The Illusionist

Hotwing has just shut down the Mob's new gambling scam, single-handedly, and Mon*Star takes it personally. Mon*Star orders his transformation and goes after Seymour's cab. The Light Star gets the better of Hotwing, and Mon*Star gives him his orders: destroy the SilverHawks, all of them at once, no survivors. Hotwing tells Seymour he is fine.

At Hawk Haven, instead of spending his R&R on Earth, Hotwing asks to entertain the SilverHawks with some magic. Stargazer says absolutely no go, then allows a single short show. The first illusion is the carnivorous cabinet. Steelwill volunteers, is locked in a box and divided into three parts with titanium sheets, and Bluegrass reckons it is all done with mirrors. Sky-Shadow reports the trick to the Mob, and Mon*Star looks forward to the real one.

The next trick, the Great Escape, needs all the SilverHawks. With the Copper Kidd as his assistant, Hotwing has them strapped into straitjackets, turns on the Kidd too, and in the tradition of Harry Houdini leaves them to free themselves underwater. He tells Stargazer the Hawks were captivated, then draws on him. Under the water, the Steel twins double up on brain power to call in the Fighting Hawks, and the team gets out.

Back at the station, Stargazer threatens Hotwing with a court martial and is left ordering to be got down, and Hotwing takes on the SilverHawks one after another. Quicksilver realises Mon*Star is controlling him, and Bluegrass sends Sideman after him, but Hotwing vanishes. He delivers the SilverHawks to Mon*Star, who reminds him that he ordered all of them put out of action and decides to finish the job by eliminating him. Then the Light Star's hold breaks. Back at Hawk Haven, Hotwing tells the story, Stargazer says he should have his circuits examined for allowing the show, and the team agree the best trick of the day was getting him back.

Hotwing is hypnotized and sent to destroy HawkHaven.

Hotwing: "It's one you'll never forget."

Mon*Star: "I told you to put all the SilverHawks out of action."

Commander Stargazer: "I should have my circuits examined for letting Hotwing do a magic show in the first place."

A magic act depends on the audience trusting the magician. Jeri Craden's script builds the episode on that trust. Hotwing comes to Stargazer asking to spend his R&R entertaining the SilverHawks with some magic, and the commander's first answer is "Absolutely no go." He allows one show on one night, kept under an hour, and hands every SilverHawk to a man Mon*Star has already told to destroy them, all at once.

The SilverHawks trust Hotwing, and Mon*Star uses that. For the first half of the episode Hotwing never has to fight the SilverHawks, because they climb into his apparatus of their own accord. The carnivorous cabinet comes first: Steelwill volunteers, is locked in and divided into three parts with razor-sharp titanium sheets, and Bluegrass, who reckons it is all done with mirrors, is answered with "Can mirrors do this, Bluegrass?" Nobody is hurt, and the next trick needs all the SilverHawks. Sky-Shadow has been watching, though, and when his report reaches Mon*Star, the boss says the real trick will be making the SilverHawks disappear for good.

The Great Escape is the standout.[1] The Copper Kidd plays assistant and checks the straitjackets, the team jokes along, and someone on the team says: "Good thing this is just a trick, Hotwing." The answer is "It's one you'll never forget." Hotwing says it no louder than the patter that came before! Out of armour, the team wears white flight jackets with the hawk badge, and Steelwill is in a numbered red-and-white jersey, so we see them off duty.

The weakness is the hypnosis. The Light Star takes Hotwing in a chase that is over almost before it starts, and it lets him go as quickly; one moment he is delivering the SilverHawks to Mon*Star, the next he is asking "What's happened?" and the spell has lifted. The rescue from the tank is nearly as abrupt, with the Steel twins doubling up on brain power to summon the Fighting Hawks.[2] The likely reason is the twenty-two minute slot, most of which goes to the tricks, and the tricks are the better choice, but the Light Star's hold on Hotwing starts and ends offscreen.

Mon*Star ordered all the SilverHawks put out of action, and when Hotwing delivers them, he complains, "I told you to put all the SilverHawks out of action." Hotwing protests that he has, calling him Planet Master,[3] but Hotwing is a SilverHawk too, and Mon*Star decides he will have to finish the job by eliminating him.

Back at Hawk Haven, someone on the team says they liked the cabinet, and that the escape trick would have turned out fine, except for the ending. Stargazer regrets allowing the show: "I should have my circuits examined for letting Hotwing do a magic show in the first place." One of them allows that he may be right. They agree the best trick of the day was getting Hotwing back! The tricks are good; the hypnosis is thin.

1 ^ The Great Escape is billed as being in the tradition of the great Earth escape artist Harry Houdini, and in The Bounty Hunter Returns Hotwing is called Houdini to his face.

2 ^ The Fighting Hawks have an episode of their own, The Fighting Hawks. Here Bluegrass's Sideman gets a turn against Hotwing too, and Hotwing claims that what the cowboy can do, he can undo.

3 ^ Mon*Star is addressed as Planet Master here, the same title Hotwing gives him in The Bounty Hunter Returns.

1. Mon*Star goes after Hotwing because he shut down the Mob's new gambling scam before it got started, and did it single-handedly.
2. Hotwing was expected to spend his R&R on Earth; Stargazer allows the magic show for one night only, kept under an hour.
3. The show has two named illusions: the carnivorous cabinet, in which Steelwill is divided into three parts with titanium sheets, and the Great Escape, in straitjackets and then underwater.
4. Sky-Shadow reports the carnivorous cabinet trick back to the Mob, and Yes-Man passes it on to Mon*Star.
5. The Steel twins activate the Fighting Hawks by combining their brain power while trapped underwater; see The Fighting Hawks.
6. Stargazer threatens Hotwing with a full court martial for insubordination and firing on a superior officer.
7. Out of armour the team wears white flight jackets with a hawk badge, and Steelwill wears a numbered red-and-white jersey.
8. The closing quiz is about the Earth's atmosphere and its most plentiful gas; the Copper Kidd misses nitrogen and finishes on four points.

Appearance lists compiled from the episode articles on the ThunderCats wiki, checked against this site's encyclopedia. Names we have no entry for are shown without a link rather than left out.