On its face, "Blackstar" is nothing more than a second rate pastiche of iconic IP's like "John Carter", Flash Gordon" and "Buck Rogers". Had that been its only virtue, it would've been buried under the rubble of pop culture obscurity decades ago. But, like Frank Stallone, "Blackstar" has a famous brother. In this case, his name is He-Man.
A few years after "Blackstar" ended its one season run, Filmation Studios released "Masters of the Universe". After the government relaxed rules regarding the use of animated series as promotional tools for toy lines (in exchange for the 'toons providing a "In today's episode we learned"... message tacked on at the end), toy companies sought out studios that could create daily or weekly animated series that would act as an organic promotional vehicle. The first of these was Mattel Toys' "Masters of the Universe" aka "He-Man".
The toy line was released in 1982 and became a massive success. One year later, the cartoon followed suit, and together they became a juggernaut for the next half decade. Seeing this, second-tier toy company Galoob decided to try and get in on the act and licensed Filmation's earlier series, "Blackstar". The results were what you'd expect. The cartoon, which had been off the air for two years, did not create any appetite for the toys, and so the line quickly fizzled out and ended up at yard sales and in land fills across America.
So why do I go into all of this? I guess I'm bored. Kind of like when I watch "Blackstar". To be honest, it's not a terrible cartoon. The voice acting is exactly that of "Masters of the Universe", featuring most of the same players. The animation here isn't quite as vivid, but it uses the same techniques and recycles more than a Green Peace member. To be sure the music isn't as good as "Masters of the Universe", and while it has a (relatively) more serious tone, it lacks the humor and fun camp that makes "MOTU" still an enjoyable watch; albeit in small doses.
In the end, this is a series that I found far more interesting to research than to watch.
