If you haven’t already watched Masters of the Universe: Revelation, and fully intend to then stop reading this now and go and do something else. Go on, off you pop. This post will undoubtedly be full of spoilers as it needs to address many things that also happen to be the main focus of ire for many supposed ‘fans’ of the original show.
Right. Good. Let’s get the key aspects out on the table as it’s a brief yet concise approximation of what MOTU: Revelation consists of.
- He-Man/Prince Adam is not the main character of the show.
- He-Man and Skeletor are both killed in the first episode.
- Teela (yes, a woman *gasp*) is the frontrunner.
- Orko and Roboto are also killed.
- The above is merely surface level, just go with it.
Righty-ho, there you have it – a nice easy to follow list. If the above 5 points convinced you to dismiss the show then sadly, you will be missing out, and, apparently skipped over point 5.
MOTU: Revelation is a direct sequel to the original He-Man and the Masters of the Universe series that ran from 1983 – 1985 and consisted of 130 episodes. John Erwin, who voiced He-Man would star in every single one of those episodes.
Linda Gary, who voiced Teela, would also feature in each one of those 130 episodes. So her inclusion in the MOTU is nothing new, yet He-Man had top-billing in the series because at the time, the ’80s (and even the ’90s) was a decade where powerful, muscle-bound male champions dominated film and TV. He-Man and the Masters of the Universe was certainly a product of its time. As you can imagine this business model no longer works in the year 2021.
In 2002 we were treated to the (rather good) reboot also entitled He-Man and the Masters of the Universe which ran for 39 episodes. He-Man once again being the primary focus. And that’s completely fine, nothing wrong with that at all, the franchise was sticking with what it knew. This iteration, serving as an update to the original show.
Note, that Revelation omits ‘He-Man’ in its title, this is the first indicator that the show is not centred around the Eternian prince. Kevin Smith is the executive producer and writer for Revelation and since before the show could even air (July 23rd), was the target for many, many disgruntled, toxic ‘fans’ who could just not accept Revelation’s change of direction. Smith has spent a fair amount of time tweeting about this as well, as I’m sure the sheer amount of negative tweets directed towards him must have been overwhelming at times. Lest not forget that Twitter is indeed still one of the most toxic social media platforms around today. See below example.
Now, while I don’t subscribe to the idea of film aggregation sites such as Rotten Tomatoes, because they, and these so-called ‘professional critics’ are all absolute garbage. It’s worth noting that while a lot of the time, the audience scores are higher than the critic scores (simply because typical moviegoer has no real agenda beyond whether or not they enjoyed what they were watching – hell WarnerMedia OWNS 25% of Rotten Tomatoes), MOTU: Revelation has been deliberately review-bombed by disgruntled fans. I mean, just look at the sheer amount of butthurt above, and the audience scores below.
So, now that you’re (somewhat) caught up on all the history of the franchise and drama surrounding the new show, how is Revelation? Well, I enjoyed it. There is a lot to like here, and while the first episode does indeed have a thumping start, beyond episode 2 the show reveals a hidden depth not present in the original show. Yes, Revelation does have a certain level of ‘wokeness’ but to say that it only punts girl-power and emasculates all of its male cast sounds like the opinion of an angry little boy. Besides, just try and sit through all 130 episodes of the original show now. Man, it’s pretty rough.
Things to bear in mind about Revelation:
- It’s still in progress as only 5 episodes of the first season have been released.
- The animation is fantastic.
- The music even more so (even now I’m listening to the OST as I write this).
- There is plenty He-Man and Skeletor to go around (see point 5, earlier).
- Mark Hamill voices Skeletor.
- Teela makes a great protagonist in this next chapter of MOTU, especially if you’re a Sarah Michelle Gellar fan.
- The MOTU Revelation universe remains authentic to the original and manages to service fans more than adequately.
As I started watching the show, I was swept up in a wave of nostalgia, everything looks like ‘He-Man’, the character designs, Castle Grayskull and especially the vehicles! The animation is simply stellar and man, Bear McCrearys’ soundtrack is something else. I’m not going to delve into the story in depth – hell, I think I’ve listed enough spoilers for one day, but to sum it up – Eternia is in trouble as magic dwindles in the universe due to the destruction of the power sword, a sacrifice He-Man had to make which results in his demise. As the first episode sets the groundwork for the story ahead, there is a lot of classic character callbacks sprinkled in between as Teela and friends tussle with the likes of Mer-Man, Evil-Lyn, Tri-Klops and more. The overall impression I got from Revelation, is that the post-He-Man Eternia isn’t quite right, so it’s up to Teela to return things to the status quo, which I think every viewer is waiting to see (already hinted by Smith as below).
So maybe, just maybe, all the naysayers and keyboard warriors should just zip their lips. Withdraw your Cheetos-encrusted fingers from your keyboards and perhaps go and be a disappointing piece of toxic shit elsewhere? Of course there’s going to be people who dislike the series, in fact, it would be a little odd if there weren’t. But, if you’re one of these 40 year old ‘fans’ champing at the bit to take a jab at Kevin Smith and his Revelation series then you have but 2 options. Either simply do not watch it OR go and re-watch the old shows, and before you start accusing me of being some Gen Z pissant, I myself am Northwards of 40. So calm your tits and just go be sad someplace else.
Well, not much further to say here. Did you enjoy the first 5 episodes of Masters of the Universe: Revelation? If so, please feel free to leave a comment detailing what you liked about it, or even what you didn’t. If you happen to be one of those aforementioned 40+ keyboard warriors with extreme butthurt, allow me to close this off with the below.