He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (2002)
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He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (2002) was a modern revival of the classic 1980s series of the same name, animated by Mike Young Productions, produced to coincide with Mattel and its revival of the Masters of the Universe franchise eleven years after its previous attempt. It aired on Cartoon Network.
Unlike the last He-Man series, set in the distant future with extreme liberties taken (The New Adventures of He-Man), this version sought to return to the roots of the storyline and provide broader explorations never reached in the first series, including origins for each character, and some first time animated debuts of familiar toyline faces. The series also brought back a few of the classic franchise writers, such as Larry DiTillio. Also, for the first season, new Public Service Announcements, the first seen since the end of each episode of the original series, were included.
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[edit] Series Overview
[edit] Season 1
Planet Eternia has seen the end of tyranny and evil. Its community lives in peace, safe in the knowledge that its greatest threats are trapped behind the great barrier in the badlands near Snake Mountain. But little do they suspect of the danger to awaken, for Skeletor has broken through the barrier at last, and hopes to spread his bane once more, beginning with the capture of King Randor. Their liberation is detected within Castle Grayskull by The Sorceress, who informs Man-At-Arms, captain of the guards within Randor's kingdom and a trustworthy ally, that the time has come for destiny to be fulfilled.
Prince Adam, a spoiled almost care free future heir to the throne of his father Randor, is trained daily by the unrelenting Teela, his best friend. Adam is approached by Teela's father, Man-At-Arms, who takes Adam to Castle Grayskull. There, Adam learns from The Sorceress of an approaching evil and his role in defending the kingdom as the warrior He-Man. Adam, of course, instantly rebuffs the responsibility and returns to the palace, where he finds that Skeletor's forces have unfortunately struck, and have captured his father.
Adam, Man-At-Arms, and Teela pursue Randor's kidnappers into the forests, where they are ambushed. Adam is covered by Man-At-Arms as he returns to Grayskull, followed by pet Cringer, and the court magician Orko. He flees through the forests and infuriates Teela, who only sees a coward leave the scene of battle. Adam accepts his destiny, and is granted the Sword of Power, which he uses to become He-Man, with Cringer becoming a strong and brave method of transport and assistance for He-Man, Battle Cat, He-Man returns to the scene of battle and rescues his father from Skeletor, drawing "first blood."
Over the course of the first season, Randor's armies of defence expand, some convinced to fight through encounters with He-Man. The Sorceress stands revealed as the mother of Teela. Teela's ultimate destiny as the successor to the mantle of The Sorceress manifests in small doses physically and mentally, often causing her pain or general befuddlement at what these abilities are and what they mean for the future. Skeletor becomes aware of Grayskull's power when he attacks it, prompting him to spend much of the season attempting to enter it. Hints are made as to the fate of Skeletor's mentor, Hordak, and the future main adversaries of the second season, The Snake Men.
Much like the original series, the emphasis on selling toys was another goal of this version, and He-Man and Skeletor would don variations of their coustumes or different ones entirely whenever they were briefly "empowered" with an ancient relic or new technology. The first season ends on a cliffhanger in which Skeletor unites several of the other adversaries fought by the Masters into a grand council of evil. He captures most of the Masters, forcing He-Man and Teela to enter Snake Mountain. Adam becomes separated from his sword, and is soon forced to protect Castle Grayskull from Skeletor without it.
[edit] Season 2
After the resolution of the season one cliffhanger (Orko returning the sword to Adam, the Masters rescued), the Snake Men, (who were included in the original toyline, but most of them never made an animated appearance), took center stage as the main adversaries, having been hinted at in the first season as being trapped beneath Snake Mountain (the place being their former stronghold, hence the name and reason for its existence) inside a void. They are finally being liberated by allies existing outside of the void, as well as a treacherous Evil-Lyn. Adam is informed of their rising by The Sorceress, and finds his He-Man armour completely different upon transformation, designed to fight the Snake Men, led by King Hiss. Skeletor would still appear from time to time, but would be gradually phased out, although had the series continued, he would have returned to his status as major player.
This season was shorter than the first, and as a result, more serialized, with certain episodes following on from one another, characters were strongly developed, and old characters reintroduced, including Fisto, now a disgraced soldier of the court who went AWOL during the last great war, and Man-At-Arms' brother. The third episode of this season "Out Of The Past", also told the tale of how The Sorceress, on a granted leave from her duties, nursed an amensia-stricken soldier back to health and fell in love with him. The soldier left mysteriously before she gave birth, and therefore his identity remains a mystery, and it is debated whenever or not Man-At-Arms or Fisto were the ones involved, or somebody else entirly. The secret origins of Evil Lyn, Skeletor, and Castle Grayskull's power source itself, were also revealed.
[edit] Unfinished Third Season
In a Q&A session with the members of He-Man.Org [1], Ian Richter of Mattel, who was behind many of the storylines of the cartoon, revealed some details on what had been planned for the show. Had the series continued, the second half of season 2 was planned to have featured King Hiss being regenerated after his capture by the Masters, and a final showdown between himself and Skeletor, of which Skeletor would have emerged the victor. Skeletor was then to have used his creation Faker to trick the Eternians into thinking He-Man had turned against them, thus enabling him to overthrow Randor and conquer the kingdom for himself. the third season would have involved the takeover of Eternia by the much hyped arrival of Hordak and the Evil Horde, who would have been released from their prison by Evil-Lyn and overthrown Skeletor, thus spreading mayhem across Eternia, effectively making He-Man and the Masters wanted fugitives.[2]
Apparently the intention was for Skeletor, who owed his very life to Hordak, to have finally gained the power to overcome his own mentor by the end of the season. At some point, Man-At-Arms was to have been captured and turned permanently into a Snake Man (how long this change would have lasted has never been confirmed), Teela would have learned of her heritage, and She-Ra would have been introduced at some point- according to Ian Richter 'when the time was right'.[3]
[edit] Cancellation
After the second season wrapped up, the series was terminated by Cartoon Network, and the toyline itself was swiftly ended by Mattel. The reason being that the show had not received strong ratings, and the toyline failed to appeal to the main demographics. Fans insist the series' failure was due to the lack of hype, promo time, and a decent time slot on the networks' part, whereas Mattel simply failed to promote the toyline themselves, concentrating mostly on their female products like Barbie. Toy designers the Four Horsemen, who designed the modern action figures, were also criticized for wasting too much time creating busts instead of actual action figures, expanding the catalogue much quicker and making the line lengthier regardless of the franchises' termination.
The line ironically suffered from the same problems as the original series; poor distribution of the action figures within the toyline (i.e. three Skeletors to every one Evil-Lyn) as well as spotty shipments to retailers. Most collectors found it nearly impossible to collect every figure as the only ones to be found were the primary characters, which led to toy stores becoming frustrated with merchandise that wouldn't sell, which in turn meant less restocking.
[edit] Comic Strip
To coincide with the release of the series, a He-Man comic was distributed by MV Creations. The comic was written and colored by Val Staples, administrator of He-Man.Org and president of MVC, and drawn by Emiliano Santalucia. Two mini-series were published then followed by an ongoing series which fell through due to the failure of the comic's independent publication and disagreements with Mattel. The tone and maturity of the comic was much different in contrast to the cartoon, for the writers were dissatisfied with the direction the cartoon was going in and intended to break off into a separate continuity more in-keeping with the 1980s storyline. Fans disappointed in the short second season flocked to this strip, some even considering it superior to the modern series.
[edit] Episodes
[edit] Season One
- MYP101 - "The Beginning Part 1"
- MYP102 - "The Beginning Part 2"
- MYP103 - "The Beginning Part 3"
- MYP104 - "The Courage of Adam"
- MYP105 - "Sky War"
- MYP106 - "The Deep End"
- MYP107 - "Lessons"
- MYP108 - "Siren's Song"
- MYP109 - "The Ties That Bind"
- MYP110 - "Dragon's Brood"
- MYP111 - "Turnabout"
- MYP112 - "Mekaneck's Lament"
- MYP113 - "Night of the Shadowbeasts"
- MYP114 - "Underworld"
- MYP115 - "The Mystery of Anwat Gar"
- MYP116 - "The Monster Within"
- MYP117 - "Roboto's Gambit"
- MYP118 - "Trust"
- MYP119 - "Orko's Garden"
- MYP120 - "Buzz-Off's Pride"
- MYP121 - "Snake Pit"
- MYP122 - "The Island"
- MYP123 - "The Sweet Smell of Victory"
- MYP124 - "Separation"
- MYP125 - "The Council of Evil Part 1"
- MYP126 - "The Council of Evil Part 2"
[edit] Season Two
- MYP201 - "The Last Stand" (Council Of Evil Conclusion)
- MYP202 - "To Walk With Dragons"
- MYP203 - "Out of the Past"
- MYP204 - "Rise of the Snake Men Part 1" (series becomes "Masters Of The Universe Vs The Snake-Men")
- MYP205 - "Rise of the Snake Men Part 2"
- MYP206 - "The Price of Deceit"
- MYP207 - "Of Machines and Men"
- MYP208 - "Second Skin"
- MYP209 - "The Power of Grayskull"
- MYP210 - "Web of Evil"
- MYP211 - "Rattle of the Snake"
- MYP212 - "History"
- MYP213 - "Awaken the Serpent"
[edit] Cast
- Cam Clarke - Prince Adam/He-Man
- Kathleen Barr - Evil-Lyn
- Lisa Ann Beley - Teela
- Gary Chalk - Duncan/Man-At-Arms, Whiplash
- Brian Dobson - Skeletor/Keldor, Buzz-Off, Webstor, King Hiss, Sssqueeze, Ceratus
- Paul Dobson - Man-E-Faces, Snake Face, Trap-Jaw, Tri-Klops, Lord Carnivus
- Michael Donovan - King Randor, Count Marzo, Roboto, Tung Lashor
- Gabe Khouth - Mekaneck, Orko
- Scott McNeil - Beast-Man, Clawful, Mer-Man, Ram-Man, Stratos, Kobra Khan
- Nicole Oliver - Queen Marlena, The Sorceress of Castle Grayskull
- Mark Acheson - Fisto, Chadzar
- Don Brown - Evilseed
- Brian Drummond - Odiphus/Stinkor, Tuvar (Two of Two-Bad), Belzar
- Mark Gibbon - Baddhra (Badd of Two-Bad)
- Christopher Judge - Zodak
- Campbell Lane - Kulatuk Priest
- Colin Murdock - Hordak
- Richard Newman - General Rattlor, Lord Dactys, The Faceless One, Azdar
- John Payne (II) - Sy-Klone, Moss Man
[edit] Trivia
- Gary Chalk, the voice of Man-At-Arms, voiced He-Man in The New Adventures of He-Man series.
- Michael Halperin, developer of the original He-Man series bible, wrote "Of Machines and Men" for the second season.
- Despite the original form for He-Man only appearing for three more episodes in the second season, a new, longer transformation sequence was created for Adam calling on the power of Grayskull.
- As an homage and in joke towards the original series, the opening sequence seems similar to the original where Prince Adam gives the classic monologue: "I am Adam, Prince of Eternia, Defender of the secrets of Castle Greyskull. This is Cringer, my fearless friend. Fabulous secret powers were...". The monologue is abruptly cut off at this point by a fierce fight sequence which composes the rest of the opening sequence.
- In the first season episode Sky War, Skeletor gets his hands on the Ambrosia, a miracle food which bestows great power upon those who consume it. The effects transform Skeletor into a version of himself not unlike the one seen in the live action movie, a possible homage to the 1987 film. Later, when the Ambrosia's effects finally wear off, Skeletor elicits the same anguished cry that he voiced when losing his god-like power in the movie.
- Cringer does not talk in this version.
- As an in-joke, the prologue of one episode sees Skeletor attempt to acquire the Diamond Ray of Disappearance, the first mystical weapon he uses against He-Man and Castle Grayskull in the first episode of the original series.
