If you have been looking for a mature animated series with sex and violence and mature humor or a fan of the “Black Dynamite” Adult Swim animated series and want to see it uncensored, then “Black Dynamite: Season One” is worth checking out!
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TITLE: Black Dynamite: Season One
TV EPISODE RELEASE: 2011
DURATION: 10 Episodes (220 Minutes)
BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition, English DolbyTrue HD 5.1, Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish, Espanol – Latino, Dansk, Suomi, Norsk, Svenska
COMPANY: Adult Swim
RATED: TV MA L
Release Date: July 15, 2014
Directed by Carl Jones, Lesean Thomas, Kalvin Lee
Written by Bria Ash, Carl Jones, Byron Minns, Scott Sanders, Michael Jai White
Produced by Byron Minns, Scott Sanders, Michael Jai White, Monica Jones
Executive Producer: Jillian Apfelbaum, Jon Steingart, Nick Weidenfed, Carl Jones
Edited by Felipe Salazar
Art Direction by Antonio Canobbio
Starring:
Liz Benoit as Voice
Jimmy Walker Jr. as Roscoe
Tommy Davidson as Cream Corn
Byron Minns as Bullhorn
Michael Jai White as Black Dynamite
Kym Whitley as Honeybee
It all began when actor Michael Jai White (“Spawnâ€, “The Dark Knightâ€, “The Underground Bounty Hunterâ€) was listening to “Superbad†by James Brown on his iPod and suddenly he came up with an idea to have a film spoofing ’70s blaxpoitation films (1970′s exploitation films targeting urban Black audiences).
White got together with a few friends and began taking photos of himself in ’70s outfits and hooked up with director Scott Sanders (“Thick as Thievesâ€) and their friend and fellow actor Byron Minns (“Undisputedâ€, “South Centralâ€) to help craft the 2009 film known as “Black Dynamiteâ€.
The film that is set in the 70’s revolved around a former CIA agent named Black Dynamite (played Michael Jai White) who finds out his brother had been killed by the mafia. He is recruited by government who tells him that his brother was killed by drug dealers, dealing with “smack†and now Dynamite, who swore to his mother that he would protect him, is now out for revenge. Black Dynamite is a tough man but also a man who’s know to get his ladies.
Having received a lot of hype because of its theme and its protagonist, “Black Dynamite” would eventually find new life in 2012 as the series would receive an animation adaptation from Titmouse, Inc. and would star Michael Jai White reprising his role as Black Dynamite, Tommy Davidson as Cream Corn, Byron Minns as Bullhorn and Kym Whitley as Honeybee.
The series would feature a mature rating and would be featured on Adult Swim.
With a total of 10 episodes created, the first season will be uncensored and released on Blu-ray.
Here is a spoilerless synopsis of each episode:
- EPISODE 1 – “Just Beat It or Jackson Five Across Yo’ Eyes” – Cream Corn saves a young Michael Jackson, but this young performer may not be as cool as Cream Corn thinks he is.
- EPISODE 2 – “Bullhorn Nights or Murder She Throats (a.k.a Mandingo’s Got a Pink Toe)” – Bullhorn goes undercover in the porn industry.
- EPISODE 3 – “Taxes and Death or Get Him to the Sunset Strip!” – Black Dynamite must take on a job because he owes $60,000 in taxes.
- EPISODE 4 – “A Crisis at Christmas or The Dark Side of the Dark Side of the Moon” – Black Dynamite wants to be more likable during Christmas, so he tries to be like O.J. Simpson.
- EPISODE 5 – “Panic on the Player’s Ball Express or That’s Influenza Sucka!”- Leroy Van Nuys (voiced by Snoop Dogg) has hijacked a train.
- EPISODE 6 – “The $#*! That Killed The King or Weekend At Presley’s” – President Nixon tries to destroy Black Dynamite by trying to introduce cheap drugs to the Black community.
- EPISODE 7 -“Apocalypse, This! or For the Pity of Fools (AKA Flashbacks Are Forever)” – Black Dynamite and friends must go to Vietnam to stop Laurence Tureaud from restarting another Vietnam War.
- EPISODE 8 – “Honky Kong or White Apes Can’t Hump” – Honeybee is depressed and Black Dynamite, Bullhorn and Cream Corn take here to the circus. What can go wrong?
- EPISODE 9 – “The Race War or Big Black Cannon, Balls Run!” – Black Dynamite is reunited with his old talking car “Eartha K.I.T.T.”.
- EPISODE 10 – “Seed of Kurtis AKA Father Is Just Another Word For Motherf#@ker” – That Bastard Kurtis wants revenge on Black Dynamite.
VIDEO:
“Black Dynamite: Season One” is presented in 1080p High Definition. The look and feel of the series features a colorful palette and a fluid animation style that works with this series with its shading and use of Earthtones but an emphasis on backgrounds and character animation. It has a feeling almost like Japanese animation but it’s great to see American animation utilize a creative style.
I didn’t notice any banding issues or artifacts
AUDIO & SUBTITLES:
“Black Dynamite: Season One” is presented in English DolbyTrue HD 5.1. “Black Dynamite” is an action-driven series and features a great dynamic range of audio as one would expect. Dialogue and music is crystal clear.
Subtitles are in English SDH, French, Espanol – Latino, Dansk, Suomi, Norsk and Svenka.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“Black Dynamite: Season One” features the following special features:
- The Making of Black Dynamite – (10:37) Featuring Carl Jones, Michael Jai and more discussing how “Black Dynamite” became an animated series and how long it takes to make and more!
- Video Commentary for “Just Beat It” featuring Carl Jones, Tommy Davidson, Michael Jai White and Byron Minns
- Video Commentary for “Bullhorn Nights or Murder She Throats” featuring Carl Jones, Tommy Davidson, Michael Jai White and Byron Minns.
- Video Commentary for “Taxes and Death or Get Him to the Sunset Strip” featuring Carl Jones, Tommy Davidson, Michael Jai White and Byron Minns.
- Video Commentary for “Apocalypse, This! or For the Pity of Fools a.k.a. Flashbacks are Forever” featuring Carl Jones, Tommy Davidson, Michael Jai White and Byron Minns.
- Video Commentary for “Honky Kong! or White Apes Can’t Hump” featuring Carl Jones, Tommy Davidson, Michael Jai White and Byron Minns.
- Pilot – (11:21) The original Pilot Episode.
EXTRAS:
“Black Dynamite: Season One” comes with a slipcase plus a UltraViolet code.
As a big fan of the original “Black Dynamite” live action film, “Black Dynamite” the animated series is a more mature animated series in which the creators can go farther than what was seen in the movie.
With it uncensored, the series is literally in-your-face with its use of profanity and adult humor and combined with the cool animated look with its vibrant colors and bold presentation, “Black Dynamite: Season One” on Blu-ray goes farther than “Boondocks” and even “South Park” and literally becoming one of Adult Swim’s more mature action comedy series because of the type of character Black Dynamite is.
For characters, you got the jive-talking pimps, the militants, the crooked cops and politicians, the whores, the drug dealers…all integral to the film with dialogue filled with’70s expletives and ethnic slurs. An obvious nod to “Shaftâ€, “Superflyâ€, “The Mackâ€, “Return of the Dragon†and “Foxy Brown†and other films and the talents of that era.
But when I say they go farther, who would think that for the first episode alone, they would feature a young, violent Michael Jackson with hints of the future Michael Jackson.
Or Black Dynamite needing a job badly, so he must escort a drugged-out and emotionally unstable Richard Pryor to a comedy performance.
Or what happens when a giant albino gorilla kidnaps Honey Bee and it wanting to make sweet love to her?
And how far will Cream Corn go to save the kids?
Suffice to say, each episode is audacious but enjoyable, raw and fun but definitely not a series to have the children watching as it features sex, violence and taking on a lot of cultural taboos.
So, for those who enjoyed the original “Black Dynamite” but also dig the humor of “Boondocks” and the action of “Afro Samurai” will enjoy this animated series!
As for the Blu-ray release, picture quality is fantastic. The character designs and even backgrounds are well-done, colorful and bold. While the lossless audio is also crystal clear. For special features, you also get a making of, the original pilot plus several video commentary for several episodes.
Overall, if you have been looking for a mature animated series with sex and violence and mature humor or a fan of the “Black Dynamite” Adult Swim animated series and want to see it uncensored, then “Black Dynamite: Season One” is worth checking out!
