The Filmation cartoon series Blackstar was originally telecast September 12, 1981, through September 11, 1982, on CBS. The hero is astronaut John Blackstar, who finds himself on the sword-and-sorcery planet of Sagar after falling through a time warp. Predictably, the series borrowed heavily from other fantasy sources (notably Star Wars and The Hobbit). The character's name derived from the fact that, as conceived, he was supposed to be African-American. However, CBS got cold feet, and John Blackstar was redrawn as Caucasian (though he looked like he had a very deep suntan). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi