The Blackstar - The Complete Series
The Blackstar DVDs
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Blackstar was an influential 1981 cartoon that was Filmation's
answer to Thundarr the Barbarian and is considered to be the direct
predecessor to He-Man. It imbued sword and sorcery fantasy with
science-fiction and it lasted a mere 13 episodes but it's format
became the nucleus of the successful Masters of the Universe
cartoons and toys that followed after it.
The story follows the adventures of astronaut John Blackstar whose
space shuttle disappears into a black hole and crashes on the planet
Sagar in an alternate universe where he is rescued and befriended by
the dwarven Trobbits. Blackstar soon discovers that Sagar is ruled
by the oppressive Overlord who lives in his Ice Castle and possess
one half of the magical Powerstar which was split into two halves -
The Powersword possessed by the Overlord - and the Starsword
acquired by Blackstar. When both halves of the sword unite they form
the mighty Powerstar which enables its wielder to exert tremendous
magical powers. Blackstar allies himself with the Trobbits and is
joined by the sorceress Mara and Klone, a shapeshifting alien, in
his quest to free Sagar from the Overlord's tyrannical rule.
The similarities to He-Man are obvious. Blackstar is a heroic
champion of good (one part Conan the Barbarian, one part John Carter
of Mars) fighting against an evil Overlord voiced by none other than
Skeletor himself... Alan Oppenheimer... who lives in an Ice Castle
not unlike Skeletor's Castle Grayskull. He rides into battle atop
his faithful winged green dragon beast Warlock which is the
equivalent of his Battle Cat. He wields a mighty Star Sword similar
to the Sword of Grayskull, that, when combined with the Power Sword
form the Powerstar - by the Power of Grayskull! Like Eternia, Sagar
is populated by inhabitants both benevolent and malevolent. The
sorceress Mara was the precursor to He-Man's Teela, daughter of the
Sorceress of Grayskull and was voiced by Teela herself, Linda Gary.
In 1983, Mattel introduced a new line of toys combining elements of
fantasy and science fiction they called "Masters of the Universe"
and they looked to Filmation to produce a series of weekday cartoons
that would serve to market the toys to kids. Brushing the dust off
their 2-year-old concept for Blackstar it was retooled to fit into
Mattel's universe for He-Man. Ironically, Galoob produced a series
of Blackstar toys to capitalize on the tremendously popular success
of Masters of the Universe between 1983-1985 consisting of 3 series
of action figures, the Ice Castle playset and the Trobbit Wind
Machine but the cartoon was not re-televised to promote the toys
which failed to have the market penetration that was coveted by
He-Man.
Blackstar was originally envisioned to be of black ethnicity until
CBS ordered that it was too controversial and that audiences were
not quite ready for a challenge to the established mores of Saturday
morning children's television.
On August 22, 2006, John Blackstar will once again ride into history
when the influential 80's animated series is finally released on DVD
for the first time from BCI Eclipse/Ink & Paint. This 2-disc DVD set
includes all 13 episodes and the following Special Features:
* Interviews with creators Lou Scheimer, Michael Swanigan, Marc
Scott Zicree, Michael Reaves, Robert Kline, Robby London and Ted
Field.
* "The Magic of Filmation" documentary tracking the history of
Filmation, and its quarter-century legacy of popular animated and
live-action series
* Full episode audio commentary track for Episode 2 - "Search for
the Starsword" featuring producer Lou Scheimer and animator Mike
Bennett. Hosted by Andy Mangels.
* Full episode audio commentary track for Episode 13--"The Zombie
Master"-- featuring creators Michael Reaves, Marc Scott Zicree and
Michael Swanigan. Hosted by Andy Mangels
* Image gallery of original "heroes and villains" model sheets and
sketches, plus a gallery of presentation artwork and backgrounds
uses in the series
* Spanish language tracks for all 13 episodes
* DVD-ROM features - scripts for all 13 episodes, 5 complete
storyboards
* Trivia
* Digital restoration
All 13 Episodes:
1. City of the Ancient Ones
2. Search for the Starsword
3. The Lord of Time
4. The Mermaid of Serpent Sea
5. The Quest
6. Space Wrecked
7. Lightning City of the Clouds
8. Kingdom of Neptul
9. Tree of Evil
10. The Air Whales of Anchar
11. Overlord's Big Spell
12 Crown of the Sorceress
13 The Zombie Masters
