Les maîtres de l'univers

HE-MAN is a vintage '80s after school cartoon. Full of fun adventures and unique characters. When trouble arises, Prince Adam wields his mighty sword and is transformed into He-Man: the most powerful man in the universe.

The world of HE-MAN is like a mix of medieval mythology, fantasy, and futuristic technology. There are kings and queens, castles and dragons, laser beams and hovercraft, and magic and sorcery. The nefarious Skeletor is He-Man's sworn enemy, and in every episode he and his minions come up with new plots to take over the world.

The animation is nothing fancy, but it hearkens back to a simpler time. You can tell the studio was trying to save money by reusing animation where convenient. Young viewers won't complain, though, about the "dated" feel.

I think HE-MAN is still a good show for children, even today. Decried at the time for being too violent, the show is very tame by today's standards. (Occasionally the hero tosses a villain into a river.) The episodes are fun adventures and each episode ends with a valuable life lesson aimed at kids.

Fondly remembered by the children of the '80s, I wouldn't hesitate to show HE-MAN to my own children someday.

There was a reason this show was the hit of the '80's and maintains a loyal fan base to this day. It wasn't the toys (every other show had toys too), and it wasn't the media hype - it was the stories. The tales were thoughtful, compassionate and relevant. As an adult looking back, I can see the underlying themes much better, but even as a child I understood that Castle GraySkull was a thinly-veiled metaphor for the viewers mind (as well as a "things aren't always what they seem" lesson) and that love was the main point. I never cared for She-Ra as much, but the credits sang out the motif clearly - "For the Honor of Love...By the Power Above...We have the Power, so can You..."

I am NOT of any particular religion, and attempts to infiltrate a dogma into a show usually irritate the XYZ out of me, but this was does well. This was done Right. They took an ordinary "Muscle-Hero" story and managed to subtly turn it on its head; to satisfy the desire for adventure while teaching kindness and morality. It was, in all, a gentle show. A unique show, like Fat Albert. I wish they would reshow it.

Many people say that it wouldn't fly nowadays, that today's kids are too sophisticated for the slower things. Maybe. But I think it's worth the try.

Ah, He-Man... larger than life hero of my infant years.

Yeah it all feels real campy now, but it's hard to dislike this old show, one of the most fondly remembered of the 80s era.

Prince Adam and He-Man looked exactly the same, just like Clark Kent/Superman, and no one ever caught on. Prince Adam's wardrobe could have used some work, but hey, it was aimed at little kids. In today's increasingly cynical era in which finding kid friendly shows is getting ever harder to do, parents should rest assured that this one is user friendly and shouldn't leave their children too badly scarred. Too bad they don't try to work in more morality into shows anymore.

Remade twice so far and one live action feature film. The new He-Man actually looks kind of like Dolph Lundgren of the live action film, but with a much more wildly drawn physique. Also had a spin off known as "She-Ra: Princess of Power". Whether or not that will be remade I don't know.

I always thought "Thundercats" borrowed a lot from He-Man: big burly hero, magical sword, demonic villain, lots of hideous henchmen, and lots of science fictional elements blended with fantasy elements. The biggest difference, of course, was that He-Man was smarter than Lion-O, the lead character of "Thundercats" (not that that was completely his fault).

I happen to have loved the 1980's.

The cartoons, movies, the music.

Prince and Michael Jackson with the music, the Nightmare on Elm Street movies, and then there was of course, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe.

Those of us lucky enough to spend our childhood in the administration of Reagan, were blessed with this cartoon.

I picked this gem up on DVD a month ago and I love it. I watch it with the intensity that I did as a kid.

I wanted to show my children what real cartoons were all about. Now my children love He-Man, to the point where I had to make my 3 year old a power sword out of wood and I spray-painted it silver. Now he runs around the house, with it in the back of his shirt screaming, 'by the power of gray skull!' In fact, I'm going to also pick up the whole season 1 when it comes out later this week.

Just watching these things takes me back to 1983. The only thing that ever bothered me was that the Eternians were idiots. How could you not know that Prince Adam and He-Man were one and the same.

1. They look exactly alike

2. One is never around when the other one is

3. As soon as one disappears the other shows back up.

Pick it up and you'll learn what real cartoons were all about!!

When it comes to a cartoon that had brut force and action, nothing can go past the 1983 series of ‘He-man and the masters of the universe'. In an era that had so many great cartoons, ‘He-man' stood tall and was a great success. He-man would have to go up as one of the great cartoons of all time. Once Prince Adam held up his magical sword and turned into ‘the most powerful man in the universe', every kid in the 80's was in for the ride of their life.

In the mystical planet of ‘Eternia', lives Prince Adam, a prince who leads the lazy life of royalty. Known by only a few close friends/allies, when Prince Adam holds up his magic sword, and says ‘by the power of Grayskull', he turns into the mighty hero, ‘He-Man'. Together with his friends (such as Teela, her father, Man-at-arms, mysterious Orko and Adam's wimpy cat, Cringer, who turns into Battle Cat), He-Man must battle ‘the masters of the universe', who strive to gain control of Eternia and the secrets of Castle Grayskull. Grayskull is the magical centre of Eternia, from where He-Man derives his powers, and is the one place he must defend from the evil Skeletor.

I believe He-man was successful for many reasons. There was some real inventive character in He-man. Our hero himself was an impressive and imposing character and drawn up to perfection. Other good people include Orko, Man-At-Arms (Duncan), The Sorceress, Ram-Man, Stratos, Teela, King Randor and Queen Marlena. The Bad guys include their leader, Skeletor, who is as evil a character I have seen on a cartoon. Behind Skeletor are Evil-Lyn, Beast Man, Tri-Klops, Merman and TrapJaw. They are all different types of people, with strange powers and abilities.

The voice-overs for He-man come from a limited amount of people, showing how good these people's voiceover talents really are. Talents such as John Erwin, Alan Oppenheimer, Linda Gray, Lou and Erika Schreimer, have a great variety of characters to voice, with some of the voices such as Skeletor's and Orko's, quite remarkable.

I love the world that was designed for this cartoon. Having it be as magical-a -place as ‘Eternia', where it has great magical powers was really interesting. To then add fascinating little facets such as Castle Grayskull (the magical home of Eternia), Skeletor's hideout Snake Mountain, the palace in the centre of Eternia and the crystal sea were good for the story. The talents behind the ideas for the He-man's characters, home planet and storylines include

Can there be any hero that can top ‘He-man'? I believe there is not, because he was good to watch as a kid, giving us all the belief to do what is right and to not follow the path of evil. My favourite characters in the series have to be Orko and Skeletor, who had interesting stories behind them. He-man also had a twin sister named ‘She-Ra' who had all the same magical powers as He-man, (with a great TV cartoon movie, titled ‘The Secret of the Sword'). It was interesting to learn how She-Ra comes to be and how she was taken away from her parents as a baby. I was surprised to learn that there was a new version of ‘He-man', released last year. Although it is a little different, in my opinion the new He-man looks great. While I might be a bit old to get into it, the ‘kid' in me will be on lookout to see a few episodes.