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 Firing when Science Fiction started off as a genre in television, you saw a world that in which black people did not exist. So you saw a future that was void of black people. Theres fantasy element to scifi and so what youre saying is that when you imagine whatever world youre imagining, you dont want us there. Thats essentially what youre saying. I think it honestly gets back to how we are viewed and to a large extent, the limited view on who we are as people and what were capable of representing. [intercom voice] zero minus seven minutes and holding. I grew up watching Lost In Space and i remember saying to my parents well, like, mommy and daddy, if we become astronauts we could be the first black family in outer space. Theyre like, little girl, what are you talking about . In early Science Fiction, you would probably see stories about aliens or monsters before you saw perspectives from black people and incorporated into the story. And then when black people were brought into the story, it was usually to make a point about race or otherness. It reflected this concept of just not looking at black people as people and as a part of broader humanity. Twilight Zone theme music in the 1960s as the nation is dealing with the socio and political unrest of the time, writerdirector rod serling decides that to take unrest that the nation was dealing with and package it in a scifi show, and he created the Twilight Zone. In all this darkness is there anybody who can make out the truth . You know, the first time you really saw a black person on the Twilight Zone was ivan dixon. And he was in a famous episode called Color Me Black about a sundown town. The town, it went dark. They were Gonna Hang A Man for shooting his bigoted white neighbor. Do you know why theres night all around us . Do you know what the blackness is . Its the hate he felt, the hate you felt, the hate all of us feel and theres too much of it, its just too much. The sun went down and it never came up. Even though the Twilight Zone didnt showcase black characters for the most part in that series, by 1967, it does change and were 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, shes playing a reimagined version of a white character played by julie newmar. Youll never have another cat woman like that. I dont think anybody elses tongue works like that. I dont care what you say. Purrrhaps. Grrr, not gonna happen. purring chuckling it was so amazing because all of a sudden theres a black woman that is fighting batman. Wait a minute. With eartha kitts 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. [captain kirk] space, the final frontier. star trek theme music as the 60s progressed, a new frontier was being forged. And one of those was star trek, developed and created by Gene Roddenberry. Its very serious. Engage. Electronic Beeping star trek was a landmark moment where we lived in this new egalitarian society. And Gene Roddenberry talked about the idea of having a flight crew of different races. When i brought in a mixed racial crew, both the network and desilu studios, which had it at that time, came in saying, what are you doing . Youre going to ruin us. [captain kirk] Lieutenant Uhura. intense music that was one of the first times i saw myself in the scifi genre. And after the first season of star trek Martin Luther king met with nichelle nichols. And she told him that she wanted to quit the show. So Martin Luther king said no, you cant quit. He says, you have the first nonstereotypical role on television for the world to see. This is not a black role and its not a female role and youve got it. Nichelle nichols, her character as uhura gave us whoopi goldberg, i think it gave us levar burton. So it gave us black actors who were in this scifi genre. Im glad to hear it. I actually came into star trek in the Next Generation and so levar burton was the primary representation there, Geordi La Forge. That is not right. I was certain that Geordi La Forge and Lieutenant Commander worf really were the brothers in outer space. Well everyones very curious about you. Yes, ill bet they are. I said to levar burton, tell em i wanna play, i wanna play. So i go and Gene Roddenberry says to me, okay, you have to explain this to me. Why do you wanna do this . I said, gene, do you know that before Lieutenant Uhura black people didnt exist in the future . I want to be that for somebody else. Thats the thing about legacy is that you wanna further it, you wanna just do your part to just put more steps down for anyone who may be coming after you. All of you will go where no one has gone before and you will make the path by traveling it. Star trek meant that black people made it to the future because theres so many times that we dont make it. Not only do we make it to the future, were important. Diversity matters. Dynamic Music my powers are gone, grams. I cant do anything. tense music [ tiger dust by Yello Playing in the background ] turn right on to western avenu. [ dog barks ] you have reached your destination. One more . One more time turn right on to western avenu. Id. Light in the allelectric id. 4. Its the little things, its a vw. Open talenti and raise the jar to gelato made from scratch. Raise the jar to flavors from the worlds finest ingredients. And now, from jars to bars. New Talenti Gelato and sorbetto mini bars. Moving forward with node positive Breast Cancer is overwhelming. But i never just found my way; i made it. And did all i could to prevent recurrence. Verzenio reduces the risk of recurrence of hrpositive, her2negative, nodepositive, early Breast Cancer with a high chance of returning, as determined by your doctor when added to hormone therapy. Hormone Therapy Works outside the cell. While Verzenio Works Inside to help stop the growth of cancer cells. Diarrhea is common, may be severe, or cause dehydration or infection. At the first sign, call your doctor, start an antidiarrheal, and drink fluids. Before taking verzenio, tell your doctor about any fever, chills, or other signs of infection. Verzenio may cause low white blood cell counts, which may cause serious infection that can lead to death. Lifethreatening Lung Inflammation can occur. Tell your doctor about any new or worsening trouble breathing, cough, or chest pain. Serious Liver Problems can happen. Symptoms include fatigue, appetite loss, stomach pain, and bleeding or bruising. Blood clots that can lead to death have occurred. Tell your doctor if you have pain or swelling in your arms or legs, shortness of breath, chest pain, and rapid breathing or heart rate, or if you are nursing, pregnant, or plan to be. Im making my own way forward. Ask your doctor about everyday verzenio. 5 all you can eat pancakes are back to celebrate ihops 65th anniversary. So come on in. Even if its your birthday, too. Available for a limited time only at ihop. Download the app and start earning free food. At pnc bank, you can find us in big cities and small towns across the us, where our focus is to always support the people who live and work there. Because you call these communities home, and we do too. Pnc bank. upbeat music historically, Science Fiction, its always been told from an Eastern European lens. Afrofuturism tells that same type of story, however, the lens is that of somebody that is of african descent. So in the mid 1990s when fox was still a fledgling network, the x files theme music one of its biggest shows was the x files, but the leadin show was a show called m. A. N. T. I. S. Which starred carl lumbly as the first black superhero on network television. It was really groundbreaking to have a black superhero on television. And for many people, this was one of their first examples of afrofuturism in Science Fiction television. Theyve been stung by a mantis. Get him carl lumbly stars as this man whos been shot by the police. Somebody help me hes paralyzed, but builds an exoskeleton that gives him the ability to walk. And with that ability comes for him the responsibility of fighting violence. Im carl lumbly and i was televisions first black superhero. Didnt know it. Assumed that there mustve been another one just, you know, one i hadnt heard about. You can go on destroying each other or you can learn to live together. M. A. N. T. I. S. Was a pilot that celebrated black genius. Two basic patents by the age of 15, millionaire at 18, m. I. T. On a genius grant. Sam hamm and sam raimi simply felt it was time for a black superhero. At the time that i read the script i thought, oh, this a first. Wed never seen this before. Wed never seen a black superhero. And what also blew me away is that he was also surrounded by black people. When i heard we were being picked up, i thought, oh, magnificent well be picking up where this story left off. And then i heard that sam hamm and sam raimi were not actually going to be moving forward with it. Sam raimi is a very progressive guy. You know, when he left the show, these other people came in and they jacked it up. By the time it moved to series, the africanization stopped. Awesome idea, doc, awesome. All of the characters of color except me were removed. Well, even if this works and you do walk again, youll still be the same sob you always were. The excuse, reason, that i was given was that we are looking to appeal to a broader audience. If m. A. N. T. I. S. In 1994 was given a chance to live as it was originally conceived, then you would have told millions of people, not just black people, that this is also our world. And it wouldve normalized an entire genre and an entire way of being, and an entire people. The fact that hes young and black doesnt make him a junky. Even though gina torres didnt make it to the m. A. N. T. I. S. Series, it really was just the beginning of her sort of scifi legacy. I watched her for a decade. Shes one of the people i like to say like, raised me on television. I watched her in firefly when i was in high school. And i was watching her on xena, on hercules. Im nebula. I fit in Science Fiction because i didnt fit anywhere else. The fact that im ethnically ambiguous to a lot of creators out there. Where i did fit was in scifi. I could be a standalone badass. I dont think we notice when were watching, what it means that this is a door that has never been opened, being opened. Im gonna take his queen. His knights, his rooks. Im knockin all his pieces off the board. It was 22 years between m. A. N. T. I. S. And luke cage. When luke cage came to television in 2016, mike colter got the opportunity to play the first black Marvel Television superhero. I mean, you got a black man that cant be shot. Bullet cant pierce his skin. Thats a premise, yall. shot fired body crashing i love luke cages original name, luke cage, hero for hire because lets be real, im not doin all that for free. When we were looking at the criminalization of wearing a hoodie, to choose to tell that story at that time, i think, was so impactful. All of us saw what happened to Trayvon Martin and then you saw luke cage walking through and he just was invincible. And youre like, thats what we need. It was the best kind of superhero you could have. dance music usually, its set in gotham or its in manhattan. And to put it in harlem, that was genius, but also so necessary culturally. Harlem is supposed to represent our hopes and dreams. Its the pinnacle of black art, politics, innovation. It was hugely important that luke cage do well because it was not only for the show itself, but also for the future of other black show runners and other black creators to create a show that actually reflected their own vision. It changed the industry in a major, major way. And the best part about it is that luke cage was just the tip of the iceberg for what would come in the genre. tense orchestral music woman why did we choose safelite . Vo for us, driving around is the only way we can get our baby to sleep, so when our windshield cracked, we needed it fixed right. We went to safelite. Com. Theres no one else wed trust. Their experts replaced our windshield, and recalibrated our cars advanced safety system. They focus on our safety. So we can focus on this little guy. Singers safelite repair, safelite replace. 5 all you can eat pancakes are back to celebrate ihops 65th anniversary. So come on in. Even if its your birthday, too. Available for a limited time only at ihop. Download the app and start earning free food. I have Type 2 Diabetes, but i manage it well. Its a little pill with a big story to tell. I take oncedaily jardiance, at each days staaart. As time went on it was easy to seee im lowering my a1c. Jardiance works 24 7 in your body to flush out some sugar and for adults with Type 2 Diabetes and known heart disease, jardiance can lower the risk of cardiovascular death, too. Jardiance may cause serious side effects including ketoacidosis that may be fatal, dehydration, that can lead to sudden worsening of kidney function, and Genital Yeast or urinary tract infections. A rare, lifethreatening bacterial infection in the skin of the perineum could occur. Stop taking jardiance and call your doctor right away if you have symptoms of this infection, ketoacidosis, or an allergic reaction, and dont take it if youre on dialysis. Taking jardiance with a sulfonylurea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. Jardiance is really swell, the little pill with a big story to tell. upbeat music after the success of luke cage, then dc said, oh, well, we should do one too. They looked around and theyre like, okay, weve got Black Lightning they took the property and modernized it in really smart ways. Cress williams who plays Black Lightning was scooter on living single. So i get to watch scooter save the world and i love it, i love it, i love it. What i love about getting the show on the air is that its the first black Family Superhero Show thats ever been on television. By day, hes the principal of a high school and by night, he is a Crime Fighter on the streets of freeland, married to a brilliant neuroscientist, guess who that is. They have two wonderful daughters who eventually take on some superpowers of their own, and form a Crime Fighting team. I dont, it just crumbled in my hands like it was nothing. Annissa, the older daughter, who is a fully out gay character at the beginning of the show, i mean, also Ground Breaking that you would have a black out character supported by her family, not talked about, not discussed, not a plot point, not a story point, she just is. Hey. Whats really cool is that Comic Book Characters really kinda go one of two routes when it comes to television, right . You have the live action success like Black Lightning, while some other Comic Book Characters would go on to become iconic, animated series. The 90s and early 2000s actually had a ton of very successful animated shows. There was the fantastic four, there was batman, spider man, and there was superman. But we really wouldnt see our first black animated superhero until we got static shock. Static shock was about a blerd. Now that was before blerd was even a term. But he was a black nerd, he was smart, and he got superpowers. There was an explosion last night. There was this gas. It changed me, richie. Check it out not only was it entertaining, you have this, this kid flying around on this sewer cap with his natural hair, but it also didnt shy away from things that we were all talking about and dealing with at the time. Everything from Gang Violence and gun violence, home