That Time A Show Got A Toyline Years After It Was Cancelled: The Story of Blackstar
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- Опубликовано: 29 июл 2020
- Blackstar is an American animated science fantasy television series, produced in 1981 Filmation.
Borrowing heavily from Flash Gordon and John Carter of Mars, Blackstar also has many notable similarities to He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, which was produced shortly afterwards.
The popularity of He-Man also caused Blackstar to finally get a toyline long after it was cancelled.
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The idea of Disney owning everything reminds me of Demolition Man where every restaurant is Taco Bell.
Nobody new how prophetic Demolition Man was back in the day.
RIP to all the brave soldiers we lost during the Franchise Wars 🙏🏻
I wish you joy joy feelings! Be well.
My kids shake there head in disbelief when I say with a straight face Disney owns everything they love. Exaggerated? Yeah...but kinda true
The horrific thing is, Universal was thiiiiiis close to buying Disney at some point. So, technically accurate.
Hey, for a poor kid raised by a single mom these were pretty cool. I had several figures, even some laser lights. I loved them dearly even though I knew He-Man was better and that's what kids at school played with. I remember bringing them to school and other boys laughing asking "what is that crap". That "crap" was what my mom could afford when my dad wasn't around anymore. I still have Blackstar and a throbbit to remember those times.
Tobias Vosh The jokes on them. Those Blackstar figures are worth a lot more than most He-man figures now!
Just like with Go-Bots and the “even lower-tier knockoffs” like Convertors, all of this stuff is rad as hell and eff the haters. I’m rapidly becoming a “knockoff-but-not-really-knockoff” advocate.
Rob Camp absolutely! I got the 10 pack box set of Zybots for Christmas one year. Wish I still had those!
RamManNo1 oh damn, Zybots! That’s a name I haven’t heard in centuries, looks like there’s another rabbit hole I’ve gotta explore...
@Tobias Vosh that is so cool you still managed to hold on to them, sadly I can not say the same for my Blackstar.
The only thing missing from Blackstar is an origin story episode of who he was, before he was pulled into that black hole, and landed on Sagar.
Every series and/or cartoon series should have an origin story episode!
The toy industry refer to you ripping off another companies product as, "Parallel Marketing".
There are few certain things in this world, but one of them is that if you scroll down RUclips comments long enough you will find one from Larry Bundy Jr...
Hello you
As enjoyable as shows like He Man, Thundarr, and Blackstar are, they would never have existed without the original Sword and Sorcery character Conan The Barbarian.
And Conan got a cartoon later than those 3.
He-Man was originally Conan toys, but the movie was r-rated so they had to think of a new use for those designs.
Yep, Conan is the original Sword & Sorcery character, but John Carter and the Sword & Planet subgenre came just a little bit earlier...
I'll have to check that out. I'm currently reading Robert E Howard's complete works of Conan
@@mr7oclock346 Nice...!
As a Black man myself, I always kind of cringed at those black heroes named "Black (_____)" .
It's like, is being black one of his super powers or something? LOL!
I'm waiting for "Black Tarzan" because white guys who master the jungle are so racist... ;)
Well, "Panther" would seem like a weird superhero name by itself and Pink Panter was already taken.
I've always pictured Blackstar as Mexican.....no one else? Yeh, black astronaut whisked away to another planet and called Blackstar would have been a bit much even in the 80s.
Honestly I thought he looked either Spanish or First National.
Can you imagine the inverse? How terrible that would be? "White Spider-Man", "White Wolverine." "White Batman." Like WTF.
Okay, but no joke, that fish idea seems like it has some legs to stand on.
Neptul, in the figures assortment. He's the fish guy standing there. (Lame joke attempt; I'm not actually so Drax-literal.)
🤣🤣🤣
I think it speaks to my current mental state that I rewatched this particular bit about half a dozen times thinking there really is a cartoon with a time travelling fish weilding a sword before it hit me.
Carry on.
It's a good thing this is Toy Galaxy and not Business Blaze, cause that's worthy of an epic Simon Whistler "Ba dam bum tissssssssss!"
Fish figure reminded me of The Slayers (anime)...
I remember being so mad as a kid when I would wake up too late on Saturday and miss this show.
Dude, I was up at 5am every Saturday to was all my shows. Battle of the Planets and Superfriends. I think The Fonz and Lavern and Sherly had a cartoon as well.
@@internethandler5462 lol! Laverne and Shirley did have a show...they were in the Army! Gary Coleman from Different Strokes had a show too!
Yeah, I was up by at least 6am ok Saturday’s, maybe earlier sometimes, that’s how I got to see Terrahawks, the New Zoo Review, and other random stuff.
what time was this on where you were at? I feel like i always randomly lucked into it on like a sunday afternoon...i feel ,like it had no set schedule where i live. That made it pretty special to catch an episode.
@@TheSickNeeds I was in St.louis, MO, it came on @ 6:00 or 6:30am Saturdays.
Good job Greg with the "Sega" inserts, I kept hoping Dan said the planet name over and over again because every time was funnier than the last 😀
Whenever we plan a video we follow a specific plan:
1. Come up with 1 joke.
2. Hit that joke as many times as possible.
Any chance you could make a video based on the live action Superboy TV series which starred John Hayne Newton and later on Gerald Christopher?@@SecretGalaxyTV
I'm really digging Dan's Blackstar hair in this episode. This is the type of commitment to detail I like. Let that man mane flow Mr. Larson!
He's beginning to look like Paul King. Well, love & pride, I guess...
I love Blackstar! I bought that DVD of the entire series back in late '18. I also really enjoyed those figures, back in the day. I hadn't seen the commercial for the figures since it first aired, so thank you for that. This channel is one of the reasons why I love RUclips so much! Awesome video, as usual.
RUclips is great for reliving long lost properties. Too bad racism runs rampant here
Remembered Blackstar from the 1980s. It was a fairly good show. I remember John Blackstar, Clone the shapeshifter, Mara the sorceress & the Overlord. The last episode had Blackstar's girlfriend finding him and heading back to Earth, requesting the support of the 'entire fleet' to help liberate Sagar.
I cannot get enough of this RUclips channel!! I just discovered it last week and, as an '80s kid, I'm in too deep now. Haha!
I appreciate Blackstar as I do Conan, Thundarr and He-man. Each of these shows had their own charm and attraction and I liked watching each of these shows when they did appear on screen.
If there was some kind of website awards for running gags, this show would sweep the category every year. 3 times a year in fact, that way it's yet another running gag.
I had a friend who had the figures, and what I quickly learned was that if you worked the ”Laser Lights” as constantly as they do in the commercials , the fuses would be gone in just a couple days.
I had the Blackstar and the Dragon toy when I was little. I could have sworn that the Star Sword and the Dragon's teeth glow in the dark. Details of the show are blurred as well. My memory has been overwritten from the dominance of Thundar and He-man.
You are correct
All this time I thought Black Star was Mos Def and Talib Kweli, the best alliance in hip hop. Wayohh.
Knowing what I know now about Blackstar thanks to you, this show is now a bit cooler and has so much potential in terms of world/myth making
It's on my to-do list!
Jean Yves Mitton is a legend in the French comic book industry… Wow, learning that he worked on a BlackStar comic is gold. I have to find that
I introduced my daughter to this show and she absolutely loves it!
I loved this show as a kid. Thanks for reviewing it. Hardly anyone I talked to remembers it. Glad to know I'm not the only one that liked it.
Love your channel Dan, keep em coming
That advert must have been memorable because it sure as hell got stuck in my brain for decades despite me not knowing anything about it.
How funny is it that I get to the galoob toy commercial and then a RUclips commercial pops up right after.
Ah good memories of good saturday morning cartoons and a bowl of cereal 😁
Yes, Sir! There was nothing like Saturday mornings, back in the day.
Simpler Times
@@sith7183 Indeed they were.
Wait..... ONE bowl?! The attempt to binge as many bowls as possible, hasty refills between commercials!! The worst side effect of, without question, being parental ire.
Saturday mornings called for pancakes with the cartoons! Dungeons and Dragons, Mighty Orbots and pancakes? Can you say total bliss?
I tried watching the cartoon after picking up Blackstar and his trusty dragon steed.....but hot DAMN it's god awful. Definitely better left in your memories.
I didn't grow up with it. I tried watching it a few years ago and I couldn't understand what the hell was going on. The characters were totally flat with no personality. I guess I understand now that the writers weren't allowed the freedom to do anything due to network censorship.
They neutered the hell out of out. I think we were just happy to watch cartoons to sit and watch it.
@@ShinSeikiEvan I mean, bland/flat characters and a story that goes nowhere is a staple of cartoons made only to sell crap.
Oh, and most of very young kids cartoons too
@@nobodyinparticular9640 Right. A lot of cartoons from that era were like this. But there were ones that were actually good cartoons despite being toy commercials. Those are the ones that people still remember and talk about.
@@nobodyinparticular9640 Gundam was made to sell crap robots, the quality of cartoons made for selling crap can vary wildly.
I recall seeing a statue of Blackstar in an episode of He-Man.
I like to think that John Blackstar and He-Man's mother, Marlana, knew each other . They were both astronauts.
That NTSC/PAL refrence was classic. Lol 😄
"fish out of water story" This show which I loved as a kid literally had Shark-bats and Pirahna-hawks flying around.
Man, I had the Kadray figure as a kid and I never knew what series it was from until now! Discovering the origins of my forgotten toys has been wonderful. Thank you!
No joke, this is an amazing video. Well done on every level. Thank you.
Wow!!!!
This really took me back!
Had these when I was young.
Keep up the amazing work.
Love the videos.
Thank you for making this video. Blackstar is a truly special rare series. I really liked the vehicle designs on this show. I liked all the different places on Segar too! Great humor in this video as well!
I'm lucky enough to own the DVD series of Blackstar. How I just need some action figures!
Same here!
Ditto
I was fortune enough to find a copy, just as they were going up in price and eventually extinct! Loved this very underated show!
I still have a few of my original Blackstar figures from when I was a kid, didn't even know what toyline they were from until about 10 years ago.
Thundarr was created by Steve Gerber, and he was responsible for the King being hired to work on the show (and, as a result, Alex Toth leaving Ruby-Spears after having designed only Thundarr, Ariel, and Ookla). Not crediting him is a MASSIVE omission, as is not tying Blackstar's inspiration directly to Filmation's Flash Gordon cartoon.
I had no idea about Blackstar until a few years ago. Then, when looking through the toys, I realized I had a couple of the bad guys among my earliest action figures. I figure my older brother probably got them for me around my 2nd or 3rd birthday. Seems like the kind of thing he would do, as he bought me a ton of MOTU figures over the next few years.
HossTheSlop same as hell. I had somehow acquired an Overlord fig when I was like 3 and I totally forgot about it until about a year ago and the memory came flooding back like nuclear waste on a woefully underequipped Radioactive Man (the goggles did nothing).
Wow,holy crap.I totally remember those alien demons that came with the figures,i never knew what toy line they were from.I just remember them out in the wild everywhere when I was a kid.Cool figure with a very striking appearance,totally just brought me back to the early 80s.Thanks for the great video,keep up the great content
What about galtar and the golden lance , seems like that was a mix of Blackstar and Thundar
Aaah, THAT'S why I remember Blackstar much later then 1981, I obviously caught the re-release as I had remembered it as a contemperary of He-Man's cartoon series.
Always enjoy the history segments guys! Great job😁👍
My favorite Blackstar memory was adapting the Lavalocs for use as monsters in our D&D campaign at the time.
I wish someone would remake black star and thundar the barbarian like they did the thundercats and voltron. That would slap so hard!!!
How about a shared universe between Thundarr, Blackstar, He-Man, Lion-O, and the bad boy Conan......at least some kind of quest with all of them.
M Sealey I’ll take anything at this point
These days it's a risk for fans to ask a remake/remaster 😏😥
Alessandro Baggi that’s a shame.
Thanks for this. I have so many half-remembered memories of this show that I didn't truly know much about it... just as a kid I thought that half-sword design looked really cool.
You're a good guy, Dan. I love you guys work and it makes me happy.
Love your videos. One of my favourite channels on YT. 👍
Prince Adam/He-Man's mother was also an astronaut that got trapped on an alien planet. I always thought her story was far more interesting than He-Man's.
I wanted Queen Marlena and Blackstar to have been astronaut colleagues. Blackstar went into space first, then she followed to find him, when he lost contact.
alanguages That’s my head canon now!
@@GeekFilter I thought it made sense, and it would have been interesting to connect the two series in that way.
...but did she have the power? *NO!*
Enjoyed this video very much, seeing the Blackstar toys brought me back to how I had the Blackstar figure as a kid.
I was like, "an Elvis shapeshifter?"
Then I saw the ears.
I still wouldn't put it past an old cartoon, though.
Same!
Those laser light figures look like a whole lot of WORK to play with and absolute HELL on your fingers. Sidenote - Thundarr the Barbarian was my show back in the day.
I'm reading the Filmation book and it didn't occur to me that Blackstar came before He-Man! Mindblown!
Chalk up Blackstar as another toy line I had at least one of, and completely forgot existed, until halfway through a Toy Galaxy video. Nothing about the cartoon rang a bell, but I remember the sparking action, and while the figures are long gone, I still have that distinctive magic sword. Until this moment, I couldn't recall what figure it was for.
Thank you for your guys videos!
I would love to see you guys cover Power Lords!!!
I had Grip-Togg, that weird lizard guy and the insectoid guy with articulated claws and flapping wings. He had awesome toys back then :)
You guys have the best sense of humor, SEGA-AAAAA..lol I love this channel!
Can't belive you didn't mention Black Star made a cheeky appearance in MOTU in the form of a statue. That's trivia worth mentioning.
This show was on super early Saturdays when I was a kid. Like 5:30 am early. I remember always wanting to be up to watch it, but it rarely happened. I remember I thought the sword was the coolest looking weapon I had ever seen.
Great vid as always Dan! Even though I had a bunch of the figures, I've never seen one episode of the cartoon, lol. I didn't know one even existed for the longest, lol. I will be patiently waiting for the Time-Traveling Super-fish show.
Laser light, pew pew pew, laser light... That jingle is now forever stuck in my head. Thanks guys.
I never understood, as a kid, why cartoons always had cute little characters or children around in their action shows.
Scott Tracker, Snarf, the throbbits... Nobody wanted to play as those characters.
I would like Reaction Figures of the cast of Blackstar though :)
I love this channel. I LOVE Dan’s hair. I miss the old music.
It is a great channel
me too, love the old music!
I agree, I thought the old music was perfect.
The hair. Nice!
I had an Overlord figure when I was a scrawny toddler. I’d never seen the cartoon, having been born in ‘81 and not really cognizant of any of that stuff until, iunno, ‘84/‘85-ish, and it wasn’t until about a year ago that I discovered what that figure was (which was itself locked away in my mind and totally forgotten until that point).
Interesting stuff.
Also, you’re totally growing a warrior mullet now, aren’t you Dan. 🤘
I who missed episodes from this channel and was looking for new episodes ... oops ... it was released about 6 minutes ago.
Blackstar ... can not get even better.
I always thought Blackstar was Native American. That would have been cool. Like the series & wished it had gotten more episodes.
I thank you kind sir, you bring back wonderful memories from my youth that my mind had long forgotten.
You guys keep knocking these outa the park
Thank you.
Warlock the dragon steed was an awesome toy!! Only problem was the wings eventually came lose over time and healthy play. Definitely an underrated classic.
Great video and thanks for all the facts. I loved "Blackstar" as a kid.
I'm calling it now. We need a Blackstar/Bravestar crossover. I was just this side of too young to watch Blackstar, but I loved Bravestar.
I was wondering when you would do the Blackstar series, thanks Dan, have a great weekend my friend!
*"... trapped on the planet... SSSEEEEEEEGGGGAAAAA !!!!!"*
Okay, you made me laugh on that one.
Blackstar, another potential fighting games crossover with Soul Calibur, Injustice, Master Of The Universe and Thundercats
Brilliant Dan. Thank you!
My older cousin gave me a bunch of his old toys when I was a kid, and most were from lines that no longer existed. Apparently one of them that I didn't recognize until now was a trobbit.
I'm just now realizing Thundarr the Barbarian was basically has the same concept of Adventure Time with Jake and Finn.
I like how you kept a straight face at the end there.
Man! You're looking like you're working on growing out a mullet there
Man I was just thinking of those last week! Was hoping you’d do a video on it. I had some of the toys. Also had a Hercules figure that looked very inspired by He-Man.
Dang, I remember that from when I was a kid, that pink alien with the giant ears brought it all back
OMG I actually REMEMBER this series.. LOL tyvm for doing this video
I just discovered this channel a couple days ago and the content is amazing, the Ulysses 31 video is my favorite
Any chance you could do something about "Galtar: and the Golden Lance"? That is a criminally underrated show.
I want to thank you just for MENTIONING that show. No one I know personally remembers it, and it if wasn't for the internet I'd be convinced it was a fever dream at this point. Awesome cartoon.
@@Jackalblade9 I remember Galtar and the Golden Lance. It was on the Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera. I remember it well actually. Thr Tyrant Tormack, the proto-Ferengi named Rack and his son Tuck. Those hooded soldiers of Tormack called Gurzes (my spelling may be wrong). I can't remember the name of the princess though but I remember that she was the heiress of the magical Silver Shield. It was a phenomenal cartoon.
@@Jackalblade9 I remember Galtar and the Golden Lance. It was on the Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera. I remember it well actually. Thr Tyrant Tormack, the proto-Ferengi named Rack and his son Tuck. Those hooded soldiers of Tormack called Gurzes (my spelling may be wrong). I can't remember the name of the princess though but I remember that she was the heiress of the magical Silver Shield. It was a phenomenal cartoon.
Holy crap... me and my sister were cleaning out an old box of toys I had from the 80s and we found some of these toys.... We were convinced it was from either He-Man or Shera...
That's rad, I didn't even know this existed. Good stuff 👍🏻
Always got this show confused with Galtar and the Golden Lance when I was a kid, even though I had the action figure. The sparky thingy in the chest was pretty sweet, for what it's worth.
Just realised I owned a bunch of these back in the eighties. Love how you could have stuff that you didn't even realise was iconic, such as these, the mega odd face sucking in figures, the D&D stuff, Bandai robots, Micronauts, Grandstand Converters, obscure Action Force things, weird Gobot combiners etc. Oh how I miss the simpler times...
Yeah, sure, Blackstar is on youtube, but we cannot comment on it because reasons. Comments on old cartoons and intros were always the best part!
RUclips fell so goddamn low. I wonder if we'll ever get those comment sections back.
There are many toy bins in attics right now that have a full compliment of Blackstar toys mixed in with the MOTU. Kids were so He-Man crazy that these guys were mixed right in along with the others. I just wish my parents had snagged me some Sun Man back in the day.
I'd still watch if your production values weren't so high but DANG YOUR PRODUCTION VALUES ARE HIGH and Dan Larson is a national treasure
Just watched the show and found out his explanation is literally the theme word for word
My cousin had Blackstar's awesome dragon. One wing was loose, so it could never stay in any cool poses.
Come for the knowledge
Stay for the gooey center of my childhood to melt
Lmao
It would be cool if there ever was a proper MOTU animated series ever again, that Blackstar be incorporated into it
No Blackstar, no He-Man & the Masters of the Universe. Lol!🤣 Loved this show as a child & even had the Warlock dragon toy. As I've gotten older however, I've noticed the similarities between Blackstar & John Carter of Mars & perhaps Lord of the Rings
Toy Galaxy talks about Blackstar brought to you by SEGA
Yay
Dan, you're very close to a quarantine mullet. Keep-a-goin'. I'll still sub and keep the bell rung, no worries.
I LOVED THIS TOY LINE!!!!! I found these guys at a thrift store in my small town and immediately fell in love with them. The characters were fantastic and they came with a literal arsenal of weapons. "Tongo" was the first character i got and he had, I think six or seven weapons which glowed in the dark. Suffice to say as a nine year old, I lost my mind. Cool cartoon, AMAZING toy line!
Thanks for the vid sir.
"He was in the wrong water" lol
i own a boxed Icecastle. thats all i wanted to say. lol