Masters of the Universe: Revelation (Season One)
Skeletor unwittingly brought an end to magic and it almost caused the destruction of the universe. He-Man stopped it for now, but it cost his life, leaving Teela to pick up the pieces and make sure it doesn’t happen!
Masters of the Universe: Revelation (Season One)
What did you watch?
I grew up watching The Masters of the Universe. It is undoubtedly a major step in my love of animation. From an early age, I showed a preference for animated shows and as I got older nothing changed. So, when I saw that Netflix was producing a new Masters of the Universe show, I knew that I had to watch it and since it’s me, I needed to talk about it too. It was a fun departure from anime for a while, but it definitely made me realise that you can’t beat the real thing. Anyhow, join me as I take a look a the first season of Masters of the Universe: Revelation. There will be spoilers and they’re pretty big ones…
What happened?
Skeletor managed to break into Castle Grayskull and knew exactly what he was looking for. Deep beneath the castle was a mystical chamber with a locked box at its heart. The key to unlocking that box was He-Man’s sword. Luckily for Skeletor, He-Man showed up to stop him. Moss-Man attempted to intervene, but Skeletor turned him to ash, enraging He-Man. In a moment of fury, He-Man thrust his sword into Skeletor’s body. However, he had planned on that as the sword simultaneously opened the lock behind Skeletor.
The box opened and Skeletor tried to take the power, but it was too much. The Sorceress appeared before He-Man and Teela with the world frozen around them. She told them that the universe was about to end. Nothing could be done. However, He-Man pulled his sword and used it to absorb the magic. There was so much that he wouldn’t survive and he knew it. Teela watched in horror as He-Man reverted to Adam before he died. Magic had vanished from Eternia along with Teela’s trust. Furious that everyone had been keeping Adam’s secret from her, she left.
What did you think?
I grew up loving this series. It has such a big world filled with rich and wonderful characters. However, this series didn’t quite live up to my hopes. It was fine. There were some great moments, but just as many not so great moments. I think the biggest issue was that it tried to do too much. Everything felt rushed and almost nothing was earned. The answers came too easily, often without them even trying to solve them. Rather than really focusing on a small group of characters and delivering a thrilling and engaging story, they seemed to want to stuff it full of Easter Eggs and too many characters. I really wanted to love it, but I’ll have to settle for liking it.
What was your favourite moment?
As I said, there were several great moments. Orko’s sacrifice was one such moment and had they spent a little more time on it, Evil-Lyn’s backstory would have been amazing, sad and tragic, but it would have been a great story. Skeletor had some great lines too, but he was as hopeless a nemesis as you would expect. So, my favourite moment was when Evil-Lyn finally stood up against Skeletor and took control of the power. I thought that was nicely done and the way Skeletor slipped away as soon as he realised what a mistake he’d made was brilliant. It helped that Evil-Lyn’s transformation was spectacular.
What was your least favourite moment?
There were lots of really daft moments too. Man-at-Arms showing up to save everyone from Mer-Man was a notable one and also Adam returning to Eternia from Preternia (heaven) only to get stabbed by Skeletor as soon as he did. However, it was the stuff that led to Adam’s return that really made my head spin. Adam had just told them that no one can leave Preternia, but that didn’t stop them from looking for Grayskull, the legendary champion to find a way out. Of course, he had one and it was as easy as walking into a shining ball of light. Another of those moments where the answer was just too easy. Boring!
Who was your favourite character?
It’s a bit of a battle between Teela and Evil-Lyn, although Evil-Lyn in her champion costume was spectacular. I loved the way Teela changed after walking out of the palace and I did like that she did it her way when it became time for her to become the Sorceress, even if that too was too quick a process and her sudden use of magic being pulled out of nowhere. I loved that Evil-Lyn had moments with Orko where she seemed to be changing her ways, but also that she was so overwhelmed by the scale of the cosmos that she needed to end everything. It’s hard to decide, so I’ll just let them battle it out…
Who was your least favourite character?
Ironically, it was Prince Adam/He-Man. I just found him to be incredibly annoying. I didn’t really care for the Incredible Hulk version of He-Man that went on a rampage and definitely not the scenes after that with King Randor thanking everyone and Queen Marlena updating us on her failed marriage. I actually thought killing him and Skeletor in the first episode was an inspired choice, but it was pretty quickly undone. They could have used that to create a new story with new characters, similar to how Transformers The Movie did and we all know how cool that was.
Would you like some more?
So, there was an aspect of this season that looked like it was going to be a major theme – technology versus magic, but it kind of fizzled out. Then, right at the end of the last episode, it showed us Motherboard, the being behind Tri-Klop’s techno cult and how she was connected to Hordak. So, thanks to that brief moment, I am definitely going to watch it if they make more. Equally, if they don’t I’ll be fine. It was all right, but it didn’t do anything to make me really sit up and take note.
What have you learnt?
It’s obviously a terrible problem, having so many fascinating characters that you can’t leave any of them out, especially if you are selling those characters as action figures. However, from a story standpoint, this series would have been far better if it had focused on a smaller group and had them go on a grand adventure, encountering new places and characters. I felt like this should have been a bridge to the new era and not just the same old stuff.
There were deaths and surprises, but for the most part, they didn’t really matter and because of the lack of development in the series, it was hard to care about many of them. They also need to raise the stakes and the difficulty of the challenges. It was just too easy and that made it boring. There were some nice fights, but they really didn’t do that much to move the story along.
Other Posts in the Series
- Season One
- Episode 1 – The Power of Grayskull
- Episode 2 – The Poisoned Chalice
- Episode 3 – The Most Dangerous Man in Eternia
- Episode 4 – Land of the Dead
- Episode 5 – The Forge at the Forest of Forever
- Episode 6 – Cleaved in Twain
- Episode 7 – Reason and Blood
- Episode 8 – The Gutter Rat
- Episode 9 – Hope, For a Destination
- Episode 10 – Comes with Everything You See Here
