Black Dynamite (TV series)

Black Dynamite
Genre	Animation Blaxploitation Comedy Satire Action
Created by	Michael Jai White Byron Minns Scott Sanders
Written by	Carl Jones Brian Ash Scott Fuselier Scott Sanders Michael Jai White
Directed by	LeSean Thomas (supervising) Young Ki Yoon (supervising) Nathan Clesowich Carl Jones Kalvin Lee Juno Lee Jong-Sik Nam Justin Ridge Byung-San Park
Voices of	Michael Jai White Byron Minns Kym Whitley Tommy Davidson
Theme music composer	Adrian Younge
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	20 (and 1 pilot) (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Jon Steingart Carl Jones Jillian Apfelbaum Brian Ash
Producer(s)	Michael Jai White Byron Minns Scott Sanders[1]
Editor(s)	Felipe Salazar
Running time	11 minutes (pilot only) 22 minutes
Production company(s)	Ars Nova Entertainment Williams Street Productions (season 1) Titmouse (season 1) Trigger (season 1, season 2 opening) Cartoon Network Studios[2] (season 2) N-BOMB SQUAD[2](season 2) MOI Animation (season 2)
Release
Original network	Adult Swim Video (pilot episode) Adult Swim
Picture format	16:9 HDTV
Original release	Pilot episode: August 8, 2011 Official: July 15, 2012 – January 10, 2015
Chronology
Preceded by	Black Dynamite (2009 film)
External links
Website

Black Dynamite is an American animated television series based on the 2009 film of the same name, although the series follows a separate continuity, with some back-references to the film. The series was announced shortly after the release of the film,^[3][4] the 10-minute pilot episode was released on Adult Swim Video on August 8, 2011, and the full series premiered on Cartoon Network's late night programming block, Adult Swim, on July 15, 2012.^[5][6] It ended on January 10, 2015 with a total of 20 episodes. The show was rated TV-MA for bloody, stylized violence, strong sexual references (including nudity, references to prostitution, and depictions of sex acts), and humor derived from racism and discrimination.

Michael Jai White, Byron Minns, Tommy Davidson and Kym Whitley reprise their film roles as Black Dynamite, Bullhorn, Cream Corn and Honeybee, respectively.^[7] It was produced by Ars Nova, Jon Steingart, Carl Jones and Jillian Apfelbaum are executive producers, with Brian Ash as co-executive producer. Scott Sanders, White and Minns are producers. Monica Jones is associate producer. LeSean Thomas is creative producer/supervising director. The original music is by Adrian Younge.

Premise

The show, set in the 1970s, is predominantly a parody of and tribute to blaxploitation cinema. The show continues the story of Black Dynamite and his crew of Bullhorn, Cream Corn, and Honey Bee as they engage in dangerous and over-the-top misadventures sometimes involving African-American and Black stars such as Michael Jackson, O. J. Simpson,Bill Cosby , Sidney Poitier, Richard Pryor, Mr. T, Orphan Arnold, and Bob Marley and other celebrities such as Elvis Presley, as well as Black Dynamite's recurring nemesis President Richard Nixon, who was also the main villain from the film. The show makes references to the original Black Dynamite film, such as Fiendish Dr. Wu as the leader of a group of ninjas; the show follows its own continuity, as some characters from the film who were killed off are alive in the series.

Cast

Main cast

• Michael Jai White - Black Dynamite
• Byron Minns - Bullhorn
• Tommy Davidson - Cream Corn
• Kym Whitley - Honeybee

Additional voices

• Carlos Alazraqui - The Helicopter Pilot
• Erykah Badu - Hoe Crows
• Eric Bauza - The Fiendish Dr. Wu
• Liz Benoit - Foxxy Mama
• Tae Brooks - Michael Jackson
• Corey Burton - Dennis Flynn
• Chance the Rapper - Bob Marley
• John DiMaggio - Rip Tayles
• Snoop Dogg - Leroy Van Nuys
• Waka Flocka Flame - Waka Blocka Blaow
• Godfrey - Al Sharpton
• Eddie Griffin - Richard Pryor, Paul Mooney
• Arsenio Hall - Tasty Freeze
• Samuel L. Jackson - Captain Quinton
• Charlie Murphy - A Cat Named Rollo
• Georgette Perna - Kids
• Clifton Powell - Crenshaw the Slime, Daddy Dynamite
• Donnell Rawlings - A Cat Named Rallo
• Kevin Michael Richardson - Melvin Van Peebles, Don Cornelius
• J. B. Smoove - That Frog Kurtis, That Bastard Kurtis
• Aries Spears - Laurence Tureaud, O.J. Simpson
• Tyler, the Creator - Broto
• Gary Anthony Williams - George Washington Carver III
• Debra Wilson - Amazon Moon Bitch leader, Lil' Orphan Penny, Eartha K.I.T.T.
• Cedric Yarbrough - Chocolate Giddy-Up

Episodes

Pilot (2011)

The pilot episode features only an eleven-minute run time and was released on Adult Swim Video on August 8, 2011, and made its television debut over a year later on September 2, 2012.

Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Prod. code	U.S. viewers (millions)
"Trouble on Puppet Street"	Juno Lee	Carl Jones & Brian Ash	August 8, 2011	101	1.021[8]
Black Dynamite is assigned by the CIA to stop That Frog Kurtis, a rogue educational show puppet, from executing his diabolical plan of manipulating children on national television.

Season 1 (2012)

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Prod. code	U.S. viewers (millions)
1	"Just Beat It" or "Jackson Five Across Yo' Eyes"	Carl Jones & Justin Ridge	Carl Jones & Brian Ash	July 15, 2012	103	1.69[9]
After Cream Corn saves young Michael Jackson from an assassination attempt (while not helping Black Dynamite and the gang fight a troupe of black ninjas), he and the pint-sized pop star become good friends. However, once Michael gets on Black Dynamite's nerves, Cream Corn leaves, only to be subjected to the physical abuse of Jackson, who they all discover is actually an alien trying to take over the world.
2	"Bullhorn Nights" or "Murder She Throats"	Carl Jones & Nate Clesowich	Carl Jones	July 22, 2012	102	1.89[10]
Black Dynamite has Bullhorn go undercover in the porn industry as the smooth talking rhyming "Sweet Throat" to investigate a string of murders involving black porn stars. They soon uncover a scheme to stop the world's first interracial porno, but Bullhorn finds the life of celebrity too appealing to help them.
3	"Taxes and Death" or "Get Him to the Sunset Strip!"	Carl Jones & Justin Ridge	Brian Ash & Carl Jones	July 29, 2012	101	1.74[11]
Upon discovering he owes the IRS $60,000 in taxes, Black Dynamite decides to take on a job and he will soon regret (escorting a drug-addled and emotionally unstable Richard Pryor (Voiced by Eddie Griffin) to the comedy performance on the sunset strip of his career.
4	"A Crisis at Christmas" or "The Dark Side of the Dark Side of the Moon!"	Carl Jones & Nate Clesowich	Scott Fuselier & Carl Jones	August 5, 2012	104	1.65[12]
When Black Dynamite discovers he's unliked during Christmas, he discovers that he has to make himself more likeable by emulating the one man who he hates most for stealing his thunder (O. J. Simpson (Voiced by Aries Spears). He joins O.J. on a lunar mission, but when O.J. bails at the last minute, Black Dynamite is trapped in space just as the rocket explodes in a major malfunction, making everyone believe that he is dead.
5	"Panic on the Player's Ball Express" or "That's Influenza Sucka!"	Carl Jones & Justin Ridge	Brian Ash & Carl Jones	August 12, 2012	105	1.69[13]
After fighting what he believes to be an attempt to poison all black people, Black Dynamite comes down with the flu on the weekend of the annual Player's Ball, a party for pimps which this year is taking the form of a costume party on a cross-country train. However, Leroy Van Nuys (Voiced by Snoop Dogg) hijacks the train in his attempt to take revenge on pimp-kind. With the help of the spirit of Sun Tzu, Black Dynamite must fight the flu and a horde of Isaac Washington robots to save his friends and pimps from all over the world.
6	"The $#*! That Killed The King!" or "Weekend At Presley's"	Carl Jones	Scott Sanders & Carl Jones	August 19, 2012	107	1.454[14]
President Nixon tries to destroy Black Dynamite by flooding the Black Community with cheap drugs, turning everyone into junkies, but fails and the Black Community flourishes to the White Community. To get his way, Nixon sends in Elvis Presley to take charge, but even The King realizes he has been wrong. In a parody of Weekend at Bernie's, Elvis apparently dies of natural causes and Black Dynamite and the gang must get him back to Graceland before his death can be blamed on anyone and everyone, in the black community.
7	"Apocalypse, This!" or "For the Pity of Fools" AKA "Flashbacks Are Forever"	Jong-Sik Nam & Carl Jones	Michael Jai White & Carl Jones	August 26, 2012	108	1.568[15]
Black Dynamite and the gang are assigned by the CIA to go to Vietnam to stop his former comrade Laurence Tureaud from restarting the Vietnam War, but his flashbacks from the war nearly kill his friends.
8	"Honky Kong!" or "White Apes Can't Hump"	Jong-Sik Nam & Carl Jones	Carl Jones & Brian Ash	September 9, 2012	109	1.423[16]
Black Dynamite, Bullhorn and Cream Corn brings Honey Bee to the circus to appreciate her a bit more, but in a parody of King Kong, a giant white gorilla falls in love with Honey Bee and abducts her. Now BD must save Honey Bee from Honky Kong before child service comes!
9	"The Race War!" or "Big Black Cannon Balls Run!"	Carl Jones & Nate Clesowich	Byron Minns & Carl Jones	September 16, 2012	106	1.637[17]
Black Dynamite represents the Black Community in a multiracial cross-country race and is reunited with his former talking car "Eartha K.I.T.T." (a parody of Eartha Kitt and KITT Voiced by Debra Wilson), unaware that he is a pawn in yet another one of Fiendish Dr. Wu's diabolical schemes of world domination.
10	"That Seed of Kurtis" AKA "Father Is Just Another Word For Motherf***er!"	Kalvin Lee	Carl Jones	September 23, 2012	110	1.453[18]
13 Weeks after the events of "Trouble on Puppet Street", the son of That Frog Kurtis, That Bastard Kurtis, enacts his revenge plan on Black Dynamite for killing his daddy on national television. Meanwhile, Black Dynamite finally finds his long-lost father and struggles to rebuild their relationship.

Season 2 (2014–15)

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Prod. code	U.S. viewers (millions)
11	"Roots (The White Album" or "The Blacker the Community, the Deeper the Roots!" or "Those Cotton Pickin' Crackers"	Carl Jones & ByungSan Park	Carl Jones	October 19, 2014	TBA	0.966[19]
When ROOTS (the miniseries hits the air and the Black Community finally sees just how bad slavery was, Al Sharpton (Voiced by Godfrey) whips everyone into a reparation frenzy and they storm Beverly Hills and Beverley Hills Adjacent for the big payback on black slavery by enslaving every white honky cracker they can find! But Black Dynamite sees that since you can't even keep white slaves alive without caviar and arugula, being slave masters is actually bringing the Black Community down. Is Black Dynamite actually going to fight for the White Man's freedom?
12	"Black Jaws!" or "Finger Lickin' Chicken of the Sea"	Carl Jones	Hugh Moore & Carl Jones	October 25, 2014	TBA	1.067[20]
A soul-food-eating contest gets everyone in the Black Community down to the summer's biggest funkiest most blackest beach party ever called Blaqua Party. But the party already jumped the shark when a giant shark jumps out and starts eating black people! Captain Quinton (Voiced by Samuel L. Jackson), the local old, eyepatched, shark-hunting mysterious motherf***ker tells Black Dynamite this isn't just Jaws, it's Black Jaws. All Black Dynamite has to do is swim out there and kill that shark, but wait, what? Black Dynamite can't swim? Oh, crap, this might be a real problem!
13	"Warriors Come Out" or "The Mean Queens of Halloween"	Carl Jones	Scott Sanders & Carl Jones	November 1, 2014	TBA	0.951[21]
It's Halloween in LA and Cream Corn convinces Black Dynamite and the Crew to go to a street party where, let's just say, ain't nobody in the closet. Everything's gay (as in happy) and gay (as in gay) until Rip Tayles (Voiced by John DiMaggio) is assassinated in front of everyone! The unseen shooter frames Black Dynamite and the Crew, and now they're on a run for their lives, trying to clear their name, pursued by every gay gang south of West Hollywood!
14	"How Honeybee Got Her Groove Back" or "Night of the Living D!@%heads"	Carl Jones	Ian Edwards	November 8, 2014	TBA	0.727[22]
A busted-up Whorephanage needs repairs and busted-up whores need a vacation, so Honey Bee takes the harem to Jamaica for R&R. The hoes party to their heart's content, and a disinterested Honey Bee gets her groove back when she meets the one and only Bob Marley! Back at the Whorephanage, all the sex-starved johns turn into horny zombies trying to hump their way into the building, but Honey Bee couldn't care less, she's not coming home! Bob Marley (Voiced by Chance The Rapper) could be her happily ever after if not for all these assassins with machine guns constantly trying to kill them!
15	"Sweet Bill's Badass Singalong Song" or "Bill Cosby Ain't Himself"	Carl Jones	Byron Minns & Carl Jones	November 15, 2014	207	0.904[23]
When Black Dynamite's old buddy, maverick "Sweet Sweetback" filmmaker Melvin Van Peebles (Voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson), gears up to shoot his next blaxploitation movie in the Black Community called Blackity BlackBlackBlack, everyone's excited to help out except Bill Cosby! Desperate for positive black images, Bill Cosby kidnaps the entire all-star cast and tries to brainwash them into besweatered, upstanding representatives of the black race! While Bullhorn, Cream Corn, and Honey Bee fill-in for the talent and try to keep the film afloat, Black Dynamite must track down the pudding-pop-pusher himself and save all of black film history!
16	"Mister Rogers' Revenge" or "Please Don't You Be His Neighbor"	Carl Jones	Scott Fuselier	November 22, 2014	202	1.003[24]
On the Orphans' collective birthday, Black Dynamite brings them all to a show taping with their favorite TV white man, Mister Rogers. Now, you'd think that Fred Rogers was never a trained Special Forces killer and that he would definitely not kidnap all the Orphans in a deranged attempt to protect them from evil TV executives and that's exactly what doesn't not happen! With the cops outgunned and the Orphans behind guerrilla defenses, it's up to Black Dynamite to invade that neighborhood and face off with Mister Rogers himself!
17	"American Band Standoff" or "The Godfather of Soooul Train" or "Get On Your Goodfellas"	Carl Jones	Michael Jai White & Carl Jones	November 29, 2014	204	0.889[25]
Cream Corn is excited as hell at getting a chance to dance on Soooooooul Train, the hippest trip in America, but Black Dynamite knows the truth that the music game is a vicious battle to-the-death between the Godfather Don Cornelius (Voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson) and murderous Dick Clark of American Bandstand. Cream Corn becomes a Soul Train dancer and Don Cornelius's old muscle Black Dynamite sees that just when he thought he was out...they pull him back in.
18	"Diff'rent Folks, Same Strokes" or "The Hunger Pang Games"	Carl Jones	Jason Van Veen & Carl Jones	December 6, 2014	TBA	0.960[26]
Child Services is finally on to the Whorephanage and slaps them with a shutdown notice! But it's okay, because rich white Mr. Phil Drummond and his rich white friends adopt all the orphans at once and whisk them off to a luxury high-rise in the sky. Just as Black Dynamite comes to terms with no longer having the Orphans around, he learns that luxury skyscraper is actually a deathmatch arena where the Orphans fight each other to the death for food! He's got to put an end to these Hunger Pang Games, no matter how popular they are!
19-20	"The Wizard of Watts"	Carl Jones	Carl Jones & Byron Minns	January 10, 2015	TBA	1.014[27]
In this hour-long musical final episode, Black Dynamite's one day off couldn't be more work (everyone needs his help AND a riot blows up. A brick to the head sends BD hallucinating into the Magical Land of Oz-Watts, a trippy technicolor world where… everyone needs his help! Between getting Scarecorn some game, Lionhorn a muzzle and the Tin Bee a set of balls, BD has to fight off the Wicked Bitch of the West Side and reach the Great and Powerful Mother#*?@#$%'s palace, or he'll never get home.

See also

• Black Dynamite

References

1. Minovitz, Ethan (May 25, 2012). "AS Announces Largest Programming Schedule Ever". Big Cartoon News. Retrieved May 25, 2012.
2. "BLACK DYNAMITE EXPLODES BACK ONTO ADULT SWIM". Turner Pressroom. September 17, 2014. Retrieved October 3, 2014.
3. Boyle, Christopher (November 17, 2009). "Interview With Black Dynamite Composer/Editor Adrian Younge". NewsLi. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
4. Paine, Jake (Feb 14, 2010). "Black Dynamite Releases To DVD, Announces Adult Swim Series". HipHopDX. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
5. Arceneaux, Michael (Jul 22, 2011). "Black Dynamite Trailer Released". BET. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
6. "Hurray! 'Black Dynamite' coming to Adult Swim". Kansas City Star. Apr 6, 2011.
7. Carp, Jesse (Aug 11, 2011). "Watch Adult Swim's Black Dynamite Animated Pilot, You Jive Turkey". Cinema Blend. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
8. "Adult Swim ratings (August 27-September 2, 2012)". Son of the Bronx. Retrieved 23 February 2015.
9. Kondolojy, Amanda (July 17, 2012). "Sunday Cable Ratings ('True Blood' Beats 'Breaking Bad' Premiere, + 'Keeping Up With the Kardashians', 'Very Funny News', 'Real Housewives of New Jersey', 'Falling Skies' & More". TV by the Numbers.
10. Bibel, Sara (July 24, 2012). "Sunday Cable Ratings ('True Blood' Wins Night, 'Breaking Bad', 'Falling Skies', 'Army Wives', 'The Newsroom', 'Longmire' & More". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
11. Bibel, Sara (July 31, 2012). "Sunday Cable Ratings:'True Blood' Wins Night, 'Keeping Up With the Kardashians', 'Breaking Bad', 'The Newsroom', 'Political Animals', 'Longmire' & More". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
12. Bibel, Sara (August 7, 2012). "Sunday Cable Ratings:'True Blood' Wins Night, 'Keeping Up With the Kardashians', 'Falling Skies', 'Breaking Bad', 'Army Wives', 'Leverage'& More". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
13. Kondolojy, Amanda (August 14, 2012). "Sunday Cable Ratings ('True Blood' Beats 'Comedy Central Roast of Roseanne' + 'Falling Skies', NASCAR, 'Army Wives' & More". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
14. Bibel, Sara (21 August 2012). "Sunday Cable Ratings ('True Blood' Wins Night, 'Fallling Skies', 'Breaking Bad', 'Army Wives', 'The Newsroom','Leverage' & More". TV By the Numberes. Retrieved 6 January 2013.
15. Kondolojy, Amanda (28 August 2012). "Sunday Cable Ratings ('True Blood' Finale Dominates, + 'Keeping Up with the Kardashians', 'Breaking Bad', 'Real Housewives of NJ', 'Army Wives' & More". TV By the Numbers. Retrieved 6 January 2013.
16. Kondolojy, Amanda (11 September 2012). "Sunday Cable Ratings ('Keeping Up With The Kardashians' Wins Night + 'Real Housewives of New Jersey', 'NFL Countdown', 'Long Island Medium', 'Breaking Amish' & More". TV By the Numbers. Retrieved 6 January 2013.
17. Bibel, Sara (18 September 2012). "Sunday Cable Ratings ('Keeping Up With the Kardashians' Wins Night, 'Boardwalk Empire', 'Real Housewives of New Jersey', 'Breaking Amish', 'Leverage', 'Hell on Wheels' & More". TV By the Numbers. Retrieved 6 January 2013.
18. Kondolojy, Amanda (25 September 2012). "Sunday Cable Ratings ('Real Housewives of New Jersey' Wins Night + 'NFL Countdown', 'Breaking Amish', 'Long Island Medium', 'Boardwalk Empire' & More". TV By the Numbers. Retrieved 6 January 2013.
19. Kondolojy, Amanda (October 21, 2014). "Saturday Cable Ratings (College Football Leads Night + 'Attack on Titan', 'Bleach' & More". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved 11 November 2014.
20. Bibel, Sara (October 28, 2014). "Saturday Cable Ratings (College Football Wins Night, 'Sex Sent Me to the ER', 'Doctor Who', 'Attack on Titan' & More". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved 11 November 2014.
21. Kondolojy, Amanda (November 4, 2014). "Saturday Cable Ratings (College Football Wins Night + 'SpongeBob SquarePants', 'Sanjay & Craig', 'Attack on Titan' & More". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved 11 November 2014.
22. Pucci, Douglas (November 11, 2014). "Saturday Final Nationals (Alabama-LSU Boosts CBS". TV Media Insights. Retrieved 11 November 2014.
23. Kondolojy, Amanda (November 18, 2014). "Saturday Cable Ratings (College Football Tops Night + 'Aaliyah (Princess of R&B', 'Beyond the Headlines' & More". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
24. Pucci, Douglas (November 25, 2014). "Saturday Final Nationals (Significant Increases for Toonami Block on Adult Swim". TV Media Insights. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
25. Kondolojy, Amanda. "Saturday Cable Ratings (College Football Tops Night +'SportsCenter', 'Christmas Under Wraps' & More". TV By the Numbers. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
26. Pucci, Douglas (December 9, 2014). "Saturday Final Nationals (ABC, Fox Rise with College Football Conference Championships". TV Media Insights. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
27. Kondolojy, Amanda. "Saturday Cable Ratings (College Basketball Tops Night + 'Property Brothers', 'Extreme Cheapskates', 'Sex Sent Me to the ER' & More". TV By the Numbers. Retrieved 18 March 2015.

External links

• Official website
• Black Dynamite at the Internet Movie Database
• Black Dynamite at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• Black Dynamite at TV.com