![]() ![]() While primarily known as an indie film director with a penchant for comedy, Smith has a history of blending the best elements of complicated mythologies together when he plays in other sandboxes, nodding to different elements of continuity, dropping obscure Easter eggs for serious fans, while telling easily accessible stories. In a world where I didn’t get to play with them as a kid, it was worth it to wait for this long.” So to be able to, years later, grow up and then ‘play with the toys’ so to speak, making this show felt super special. We were not a rich family by any stretch of the imagination. “And that was the one effect that it wasn’t going to have on me, based on my finances. “It was just weird to not be able to interact with like everybody else, because it was made to sell toys,” he says. Interestingly, Smith didn’t have much experience with the toys themselves. ![]() Sure, every character you would expect from the old show is here (plus some surprises) but so are countless other characters from the toys, vehicles, structures…and deep cuts you might never expect. Of course, continuity (or logic) were never much of a concern there, so if you know the basics of the He-Man legend (planet Eternia, magic and high technology coexist, Prince Adam is secretly He-Man, evil Skeletor with cool looking henchmen, etc) you know everything you need to know from the first moment.īut while this may indeed be a sequel to that original series, it’s more of a spiritual sequel to the entirety of MoTU lore, something evident from the opening credits, which pay tribute not to the old cartoon but rather the lush painted artwork that adorned classic Masters of the Universe toy packaging. Masters of the Universe: Revelation picks up shortly after (it’s never specified) the conclusion of that original cartoon series. Which makes the fact that Masters of the Universe: Revelation is so great a remarkable achievement. Of course, that old Filmation series was aimed at the youngest of viewers, and it hasn’t aged particularly well even when viewed with the most nostalgic of eyes. So for me it wasn’t off-brand to be sitting there and enjoying this cartoon.” I still watched Saturday morning cartoons at that age. After school I’d come home and this was on and maybe I was a little bit older than I should have been for enjoying that show, but I loved animation. So you didn’t have a plethora of choices. I was born in 1970, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe was on in the early ’80s. “I’d been a massive Star Wars fan… my interactivity with Masters of the Universe wasn’t the toys as much as it was the cartoon, which I watched literally every episode of. “When I was watching I was about 11 or 12 years old,” Smith recalls. ![]() Series creator and executive producer Kevin Smith recently told Den of Geek about his own experiences with the world of He-Man and the MoTU franchise growing up. ![]() It’s all coming from a place of love for the franchise and expertise in its complicated history. Netflix’s Masters of the Universe: Revelation, on the other hand, has the stated purpose of being a direct sequel to the original animated series, Filmation’s He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, and both that mission statement and the faithful character designs make it clear this new series has old school fans in mind. She-Ra prided itself on subverting expectations, from the character designs and animation style to its studied unwillingness to ride on He-Man’s coattails and its wonderful commitment to representation and diversity. And ol’ Prince Adam has been upstaged by his twin sister Adora, recently the subject of Netflix’s excellent She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, arguably the best adaptation of elements of the MoTU world to ever hit the screen. There have been endless attempts to get a new live-action movie out of the gate over the last decade or more. He-Man himself hasn’t had an animated series of his own since an excellent 2002 reboot stalled after two seasons. For a brand as beloved as Masters of the Universe, the franchise sure seems to have fallen on tough times lately. Masters of the Universe Revelation: Kevin Smith on He-Man Stakes ![]()
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