They thought it was gonna make 700 million, but it actually made 1. 3 billion. So it had a business impact, it had a community impact, it opened up doors. dramatic music Rocket Thrusting it showed that these kinds of stories, looking at black speculative fiction, looking at afrofuturism and blacks in scifi, looking at horror was also highly profitable. Scifi is really a conversation about our humanity and mans relationship to technology and exploring other worlds. Its really exciting to know that more blackcentric Science Fiction is making its way onto the television screens, finally. Black people have always loved Science Fiction and have always loved fantasy. We just didnt know it. When you think of how broad that landscape is, to not include every single individual that is participating in the world, then its a lie. We have millions and millions of stories that need to be told. And us getting our due is literally just opening the gates for everyone else. upbeat music no Ray Gun Firi
People. Black people were just so absent in Science Fiction, and its a blind spot. Black panther was a massive moment in our culture. They thought it was going to make 700 million. But it actually made 1. 3 billion. So, it had a business impact. It had a community impact. It opened up doors. It showed that these kinds of stories, looking at black speculative fiction, looking at black looking at horror was also highly profitable. Scifi is really a conversation about our humanity and mans relationship to technology and exploring other worlds. Its really exciting to know that more blackcentric Science Fiction is making its way onto the Television Screens finally. Black people have always loved Science Fiction and have always loved fantasy. We just didnt know it. When you think of how broad that landscape is, to not include every single individual that is participating in the world, then its a lie. We have millions and millions of stories that need to be told. And us getting our due is lit
woman that is fighting batman. wait a minute. with the appearance on batman, television executives began to see what blacks could bring to this world of science fiction, and we got to see more afterwards. space, the final frontier. as the 60s progressed, a new frontier was being forged. and one of those was star trek, developed and created by gene roddenburg. it s very serious. engage. star trek was a landmark moment, where we lived in this new egalitarian society, and jean talked about the idea of having a flight crew of different races. when i brought in crew, both the network and desilu studios came in saying, what are you doing? you re going to ruin us.
- even though the twilight zone didn t showcase black characters for the most part in that series, by 1967, it does change and we re seeing more black performers and characters on the network schedule. - you gotta go all the way back to eartha kitt when she came on and took over the role of cat woman. - this is cat woman. - in 1967, she s playing a reimagined version of a white character played by julie newmar. - you ll never have another cat woman like that. i don t think anybody else s tongue works like that. i don t care what you say. - purrr-haps. - grrr, not gonna happen. (purring) (chuckling) - it was so amazing because all of a sudden there s a black woman that is fighting batman. wait a minute. - with eartha kitt s appearance on batman ,