'Stargirl' Episode 2: Pat Dugan just namedropped Ted Knight, the original Starman, and we have reason to cheer
Spoilers for 'Stargirl' Season 1 Episode 2 'STRIPE'
While discussing the history of the Cosmic Staff and the story of how the Star-Spangled Kid (Joel McHale) became Starman, Pat Dugan (Luke Wilson) namedropped an important character in the Starman legacy — Ted Knight. After Stargirl's (Brec Bassinger) Cosmic Staff puts Brainwave (Christopher James Baker) in a coma, she realizes that she has very little idea of how it works. She asks Pat whether the Staff is alive or not, and he admits that not even he knows how it works — and its previous wielder might not have, either. Pat tells Courtney that the Staff was built by a man named Ted Knight.
"I don't know how the Staff works," he says. "Starman didn't build it, a man named Ted Knight did, but that's a story for another day." Ted Knight is the name of the very first Starman. First appearing in 'Adventure Comics' #61 in 1941, Ted Knight created the Cosmic Staff to harness the radiation of starlight to give him the powers of flight, energy projection and more.
Ted passed the Staff on to his son Jack Knight when he took up the mantle, who then passed it on to Stargirl, believing she was the best person for it. Ted Knight also invented the cosmic converter belt, which gave the Star-Spangled Kid his powers, which Courtney Whitmore also wore to give herself powers even before she was given the Cosmic Staff.
Given that Courtney got her powers from both Jack Knight/Star Man and the Star-Spangled Kid/Sylvester Pemberton in the comics, it makes sense that the TV show combines the two into one man. Joel McHale plays Sylvester Pemberton on the show, who was both the Star-Spangled Kid and Starman. While the television version did not wear a cosmic converter belt, he still wore a red belt of a similar design that TV's Stargirl incorporates into her costume.
For a series that places such a high value on legacy, Ted Knight is an important part of Stargirl's story. Though there is no indication of Ted Knight appearing on the TV series, Pat Dugan implies that his story might just come up again on the series, especially as the mystery of the Cosmic Staff is further looked into. The next episode of 'Stargirl' airs on June 1 on DC Universe and June 2 on The CW.
