MOTU Revelations Netflix series first look.

[sprytel]

He-Man was significantly sillier than GI Joe. That's not to say GI Joe didn't have silly episodes, but the Filmation MOTU was non-stop silly every episode. Even when they had a concept that might be interesting or engaging, the slightest bit of darkness, they quickly cut to something silly to offset it.

The mini comics were significantly darker than the stuff the followed, especially the early ones before the more cornball characters came along. But even then they often were considerably more adult in tone than the cartoons. The mini comics and early MOTU artwork evoked the style and tone of more violent sword and sorcery concepts of the 70s, even if they didn't directly get as violent. It was easier to see the correlation to those than it was to the buffoonery of the Filmation cartoon.

You can be more serious without needing decapitation and bloodshed, just like you can be more fun without relying on childish humor.

I wholeheartedly agree with everything you said. And I will add that this artwork from the Kevin Smith show, while stylistically different, reminds me a lot of that more grown up, more "epic" feel of the original artwork and mini-comics.

Since Chris made the comparison to Transformers, I view it as the difference between Transformers (the TV cartoon) vs. Transformers: the Movie. Both are kid friendly. Neither are Game of Thrones. But the movie took itself seriously, and it was awesome! (I mean, I haven't seen it since it was in theaters... it may be crap... but to an 11 year old me, it was awesome! The movie felt "more adult" while the TV show always felt like a kid's show.)

[Falstaff13]

I feel like the original mini-comics were more mature but not necessarily darker, if that makes any sense. He-Man was a wandering barbarian who is first seen slinging boulders around. They had an art style that was closer to realistic in depicting Eternia, and something seemed "edgier" in the way the characters were drawn, but the whole thing was, of course, fantasy. The earlier mini-comics fit with the Conan aesthetic in many ways, and then when the moved to the "Cringer is a cowardly feline who becomes Battle-Cat," that skews more to silly. As Werewolf says above, it was always fun, but something to me about the stories as I think of Filmation was lighter (Orko had a major impact on that), and that becomes to many "younger" or more kid-friendly. I think GI Joe seems more grounded because it's closer to a contemporary design, but it had plenty of its own unbelievable elements. I think it's kind of like the original Captain Marvel--the Golden Age stories had whimsy and could be quite silly (even though some stories in that era are still serious), but attempts to duplicate that come off as goofy and childish more than childlike.

[ODBJBG]

He-Man was significantly sillier than GI Joe. That's not to say GI Joe didn't have silly episodes, but the Filmation MOTU was non-stop silly every episode. Even when they had a concept that might be interesting or engaging, the slightest bit of darkness, they quickly cut to something silly to offset it.

The mini comics were significantly darker than the stuff the followed, especially the early ones before the more cornball characters came along. But even then they often were considerably more adult in tone than the cartoons. The mini comics and early MOTU artwork evoked the style and tone of more violent sword and sorcery concepts of the 70s, even if they didn't directly get as violent. It was easier to see the correlation to those than it was to the buffoonery of the Filmation cartoon.

You can be more serious without needing decapitation and bloodshed, just like you can be more fun without relying on childish humor.

[Werewolf]

There's always been a small but vocal faction of MOTU fans that have wanted a gory violent grimdark MOTU. I don't get that mind set at all. This is a property that is supposed to be light hearted. You have characters named Buzz-Off, Two Bad, Stinkor, etc. You have people dressed in Hyborian age clothes and armor flying spacecrafts. Embrace the joy, fun and ridiculousness of it all. Skeletor is kid friendly super villain evil not realistic psychopath evil. It is not Game of Thrones and should never be taken there. People will also bring up the mini comics say they were dark and gritty. I have them, they weren't.

[Earth 2 Chris]

I think people unfairly mock and criticize the Filmation toon. It honestly wasn't any sillier than GI JOE, Fatal Fluffies anyone? Not to mention red and blue laser beams flying everywhere and no one ever getting shot. I'm not saying that as an insult to the GI JOE cartoon. I freakin' love it. I love it because of all the silliness and crazy Cobra Commander schemes. I think we just tend to forget the culture at the time and age groups these properties were aimed at.

You're right. I see there is very little difference in tone now, as an adult. But for whatever reason, when we were kids, the Filmation stuff just felt like it was aimed at a younger audience, than say G.I. Joe, Transfomers or even MASK. Thundercats looked awesome, but Snarf brought things down similarly. Maybe it's because we had grown up with that swirling Norm Prescott/Lou Schemimer wheel on tons of kiddie-fare, and even "educational" stuff like Fat Albert, so it seemed "safe". Whereas the Joe and Transformers toons were "made by Marvel" so they seemed edgier to us.

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing but fondness for the Filmation toon. I still loved it at the time, but I felt I had grown past it, before I felt the same about contemporary shows, for whatever reason.

Chris

[Brown Bear]

I'll give it a chance. Not a fan of the modern style of cartoons these days and don't expect to like it, but hey.....I'll give it a chance with an open mind unless i read something that makes the Bells go off.

Thanks for sharing. Appreciate the heads up.

[Werewolf]

I think people unfairly mock and criticize the Filmation toon. It honestly wasn't any sillier than GI JOE, Fatal Fluffies anyone? Not to mention red and blue laser beams flying everywhere and no one ever getting shot. I'm not saying that as an insult to the GI JOE cartoon. I freakin' love it. I love it because of all the silliness and crazy Cobra Commander schemes. I think we just tend to forget the culture at the time and age groups these properties were aimed at.

[Earth 2 Chris]

I honestly didn't get anything from that article that really sat off alarm bells. But, I have mixed feelings on Smith in general. I think he legitimately loves all of this stuff, but his insistence on relying on never-ending vulgarities on his podcast make me unable to listen to it. I get it, bodily fluid jokes are funny. I still laugh at them...sometimes. But I don't need them peppered in every third word. The whole "Batman has a bladder spasm on his first night on the job thing" still rings in my ears to this day. What was the point of that?

I do like the Netflix exec's order to "make this like Shakespeare". THAT'S how my friends and I played MOTU. It was all serious high adventure to us. Sure, there was room for a bit of comedy...but only a bit. That's why after a while, and as we got older, the Filmation show seemed to file the teeth of Grayskull down just a little TOO much for us. Now, I don't want blood, guts, cursing, etc. I want kids to be able to watch this, but if I can get a MOTU series like the the classic DCAU/Timmverse, I'm all in.

Chris

[Werewolf]

but not even nostalgia could cloud the pedestrian nature of the original show to my adult brain. Maybe the new show will be closer to the original mini comics?

I think we sometimes forget the show and property was not aimed at adult brains and the mini comics were far from grim dark. Even the earliest ones were very kid safe. MOTU was never Game of Thrones.

First look at the toys.

https://news.toyark.com/2021/05/13/masters-of-the-universe-masterverse-motu-revelation-toys-revealed-by-mattel-427620

[mego]

Just an opinion, but It’s gotta be better than the original!
I’ve started watching the original series with my little one. He loves it, but I’m really reminded of how poor the original really was. Great characters, super cool environment but flushed out with generic stories and subpar writing. None of that bothered me when I was 8 years old, but not even nostalgia could cloud the pedestrian nature of the original show to my adult brain. Maybe the new show will be closer to the original mini comics?

[Werewolf]

I have concerns.

MOTU is the anti-grim dark. It's Flash Gordon mixed with Tarzan and sword and sorcery in a light hearted fun kid friendly package. There are places it should not go and I'm not sure Kevin Smith is the right person for the property.

https://ew.com/tv/masters-of-the-universe-revelation-photos-premiere-kevin-smith/?utm_campaign=entertainmentweekly_entertainmentweekly&utm_content=manual&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_term=609d31470637600001de767b