| Leonard Starr | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Details | |
| Role | Head writer |
| Country | U.S.A. |
| Born | October 28, 1925 |
| Other Works | Sub-Mariner, The Human Torch, War Against Crime, Doctor 13, On Stage, Superman, ThunderCats, Ghost Warrior, Little Orphan Annie |
| Page | List of all Cast & Crew |
Leonard Starr is an American comic book artist, advertising artist, cartoonist and writer. Starr was born in New York City and studied at Manhattan's High School of Music and Art. He then attended the Pratt Institute where he officially focused on art education. While still studying at Pratt, Starr went to work for "Funnies, Inc." doing comic book backgrounds and later penciling and inking. Starr then did some work on early "Marvel" titles such as "The Sub-Mariner" and "The Human Torch". Throughout the 1940s, Starr worked on a number of comics made by various publishers and even worked with comic legends like Jack Kirby and Joe Simon.
Starr did a short stint as an advertising artist before returning to doing more comic work including illustrating comics for "DC Comics". He then moved from comic books to comic strips and in 1957 Starr created the comic strip "On Stage", later titled "Mary Perkins, On Stage" for the Chicago-Tribune-New York News Syndicate. He received the National Cartoonists Society's Story Comic Strip Award for "On Stage" in 1960 and 1963, and their Reuben Award in 1965. He continued producing "Mary Perkins, On Stage" until 1979.
Starting from the late 70s, Starr shifted his focus to writing television scripts. In the early 1980s, Leonard Starr was contacted by Rankin/Bass and hired to develop and write the bible for their animated television show ThunderCats. Starr would turn out to be one of the most influential people in developing the series. From 1985 to 1987, Starr served as the Head writer and developer on ThunderCats. His "Bible" of the show contained his ideas for the basic premise, history and characters. He is responsible for creating a majority of the ThunderCats characters, the Mutants and Mumm-Ra as well as other minor characters like Berbils , Bolkins and Wollos among others.
Apart from writing, Starr also contributed artistically to developing the show by drawing the map of Third Earth as well as designing the Sword of Omens and the inventing the concept of "Sight Beyond Sight". HIs map of Third Earth would serve as a reference for all future writers to use. Starr was the most prolific writers on the show, responsible for more scripted episodes than any other writer. Starr would go on to write one episode for the Rankin/Bass show SilverHawks
Notes of Interest[]
- Starr's original description of Snarf was that he resembled a sheepdog but with horns and scaly feet. This went through a lot of changes until the design of Snarf was finalized, which is how he appeared in the cartoons.
- In his original design for the Sword of Omens, Starr had included two magnifying lenses in the hilt of the sword which would act as a telescope when Lion-O used the "Sight beyond sight" vision. This was however later changed and the lenses were not included.
- In the original bible prepared by Starr, the names of the characters and objects were slightly different than what they finally became to be known as. Jaga was called Jagu-R, Lion-O was Lion-L, Panthro was Panth-R, Tygra was Tige-R, Cheetara was Cheet-A and WilyKat was Wiley-KT (there was no WilyKit). Also the Eye of Thundera was called Eye of Xanth. This change was done to make it easier to pronounce the names.
Quotes[]
Episodes Written[]
ThunderCats 1980s[]
- 001. Exodus
- 002. The Unholy Alliance
- 003. Berbils
- 004. The Slaves of Castle Plun-Darr
- 008. The Tower of Traps
- 011. The Ghost Warrior
- 014. The Spaceship beneath the Sands
- 023. The Crystal Queen
- 037. Lion-O's Anointment First Day: Trial of Strength
- 042. Lion-O's Anointment Second Day: The Trial of Speed
- 046. Lion-O's Anointment Third Day: Trial of Cunning
- 050. Lion-O's Anointment Fourth Day: The Trial of Mind Power
- 061. Lion-O's Anointment Final Day: The Trial of Evil
- 066. ThunderCats Ho! - Part I
- 067. ThunderCats Ho! - Part II
- 068. ThunderCats Ho! - Part III
- 069. ThunderCats Ho! - Part IV
- 070. ThunderCats Ho! - Part V
- 071. Mumm-Ra Lives! - Part I
- 072. Mumm-Ra Lives! - Part II
- 073. Mumm-Ra Lives! - Part III
- 074. Mumm-Ra Lives! - Part IV
- 075. Mumm-Ra Lives! - Part V
SilverHawks[]
- The Renegade Hero
External Links[]
- Leonard Starr's Official Site
- Leonard Starr at IMDb
- Leonard Starr's comic work at WayBack Machine.
- Leonard Starr at the Reuben Awards Site.