If you grew up in the early ’80s, you likely watched the animated He-Man and the Masters of the Universe series, which ran from 1983–1985. Netflix recently aired a 3-part follow-up series, the first two 5-episode Parts as Masters of the Universe: Revelation in 2021, and the third 5-episode Part as Masters of the Universe: Revolution in 2024. Masters of the Universe is set on the planet Eternia, and the ancient fortress Castle Grayskull serves as its center of power, magic and mystery, and home to the benevolent Sorceress who helps to maintain it. Prince Adam (Chris Wood) is Eternia’s hero, defending the castle by harnessing the Sword of Power to change himself into the hulking He-Man. Only four others know abut Adam’s secret double-life—his tiger Cringer (Stephen Root) who transforms into Battle Cat when Adam transforms into He-Man, military leader Duncan aka Man-At-Arms (Liam Cunningham), the Sorceress (Susan Eisenberg), and magical Trollan Orko (Griffin Newman). Adam’s longtime friend and (likely) love, Teela (Sarah Michelle Gellar, Revelation; Melissa Benoist, Revolution) and his father, King Randor (Diedrich Bader), don’t know that Adam is He-Man, though his mother, Queen Marlena (Alicia Silverstone, Revelation; Gates McFadden Revolution) has her suspicions. He-Man and his team of protectors often find themselves protecting Eternia from the demon skeleton Skeletor (Mark Hamill), who resides at nearby Snake Mountain. He is joined by second-in-command, sorceress Evil-Lyn (Lena Headey), and his monstrous acolytes. Skeletor is constantly trying to get his hands on the secrets hidden inside Castle Grayskull in order to obtain its powers for himself.

Masters of the Universe: Revelation is broken into two 5-episode Parts. Part I kicks off immediately following the events of the 1980s series. As the Part I opens, Skeletor leads the full forces of Snake Mountain in an attack on Castle Grayskull. Meanwhile in the kingdom of Eternos, a ceremony is underway to knight Teela with the title of “Man-At-Arms”, like her father. Adam hears the cries of help from the Sorceress, changes into He-Man, and leads the team to protect the castle. However, he is forced to sacrifice himself in order to stop Skeletor. In the aftermath, Teela is shocked to discover Adam’s secret double-life, and that everyone had lied to her. So she abandons the castle, quits “the hero business”, and heads out on her own, joining new friend Andra (Tiffany Smith) as a mercenary for hire, helping to find and return artifacts for money. A year after Skeletor’s actions, the last remaining ember of Eternia’s magic is dying out. Teela finds herself reluctantly back in the hero business, trying to restore Eternia’s magic before it’s too late. However in order to do so, she’s going to need to travel to heaven (Preternia) and hell (Subternia) to obtain the missing halves of the Sword of Power, and is forced to partner with enemy Evil-Lyn along the way. Meanwhile, at Snake Mountain the army of acolytes has re-formed under the new leadership of Tri-Klops (Henry Rollins), who has replaced Skeltor’s dark magic with technology.

In Part II of Masters of the Universe: Revelation, the group finds themselves in a dangerous situation. Skeletor has returned and claimed the castle’s power to become Master of the Universe himself. He has also installed Evil-Lyn as the new Sorceress/castle guardian. As Teela discovers some new sorceress-like powers of her own, Adam also learns that he has some new abilities, even without the Sword of Power. Soon, a new, even more dangerous and unexpected threat arises, causing some unlikely enemies to team up.

In Part III, Masters of the Universe: Revolution, Skeletor has embraced his technology-loving masters and now goes by SkeleTek. he has become an acolyte for Motherboard, and is bent on bringing about Eternia’s new technological age, leading an army of Techno Titans against Eternos in the name of Hordak (Keith David), the ruthless leader of the Horde Empire. These evil forces have also been infecting the people of Eternia with their nanotechnology, turning them into part of their army. As the team looks for a way to stop this technology from spreading, and finding a cure for the infected, Teela goes on her own journey to restore the heaven dimension of Preternia, a quest that requires her to discover and harness the powers of several other gods. Meanwhile, Adam is forced to choose between accepting his role as the future King of Eternos, or remaining its champion—a choice that becomes more complicated with the return of his uncle Keldor (William Shatner), who may have a valid claim to the throne.

While the focus of the original 1980s series was the battle between He-Man and Skeletor (He-Man’s name is right in the title), the initial focus of this series is much more about Teela’s journey. I must say that I found this to be a turn-off the first time I tried to watch this series when it first aired on Netflix. I grew up with the show being about He-Man and it looked like after the first episode He-Man and Skeletor would no longer be in it. However, with all three parts coming together in Mill Creek’s new Blu-ray release, I decided to give the show another chance, and I’m glad that I did. While much of the focus is primarily on Teela, Evil-lyn, the Sorceress, and the female characters, it does get back to the basics of the original series that I enjoyed as a boy, getting into this battle between He-Man and Skeletor, and exploring some of their origins. The series ultimately finds a nice balance between nostalgia and making things feel fresh. There are many cameos from various characters, good and evil, that pop up over the course of the three Parts. There’s also a lot of humor to the writing, giving a bit of nostalgia to those cheesier, lighter moments of the 80s series. The series is quite action packed, with some exciting fast-paced battles. It does assume some prior knowledge of the original series and characters, just giving a quick 3 sentence intro without over-explaining the characters, situations or history. It features a top-notch, recognizable voice cast, who generally do an excellent job—though I wish there was a bit more whininess and cackling on Mark Hamill’s Skeletor.

There is a lot of character drama throughout the three Parts, and the show does a nice job of evolving these characters over time and allowing them to grow and learn. At the core of the story is Teela’s journey. She feels betrayed that she was not included in Adam’s secret, and starts to pursue a new life of her own. However, she finds herself being called back to be a hero, and in the process, she discovers a whole different destiny that she was unaware of. We also follow the journey of Evil-Lyn, who has this abusive relationship with Skeletor (a topic that never would have been addressed so blatantly in the 1980s Saturday morning cartoon). She is tired of being ordered around and mistreated by Skeletor, but is too scared to speak up. Even when she does finally manage to get away, it’s only to learn that Skeletor had been using her once again, which causes her to finally take charge of her own narrative. I also enjoyed how this series takes a look at an Eternia without magic and how technology can become a replacement source of power. This gives the series some more grounded elements and makes it feel more relevant to today.

For fans of the original series, there are lots of familiar characters that pop up throughout the show, and some interesting backstory that is revealed. Each of the Parts feels like a 2.5 hour movie, with each episode flowing into the next, making for a nice binge. The end of Part III feels like a solid and definite conclusion to the show, as long as you ignore the extra minute that is tacked on just before the final credits, to tease what could happen in a Part IV. Overall, I found the series quite enjoyable, and it kept my interest throughout the 6 hours.

Mill Creek has released both Masters of the Universe: Revelation & Masters of the Universe: Revolution in a single Blu-ray box set. The video presentation looks excellent, with a crisp, clean and nearly-flawless picture, no mater how fast-paced the action. Detail is nice, and colors are bright and rich. The 5.1 DTS-HD MA audio track is also impressive, providing clear dialogue throughout, making excellent use of the stereo and surround channels to immerse the viewer in the action, and showcasing Bear McCreary’s beautiful score.

Each 5-episode Part resides on its own disc, and offers episode selection or a Play All option, along with optional subtitles. The discs are placed into a beautiful SteelBook case, Disc One on the let side, and the other two discs offset on pegs on the right side of the case. Unfortunately, there is no bonus material included on this release. However, the case does contain a small full-color booklet containing screenshots, episode descriptions, and character artwork. The SteelBook case is covered with a clear plastic slipcover detailing the contents on the back.

What’s Included:

Episodes: (6:22:08)

Blu-ray:

• All 3 Parts/15 episodes of both series.
  • Part 1: Revelation (2021): (2:03:58)
    “The Power of Grayskull”, “The Poisoned Chalice”, “The Most Dangerous Man in Eternia”, “Land of the Dead”, “The Forge at the Forest of Forever”
  • Part 2: Revelation (2021): (2:09:59)
    “Cleaved in Twain”, “Reason and Blood”, “The Gutter Rat”, “Hope, for a Destination”, “Comes with Everything You See Here”
  • Part 3: Revolution (2024): (2:08:11)
    “Even for Kings”, “Ascension”, “More Things in Heaven and Eternia”, “The Dogs of War”, “The Scepter and the Sword”
• 1080p / Widescreen 1.78:1
• Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
• Subtitles: English SDH

Collectibles:

• Full-color episode guide booklet inside the case

Extras

There is no bonus material included on the release.

Final Thoughts:

Masters of the Universe: Revelation and Masters of the Universe: Revolution make for a solid 15-episode follow-up to the 1980s series He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, following the next chapters in the lives of these characters, and the fate of Eternia. This time around the focus is a little less on He-Man and Skeletor, though they do keep popping up throughout the show. Mill Creek’s Blu-ray release looks and sounds great, but doesn’t offer any bonus material. The SteelBook packaging is also quite nice. It’s great to see Mill Creek make this show available for fans—for those who don’t have access to Netflix, or want to actually own the series and not be reliant on a streamer. This one comes recommended for fans of Masters of the Universe in general.