Blackstar (TV series)

BlackStar promotional poster

For other uses, see Black Star.

The ground-breaking animated television series Blackstar was a science fantasy epic, often (erroneously) reported as a product inspired by the immense popularity of the 1980s Thundarr, the Barbarian. It was produced by Lou Scheimer and Norm Prescott for Filmation. The ratings were excellent, to the point Blackstar became a very popular character and surely a pop-icon of the early '80ies. The series was Filmation's second fantasy epic, the first being tucked neatly in as a segment of Tarzan and Tarzan and the Super 7, The Freedom Force. Blackstar eventually earned a large cult following, still active today. Thanks to a magnificent DVD release, either the character and the series are somewhat experiencing a resurgence in popularity.

Brief Synopsis

John Blackstar was a skilled astronaut from a future version of Earth who had been "swept through a black hole" and stranded on the planet Sagar, where magic and sword and sorcery still ruled the day. Together with his allies, the Trobbits (overly cute dwarfish types; (Troll+Hobbit), Klone (a shape-shifting elfin companion) and Mara the Sorceress, Blackstar battled the cruel Overlord, a ruthless Ming-like oppressor, who ruled by the might of the Powersword, one half of the Powerstar, an immensely powerful weapon. Fortunately, Blackstar possessed its other half, the Starsword, which kept the Overlord and his dark minions in check.

Despite being on an alien planet, Blackstar adapted to the new environment the best he could, adopting barbarian-style items and clothes and learning to ride a gianteous dragon-bat named Warlock. Adventure by adventure, he made a name for himself on Sagar as the planet's greatest champion of all the times, stopping Overlord in his frequent attempts to combine the two swords into the Powerstar, considered as the definitive key to conquer the entire (parallel) universe.

Blackstar's abilities and powers

Being an astronaut, John Blackstar is a man who has extensively trained in every field; his shape is excellent, and he appears very muscular. The Starsword imbues Blackstar with enhanced strength, reflexes, speed, stamina and physical resistance, and is able to absorb or deflect any external form of energy.

Blackstar's fate

In the sixth episode, 'Spacewrecked', Blackstar was briefly reached by his former Earth girlfriend, Lieutenant Katana, who aboard her "fusion-drive" Timeship managed to follow the photonic traces emanated by John's ship. She spent some time on Sagar, before a misadventure with Overlord forced her to leave the planet without having a factual chance to rescue Blackstar. It is assumed that no-one ever attempted to rescue Blackstar again because the photonic traces vanished after some time, thus rendering almost impossible to relocate the black hole and the "path" to Sagar.

A very popular episode of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, 'Temple of the Sun', seems to suggest Blackstar's final fate and the concept that he somehow belongs to the continuity set by the Filmation MOTU cartoon series. In a memorable sequence, a small golden reproduction of John Blackstar and his Starsword is seen stored in the temple of the title. Supposedly, the hero spent the rest of his life on Sagar, battling Overlord and the evil forces, achieving a legendary status. This truly reinforce the theory that the Earth organization behind him and Katana wasn't able to trespass the black hole in the proper way anymore. You can see the statue potraying Blackstar here:

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Tidbits and Trivias

Originally conceived as an African American character, CBS decided that audiences were not quite ready for this and imposed a number of additional changes to the initial concept.

The premiere was in September 12th 1981, even if its conception and development began in the early months of 1980, some time before Thundarr would debut on TV. The series lasted until december 1981. After its cancellation, there was a re-run in 1983, on the wave of He-Man's raising of popularity.

Episode guide

• 01 Sep 12/81 City of the Ancient Ones

• 02 Sep 19/81 Search For the StarSword

• 03 Sep 26/81 The Lord of Time

• 04 Oct 03/81 The Mermaid of the Serpent Sea

• 05 Oct 10/81 The Quest

• 06 Oct 17/81 Spacewrecked

• 07 Oct 24/81 The Lightning City of the Clouds

• 08 Oct 31/81 The Kingdom of Neptul

• 09 Nov 07/81 Tree of Evil

• 10 Nov 14/81 The Air Whales of Anchar

• 11 Nov 21/81 The Overlord's Big Spell

• 12 Nov 28/81 The Crown of the Sorceress

• 13 Dec 05/81 The Zombie Master

Toys

Galoob brought out action figures around in 1983-1985, after the show's cancellation, to catch on to the He-Man boom, even adding "laser lights" versions with stone-sparking action, all without bringing the show back. Each of the figures in the line was available with or without the "laser light" action. Evil characters were packaged with demons; good characters were packaged with Trobbits. The Dumbo-eared Trobbit Gossamear was the hardest to find.

DVD release

Blackstar was released on DVD on August 22, 2006. The package features all the 13 episodes (restored and remastered), plus many other extras, like previously unreleased images, interviews to the authors and the producers, storyboards, trivias and much more. It is considered one of the best and most impressive DVD cartoon releases.

Blackstar: The Complete Series, as it has been named, includes:

• "The Magic of Filmation", an exciting look at the history of the company and creators behind Blackstar and many other animated legends.

• Two episode commentary tracks with producer Lou Scheimer, animator Mike Bennett, writer Michael Reaves, writer Marc Scott Zicree, animator Michael Swanigan, and host/moderator Andy Mangels.

• Extensive gallery of original model sheets, sketches, and presentation artwork of heroes and villains

• Trivia

• DVD ROM Features—all 13 episodic scripts and 5 complete storyboards (PDF format, PC/Mac readable)

External links

• Return to Sagar - The one and only Blackstar message board in the net.
• Blackstar at IMDb
• Planet Sagar - Blackstar Yahoo group featuring files, database and pics.
• The Unofficial Sagarese Gift Catalog - Great fansite, featuring episode reviews, screen captures, storyboards, deleted scenes, special files, fan fiction stories and much more.
• Blackstar Unlimited - Extensive fansite.
• Blackstar intro on YouTube
• Action Figure Archive Blackstar - Action figure guide and online store.