New Adventures of He-Man: Season 1, Episode 3 Review

He-Man and the Galactic Guardians bring
Tri-Fusium crystals to the Scientists

The Heat - 
Written by Jack Olesker

The Scientists attempt to repair the Tri-Fusium generator at Titan. With it being in disrepair, the temperatures on Primus are already beginning to climb. He-Man and company arrive aboard S.S. Eternia with the crystals, but are soon called to the floating city of Leviton because of a Mutant attack. The attack was a diversion that allowed the Mutants to capture the Scientists - who are the only ones capable of repairing the generator. Slush Head brings the Scientists to Flogg and Skeletor.

Skeletor has set a trap for He-Man in the Quagmi Swamp on Denebria. He demands the Scientists to explain the nature of Primus's shield. U-R helps the Galactic Guardians track the Scientists to Slush Head's home region, the Quagmi Swamp. Finding the Mothership, they seal it off with a laser web. The Sorceress contacts He-Man telepathically to help him find a way through a debilitating dust storm - the Power Sword lights the way. Upon finding the Scientists, Skeletor sends the Mutants into battle, hoping to capture He-Man.

Skeletor & the Mutants prepare to attack

The Mutants agree to return the Scientists if He-Man deactivates the laser web. Keeping his promise, He-Man deactivates the laser web and returns to Primus with his allies and the freed Scientists.

Review:  
Despite their habit of being rather annoying, and thus getting too much screen time at moments, the Scientists are shown to be a valuable resource in this episode. Skeletor flexes his roll as leader as he commands the Mutants into battle. Although he loses his edge when Flogg calls his troops off in the interest of saving his ship. Interesting character dynamics continue with the Mutants. And He-Man's beginning adventures continue with strong cohesion. We discover the city of Leviton on Primus, and the Quagmi Swamp on Denebria.

Galactic Guardians:
The Scientists
Drissi
Caz
Mara
Master Sebrian
He-Man
Flipshot
Hydron
Gleep
U-R
Sorceress

Evil Mutants:
Skeletor
Flogg
Slush Head
Crita
Optikk
Hoove
Karatti
Lizor

New Adventures of He-Man: Season 1, Episode 2 Review

Slush Head questions who is in charge: Skeletor or Flogg

Quest for the Crystals - 
Written by Jack Olesker

Flogg wishes to continue his attacks on Primus now that the planetary shield is noticeably weakened. Skeletor continues to manipulate the Mutants, catering to Flogg's ego whilst slowly and quietly exercising his dominance. Slush Head asks at one point "Are we taking orders from him or you?"

Adam changes into He-Man by calling "By the Power of Eternia" for the first time - without any explanation for the change from "By the Power of Grayskull" to "By the Power of Eternia". He meets the Inner Council, whose representative places doubts in both Sebrian and He-Man himself.

An ancient star ship gets pulled out of moth balls

Slush Head performs recon on Primus. His last stop is the Oasis, where Drissi and Caz fall into his path of attack. He-Man arrives to save them, sending Slush Head and his damaged Shuttle Pod back to the Mutant Mothership. The mission isn't a total failure. Thanks to Slush Head's recon, Skeletor and the Mutants discover that Titus, is the sight of Primus's Tri-Fusium generator. Without it, the temperature of Primus would become unbearable. It is powered by crystals only found in Gorn City, located on the Mutant homeworld of Denebria. The Mutants thus disable Titus, forcing He-Man and the Guardians to find a way to Denebria.

An ancient starship, once an outlawed Primus weapon, is recommissioned, and set to blast off to Denebria. Caz stows away on the ship, and follows He-Man and Gleep into the city. Tricked by a miner named Meliak who claims to have a supply of crystals, He-Man falls into Skeletor's trap. Betrayed by Skeletor, Meliak aids He-man in gaining equal footing against his old nemesis. Ultimately, He-Man escapes with plenty of crystals to restore Titus.

He-Man and Skeletor fight in the mines of Gorn City

Flipshot and Hydron christen the ship "Starship Eternia" in honor of He-Man's homeworld.

Review:
This is a strong episode that employs strategy and cunning on the part of Skeletor, and his manipulation of the mutants. It sets the standard for the rest of the series. This episode picks up right where the first episode ends, establishing this series' trait of strong continuity. The danger of the destruction of the Tri-Fusium generator sets everything in this episode in motion. The Galactic Guardians' toy play set - Star Ship Eternia - is introduced in-story, and we get our first depiction of the Mutant planet Denebria, which is dingy, shady and seedy - a stark contrast to Primus, which is paradisiacal. As with the rest of this series, very little explanation is provided for in-story changes from the previous MOTU toy line and cartoon - Adam simply uses the incantation "By the Power of Eternia" to change into He-Man with no explanation as to why he no longer uses his iconic "By the Power of Grayskull". It is never explained throughout the course of the entire series.

Characters that appeared:
Galactic Guardians:
Prince Adam/He-Man
Hydron
Flipshot
The Scientists
Gleep
U-R
Caz
Drissi
Mara
Master Sebrian
Inner Council Representative

Evil Mutants:
Skeletor
Flogg
Slush Head
Karatti
Hoove
Crita
Lizor
Optikk

New Adventures of He-Man: Season 1, Episode 1 Review

A New Beginning - written by Jack Olesker

The story begins in the Tri-Solar System on the planet Primus. Caz and Drissi tend to their animals. Drissi demonstrates her ability to telepathically communicate with animals - an ability also performed by He-Man's twin sister She-Ra.

Nordor - a moon of the Mutant homeworld of Denebria - strangely appears in orbit around Primus, and it seems that the Mutant Fleet, led by the Mutant Mothership, is within the caverns of Nordor. From the main bridge of the Mothership, Flogg commands the fleet to attack Primus. His bridge crew is composed of Slush Head, Crita, Optikk, Hoove, Lizor and Karatti. Flogg is bent on destroying the remnants of the Human race, which populates planet Primus.

Although fighting has been banned for 1000 tilk on Primus, the Primusians have no choice but to find a solution against the Mutant threat. Master Sebrian, leader of the Inner Council, seeks approval from the council members - who are encased in special crystals so they can power the planetary shield that protects Primus. Their mysterious abilities have an interesting parallel to MOTU's original Council of Elders.

NA Skeletor at Snake Mountain

The time vessel that the Scientists (Alcon, Crax, Gabel and Melnock) use to send Flipshot and Hydron through the time vortex arrives on Eternia to be greeted by goat-men. The goat-men, led by Andros, take Flipshot and Hydron to a duplicitously apologetic Skeletor - who masquerades as a "good guy" who is more than happy to help the Primusians in their plight.

He-Man is notified telepathically by the Sorceress to go to the future and save humanity. At Eternos palace, Adam announces to King Randor and Queen Marlena that he must go away on a special mission. He transforms into He-Man in front of them by calling "By the Power of Grayskull...I Have the Power", finally revealing to them that he was the Champion of Eternia all along. Proud mother and father embrace their son, and wish him well on his mission to Primus.

New Adventure's version of Eternos Palace

He-Man tries to stop Skeletor, and the two quarrel. Not sure which one to take with them into the time vortex, Hydron and Flipshot take both to the future. Not too long after coming to Primus, the Mutants attack, and Skeletor reveals his true nature. He-Man shows his prowess and fends off the gang of vicious Mutants. Flogg commands a retreat, but not before Skeletor beats a retreat with them.

He-Man reveals himself as Prince Adam to Master Sebrian, leader of Primus. In order to protect his identity, Sebrian claims Adam as his merchant "nephew" from Lebitat.

On the Mothership, Skeletor shows his true power - revealing how he could easily defeat any of them, including Flogg. In a play to ensure the vast Mutant force caters to his whim, the Lord of Destruction feigns loyalty to Flogg, claiming he's only interested in destroying He-Man. Flogg and Skeletor agree to help each other destroy the human race of Primus and He-Man respectively.

Review:
This episode acts as a "bridge" or "passing of the torch" from the original Filmation series to the "New Adventures" (NA). Not only is the animation style different due to a totally different animation studio (Jetlag), designs of original returning characters are a departure as well. Despite having veteran MOTU toy line developers like Mark Taylor involved, there is very little connection stylistically to the original series. This was intentional, as Mattel wanted to make a fresh start with NA. There is no explanation as to why He-Man's, Skeletor's or the Sorceress' attire are different - it can be assumed that they always appeared this way in this continuity. There's also no explanation for why Queen Marlena's hair is blue.

NA's version of Snake Mountain

One of the major crimes of this episode, and the series itself is that Castle Grayskull never appears, despite Adam calling its name (or at least its original ruler's name) during his transformation into He-Man. Also, Eternos Palace looks nothing like its Filmation counterpart - looking more like a military compound, rather than a majestic royal palace. Snake Mountain however does resemble itself.

Ultimately, NA fails in staying true to its roots, but that's more Mattel's fault than it is the creators of the show. It also fails in the way of "passing the torch". A better job should have been done to transition from MOTU to NA - the role of Andros the Goat-Man would have played better if the original Beast-Man was used instead, but Mattel didn't want the "old" characters to take away from the new ones. Also, having Teela and Man-At-Arms send off He-Man would have helped, but the issue of time and "stealing the show" played here as well.  Explaining the costume changes would have been interesting, but again time and animation limitations likely played a role. Mattel played a gamble. They wanted to appeal to a new audience, not expecting old fans to be that interested anymore. Ironically, in trying to cater to new fans, the show did very little to provide a backstory to the lead characters, leaving them dependent on the concepts established in the previous show.

Storywise, this is a good start for the series - the episode sets up the protagonists, the antagonists and the main driving conflict. The story doesn't give satisfactory detail as to why and how the Primusians know of the legend that prompts them to seek out He-Man - it's left rather vague unfortunately. Skeletor's characterization has changed significantly - he is not as megalomanic. The NA Skeletor is more duplicitous and manipulative - he is constantly playing with strategy to achieve his goals, and never overtly takes control of the Mutants. He does however flex his authority, and over time, Flogg becomes more a figurehead than a true leader, leaving that true and silent role to the Lord of Destruction.

Characters to Appear:
Heroes:
Caz
Drissi
U-R
Gleep
The Scientists
Mara
Master Sebrian
Hydron
Flipshot
Prince Adam/He-Man
King Randor
Queen Marlena
Sorceress

Villains:
Andros
Skeletor
Flogg
Slush Head
Crita
Optikk
Hoove
Lizor
Karatti

Dreamworks working on a She-Ra Show?

SDCC Exclusive 200X She-Ra has rooted hair, soft good
fabric cape and a comb. Could this be what's in store
for a future She-Ra line?

Apparently this claim has reared its head again, after being shot down by Mattel a year or so ago. Now, Dreamworks has purchased Classic Media - the entertainment arm that held the rights to the He-Man and She-Ra shows. With Dreamworks making such a move, it's inevitable that hopes and theories are going to come about - putting properties like She-Ra back into the limelight again.

At the recent Masters of the Universe and Thundercats convention Power-Con/Thunder-Con, Ian Richter, a producer on the 2002 Mike Young Production He-Man series, said that Dreamworks had "big plans" for She-Ra. This is a pretty general statement, but now that it is out there, fans are frothing at the mouth to see this form into some sort of reality.

Girls brands are doing better than boys toys. Brands like Barbie, Monster High, Bratz, Tinkerbell and others are running strong. I don't see a She-Ra show or DTV happening without a toy brand, or other merchandising effort - one always builds up the other. So Dreamworks, and possibly Mattel, are seeing that returning MOTU to retail is probably best done with the She-Ra brand at this juncture - and she will work best on DTV.

Principle figures from the Tinkerbell toy line

Think Tinkerbell - who has a strong series of beautifully-done DTV movies (4 released, 2 upcoming) and a supporting toy line to go with it. This is the perfect model for She-Ra. If she builds up a following, and does well in the DTV market and merchandising realms, then she could possibly expand to television OR test the burgeoning internet TV market, and release an ongoing series directly to Netflix or Hulu (who have both been expanding by producing original programming).

With Tinkerbell doing so well, She-Ra's tone has no need to go fluffy and funny like other brands. Tinkerbell is all about adventure, and Tinks herself is pretty tomboyish. She-Ra's tone DOES have to be balanced - it can't go too far, or be too edgy. Perhaps He-Man and Hordak's roles are scaled back - He-Man has a more Bow/Ken connection to the brand, and Hordak plays a sort of "Emperor Palpatine" role to Etherian Horde Leader Catra. The brand can still have its connection to MOTU, but it is IMPERATIVE to put the She-Ra brand front and center, and make it more independent than it ever was. More characters have to appeal to the girls market, but at the same time perhaps have an "IN" for boys (or at least older collectors who are less likely to be swayed by rigid gender lines).

Right now, there is no true news as to what is going on with Dreamworks and She-Ra - there is no official press release, or dependable news article stating this. The aforementioned is just a likely scenario of the direction the She-Ra brand can head. Hopefully, Mr. Richter has some weight at Dreamworks, and can bring his "off the record" statements to a reality that many fans have been waiting to see for more than 20 years.