By the power of Grayskull, Masters Of The Universe: Revelation gets a trailer
Netflix brings back He-Man, Skeletor, and the rest of the gang on July 23.
TV News Masters of the Universe
The pecs that defined the ‘80s are back. Riding a never-ending wave of nostalgia, He-Man and The Masters Of The Universe return with Netflix’s latest attempt at whetting the appetites of millennials and Gen-Xers desperate to return to their childhoods. And they’re all here, He-Man, Skeletor, and our favorite Orko!
Following the success of He-Man’s counterpart in She-Ra And The Princess Of Power, He-Man And The Masters Of The Universe: Revelation looks like a Last Airbender-inspired action series. And Netflix didn’t skimp on the fighting. Set to the ‘80s synth beats of Bonnie Tyler’s “Holding Out For A Hero,” Revelation cuts right to the core of its fanbase, retaining the cheesy actioneering of the original series.
Here’s the plot synopsis:
The war for Eternia culminates in Masters Of The Universe: Revelation, an innovative and action-packed animated series that picks up where the iconic characters left off decades ago. After a cataclysmic battle between He-Man and Skeletor, Eternia is fractured and the Guardians of Grayskull are scattered. And after decades of secrets tore them apart, it’s up to Teela to reunite the broken band of heroes, and solve the mystery of the missing Sword of Power in a race against time to restore Eternia and prevent the end of the universe.
With his blonde locks and six-pack that just won’t quit, He-Man is ready for your memes, horny fan art, and ire, which viewers of these shows cannot help but spew. Still, the regression to a more traditional visual style of the source material might please some adult fans. Hopefully, it will appeal to children, too. They can argue in the schoolyard about who gets to use the sword.
One thing’s for sure: Netflix pulled together a stacked cast. Mark Hamill and Chris Wood voice Skeletor and He-Man, respectively. Lena Heady, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Stephen Root, Diedrich Bader, Griffin Newman, Henry Rollins, Alicia Silverstone, Justin Long, Tony Todd, and, Batman himself, Kevin Conroy as Mer-Man round out the rest. Nevertheless, we can’t help but express some disappointment that Frank Langella wasn’t invited back to play Skeletor. They got Alan Oppenheimer, the original Skeletor, back. Maybe Langella was busy.
Masters Of The Universe begins its five-episode run on July 23 on Netflix.
135 Comments
That’s a helluva trailer. Gonna have that song stuck in my head all day now.
Might be worth mentioning that this is exec produced by Kevin Smith.
As someone who is way too used to Brian Dobson’s Skeletor, Hammil’s deeper rendition sounds weird. Chris Wood sounds fine as He-Man, but I still prefer Cam Clarke.
He-Man’s ripped, bro!
Do you even power of Grayskull, bro?
Is that a Joe Rogan-endorsed supplement?
I appreciate that Adam is scrawny compared to He-Man. That original Adam could have at least taken a tip from Superman and put on some nerd glasses.
I know! Like, know your role, Adam. After all, it’s Adam and Eve, not Adam and He’ve.
It’s the perfect disguise. No one in Eternia would suspect He-Man would wear pink!
She-Ra was so good, I hope they’ve pulled in similar writing talent. The voice cast looks fantastic.
I think they may be going in a different direction with this one, but I hope its fun
Yeah, I don’t think we need a second She-Ra but definitely want to see that quality of storytelling & nuance again. I mean, there’s a point where you feel bad for *Hordak.*
Using the traditional animation style is a “regression”? Is that the word you meant to use? Did you mean digression? How is it a regression? Regression from what? From the unrelated new She-Ra show’s minimalist, generic modern style? If you’re going to write snark, at least make it coherent.
Forget it CNH, its AV Club town!
Hyper masculinity is funny. Look at dude’s nipples which are so far apart to be proudly displayed LMFAO!
Hyper masculinity is funny. Look at dude’s nipples which are so far apart to be proudly displayed LMFAO!
Is He-Man a Nazi Prince? Blonde haired, blue eyed, and I have yet to hear his take on BLM, so, probably yes.
There’s something so incredibly cheesy (and glorious) of them using “Holding Out For A Hero” for the trailer.
Thank god it’s not some kind of over produced cover (well, even MORE over produced, since it is an 80s song)
Good for them for leaning into the whole aesthetic. As much as I love my Space Ghost-style ironic reimaginings, sometimes it’s fun to play it straight.As a side note, does anybody have recommendations for current cartoon series that actually look good visually? The Legend of Korra is the only one I know about, although admittedly I don’t pay much attention.
The Owl House has endlessly creative visuals, and the opening credits might be the most butter-smooth 2D animation that’s ever been created.
Castlevania is solid (and has a great story as well) if you want adult-geared animation.
It’s not a kids cartoon, but Final Space is fucking beautiful.
And its done with only a fraction of Family Guy’s budget.
I will never understand how Family Guy is so expensive to animate. I feel like you could switch over to whatever replaced Flash and it wouldn’t look that different.
To be fair, its entirely possible that its not the actual animation thats expensive but the contracts with studios for a show that is now in double digit seasons. The reason most shows, even the popular ones, rarely reach double digits is because contracts are often written to bump pay each season and then contract renegotiations often involve an even bigger bump. Given Fox’s huge reliance on Family Guy and The Simpsons, I could see the animation company inflating the costs.
I’m sure most of the budget goes to actors’ contracts.
I have no clue, I doubt they’d ever release what money goes into whatever part of the production. Off the top of my head, I’d say it might be for voice acting (those celebrity voices probably don’t come cheap) or some of the copyrighted stuff they use.
I’m sad to inform you that Korra is not current. It in fact ended over 6 years ago. And yes, I wish time didn’t move so fast too.
The algorithm strikes again!
He-man’s back, and he FUCKS.
Just wait till you see what Fisto does!!
Right in the Stinkor!
Ram Man’s here to party, too!
The disco music, rainbows, and plethora of prominent, oiled, male nipples make me feel like I’m back in Studio 54.
Nah…I would go with 80s pop with hairless oiled guys in colorful bikini briefs.
Respectfully ask for consent?
Didn’t he have a cameo in Al Pacino’s “Cruising”?
And Leech .. well, he still SUCKS!
Don’t forget Gwildor, who… also sucks.
Kobra Khan’s still a spitter.
I mean, Man-E-Faces is a one-man poly party.
Webstor.”. who wants to get tied up? Eh …c’mon , anyone??”
Interesting song choice but I would’ve used Berserker.
So you’re saying you’d like some making fuck?
Did he say ‘making fuck’?
“BY THE POWER OF A TRUCK!”
Munky not Trukk… sorry wrong franchise.
My love for this reference is ticking clock.
I was thinking more “Its Raining Men”.
I would have chosen a 4 Non Blondes song..
Skeletor summoning a giant purple fist to punch He-Man who then immediately goes to punch it back…sigh, yeah. That rules.
If this has the camp and sense of fun of Batman 66 and the swords, sorcery, and sex of Savage Sword of Conan I will be so happy!
Yeah…sure. I guess I’m just a TAD excited.
Among all the fantastical elements in the cartoon, the one that bothered me the most was that Skeletor is able to form words. He can move his jaw and probably has a larynx, but he clearly doesn’t have any lips. Everything he says should sound like “Eeeeiiiiiieeeeiiiiieeeeiiiiii.” Someone get a hold of Noam Chomsky so I can get some answers!
A wizard did it.Damnit, Orko!!!
He’s clearly a master ventriloquist.
Famous skeleton wizard Noam Chomsky.
I mean look at him. Gotta be magic.
In the 2002 cartoon, it’s shown that Skeletor’s skull is literally floating over his body thanks to Hordak’s magic spell, so likely something similar is going on with OG Skeletor.
I want a skeleton monster who speaks in morse code by clacking its jaw together.
Still bummed this won’t be a crossover with She-Ra, watching that with my daughter was an absolute joy.
The producers of She-ra seemed deathly afraid of putting their She-Ra together with any version of He-man. Like the were worried he’d suck the spotlight off Adora by his mere existence.
I wouldn’t call it so much fear as just wanting to establish their own identity away from the original story. They made a few fleeting references to Eternia, and *spoiler* the finale definitely opened up their universe to other worlds. I hope there’s a crossover one day.
I remember once figuring out that the OG She-Ra show featured He-Man in 1 out of every 5 episodes. If you were watching it after school on a weekday you didn’t have to go a full week without seeing him.
It’s like the powers that be at the time were terrified that She-Ra couldn’t carry her own show.I kinda get the concern.
Anyone else who grew up in the 80s with cartoons like He-Man (and Thundercats and other toy-based stuff) feel rather jealous at those, a few years younger, who got to have Spongebob Squarepants and the like? You know, _good_ cartoons? The sense I am trying to describe here is whatever the opposite of nostalgia is.
He-Man and Thundercats were definitely more toy power than anything. But Transformers and GI Joe were actually well made (well, except for Transformers’ shitty, cheap animation). I saw a few of those episodes a decade or so back as re-runs and thought, “Holy shit! How’d that get put into a kids’ show?”
Personally, no. I liked using those shows as a place from which to launch my toys’ adventures. I was such a good little consumer!
No, because if it’s well made you can enjoy it regardless of how old you are.
Fortunately, the old Looney Tunes were still regularly shown on UHF stations during this era, so we actually had some choices beyond cheaply made half-hour toy commercials.
They got regular play on Saturday mornings as well when I was young.
lol no
Disdain?
No. I liked He-Man and the Thundercats and the rest, and can’t stand Spongebob.
I grew up in the 90s and early 00s and we had some good stuff but I get the impression that kids today have even more and better cartoons.I don’t watch them, so I don’t know for sure, but it looks like it at least.
Honestly I grew up on 90s anime, and they’ve cheaped out on a bunch of the animation since. (Although of course the kids’ cartoons now are inspired by the good stuff.)
Not really. I like the concept of the 80’s stuff, even if it was derived from toy companies shilling their stuff via cartoons. The animation was basic, but then again so was most mainstream animation before the late 80’s revival.
The weakest part of the various different shows were the writing (bar the odd ‘The Problem With Power’). Creators now have a better understanding of how to mix in decent concepts with goofy toy line that Hasbro/Mattel/whoever wants to promote.
Not even a little bit. Our cartoons were pretty basic and designed to sell toys, sure, but we got COOL toys.
Kids today get great cartoons and shitty toys. I’ll take a world where I’m making up the stories myself with over sitting around passively any day.
This is a strong take. As someone who stills buys and enjoys toys, it’s pathetic what kids have access to these days. Disney movies use to have incredible tie-in toys (articulated Lion King figs!) instead of just solidly gendered dolls and Littlest Pet Shop used to be something meant to play with instead of just collect.
Ill agree with you. Spongebob was an amazing show, and i kinda wish it was part of my childhood. He MAn was such a shitty show even as an 8 year old. Skeletor had all these bad ass plans you never got to see cus he man would stop him before the show would need to, you know, animate new frames that couldnt just be re used from every other episode.Like that one sequence where he runs into a fork in the road, looks three ways and runs off again. fuck that
Yeah but we also had the first wave of anime like Voltron and Robotech. And the weird insane Saturday morning cartoons that weren’t based on any toys.
So basically the thought process is, “That new She-Ra show had fantastic writing and visuals, and brought a whole new audience to this franchise. Let’s destroy that by making something designed solely for the OG fans, even though half of them are dead at this point.”
It’s Kevin Smith, wallowing in pop cultural nostalgia is all he ever does.
She-Ra was boring and it looked like a DIC show from the 90s. I didn’t like it, and I bet I won’t like this either. MAKE MORE SEIS MANOS, YOU COWARDS!
The big difference is that Mattel is very hands-on with this show, while they were more than willing to be hands off with She-Ra.
It’s worth pointing out that the original He-Man was a cartoon made to sell toys, not only that but the toys already existed, much like G-1 Transformers.
So I assume they insisted he man have a tiny head to save money on plastic or something then.
Smith said in an interview on io9 that he was a huge fan of the new She Ra. He also said he wasn’t the guy to reinvent He Man in a similar way and he wanted to do a continuation.
“fantastic writing”
I have doubts.
The two shows can coexist just fine.
You were able to discern that it wont have/do those things from a sixty second teaser? Do you have some lottery numbers to share with us too?
I don’t necessarily mind Revelations (I like that it seems to take visual inspiration from the 200x version), I take more umbrage at the upcoming CGI reboot that looks garish as all hell.
I like the franchise but TBQH, Mattel is far too attached to the original canon that it should be. At least Hasbro manages to branch out with Transformers and My Little Pony.
Which is sorta silly considering how much the original canon is a mess. Really what they stick to is the cartoon canon but by the point the cartoon was made it was already sorta the third reboot of the “story” of MOTU . The pack in mini comics has their own story and the DC comics had another story.
I think we can safely assume all this to be true, especially the part about this new cartoon retroactively destroying a different cartoon.
Half of them are dead? When ,exactly do you think the original show aired 1880????And while She Ra was great , there’s nothing wrong with doing a more traditional show.
Makes sense. We lost 50 million people just at Woodstock 99′. The hype man for the Mighty Mighty Bosstones snapped his fingers and 50% of the Oregon Trail kids vanished in a scattering of dust.
Don’t forget all the late Gen X/Early Millenials we lost to the Hoobastank-demic
Those of us lucky enough to escape being eaten by Primus still had a gauntlet of challenges ahead of us; the bombing of the U.S.S. Rickie Lake, the Revolution X arcade cabinet singularity, two major Weezer outbreaks, a nationwide Surge Soda recall that remains in effect to this day, and a relentless series of Axe Body-Spray-related flamethrower incidents (always involving Mark Mcgrath, for some reason). In retrospect, things really went to shit quick when we sold 70% of all arable US farmland to Smashmouth. If only we’d understood how flimsy their farming knowledge really was. Their mousse-based hydroponic philosophies were, I think it’s fair to say now, fucking bullshit. I remember, my brother used to say that all the time, before his prolonged and haunting death due to mousse-related malnourishment.
Don’t you dare blame Dancing Guy for that.
Hey!(Checks age, multiplies by two … OK, you may have a point but …)HEY NOW LOOK HERE!
I don’t think that’s the thought process, but it certainly sounds like you’ve got a pretty narrow interpretation of what other people are allowed to be entertained by.
Why would half of them be dead?
Half of them are dead? When do you think the first He-Man aired? The 60s?Besides, why would you think that just because this has ties to the original, and isn’t just like She-Ra, it can’t find an audience with younger people? You just… wanted them to do She-Ra again?
Hey now, those of us born in the mid 70’s and grew up watching this in the 80’s are very much still alive.It’s not that terrible a thing to have this look like the classic era He-Man. I think the key difference will be the stories. The 2002 series was pretty good and told better stories than the 80’s original, there’s nothing to suggest that won’t be the case this time too.
I’m not gonna deny that this is meant to ride on nostalgia but the original OG fans are not half dead. You don’t die when you turn 40
Half of the fans are dead? How old do you think He-Man is?
Wow, this looks awful! I can’t wait to not watch it.
Consider me … underwhelmed. We’ll see, but the sorta-shitty animation doesn’t inspire confidence.
Sorta shitty? The animation looks solid to me
Wow, they got through the whole article without kicking Kevin Smith in the nuts for no reason.Well done.
Diedrich Bader also voiced Batman in Batman: The Brave and the Bold cartoon series, so they have at least two Batmen in the cast.
The plural is actually Batmans.
Bats-Man.
I had that landshark car! That and ManOfWar(ManAtWar?) were the only He-Man toys I had. I found the show scary til I was 6 or so.
The Landshark was awesome. The robot Horse He-Man is riding was shit, though.
Are you talking about Man-at-Arms?
I remember that horse. None of the legs moved.
Battle Cat was the same. So was Skeletor’s cat. One piece of plastic wearing removable armor. Me and my friends made sure to repeatedly inform our parents after finding out from a rich kid that we did not want green or purple cat at all. Not like the OG He-man and his crew and foes had much movement to them as it was.
I’ll probably watch this, I want to see how they rectify some of the outdated tiresome things in the OG (which I also really enjoyed watching as a kid) – like all the women characters having the same face, running in heels, etc.NGL though I wish Prince Adam was just He-Man in a pink shirt, I always found that funny.
So if this literally takes place decades after the original series, it would appear that He-Man has spent the entire time at the gym. I mean, he was ripped before, but now he looks absolutely massive.
check his hat size
Orko has been hooking him up with some pills made from the hormone glands of the ape creatures of the planet roid
What I appreciate is that they show Prince Adam’s naked torso as he transforms. (Add some chest hair and he’s way more my type than He-Man).
This isn’t interesting to adult me, but kid me would have been ecstatic over a He-Man cartoon where things actually happened.
Kid you sounds a lot more interesting than adult you.
I think that is what people who say “I love the old He-Man cartoon” forget. Every episode script was this “Hello new friend, let us travel to a new place on this new vehicle I have acquired to fight Skeletor and his new ally(who also came on a new vehicle)”.
You forgot to mention Liam Cunningham in the “Part he was born to play” as Man At Arms.
Maybe Langella is back, and he just doesn’t want his name on it. He pulled that with DS9.
I lost it when Bonnie Tyler kicked in! Can’t wait to watch this with my young cousins.
I’m 47 and just have to say……ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!Playing Bonnie Tyler made this way cooler than it had any right to be!
Bringing back Frank Langella would have been a masterstroke.
“Mark Hamill and Chris Wood voice Skeletor and He-Man, respectively…” “They got Alan Oppenheimer, the original Skeletor, back.” I’m confused. Also very excited for Griffin Newman as Orko.
There’s something so strange and offputting about seeing these character designs move dynamically, with weight and a sense of vitality to them. Especially moustache man, who I remember from the old show and I think a childhood friend of mine had the toy of him: if he doesn’t move all stiff and awkward, is this even a He-Man show?
Setting it to a Bonnie Tyler anthem is a nice nod to all the closeted gay boys who grew up with sticky He-Man posters hidden under our mattresses.
So… Mark Hamill just has the one voice?