Blackstar (TV series)

Did You Know?

• The Trobbits are a portmanteau of troll and hobbit, and are likely inspired by the Seven Dwarfs.
• The series was re-run during the 1982–83 season despite plans for a second season having been previously scrapped.

Story

John Blackstar, an astronaut from Earth, becomes stranded on the planet Sagar after his spacecraft is swept into a black hole, transporting him to an ancient alien universe. On Sagar, he allies with the Trobbits, the shape-changing Klone, the dragon-horse Warlock, and the enchantress Mara to oppose the Overlord, who seeks to conquer the planet. Little is known about Blackstar's Earth, though its technology is advanced, as shown by Blackstar's photon-based ship and Katana's fusion-drive timeship capable of multidimensional travel. Neither Blackstar nor Katana bear insignia related to real-world agencies; Blackstar's insignia appears on his golden collar. Sagar is subject to attacks by the Overlord. Blackstar's ethnicity is unspecified, though speculation suggests possible Native American heritage, anticipating Filmation's later series Bravestarr. As an astronaut, Blackstar is intelligent and often outsmarts opponents, though the Starsword grants him superhuman abilities and near invulnerability. The Powerstar, a mighty magical weapon, was split in two; Blackstar wields the Starsword, which absorbs, stores, and reflects energy and produces energy blasts, while the Overlord possesses the Powersword. In the episode "Spacewrecked", the halves are briefly rejoined. In that episode, Blackstar's former Earth girlfriend Lieutenant Katana visits Sagar but leaves after a misadventure, asking permission to organize a rescue mission.

Characters

John Blackstar (voiced by George DiCenzo) is the main protagonist, an astronaut stranded on Sagar who battles the Overlord. Warlock is a winged, green dragon-horse mount that is intelligent, agile in flight, and can breathe fire. Klone (voiced by Patrick Pinney) is a tall, pale green elf-like shapeshifter with long white hair who assists Blackstar. Mara (voiced by Linda Gary) is a purple-skinned enchantress ally capable of telekinesis, telepathy, levitation, forcefield projection, illusions, magic blasts, and teleportation; she is revealed to be centuries old. The Trobbits, a portmanteau of troll and hobbit, are pink-skinned, white-haired inhabitants of the Sagar Tree who rescue Blackstar. Known Trobbits include: Balkar (voiced by Patrick Pinney), the king and mentor who controls elemental magic and is an alchemist; Rif (voiced by Frank Welker), the grumpy cook; Terra (voiced by Patrick Pinney), the gardener; Burble (voiced by Frank Welker), the babbler who swims well; Carpo (voiced by Alan Oppenheimer), the carpenter; Poulo, the mute whistler; and Gossamear (voiced by Frank Welker), the flying scout. Overlord (voiced by Alan Oppenheimer) is the primary antagonist, a large, muscular purple-skinned tyrant who wields the Power Sword and seeks the Star Sword. Vizier (voiced by Alan Oppenheimer) is Overlord's short, blue-skinned, purple-robed right-hand man, expert in mind-control and conjuring. Palace Guards, appearing only in "The Quest", are beak-faced minions guarding the Ice Palace.

Home video release

During the 1980s, a number of VHS releases of the series were handled by different distributors around the world, including Sunset Video in France, F.H.E. Home Video and UAV Corp. in the United States, Aurora Video in Spain, and Select Video and Egmont Film in Finland and Norway. The rights to the series were picked up by BCI Eclipse Entertainment in mid-January 2006. Under its Ink & Paint label and a license from Entertainment Rights PLC, BCI Eclipse LLC put out Blackstar: The Complete Series on Region 1 DVD on August 22, 2006, a two-disc set containing all 13 original episodes in story order, fully restored and remastered, along with bonus features. On August 5, 2008, episodes were included on a compilation DVD called Heroes and Heroines. By early 2009, that release was discontinued and out of print after BCI Eclipse shut down. In the UK, Boulevard Entertainment issued three PAL DVDs in 2007, each with two episodes, but no further discs came out after the company went into liquidation in 2014, leaving seven episodes unreleased.

Merchandise

Galoob tried to ride the He-Man craze by putting out Blackstar action figures from 1983 to 1985, even after the show was cancelled. The first wave got a re-release alongside the second and third waves, all featuring a "laser light" gimmick that made stones spark. On the heroic side, you could get Blackstar, Klone (packed with his Cloud Cat disguise), and Mara. The villains included Overlord, Vizier, a Lava Loc, a Palace Guard, Kadray (the box called him a "Wizard King"), and Neptul, plus four characters who never showed up in the cartoon: Gargo the vampire man, Meuton the wasp man, Tongo the leopard man, and White Knight, one of Overlord's warriors. Evil figures came with little demons, while good guys came with Trobbits. Some Trobbits—Rif, Terra, and Gossamer—were sold separately and were harder to find. Warlock the dragon and the Space Ship each had two different color versions. Other releases included Kadray's flying bull Triton, the Trobbit Wind Machine, and the Battle Wagon. The Ice Castle was built from very thin plastic and broke easily. In Greece, ElGreco toy company sold the "laser light" Blackstar figures under the name "Κυρίαρχοι του Σύμπαντος" (Masters of the Universe) until He-Man figures took over. Two separate French comic adaptations came out. One was a three-issue series by artist Christian Gatignol in Pif Gadget magazine. The other was a 46-page one-shot by Jean-Yves Mitton, who created new foes like Antrax the coal giant and Telekrane the phantom witch, and wrote that Blackstar and Mara were romantically involved. Mitton also replaced Katana with Leia, Blackstar's girlfriend from Earth, who appears in a flashback; the story explains Blackstar has partial amnesia from his crash and had nearly forgotten Leia by the time he got together with Mara.