BY THE POWER OF GRAYSKULL! HE-MAN IS BACK! For those of you who didn’t know he was gone, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe was a wildly popular animated television series that ran from 1983 to 1985. The series was based on an even more popular action figure toy line that first debuted a year prior in 1982.
Masters of the Universe was the first syndicated show to be based on a toy line, as opposed to the other way around. It soon became a common way to advertise to kids, by having a fun and colorful animated series to go along with the little pieces of muscular plastic.
The series followed Prince Adam, who lived on a planet known as Eternia. As the series opening title sequence explained, whenever Prince Adam holds the Sword of Power up in the air and declares, “By the power of Grayskull! I have the power!” he is endowed with “fabulous secret powers” and becomes He-Man, the most powerful man in the universe. Do you think they say “power” enough?
The cast was filled out with classic supporting characters such as the Sorceress, Man-At-Arms, Orko, Teela, and He-Man’s trusty Battle Cat, formerly known as Cringer. Together they fought the evil Skelator and his main minions Beast Man and Mer-Man to thwart their plans of conquering Castle Grayskull and gaining access to the source of He-Man’s power.
The TV series ended after two seasons and 130 episodes but continued on in reruns until 1990. There were short-lived revival series in 1990 and 2002, but while the toy line has continued on, the show mostly remained dormant… until now.
It was announced at Power-Con 2019 that Kevin Smith will be executive producing and showrunning a direct sequel to the original series for Netflix called Masters of the Universe: Revelation. Powerhouse Animation (Castlevania) will be handling the anime-style animation.
In addition, it looks like Smith will be bringing a group of friends along to get in on the staff writing fun, starting with his Fatman Beyond co-host, Marc Bernardin, as well as Supergirl writer Eric Carrasco, Tim Sheridan (Reign of the Supermen), and Diya Mishra (Magic: The Gathering).
The official synopsis for the show reads as follows:
“A radical return to Eternia, Revelation is a direct sequel series to the classic era of Masters Of The Universe. Featuring fan-favorites He-Man, Orko, Cringer and Man-At-Arms, the story pits our heroic warriors and guardians of Castle Grayskull against Skeletor, Evil-Lyn, Beast Man and the vile Legions of Snake Mountain!
But after a ferocious final battle forever fractures 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. This is the epic He-Man and The Masters Of The Universe saga fans have waited 35 years to see!”
Consider us intrigued! We hope Kevin Smith finds a way for Stan Lee’s Masters of the Universe character Standor to cameo in the series!
May he have the power!
-Steve V.