Masters of the Universe

 As regular readers of this site know I grew up in the 1980s. Seth McFarlane is about a year younger than me so on the rare occasion that I turn on Family Guy I catch all the 1980s references which are as much about fandom as the shows and movies themselves.  However I only watch it on occasion as I feel its characters are a little too immoral.  This is not a complaint I can lodge against He-Man and the Masters of the Universe.

When the Filmation cartoon He-Man first began airing I was about ten which is a little older than the show was targeting, but I found plenty to like in it.  The setting, a planet called Eternia which had both magical creatures and scientific advancements far beyond what is on Earth (e.g. flying sleds). The title character is a Superman/Clark Kent like character except when he is not He-Man he really is just an ordinary man.  Prince Adan is deliberately, especially in the early episodes, a little lazy and more interested in having fun than in behaving like a prince.  However this is a guise to keep people from suspecting he is really He-Man (although he looks a lot like He-Man except his skin and hair is lighter).  This hurt his relationship with his father King Randor who was a little cold and wanted his son to act more like a future monarch.  Interestingly the episodes I liked the most were the ones that featured Adam more and we see that he has become brave and resourceful and does not turn into He-Man every time he gets into trouble.  

He-Man, like Superman, is both the most powerful character and the moral center of the show.  He respects all life and treats everyone with honor and respect, but also had a good sense of humor.  The same voice actor, John Erwin, voiced Adam and He-Man and speaks in a higher register as Adam. 

The show also had strong supporting characters like Teela, who was a Princess Leia like character, a good fighter and a friend to Adam since childhood.  Teela’s adoptive father Man-At-Arms (Duncan) had a better relationship with Adam than his father because he knew Adam’s secret, did not have to behave like a king, and could give true fatherly advice.  Orko is a floating magician from another planet called Trolla with a distinct look and a childlike demeanor.  The Sorceress is a little like Glenda of The Wizard of Oz (and is secretly Teela’s birth mother).  Adam’s pet tiger Cringer had hilarious lines used expressing his fear of turning into Battle Cat (“Adam, I don’t think I have the stomach for this today”).  I found Battle Cat much less interesting a character though he had a great roar when transforming.

The villains were well drawn too for this type of show.  Skeletor, memorably voiced by Alan Oppenheimer (3rd cousin of the title character of Christopher Nolan’s film), balances menace and comedy to such a degree that we believe he can intimidate a village as well be thrown across the room by a queen.  Skeletor is strong and has an odd assortment of magic tricks but like Lex Luthor needs schemes to defeat He-Man since he cannot outfight him.  One of the sequel shows explained how Skeletor got his signature look (blue skin and a skull with no facial features) but I only saw one episode of the first of those shows.  Evil-Lynn, Trapjaw, Cyclops and Kobra Khan were all memorable henchmen (all of whom hate but also fear Skeletor).  I never cared much for Beastman who seemed to exist just for Skeletor to insult and the show never exploited how scary a man with his look could be since he was always played for a fool. 

Two other elements stood out.  Snake Mountain and Castle Greyskull were built up and shown a lot on the show though I do not recall ever finding out what the latter’s secrets were (though I imagine a google search could answer that).  The last, but far from least, was the music, composed by Shuki Levi and Haim Saban.  The He-Man theme is a triumphant use of brass and is used whenever Adam transforms but also in heroic moments in the show.  There were other action scores that were also a lot of fun.  

In 1987 Cannon films, which was famously halved the budget of Superman IV in 1986 (turning a promising film into a weak one) released a Masters of the Universe film with Dolph Lundgren as He-Man and Frank Langella as Skeletor.  It got the character names right but Adam never appeared, it largely took place on Earth, and showed a series of laser gun battles that felt little like the show.  The film failed at the box office.  After the success of Barbie, Mattel finally greenlit a new Masters of the Universe, directed by Travis Knight who directed Bumblebee and Kubo and the Two Strings.  I saw a little of the latter (and liked it) and none of the former but heard it was much better than the Michael Bay Transformer films. Knight assembled a strong cast including Nicholas Galitznine, who starred a couple of years ago in The Idea of You, as Adam and He-Man, Idris Elba as Man-At-Arms, Camilla Mendes as Teela, Monica Baccarin as the Sorceress, and Jared Leto as Skeletor.

Spoilers below:

When adapting a show such as this the filmmakers need to decide how to approach it.  Knight and his writers opted for a hero origin story and changed the stakes on Eternia.  In the original show Skeletor is constantly scheming to take over the planet but never actually does.  In the beginning of the film Skeletor and an army he never had before actually conquers the planet and Adam (who is a child of about nine) is sent to Earth with the power sword to hide.  Man-At-Arms is presented much as I remembered him from the show, though perhaps a little more badass since Elba is playing him, confidently protecting the royals until the palace falls.  

The scenes on Earth serve as an entry point for people who are unfamiliar with or skeptical about He-Man. Adam sounds a little nuts when he speaks about his search for a sword from his mystical home.  Adam’s salmon colored shirt mimics his costume in the show and while we are eager for the film to get back to Eternia I sense these were the most fun scenes to play for Galitzine since he gets to put his own stamp on the character.  The HR representative played by former SNL actor Sasheer Zamata reminded me a little of Gary Cole in Office Space, bullying employees in a comically passive aggressive way.  I found an HR role an interesting choice for Adam but it informs the leadership he and He-Man show later when rallying the troops for the escape from Snake Mountain.  

The freeway attack by Beast Man calls back to an episode called “Prince Adam No More” where Beast Man leads an attack on a transport and Adam is unable to stop him.  Knight wisely shows Beast Man as more of a fierce animal.  He roars a lot and comes across like a combination of a lion and a gorilla.  The adult Teela’s entrancing into the film showcases how good a fighter she is.

When the film goes back to Eternia I wondered if they were going to keep the secret identity since everyone knew that Adam had returned with the Power Sword, which is much larger than in the show.  Knight drops this thread and the show demonstrates this by showing Adam changing for the first time right in front of Teela.  While the show always mined comedy out of Teela’s ignorance of Adam and He-Man’s secret identity, it also weakened her as a character since she was so often with both of them.

A key element of these type of films is the transformation scene, because it is the moment where a good filmmaker can impress the fantasy of a normal person becoming a superhero.  The film adjusts it a little from the show by running the two phrases together and He-Man saying “I HAVE THE POWER” while raising the sword instead of afterwards.  The visual effects sell the moment with lots of lighting and there is an emphasis on the wardrobe change.  This music by Daniel Pemberton is different but it still works (and uses a lot of electric guitars).  

Right after the change, which occurs a full hour into the movie, He-Man is obviously stronger and a better fighter but he still has some of Adam’s clumsiness and self doubt.  One change Knight makes is having He-Man use the cordite in his harness to absorb blasts instead swatting them away with his sword.

I expected He-Man to remain in character for the rest of the film but after the first battle with Skeletor’s minions, Skeletor manages to change him back to Adam.  This allows Adam to know his destiny and he spends the next 20 to 30 minutes or so preparing himself to fully assume the He-Man identity for the film’s climax.  This time we see the character in full command of his facilities and fighting far more confidently.

Jared Leto, who is completely unrecognizable as Skeletor, brings more menace to the character and has a far deeper voice than Alan Oppenheimer, but still has fun with his own take on Skeletor’s signature laugh.  Skeletor still has blue skin but he has red eyes in his eye sockets.  A lot of Skeletor’s henchmen appear, most notably Trapjaw and Evil-Lyn.  Trapjaw is played as more savage by Sam C. Wilson and has a memorable first act battle with Man-At-Arms in a moment where I thought the hero might bite the bullet.  Evil-Lyn is played by Allison Brie, who brings a comedic touch to the witch, which plays well in her scenes with Skeletor. 

Eternia’s darker dilemma, in which Skeletor rules the planet for 15 years, gives Teela and Man-At-Arms a new angle to play with as Teela has been leading an underground rebellion and Man-At-Arms has become a drunk out of self pity for failing to stop Skeletor.  Man-At-Arms’ journey back to his heroic self parallels Adam’s journey, with a lot of humor.

Some elements that work against the film include a third act moment where Adam is metaphorically sent back to Earth to some of the earlier scenes he confronts his doubts about his potential.  It made little sense and while it is meant to drive him to find the courage to be his best self, I was just waiting for them to end.  That film is two hours and twenty minutes long and the removal of these beats might have made the film seem faster paced.

Knight includes moments where Adam has made up childish names for characters such as Ram Man and Fisto which leads up to the comical naming of He-Man in the epilogue.  I saw this as a little too much set-up for the unconventional hero name, which the characters make fun of.  Two touches that work much better are Adam’s lame excuse for going to change into He-Man (a detail from the show that always fell flat) and the other characters make clear they do not buy it.  Lastly, a lot of the cartoon episodes would end with the heroic characters laughing hard at something that often was not very funny to the audience and Knight spoofs that well. 

Cringer is also played as far more courageous (during the climax he actually has a henchman’s head in his mouth when he is interrupted) which makes his ultimate change to Battle Cat at the end seem far less dramatic.  Orko appears in a mid credits scene with the film’s lesson, which was always at the end of the episodes.  The animation is cute and it is a nice surprise but I was also glad the appearance was brief.  I often found Orko’ antics more childish than funny and I felt Presto in Dungeons and Dragons was a more interesting boyish/lousy wizard.

The title is obviously from the original show and action figures (which Mattel created before the show to compete with Kenner which was making a lot of money on the Star Wars merchandise) but I never felt it was a fitting title for this property apart from describing Skeletor’s ambitions.  He-Man and his friends are powerful but only want to keep the peace and do not wish to be the masters of anything, much less the universe.  

The production design, by Guy Hendrix Dyas, captures Eternia’s odd colors with a lot of big sets using reds and greens.  Snake Mountain, Skeletor’s havoc staff,  the flying sleds and the Attack Trac are all here and clearly designed with a fondness for the original show.  The color palette is more vibrant on Eternia and reminds me a little of the look of the Asgard set scenes in the Thor movies.  Fabian Wagner shoots the film on a G-stabilization system which allows the camera to fluidly track the action moments and immerse the audience in them but without the whiplash-like aesthetic of the Bourne movies or Quantum of Solace which always make me dizzy.

I was fortunate to catch Masters of the Universe on the big screen which was the best way to see this film which is full of entertaining special effects.  At the end of the film the audience, which was made up of people of my age down to teenagers all applauded.  Fortunately it was made by Amazon who will be releasing it on Prime and so it should have a strong life in streaming, but it is a shame that more people did not go see it in the cinema.  

Masters of the Universe gave me a chance to see these characters on the big screen created with a reverence to the original show and I hope it leads to several adventures.  ****