Hunting BET’s Black Panther

blackpanther1
by Special Correspondent Arturo R. García

Awhile back, Ghetto Manga reported that the Black Panther animated series, long in development for BET, had finally aired … but in Australia.

Awesome, I thought. And sure enough, ABC3, the Australian Broadcast Company’s kiddie channel, has Black Panther listed on its’ website. Surely BET would be happy to follow up on this, right?

Not quite. Instead, over the past two weeks, calls to both the media affairs and programming offices in both D.C. and Los Angeles either were not returned, or passed around to various names in both departments. In one instance, someone in the D.C. media relations dept. said the initial report was incorrect because BET didn’t air in Australia. In the meantime, if any of our Aussie readers have caught the show – Hexy, are you there? – please feel free to send us a review.

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Comments

Mel wrote:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXmg5AtQXxw

Seems to have aired on ABC3, judging from the idents in the corner.

Posted 08 Feb 2010 at 10:01 am ¶
Frank wrote:

Thanks Mel!

Posted 08 Feb 2010 at 12:42 pm ¶
ghettoManga wrote:

yeah, they’ve been setting off my ‘conspiracy alarm” big-time with this. Australian respondents on my YouTube channel have been chatting me up since day one, and a visit to the ABC3 website confirms that the show has aired 6 episodes (which americans can’t download or view).

BET and Marvel are definitely up to something. I think it’s about getting it to leak with deniability, so they can gauge fan response . The response has been very mixed, and a lot of it negative (i think it was good… for what it is).

I recommend watching it on the Youtube joint Mel’s comment listed, because I doubt it will be there very long.

Posted 08 Feb 2010 at 12:48 pm ¶
CDF wrote:

I heard about this show a while back, but forgot about it since it was still being worked on and the rumor was it would eventually show up on BET. Fast-forward several months to Australia showing it instead…smh!

Posted 08 Feb 2010 at 4:18 pm ¶
wanderinglady wrote:

I just checked it out on YouTube. The animation is just OK (strangely similar to the old Marvel limited-animation shorts of the ’60’s) and the dialogue at times is laughable. It was interesting, to say the least. I wonder what part Condi Rice — er, Dondi Reece will have in the story development.

Will we ever see it here? I think it would stir up some discussion.

Posted 08 Feb 2010 at 4:54 pm ¶
JenBen wrote:

That’s one of the digital channels here, so I can’t access it at home, but I’ll look up the time and see if I can catch it at my mum’s place. Good god, it’s got Jill Scott and Kerry Washington in it. That’s worth tuning in for alone.

Posted 08 Feb 2010 at 10:47 pm ¶
Melissa S. wrote:

*Sigh* I know he’s DC but where’s Bruce Timms when you need him.

The animation looks like something out of flash or after effects with very little thought for movement, just style (and that’s kind of dangerous when you dealing something that’s action and fighting base). I don’t mind the dialogue too much since most of these animated shows sound both overly serious and campy at moments.

I’m kind of interested in Dondi Reece too since she kind of gives of Amanda Waller vibes.

Posted 08 Feb 2010 at 11:18 pm ¶
korshi wrote:

Thanks for putting it online Mel! I thought it was really good, but very violent and politically explicit for a show apparently aimed at kids; since part of the plot revolves around the American government reanimating dead soldiers (with a shot of them rising from flag-draped coffins) I wonder if it goes too far to be aired in the US.

Posted 10 Feb 2010 at 9:58 am ¶
Dr. Ivo Robotnik wrote:

Wanderinglady, say what you will about the dialogue, but the animation, especially considering that this is flash-based, is really fun. In its simplicity, the animation team has managed to turn each frame and character into something that seems ripped directly from a comic book, and as someone who loves both comics and animation, it’s really fun to watch. The phonetic animation is really superb to compensate for the lack of movement from frame to frame.

Of course, I’ve only seen the first three minutes.

Posted 11 Feb 2010 at 12:13 am ¶