Long ago before the first migration, the animals initiated the Great Battle to establish the balance of nature and the territory limits of every species. The birds and beasts banished all bats into the darkness for not choosing sides. Shade sets out on a journey to reason with them.
Characters
Bats
Shade: A young heroic Silverwing bat whom Zephyr taught how to use echo projection.
Marina: A young Brightwing bat living alone on an island. The humans banded Marina and the colony banished her, thinking that the band was a bad omen. In the series, Shade and Marina remain friends.
Goth: A villainous cannibal bat brought from South America to the city for laboratory studies. After escaping from there, he tricks Shade into leading him to the colony. However, Shade and Marina foil the plan.
Throbb: Goth's brother in-law.
Frieda: The banded chief elder and main leader of the Silverwing colony.
Bathsheba: A selfish member of the Silverwing elders who dislikes Frieda and Shade. Bathsheba later abandons the colony.
Ariel: Shade's mother whose mate, Cassiel leaves the colony.
Mercury: Frieda's male loyal guardian and leader of the female bats.
Zephyr: A wise and blind albino bat living in the cathedral spire, serving as "traffic controller" and wishing the colony to be safe. He teaches Shade and Marina star navigation, herbal remedies and echo projection.
Scirocco: The charismatic shapeshifting leader of the colony of banded bats dwelling in the mountain's cabin.
Penelope: One of the banded bats, whom Shade rescues.
Hector: Chinook's father and one of the Silverwing elders. He later reunites with the colony at Hibernaculum.
Breeze: Shade and Chinook's friend.
Others
Brutus: The main leader of the owls who destroyed Tree Haven. He later declines the war and forgives the group of bats.
Orestes: Brutus' son. He, Shade and Marina save Brutus from Goth and Throbb.
Atlas: Brutus' assistant and the supporting leader of the owls.
Ursa: The Kermode bear who later serves as the leader of the beasts and protects the animals from wolves.
Luger: The evil leader of the wolves whom Goth recruited.
Remus: The selfish king of the rats and Romulus' brother.
Romulus: Remus' brother who trusts Shade and Marina, banishes Remus and becomes the new king of the rats.
In the novel, Orestes is King Boreal's son, but changes into Brutus' for the series.
In the novel, Throbb is killed by a thunderstorm. However, he survives in the series and is pursued by the owls.
In Sunwing, King Boreal forgives the colony of bats. However, in the Silverwingtelevision series, Brutus does the same thing.
In the novel, Throbb is merely Goth's traveling companion, in the series, they're brothers-in-law.
In the novel, the beasts do not become embroiled in the owl-bat conflict, but they do in the series.
Shade cannot echo project in the novel, but he does develop a similar ability in Sunwing.
Marina keeps her band throughout the series, whereas it is removed near the end of the novel.
Episodes
Note: The episodes were also released in miniseries format as three television films, with new endings created for the first two parts. Episodes 1–5 were released as A Glimpse of the Sun, episodes 6–9 as Towers of Fire and episodes 10–13 as Redemption.
Production
The series was produced by Bardel Entertainment, with additional work done by Philippine Animation Studio. It was originally distributed by Bardel and B Wooding Media. Early plans as of 2001 consisted of a theatrical movie with a budget of US$25–30 million to be co-produced with the UK's Melwood Pictures, followed by a US$5 million TV series developed with participation from an unspecified American broadcaster. A second season of 13 episodes was announced to be in development in 2003, along with an online video game website with 13 levels to match the episodes. The website had over 20 games available by mid-2004, while the planned season was quietly shelved later that year.
Release
Broadcast
Silverwing was commissioned by and first aired on Teletoon in Canada in fall 2003. In the United States, the series was shown on Toon Disney's Jetix block in autumn 2005, with Jetix later airing the show internationally.
Home media
The full series has been released on DVD in the US and the UK.
Reception
Silverwing has had mostly positive reception. Animation Magazine ran a six-part series about the show in 2003, viewing it as "a grand miniseries" that "really raises the bar in TV animation". Common Sense Media described Silverwing as a "great kids' series" and gave it 4 out of 5 stars, adding however that its "complex, political story themes" may present difficulties for younger children. An encyclopedic review considered the series to be relatively accurate to the text, despite minor changes. "The program conducted its affairs well without stumbling and therefore stands as a high point in the often creatively checkered world of Canadian television animation." In contrast, one reviewer found the show to have poor animation and significant differences from the source material, particularly in terms of darker elements, while only praising the voice acting as "fantastic".
