MOTU Revelations Netflix series first look.

[PNGwynne]

Did Mattel initially create those characters as MOTU was retooled and expanded from the Conan line?

[Werewolf]

Adam and Cringer were in the Filmation story bible from the start. Same with Gorpo/Orko.

[huedell]

I hope it's good but my feeling is it's going to really bad. I think the designs will start out more classic and then get radically changed judging from the pics of Teela they've shown. It also sounds pretty dark from what they've revealed. Sounds like Adam loses the power sword and He-Man's secret identity is revealed hurting those not in on the secret, like Teela. Everything goes to hell and most of the story is Teela and her band of grim dark rebels trying to regain the power sword from god Skeletor. Hardly the continuation to the Filmation series fans have been hoping for.

What's funny is, is that if you dig deeper you start to realize how many of the big franchises relate to MOTU either with how many times we've been through this with those other franchises... or with how the similarities shared between the franchises predict that not everyone will be fully satisfied and the conflicts will always be there.

As far as MOTU/Star Wars goes...

Fans were angry that The Force Awakens was a continuation that began by putting the heroes in a more oppressed place than they were than where we left them (in the original trilogy)... but some fans argued that if they weren't in that bad place, then how would they look like underdog heroes trying to battle the big bad guys. Seems to be the same debate lining up for Revelations.

As far as MOTU/Superman ("The Motion Picture" specifically in this instance) goes...

The original MOTU series bible that Filmation used to base the show off of had no comedy in it... it might not have even had Adam in it, if I remember correctly... Adam was inserted because of the DC MOTU which had world-builded in actual publicly consumed media... but regardless... MOTU was not inherently inhabited by comedic stuff/buffoonish villains. It was just something that was unique to Filmation's stylistic approach. I mean, look at Orko... he's a New Adventures Of Batman Batmite clone.

It brings to mind Puzo's treatment for Superman: The Motion Picture and Superman II (both of which were included in the same treatment).

Despite Hackman's (and Beatty's and Perrine's) goofball antics, and despite many of the gags that made it into the original cut of Superman II, that was not an inherently funny treatment... quite serious actually.

And Richard Donner worked hard to stick to that more realism-based mindset for the first two Superman films.

But just like Filmation, the film's producers and all who worked with them (the director who replaced Donner during Superman II's production & the new script writers) pushed the actual release into a more satirical direction that landed almost full satire in Superman III (Superman IV was not made by the same producers).

Just some food for thought!

[Werewolf]

I sorry but this looks more like the 2002 MOTU that the original:

I hope it's good but my feeling is it's going to really bad. I think the designs will start out more classic and then get radically changed judging from the pics of Teela they've shown. It also sounds pretty dark from what they've revealed. Sounds like Adam loses the power sword and He-Man's secret identity is revealed hurting those not in on the secret, like Teela. Everything goes to hell and most of the story is Teela and her band of grim dark rebels trying to regain the power sword from god Skeletor. Hardly the continuation to the Filmation series fans have been hoping for.

[Werewolf]

I just want to clarify that I wasn't trying to argue

I didn't think you were arguing and I hope I didn't come off that way either.

I was agreeing the original mini comics made everything seem more mysterious or spookier. I just worded it not the greatest.

[Earth 2 Chris]

Motu is kind of my thing. I've read those mini comics dozens and dozens of times. The art style might give the perception of or felt of a darker story but it's really not there. Also the wandering barbarian He-Man only lasts the first 4 mini comics. The first four (He-Man and the Power Sword, King of Castle Grayskull, Battle in the Clouds and The Vengeance of Skeletor) are actually more mini children's story books. MOTU certainly seemed more mysterious back then because everything was new and so little of story was known or fleshed out. By the time the DC mini series came out Prince Adam and Cringer had already replaced the wandering barbarian long before Filmation.

I just want to clarify that I wasn't trying to argue with you about MOTU, because you know way more about it, and how it's evolved since 1986 than I ever will, and I've learned a lot from things you posted. But it meant a lot to me as a kid, and I was really into it, perhaps the first thing I ever "branched out" into outside of standard super-hero fare at a deep level (for a 7 year old). I really did feel that switch from the "edgier" early mini-comics to the Filmation direction. Now, was there as much of a change as I perceived at the time? Probably not, but I was aware they were changing the tone of things at least a little, along with swerving the story in other directions. 7 to 11-year old me still holds to those feelings, whether they are truly historically accurate or not, because he was in the moment, and he could see the brand changing around him, both for better and for perhaps slightly worse in some instances.

Chris

[PNGwynne]

I sorry but this looks more like the 2002 MOTU that the original:

I particularly like the Shazam!-esque transition of Prince Adam to He-Man.

[Bruce Banner]

I like some of those character designs from the new show very much, others less so.

My favourite MOTU incarnation was the one I first encountered as a kid... those early mini-storybooks that came with the first figures. Wandering barbarian He-Man, green sorceress, two halves of the Power Sword, etc.

[monitor_ep]

Is this the 2002 MOTU??

I sorry but this looks more like the 2002 MOTU that the original:

2002 prince adam.jpgMOTU-REV-101_08_LAYERED.jpg

2002 otu.jpgMastersoftheUniverse_Revelation_Part1_Episode3_00_18_50_06.jpg

[PNGwynne]

I might adore Oppenheimer's Skeletor, but Filmation MOTU was never really MOTU to me. I was influenced more by the comics, and I collected the original line as a teen.

For me, the first few years were magical. I felt some of the later characters were strained.

That said, I don't want a dark, gritty, graphic MOTU. But I'm not sure Smith's participation guarantees that. He did a great job tonally with Batman'66 Meets the Green Hornet. And the story elements he mentions in the interview are not antithetical per se. I liked the 2002 series as a variant and may well like this, too. I'm not a Smith fan, but I'm willing to give this a try.

[Klosterheim]

The pictures of the new Masters of the Universe, on Twitter, look fantastic.

I think the new series will be pretty good.

I've realized that it is the nature of these things that the style and content will change, when making something of a previous invention, but have to add something new for it to be slightly different, and effective as a storytelling device.

Many things might not make sense, or is of what the viewer would prefer, but it could still be solid on it's own, and have an adventure move forward.

There is never a way to have all the original people on board, so something new will always be different, and it just depends on if the viewer likes what directions they take the series.

Even in fan-fiction, I don't think anyone could come up with something exactly like the original cartoon series, there will always be variations of this and that, and personal taste and viewpoint of the creator, in that not everyone sees the same thing when they watch something, t is all received differently, and from different ages, and from different backgrounds, and from standpoints of what the viewer is used to, what they have to compare it with, their interpretations, and how the franchise effects their senses.

Speed Racer is one cartoon that might not be for children today, in this decade.

Robotech perhaps had more of an advanced serious feel that some of the shows mentioned.

I guess He-Man could have went a lot darker, looking at one of the prototype toys in The Toys That Made Us, it seems to me that their them became less dark and way more silly, as soon as they gave the action figures bent legs to ride the animals and vehicles.

And the accessories themselves appeared more light hearted, and perhaps symbolic, when they gave different equipment to different characters.

It's not like the gave someone a blood soaked battle axe, and He-Man's sword is even more of Fantasy instead of a practical blade, or a historical one, the gear never really could hurt the other characters, there was no threat to them, and the vehicles looked very playful and inventive, rather than scary and threatening.

[Werewolf]

I will add that the early MOTU stuff felt legitimately more mature than what followed.

Motu is kind of my thing. I've read those mini comics dozens and dozens of times. The art style might give the perception of or felt of a darker story but it's really not there. Also the wandering barbarian He-Man only lasts the first 4 mini comics. The first four (He-Man and the Power Sword, King of Castle Grayskull, Battle in the Clouds and The Vengeance of Skeletor) are actually more mini children's story books. MOTU certainly seemed more mysterious back then because everything was new and so little of story was known or fleshed out. By the time the DC mini series came out Prince Adam and Cringer had already replaced the wandering barbarian long before Filmation.

[Earth 2 Chris]

I will add that the early MOTU stuff felt legitimately more mature than what followed. I was only 7 when MOTU hit, and I felt like I was getting into something that was a bit above my head...and I loved it. The Alcala art in the mini comics was what you'd see in the Marvel Conan magazines I would sneak peeks at. The villains, despite having pretty broad, goofy names, looked scary. Castle Grayskull's box scared the beejeezus out of me! The actual look of the Filmation show kept a lot of this, but the writing and voice direction skewed it toward a lighter presentation. And it was probably really smart to do so, because it spread the appeal of the line to a larger age demographic. By the time the Filmation series debuted, I had encountered the Prince Adam concept in the free preview in DC Comics, and I was totally on board.

Chris

[monitor_ep]

I thought this was to be the extension to the original version not the remake.

[Werewolf]

Transformers was it's own beast. The people that worked on admitted they got away with murder with the censors because their characters were robots and not considered alive. Even with the high death count Transformers the movie has it was still only going to be rated G until they added Spike saying one swear word. Which they added to get a PG rating and avoid the dreaded kiddie matinees. MOTU could never get away with the stuff Transformers did. It was under constant fire from parent and religious groups for claims of violence and the occult as it was.