The highly anticipated documentary Butterfly in the Sky opens on a shot of present day LeVar Burton, sitting in a chair looking through a children’s book. The book is Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman, and it features a young Black girl on the cover, hair in pigtails, missing her two front teeth, and wearing a smile full of joy and glee.
Instantly I’m transported back to my childhood. I’m sitting on the floor in front of the TV, far too close, eating a bowl of cereal and waiting for that ubiquitous song to come on. “Butterfly in the sky, I can fly twice as high. Take a look, it’s in a book, A Reading Rainbow.” Children’s programming at the time was a special thing. Everyone watched Reading Rainbow, and every child knew exactly who host LeVar Burton was.
When you get to the age where you realize that the people in the TV are actual people doing their jobs, it can be pretty jarring. But for a show that was on for more than 23 years, a show that was passed down to younger siblings, nieces, nephews, maybe even our own children, Burton became more than just a host. He became family. He would go on to influence other parts of our childhood. Whether it was the requisite watching of Roots in fifth grade or enjoying him as Geordi La Forge on Star Trek: The Next Generation, Burton was and still remains a comforting presence. He even has LeVar Burton Reads, which is touted as Reading Rainbow for adults.
There’s something that is equal parts cathartic and arresting as Burton reads from Amazing Grace and then the doc shows Burton reading it on the show nearly 40 years ago. If you’re familiar with the show, there was always a section where a kid would review a book. As kids, my friends and I wanted so badly to be one of those kids. To have someone our age recommend a book to read that was for us? It was out of this world!
Butterfly in the Sky catches up with many of the reviewers as they recall their time on the show. It’s a diverse group. One reviewer notes that Reading Rainbow was a show that everyone wanted to be on because it was so easy to see yourself. The show gave you a chance to define yourself within a piece of literature — to search for yourself on the page and maybe even create the pages yourself.
“Reading Rainbow was not about learning to read. Reading Rainbow was about loving to read,” Ed Wiseman, Reading Rainbow director, says wisely in the documentary. The show was not just inspiration to read but incentivised what reading could do. If you needed courage, there was a book for that. If you needed to understand what was happening with your parents, there was a book for that. If you wanted to know about the ramifications of eating fried worms, there was a book for that.
Butterfly in the Sky has a bevy of producers and directors, including big names like Whoopi Goldberg. There’s so much love and nostalgia and passion put into the doc that serves as overflow from time worked on the show. Created by former teacher, Tyla Liggett, the show was produced and hosted by LeVar Burton from 1983–2006.
Watching the documentary is a dream for anyone who was even slightly touched by Reading Rainbow. Children’s author Jason Reynolds — a large Black man with dreads — put into perspective what it was about Reading Rainbow and LeVar Burton in particular. “For all of us watching it, it was the show saying you matter, your stories matter, your voice matters, your opinion matters. Which means I get to watch the show and say, huh, maybe I have a voice? Maybe I have an opinion, a story.”
Butterfly in the Sky takes a long look at the history of Reading Rainbow: the risks, the pitfalls and the successes. The best of the successes are the impact the show had on children. Books sales rose over 800% since the show’s debut. Generations of children have been positively affected by Reading Rainbow, a show that wasn’t afraid to educate and empower children.
If there are any faults to be had with the doc, it comes in a lack of knowing exactly who or what the doc’s main subject is. This may be entirely by design. Reading Rainbow is LeVar Burton and LeVar Burton is Reading Rainbow. The show is a young man with dreams who searches for help and understanding to make those dreams come true. Burton’s journey is just as important to the show’s development as the show is itself. This is not completely unexpected when you’ve not only hosted a show for 20+ years but also carried on a career around it, doing whatever it took to make sure the helm was well maintained. It remains his most cherished credit even as he takes on new roles.
Butterfly in the Sky truly is a beautifully done documentary full of truth and the kind of direct-to-camera soul soothing that Burton is known for. Make sure to have your tissues ready. Sections showing the former kids who are now adults are very special. And hearing what the production crew has been up to recently is inspiring. The impact of Reading Rainbow is remembered and celebrated. But you don’t have to take my word for it!
Butterfly in the Sky had its premiere at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival.
The highly anticipated documentary Butterfly in the Sky opens on a shot of present day LeVar Burton, sitting in a chair looking through a children’s book. The book is Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman, and it features a young Black girl on the cover, hair in pigtails, missing her two front teeth, and wearing a smile full of joy and glee.
Instantly I’m transported back to my childhood. I’m sitting on the floor in front of the TV, far too close, eating a bowl of cereal and waiting for that ubiquitous song to come on. “Butterfly in the sky, I can fly twice as high. Take a look, it’s in a book, A Reading Rainbow.” Children’s programming at the time was a special thing. Everyone watched Reading Rainbow, and every child knew exactly who host LeVar Burton was.
When you get to the age where you realize that the people in the TV are actual people doing their jobs, it can be pretty jarring. But for a show that was on for more than 23 years, a show that was passed down to younger siblings, nieces, nephews, maybe even our own children, Burton became more than just a host. He became family. He would go on to influence other parts of our childhood. Whether it was the requisite watching of Roots in fifth grade or enjoying him as Geordi La Forge on Star Trek: The Next Generation, Burton was and still remains a comforting presence. He even has LeVar Burton Reads, which is touted as Reading Rainbow for adults.
There’s something that is equal parts cathartic and arresting as Burton reads from Amazing Grace and then the doc shows Burton reading it on the show nearly 40 years ago. If you’re familiar with the show, there was always a section where a kid would review a book. As kids, my friends and I wanted so badly to be one of those kids. To have someone our age recommend a book to read that was for us? It was out of this world!
Butterfly in the Sky catches up with many of the reviewers as they recall their time on the show. It’s a diverse group. One reviewer notes that Reading Rainbow was a show that everyone wanted to be on because it was so easy to see yourself. The show gave you a chance to define yourself within a piece of literature — to search for yourself on the page and maybe even create the pages yourself.
“Reading Rainbow was not about learning to read. Reading Rainbow was about loving to read,” Ed Wiseman, Reading Rainbow director, says wisely in the documentary. The show was not just inspiration to read but incentivised what reading could do. If you needed courage, there was a book for that. If you needed to understand what was happening with your parents, there was a book for that. If you wanted to know about the ramifications of eating fried worms, there was a book for that.
Butterfly in the Sky has a bevy of producers and directors, including big names like Whoopi Goldberg. There’s so much love and nostalgia and passion put into the doc that serves as overflow from time worked on the show. Created by former teacher, Tyla Liggett, the show was produced and hosted by LeVar Burton from 1983–2006.
Watching the documentary is a dream for anyone who was even slightly touched by Reading Rainbow. Children’s author Jason Reynolds — a large Black man with dreads — put into perspective what it was about Reading Rainbow and LeVar Burton in particular. “For all of us watching it, it was the show saying you matter, your stories matter, your voice matters, your opinion matters. Which means I get to watch the show and say, huh, maybe I have a voice? Maybe I have an opinion, a story.”
Butterfly in the Sky takes a long look at the history of Reading Rainbow: the risks, the pitfalls and the successes. The best of the successes are the impact the show had on children. Books sales rose over 800% since the show’s debut. Generations of children have been positively affected by Reading Rainbow, a show that wasn’t afraid to educate and empower children.
If there are any faults to be had with the doc, it comes in a lack of knowing exactly who or what the doc’s main subject is. This may be entirely by design. Reading Rainbow is LeVar Burton and LeVar Burton is Reading Rainbow. The show is a young man with dreams who searches for help and understanding to make those dreams come true. Burton’s journey is just as important to the show’s development as the show is itself. This is not completely unexpected when you’ve not only hosted a show for 20+ years but also carried on a career around it, doing whatever it took to make sure the helm was well maintained. It remains his most cherished credit even as he takes on new roles.
Butterfly in the Sky truly is a beautifully done documentary full of truth and the kind of direct-to-camera soul soothing that Burton is known for. Make sure to have your tissues ready. Sections showing the former kids who are now adults are very special. And hearing what the production crew has been up to recently is inspiring. The impact of Reading Rainbow is remembered and celebrated. But you don’t have to take my word for it!
Butterfly in the Sky had its premiere at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival.
One of the most stalwart Avengers from the pages of Marvel Comics, Wonder Man, is finally making his way into the MCU. It was announced in The Hollywood Reporter that Shang-Chi director Destin Daniel Cretton is working together with Andrew Guest, producer of Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Community, to bring the character to life in a new series. One assumes for Disney+. With Guest on board, we can safely assume this show will have a more comedic bent. Possibly similar to the tone for the upcoming She-Hulk: Attorney at Law.
But you might be wondering who the heck Wonder Man even is, and if he’s somehow related to Wonder Woman. Well, she’s a DC hero and he’s a Marvel one, so that should answer your question. (Although the two did arm wrestle once in a crossover event, which Diana very likely won). Here’s the skinny on the so-called “Ionic Avenger,” and our theories on just what a Disney+ series about the adventures of Simon Williams might look like.
Wonder Man was actually one of the earliest heroes ever inducted into the Avengers. He first appeared in Avengers #9, way back in 1964, created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Technically, he was the seventh member to be inducted into the team. However, he seemingly died in the very issue they introduced him, and he didn’t come back to life on a more permanent basis for another 12 years, in 1976. As for why he was sidelined for so long, Stan Lee insisted that DC Comics threatened legal action due to Wonder Woman. But once DC introduced a Power Girl after Marvel did Power Man (Luke Cage) first, he figured they had no legal legs to stand on. And thus, Wonder Man returned.
Simon Williams was a spoiled trust fund baby, heir to the company and fortune of Sandford Williams. But his bad business decisions ran Williams Innovations into the ground, and Simon blamed the company’s biggest rival, Stark Industries. He accepted an offer from the villainous Baron Zemo, to gain ionic powers in an experiment. These powers included super strength, invulnerability, and in later years, flight and energy projection.
Simon Williams would take on the identity of a new superhero named Wonder Man, and under Zemo’s orders, infiltrate Tony Stark’s team. All with the intent of destroying Iron Man and the Avengers from within. But Simon had a change of heart after serving with Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Unable to betray his new teammates, he dies defending them from Zemo’s Masters of Evil. His criminal brother Eric Williams adopts the identity of the Grim Reaper, and seeks revenge on the Avengers, blaming them for Simon’s death. In the process, he became one of their worst enemies.
But of course, Simon wasn’t really dead. His body went into an “ionic coma,” during which time Hank Pym recorded Simon’s brain patterns. Patterns that would later form the basis for the mind of the android Vision. Eventually, Simon would emerge from his coma, and rejoin the Avengers in earnest. His brother Eric now hated Simon for siding with the Avengers after he became their enemy, cousing that relationship to fall apart. But Simon had a new sibling now, as he considered Vision his “brother,” since they shared brain patterns. He also made best friends with the X-Men’s Beast. He founded the West Coast Avengers, and began a long career in the movies, trading on his superhero status to become an actor. And this is where we think his TV series’ angle lies.
So far, in the MCU, we’ve seen superheroes as celebrities, like Iron Man. In fact, all of the Avengers have public identities, with the exception of Spider-Man. But we’ve never seen one parlay that fame into getting jobs on the big screen or doing product endorsement. Wonder Man is the ultimate celebrity/hero, someone who has to juggle the ridiculousness of life as a movie star with actually helping people. Series like The Boys have dealt with this idea, but mostly in a satirical way. They’ve never really done a deep dive into what it means to be both hero and movie star. A Wonder Man series would be the perfect opportunity. It’s also perfect for a comedic angle, because we’d likely see exaggerated movie versions of MCU heroes.
It would also be the perfect opportunity to bring back the Vision, last seen as “white Vision” at the end of WandaVision. Perhaps, in an effort to regain a more human personality without the mind stone, he fuses with Simon’s ion-powered mind. This would be a way to tie the two characters together, in a way that is similar to the comics. And if the Scarlet Witch ever returns (which she will) it might make for a very interesting love triangle. Although the character of Simon Williams could definitely stand on his own. But could Marvel Studios resist incorporating two if their biggest assests, Wanda and Vision, into the proceedings? We doubt it.
Wonder Man very nearly made it into the MCU before, albeit in a minor way. There were Easter egg movie posters in the background of the Earth-based scenes in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. And the face used for these posters was none other than Castle and Firefly actor Nathan Fillion. But those scenes were cut from the final film. Perhaps even back then, Kevin Feige had other things in mind for the Superstar Avenger. Although we still love the casting idea of Fillion as Wonder Man. Anyone who saw him play Captain Hammer in Doctor Horrible’s Sing-A-Long Blog knows how well he can portray an obnoxiously self-involved (yet kinda charming) superhero. Whoever lands the part, we know Wonder Man is going to have a big part to play in the MCU going forward. Only fitting for a character both hero and Hollywood star.
The post Wonder Man’s Comics History Points to a “Hollywood Hero” Series appeared first on Nerdist.
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Afronerd Radio engine to power. Turbines to speed. Roger. Ready to broadcast! So let's get into this literal and special Grindhouse (Father's Day + Juneteenth) broadcast airing tonight at 6 p.m. eastern on the BTalk 100 cyber-radio platform. Listen to your mystically-powered AFROnerdist hosts discuss the following issues: our thoughts and/or musings concerning this special "double dose" Father's Day and Juneteenth holiday weekend; yet more Ezra Miller strife and controversies continue to make the news with the restart of Warner Media's DCEU film franchise put into jeopardy; our thoughts about the ongoing Marvel Miles Morales centered What If CB series:
Pixar's Lightyear's film underwhelms at the box office with a $51 million takedown and the team ponders if the same-sex kissing scene and its banning in certain global regions, played a role in its financial performance;
celebrated Eisner Award Batman artist, Tim Sale (Batman: The Long Halloween) passes at the age of 66; And lastly, our thoughts concerning Wonder Man Disney+ streaming series news; Obi-Wan; Star Trek, Orville, and The Boys episode revelations.
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