A TV series by Netflix

I know it’s way past the time that this review is relevant, but for some reason, it took me a while to finish this show up and get this rolling. I don’t have an excuse or anything – I’m not one of the haters that acted like Kevin Smith committed a personal war atrocity against them by writing this show (reasons will be explained later), I was just busy I suppose. I think we are well-past the point where spoilers matter when talking about Masters of the Universe: Revelation Season 1 Part 1 , so here we go. It appears some people were VERY angry He-Man and Skeletor temporarily died in this show. I mean, furiously typing maniacal diatribes onto review sites mad. Considering those people would have to largely be my age or older, this is somewhat embarrassing to me. So what did I think?

“Skeletor’s final assault on Castle Grayskull caused his own demise, while also putting an end to He-Man, and simultaneously damaging the source of all magic in existence. After their battle fractured Eternia, it’s up to Teela to solve the mystery of the missing Sword of Power in a race against time to prevent the end of the Universe. Her journey will uncover the secrets of Grayskull at last.”

I actually think this show did an interesting thing by removing both the main protagonist and antagonist from the show for a while. This forced the writing to fully establish a group of characters that largely were one-dimensional in the old cartoon. This was especially true with Teela who was essentially the main protagonist here, and some of the villains got some extra time. I am fairly certain that the vocal minority of fans that saw this and flipped out, were the same sort of guys that tried to boycott Star Wars because Disney dared to have both a black man and a woman portray main characters. I have issues when they “genderswap” shows and films for no reason other than to pander, but that’s not what this was – this was a way to add depth to a show, that way when He-man does come back he’s part of a group of equals rather than having like five sidekicks that just stand there until He-Man kills the bad guys.

I won’t rant on here about this topic any further, but to these fans I just want to say – grow up. This show did not make the old show disappear, there are more He-Man things right now (another show, upcoming film, comics etc.) than we’ve had since the 1980’s, its not like this was a one-and-done thing. If it makes you that mad, don’t watch it – simple as that!

Aside from Teela getting a needed revamp, I absolutely loved the idea that some of Skeletor’s subordinates would be lost without him, and others would thrive. My favorite was Tri-Klops, as portrayed by Henry Rollins here. Without any magic due to the particular way He-man sacrificed himself to kill Skeletor, Tri-Klops took advantage of the situation by condemning magic altogether becoming a leader in the cult of Motherboard, a deity based on advanced electronics. Creating a large altar inside the former Snake Mountain, he performed rituals in which some kind of electronic water would be captured in a goblet and worthy followers would drink it. By doing so, they would instantly transform into cyborgs, with various limbs being replaced by mechanical weapons. Yeah it’s silly, but I enjoyed seeing smaller characters get time to shine.

There are some new characters here, including Andra, a young woman who has been working with Teela during her time away from the Royal Court. So far, she hasn’t been used too much aside from being Teela’s sidekick of sorts, but here’s hoping we see more of her in part two. We also see alignment changes for some characters – Evil Lyn being “a good guy” here is most notable. It seems that within a world without magic, all bets are off.

All-in-all, I enjoyed part one of this series, and can’t wait for more. It seems like my viewpoint is in some way controversial, and it really shouldn’t be – it’s not like people are being forced to watch it or anything. Side characters have been elevated, the plot is deeper, and there are real stakes for the first time ever in the history of the franchise. People seem to forget this was a children’s show that has NOT aged well – an update was needed. Hopefully the controversy wanes as the show progresses, because I feel the seeds have been planted for something truly awesome here.