Give Us A Meteor Man Cartoon!

 My brother and I are huge fans of the 1993 film Meteor Man. We were recently discussing is it time for a remake of the movie and I instantly shot it down, Hell No leave the movie as it was!! Is exactly what I said lol. Then for some random reason a thought popped in my head. Meteor Man is owned and was released by MGM Studios, MGM is currently in the process of being bought by Amazon. Amazon needs fresh content to convince people to use prime video and compete with more popular streaming services. Lastly studios love digging in the archives for the next big property they can introduce to a new generation.

Meteor Man is the perfect property for that to happen....by way of a cartoon series. A Meteor Man cartoon that maintains the same comedic tone as the film with maybe a small dash of the violence depicted in Invincible would be a hit in my opinion. Since its an cartoon, it could be set in the same timeline of the original in the 90's or be moved up to present day with a slightly new take on Meteor Man.

Jefferson Reed could still be a teacher trying to maintain the balance of being a superhero, being a positive influence for his students and include his desire to make sure Meteor Man is portrayed as a positive Black role model through the media. 

The neighborhood and the wacky character's Jefferson knew and loved would have to be highlighted in the show as well. Such as old school music loving but trying to remain young Earnest (James Earl Jones). We can't forget his inner circle of his parents (Played by Robert Guillaume and Marla Gibbs in the film). His best friend Michael played by Eddie Griffin, who wanted to be Meteor Man for his own dating gain. They all could be developed more and have bigger roles,  in supporting Jefferson's mission as Meteor Man.

It's so many avenues they could go with the character's with more time to flesh the story out over 10 or so episodes. It'd also be interesting if the the subplot from the movie, of Jefferson frequently losing his powers if he doesn't touch the meteorite was added to the series and how he goes about maintaining his powers during his day to day life. Does he drink energy drinks non-stop since using his powers drains him?

The cartoon and Meteor Man's journey would not be complete without The Golden Lords being involved in the story. The Golden Lords are a underrated group of villains where every member hair is dyed gold and their attire included gold of some sort. The leader of the group Simon and the group themselves could be fleshed out a bit more regarding what their exact goal was. Was it just to run D.C.? or world domination? Simon's boss Anthony played by Frank Gorshin (The Riddler in the 60's Batman series) and his organization could be portrayed as well, maybe as the overarching villain. The cartoon would get hella bonus points if Roy Fegan is able to return and voice Simon. 

Of course if this were to come to fruition, Robert Townsend has to be involved in the development of the series. If not, maybe some like me who loves the movie 1,000 times over could do the series justice (just throwing it out in the universe). Meteor Man deserves some love and we the fans deserve some sort of continution of the property to enjoy time and time again.

When the movie was released, Marvel released a limited edition comic book series of Meteor Man. Let's get some corporate syngery going and bring that back as well.

Amazon make it happen, We need a Meteor Man cartoon series. 

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Robert Townsend Deserve's His Flowers Now

 Today is the 30th anniversary of one of my favorite movies The Five Heartbeats. Watching the movie which is a beloved amongst the Black culture, I thought about just how much Robert Townsend has given the culture that is often acknowledged but really overlooked. With The Five Heartbeats Townsend was a star in the film, in addition to producing, writing, and directing the film. That's alot of hats to wear for a movie that is about as close to perfection as they come.

Looking over his filmography his first major break in Hollywood was Hollywood Shuffle. Another film he starred in, produced, wrote and directed. The movie is a satire on the Hollywood industry and it's treatment of Black actors when it comes to finding the "right" role, very relevant today as it was in the 80's when the film was made.

In 1993 before Blade, before Black Panther, hell a year before Blankman. He gave us the first Black superhero on the big screen I remember Meteor Man. A film that at the time had a who's who of Black actors and actresses in it (Marla Gibbs, James Earl Jones, Bill Cosby, Luther Vandross, Robert Guillaume, Don Cheadle) and the list goes on and on. This film employed alot of Black people and likely inspired the next generation.

Those three films are probably Robert's most well known contributions to Hollywood, but it doesnt stop there. He directed Eddie Murphy's RAW standup movie, he wasn't credited but I'm inclined to believe him and Keenan Ivory Wayans helped write some of the jokes for the film. He directed B.A.P.S, starring Halle Berry and Natalie Desselle. Carmen:An Hip Hopera, Holiday Heart, Playin' For Love, Living For Love: The Natalie Cole Story, and The Little Richard movie are some of the additional films he's directed.

On the TV side, he created and starred in one of the WB's first sitcoms in the Cosby inspired Parent'Hood which ran for five seasons. He had his own variety comedy special on HBO called Robert Towsend and His Partners in Crime. Directed episodes of Love Is, Black Lighting, Last O.G., Soul Food and American Soul along with other TV series.

For some reason when the conversation about legendary or most influential Black filmmakers comes up. Robert Townsend is almost never bought up, not sure if thats just because he's never came across as a guy who really cares for the spotlight. In any case he has provided the culture with so much, and it's time we start giving him his flowers now. 

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