Echos From the Past

Season 1, Episode 7, Aired

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After Hawke meets with an old "acquaintance" who claims to have solid details of where his MIA brother St. John in being held, he suddenly loses consciousness and crashes his helicopter. Months later, he awakens from a coma in hospital, only to be told that Dominic and Archangel were killed in a daring mission to rescue St. John from a prison camp but St. John is now a free man, alive and well. But nothing is as it seems, and behind it all are some foreign agents in a complex plan to get their hands on Airwolf.moreless
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Fan Episode Reviews (3)

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  • After meeting an old acquaintance offering details on MIA brother St. John, Hawke is in an air crash. He awakens in hospital months later, greeted by doctors who tell him that Dom and Archangel are dead, but St. John is free. One of 'Airwolf's greats...moreless

    10
    "Perfect"
    By Jay-Spacedust, Mar 02, 2011
    This review contains spoilers.

    For a time after 'Airwolf' had finished it's original 1980s run here in the United Kindgom, I only had literally a couple of off-air recordings, and this episode, which was stitched together with 'And They Are Us' (broadcast in a few episodes time) by CIC home video to form a feature-length story (they also released a heavily re-edited version of the Pilot; see my reviews for that story for more). As such, 'Echos From the Past' is an episode that I am extremely familiar with, and have watched MANY times.

    The episode is carried out with a real air of mystery, and, although we suspect all along that something is quite not right, I really like how, until later sections of the episode, we are given no real clue as to the elaborate plot Hawke is being subjected to.

    We also get the return of St. John... sort of. It turns out to be an impostor (although it is never really stated, I assumed he had undergone plastic surgery to try and look like St. John). He is played by Christopher Connelly, who would be used for all photos and flashbacks in the original run and looking extremely different to Barry Van Dyke's version of St. John in the Canadian-produced fourth season season!

    One point of note with this episode is the hoax news reports fed to Hawke about the divorce of Prince Charles and Lady Diana, which is sadly ironic when viewed all these years later.

    Even when overlooking the horrendous Canadian-produced season, I often marvel at the sheer difference between the epic espionage tales of the first season and the somewhat generic action-adventure, "family feud"-solving stories of the third season. And this is one such example; can you imagine the series doing something of this scope in the third season?!

    The in-episode musical score of this episode is also very good. In many of the episodes he scored, Sylvester Levy would often come up with a dedicated theme for the episode at hand, and he does so here; it fits the tale perfectly.

    It is interesting to note that "Dr. Holgate", the Russian psychologist, remains back at the hospital when her cohorts lead Hawke to retrieve Airwolf, and as such she avoids being blown away at the climax. I wonder if this was the set-up for some kind of future return that never happened? Or maybe the Firm just swooped in and grabbed her before she could escape?

    As I say, this is one of the 'Airwolf' episodes that I am most familiar with. In a way, I had almost forgotten just *how good* it is. But watching it on DVD again tonight to review, I was once again blown away by this awesome episode. It is one of the 'Airwolf' greats, and I give it a solid 10/10.moreless

  • Hawke falls victim to an elaborate East German plot to wrest possession of Airwolf from him. With the unexpected aid from quick-thinking Dom Santini, Hawke turns the tables on his abductors and delivers some sweet payback.moreless

    9.9
    "Superb"
    By bostonjim, Apr 18, 2008
    Having just purchased the Airwolf series on DVD, I am viewing the episodes in the order in which they aired. "Echos" is my favorite so far. The early part of the episode keeps one guessing about what's going on (though the viewer certainly gets the sense that things aren't occurring in Hawke's best interest). Once we learn that Stringfellow is the victim of an elaborate East German plot to con him into turning Airwolf over to them, the fun really begins. Ultimately, he (with the help of Dom Santini) regains control of Airwolf, despatches his abductors and the MIG squad escorting them into hostile territory and returns Airwolf to its lair deep within the volcano. Intelligently written, well-paced and brought to an exciting conclusion. Superb in every way!moreless

  • Hawke is brainwashed into believing he crashed his chopper and that hes been in hospital 8 and a half months. he is told dom and archangel have been killed rescuing st.john who is now alive and well...moreless

    8.4
    "Great"
    By whitester, Jul 27, 2006
    Hawke recives a mystery gift dropped out of a bi-plane. on opening it he sees it belongs to his missing brother St.John who has been missing in vietnam since the war ended some 15 years ago. with a note attached arrabnging a rendezvous hawke takes off in his chopper to crofton air strip. There he is greeted by old fore Peter Mcgregor Moore, who tells him St.John is alive and well in a prison camp in north vietnam on flying back hawke is taken ill and crashes his chopper into a mountain. on coming round in hospital he meets st.john who was rescued when Dom and archangel lost their lives, or so he thinks.. on finding out what the terrorist group are up to he plays along when he finds dom hiding out in airwolf they get the better of the crooks and get away....moreless
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  • TRIVIA (7)

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    • Goof: Michael Halsey's character in this episode is called Peter McGregor Moore, but at one point, Marella wrongly refers to him as Patrick McGregor Moore. (Interestingly, the DVD subtitles correct this mistake)

    • Normally when Airwolf's doors open or close, they give a loud hiss due to the pressurized cabin. Yet somehow, Dominic manages to open them silently and get the jump on Hawke's captors at the climax of this story.

    • The call letters for the faux TV station setup at the hospital, KSLH, in reality belong to an FM radio station based out of St. Louis, MO.

    • Goof: cinematography When Dominic deploys the drag chute to slow Airwolf's drop from the back of the plane, the shots cut back and forth between the chute opening and Airwolf in flight/drop. The scenes with Airwolf in flight obviously do not show a chute and the scenes with the chute were obviously shot separately and added in. This is a bit of a nitpick considering the 80s film technology doesn't allow for the advanced cutting and editing of today's films, which probably would have produced a more synchronized shot.

    • The footage of the chopper that Hawke is in crashing into the side of the mountain, is a stock sequence (one of the other places it can be seen used is in the second season 'A-Team' episode 'The Battle Of Bel-Air' (1984).

    • Continuity error: when Nurse Susan is in the elevator with St. John('s impostor), as she exits the elevator, we see a shot of her in which she says "Bye" to him as the elevator doors start to close; but in the following shot of St. John replying "Bye, have a nice day", the doors don't appear to be moving.

    • The shot as one of the heat-seeker missiles lands in the ocean is quite obviously stock footage – and the missle seems to hit by a boat or some sort of rig, something which quite clearly wasn't there in other shots.

  • QUOTES (1)

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  • NOTES (11)

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    • This episode has the second version of the File A56-7W opening narration. This dialogue of this version is: "File A56-7W, Subject: Airwolf, Top Secret – A mach one plus attack helicopter with the most advanced weapons arsenal in the air. Sought by Governments friendly and foreign, Airwolf is hidden somewhere in the Western wilderness by it's test pilot Stringfellow Hawke; to be returned to the Government only if his brother St. John, an MIA in Vietnam, can be found. The deputy director of the intelligence agency that developed Airwolf is Michael Coldsmith-Briggs the third, codename Archangel; believed to covertly provide classified information and support to Hawke in exchange for flying the chopper on missions of national interest. Stringfellow Hawke is 34, reclusive, sensitive, and a loner; known to associate with his only friend and mentor Dominic Santini. Together, Santini and Hawke fly Airwolf. Capable of speeds rivalling the fastest jets and backed by unmatched firepower, Airwolf is a weapon too dangerous to be left in unenlightened hands. Finding Airwolf is your first priority. End of file."

    • Resembles the Hardy Boys episode, Sole Survivor.

    • In the 1980s, re-released in the 1990s, this episode was released in the UK and some countries on video by CIC, who merged it together with 'And They Are Us' to form a "feature-length" story, called 'Airwolf II: A Deadly Mission!', though the on-screen title was 'Airwolf II: The Search' ('Airwolf I' being the video release version of the Pilot). The two episodes were joined, rather awkwardly, in the middle, with this one playing second (however, unlike the video version of the Pilot, other than being joined together, these stories played in their original version).More recently, this episode has been released in it's original state, on Universal Playback's 'Airwolf: Volume 3'.

    • This is the only episode of the series to utilise The Lady's "parachute drag" utility (and is used rather unconvincingly here!)

    • This is the first episode where we see Dominic and Marella on-screen together (after Marella commented in 'Daddy's Gone A Hunt'n' that she had never then met him). It's not indicated if it's the first time they've actually met or not (there's nothing to indicate it is).

    • This episode is (obviously) dated by talk Lady Diana and Prince Charles are to divorce as part of the ploy to make Hawke think he's been in a coma for months.

    • Nurse Susan gives the "real" date as Saturday March 3rd - This was actually the date this episode was first broadcast. (The date mentioned in the episode matches with the original date of broadcast once again in 'To Snare A Wolf' at the end of the season)

    • Hawke is said to have been comatose "for better half of a year". The false paper his is given to read is dated Wednesday July 18 1984 (another we see is dated Wednesday April 24th 1983 (or is it 1985?)).

    • Whilst Hawke is in a coma, he experiences memories of Gabrielle, in a montage of flashback footage from the Pilot (visual only, no dialogue).

    • This episode has the second version of the 'File A56-7W' opening dialogue, and is the first to use the 'computer file' graphics that accompany it. The visuals would remain for the rest of the sequences use until the end of the season; this particular version of the dialogue was used once more, in the next broadcast episode, 'Fight Like A Dove'.

    • This episode can often be found listed as 'Echoes From The Past', with echos spelt the alternative (and generally preferred) way; but the on-screen episode title is 'Echos From The Past'.

  • ALLUSIONS (1)

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    • Episode Title: "Echos from the Past" The title of the episode is a reference to a 1925 black-and-white movie titled "Echos From The Alps."

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