Blackstar the Complete Series" Review

[wayshway]

Dungeons and Dragons, Conan the Barbarian, and He-Man are arguably the only sword and sorcery properties to have notably endured beyond the genre's brief boom in the early 1980s. Most of the many also-ran properties have been all but forgotten, regrettably including the two animated series that blazed the trail for He-Man. Ruby Spears’ excellent Thundarr the Barbarian continues to rot in a vault somewhere, but, thanks to the good folks at BCI Eclipse, Filmation’s Blackstar has finally returned to televisions via The Complete Series collection.

CoverProduced in 1981 between Thundarr and He-Man, Blackstar is an interesting mix of the two. Like Thundarr, its world is dark and monster-filled, and its heroes fight a tyrannical regime. In all other respects, it is a scaled down version of He-Man, right down to the characters, art design, and recycled footage. Although the plots aren’t really any deeper than He-Man’s, the sense of urgency makes them slightly more compelling.

However Blackstar also shares He-Man’s Achilles’ heel. While the latter is often stopped in his tracks by odious comic-relief character Orko, Blackstar has to contend with seven of them. Created to placate CBS, the hot pink Trobbits regularly pop up to jarringly spoil the mood with cornball slapstick and music.

Much like Buck Rogers, John Blackstar (George DiCenzo—She-Ra’s Bow) is an astronaut who through bizarre circumstances is transported to a strange and dangerous world. On the distant planet Sagar he selflessly fights to liberate those infernal Trobbits from the rule of the cruel Overlord (Alan Oppenheimer—He-Man’s Skeletor). Overlord’s strength comes from the Powerstar, a magical object that was split into two pieces, the Powersword and the Starsword. He wields the former and is constantly chasing after the latter, which has fallen into Blackstar’s hands. Our hero is aided in his struggle by his trusty dragon Warlock, effeminate shape-shifter Klone, and potential love interest and enchantress Mara (Linda Gary—He-Man’s Teela).

My favorite episode has to be “The Zombie Masters,” one of several penned by veteran sci-fi writers Michael Reaves (Batman: The Animated Series) and Mark Scott Zicree (Star Trek: The New Voyages). Blackstar and company run afoul of the floating city Marakand, which destroys everything in its path Independence Day–style. Its Jabba-like ruler, Shaldemar, captures Mara and some Trobbits and turns them into zombie slaves. Blackstar races to stop Marakand before it obliterates the Trobbits’ tree home, but his entranced friends stand in his way.

"OK, forget the movie. How about we take a look for the Starsword at your place?"
I admit a tree house doesn’t sound like great motivation, but, uh, it’s magical and an invaluable piece of stock art. Did He-Man get to live in a pimped out pink tree? I don’t think so.

Blackstar’s characters are few and much less flamboyant than the Eternians, which stands to reason as there was no toy line until years after the show was cancelled. On the plus side, unlike He-Man’s entourage, the characters do not all share the exact same physique.

Blackstar himself is highly similar to the blandly heroic He-Man, only slightly slimmer, less strong, and unburdened with a lame second identity. Rumor has it he was originally intended to be black, but due either to cold feet or a potential lawsuit from Black Vulcan this idea was dropped early on.

Speaking of the Super Friends, Klone shares the powers and looks of Wonder Twin Zan, and is only slightly more useful. The Gleek-like Trobbits, who inevitably crack tedious jokes or clumsily drag our heroes into peril, are a stabbing pain that just won’t go away.

"One more wisecrack and it's bang, zoom, to the moon, Balkar!"
I was always fond of Overlord (possibly a cousin of the Spiral Zone villain?), partly due to his menacing gaze and Shogun Warrior costume, but I must admit he hasn’t aged as well as the scene stealing Skeletor. Whereas the latter deftly goes from murderous threats to corny insults to maniacal laughter at the drop of a hat, th

[fortunec00kie]

Hey I remember this show and even had some of the toys. Each Character came with one Trobbit. The trobbits were nothing more than a big lump of molded rubber, lol. But atleast Blackstar's sword glowed inthe dark. I may have to look into getting this set, thanks for the review!!