Yeah so uh, this show kind of seemed like a trainwreck, not only does its plot fail to keep me invested into the story, but this is probably one of the most deceptive He-Man shows out there, with false marketing that didn't deliver what was shown and, replaced him with another protagonist that I wasn't so fond of. I don't hate her because she is a female lead. No, I have other reasons to point out why I have issues with the show.
Warning: There Are Spoilers!
Let me summarize the story first, Masters of the Universe takes place sometime after the original 80's show. He-Man is an avatar donned by a small teenage kid. Though this teenager is heir to the kingdom of the Eternia. With his father, King Randor and mother, Queen Marlena. Of course, one usual chapter in He-Man's life becomes something else entirely when Skeletor has decided to destroy Castle Grayskull to tap into its deeper. Instead what follows is Skeletor killing Moss Man and going up against He-Man in the most lethal fashion. So that he could claim the sword of power. One thing lead to another, they destroy the very orb of magic that happens to be the life force of Eternia and magic itself.
Basically, this whole thing is a "what if" spin on He-Man. What if Skeletor decides killing people just to advance towards his goals was a better? This show has a much more matured tone than prior shows. But....it's far from perfect. Let me get to issues it has.
The promotions were misleading: Yes, I've watched the trailers. Not the recent one, which was obvious that they got final cut from that. The final trailer was telling of what we were going to get, but not the ones before that. What they've made us think is that this is going to be a better He-Man show with more in-depth story to tell.
But all that you've seen of He-Man, is pretty much there. He-Man, the important character of Masters Of The Universe, the protagonist himself, is gone. He is killed in the first episode, but then comes back in the final episode, only to be stabbed by a supposedly dead Skeletor in the back.
Now, this is a first-part of a split season of Masters of the Universe: Revelation. The 2nd half is premiering this end of the year. Kind of TBD.
Pacing issues, shorter runtime, and major character deaths: I don't know why Netflix insists on thinking if the quality is better, they can run this with fewer episodes for some of their new shows. This issue is prominent on high budget shows, especially on a show like Revelations. Just 5 episodes, each of them with over 24 minute runtime. The entire story itself is condensed.
And that's where it feels like the show is trying so hard to wrap up, it skipped a few things. Like, maybe I would have like to know more about who Andra is, besides being this supporting character and someone who might be the recipient of Teela's weird lesbian undertones. Episode 1 is where it ended smoothly, everything else was maybe going a little too fast to have maybe skipped a few things.
But then character deaths, ok wow. So in 5 episodes, you had 4 major characters already killed. It was shown that people die in this series, and they weren't holding it back for ratings sake. But 4 major characters, some of them die in anticlimactic fashion. It's strange, this is a fantasy show, you'd think adding more episodes would help flesh things out for them? I get that the stakes are high, everything is mapped out for the story, but 4 major characters including the protagonist of the show.
Oh yeah, Andra race was swapped. She's not a new character, but they've decided to swap her race instead of introducing someone entirely new. I get that Andra wasn't much relevant to the Masters of the Universe mythology, but again, was it necessary to change an already established character?
The Teela problem: What is her deal? She is always angry, uptight, dismissive, sometimes maybe a bit petty. Hard-boiled lesbian-esque heroine, who thinks magic and maybe men who lies are responsible for destroying Eternia. I don't know how far the woke makeover has gone, but am really mixed on her.
It's not that I don't want her to be central character, Teela can be a really a powerful character. But where's He-Man? Did you think people were going to be ok with watching someone being spiteful all the time? It sucks what happened, but there's always bigger things to worry about. Yet she still acts like the world owes her, big deal!
I don't mind her being a total badass. Heck, you add Buffy the Vampire Slayer as her VA, you have my interest peaked. They finally revealed that she is a more powerful than seen before, because hey, duh, if you knew the lore, you'd know where this was coming from. But the fact that He-Man was seemingly disrespected and tossed aside in the show, it's evident that maybe she'll be the new wielder of the sword of power.
That's what they want her to be, most likely. Again, 5 episodes and you haven't given the audience enough things to speculate with, ruining the suspension of disbelief. I don't want to hate Teela, but I don't like her much in this show either.
I don't hate what they've tried to achieve with this show, but there are things that makes it feel mixed to me. He-Man was a great show back in the 80's but it was not a progressive one. Ironically, it was also popular with girls when it came to merchandise and appeal. So I can see the change in direction. But if the new She-Ra can do a far better job of being a reboot, how much this one came to be a mess? Am truly perplexed.
Do let me know what you guys thought of the show. Would like a forum discussion here about it and maybe different opinions?
Sad to see that it didn’t met your expectations, maybe I’ll give it a chance out of curiosity… the animation style looks nice for me