Blackstar the forgotten prototype for Masters of the Universe

Blackstar

Back in the fall of 1981 a new cartoon premiered on CBS Saturday morning. This  was Blackstar. John Blackstar is an astronaut who is sucked through a black hole and ends up on the planet Sagar. After arriving he meets the trobbits,which are pink hobbit like creatures that live in a tree. Blackstar ends up fighting off the evil Overlord. During this battle Overlord's weapon,the Powersword,splits into two parts. Blackstar ends up with one half and Overlord has the other half. The rest of the series is mainly about Overlord trying to get back the half of the Powersword that Blackstar has.

When I was a young kid this was my favorite cartoon. But sadly it only lasted one season. Blackstar was done by Filmation. And if you watch it you can see how lots of the plots and ideas from this cartoon were used later on in Filmation's Masters of the Universe cartoon. I can remember when I first saw the Masters of the Universe cartoon a few years later I was mad that it had ripped off Blackstar so much.

Now I never remember seeing this show ever in reruns or syndication. But from 1983 through 1985 the Galoob toy company produced a bunch of action figures. Each of the good guy figures came packages with a PVC figure of one of the Trobbits. Also I remember having one that had a flint sparker in the figure that made a symbol on the chest light up.

By the mid 2000's I had pretty much forgotten about this cartoon. Then BCI put out a DVD set that all 13 episodes. Some of which even have commentaries. I quickly bought it and sat down to watch it. Surprisingly it holds  up as good if not better than Masters of the Universe. This DVD set is out of print now. But isn't that expensive.

After doing some research I found out that over in France there was a short lived comic book based on the cartoon. I would love to find some copies,even though I can't read french. It seems weird that neither DC or Marvel did a comic book based on Blackstar. But that might be cause it only had the one short season.

With all the various 80's cartoon series coming back and getting comic books,I would love to see more Blackstar stories. Sadly this cartoon is mostly forgotten. Even among people of my age group most of them have no idea what I am talking about when I mention Blackstar. The Blackstar cartoon and DVD set get a solid B+.

Black History Month 2012 fifth movie

House Party
IFC airing
1990

I don't think I have seen House Party in over 15 years. But back when I was in high school Showtime showed it at least once a week for over a year. And I must have seen it close to 40 times back then. Somehow over the years I had forgotten about the movie and how funny it is.

The plot is simple Play is throwing a party at his house,cause his parents are away on vacation. He wants his buddy Kid to come and their buddy Bilai to be the DJ at the party. Well the day of the party Kid gets in trouble at school. And he knows if his father finds out there is no way he will be able to go to the party. So he tries his best to keep his father,played by the late Robin Harris from finding out. But of course his dad finds out and grounds him.

While this is happening we see Play getting ready for the party. Plus two girls Sharane and Sidney getting ready. The party is getting started and all seems like it is going good. But of course you know something has to go wrong.

Kid manages to sneak out,cause his dad has fallen asleep watching TV. So he starts walking to the party. But runs into so bullies that were fucking with him at school that day. And after some misadventures he finally gets to Play's house.

By this time the party is in full swing. We get to see lots of scenes of people dancing. And of course with this film being over 20 years old the clothes and dances are extremely outdated. Kid and Play have a dance off with Sharane and Sidney. And right after that Kid and Play have a friendly rap battle. One of the guys at the party passed out drunk. So while Play and another guy are carrying him home ,Kid offers to walk Sidney and Sharane home. Kid just barely misses his father who has arrived at the house looking for him.

Play gets back to the party to discover that someone has broken the toilet and left a huge stinking log in it. So he says the party is over and goes about kicking people out. Kid gets Sharane home to her apartment in the projects. It seems that he might have a chance with Sharane,but we find out that Sidney has a crush on Kid. So after he walks with her to her house she invites him inside. Kid is about to get him some when Sidney's parents come home early from a party. So Kid jumps out the window and is on his way home when he runs into the bullies from earlier. This ends with the bullies and Kid getting arrested.

Now Kid is in lock up and uses his one phone call to call Play to come bail him out. Well the bullies talk some of the other guys in the lock up into raping Kid. So in an attempt to prevent this Kid launches into a freestyle rap. Somehow this keeps the rapists off him until Play gets there to bail him out. Finally sometime early in the morning Kid gets back home. He makes it all the way into his bedroom with out his father seeing him. He is about to jump into bed when his dad catches him. And the credits start to roll. During the credits we here Kid's father beating the shit outta him.

Now the film is dated. But still I was laughing my ass off through out most of the film. Shit I now want to see if it is out on Blu ray. Somehow I doubt it is,but a DVD will be almost as good. House Party gets a B+.

Black History Month 2012 fourth movie

I'm gonna git you sucka
MGM DVD
1988

This is the movie that introduced me to the Wayons family. Now before seeing this film I had seen a few of the various 70's blaxploitation films. But not that many really. So I am sure on the first viewing lots of the various jokes and spoofs went right over my head. It didn't matter this became one of my favorite comedies. For some reason it seemed like this film never aired on any of the movie channels I got. So I had forgotten about it till sometime in the early 90s Fox aired it as a movie of the week. I watched it,and Fox had edited the shit outta it,and fell back in love with it.

Keenon Wayons plays Jack Spade,he is coming home on leave from the army and finds out his brother has OG'd. That means his brother died from wearing too much gold. So Jack goes on a crusade to find out who is selling all this gold. He ends up teaming up with Bernie Casey and with help from Bernie and his friends they try to take down Mr Big.

What makes this film stand out so much is all the appearances from the stars of  all the older blaxploitation films.You got Jim Brown,Issac Hayes,Antonio Fargas and many others. Fargas is a stand out as Fly Guy. He is a former pimp that has spent the last decade in jail. And the scene when he gets outta jail and puts on his oh so 70's pimp outfit is one of the funniest moments in the entire film.

Usually with a spoof film they hit you with so many jokes that outta every 5,2 or 3 of them fail. Not so in I'm gonna git you sucka,besides one over long scene with a young Chris Rock every joke hits it's point. One of my favorite scenes is when the guys go to take down the Big Brim bar. Where everyone is wearing a huge hat. And under most of these hats a midget is hiding. Midgets always make me laugh and this scene made me laugh so hard my sides were hurting.

Now the print on the DVD looks great. The sound is good. But the only extra is a theatrical trailer. I wish they had done a commentary with the Wayons brothers and maybe some of the other stars. But since I got this DVD for around 4 bucks I won't complain too much about the lack of extras. I'm gonna git you sucka gets a A.

Black History Month 2012 Third movie

Petey Wheatstraw, the Devil's Son-In-Law
 Xenon DVD
1977

Outta all the various Dolemite/Rudy Ray Moore films this is my favorite. We start off with Petey being born during the middle of a hurricane. He comes out wearing a diaper and looks to be 6 years old. Fast forward a few years and now Petey is a well known stand up comedian. He books a week long stay at a local night club. Which pisses off local comedy duo Leroy and Skillet. So they put out a hit on Petey. Petey gets killed and goes to hell.

In hell he meets Lucifer who tells him he will bring Petey back to life. But Petey has to marry Lucifer's fugly daughter and provide Lucifer with a grandson. Petey agrees. He gets sent back to Earth with a magic pimp cane.

The rest of the film is Petey using his magic pimp stick to solve problems and trying to figure out a way outta his deal with Lucifer.This DVD looks amazing. Before getting it I had only seen Petey Wheatstraw on the old VHS,which looked horrible. Sure the DVD is full frame. But then it seems every DVD from Xenon is full frame. Petey Wheatstraw the devil's son in law gets a B+.

Black History Month 2012 Second movie

Don't be a menace to South Central while drinking your juice in the hood
Director's cut DVD
1996

I have been a fan of the Wayons since I first saw "I'm gonna git you sucka" years ago. So when I saw ads for this movie I knew I had to see it. Well for some reason I didn't get to see it in the theater. But made sure to go rent it the day it came out. What we get is a spoof movie of all the various "hood" films that were popular at the time. And of course most of the Wayons family has at least a small part in the film. I don't remember seeing Damon but the rest of them are there. Now I have never been a fan of either Shawn or Marlon Wayons.But this is the only film with them I enjoyed.

Ashtray is in his late teens,and his mom sends him to live in da hood with his Father. His dad seems to either be the same age as Ashtray or maybe even younger. Ashtray's best friend is Loc Dog. Who is a drug dealing under educated mess of a person.

We gets lots of great parody scenes. And plenty of laugh out loud moments. Now this dvd is the director's cut. But I only really saw 3 scenes that I didn't remember from the theatrical version. Thanks to the deal Miramax has worked out with Echo Bridge entertainment this dvd is easy to find for $5 and totally worth that price. Don't be a Menace to South Central while drinking your juice in the hood gets a B+.

It's Black History month at Double T's Blog of Reviews day 01

Dr.Black Mr Hyde
1976
VCI entertainment DVD

Usually when I have heard about a film for years but never seen it,when I do finally see it I am almost always disappointed. I had heard of Dr Black Mr Hyde for decades now. But never seemed to find it for rent in any video store. And never saw it airing on any of the movie channels. So last year when I found it in the Walmart $5 dvd dumpbin I was somewhat excited.

Bernie Casey is a doctor working on a formula that regrow dead liver cells. He also works at the Watts free clinic. We get to see how he actually cares for all his patients and does whatever he can to help them out. Well after years of work he thinks he has profected his formula. So he uses it on himself. And there is one seriously bad side-effect.

The formula turns him white and he goes out killing people. Now this shouldn't be funny,but instead of say hiring a white actor to be Mr Hyde they instead seem to throw some white pancake make up on Bernie's face. Then spray something onto his Afro to make it white also.

After attacking a bunch of pimps and hookers the cops track down Mr Hyde to the Watts Tower. At first they send in some police dogs to get him. But Bernie breaks it's neck and throws it over a fence. This part had me laughing super hard,cause it was so obvious that the dog was a fake. Of course at the end the villain dies and the world is safe again.

The DVD is pretty much bare bones. But the print looks good and the sound if well done. I love the cover. Dr Black Mr Hyde gets a C+.

What is coming up next month

With next month being Black History month I have decided to review nothing but films with all black or almost all black casts. Most of what I review will be from the blaxploitation genre. Strange thing,I was a fan of this genre before I even knew it existed. Back when I was a kid we got 5 TV channels. And one of them was a independent UHF channel. Well every Saturday after they stopped showing cartoons at 12pm they would show two movies. The first film was always a horror movie. And was even for a few years hosted by the local horror host. But the second film could be almost anything. The channel did seem to show stuff in cycles. Like for a few months the second film would always be a martial art film. Then they would do a month or so of all the old Blondie movies. Then one week after they showed "Frankenstein vs the monster from outer space" they were showing a film I had never heard of. But my Dad was excited to see. The movie was the original "Shaft". I sat there and watched it with him and was hooked. Well for the next 2 months they showed all kinds of Blaxploitation films. The ones I remember are "Sheba baby","Get Christie Love" and "Blackula". I was so pissed off when after 2 months they went back to showing Blondie movies. Something about the slang,clothing and just oddball energy of the blaxploitation films appealed to me then.

Now I have no idea if I will do this like I do the Horror movie a day thing each October. But I will promise to have up a new review every Monday,Wednesday and Friday in the month of February.

Hulk Hogan -My life outside the ring

My Life outside the ring by Hulk Hogan

Back in 2004 I found the first Hulk Hogan biography in hardback at Dollar Tree for a buck. Figuring it would be worth the buck.I picked it up and while lots of it was total bullshit it was still a halfway entertaining read. Well fast forward about 7 years and I find his second biography in the bargain bin at Wal-mart for 3 bucks. I had already read a few reviews of the book and thought what the fuck it's only 3 bucks.

The book starts off with Hogan sitting in a room with a loaded pistol and thinking about killing himself. But then he gets a phone call from someone unexpected that saves his life. But we don't find out who called till way later on in the book. The next chapter has Hogan as a young kid and we get told some of the same stories he told in his first biography. But this time somethings are changed and some stuff contradicts what was in the first novel. We do get more stories about his early days wrestling in various regional feds. And this is the best part of the book.

Hogan skips ahead a few years and tells us,again,the story about how he met his now ex-wife Linda. And this book really seems to focus on how Linda and the Hulkster have been having marital problems for years now. He talks about how she drank all the time and loved to spend his money on stuff that wasn't needed . After reading the book it seems the divorce is entirely her fault. The only mistake Hogan will admit to is having an affair with Brooke assistant.

We get lots of behind the scenes info about the filming of "Hogan Knows best". Which was the short lived reality show that aired on VH1 for 2 or 3 seasons.Hogan at least admits to how staged lots of the show was. But again he puts the blame of the show being canceled squarely on Linda. I think maybe the show was canceled cause it was pretty shitty,but what do I know.

Then we get lots of info on the infamous car wreck Nick Hogan was in that left a close friend of his with permanent brain damage. Hulkster makes sure to inform us that even though Nick was speeding the wreck wasn't his fault,cause "Speeding is what teenage boys do."

Really I am wondering which of the two Hogan biography novels is more full of shit. This one has plenty of bullshit in it. But I did enjoy the sections talking about Hulk wrestling in various regional feds. My life outside the ring gets a C-.

A bunch of quick reviews from various dvd multipacks

Last night I actually managed to get to sleep at what most people would consider a normal time. But after a pretty bad nightmare I said fuck sleep and ended up watching a bunch of movies off some DVD multipacks I own. And since I haven't had a new post here in awhile I figured I would type up some short reviews of the films I watched and post them.

Savage Weekend

This is on the Mill Creek "Drive in Movie classics" 50 pack. Been wanting to watch it for months now but for some reason never did. Group of friends head up to upstate New York for what is suppose to be a relaxing weekend. But end up getting stalked by a masked killer. This starts off very very slow,but is worth watching. William Sanderson from "Newhart" is in it. And while looking it up on IMDB I discovered that a young Yancy Butler has a part in it. It seems a kind of Unofficial sequel was made in 1994. It is a short film titled "Not Another Savage Weekend". So if you happen to own the Mill Creek Drive In movie classics 50 pack give this a watch.

Mutant

This is on the Mill Creek "Pure Terror" 50 pack. Released in theaters back in 1984. This is a backwoods zombie movie staring Wings Hauser. The print on the DVD looks pretty good. It is full frame but doesn't look bad at all. Sadly the film is pretty forgettable. If you have the Pure Terror set save this one till you have already seen most of the films on the set. It isn't horrible but it also isn't anything special.

Grave of the Vampire

Another film from the Pure Terror 50 pack. Released back in 1972,this is a film that I can remember seeing the VHS cover for years at the video store. But I never rented it. A dead man rises from the grave and goes and rapes a young lady.The girl gets pregnant and has a baby boy. Who she gives bottles of blood to. When the boy is grown up he hunts down his father and confronts him. Sadly with this one the old VHS cover is way better than the film. This was so boring I kept fast forwarding to see if it would get any better and it didn't. Avoid this stinker.

The Devil's Nightmare

This is from the old Brentwood "Fright Night" 10 pack. The print is obviously ripped off from a Redemption laserdisc. You can tell cause Brentwood didn't bother removing the shot on video introduction by Ellien daily. Once we get to the movie it turns out to be a nice piece of early 70s euro-horror. A busload of tourist break down way out in the countryside. They find a old castle and the owner allows them to spend the night. But it seems the owner's dead daughter is back as a succubus. We get some good kills all based a the seven deadly sins. Overall this is a fun way to pass an hour and a half. Plus there is 2 smoking hot euro babes that have a fun little softcore lesbian scene. Worth picking up if you find it cheap.

Pieces

Another great piece of euro sleaze from the Brentwood "Fright Night" 10 pack. This is another one I can remember seeing the VHS on the shelves when I was younger. But again I never rented it. What we get is a gory,nonsensical,giallo. Lots of nice kills. Plus you have Bluto from the live action Popeye movie as a great red herring. Then there is the ending which makes no damn sense but is still a great mind fuck. I am pretty sure Grindhouse Releasing has put out a great 2 disc DVD of this. Which I might have to track down.

Sisters of Death

This is from the Brentwood "Tales of Terror" 10 pack. Released back in 1977 this plays very much like a TV movie of the week. And really if it didn't have the late Claudia Jennings in it I bet it would be forgotten now. After a Russian Roulette mishap many years ,a all-girl secret society is invited to a remote house for a reunion. But once they get there they realize something isn't right. This is the only Claudia film I have seen where she doesn't at least get topless. About the only other thing about it that is somewhat memorable is the actor that played Nat ,the peach pit owner,on 90210 is in it. Sisters of Death isn't something I wouldn't  go outta my way to watch,but it also isn't horrible.

Jack the Ripper

Directed by Jess Franco back in the 1976. This is a decent fabricated telling of the story of Jack the Ripper. Staring the insane Klaus Kinski and Josephine Chaplin. Sadly this DVD from the Brentwood "Vault of Horror' 10 pack is a rip of a VHS that isn't in the best shape. There is some decent gore scenes. And unlike most of the other Jess Franco film's I have seen,this one makes sense. Worth watching if you are a fan of Klaus and/or 70's Euro horror.

Point of Terror

From the Mill Creek "Pure Terror" 50 pack. This film was released back in 1971. I have been wanting to watch it for a few years. Mainly cause it stars Dyanne "Ilsa" Thorne. Well it is so bad I didn't make it more than 30 minutes into it before I had to turn it off. Slowly paced and really nothing fucking happens. Only worth watching if you must see every film staring Dyanne Thorne.

Hands of Steel

fi film. Released in 1986 the only person in the cast I knew is John Saxon. It is one of the better Italian made mid 80's post apocalypse films. But nothing amazing. If you are a fan of post apocalyptic films it is worth a watch. But don't go in expecting something on the level of say Battle Truck or Warriors of the Wasteland.

Twister's Revenge

From the Mill Creek "Drive In Movie Classics" 50 pack. This is one of the very last films that Bill "The giant spider invasion" Rebane did. What you get is a monster truck version of K.I.T.T. from Knight Rider versus a army tank. Lots of great WTF moments in this movie. Like when the lead villains find a fully working US army tank in a junkyard. And the tank also seems to be still fully loaded with all the ammo it needs. Twister's Revenge is a great brainless way to waste 1 1/2 hours.

Ok Documentary Month is over early

Thanks to being sick,computer issues,car trouble and the upcoming holidays I am ending Documentary month. Sorry about that. Most likely I won't have a new post up until after X-mas. But hope every one has a happy end of year.