He-Man and the Masters of the Universe: The Beginning

This is one of those rare occassions where a "revamp" exceeds the original in every possible way. Sure, most of us 20-somethings recall the campy, cheaply hidden moralizations of the original 80's show, a prime example of what some call 80's hypocrisy: Here's a show designed to sell toys, but the censors couldn't deal with the inherent violence of a barbarian hero and a demonic villain, so every show was written around some heavy-handed yet simplistic morality-fable, featuring the bumbling Skeletor and his moron henchmen, or some bland generic foe the kids barely even noticed. Sure, there was a few groovy stories, but not nearly enough, and watching a sword-carrying hero never fight with his sword got pretty old. Thank the Stars for this new show, then! Great animation(No stock footage!), interesting music, and finally, bad guys who are not all fools, and a serious threat! Even the dumb brutes like Clawful and Whiplash compensate for their lack of intellect by just being vicious, overwhelming powerhouses! And Evil-Lyn gets to be a mystical butt-kicker, and a wicked schemer to boot! Tri-Klops gets to be an inventor and reconnisance expert, TrapJaw is a seriously mean thug, but tactically sound, and Beastman and Mer-Man get to be seriously useful! The show also excells by having Prince Adam, He-Man's alter-ego, grow as a character, and learn about the use of his powers, his responsibilities, as he goes along. Best of all: Skeletor is a scary, creepy sonofagun, who doesn't mind cruel punishments and more "permenant" ways of dealing with his foes! The guy resorts to attempted murder often. And he's capable of going toe-to-toe with his foes, unlike the goofball of the old series. Orko's still a goof, but he's actually powerful now, Man-at-Arms is a true leader, warrior and brilliant inventor, rather than the borderline senile twit portrayed originally, and the other heroes all rock too! This show kicks! Watch it!

As a BIG fan of the original He-Man I really liked this re-make & aside from the fact that Cringer or Battle cat don't talk, it stays true to the original. The opening sequence is even better!

Of the many blasphemous revivals of old 80s shows, this is probably the best so far. This one actually has an origin of how Adam became He-Man in the first place and how Skeletor came to be the ugly man with no face that we all know and love/loathe (or love to loathe). It's just too bad that Battlecat can't talk anymore.

The animation's pretty good, with some very anime like touches and CGI mixes. The new He-Man kind of looks like Dolph Lundgren, who played He-Man in the live action movie, while Adam finally has the distinction of being smaller and decidedly younger. Skeletor, Mer-Man, Man-At-Arms, and Strators still look the same, though Beastman looks bigger than before. The new Teela is actually quite prettier than the old one, and apparently younger too. The Sorceress has an Egyptian thing going on now, but that's not necessarily bad.

The voice actors are pretty good. Cam Clarke lacks the soft spoken touch of John Erwin (the original He-Man/Adam) and he can't match Erwin yelling "I have the power!", but other than that, Clarke is a worthy successor, overplaying Adam as a spoiled teen (in his distinct, trademark Leonardo from Ninja Turtles voice) and He-Man as his older and decidedly more likeable alter ego. Gary Chalk (who, ironically, voiced He-Man in the 2nd remake of the show from the early 90s, and recently did Optimus Primal for "Beast Wars") is a good Man-At-Arms. Stratos (Scott McNeil, who does a few other voices too) sounds like Sean Connery now. I only wish they hadn't decided to have Skeletor sound almost exactly the same; it makes him too comical. I wish they'd found a guy who could do a sinister voice like Frank Langella from the movie.

All in all, this is good. Enjoy.

those who don't like the new "masters of the universe" haven't seen more than 5 episodes, which is shame, not so much for the series as for the viewers - for if they could stick a bit longer before giving judgements, they would be in for a great treat. of course the show will not be perfect when compared to the old cannon; the value of the original is never easy to compensate (true, the old series is very cheesy by today's standards, but that cheesyiness only ads to the series' feeling). however, the show does preety good job of getting on the old tracks. with the exception of several episodes ("siren's song" most notably) the series has been great so far in capturing the old feeling, and has offered some new elements to the mythos that were not present in the original. how many times did skeletor get into sword fight with randor in the original? well, in the new series, he gets to fight randor AND he-man at the same time, which is extra-cool. the redesigns and the new characters are exceptional, as well. the only disatvantage of the show is that so far it has been trying to deliever what the fans wante d (a pretty long list of wishes) and couldn't find a voice of its own for some time. this has been settled after some episodes like "the snake pit" and "separation", though. the first season will have its ending somewhere in june and a bit later on, new season with at least 13 episodes will continue.

First for those that think that this will never replace the original. The intentions are not to replace the original. The point is to bring He-Man to a new generation, and to give it fresh ideas. Also WAY better animation. As a fan of the 80's series I find this one much much better. This is do to the fact that as a child in the 80's the animation was great to me, because that was as good as you ever seen it on tv. But now that I'm older and times has changed I'm glad to see one of my shows from my childhood again, and with a facelift.

I don't understand you people that get on the internet to type out these long messages just totally ripping at stuff that other people like. If you dislike it SOOO bad turn the channel. No one wants to hear you whine about not liking it. Sure there are things on TV that I don't like, but I don't get on the web knocking them. Why don't I? Because I know there are people out there that do like it, and I'm not out to rain on other people's parade.

Oh, and about Cringer/Battlecat not talking; I'm glad. I always wondered as a kid why the cat talked. I always felt it was too Hanna Barbera. Though not to knock Scooby, I love him. But Scoob talking just fit the format of that show. Cringer talking on He-Man just didn't seem to fit. The only way it would work is if later, maybe during the second season, something happens to him that makes him start talking. Or maybe he does something that makes the Sorceress reward him with the ability to speak. Another could be that something happens that makes Adam/He-Man hear the cat speak through telepathy, and only he can hear him. Although there is fantasy and magic in the show there still is a base of reality, and showing why and how Cringer/Battlecat talks would be the only way to do it. For some reason I don't think people questioned stuff as much as we do now.In the original series most were just like, "Ok, the cat talks", and we just accepted it. But now we like to have things explained in more detail. Giving a reason why Cringer in particular, as a cat, talks would make alot of sense, because if I'm not mistaken Skeletor's cat didn't talk in the original series. Hmmm.

The only think I hope is that they don't ignore the fact that Price Adam has a long lost twin sister, Princess Adora. I'm dying to see "She-Ra: The Princess of Power" with a face-lift. Just as long as they revamped it like He-Man, and cut out all the stuff about morals. And taking out the morals at the end would also remove the annoying Loo-Kee. I also think they would need to cut out the talking "Broom", and give Madame Raz a total make-over.