The first thing I noticed on watching this episode was how female-dominated it was. Most of the central characters are female which is why there are so many in this painting. The original stock footage that Belisarius used for the dam breaking scene came from the movie 'FORCE 10 FROM NAVARONE'. I got a screengrab from the blu-ray of the film and used it as visual reference. The other shot was actually a publicity shot for the dam from the film.
Brother Ahab was necessary for the bottom image to show the sly, Bellisario, religious symbolism rampant throughout the episode. Airwolf is less angel of mercy and more angel of death at the end. I think maybe Brother Ahab got more than he wished for. It's also very similar to the Hammer Horror Classic “The Devil Rides Out” in which Christopher Lee’s character summons the angel of death but in the end, it can’t go back empty-handed, such were the plethora of writing and visual references to classic films used within the Airwolf series.
I also corrected for an editing error in the episode with Airwolf seen hovering over the dam with only the pilot on view, when in the Airwolf soundstage mock-up there were two people onboard the Lady. You will note the lack of explosions etc. which was deliberate. While visually, such images look great on TV, they don’t translate well into still images and why I avoid them unless I can make them work within the context of the painting. It's a very character-driven episode and to me, made for a satisfying result.
