Masters of the Universe: Revelation
He-Man defeats Skeletor at a great cost in which all magic leaves the universe. A year later, Teela and Andra, now mercenaries, are on a quest to find magic relics as Eternia will die without magic restored. They must journey to Subternia and Preternia to find the missing halves of the Sword of Power. Along the way, they reunite with friends, foes, and some unexpected familiar faces.
Masters of the Universe: Revolution
The battle for Castle Grayskull continues in MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE: Revolution, the epic follow-up to the hit series MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE: Revelation. In this new chapter, it’s technology versus magic when He-Man and the heroic warriors face the forces of Skeletor and something more… the return of the despot Hordak, the ruthless leader of the Horde Empire.
What We Thought:
I grew up on the 1980s He-Man & The Masters of the Universe cartoon and unfortunately for any animated MOTU series since, I will automatically compare it to the classic 80s series of my youth. The last MOTU series I reviewed was very kid friendly and had a lot of things in it I didn’t appreciate as an original’s fan. This was coming from Kevin Smith who I do like, but it also had some controversy. I was hoping having Smith’s edginess would make it feel closer to the original since it was a continuation of my youth’s storyline. I don’t have Netflix so this was my first time seeing it and I was also hoping enough time had passed since the controversy that I could sit down and enjoy some new to me MOTU.
Unfortunately pretty quickly I learned why fans snapped at Smith. Masters of the Universe: Revelation doesn’t have He-Man in the title because Teela is the star. Smith tried to push back against people who called him out about it before its release, but Smith should have been honest. It’s a Teela show after the battle between He-Man and Skeletor. Teela must find the missing halves of the Sword of Power and restore the magic to Eternia before it’s too late. Masters of the Universe: Revolution at least brings back He-Man and Skeletor. Teela is now the Sorceress of Castle Grayskull and still pretty much in charge, but Revolution at least feels more like an ensemble cast of characters. Skeletor learns his true identity and the will they/won’t they between He-Man and Teela comes to a head.
Now if you can get beyond the controversy and female-driven/not He-Man driven storylines, the show is an adult based continuation of what we grew up on. When I say adult based, I mean it’s not for young kids. Characters die. There are genuine fights and battles. It’s dark and is made for the now fully grown adults that watched 40 years ago. I was actually surprised at how adult oriented it was since it’s based off characters I watched when I was five.
It also has a fantastic voice cast. Mark Hamill, Sarah Michelle Gellar (Teela in Revelation), Liam Cunningham, Lena Headey, Melissa Benoist (Teela in Revolution), William Shatner, Kevin Conroy, Jason Mewes, Kevin Smith, Justin Long, Tony Todd, Method Man, Danny Trejo, Keith David, Stephen Root and many more lend their voices. I also liked the animation style. The other Netflix MOTU series was 100% for kids with CGI animation I didn’t like. This at least looked closer to what I grew up with just updated with today’s technology.
I understand why Masters of the Universe: Revelation/Revolution faced controversy before its release. Smith should have been honest from the get go since it is female driven, but I expected to really not like it, but I didn’t hate it. It’s an adult MOTU series for those of us who watched it as kids. It kills off characters I grew up with while adding new backstory that wasn’t there originally. If you were a MOTU kid and can lower expectations it’s worth a watch. This Steelbook release is pretty neat too.
The Nerds Templar 