5,000 to a small publishing house in Maryland. That novel was The Hunt For Red October. The book was a huge hit and became a national best seller. The main character, Jack Ryan, went on to appear in 10 novels written by Clancy, and a further 11 novels that were written by other authors. By the end of the 1980s Tom Clancy had become a household name, Alec Baldwin remarked that Clancy’s novels were so popular that he would often look around in business class on a plane to see that 8 out of 10 people were reading a Clancy novel.

Continue reading One Ping Only: The 30th Anniversary of The Hunt For Red October

Airwolf: 35 years on

A BRIEF RETROSPECTIVE OF A UNIQUE TELEVISION SERIES THAT BROKE THE MOLD OF THE ACTION-ADVENTURE GENRE.

The whirring of the engines, the whooshing of the rotors, and that iconic theme song. Airwolf was a TV series that broke the mould of the action-adventure genre of 1980s television. Looking back, the pilot episode doesn’t feel like a TV program at all; it feels more like a feature. From the opening shots of the desert and the close-ups of Airwolf to the intense aerial photography, the TV pilot has some serious production value behind it. The storyline of the pilot also includes some rather dark themes. The series would last for three seasons totalling 55 episodes before being cancelled in 1986.

Continue reading Airwolf: 35 years on