Blue Thunder

Synopsis

Blue Thunder is an American action drama television series based on the movie of the same title that aired on ABC from January 6 until April 16, 1984, featuring the Blue Thunder helicopter. The series revolves around the tactical helicopter being operated by a four-person LAPD Air Support Division team, but partially controlled by APEX, a fictional federal government agency that oversees and monitors (also occasionally assigns missions) its operations and maintenance, which is on loan to the police force for usage against criminal elements and security threats. Blue Thunder used the converted Aérospatiale Gazelle helicopter and large portions of stock footage from the 1983 film. A ground unit named "Rolling Thunder" backed up the helicopter in the television series. This was a large support van with a desert camouflage off-road vehicle stored inside. The television series cast includes James Farentino, future Saturday Night Live regular Dana Carvey, and former professional American football players Bubba Smith and Dick Butkus. The show was developed by executive producer Roy Huggins, with David Moessinger serving as co-executive producer. It aired as a mid-season replacement on Friday nights, where it competed against Airwolf on CBS, another helicopter-themed action series that proved more successful. After only 11 episodes were produced, Blue Thunder was canceled by ABC due to low ratings.

Text license: CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source

Details

Type

TV series

Release date

January 1, 1984

Genres

action television series

Created by

Dan O'Bannon

Runtime

60 min

Seasons

1

Episodes

11

Countries

United States