Interview

The following interview was conducted in 1998 by Oscar Corral, in which he asks former Filmation employee and present Toon Magazine editor Michael Swanigan some questions about Blackstar's origins.

Corral: What exactly were some of CBS's complaints regarding Blackstar?

Swanigan: In the unmade pilot, [Blackstar] was black. CBS felt that middle America wasn't ready for a black superhero as the star of a daytime series. They were [also] worried about the use of the swords. Kids might try and hurt each other, although Thundarr was a big hit on ABC.

Corral: Do you have any artwork from the unmade pilot episode? Can you briefly explain what this was going to be about?

Swanigan: All artwork from the [unmade] series is stored at the old Filmation warehouse. The series was about a black man from Earth, who [crash] landed on another planet. With the help of a young white boy, he fought the evil Overlord. There were three short creatures with blue skin and dark huge eyes with three fingers on each hand.

Corral: Were you responsible for the original design of the characters before CBS forced Filmation to change things around?

Swanigan: No, the designs were by Bob Kline. I joined Filmation after the series was sold to CBS. I came on as a storyboard artist.

Corral: Were there any problems with Galoob, the company that produced the Blackstar toys?

Swanigan: None that I was aware of.

Corral: I noticed in the introduction to this show, Filmation used film footage which would later be used on the He-Man transformation sequence. Was Blackstar somewhat of a motivation to create He-Man?

Swanigan: He-Man was a co-op deal with Mattel. I believe they developed the project, then came to Filmation to help produce it as a series.

Corral: In the He-Man episode "Temple of the Sun," Blackstar makes a little cameo appearance. In the backdrop, a small statue can be seen holding the exact same sword and wearing the exact same clothes as Blackstar. I was wondering if there were many of these little 'inside jokes' within Filmation's cartoons?

Swanigan: I was the storyboard artist on that episode. We (the board department) tried to have fun by sneaking in little things like that into the series. In one He-Man episode, I got [Warlock] as a major guest-star. I just called for him to be colored differently; I think he was a pink color*. In one show, I was able to sneak in a fight sequence from Tarzan and another one from Flash Gordon.

Corral: What were your storyboards like? I'm pretty sure you were artistically and visually limited because of the Filmation stock system.

Swanigan: The stock system wasn't as bad as it got on later series.

Corral: If you had a chance to work on Blackstar again, what would you change to make it more appealing to a 90s audience?

Swanigan: Change those cute Trobbits into the more monster-like creatures they were in the first designs and make the witch scarier.

Corral: Monster-like creatures? Weren't they supposed to be Blackstar's allies? Was the design of the Overlord any different in the original? What about Mara the sorceress?

Swanigan: [The Trobbits] were more like the [Morlocks] from the movie The Time Machine, and yes, they were his allies. There was no change in the design of the Overlord, but Mara was spookier looking, an older woman in her mid-forties.

*Editor's note: A purple Warlock, called a Tactrill, made an appearance in the He-Man episode "The Remedy." (What do they feed those Eternian dragons?)