So. I saw the new MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE movie yesterday. And I’m going to tell you what I thought about it. But first, a short preamble…
When I was a kid, in the early 80s, it seems like 99% of my friends had Star Wars toys. And then there was a tiny minority of weirdoes like me who were into MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE instead (though I must admit – I always wanted an AT-AT!) I don’t know what it was that made me like it so much. The mini-comics that came with the action figures were a big part of it. They really fleshed out this silly universe with its gonzo mix of swords, sorcery and sci-fi, with its roster of outrageous (and outrageously-named) characters. And the box art was amazing – like a neon-soaked hyper-coloured version of Boris Vallejo’s fantasy barbarian paintings. I watched the Saturday Morning cartoons, and loved them – Skeletor (voiced by the legendary [edit – not Frank Whelker] Alan Oppenheimer) was a hilariously ridiculous villain, and even as a wide-eyed 7-year old, I knew that this was definitely not meant to be taken seriously. Much like the 60s Adam West version of Batman!
I grew up, my tastes changed. I think I got into Games Workshop – a very natural progression from MOTU, and I gave away old toys (RIP Castle Greyskull). By the time the Canon MOTU movie came out – way too late in 1985 (or possibly 1986 in the UK) – I was already into Warhammer and painting Citadel Miniatures. But I still had warm feelings for the franchise and I really thought, done well, it would be awesome to see on the big screen.
And it wasn’t bad. But it was a tad disappointing. I’d seen enough TV shows to know that episodes set on “planets that are either Earth or look suspiciously similar to Earth” were done to save money, and this movie was 90% Earth, 10% Eternia at best. But despite the obvious cost-cutting, it was still a lot of fun. Dolph Lungren was a likeable He-Man and definitely had the looks (and the pecs!) for the role. Maybe not so strong on the acting front – but who cares. Like Schwarzenegger, he had charisma enough to overcome any garbled syllables. And the rest of the cast were pretty memorable too – not least, Frank Langella having the time of his life panto-ing it up as Skeletor. Meg Foster made a perfect Evil-Lyn too, with her unnervingly piercing eyes and sultry looks. She definitely made a lasting impression on me that lasted long past my teenage years. Oh – and Courteney Cox was in it too (though this was nearly a decade before FRIENDS!)
Anyway, the movie felt like a coda to MOTU for me. I was into other stuff now, and I had “put away my childish things”, so to speak. And Warhammer was much more grown-up (and had occasional boobies too – so I knew it was definitely not for kids!!)
Obviously, I moved past Games Workshop too. Went to Uni. Found other things to be interested in, like music, drinking and girls! And certainly didn’t think much more about He-Man and his merry band of adventurers. Until about 8 or 9 years ago, when flicking through streaming services, I saw the original cartoon series was online. I watched a couple of episodes for nostalgia’s sake, and they were… well, they were exactly what they were. Very simple entertainment designed to sell toys, and definitely aimed at a young audience. But I also noticed that the She-Ra cartoons were available too, so out of curiosity I watched the first of those. And immediately I noticed the set-up was a whole lot more interesting and it was written a bit more engagingly. Where MOTU had a very simple setup with clearly delineated heroes and villains, She-Ra added a little bit of grey to the mix. Mainly because at the start of the show, the lead – Adora/She-Ra – works for the Evil Horde! I discovered later that many of these early episodes were written by J M Straczynski (creator of Babylon 5 and many other awesome shows/comics), who’d also written many memorable episodes for other kids shows like Real Ghostbusters and Dungeons & Dragons. 80s She-Ra was still pretty simplistic, as a show, but it was a league above He-Man and the MOTU.
In 2018, Netflix released a new series “She Ra and the Princesses of Power”, with N D Stevenson as the showrunner. I kind of hated the new designs for the characters when I first saw it, since they’d gone away from the 80s Boris-Vallejo/Frank Frazetta roots of the original designs and instead made them look squishier, more cartoony and more gender-neutral (remember, in 2018 we were on the curve approaching “peak gay” in popular culture before the backlash kicked in!) But hey, I like to think I’m open minded, so I gave the new show a whirl. And holy shit – it was really good! Like really well written, with likeable, relatable characters. And crucially, a ton of nuance. No-one in the show is outright good or bad, and over the course of 5 seasons we saw major characters swap sides frequently. The story is superb and ratchets up the stakes brilliantly with every season, until it reaches a truly epic and incredibly emotional conclusion. I’d hold it up there easily with shows like BUFFY, with an equally amazing ensemble cast of memorable characters. Like Buffy, it balances great humour with serious stakes. At the end of the day – cheesy though it sounds – it’s all about the power of friendship. And those character designs I mentioned? Even those work in the end, when you realise that in Season 1, they’re just kids – and by the time we get to season 5 they’ve grown up – and the designs reflect that. It’s a great show that manages to be both incredibly progressive and diverse in terms of representation without ever letting it get in the way of good storytelling. It never makes a big deal of any character’s gender identity, sexuality or neurodivergence, or gets preachy about it. It just treats it as normal. Imagine that! It’s almost the polar opposite of the last few dismal seasons of Doctor Who, which felt more like shrill performative propaganda for the coloured flag crowd than entertainment.
Now, the sad news is Netflix removed the whole series from streaming last year, and as far as I know, and they’ve never released it on BluRay. I think you can buy it on Apple or Amazon streaming. Or just google it – it has a lot of fans who’ve preserved copies of it and have shared it. There was also a Netflix He-Man show made, called MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE: REVELATION, written by Kevin Smith. I watched the first season and it was.. meh. Not bad as such, but a bit underwhelming, especially since it completely sidelines the main character after the first episode. I didn’t get any of the emotional connection with the characters I did with She-Ra. But this leads us to now, because now – there’s a new movie! A live action movie! With a big budget, and a decent director. So…. After that “short preamble”, here’s my review of the new MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE!
It’s good! Not amazing. Certainly not as wildly fun as the DUNGEONS & DRAGONS movie that came about about 2 years ago. Not as good as FLASH GORDON – which it’s clearly taken a lot of inspiration from. But it’s still pretty damn good and feels like with a few small tweaks it could have been so much better. There’s plenty of awesome stuff in there though. First off – the look of the characters and the world is spot-on! This is literally the box art of the 80s toy line brought to life. The costumes – and the casting – are great. Trap Jaw looks so damn cool and scary. If I was 7 years old again watching this, he would have really scared me! Jared Leto also finally found his perfect role – he makes for a magnificent Skeletor. I’m not sure if he’s better than Frank Langella, but he’s not worse! Who would’ve guessed? Alison Brie as Evil-lyn didn’t quite work for me. Maybe because she comes across as a bit too normal, and not quite as deranged/evil/hot as that character feels like it should be. But Camila Mendes as Teela works well and has some great chemistry with Nicholas Galatzine – who plays He-Man/Prince Adam. It’s a big role to play (literally) and while he’s not insanely swole like Dolph, he’s a very likeable, relatable lead who handles the comic beats pretty well too. The action is pretty big (though bloodless – of course!) It all looks very pretty – much better than I thought it would based on the trailer. And the score is heavy on the electric guitar. As I said, a lot of Flash Gordon vibes. There’s a couple of great music cues in there. Yes, Queen makes an appearance (and The Darkness do the credits music!)
So – the bad! It is bit too long – it’s slightly over 2 hours and it feels like this should have had half an hour hacked off it at least. There’s a few soggy bits where it completely loses energy. And it feels like in places it injected a bit too much marvel-snark-comedy moments into what should have been just pure heroic heartfelt ones. Some of the comedy works in it, but a lot doesn’t quite land. I think the script needed more juicing up and playing up more of the fish-out-of-water stuff. It’s funny, but feels like it could have been…. More funny? And the story isn’t much more complex than the 80s cartoon show.
But at the end of the day, it’s almost exactly what it promised – a faithful, lovingly done adaptation of a cheesy 80s Saturday morning kids cartoon/toy show. It’s not deep, it’s mostly a lot of fun. And sometimes you just want to nerd out in a darkened cinema while sipping from your Castle Greyskull slurpee cup.
