Growing up, I loved the original 1980s animated He-Man series. Over the years I never really watched any of the other various remakes, reboots and fo9llow-ups that have been done since. However, in 2021, Netflix kicked off two different extensions of the franchise, Masters of the Universe: Revelation and He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. I had tried to watch the former, but the problem I had with that one was that it didn’t focus on the characters that had always been be the stars of the show for me, He-Man & Skeletor. So I never got around to checking out the second Netflix series. When I saw that Mill Creek was releasing this other series—which actually includes He-Man’s name in the title—I was excited to check it out, hoping that I would fare better this time. I’m pleased to state that this series does include many of the characters I grew up with, though with a more modern look, some character and outfit changes, and a slick new 3D animation style. The series ran for 26 episodes/three seasons, from 2021-2022.
As the series opens, the evil Kronis (Roger Craig Smith) and sorceress Evelyn (Grey Griffin) are attempting to break into the castle in order to steal the sword of Greyskull, so they can harness its magical power. Each of the criminals has enlisted the help of a young protégé. Assisting Evelyn is young Hand Witch Teela (Kimberly Brooks)—who has been mastering magical abilities—and assisting Kronis is young pilot/mechanic/inventor Duncan (Antony Del Rio). Teela manages to retrieve the sword, and avoid the guards, but she hears the voice in her head telling her not to hand the sword over to Evelyn. Instead, it instructs her to find the champion who can wield it. Neither of these young apprentices are truly evil like their masters, and so Teela heads off with the sword in search of the champion, leaving Kronis and Evelyn in pursuit.
Meanwhile, Young Adam (Yuri Lowenthal) doesn’t remember anything about his life prior to 10 years ago, when he was found by talking tiger Cringer (David Kaye), and became a member of his Tiger Clan, living in the forest. Adam is unaware that he’s actually a prince, son of King Randor (Fred Tatasciore). He had been taken from his home 10 years earlier when Prince Keldor (Ben Diskin) joined forces with Kronis and Evelyn to stage a failed coup. Adam’s best friend is Krass (Judy Alice Lee), a helmet-wearing orphan who was also found by Cringer. The Tiger Clan is weary of people who can do magic, so when Teela arrives, she’s not very welcome. However, she can sense there’s something special about Adam, and shows him the sword. As Adam lifts the weapon and reads the inscription, “By The Power of Greyskull, I have the Power”, he suddenly transforms into the muscular He-Man.
When Kronis and Evelyn see this transformation, it’s more important than ever for them to get their hands on it. The sword can harness the power of Castle Greyskull, and they want to use to exact their revenge on King Randor, while their third cohort, Prince Keldor, wants to use the sword to heal himself and become king—years earlier, the spirit of the castle offered him a choice, but his greedy and thirst for power left him disfigured. Adam/He-Man, Krass, Cringer and his new friends Duncan and Teela team up to try to stop this evil trio from harnessing the power of Greyskull for their own evil purposed. But just as they think they’ve won, and are named the Masters of the Universe, Skeletor rises, and with him comes Havoc, destruction, and many new threats.
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe does a great job of capturing the spirit, lore, action, and adventure of the original series, but with a more modern look, a bit more humor, and an all new theme song. The series does a nice job of not rushing things, and instead slowly builds up the story and characters. It takes a few episodes before we even see these characters transform into the heroes/villains we know and love—Duncan/Man At Arms, Krass/Ram Ma’am, Cringer/Battle Cat, Keldor/Skeletor, Kronis/Trap Jaw & Evelyn/Evil-Lyn. Over the course of the seasons, we also see additional familiar heroes and villains make their way into the show—Man-E-Faces (Stephen Fry), King Stratos (Zeno Robinson), Mer-Man (George Takei), Ork-0 (Tom Kenny), Beast Man (Trevor Devall), Tri-Klops (Kevin Smith), Webstor (Dee Bradley Baker), King Hsss, Hordak (Kevin Conroy), and more. Plus some fun new characters like Gary the Dragonfly (Bobcat Goldthwait) and R’Qazz.
There have been some changes to some of the characters, such as Ram-Man becoming female in this version as Ram Ma’am, Ork-O being a drone that takes on the personality and memories of the original magical creature, and Cringer not really living up to his name—he’s quite a brave leader and father figure to Adam right from the start, and transforming into Battle Cat just gives him armor and claws to go along with that attitude. The look of most of the characters is quite different in this reboot. Everything looks more slick and modern, integrating technology from this world, though there are definite nods to the original costumes. While a few of these new costumes are actually improvements, I definitely missed the 1980s versions, especially Ram-Man and Man-At-Arms. Though there is a fun moment in the third season where we get to briefly see some of the characters transform back into their 2D counterparts.
The series is heavily serialized, with each episode flowing directly into the next, usually ending on some cliffhanger or big reveal to keep you binging. I quite enjoyed the series, and just kept making my way through the seasons. Each of the seasons also has its own overall arc. The first season primarily follows He-Man and the Masters of the Universe facing off against Skeletor and his gang over the sword and Castle Greyskull. The second season takes things into the aerial world of Avion and the Bird People, while the final season takes the action to Levitathe, the frozen wasteland of the Merfolk. The series builds to an exciting 2-part finale, which feels like a solid conclusion to the show, but also leaves things in a way that could open up more stories in a spin-off.
This 2021 version of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe arrives on DVD for the first time thanks to Mill Creek Entertainment. The video presentation is solid, with a clean picture, bright colors, and a nice level of detail. It’s missing that extra pop and clarity of an HD release, which is noticeable in the more action-packed, faster-moving sequences. The included audio track is only Dolby Digital 2.0. Dialogue is clear, and the audio never feels wanting, but it doesn’t have that immersive feeling of a 5.1 surround track. The series’ 26 episodes are spread across 4 discs (2 for season 1, and 1 for each of the other seasons), which are stacked on a peg on the right side of a standard-sized DVD keepcase, which is placed in a glossy slipcover. Discs have some nice colorful artwork, and are labeled with the titles of the episodes they contain. Each disc offers episode and subtitle selection as well as a Play All option. There is no bonus material.
What’s Included:
Episodes: (9:51:27)
- All 26 episodes of the TV series spread across 4 discs:
- Season 1 (2021, 10 episodes)
- Disc 1 (1:52:46): “The Sword of Grayskull”, “The Power of Grayskull”, “The Heirs of Grayskull”, “The Champions of Grayskull”, “We Have the Power”
- Disc 2 (1:53:29): “Orko the Great”, “He-Man, the Hunted”, “The Calm Before the Storm”, “Cry Havoc, Part 1”, “Cry Havoc, Part 2”
- Season 2 (2022, 8 episodes)
- Disc 3 (3:00:38): “The World Above”, “The World Below”, “Eternia 2000”, “A Very Hungry Dragonfly”, “Meanwhile…”, “Divided We Stand”, “The Battle of Avion”, “The Fifth Nemesis”
- Season 3 (2022, 8 episodes)
- Disc 4 (3:04:34): “The Haunting of Castle Grayskull”, “Frozen Solid”, “Wrath of the Mer-Man”, “The Tomb of Grayskull”, “A Leap of Faith”, “In-Can’t-Ation”, “The Beginning of the End, Part 1”, “The Beginning of the End, Part 2”
- Season 1 (2021, 10 episodes)
Extras:
-
No bonus material included.
Final Thoughts:
I really enjoyed this new take on the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe saga. It focuses on the characters fans of the original series know and love, but gives them an updated look and more modern animation style. The 3 seasons tell a complete story, with lots of great action, adventure, fantasy, magic and humor. The series also features a top-tier voice cast. While I wish we had got at least a Blu-ray release, the presentation is more than sufficient to fully enjoy the series. It’s just great to see a Netflix show get a disc release so that you don’t have to subscribe to enjoy it any time. Plus, the set comes at a really reasonable and affordable price. This is an easy recommendation for fans of the series/franchise or of fantasy/adventure shows in general.
