John Blackstar, astronaut, is swept through a black hole, into an ancient alien universe. Trapped on the planet Sagar, Blackstar is rescued by the tiny Trobbit people. In turn, he joins their fight for freedom against the cruel Overlord, who rules by the might of the Powerstar. The Powerstar is split into the Powersword and the Starsword. And so with Starsword in hand, Blackstar, together with his allies, sets out to save the planet Sagar. This is his destiny. “I am John Blackstar.”
Blackstar is an American animated television series, a science fantasy story sometimes reported as being inspired by Thundarr the Barbarian. It was produced in 1981 by Lou Scheimer and Norm Prescott for Filmation.
The show followed John Blackstar (voiced by George DiCenzo) and Warlock his winged “dragon-horse”. Blackstar’s allies include Klone (voiced by Patrick Pinney) – an elf-like shapeshifter; and Mara – an enchantress capable of telekinesis, telepathy, levitation, forcefield projection, illusions, magic blasts, and teleportation. In “City of the Ancient Ones”, it is revealed that she is at least a few centuries old. Although only appearing in one episode – “The Zombie Masters,” Prince Dal and Princess Loweena are the co-rulers of the city of Gondar. It is destroyed by Shaldemar but Blackstar defeats him with Prince Dal’s help and Dal and Loweena claim the floating city of Marakand as the new home for their people, becoming powerful allies to Blackstar and friends. There are also Trobbits – short for “Tree Hobbits.” They are the inhabitants of the Sagar Tree. They rescue Blackstar upon his arrival on Sagar. Some of the known Trobbits are:
Balkar (voiced by Patrick Pinney) – The king and the mentor. He controls elemental magic and is also a great alchemist.
Rif (voiced by Frank Welker) – The grumpy, flame-capped cook.
Terra (voiced by Patrick Pinney) – The gardener who talks to plants.
Burble (voiced by Frank Welker) – The babbler who swims very well and freezes during the winter.
Carpo (voiced by Alan Oppenheimer) – The carpenter who gnaws wood with his teeth to construct things.
Poulo – The mute whistler.
Gossamear (voiced by Frank Welker) – The huge-eared flying one, resembling Dumbo, who is the scout and lookout.
Blackstar’s main enemy is Overlord (voiced by Alan Oppenheimer) who plots to rule all of the planet Sagar and wields one half of the Powerstar, called the Powersword, and constantly seeks the other half wielded by Blackstar. Vizier is Overlord’s right-hand man and companion; an expert at mind-control and conjuring. There are also other villains who appear in various episodes including Lava Locs, Taleena, Shaldemar, Isogul, Nihilis and Kadray.
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