Masters of the Universe: Revelation was just released by Netflix, and the reaction from fans of the long-beloved franchise is well…not good. While the highly anticipated series was eagerly awaited by fans of the series, for a lot of people who watched the five-episode series, Masters of the Universe: Revelation felt like a sham. Quite honestly, coming from a huge fan of the franchise, we probably should have seen this coming. Let me explain. This article contains spoilers for the first five episodes.
Masters of the Universe: Revelation means a lot to long-time fans
If you’re reading this, then you are very much likely a fan of the Masters of the Universe franchise in some form or another. Maybe you were like me and you grew up with the toys and playsets and have a faint memory of the cartoon. You were probably wowed by the amazing artwork on the boxes and packaging of your action figures. You likely held up something you pretended was a sword and yelled, much to your parents’ dismay, “BY THE POWER OF GRAYSKULL!!!” Unfortunately, to my knowledge, none of us transformed. Or maybe you got a chance to see the live-action Masters of the Universe film starring Dolph Lundgren and you enjoyed it for a myriad of reasons. Personally, I found it hilariously delightful. My point is, however He-Man and his friends came into your life, they made an impression. Like with all fandoms, we take ownership over the stories told when it comes to our favorite heroes.
That’s just it. These are stories that will change and evolve over time with each telling and retelling. Things will and never should stay exactly the same because doing so doesn’t allow things to grow. If a great story or even a great concept is to last, then there has to be more that can be added to it and it can still be great. That being said, Masters of the Universe: Revelation is incredible! However, a couple of things that people have issues with we should have seen coming.
Here are those things:
Kevin Smith is not the pillar of the nerd community you think he is.
When I first found out that Kevin Smith was involved with this project, I took a deep breath and quoted CJ from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and said, “Aw shit, here we go again!” Because unlike what Kevin Smith thinks himself to be, a paragon of all that is nerd, he’s just simply a fan. That’s it. His entire personality and brand are him being a fan of stuff. He doesn’t bring anything new or ambitious to projects, both his own and otherwise. He is a dialogue machine whose jokes don’t age too well at all. His runs as a writer for various comic book heroes such as Green Arrow and Black Cat are mediocre at best and only celebrated based on his name alone. Seriously, go read them. You quite possibly will be bored to tears and angry because word balloons are blocking all of the art. So, when you have someone involved in something that you like, and that person is someone who simply likes to hear himself speak and read his own words, you may not have a good time.
That being said, the writing for Masters of the Universe: Revelation is decent as the story is compelling. It had me engaged the entire time. This is due to Smith not being the sole writer for the show’s episodes because he can play as a team player. It is best that he not be left to his own devices. This is the same man who wrote, directed, and appeared in a film in which the plot was centered around a man turning a lesbian straight by the power of sex.
The marketing was misleading and vague by design.
Leading up to the series, we saw that the voice cast was star-studded, the animation was updated, and at the same time true to the original series. Serious money was obviously put into the production of the show. In the trailers leading up to the release, we saw He-Man doing what a he-man does and that’s kicking ass with the power of Grayskull. However, with all the star power in Lena Heady, Queen Cersei herself, as Evil-Lyn and Sarah Michelle Gellar as Teela, Mark Hamill as Skeletor, and possibly the greatest voice actor of today, Kevin Micheal Richardson as Beast Man, you wouldn’t be wrong to think that a huge actor would be brought in to play He-Man. Well, you would be wrong. He-Man was voiced by Chris Wood, who did a great job as He-Man! However, if you were thinking that he seems out of place with the other actors, it wouldn’t be wrong to think so based on his resume. Wood did a great job, however, his casting was a major hint at where this series was going to go.
The show isn’t called “He-Man.”
Most people don’t realize that “He-Man” is the colloquial title of the Masters of the Universe shows. It’s not the actual title, even though the original series was indeed called He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. This series, however, is clearly called Masters of the Universe: Revelation with no title character. Yes, He-Man is front and center. However, this show does something super bold and was very much applauded in my home: it killed He-Man in the first episode. Once that happened, I knew some good storytelling was coming our way. We even got to dig deeper into the lore of the Masters of the Universe franchise and saw past champions of Eternia, including Grayskull himself, a cosplay I will definitely be working on.
It seems that a lot of the hate this series is getting is because it focuses primarily on Teela and her journey after finding out Prince Adam’s secret as she turns her back on all things magic. Again, should this have been advertised as to where the story was going to go, yes. Watching it unfold weaved in with flashbacks, the story is told in a way that keeps you engaged and wanting more. However, hating on a series because it didn’t regurgitate what you’ve already seen is just not good for any fandom. We all have fond memories of the things we grew up with. We’re all grown up now, and we need new stories to hold us down. I understand that the main audience for this franchise is mature men, most of whom have disposable income to buy toys. However, we have to let things grow up with us, this is one of the best things about stories that we love as children, they have the ability to grow with us and truly become never-ending stories. We have the power.
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Temple of Geek’s This Week in Geek July 25th, 2021
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