By the power of Grayskull, Kevin Smith’s Masters Of The Universe series is more than a nostalgia trip
Kevin Smith and his team turn an obviously toyetic property into something intriguing and reflective
TV Reviews Masters of the Universe
The original He-Man And The Masters Of The Universe is perhaps the quintessential nostalgic animated 1980s show. Its static animation, ultra-masculine approach to its magical-fantasy world, strained comic quips and sidekicks, and hokey end-of episode lessons make the show nigh-unwatchable now for anyone but fans of the original. Those viewers are the target audience for Masters Of The Universe: Revelation, a rare, actual sequel series. Unlike Netflix’s She-Ra reboot, Revelation functions as a direct continuation of the original 130-episode run. This is at once fascinating, ambitious, and quixotic, as Revelations has to try to match the original show’s aesthetic and sensibility, update the narrative and visuals, comment on and/or clarify a lot of the original characterizations, provide old fans with plenty of references and Easter eggs, and re-establish the world of the show to brand new audiences. And it must do all of that in the five episodes that make up the first part of this 10-episode limited series from Kevin Smith.
It’s a peculiar ride, even with Smith as showrunner. The director has been a divisive figure over the years, but his deep passion for specific nerd franchises can’t be questioned (during one podcast, Smith cried while recounting an episode of The New Batman Adventures), even if his output can inspire ridicule (Batman losing control of his bladder during one of his first missions, for example). Here, along with veteran producers Frederic Soulie, Adam Bonnett, Christopher Keenan, and Rob David, Smith presents Eternia in smoother, sharper, much more dynamic animation, but also maintains the clunky exposition dumps, stilted dialogue, and even the choppy editing of the original show—at least in episode one. A risky, admirable move at the end of the premiere pushes the characters and overall tone in a much more modern, emotionally honest direction in subsequent episodes.
Eternia, as it stands post-event, has lost its magic; the people of the realm stand in bread lines for enchanted water while familiar, formerly villainous lackeys become religious heralds of the vestiges of technology that dot this world. There’s something ironic in watching people attempt to cling to what once was loved and respected, and in how Revelations sets its characters on a fantastical, Lord Of The Rings-esque journey. Smith and the creative team wink at and play into He-Man’s corniest, outdated elements, but with a surprising amount of respect and admiration, while retaining a darker, richer sensibility.
This all hinges on that season-altering event at the end of the premiere, and how much viewers buy into it (and with a second part on the way, there’s a chance that the twist will lead to some real, intriguing revelations). As it stands, though, Masters Of The Universe: Revelation kind of feels like a winking counterpoint to the more disagreeable criticisms of She-Ra. While that show offered softer, cleaner designs and more “millennial,” character-based humor and drama, Revelations is committed to harder, ultra-detailed designs and the kind of jokes and references that involve sidekicks hiding under tables and clumsy wizards messing up spells, but allowing that tone to develop more dramatically in its own way.
As much as the pivotal event in the premiere opens up the larger storyline’s potential, Revelation is, by design, beholden to its past. Certain characters are updated in rich ways, while others are forced to remain as awkward and clumsy as before. Orko (Griffin Newman) gets the biggest makeover; his previous magical clumsiness is recontextualized as personal failing and a source of self-loathing. The revamped Evil-Lyn also fares well, as Lena Headey provides the character an extra layer with every line read and perfectly sarcastic quip. Man-At-Arms (Liam Cunningham), however, feels mostly the same, if a bit more world-weary; Cringer (Stephen Root) isn’t around long enough to really establish his new, self-reflective self.
Oddly, He-Man (Chris Wood) and Skeletor (Mark Hamill) are the weak spots, as they continue to speak in belabored puns and scene-chewing pronouncements (although one quick aside from Skeletor implies that at least he’s aware he’s putting on an act). Teela (Sarah Michelle Gellar) has a surprisingly prominent role, while newcomer Andra (Tiffany Smith), who only appeared in the comic, mostly functions as the peanut gallery. But unlike this Orko and Evil-Lyn, Teela never really opens up as a character; that’s primarily because it’s unclear how the impetus for her character’s journey really affects her, which is made even more confusing in the fourth and fifth episodes. “Facing your fear” episodes are ripe for character clarification, but here they muddle Teela’s state of mind even more.
Even if the characterization is hit or miss, Masters Of The Universe: Revelation still shows real acumen in its dynamic action scenes and vibrant colors, courtesy of Powerhouse Animation (which is also behind Netflix’s slick, stylish Castlevania series). Bear McCreary’s music for the show and the sound design are meant to match the 1983 iteration, but the writing and storytelling is leagues above its previous incarnations, as Revelation delves deep into themes of loss, trauma, betrayal, and trust. Revelation is billed as an adult animated show, but it’s not nearly as gory as Castlevania or Invincible; save for a moment in the fifth episode, it never shows any blood. That doesn’t mean the show is bloodless—it’s remarkable how Smith and his team manage to take a property so genuinely, obviously toyetic and turn it into something intriguing and reflective. If you can buy into the wholesale changes and choices made in this Netflix series—and it is a huge buy-in—Masters Of The Universe: Revelation is, indeed, eye-opening.
147 Comments
Seems like an awfully niche market for this one.
What’s wrong with that? There seems to be this weird “why does this exist?” reaction to content that seemingly isn’t trying to appeal to “everyone”. Nothing wrong with niche.
I was not a he-man fan, so I’m not being catered to when I say “this” to your comment Also, I suspect the MOTU fanbase or audience for this may be bigger than some of these commenters seem to think? For a chunk of the 80s MOTU was the biggest toy and cartoon there was. There’s a lot of nostalgia for that, even if it didn’t create a new generation of fans in 90s or 2000s like transformers or TMNT. It’s not like MOTU is somehow a “forgotten” 80s property like Invisionaries or Silverhawks, toylines that followed the pattern and barely existed. I’m willing to bet for all the online naysayers and drama, a lot of folks are going to login to Netflix and see the highlighted “new he-man show?” And check it out.
Yup. He-Man hadn’t had as many turns on the old nostalgia merry-go-round as, say, Transformers or G.I. Joe, but there was a lengthy period of time in the 80s where if you were a boy (or sometimes, scandalously, a girl) of a certain age, you had an army of He-Man figures. It was big. It had its turn as the big Christmas toy of the year. Looking at a Trap Jaw action figure is an instant 30-year time travel experience, and I know I’m not alone.
Yah, watch the toys that made us episode on Netflix. Like he-man DOMINATED to the tune of obscene dollars for a good half decade. It had a head start on tf and Joe. SheRa was also big with boys and girls. So it’s a weird take that people are calling one of the biggest toylines of all time “niche.”Mattel has never handled the legacy aspect as well as some other toylines. I mean, the last attempt at a revival totally bombed with kids, and even the “high end nostalgia” toys then didn’t do super well. But the market has changed a lot since 2002ish; super collector oriented toylines are all over the place now. Ad frankly, even if he-man wasn’t really my jam, it’s on Netflix. I don’t have to put any extra energy to seek this out. I’ll be watching!
Trap Jaw was my first MOTU figure. I will always have a soft spot for him.
Same! I love that cyborg dork.
I mean, She-Ra existed primarily because Filmation/Mattel were shocked by how many girls were watching He-Man.
You hit the nail right on the head! Marketing research showed that lots of y9ung girls were buying the Teela and Evil-Lyn figures and watching the show as well. Filmation and Mattel took advantage of this and quickly developed She-Ra, and then pared it with the Evil Horde spin-off line for the TV series.I once owned a book, Animation By Filmation, that explained Filmation was basically on it’s last legs. The studio had burned all its bridges with the Big Three networks by 1982; It was being sued by Marvel over copyright infringement (SuperStretch copied Mr. Fantastic, Manta copied tyhe Sub-Mariner, and the biggest shit-flinger, Web Woman plagiarized SpiderWoman. That one literally broke the camel’s back!) and its then-parent, TelePrompter had sold the company to Westinghouse/Group W that was looking for product for syndication. Mattel was looking for an avenue to help market the Masters of the Universe toys to counter ad agency Griffin/Bacall’s plans to market client Hasbro’s Transformers and rebooted GI Joe lines. Filmation and Mattel started the process, and He-Man hit the ground running in 1983 with a complete 65-episode run for Season 1 (as opposed to Transformers and GI Joe, which only got a 5-episode run each for fall 1983 and a 13-episode weekend run starting in January 1984, before getting a 65-episode daily run beginning in fall 1984.)He-man and She-Ra was money in the bank for Filmation and Mattel. These titles made more money for Filmation in syndication sales than the Hasbro properties. Sunbow (Griffin/Bacall’s production company) and Marvel Productions actually lost money due to their cheap production quality and infighting between Tom Griffin and Joe Bacall (Sunbow) and Margaret Loesch, Marvel’s new showrunner. It was when He-man and She-Ra ended their runs that Filmation crashed and burned.One other note: The Orko character was not an original MOTU property; he was created by Filmation just for comedy relief. but Orko became an overnight sensation, so Mattel offered an Orko action figure as a limited release item. Demand quickly outstripped supply, forcing Mattel to make a second run. Mattel ended up buying the rights to Orko from Filmation in 1985.I was a business major in college in the early 1980s and watched A LOT of cartoons during that time. One of my thesis in class was how many of the then-new programs were based on licensed properties and how the group Action for Children’s Television and its leader, Peggy Charren, tried to get these shows cancelled, calling them “30-minute commercials.”ACT, by the way, is the same group that managed to get Thundarr The Barbarian cancelled after two seasons, claiming it was too violent.
Great write up. Also – I loved Thundarr the Barbarian 🙁
I always wondered if ther was a conspiracy against Joe Ruby and Ken Spears, Thundarr’s creator. Joe and Ken also created Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?. Charren, I understand, was part of the concerned parents who claimed the show was too dark and frightening for children and demanded changes. The nannies got what they wanted: Season 2 had a lighter background, the stories were less spooky, and Joe and Ken became story editors, with writing partner Robert Lutz taking over as head writer.
I always wondered if ther was a conspiracy against Joe Ruby and Ken Spears, Thundarr’s creator. Joe and Ken also created Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?. Charren, I understand, was part of the concerned parents who claimed the show was too dark and frightening for children and demanded changes. The nannies got what they wanted: Season 2 had a lighter background, the stories were less spooky, and Joe and Ken became story editors, with writing partner Robert Lutz taking over as head writer.
Orko was so fuckin annoying
Another fun Orko fact. His name was originally Gorko, but they decided to go with Orko, because it was easier to animate him going right or left when they could re-use cels without needing to change a “G” to face the other way on his robe.
You hit the nail right on the head! Marketing research showed that lots of y9ung girls were buying the Teela and Evil-Lyn figures and watching the show as well. Filmation and Mattel took advantage of this and quickly developed She-Ra, and then pared it with the Evil Horde spin-off line for the TV series.I once owned a book, Animation By Filmation, that explained Filmation was basically on it’s last legs. The studio had burned all its bridges with the Big Three networks by 1982; It was being sued by Marvel over copyright infringement (SuperStretch copied Mr. Fantastic, Manta copied tyhe Sub-Mariner, and the biggest shit-flinger, Web Woman plagiarized SpiderWoman. That one literally broke the camel’s back!) and its then-parent, TelePrompter had sold the company to Westinghouse/Group W that was looking for product for syndication. Mattel was looking for an avenue to help market the Masters of the Universe toys to counter ad agency Griffin/Bacall’s plans to market client Hasbro’s Transformers and rebooted GI Joe lines. Filmation and Mattel started the process, and He-Man hit the ground running in 1983 with a complete 65-episode run for Season 1 (as opposed to Transformers and GI Joe, which only got a 5-episode run each for fall 1983 and a 13-episode weekend run starting in January 1984, before getting a 65-episode daily run beginning in fall 1984.)He-man and She-Ra was money in the bank for Filmation and Mattel. These titles made more money for Filmation in syndication sales than the Hasbro properties. Sunbow (Griffin/Bacall’s production company) and Marvel Productions actually lost money due to their cheap production quality and infighting between Tom Griffin and Joe Bacall (Sunbow) and Margaret Loesch, Marvel’s new showrunner. It was when He-man and She-Ra ended their runs that Filmation crashed and burned.One other note: The Orko character was not an original MOTU property; he was created by Filmation just for comedy relief. but Orko became an overnight sensation, so Mattel offered an Orko action figure as a limited release item. Demand quickly outstripped supply, forcing Mattel to make a second run. Mattel ended up buying the rights to Orko from Filmation in 1985.I was a business major in college in the early 1980s and watched A LOT of cartoons during that time. One of my thesis in class was how many of the then-new programs were based on licensed properties and how the group Action for Children’s Television and its leader, Peggy Charren, tried to get these shows cancelled, calling them “30-minute commercials.”ACT, by the way, is the same group that managed to get Thundarr The Barbarian cancelled after two seasons, claiming it was too violent.
Mostly naked but non-threatening man who rides a giant kitty cat appeals to girls? Crazy.
Isn’t He-Man kind of a gay icon? I wonder if that’s addressed in anyway in the show?
i think it’s just that, if thomas the tank engine was the hottest toy of my childhood, i still wouldn’t be giddily anticipating a glossy new return to the TTTE franchise featuring all my favorite returning characters. i would, possibly, be embarrassed if i were still obsessed with the same pap i guzzled down as a kid.
Plus, well, we’re in streaming hell/nirvana these days. Almost everything is niche.
“Why did they make something where I’m not the target audience???”
I am the target audience you fucking tool.
I wasn’t talking about you, I was talking about the general phenomenon of people being mad that things are made that aren’t for them. Although you did aptly demonstrate that you do appear to think everything is about you. “Fucking tool,” indeed.
Classic.
it’s more like, “who is the target audience, and, if they aren’t children, how can they most efficiently be exterminated?”
I didn’t say it was good or bad. Not really understanding the anger directed my way in so many comments below over making a completely benign statement. I’m just curious, since this show seems to be targeted at nostalgia stricken fans of the original run, why they didn’t choose to go the Castlevania route and really make it a fully fleshed out Adult version. I loved the show growing up. I had a ton of the toys. But I’m not really interested in a PG13 version. That’s my personal opinion and I do not mean to detract from anyone who is looking forward to this new iteration.Jesus, internet comments are a fucking plague I swear.
It might be you…
Lol, you have a very low bar for what constitutes “anger”.
Didn’t Niche’s philosophy inspire Hitler tho?
Welcome to the long tail. Everything is niche. No one thing dominates the pop culture landscape anymore like it did when we had three channels. You want lesbian sister vampire hunters? Robot furies from the future? A retired KGB agent who gardens and hunts serial killers in his spare time? Someone out there is scratching the itch. Specifically regarding MOTU – it’s big. It’s fucking huge. It’s easily as big as GI Joe or Transformers, both of which have spawned recent multi-movie franchises. It was pretty much Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles before TMNT existed. Certainly if they can make a modern Shee-Ra cartoon, they can make one for He-Man. The real interesting thing though is besides some really basic details I remember zero of the plot points or whatever. I mostly remember playing with the toys. The article makes reference to in-jokes and easter eggs and I can’t for the life of me imagine what they may be. Maybe it’ll call come flooding back to me when I watch it, who knows. It’s certainly not something I found myself pining for but now that it exists, it seems almost criminal not to watch it.
Television shows are expensive. My only intent with my original comment was to wonder if this might not end up as another of Netflix long list of good shows that get cancelled because they weren’t popular enough.
No idea, Netflix wields the cancel hammer with a heavy hand. I don’t fully understand their content strategy beyond “feed the beast” and they’re so secretive with their metrics who the hell knows. I think they like to just throw shit against the wall to see what sticks. Apparently Virgin River, a show I used to gently tease my wife for watching (I used to call it Slut Stream because I am very clever) was one of their top streamed assets last year. Have you seen it? Straight up nothing happens. I can’t even call it bad, it’s more like watching paint dry. Fun show to riff on when you’re partner is trying to get into it, you’ll earn major points, trust me. I was a big fan of the Marvel shows, and they all got the axe, and it had nothing to do with lack of eyeballs or quality. On one hand it’s frustrating, on the other, maybe we’re moving more towards a British model where you get 2 or 3 “series” of a show and that’s it. I’m honestly ok with that, so long as there’s some kind of closure at the end of the run. Sorry if you feel piled on, wasn’t my intent. I thought maybe you were younger than me and didn’t know how fucking huge He-Man was. There are folks out there just a few years younger than me who are probably like “He-what?” which I find amusing/makes me think of how old I am and by extension makes me reflect on my impending death. Also I work in marketing and get all excited about “the long tail” as a concept even if only because I get to use the phrase.
I agree that sometimes less is more. Even though some of the storylines seemed rush it was actually a relief to get a definitive ‘end’ to Castlevania. (Yes I know they left it open for sequels). Too many television shows get too many seasons because they’re popular and then get cancelled without wrapping up the story in any effective way because they lost the fanbase that were drawn to the previously excellent content. And don’t get me started on anime. I made it over 100 episodes into Bleach before I realized it was never going to go anywhere meaningful or resolve in any satisfying way.
I’ll take a perfect series that runs 3 dynamite seasons over a show with 1 or 2 potentially great seasons and then drags on 5 more mediocre years any day of the week.
Lost and Walking Dead come immediately to mind.
God that Bleach thing completely spiralled out of control, huh?
If only Castlevania’s showrunner wasn’t a sex pest.
Honestly, I don’t really care that Ellis is a pervy old man. The specific cases I read didn’t amount to anything especially egregious, beyond being creepy. I’ve been a fan since Transmetropolitan. Not going to stop enjoying his work now. But you’re talking to a guy who counts Repulsion (Polanski) as one of his favorite films. I fall on the “Separate the artist from their work” side of the spectrum.
Yeah, okay, and so do I, generally. It’s impossible to be a fan of much if you don’t. But his being a sex pest is what lead to the end of that Castlevania run. Hence my statement of disappointment.And look, as much as I might also believe in that separation, taking the “I don’t care” and “Meh, he’s just a creep” stance is pretty shitty. The sheer *volume* of complaints against him is worth “caring” about and is more than a little fucking “egregious”. He’s a predator, plain and simple. Regardless of how much I like his work, he’s a bad person.By all means, continue to appreciate the work. I am never going to burn my Rosemary’s Baby Criterion or throw out my copies of Annie Hall and Hannah and Her Sisters. Just don’t get defensive or argumentative when people rightly point out “That guy is a shitbird.”
I agree 100%. Apologies if my response came across as defensive. That wasn’t my intent.
Seriously? There are literally over sixty stories, and some of them are absolutely abusive and unsettling. Jesus.
Tell me more about this kgb assassin show
He-Man/MOTU was the first toy line I really loved and then Transformers came along and He-Man and company were cast aside. I’m still super interested in this, and I’m far from a die hard fan. I will say the MOTU groups I lurk in on FB are home to by far some of the most toxic fanboys in any of the nostalgia groups I follow.
I would love to see an in-joke on the show about characters being bow-legged.
Rickets was a killer on Eternia.
I’m still super interested in thiswhy? have you somehow avoided aging over the last 35 years?
MOTU Classic toy line was a huge hit for Mattel and ran longer and made more characters then the original line or any spin off line. So there is clearly a nostalgia market out there
You could say the same thing about She-ra, but it was still darn good.
I just don’t get the appeal, and I grew up in the 70’s and 80’s. Hard to believe this marketing shit is being taking so self-seriously.
I watched the cartoon as a kid (and really liked the Langella movie) but didn’t have any of the toys (a friend of mine found a ton of them in his garage recently). I was more into the Thundercats cartoon than He-Man (and for toys, I preferred M.A.S.K., G.I. Joe, and Transformers)
I will say that I really liked “Masters of the Universe” (the film). Chalk it mainly up to Frank Langella, but I also thought the villains looked pretty faithful to the cartoon (Evil-Lyn….day-yum)
That’s fine if you don’t get the appeal. I feel like I am starting to outgrow content that is so painfully self-aware for the purpose of trying to be “fun”. Sometimes, I just want to see some hokey, campy shit that isn’t trying to reassure me that it’s “in on the joke” or whatever.
if i thought i was outgrowing self-aware deadpool jokes i don’t think i would immediately regress into watching a literal toy commercial from my youth, but i confess i might be ‘Built Different’
I honestly think part of it is people who grew up watching these things still looking for deeper meaning to something we cared about. I was certainly invested in these characters as a child, but always yearned for something more because, by necessity, a toy commercial cannot resolve its plot in any meaningful way.
In any case, the larger part of it is that I’m super bored and will watch almost anything. >_<
by necessity, a toy commercial cannot resolve its plot in any meaningful way.
I found the ending of this commercial, where the mom asks to join in the physical and economic exploitation of the patient, quite profound.
Generations of overgrown children now making themselves into a bonafide demographic.
It’s likely that the move to make a show is based on the success, or at least staying power, of the Masters of the Universe toy lines. Mattel has kept it going in various iterations for over a decade, and now you can find them at Target and Wal-mart, where the new additions don’t hang around very long.
You don’t get the appeal of a high technofantasy series where anything and everything can exist, where the primary plot is about a big muscle man with superpowers fighting against a hammy evil guy with a skull for a head?
The original cartoon is painfully camp, but the premise is basically Cool vs. Awesome incarnate.
In theory, you’re right. The same way that a film about cars that can turn into robots should be incredibly awesome but…
But that’s the execution, which is different than the appeal.
I stand corrected, Sir. Continue.
The original cartoon is painfully camp, but the premise is basically Cool vs. Awesome incarnate.These ideas and worlds that sparked our imagination as kids were also crapped out by hack scriptwriters working on spec and produced as cheaply as possible. What’s cool is that now those ideas are being handled by people who were those inspired kids.
I’ve heard a lot of writers/directors wax nostalgic about the time they spent creating their own stories with action figures, from Star Wars to He-Man. A lot of these dudes put in some time as D&D players too. Not to get all ‘old man yells at clouds’ but I do wonder what it means that, judging from my friend’s children, one of the leading pastimes for kids today is watching Youtube videos of other kids playing video games. Hopefully I just don’t understand it cause I’m old and out of touch. Hopefully.
No, it’s the children who are wrong.
My son and his friend used to pretend to shoot youtube videos of themselves playing video games and other things with fake cameras. They’d get pretty elaborate with some of the stuff, like making fake prank videos and reaction videos. Creativity doesn’t die, it just changes forms.
I dunno… as an adult I certainly have no interest in watching YouTubes of kids playing games, but as an ‘80s kid I would often go through my allotment of quarters at the arcade in a matter of minutes, then hang out for hours more, having a blast watching actually good players.
Eh, we all have weird, inexplicable generational stuff. Pet rocks were once a thing, for fuck’s sake.
I won’t say I didn’t cringe when my cousin’s kids said they wanted to grow up to be YouTube stars, but it’s not that big of a difference between that and wanting to be a movie star or rock god.
Did you ever stand by and watch someone play an arcade game, or a friend play a console game when it gets to the cool parts? Youtubers tap into that. It’s harmless, and mostly a way for the viewer to relax. I watch plenty myself after work just to unwind.
Right there with you. I just can’t understand why an adult would want to watch a new cartoon series based on a glorified long form toy commercial from when they were kids. I fear that there’s a disturbingly increasing number of adults have teetered past nostalgia into infantalism.
I was obsessed with MOTU as a kid. I’m excited for this. It’s not for everyone. That’s fine.
I kind of get it, but I don’t know why. I was a kid in the 80’s and slightly obsessed with He-Man… the cartoon, not the toys. In retrospect, that’s gotta be weird since the show was basically a 30 minute commercial. And it’s not like I didn’t like toys/action figures. I had tons of transformers/star wars/g.i. joe (all backed by their own pop culture franchises).But He-Man toys, they always seemed kind of lame to me. Again though, I devoured the show. Maybe there was some legit content there? I guess I’ll have to give this a shot now.
we are all painfully aware now that the he-man cartoon was created specifically to sell toys but when you’re 6 that’s completely irrelevant. i didn’t realize until i was an adult that i wouldn’t have even known how to speak english when i first started watching he-man or g.i. joe or ghostbusters etc but even i knew they were different and “cooler” than looney tunes or wacky races or tom and jerry etc and those were the cartoons ALL kids watched. i was actually fortunate enough to have grown up with cable tv but a lot of people i knew didn’t so there just wasn’t a lot of choice and it’s probably just true that whatever the big 3 channels decided to air would inevitably become ubiquitous but in my humble 5 year old self’s opinion, you don’t have anything to apologize for. the whole he-man aesthetic was actually pretty bad-ass and to be honest it didn’t seem weird at all because i also clearly remember watching wrestling and have a vague recollection of watching shit like conan and willow on hbo in the mid-80’s so the whole ripped medieval beefcake bullshit wasn’t that out of place. as far as the toys go, in my experience people usually gravitated towards one or two toylines and went in on those. i knew wealthy kids who had a lot of every toy but i personally was into g.i. joes and hotwheels and then went all in on batman when the 89 movie was released. i was a huge fan of tmnt as well and had a few but i just never accumulated that many, probably because bought g.i. joes and vehicles into the early 90’s.
I’m enjoying the fact that Evil Lyn is just sort of a Cersei Lannister who knows magic.
If you don’t get the appeal, then why waste your time thinking about why you don’t get the appeal?
Spend your time thinking what does appeal to you. You’ll be happier.
First, it’s possible you’re too old. You might not have been young enough to really have gone all-in with the toys and show, and lack the nostalgia and fondness for the original. Second, the appeal is taking this property everyone knows and asking “okay… what happens next?” Treating it as if the pilot episode of the new series was really a bomb dropping series finale of the original, and everything after was a spin-off.
Which oddly works. They tried rebooting it before (in 2002) and it was fine. But the characters and story weren’t really enough to sustain things. It didn’t do anything special. The series itself wasn’t enough. And it stuck largely to the same status quo rather than taking the opportunity to answer questions like “how would people react when Adam’s secret was revealed?”
is there a part where he-man is trapped and a bird skeleton pours slime all over him and ruins the carpet?
Follow-up question: is there a part where Moss Man gets lost in the backyard and isn’t found until he breaks the lawnmower?
Is half the furniture in Castle Greyskull plastic and the other half cardboard?
Apparently back in the day if you called Mattel to complain about the slime ruining the carpet, they would actually pay to have it cleaned for you.
“The director has been a divisive figure over the years”Really? I dunno. Trump is divisive; Kevin Smith is a harmless movie director/podcaster/personality. If you mean that some people like his stuff and others don’t, fine, but then that’s true of everyone. Or if you mean that AV Club has inexplicably shit over Kevin Smith for years, then acknowledge it.Saying he’s “divisive,” like he’s done something deserving of the vitriol he’s received, gives this site’s crappy editorial stance unearned legitimacy. Being frank, y’all owe him an apology — but that would require an earnestness and courage that I don’t think anyone working for AV Club possesses.
This is 2021. Water and breathing are ‘divisive’.
It’s a polite way of saying “Kevin Smith, who has made some real shit movies lately”
This. I mean, I’ve been a fan of his for a while, and even enjoyed Red State more than most seemed to, but beyond that point he’s been cranking out some pretty serious garbage.
I mean this is AV Club. These are the guys that allowed Sam Barsanti to post this during the Trump era where awful Tweets came in by the hour…and then acknowledge it again the year. They clearly have a thing about him.
Lol not really
That’s just the word “divisive” being turned into a word for “shitty person some people love”, while AV (at least here) correctly used it. Smith *is* a very divisive filmmaker. He tends to be a real love him or hate him sort of filmmaker.
Oh FFS. I’m sorry if you think actually having feelings over pop culture and pop culture figures is unimportant, but Jesus, people have been calling artists “divisive” since Da Vinci. It’s not a quirk of the AVClub. And Smith has made some terrible nonsense, and some fairly good stuff too, and yeah, his style isn’t for everyone even for his good stuff. This at the very least makes him MORE divisive than, say, any of the actors named Chris working these days, whose genial attractiveness is specifically intended not to be divisive.
Divisive means EXACTLY some people like him, and some people don’t, and that applies to some people better than others, not “everyone” equally. It’s not an assault on your favorite dude. Get over yourself, and find better reasons to be bitter. I assure you, they’re out there.
Some people with editors (yes, they do exist here) would prefer to succinctly put “divisive” instead of having to explain all that, because they assume that most their audience has the emotional and cognitive intelligence to not misinterpret that so fragilely. Woops on their part, I guess.
If you think Kevin Smith’s oeuvre only gets shat upon here, you need to get out more.
“Unlike Netflix’s , Revelation functions as a direct continuation of the original 130-episode run.”So, basically, it’s a direct sequel to episodes 2-130 where there was no story arc and the episodes were pretty much interchangeable? I mean, it’s great that they aren’t bothering with an origin episode but, beyond that, I don’t remember much happening in episode 130 that left me with any lingering questions.
“We never did find out why He-Man doesn’t wear pants.”
Or why he wore that Dutch boy hairstyle.
That’s prince adam’s fault
it was hot on eternia
Beastman seemed pretty comfortable
Hey man, if I had gams like that I’d forego pants at every opportunity as well.
It was a simpler, more innocent time.
In a decade of shows that were just half hour toy commercials, He-Man reigned as the worst of them. Every episode was Skeletor and a new henchman(now available at Toys R Us) plot a scheme and only He-Man and his new ally(also at Toys R Us) can save the dayI have a lot of nostalgia for He-Man but the original cartoon was not good. I have heard that the 2000s reboot was good though
Remember how the Ninja Turtles met a new a mutant animal martial artist every week? I’m pretty sure the toy line snuck in a few that never appeared on the show.
I guess you’ll just never truly understand
I can’t believe this adult adaptation of He-Man could possibly be as good as what Robot Chicken has already given us.
Here’s you measuring stick:I mentioned earlier that in 1983 Action for Children’s Television, and advocay group (read: TV nannies) led by Peggy Charren, tried to get He-man and other cartoons cancelled, claiming they were just “30-minute cartoons, designed just to sell toys.” He-Man was the official target for their griping.If ACT or the ghost of Charren reappears in some form to go after Masters of The Universe, then everything’s good.
British comedian Stuart Ashen did some good bits too, like where some mean kids slip a note under Skeletor’s door in which they mockingly call him “Smell-o-whore” and Skeletor takes it too seriously: “What? This note implies that I not only smell bad, but am some sort of prostitute! And how do kids know a word like ‘whore’? They must have either looked it up or asked an adult! That’s altogether putting too much work into it!”
Ashens is great , especially his excellent youtube channel.
I just found out that when they did the Classics Toy line about a decade ago, they actually made a “Mo-Larr, Eternian Dentist” figure and I’m sad I don’t own in.
Well you can still get the playset where he is tormenting Skeletor here: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Masters-of-the-Universe-Classics-Mo-Larr-vs-Skeletor-Action-Figure-2-Pack/48244919
OG he-man was TERRIBAD but also somewhat entertaining at times. I’m sure it’d aged terribly. That said the new she ra was good and enjoyable but holy fuck shit did it absolutely hammer you over the head with any and all messages. It got to the point that I stopped enjoying large parts of it.
Loo-Kee died for your sins.
What was the overarching plot that warrants it to be a “sequel”? I mean, I haven’t watched it since the 80s (I still have some of the toys over at my mom’s) but wasn’t it, like 99% of the cartoons of the era, self-contained? So that they could show it in any order whatsoever without anyone noticing? The first one I remember having a sequential narrative is Beast Wars, way into the 00s. And maybe Reboot, from the same era.
Given that both beast wars and reboot were by Mainframe, it’s interesting to note compare. BW season1 came around the same time as Reboot S2.Reboot wasn’t serialized until the last four or five episodes of its season 2. Bw S1 was fairly standalone but they seeded more long-term storyline, paying that off by the end of the season, and doing more. Still enough standalone episodes to go with the ongoing storylines. The X-Men cartoon with season 2 started doing a lot more serial stuff. The Spidey toon too. Batman TAS never did; it wasn’t until well into justice league limited that the DCAU went that route. The 80s toons really didn’t have overarching stories. The occasional multiparter but that’s it. He-man was among the absolute worst for having no real continuity or overall storyline lmao.
Probably because Mainframe was Canadian, and they could (if they wanted to) work on the limited-series paradigm that Europe does, while American shows were constantly working towards syndication. It’s astonishing how much American television and even narrative structure was shaped by commercials and the hope for eventual syndication: “We need 100 episodes by the end of year 4 so we can cheaply tell Midwesterners about the big money they save at Menards, do NOT confuse the general public by requiring they see all of this shit”
Ooh, that’s an interesting aspect. Reboot was shockingly low episode count; season 1 was something like 8 episodes. Assuming the expense and time for the first full CGI show. Both reboot and beasties were joint productions between Canada’s YTV and an American network. Reboot with ABC and beasties for fox. Reboot S2 is maybe 12 episodes. S3 is more. ABC pulled the plug in reboot after S2, and it’s season3 —- which I may be corrected but I believe it only aired in Canada initially —- that went FULL serial. Noturiously they worked in various shots at ABC and ABC standards and practices (dot doesn’t have a uniboob due to tech concerns, ABC insisted). Fox was also doing power rangers, spiderman, and X-Men, so maybe by that point mainframe felt a bit confident and fox wasn’t as overlording. Fox was the animation giant in the mid-90s. Bw had a 20+ episode s1 and two 13 episode seasons. You make a really interesting point about syndication and the way american tv pushes for it. He-man dropped 65 shitty episodes at once. Transformers S2 is infamous for demanding so much more in the same time of the staff. Season 1 is only like 13 episodes, then S2 is like forty something. Even grownup tv suffers. I go back to some classic sitcoms here and there, or older dramas. There is just TOO MUCH. probably a big reason why I find I watch a lot more British TV these days, or why Letterkenny appeals so much to me. 6-8 episodes. Yes please.
Most 80’s cartoons were all standalone episodes, but the episodes that were memorable tended to be the occasional two-parter or episode that established lore. (With some shows, were were lucky enough to get 5-episode miniseries at the start of a season that introduced the new toys, er, characters, but also as a byproduct generated lore.)
For He-Man, some of the more lore-oriented shows told us that Adam’s mom was originally an astronaut from Earth, that Orko was from another world called Trolla, and, apparently relevant to this show, that the Sorceress is secretly Teela’s mother and (iirc) only Duncan (Man-at-Arms) knows the truth from when he agreed to raise her.
I’m not sure what this article is supposed to be. It’s called a review, but it sounds like it’s so spoiler embargoed that nothing can actually be said about the story. It gives me nothing to go on as a potential viewer. Maybe this could have waited until Friday when you would have been allowed to say something.Based on the rumblings of the upset fans months ago and the mention of Cringer’s barely being in this, I’m assuming He-Man either dies or vanishes, maybe something happens to the Sorceress, and Teela is left as the hero who needs to get in touch with the magic roots of hers that have been vaguely mentioned before. Now if you could talk about those storylines, that would sound like a review.
Weird. The word “review” is not the same as the word “synopsis”.
Oh bless you. I can’t stand reviews that literally just recap the shit.
Counter point: many of those fans are whiney babies who failed to grow up over the decades since oG MOTU.
“rumblings of the upset fans”EYEROLLFOREVER.GIF
The first episode is pretty epic but yeah, He-Man and Skeletor play second fiddle to Teela. There are plenty of flash-backs that call-back to the cheesier 80’s cartoon but for the most part, this is Teela’s story, which I’d be fine with if there were any character exploration between He-Man, Teela, et all. They actually do some decent writing with Orko and Evil-Lyn but other than that, as Kevin Johnson said, it’s really a 5-episode LotR quest that may or may not be a call-back to when G.I. Joe, Transformers, Thundercats had like a 4-episode TV movie where our intrepid heroes were on a race to gather parts to a McGuffin to save the world/universe.
I suppose the shade from the headline (you can hear the silent *just* in there) is prerequisite in reviewing any Kevin Smith related project.
A new He-Man series AND Kevin Smith getting positive reviews on this site? What’s going on??(And I say.)
Judging from the synopsis of the first five episode He-Man is only in the first one… maybe at the end of the fifth… so it’s basically the Teela show like many had feared.Cheers
I was making light of a He-Man meme. But really, I don’t get the criticism. I was a kid who ate up everything Masters of the Universe and owned MANY of the toys.
But let’s face it, the show was a toy marketing cartoon and the characters had zero depth. If people are worried about giving more focus on Teela and others, that’s more a reflection on them.
He-Man was not the deepest character (a big clue would be his name alone). He’s honestly a creator’s excuse to make a Clark Kent/Superman dual identity character…. but as Conan with invincible hair.
We take too many things seriously these days.
“If people are worried about giving more focus on Teela and others, that’s more a reflection on them.”The problem is, that exact person is seemingly incapable of self-reflection.
“feared”
Thanks. Sorry, but English is not my first language and I still make stupid mistakes. 😉 Cheers
what sort of idiot was fearing a Teela show? What, big muscular women with a shaved haircut scare you?
Nope, but Smith promised a He-Man show. He was directly asked if this was going to have He-Man o Teela as main protagonist and he said “don’t you worry! This is not a Teela show!” and then he killed He-Man in the first episode. Have I not the right to be pissed he lied to bait me in watching a product I was not interested in or what? For once I wanted to titillate my nostalgia with some dumb (even if He-Man as a character was never dumb like in the Smith show.. Not very deep, but never dumb) blonde culturist smacking silly bad guys… But apparently this is not “accepted” anymore. Still the problem is not “Teela is strong” since she was always strong and competent in the original MOTU, but Smith promised us something and then did the opposite. That I don’t like at all, regardless of the story in itself. Cheers
As soon as I read “it’s an authentic follow-up to the original” I just KNEW that they’d fuck with Orko. And, of course, they did. For those of you too young to have watched the original, Orko served the same role as Jerry does in Rick and Morty. Orko was Brainy Smurf, ffs. He’s SUPPOSED to be annoying.As for who this is targeted at – son, I used to RUN home to watch He-Man. I will definitely check this out. But as for “Easter eggs” and the like, I highly doubt that any will click with me. He-Man was an endless blank canvas on which to project feelings of coolness and strength, not get into nerdy detail about its lore and what is or is not “canon” like friggin’ Star Wars.
Orko was still really annoying despite actually getting some development so…
The repeated use of the word “event” in this article couldn’t help but put me in mind of this.
I am sorely tempted to skip work tomorrow and watch this. Also, if this is even half as tightly plotted as the Netflix She-Ra, they would be so lucky.
It’s not. I dunno. I’ve never watched Masters of the Universe, but I really loved She-ra and the Princesses of Power, so I decided to watch Revelations, and it has a really strong nihilistic streak that turned me off. It also kind of felt like Smith was trying to punish people who were fans of Adam/He-Man’s character. The vibes were just off.
Teela (Sarah Michelle Gellar) has a surprisingly prominent role,
I dunno whats so surprising about this, she was basically what everything in the original series happened through. Daughter of the Sorceress and the driving force behind Prince Adam actually getting off his ass and doing anything.
I think my favorite part of this is all the internet chuds who were super angry about Princesses of Power got all excited when they saw the first trailer for this, thinking it was going to be the nostalgia wank-fest antidote to the ‘sjw-ness’ of the new She-Ra; and now they spent the last couple days losing their shit because of what happens in the first episode leaking early.
after watching the first couple of episodes I am really wondering if you watched some other show? Not much of your “review” really fits with what I’m seeing.or to put it another way…….We have no Idea—- The A.V. Club
As a non-He-Man experiencer before now, my take is..:It was kind of anti-fun?From characters dying one after another to them all being constantly annoyed or furious with eachother…It was, I dunno, just not very fun.- Massive Spoilers Below –
Also just let He-Man be He-Man for a bit please?
The parts where he was were quite fun.
But the show then spent most of the 5 episodes stopping that from happening.
Especially with that ending lol.- – – Still, it’s only the first half of the first season, so I’ll check out the latter half when that comes out too.But so far I definitely preferred She-Ra’s Netflix show’s first season.
K. I love that they’re full on using all the gimmicky vehicles and shit. Orko’s voice is somehow MORE annoying. Eh, good so far, gonna keep watching.
Annnnnnnnnd the show is being review bombed by the manbabies. Predictable. Sigh.
Hell must have frozen over because I’m defending the manbabies, but it is kind of weird to make a He-Man show that is aggressively not about He-Man. Like if Marvel had marketed “Falcon and the Winter Soldier” as a Steve “Captain America” Rogers show, I think people would have been upset, too. Those of us who have no nostalgia or strong sentimental feeling invested in He-Man can watch this and say, “Hm, what an intriguing turn,” but I understand why the people who are invested are mad.
Still, review bombing and harassing creators is not cool and there are more productive ways to spend your time. And I wish people got as mad about the filibuster in the American Senate as they do about IP reboots.
I don’t know what Kool-Aid the reviewer was drinking when they wrote this, but this show is NOT a continuation of the 1980s show. It is, instead, the Teela and Evil-Lyn show with He-Man himself edged out in episode ONE. What the living hell were these people thinking? Why bill it as a “direct continuation” when you know it isn’t? And why cover up the fact that this is virtually a Ghostbusters with all the main characters switched to female?
Some of the best episodes of the original were the ones that provided lore about Teela, and this show kept teasing that. If the whole show is a miniseries about Teela assuming the Goddess mantle with the snake armor, I’m all for it.
Honestly, the toughest thing for me about watching the new series was the fact that they didn’t even TRY to replicate the distinctive voices of the characters from the original show. I kept expecting to hear Skeletor accidentally call Evil-Lyn “Harley”.
Did you get lost on the internet little boy? I think you were looking for the comments section of a YouTube video by Midnight Edge, Clownfish or Doomcock.
It is a direct continuation in the sense that the first episode basically starts with the tone and overly simplistic plot that the original show had. For the first 3/4, it’s basically the same show, up until some shit goes down that very suddenly forces all of the characters to change.
I was born in 1970 and slightly too old (although I am only a couple days younger than Smith) to have enjoyed He-Man and Transformers as a kid. Mainly, I could see clearly at this point that the cartoons were half-hour toy ads. So, I never watched these. For those that have no familiarity with the original material, would this be interesting?
Watched the first two episodes so far. I’m loving it. It’s bonkers in the best way. I am truly at a loss as to why people are so upset about this show. I can understand why some people would be turned off by the direction it takes, but then just don’t watch it. It’s a 10 episode continuation of a 40 year old cartoon. It can be safely ignored.
I was a huge fan of the OG He-Man, and I have to say, I loved every minute of this. Teela a few years post-series as a disillusioned merc with a butch cut and a hot gf questing together with Evil-Lyn to save the universe? It’s like Kev read my id from when I was ten and handed everything I ever daydreamed about back then to me on a platter with better animation, with Sarah Connor, Wonder Woman, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer as VAs. Let the manbabies weep. I am ready for more the moment it drops.
It did kinda feel like they wanted to say Andra was not just Teela’s partner in adventuring but something else. Maybe they’ll confirm it in season 2.
I wasn’t sure if I was going to watch Masters Of The Universe Revelation since I’m only a filthy casual fan.I don’t regret it.I love how the women are buff like the men & Teela’s sideshave. The downside of the timeskip is that most of the characters’ looks get more boring.
I wish that they hadn’t split up the season so we could see that play
out without months of fans complaining this series butchered He-Man.
What actually are the good MOTU stories that have made fans this
passionate over it?
https://mattthecatania.wordpress.com/2021/07/27/whats-the-sensation-of-masters-of-the-universe-revelation/