Masters of the Universe
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- For other uses, see Masters of the Universe (disambiguation).
Masters of the Universe is the collective name of the popular toy series by Mattel, featuring characters such as He-Man and Skeletor. Since its initial launch in 1981 it has led to numerous spin-offs, including four animated series and a film. Designer Roger Sweet claims to be the chief creator of He-Man and MOTU, although this is not officially acknowledged by Mattel.
[edit] Characters
[edit] Versions of He-Man and spin-offs
As with many toy franchises which have been transferred to several different media there are a number of story differences between the various versions of Masters of the Universe. Complicating matters further, several mediums have made implicit attempts to change details to realign with other versions, with the result that internal discontinuities arise.
[edit] Mineternia: the original minicomics (1981-1983)
All the toys came with minicomics that sought to tell stories involving the characters.
In the earliest comics, He-Man is a wandering barbarian in Eternia, a world dealing with the aftermath of a Great War that has devastated the civilizations that once reigned, but has left behind fantastical machinery and weapons. The events of the Great War allowed a rift to open between dimensions, which has allowed the evil warlord Skeletor entry to Eternia, and he has now set his sights on the ancient Castle Grayskull, the 'fortress of mystery and power'. Whoever attains control of Grayskull will gain the power to become Master of the Universe. To prevent Skeletor from achieving his goal, He-Man has been given special powers and weapons by The Sorceress (often referred to as 'The Goddess' in early stories) and sets out to defend the castle from Skeletor. He-Man is supported by several heroic allies, such as Man-At-Arms, the Eternian master of weapons, and Teela, the adopted daughter of the latter. Skeletor has managed to find one half of the Power Sword, a great weapon which is itself the key to Castle Grayskull. He-Man has been given the other half by The Sorceress, and must prevent Skeletor from linking the two halves to gain access to the castle. To distinguish them from the TV cartoon-influenced minicomics that would follow, this first version of Eternia would later be dubbed 'Mini-eternia' or Mineternia.
[edit] The DC Comics (1982-3)
Shortly after the end of the toy line, DC Comics began publishing a MOTU comic series, which made several adjustments to the story. These comics established the existence of the kingdom of Eternia, ruled over by King Randor (called King Miro in early appearances) and Queen Marlena. In this comic series, He-Man now has a secret identity- his true identity is Prince Adam, the son of Eternia's rulers. Prince Adam has been chosen by The Sorceress to be given the powers to turn into He-Man and take on the role of Eternia's defender. His identity is kept a secret from all but The Sorceress and Man-At-Arms. The characters of MOTU were introduced in DC Comics Presents #47 in which Superman is transported to Eternia where he teams up with He-Man; later returning for a second adventure.
Although the characters of Prince Adam, Randor and Marlena were introduced to the public in the DC comic series, they are often believed to be the creations of Filmation studios, as the Filmation staff were already at work on developments for the upcoming cartoon series at the time the comics were published.
[edit] Cartoon series (1983-1985)
Main article: He-Man and the Masters of the Universe
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, produced by Filmation, made its television debut in 1983.
Eternia is ruled by King Randor and Queen Marlena. Their son is Prince Adam, a cowardly blond muscleman dressed in a Cote d'Azur chemise. However, Prince Adam possesses a magic sword, and when he holds it aloft and says the magic words "By the Power of Grayskull! I have the Power!" he is transformed into He-Man, the most powerful man in the universe. He-Man is a brave blond muscleman in a baldric and loincloth.
Most episodes are about Skeletor's repeated attempts and failures to enter Castle Grayskull. He-Man invariably defeats these attempts. Although similar in respects to the version of the story presented by the DC Comics, Filmation focused more on the lighter, humorous elements of the story rather than the violent ones, in order to render it more suitable for a children's audience. A new character was also introduced in the form of Orko, a small alien magician who shares Prince Adam's secret and provides the comic relief for most episodes.
Despite the limited animation techniques that were used to produce the series, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe was notable for breaking the boundaries of censorship that had severely restricted the narrative scope of children's TV programming in the 1970s. For the first time in years, a cartoon series could feature a muscular superhero who was actually allowed to hit people, though he still couldn't use his sword often. The cartoon was controversial in that it was produced in connection with marketing a line of toys; advertising to children was itself controversial during this period. In Britain, advertising regulations forbade commercials for He-Man toys to accompany the program itself (either before or after the episode, as there were no in-show commercials). In similar fashion to other shows at the time (notably G.I. Joe), an attempt to mitigate the negative publicity generated by this controversy was made by including a "life lesson" or "moral of the story" at the end of each episode. This moral was usually directly tied to the action or central theme of that episode.
The cartoon series was also remarkable because it was one of the first animated series produced directly for syndication, as opposed to most other syndicated cartoons of the time which were re-runs of old Saturday morning cartoons. The most notable production fact of the series was that it was the very first of many animated series where a bulk quantity of 65 episodes were produced so that the series could be stripped across 13 weeks.
It is also noted for featuring early script-writing work from later Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski, and Paul Dini of the 90s Batman-fame. One episode, "Battlecat", was written by Star Trek's D.C. Fontana.
The middle years of the Mattel minicomics adopted the same scenario as the animated series, and even adapted some stories for the comic form.
[edit] She-Ra (1985)
Mattel and Filmation decided in 1985 to diversify the Masters of the Universe line beyond its traditional realm of "male action" in the hopes of bringing in a young female audience as well. Thus, Mattel created the new line Princess of Power and invented She-Ra as its feminine warrior-woman heroine. The toyline featured almost exclusively female characters, all of whom featured an emphasis on hair and clothing, with "real" hair and partially-softgoods costumes. Essentially, the line attempted to fuse the appeal of Masters of the Universe with Mattel's most long-standing success, Barbie.
Filmation then had the task of revealing that Prince Adam (He-Man) had a twin sister, Princess Adora, who was first introduced in the animated feature The Secret of the Sword. This film was a compilation of the first five episodes of the new She-Ra television series, which ran for 93 episodes from 1985 to 1986, and was produced in lieu of continuing He-Man and the Masters of the Universe series for a third year. He-Man often appeared in special crossover episodes of She-Ra to aid his sister.
Just as Prince Adam transformed into He-Man with the use of his Sword of Power, Adora transformed into She-Ra via her Sword of Protection, a replica of He-Man's sword featuring a smooth white gem in its hilt. Adora's transformation into She-Ra is similarly triggered by holding her sword over her head, and by uttering her own unique invocation; "For the Honor of Grayskull... I am She-Ra!". Unlike He-Man's sword, however, She-Ra's possessed the ability to actually transform into different weapons and accessories, such as a lasso, a shield or a flaming blade.
She-Ra lives on the world of Etheria, which is dominated by the Evil Horde, and she fights to free her planet from its tyrannical ruler Hordak. Hordak and the Evil Horde were originally created in the MOTU toyline as a second evil force who were after both He-Man and Skeletor, and debuted in Mattel's minicomics as such. However, given that the He-Man series had been cancelled to allow Filmation to concentrate on She-Ra, Filmation decided to reassign Hordak and the Horde as the main villains of the She-Ra series to give the characters exposure. The character of Catra, the only villain in the first wave of She-Ra toys, was therefore made a member of the Horde. Thus, the dynamic of the She-Ra series was the reverse of that of the He-Man cartoon, whereby the heroes are actually Rebels countering an evil establishment, which also bears some resemblance to the premise of the classic Star Wars films.
[edit] Marvel Star comic series
In 1986, Marvel Comics debuted a Masters of the Universe title under their relatively short-lived “Star” imprint, a line aimed at younger children, primarily featuring other licensed properties such as ALF. The Star Masters title lasted only 13 issues and opened with a new version of the introduction of Hordak and the Evil Horde in a story which contains marked similarities of character emphasis and key visuals to some of the last few episodes of the 2002 Mike Young Productions animated series, possibly even serving as an inspiration.
As the series progressed it generally focused on spotlighting latter-day characters and vehicles which had been released as toys after the completion of the Filmation animated series. In general, the comic had a tendency to follow the characterisation and vague continuity of the Filmation cartoon, whilst depicting the characters as more accurate representations of the toys themselves, for example showing Teela in her snake armour (never worn in the cartoon) and presenting the Fright Zone and Snake Mountain with their distinctive playset designs (which bore no resemblance to their onscreen appearances).
Although rarely regarded amongst Masters fandom as a favourite incarnation of the mythos, the last few issus of the Star comic series did provide a few ambitious stories in which character motivation and moral issues were explored. Issue #11's "Whose Enemy Am I Anyway?" involved He-Man and Hordak being shanghaied to another world where, due to mutual amnesia, they become comrades, providing a dilemma as to how to deal with this new relationship when their memories are eventually restored.
A particularly noteworthy two-part story "Life-Time" in the final two issues (#s 12 and 13) used a time-travel device and a similar premise to It's a Wonderful Life in which Prince Adam questions the further necessity for He-Man’s existence and gets a rude shock when his musings are suddenly put to the test. When his Power Sword is accidentally transported a decade into the future, Adam travels through time to retrieve it, only to find himself in a resulting timeline in which, deprived of the sword and thus the ability to turn into He-Man, Adam's older self has been unable to stop Skeletor from finally conquering Eternia. This dystopic near-future story contained paraphrases of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, cast an orphaned Teela as the new Sorceress and leader of the resistance, depicted the destruction of Castle Grayskull and included a surprisingly harsh scene (for a Star comic) in which Adam finds his desolate and maltreated parents shackled in a dungeon.
The Star line also included a double-length oneshot adaptation of the 1987 Masters of the Universe live-action film. Curiously, the comic portrayed all the pre-existing characters other than Beast-Man with their traditional toy/cartoon appearances rather than the film’s heavily redesigned ones. Adapted from an earlier script draft of the movie, it also featured some departures from the movie such as the final battle between He-Man and Skeletor taking place high atop Grayskull’s battlements rather than deep in its bowels, as well as a moment where He-Man offers his hand to his falling nemesis (in this version directly betrayed by Evil-Lyn) who spurns the offer, preferring to plummet to his apparent doom. Most significant of all is a peculiar coda not present in the film, in which relics of two flags are discovered in the caverns of Grayskull; an American flag and one from NASA which bears the words "Starfinder 5. July 10, 2221." In a wholly unique twist to all other versions of MOTU continuity, this film adaptation suggests that Eternian humans are descended from the crew of a (possibly stranded) American space mission from the far future. It is notable however that in an episode from the Filmation series it is said that The Queen (He-Man's mother) came from Earth and crash landed on Eternia.
[edit] Later minicomics (1985-1987)
Beginning with the introduction of Hordak the mini-comics began to diverge in someways from the scenario shown in the She-Ra animated series (the animated He-Man was now out of production). Whereas in the cartoons many new Masters toys would now appear as based in an Etheria under the rule of Hordak with a resistance headed by Adora/She-Ra, the mini-comics stayed primarily on Eternia. Etheria only appeared as Hordak's main base of operations.
Many years earlier Hordak had been overthrown by his minion Skeletor and banished from Eternia. He now returned, accompanied by his minions the Evil Horde, and sought to conquer the planet. Occasionally allying with Skeletor, though more commonly seeking to destroy him as well, Hordak met repeated opposition from He-Man.
An even more dramatic addition to the legends of Eternia came in the mini-comic King of the Snakemen. In this Skeletor discovered a pool of energy buried in Snake Mountain which contained the ancient emperor King Hiss. Hiss revealed he had conquered many planets before invading Eternia. Large parts of the planet had fallen to the Snakemen before they were defeated by the "Council of the Elders" and banished to another dimension. Hiss now sought to recover his fellow Snakemen and bring vengeance to Eternia.
Further details of Eternia's ancient past would be revealed in subsequent mini-comics. The most dramatic revelations surrounded the "Three Towers" - Grayskull Tower, "a symbol of goodness", Viper Tower, "a symbol of all that is evil", and Central Tower, holding the "ultimate power". This giant structure was raised from underground by Hiss and Skeletor and became the focal point for further adventures as He-Man sought to prevent both villains, and also Hordak, from acquiring the secrets of the towers. In the process a series of fascinating discoveries were made.
Hordak recognised the towers and claimed to have helped build Central Tower, though little further was discovered. The return of the Towers also enhanced the Sorceress' magic and she was able to help King Randor to search to discover what had happened to his long-lost brother Keldor. Skeletor was determined to stop this search, claiming "that knowledge could destroy me". It was strongly hinted, but not confirmed, that Keldor had become Skeletor.
But the most astounding revelations came when the Sorceress took He-Man through a time portal to visit Eternia's ancient past...
[edit] The Powers of Grayskull
The distant past of Eternia, dubbed "Preternia", was to form the basis of the next incarnation of the toyline, entitled The Powers of Grayskull. However the toyline was axed very early on, with only a few toys released.
The main story information originates from the very last mini-comic The Powers of Grayskull - The Legend Begins! (intended as the first of a three-parter, however only this issue appeared), supported by snippets of information on some of the toy packaging.
Ancient Eternia was populated by many creatures, including cybernetic dinosaurs and giants. When the Sorceress and He-Man arrived, followed by Skeletor, they found King Hiss leading a Snakemen attack on a village in the hope of drawing out "the Elders", using some of the cybernetic dinosaurs to their advantage. Hiss served an "unnamed one" and agreed to unite with Skeletor on the basis that he might be an emissary. Seeing Skeletor's interference, the Sorceress allowed He-Man to enter the battle but "for reasons that will be made clear to you in the future" he had to be disguised. He found himself overwhelmed, but then a shadowy figure appeared who turned the odds with a powerful wand. The stranger then sent the Snakemen back to their base and all the time travellers home. The Sorceress described the intervener as "the Greatest Sorcerer of all" and He-Man was left asking "But who is he?"
No further story information was given, and it remains unclear how the giants mentioned and released as toys would fit into the story. However some marketing press releases and prototypes have shed further information.
The wizard was He-Ro, an ancestor of He-Man. Raised by his mentor Eldor and discovering special powers in a cave, He-Ro would have led the fight against the Snake Men.
According to the mini-comics' writers it was intended that the central antagonist would be Keldor, a character revealed similarly late in the line to have been He-Man's uncle and also strongly hinted to have been the former identity of Skeletor. Whether or not Keldor was also supposed to be the "Unnamed One" Hiss served was not clear, although in a he-man.org interview writer Steven Grant vaguely recalls that the intention was that the Unnamed One would be a greater evil who, as the Emperor was to Darth Vader, was intended to be the one who caused Keldor to become Skeletor.[1]
Little further of the back story was developed, though many fans have produced their own theories and continuations. A Fan's take on the concept is currently being released as an audio drama podcast titled "The Powers Of Preternia"
[edit] Live action movie (1987)
In 1987, a live action He-Man film was made by Cannon Films entitled Masters of the Universe. The release date in the USA was August 7, 1987. The film starred Dolph Lundgren in the title role of He-Man, Frank Langella as Skeletor, with Courteney Cox and future Star Trek: Voyager actor Robert Duncan McNeill in early supporting roles. The only other characters from the original cartoon to appear in the film were Evil Lyn (Meg Foster), Man-At-Arms (Jon Cypher), his daughter Teela (Chelsea Field), Beast Man (Tony Carroll), and the Sorceress (Christina Pickles). The character Gwildor (Billy Barty) was included, apparently in place of Orko.
In the movie, Skeletor has finally conquered Eternia after stealing the Cosmic Key from the locksmith Gwildor, which has allowed him to gain entry to Castle Grayskull. He has now imprisoned The Sorceress within an energy-draining field and her powers are being transferred to him. In an attempt to rescue The Sorceress, the heroes He-Man, Man-At-Arms, Teela and Gwildor are accidentally transported to Earth by the Cosmic Key. Stranded on Earth, they are faced with the task of recovering the Cosmic Key and getting back to Eternia before Skeletor can gain the power of Grayskull, but Skeletor sends his minions to Earth with the mission of beating them to the Cosmic Key, and chaos ensues as the war between good and evil is transferred to Earth.
The film was largely a disappointment both commercially and critically. Numerous parts of the previously-accepted history of the series are ignored in the film, including all references to Prince Adam, as well as Randor and Marlena- in fact it is implied that Castle Grayskull itself is the ruling point of Eternia rather than any royal city. The story concentrates more on the science fiction elements of the franchise rather than the fantasy. Aside from The Sorceress there is little reference to magic powers, with most of the characters relying instead on futuristic technology. even He-Man himself uses a gun in some scenes, and there is no direct indication that he has any superhuman powers or that his strength comes from Grayskull. However, although many feel that the movie may not have been particularly faithful to its source, it remains fairly popular among He-Man's fan community, although unsurprisingly it is usually disregarded from the fans' meta-text.
Some fans, however, counter with the observation that many of these apparent inconsistencies with the "main" cartoon/minicomic canon could be easily be explained by interpreting the film as simply being set some time after the events of the regular canon. Apart from obvious inconsistencies of design (all the character's costumes and especially the Power Sword and Castle Greyskull), there is little in the film which is wholly unreconcilable with the cartoon & minicomics. There is virtually no material in the film which directly contradicts past canon; rather there are merely few references to it.
This theory points to the fact that at the start of the film Skeletor has already conquered Greyskull (and much of Eternia), which could easily explain the absence of many classic characters such as King Randor, Orko etc. Such characters can easily be supposed to have been captured, killed or driven into hiding prior to the start of the film. More importantly, this argument maintains that the lack of a depiction of (or even references to) Prince Adam does not by any means preclude his existence, and some would argue that under the drastic circumstances of the film's plot He-Man would have no time or reason to adopt his secret identity.
Furthermore, while Skeletor's Stormtrooper-esque legions admittedly had no previous depiction in the MOTU-verse and although their origin or precise nature are not divulged, the very existence of such an army makes Skeletor's unprecedented victory all the more plausible. Also, such a shift in the nature of the conflict could well explain the Heroic Warriors' own escalated use of high-tech weaponry, which was, after all, always an element of classic MOTU, going right back to the earliest toys. Given the vague similarity between the filmic Skeletor's black-armoured soldiers and Hordak's robot Horde Troopers (in particular supported by the fact that when stabbed or shot these soldiers give off sparks and occasionally explode, suggesting a robotic nature), some have even speculated that Skeletor's rise in martial prowess could possibly be accounted for by his having defeated his former teacher and rival at an earlier point and, as a result, taken control of his Horde armies.
A sequel to the film was written, but by 1989 the He-Man franchise was no longer popular and the script was transformed into the action film Cyborg (now starring Jean-Claude Van Damme and having two unpopular sequels). A new He-Man movie has been rumored as being in development, with John Woo considered as director, and Jason Lewis linked to play He-Man. However, at this stage the project has not yet been green-lit and information remains largely consigned to rumor.
[edit] Jack Kirby's Fourth World Connection
Some section of MOTU fandom expresses suspicions as to why, with such a plethora of characters available from the Masters of the Universe toy line, were new characters such as Blade added. The obvious answer is that new characters were created that could be licensed as new toys, which they were. [citation needed] However, a small number of fans controversially believe that the Masters movie is actually derivative of "Jack Kirby's Fourth World", featuring characters now found in the DC Comics Universe: Orion (He-Man), Kalibak (Beast Man), Kanto (Blade), and Darkseid (Skeletor). Cross-dimensional travel from Eternia to Earth is via a concept identical to the classic Boom Tube. There are many additional parallels to be drawn from the Fourth World source material to the characters in the film than from the He-Man material.
This viewpoint is chiefly in response to comments made in issue #497 of Comic Shop News by comic book writer/artist John Byrne who said, "The best New Gods movie, IMHO, is ´Masters of the Universe´. I even corresponded with the director, who told me this was his intent, and that he had tried to get [Jack] Kirby to do the production designs, but the studio nixed it."
"Check it out. It requires some bending and an occasional sex change (Metron becomes an ugly dwarf, The Highfather becomes the Sorceress), but it's an amazingly close analog, otherwise. And Frank Langella's Skeletor is a dandy Darkseid!"
However, director Gary Goddard provided a commentary track for the film's DVD release which makes no such claim regarding any intent to produce a covert New Gods adaptation.
[edit] The New Adventures of He-Man (1989-1991)
In 1989, two years after the financially disastrous ending of the original Masters of the Universe product line, a second He-Man animated series titled The New Adventures of He-Man, was produced by DiC to promote Mattel's short-lived attempt to revive the MOTU brand with a new toyline, more simply titled "He Man".
The new series was radically different to the original fantasy-oriented milieu, shifting to an almost purely science fiction setting which saw both He-Man and Skeletor transported to the futuristic planet of Primus ruled by Master Sebrian. As He-Man led the Galactic Guardians, Skeletor formed an alliance with Flogg and the Mutants. The new series contained clear continuity links to the original Masters of the Universe, and was clearly intended as a continuation of the existing mythology. The depiction of Skeletor was particularly noteworthy, as it deviated quite significantly from the characterisation established in the original Filmation series.
Other than He-Man and Skeletor, only The Sorceress of Castle Grayskull made regular appearances out of the characters in the original cartoon. In the new series, The Sorceress acts as a guide to He-Man. Several other characters were featured in the pilot episode, including King Randor and Queen Marlena, who learned of the dual identity of Prince Adam and He-Man in the pilot episode.
Neither the New Adventures animated series or toyline were nearly as popular as the originals, lasting only sixty-five episodes and a few waves of action figures. The majority of the cartoon episodes were written by Jack Olesker, resulting in a tight continuity which was almost entirely lacking in the earlier Filmation series. Although New Adventures remains one of the least well-known chapters in the MOTU mythos, it is nevertheless praised by some fans as having been underrated, praising its uniquely sophisticated continuity.
A list of the characters can be found in He-Man Character Guide.
[edit] He-Man and the Masters of the Universe 2002 toyline and cartoon series
In 2002, a new He-Man and the Masters of the Universe series was produced and aired by Cartoon Network in tandem with the release of the new wave of Mattel toys designed by the Four Horsemen. The new toyline was made surprisingly faithful to the original line, with the characters gently "re-imagined" and updated in terms of sculpting detail rather than radically reinterpreted.
Some characters were marginally more redesigned than others (such as adding explicitly cybernetic elements to Tri-Klops and a huge, hunchbacked physique to Beast-Man), while many retained almost exactly the same basic designs (including Skeletor and especially Ram-Man) with merely more detailed and "mature" sculpts. Most redesigns simply involved making certain elements slightly more hyperbolic, such as Trap-Jaw's enlarged steampunk arm design. Another distinct improvement of the new toyline was that each figure (of a distinct character) was given a unique sculpt, whereas the original 1980s toys re-used the same three torso and arm/leg moulds for almost all figures and even recycled weapons and armour amongst later characters.
Although the new 6-inch figures were slighly larger than the originals they incorporated a very similar design philosophy of minimal articulation (by modern standards) and a "battle-ready" stance, although the new figures did include additional discreet angle-joints to allow for wrist articulation, as well as double-jointed shoulder and hip joints for greater posability. Most figures included homages to the original action features of their 1980s counterparts, such as Man-E-Faces' rotating visage or Kobra Khan's water-squirting action, as well as redesigns of their classic weapons. One point of contention for many fans of the original Masters toyline was the otherwise uncharacteristically extreme redesign of He-Man's Power Sword. Instead of the elegant classic design He-Man now wielded an enormous anime-influenced mecha blade which many fans found ugly and inappropriate. According to the Four Horsemen, this was due to their original re-sculpts being intended for a continuation of the original storyline in which Skeletor had obtained both halves of the Power Sword (hence the new Skeletor figure's dual blades), neccessitating a new sword to be built by Man-At-Arms and endowed with the properties of the original by the Sorceress. However, Mattel decreed that they wished to reboot the continuity for a new generation of children, and thus the "new" Power Sword design became the "original" version for the new continuity.[2]
The toyline was ultimately short-lived, lasting less than three years. Many fans and market commentators believe that the line's failure was twofold: an excessive focus on attempting to mass-market the line to a new generation of children rather than focusing on a safer collector-based approach (akin to DC Direct); and instead of consistently releasing new characters Mattel massively over-produced gratuitous recolours of already-released figures (mainly an excessive number of variant "gimmick" versions of He-Man and Skeletor), thus glutting the market with unwanted product. Jeremy Padawer, former head of Mattel marketing for the He-Man line and now the head of Entertainment Marketing at Jakks Pacific, managed the toy relaunch.
Since the discontinuation of the toyline, NECA toys has taken the unprecedented step of continuing the toyline through the use of action figure sized mini-statues scaled and sculpted to be aesthetically compatible for display alongside the Mattel toys, thus allowing fans to fill out their collections with other Four Horsemen redesigned characters that had yet to be produced as figures when the toyline was cancelled. According to a December 8th, 2005 interview with a Mattel representative on he-man.org, NECA offered to produce fully-articulated action figures for Mattel without taking any credit, but permission was denied nevertheless. Instead, NECA was only permitted to produce nonarticulated statues.[3]
The new animated series was produced by Mike Young Productions and lasted 39 episodes and involved much tighter continuity and a somewhat greater depth of characterisation than its Filmation predecessor. It is particularly noteworthy for cementing the fact that Keldor and Skeletor are the same person (though making no connection between Keldor and Randor), showing Skeletor without his cowl(a floating skull, no neck), and the first animated appearances of Stinkor, King Hiss and the Snake Men. It was also revealed that Evil-Lyn's father is a powerful sorcerer known as The Faceless One.
Later episodes of this series were retitled Masters of the Universe Vs The Snake-Men, and sidelined Skeletor as chief villain in favor of King Hiss, leader of the reptilian Snake-Men. Hordak and The Evil Horde were to be the main antagonist for the third season if the show had continued.
The 2002 series was considerably more developed than previous incarnations, fleshing out a far more coherent history of Eternia. One episode, "The Power of Grayskull", goes into detail about Castle Grayskull's past, revealing it originally belonged to a barbarian hero named King Grayskull (from whom He-Man derives his powers, thus retconning the phrase "By the Power of Grayskull..." to refer to the king, not the castle), as well as revealing a considerably different background for Hordak, Skeletor's mentor. There were also several major alterations in character from the original series: Adam and Teela, for example, were reconcieved as squabbling 16 year-olds (although some fans insist that this was also the age of the classic characters, despite their mature appearances), whilst King Randor was transformed into a far more diplomatically pro-active warrior-king, rather than the amiable but stern-faced cipher of old. Queen Marlena no longer was clearly stated to have been a stranded astronaut from Earth. Additionally, Teela was redesigned as being much leaner than her previous incarnation, though her basic character outline remained the same along with her long-standing, unspoken and unconsummated crush on He-Man.
In addition, the physical transformation when Adam becomes He-Man is far more pronounced than in the original series, making it more plausible as to how no one notes a resemblance between Adam and He-Man. (As Adam, he is reasonably fit but nowhere near as tall, muscular or adult as He-Man, in a transition more reminiscent of Shazam's Captain Marvel). (By odd coincidence, a shortlived Captain Marvel cartoon was made by Filmation, the same company that made the first He-Man cartoon.)) Also, in this version, Cringer (Battle Cat) does not talk or display near-human intelligence as he did in the Filmation cartoon, - here he simply meows when in Cringer's form, and roars when in Battle Cat's. Interestingly, He-Man's forebear King Grayskull (who looked like an older, even more outrageously muscular version of He-Man in a nearly identical costume) was depicted as riding an enormous steed similar to Battle Cat. However, instead of being a green tiger, Grayskull's mount was a colossal green lion.
Man-At-Arms was recast as a sterner, more authoritarian figure with an explicitly military position as the head of the armed forces of Eternos, thus becoming something of a General, and clearly second-in-command to King Randor. This was in sharp contrast to the more avuncular figure in the Filmation series whose place in the military hierarchy was vague compared to his primary role as court inventor. Although the technological emphasis in the new series was not strictly any stronger than in the original, the scale and application of high-tech in the MYP series is much greater. Although still retaining significant fantasy/barbarian elements, the new series displayed Eternos using vast factories to mass-produce fleets of vehicles like Dragon Walkers and Windraiders (of which only single prototypes existed in the original), as well as sundry robots and high-tech prisons.
The transformation of Adam and Teela into bickering late teens lent an element of caustic humour (usually Teela complaining about Adam's uselessness), but reduces the strong female presence of the original series. While Teela holds a high position within the MOTU in the 2002 series, she appears considerably reduced from the animal-sensate 'warrior goddess' of the original. However, much of this is counterbalanced by the new version of Evil-Lyn. The 2002 series makes it quite clear that, in He-Man's own words, she is 'Skeletor's most powerful lieutenant.'
The series also featured a background story for Skeletor. It was revealed that originally he was Keldor, an evil blue-skinned man who dabbled in dark magic, apparently worshipping the banished Horde leader, Hordak. He attacked the Hall of Wisdom where the council of Elders dwelt, intent on usurping the Elders' power for himself, and Captain Randor was summoned to defend the Hall. After an attempt to throw acid on Randor's face, Randor deflected the acid onto Keldor himself, badly disfiguring him. In desperation, the dying Keldor had Evil-Lyn take him to a temple where he could summon Hordak. Hordak saved his life and turned him into Skeletor, upon the agreement that Skeletor would free him from the dimension of Despondos- a promise Skeletor neglected to keep.
[edit] He-Man outside the United States
In the UK He-Man was shown on the ITV network in their recently-devoloped CITV strand, being first broadcast on the very same day as the U.S. debut of the show, September 5 1983. The episodes were occasionally edited which has resulted in some confusion in the series' fan-base, as sometimes entire scenes (such as in the case of "The Beastly Sideshow" and "Quest for He-Man) were omitted (ironically the same phenomena occurred in the US with certain title-cards when the series was put out on VHS). Also in the UK, ITV was forbidden from airing MOTU toy-commercials along with the cartoon. ITV were the only terrestrial channel in the UK to show MOTU and started showing it in September 1983, finally stopping in the summer of 1990. For a relatively brief time, He-Man was also shown on the satellite TV channel The Children's Channel.
He-Man was also dubbed in to a number of languages. While most were slavish translations of the original a few are worth of special notice:
- In France He-Man is known as "Musclor", however the show's theme song was not altered and so the back-up singers still chant "He-Man" in the opening and during the cartoon. The French opening also lacks the translated yell of the intro sequence "and the Masters of the Universe" which was included in almost all other dubs (the Danish and Swedish dubs were also missing the additional title-chant). Originally no episodes featuring Skeletor appeared in France, which included the majority of the first season of the original cartoon, as the concept of a villain with a skull face was considered too horrific for children.
- Germany actually had two different dubs, one for Television and a second for the VHS release. However both versions use the same intro sequence chant "He-Man und die Meister des Universums" although He-Man's voice in the VHS version sounds nothing like the one from the TV dub. The German dub is also notable since it's the only intro which explicitly calls the Sorceress by the name "Zoar" (which more properly is the name of her falcon form). Also the German dub is the only one where Cringer's whimping was re-recorded.
- The Italian dub is the only one to have a unique laughter for Skeletor. However the new laughter was mixed with the old one rather than being dubbed over and the old laughter can still be heard in the opening. She-Ra is sometimes called Sheila.
- The Hispanic American version had the entire theme-song re-recorded with added lyrics. Also rather than saying the Spanish equivalent to He-Man catch-phrase "I have the power" (during the transformation-sequence) He-Man clearly says "Yo soy He-Man" (I am He-Man). This is unintentionally similar to the opening of "She-Ra" where she also says "Yo soy She-Ra" (I am She-Ra) rather than "I have the power". During the episodes, however, He-Man says "Ya tengo el poder" (I already have the power).
- In Finland the few series (such as 89-91 -series) were partially dubbed and all versions of it (home- and rental-videos and aired episodes) had sub-titles.
[edit] MOTU references in popular culture
- In the 1988 film Big, Tom Hanks' child-in-a-man's-body character is given a job as a product tester of toys. In one short scene he is seen playing with numerous MOTU toys, notably flapping the wings of Zoar, the falcon.
- In Tom Wolfe's 1987 novel The Bonfire of the Vanities, the protagonist Sherman McCoy, played by Tom Hanks in the movie version, identifies himself (a highly-paid bond trader) as a Master of the Universe after seeing a child playing with a MOTU toy. As a result, the phrase "Master of the Universe" was briefly popular as a pejorative name for any young and wealthy financier.
- In the 1989 film Ghostbusters II, two of the Ghostbusters, reduced to making an appearance at a children's birthday party, attempt to perform a routine to their theme song only to have it end with the children chanting for He-Man instead.
- In the 1995 film Death Machine Jack Dante (played by Brad Dourif) has a wide range of deformed puppets scattered all over his lab, among them several MOTU toys.
- In the '80s, the beloved Australian sketch show The Comedy Company featured a short-lived "runner" segment in which two actors portrayed He-Man and Barbie. However, they were not playing the characters per se, but rather copies of the actual toys themselves, who come to life when the children who own them were not around. Most sketches revolved around He-Man trying to take Barbie on a date. In one particular sketch, He-Man appears disheveled and covered in grass, explaining that his owner's Mum ran him over with the lawn mower. When Barbie asks what happened to Skeletor, He-Man looks askance and emotionally declares that "the dog got him."
- In the '80s (German) documentary of Edgar Lück Monster im Kinderzimmer (monsters in the nursery) MOTU toys (beside other action figures of its time like Transformers) are shown and explored by interviewing kids, a sociologist, a philosopher and a collector (running time of the documentary is about half an hour).
- On one skit on Saturday Night Live, Will Ferrell played a husband who always said inappropriate things to get his wife off of the phone. One of the things he said was “I am Skeletor, Spawn of the Hellbeast! Hang up the phone and pay homage to my awful power!” On another occasion SNL featured a mock historic recap of twentieth century events that never happened. One of these events was Mark Twain and “Skeletor from He-Man” wining the “Battle of Dublin.” Skeletor has also been similarly referenced on other comedy programs such as Late Night with Conan O’Brien and The Simpsons', in which Mr. Burns was referred to as that in the episodes Monty Can't Buy Me Love and The Blunder Years.
- In the 2002 film Ali G Indahouse British comic personality Ali G (Sasha Baron Cohen) attempts to rally support over the radio to assist him in taking down the film's villain, Deputy Prime Minister David Carlton (Charles Dance), who, he attests, is "even more eviler than Skeletor."
- The 2002 film "Stark Raving Mad" features a scene where the main character, played by Seann William Scott, explains to his partner that the ancient Chinese statue that they are stealing, when combined with other statues will make whoever possesses the four stautes the master of the elements. His partner exclaims "Like He-Man," to which Scott states "No, He-Man was the Master of the Universe."
- Perhaps the most ridiculous comedic abuse of Skeletor is the music video produced by Bam Margera for his band’s album Gnarkill. This video features Brandon DiCamillo dressed as Skeletor and Beast-Man. The costumes and props are incredibly crude. For example Skeletor’s desk is a cardboard box with the words “Castle Grayskull” written on it. The video/song is effectively Skeletor and Beast-Man making rather graphic homoerotic and sadomasochistic overtures to one another in a musical style that bears passing resemblance to rap or hip hop. Despite the amateurish nature of the video and the rather out of character behaviour exhibited by Beast-Man and Skeletor, DiCamillo achieves a surprisingly accurate simulation of the voices and mannerisms of the two characters as they appeared on the Filmation series. Everything from Beast-Man's trademark grunt to Skeletor's use of the phrase "Furry Fool" is present.
- In an episode of Family Guy, "Brian the Bachelor," the producers pay homage to He-Man by recreating part of the opening sequence of MOTU where Adam changing to He-Man and Cringer changing to Battle Cat. The "I have the power" chant is voiced by John Erwin, the original voice of He-Man
- In the Irish TV sitcom Father Ted, the character of Father Dougal has a Masters of the Universe duvet on his bed.
- In an early episode of "MacGyver", the titular hero is shown to have, among his possessions, a Spydor. Spydor was an electronic walking mechanical spider vehicle created for the original toyline, but it did not appear in any of the animated series.
- The toy-centric series "Robot Chicken" is notorious for constantly using He-Man figures and characters in sketches. One notable sequence featured on the show cast Prince Adam as a security guard who causes a panic when he pulls out his sword to transform. Another segment shows Skeletor as the driver in a carpool with fellow 1980's toy line/animated series villains Cobra Commander and Mumm-Ra the Ever-Living, as well as perennial Superman foe Lex Luthor. The foursome are increasingly frustrated by the congested rush hour traffic's supposedly making them late for "work", culminating in their being cut off from their exit by their heroic counterparts in another vehicle; Skeletor also torments his companions by passing gas in the car, refusing to unlock the power windows and commanding the others in a triumphant voice to feel the power of "Skeletor's breakfast burrito". Skeletor later appeared in the season 2 episode "1987", this time trying to avoid a dental appointment with "Mo-Larr", the Eternian Dentist, who claims Skeletor has an impacted wisdom tooth that needs to be removed. Skeletor sends Beast-Man and Grizzlor to attack Mo-Larr, but are quickly defeated (Beast Man gets tied up with floss, while Grizzlor is stabbed in the eye with a dental drill.) Mo-Larr then tackles Skeletor to the ground and pulls out the (wrong) tooth.
- The 2005 album "What You Didn't Know When You Hired Me" by Swedish electro pop band Bondage Fairies ([4]) features the single "He-Man", a catchy song with Commodore 64 sounds and the lyrics: I want a sword like He-Man and a mullet hockey haircut.
- In the 1983 film Testament, the youngest child of the family can be seen playing with various MotU action figures during the early parts of the film. The youngest child also buries a Battle Cat figure in a cemetery early on in the film. The star of the film, Jane Alexander, can be seen picking up a He-Man figure in one scene.
- In Episode 10 of the internet television show Pure Pwnage, the main character Jeremy accuses the camera man Kyle of being immature and still playing with He-Man action figures. Kyle defends himself be saying that he uses the figures for blocking and lighting. The opening theme for the episode replaces the phrase "I am the Pwnage" with "I have the Power".
- Fast Forward, a BBC1 children's comedy sketch series of the mid 1980s, included a regular animated parody of MotU. One episode featured a memorable exchange in which a heroic character demands 'Why are you so evil?' of the evil Skeleton-Face. The villain replies: 'What do you expect from a cheap cartoon? Motivation?!' Round the Bend, another British children's sketch series of this period, paroided MotU as Wee-Man.
- Masters of the Universe figures, especially Skeletor, appear from time to time in episodes of Twisted Toyfare Theater. Due to the figures' scale being smaller than that of the Mego figures that populate the strip, the MOTU characters have a hard time intimidating Boss Hogg, much less the Hulk or Spidey. They do tower over Cobra Commander however.
[edit] Trivia
- Due to the budget-constraints by Filmation, the He-man cartoon only featured a voice-cast of four to five people (after Erika Scheimer joined the cast). Linda Gary single-handedly provided voices for nearly all female characters, but the bulk of the characters were voiced by the show's executive producer Lou Scheimer who in the earliest episodes went under the name Erik Gunden. He-man and Beastman were voiced by John Erwin and Skeletor by Alan Oppenheimer.
- A common misconception about the cartoon series is that it was cheap to produce, due to the small number of voice actors and heavy reliance on stock animation. In fact, the series was one of the more expensive 1980s animated series to produce, primarily due to the entire series production being handled in the U.S., rather than having the animation outsourced to another country.
- The 1980's Filmation cartoon owes much of its design and format to 1980-81 short lived animated series BlackStar which was also produced by Filmation. The planet Sagar of Blackstar was very similar to Eternia. Blackstar's starsword was one-half of the Powerstar, the Evil Overlord (voiced by Alan Oppenheimer) possessing the other half, the powersword. Though not referenced in the He-man cartoon, this is a parallel to the original conception of the MOTU universe where He-man and Skeletor possessed identical swords that each contained half of an ultimate power.
- In the 1980s cartoon Adam's mother, Queen Marlena, is in fact an astronaut from the planet Earth called Marlena Glenn (perhaps named for John Glenn), stranded on Eternia at some point following a mission failure. As such, Adam and Adora are half Terran, half Eternian. Marlena is presumably from our future, as the glimpses of her ship and equipment shown were more technologically advanced than current space technology.
- The character of Zodac was originally presented in the toy line as an "Evil Cosmic Enforcer" as per the blurb on his figure card. However in most of his appearances in the mini-comics and the cartoon he was clearly a "good guy" character where he was depicted as sort of an "interstellar policeman". The 2002 version of He-Man presented a Zodac who was neither evil, nor clearly good but somewhere comfortably in between with his own system of ethics and justice. The only occasions when he has been portrayed as evil were in an early DC Comics issue and in a 1986 Ladybird Book entitled He-Man and the Asteroid of Doom.
- Mattel created He-Man when they attempted to make an action-figure line based on the popular comic-book character Conan the Barbarian. However, the sexual and violent imagery of the comic was likely to give the toy-line the wrong image and so the main-character's hair was changed to blonde and he was given a new name. However, self-declared He-Man creator Roger Sweet claims that the influence of Conan was far more tangential.
- The toy line was initiated by Roger Sweet, who was to manage the line throughout its whole original run. The character of He-Man was given three different designs- one an old-fashioned style (barbarian), one a contemporary military man, and the third a futuristic spaceman. The barbarian design was the most popular, but the overall design was selected when a chief Mattel executive pointed to Sweet's prototype figures and declared "those have the power", a line which would become paraphrased by the Filmation cartoon as "I have the power!", He-Man's famous catchphrase.
- The original Man-at-arms action-figure did not have a moustache. It was added by Filmation to make the character appear older (a flashback in one of the episodes displays a young Man-at-arms without his moustache).
- What's interesting to see is that He-Man did manage to "recycle" some of Conan's bad guys. The original Thulsa Doom (not based on the movie) was a skull-faced sorcerer based on the Kull and Conan series seems to be the template of Skeletor and Snake Mountain interestingly would look like a place in Conan the Barbarian. Also King Hiss of He-Man resembles Thoth-Amon and the snake men resembe the servants of Set in Conan the Barbarian in the comics. Also in 2002 the summoning of Serpos could be compared to Conan the Adventurer when Wrath-Amon (based on Thoth-Amon) releases Set.
- Early promotional literature from Mattel referred to Skeletor and his followers as the "Masters of the Universe" and an early version of the opening title sequence for the 1980s incarnation also uses this description (and was used on the VHS version of the early episode "The Dragon Invasion"). However later literature and spin-offs use the term "Masters of the Universe" for He-Man and his allies. Series writer Robby London has commented that he noticed the change in description, and personally considers both sides, good and evil, to be the "Masters of the Universe".
- The original He-Man cartoon series and toy lines were exported to a number of European countries, and translated into German, Greek and French. In German and Greek, He-Man is still He-Man, but in French he becomes Musclor. The series was also dubbed to Spanish and known to be broadcasted in some Spanish speaking countries like Argentina,Republica de Colombia,Panamá, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Perú and México where it was very popular.
[edit] Mattel MOTU action figures of the 1980s
The action figures themselves were often repaints and head-swaps of existing characters, outfitted with different equipment; for example, Stinkor was originally a color-swap of Mer-Man wearing a re-colored version of Mekaneck's breastplate.
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[edit] See also
- He-Man
- Skeletor
- He-Man character guide
- He-Man vehicle guide
- List of He-Man Minicomics
- Eternia
- She-Ra
[edit] External links
- He-Man.org the most comprehensive MOTU fan site on the web
- MastersCast.com the first He-Man and She-Ra podcast
- Encyclopedia-Obscura.com article on the first volume of the initial minicomics series
- reviews of the 2002 toy and 2005 statue series
- The Pre-Classic Minicomics scans of the seven most important, pre-toon minicomics available to read online or download
