Ron: Welcome to a new Stereo Geeks special episode. Today we’ll be discussing Masters of the Universe: Revelation. I'm Ron.
Mon: And I'm Mon.
Ron: I can’t believe that we have a new show about the Masters of the Universe. We used to watch this as kids.
Mon: Yeah, I know. I'm surprised too. And it’s on Netflix too.
Ron: Easily accessible to so many people. It's like our life is coming full circle.
Mon: As adults we can now enjoy He-Man.
Ron: But the show is little different. It's not just He-Man fighting the villain of the week. In fact, it's a little bit dark. We start off in Eternia and the planet is losing her magic, and she's affecting the entire galaxy. It's up to the Masters of the Universe, to bring magic back to Eternia and save the people.
Mon: We can't reveal anymore, because the whole thing is a spoiler.
Ron: From episode one onwards everything that happens is a spoiler.
So we're going to divide this episode up into two parts. First, we have the non spoiler discussion and then we move into the spoiler section. We will signpost it.
So let's talk about how much we used to love He-Man as children. We had the action figures; we had the toys. We had Cringer; we had He-Man; Skeletor. We had a lot of fun with those.
Mon: Yeah. And we were recently talking about how we had this Castle Grayskull backdrop, and how we used to love going to this one toy store which had this little section which had this big Castle Grayskull and these mini action figures. And you and I would just go there to the store and be mesmerized by this entire facade. And of course, you know, it was a really expensive toy, and we weren't going to buy it, but we used to look at it longingly. So our mom and grandmom, they sort of conspired to get us something a little bit smaller and a little bit more playful. So we had this façade. I can't actually remember it or what it looked like but we were just talking to mom about it and she was telling us about how they bought it for us and what it looked like. I think she remembers it even more clearly than we do.
Ron: I have very clear memories of all our He-Man action figures.
Mon: I remember He-Man, Skeletor; we had to Orkos. And we had Skeletor’s panther, I think that's what he was.
Ron: Yeah.
Mon: We didn't have Man-At-Arms, or Teela or even Evil-Lyn.
Ron: I remember we used to see ads for Teela and Evil-Lyn, but we never got them.
Mon: Oh, interesting.
Ron: For some reason the toy shops that were near us never seemed to have those. And I remember really wanting a Teela, and I wanted a Sorceress.
Mon: But we used to love the show. We used to just watch it all the time, and it's a good thing that our mum and our grandmum, they're both geeks; they’re like nerds and they played up our nerd fever.
Ron: Yeah, we used to have so much fun watching it with them. We had so much access to it, and they never had a problem with us wanting the action figures or us spending time playing with them. So yeah, it was fun. I’m kinda excited that a whole new generation is going to be able to play with He-Man and Masters of the Universe.
But I like the fact that this show has a different spin on things.
Mon: I remember when we were sort of revisiting some of the cartoons and animated shows that shaped us but we were watching it as adults. I tried to watch the original He-Man show that we grew up watching, and I couldn't get through one episode…
Ron: Oh wow…
Mon: It was hard. It was hard. It was cringy, the Prince Adam character had this very thick American accent, it just didn't work. I don't know, there was this kind of weird flavor to it that didn’t sit right in a world which is supposed to be fantastical. It seemed too American. It seemed too grounded in Earth when it's supposed to be in Eternia.
Ron: Wow, okay.
I feel like this show doesn't do that. I'm not gonna say that all the voices work for me.
Mon: No.
Ron: The accents, I will say, are generally quite neutral, so you don't feel that Earthy connection. But some of the voices, they didn't fit the characters. I think that was my issue.
Mon: I think the biggest problem with the voice acting here is that they lacked gravitas. They chose a bunch of really high-profile names, especially within the DC Comics sphere. Honestly, this entire production feels like it's an offshoot of DC. Everybody has some connection with DC Daily or DC Comics or DC movies, something or the other, there seems to be some kind of connection. And I feel like because of that, these people have been chosen, but they don't fit the characters. And they didn't fit the characters’ evolution, their arcs. And I really feel like that brought it down at points. Because the story is good. It’s interesting. The characterizations are interesting. It's just that we have that dichotomy between what you're hearing and what you're seeing, and it doesn't mesh.
Ron: But I'm feeling like that's happening a lot with animation during the pandemic. We've just started watching Batman: The Long Halloween, the two-parter from DC, and some of the voices there also don't fit the characters. Maybe it's a different feeling when you're in a studio, and the director is there and giving you some direction, as opposed to being at home and having to do everything on your own without having a sounding board. Who knows. Maybe by the time another season of the show - if it happens, we don't know yet - when that comes out, then maybe things will be a little bit more comfortable for the actors as well.
But the animation, the style was stunning.
Mon: Yes, it's completely different from the original.
Ron: Thank goodness.
Mon: It's got a contemporary feel. It also has that Netflix-y animation style, you know, which we're used to, from like Kipo. Which is good because it's very vibrant. Even when it's a bit dark and dreary and there's a shadowy gloom over it, there's still this vibrancy to it. And dimension.
Ron: Yes.
Mon: I really love that. And each character is distinct. The costumes are distinct and I really enjoyed that.
Ron: Yeah, I thought it was really really beautiful. From the first episode onward, there are some shots that I'm just like ‘how much time did it take them to actually paint this, because the detail is exquisite?’ And there's one episode, almost near the end of the season - and it's only a five-episode season, good grief, so much happened to in it - but there's one episode near the end that has the most stunning, stunning visuals. I was like, ‘I need this on my wall. The painting is just so good.’
So I really really enjoyed it. Like, just visually it was such a good experience.
Mon: I agree with you.
Ron: So what do you think about the plot?
Mon: So, the first episode is very deceptive. When we started watching it, remember how many times I kept asking you whether I accidentally pressed the last episode. It's confusing. And honestly, it's a very intriguing way to start off the show.
Ron: Yes.
Mon: But the plot really takes off from Episode 2, because the revelation of the title happens in Episode 1. I like that they made it very compact - five episodes, not even 30 minutes each, it moves along, the pace is good, it never lags, which is great. I still feel like there was an attempt to make it episodic, but with an overarching plotline. And that worked. It did, however, get a little bit bogged down in the lore, and the world-building and the character introductions. It felt very much like, as you kept saying when we were watching it, you kept pointing out different characters and saying ‘oh that's a toy, that's a toy,’ it's like they were trying to build up the merch. And I'm like, you know what we didn't need that many characters introduced here. There are instances of flashbacks, which is cool. I like that, because the flashback at the beginning to the episode ties in with something at the end. So that was really nicely done because that's good storytelling. But I did feel like they kept trying to introduce more characters and build in the lore and really develop that nostalgia feeling by bringing in all these characters from, you know, everybody's shelves, everybody's cartoon memories, And that sometimes brought down the plot or it confused the plot. I’m like, ‘what's going on? Like who are these people? What are their powers?’
Ron: There did seem to be times when there was a lot of exposition. But, I feel like somebody who's coming in for the first time who just sees, ‘oh this is a cool new animation, let's take a look,’ they're gonna need all that information. Like, even for us, it’'s been a really long time since we had anything to do with He-Man. So we needed some of that information. But I think they could have let it build on its own or organically at least. We didn't need that much conversation, that much explanation. I wouldn't say it completely takes away from the experience, but there were times when I was like, ‘you know, this could have had a little bit more action instead of us having to talk about it.’
Mon: Exposition, for the sake of informing is okay. Exposition for the sake of informing about a new character who has been brought in just so that we know that this guy exists in the universe, that’s needless.
Ron: Yeah okay that's a good point. I mean there were definitely moments when I was like, ‘tThis person is only in the season so that they can probably make a toy and sell it.’ And there were different versions of certain characters as well, which I was also like, ‘okay, so toy variations, more selling.’ And the thing is Masters of the Universe started off as toys, so I can understand why they were doing that. It just felt like it bogged down story from time to time and it didn't need to.
Mon: And also it’s over bloated, right? When you have so many characters coming in, and you know that they have history with the main character, and that's fine, we’re good with that. But every episode, in every few scenes, it’s like somebody else is coming in and I'm like, ‘oh wait, I really just want to follow these main people, see what they're doing, get that magic back. And then we can introduce these characters, slowly, over the course of hopefully several more seasons.
Ron: Yeah. Having said that, the first episode and the last episode are so unexpected, and so gripping, that you forget about all the exposition. Because the episodes in between, they're getting you to the next point, and you do need them. But the way this season is bookended. I'm really impressed. I absolutely loved it. I did not expect the events of the first episode to go the way they did. But the finale, oh my gosh.
Mon: I'm pretty sure I actually gasped out loud.
Ron: Pretty much, pretty much. We both did. I was at the edge of my seat, I was like ‘this is not happening.’ And I thought that was great. It’s a cartoon that we’ve been watching since we were kids, and it's a part of so many people's lives. To bring it into the 21st century like this, I'm really impressed. And I'm very excited.
Mon: Yeah, absolutely. I was not expecting much from this show. I thought this was going to be a Sunday afternoon watch, I'm going to forget about it the next day. But here we are recording an entire episode about Masters of the Universe: Revelation. Because it was a revelation for us.
Ron: It totally was.
And I understand that there are certain people who are right now review-bombing this show, because it did not go the way they were expecting. This show titled in a very very particular way, and you need to go into it understanding why they've done that. When I first heard about this one, I was like, ‘He-Man, really? In the 21st century, do we need a He-Man show? I'm so glad that the way they did it, it's so much more than that. This kind of show is reaching out to a lot of different kinds of people. That's what we need. And the people who are upset about that, man that's just telling us so much about you, not the show.
So all in all, you and I went in there not knowing what to expect from Masters of the Universe: Revelation, but we had a great time.
Mon: We highly recommend this show. Whether you watched He-Man in the past, whether you've played the toys, irrespective, watch this show. It does not go as expected, and that's a good thing.
Ron: So, let's get into those spoilers.
Mon: Absolutely.
Ron: Okay, the big one - He-Man dies!
Mon: Like in the first episode!
Ron: That was not what I expected. I saw that his name was not in the title, but I thought that this was going to be like an ensemble cast. It's going to be a collaboration, it's not just going to be He-Man saving the day, it’s going to be He-Man and the Masters of the Universe saving the day. But oh no. He-Man kind of saves the day, but then everything goes bad and it's up to the rest of the Masters of the Universe to save Eternia and magic. Not what I expected and I loved it.
Mon: But honestly in a storytelling sense, this is so good. I get that there's a lot of discourse, and you will come across this about ‘bait and switch’. Basically, it's called Masters of the Universe, everybody just assumed that He-Man would be in it. Also, let ‘s be honest, a lot of the promotional material was about He-Man and Skeletor. But, as you said earlier, the title of this series is Masters of the Universe, because He-Man isn't the one and only Master of the Universe. He isn't the only Savior, he's dead in the first episode. And that is one of the biggest reasons why I spent most of the first episode thinking, I clicked the wrong episode. I mean, Skeletor start off by saying, ‘this is our final battle.’ There's a sense of finality to it, which is exactly what it plays into because for He-Man, this is his last stand.
Ron: And Skeletor’s as well. I'm trying to put myself in the shoes of people who are disappointed with this show and I'm not getting it.
Yes, we went in there wanting to see He-Man because that's what we had when we were kids, but having Teela be the lead, that was so cool. This would have been great for us when we were kids, and you know what, there are the young people getting to see Teela in the lead. And it’s not just Teela, she has her friend Andra, maybe something more, I don't know, but it's just so much fun.
And Teela is so layered. She's cynical, she's angry. She was hurt and she has not let that go, and she’s also really funny. Of course, it helps that she has someone like Andra, who is quite lost and thinks that everything is ridiculous, but this is so much fun!
Mon: And don't forget, they tie up with Evil-Lyn.
Ron: The best! Listen, Evil-Lyn was underdone in the series that we watched as children. I mean, even as a child I knew that there was so much more to Evil-Lyn, and now we get that. I know I just said that Teela was cool but so is Evil-Lyn. In fact, I need a show just about Evil-Lyn.
Mon: She also has this dry sense of humor and this sarcasm and this snark that just doesn't go away. But I like that she doesn't seem to be going out of her way to undermine Teela’s authority or their mission. Because the mission is central to all of them, and I really like that about her. Also, the evolution of Evil-Lyn in this show, it kind of plays into the new way of reframing female villains, or female villain sidekicks, in today's day and age. We kind of saw that in the live action Mulan movie where the villainess was really a misunderstood woman, also a woman whose potential was undermined at every turn because she was a woman. And with Evil-Lyn, it's also very similar where she forgot to follow her dreams because she got sucked into the whole Skeletor-spell and she just did whatever was required to make him the Master of the Universe. Whereas she knows that she could have been so much better. But she goes back to square one by the end.
Ron: Yeah, I thought that was disappointing but also not unexpected. It's about comfort zones, and maybe the audience that this show's intended for may not get that but Skeletor and everything that he does is something that Evil-Lyn is familiar with. Not having that, having to forge your own path, that's not easy. So yeah, when Skeletor comes back, she just takes that opportunity and joins him again. And you know what, maybe that’s a wise decision because he's the ruler of the universe now.
Mon: Exactly.
Ron: Let's talk about the body count. Did you expect so many dead people in a cartoon?
Mon: No, that too, a bunch of characters who we've really grown up watching and loving and I think that was the biggest problem for me, not problem in a bad sense, but like we were watching He-Man, literally one of our childhood heroes, and he's dead, not once, but twice, which we'll get to in a minute. And I think, you know, you can really see your child-self, you know, little me, being crushed by this horrifying act, not once but twice. I can really associate myself with that. But story-wise, it's fantastic. You’re talking about really high stakes here. These are really bad villains—there’s that tech army that’s even scarier. There’s Skeletor, there’s the end of magic on Eternia. Sacrifices are legitimately going to happen. And it's supposed to be expected. Still, you're not expecting that the good guys, who've literally just been introduced, or they've just won the day and then, poof, they’re gone.
Ron: In a way, the body count, losing He-Man and Skeletor in the first episode, it actually kind of makes the cartoon have a broader appeal. Like, for us, as grown adults who have seen a lot of things, even these moments were surprises and that was fun. That is so unexpected, and it's nice to know that we don't feel jaded. But from the point of view of a younger audience, look at the world they’re growing up in? There’s literally a pandemic which half the galaxy seems to think is a hoax. They need to see that there are high stakes, that your heroes, no matter how good they are and how much they fight, they can lose. The season ends on a very negative note, so I'm hoping that a second season will come soon, because there needs to be some amount of hope for young people. But I think it's just a generational thing. Younger people now, they're much more accepting of very dark stories. For us, it would have been traumatic.
Mon: Yeah, I guess there was that concept of being a little bit sheltered when we were growing up and watching these things. And the world is much more cynical now.
Ron: Yes.
Mon: What I felt was that in the first episode, He-Mans death meant the arrival of a new hero. It meant that Teela walks away but she has her own mission and she's been doing good things. My struggle with the last episode is that there is no hope. There's that gigantic image of Skeletor above Castle Grayskull and you're like, whoa, this is bad.
Ron: This is Thanos-winning-the-Infinity-War-bad. But then that's the kind of environment that young people are growing up in so, I guess, they just know that things will get better? Assuming we get a next season.
Mon: I feel like there’s potential, though.
Ron: Oh totally, I mean, Skeletor can’t win.
Mon: Especially after he stabbed Prince Adam and killed him. So, we lost He-Man in the first episode and Prince Adam, who turns into He-Man, in the last episode. Crushing. I gasped. It was so shocking. I have to say, that story beat was fantastic.
Ron: I loved it. Especially because, by that point, we have been told a few times that Prince Adam has been living in, well, Preternia, which is the heaven version in Eternia, and his choice to come back to the land of the living means that the next time he dies, he's gone, there's no coming back to heaven or hell or anything. He's just gone. And he does that because he thinks his world needs He-Man. Magic needs He-Man to return. It kind of does because then Skeletor kills him and then brings magic back, but through Skeletor. Ooooh.
Mon: Yeah. I think this realization that this young man has made this huge sacrifice, and his hopes, his dreams, have kind of been stolen by his nemesis, I think that was what was more shocking than anything. It’s like, yeah, okay, they killed the main character, well “main character”, but it was just that feeling of sorrow for this character that, you know, we've all grown up with, we're very attached to, and they made it a point of reiterating just how much he would lose by leaving paradise and going back to Eternia. Yeah, it was shocking. It was really good, but very shocking.
Ron: I really loved it, honestly. I am a sucker for dark endings, so this was great. I loved it!
Okay, well, let's talk about something that didn't quite work for me. The scene where Teela is fighting Skeletor in Subternia. I thought I knew what was happening, and then I wasn't quite sure. Was it saying that Teela was special because of something else, or that she's special because she has power over her emotions like fear and anger? I couldn't quite understand that. It felt like she was magical though, up until that point, she hasn't been. Of course, if you know some of the lore from the earlier cartoon, this could be leaning into that.
Mon: Yeah, I found that the most disappointing part of the five episodes because it was very strong. The whole point of using emotions and fear, etc, as a tool to understand character, you're quite used to seeing that in fantasy stories, and I thought that they were using it quite well. And it was really an opportunity to show us who Teela is as a person, but then it went into she's glowing and she's got these three things on her forehead, which seem to suggest that she's definitely got some magical abilities. Now some of the previous lore in the cartoons and other media, definitely show us that Teela is the secret daughter of the Sorceress. And for a while, she doesn't know that. And sometimes, she has access to those powers that she's got from her mom. At other times, she doesn't. So, this could be leaning into the fact that she is actually the Sorceress’ secret daughter.
Ron: Because there does seem to be some kind of connection between the two of them.
Mon: Yes, that's definitely alluded to.
Ron: Even Man-At-Arms, who is basically Teela’s foster father, he also seems somewhat more connected to the Sorceress. So, the three of them seem to have this dynamic, and we don't have enough time during these five episodes to actually explore that. But it seems like there's something more there.
Mon: But I don't want that.
Ron: Me neither.
Mon: Because far too often, and it really almost always happens to the female characters.
Ron: Yeah.
Mon: She is special because of some supernatural, preternatural, fantastical ability. She is secretly a magician; she's secretly a robot; an Android; she's secretly a hologram. She's always secretly something else. And that is very disappointing because if you keep seeing that in popular culture, what it's saying is that any female person, or anybody who connects with that character, they're not special unless some special ability is given to them, or they inherit it. It's never something that you can develop on your own. It's extremely frustrating. And this episode, in particular, really fell flat because not only was it confusing as to what was happening, but also, that we didn't understand where Teela’s special abilities come from. Up until then, it really was the fact that she is the captain of the Royal Guards; she is really good at her job. She's really good at what she does. And now it's suddenly not any of that, or at least, to win the day and to actually get anything done in Eternia, she needs to have something that nobody else has.
Ron: Well, I would like to think that even if Teela does have magical abilities because she is related to the Sorceress, that that doesn't actually stand her apart from anybody else. Maybe, in the future, she and Evil-Lyn can find some kind of common ground because Evil-Lyn is also magical, though she needs her wand-staff to actually control her abilities. The only way if they do go with this particular storyline for Teela, the best way to balance it out, is to have more magical people, and more people who aren't magical but are still doing awesome things.
Mon: I agree. I think with Teela, they really have potential to make an incredible character, But, Sarah Michelle Gellar, who is voicing her, really needs to up the ante with the gravitas, because she does not fit this character at all. I'm not sure what the voice casting directors were thinking. I would say that she is definitely one of the Achilles heels in the show.
Ron: I would also say that Liam Cunningham as Man-At-Arms does not work for me. We've seen Liam Cunningham in loads of things he has a very distinctive voice, but for some reason it just does not fit the visual of Man-At-Arms.
Mon: I felt like Liam Cunningham was doing his best Liam Neeson impression here. It was like, I'm watching Aslan, but this is a man of action, and it just doesn't work. Because, let's be honest, when Liam Neeson is voicing Aslan, it's as someone who's very calm. Man-At-Arms is a man who has literally only known war.
Ron: Liam Cunningham does not have war in his voice.
Mon: There's no urgency.
Ron: Yeah. I thought Lena Headey as Evil-Lyn was great.
Mon: Surprisingly.
Ron: Because she gets that sarcasm across very well, and her tone is very even throughout, which is exactly what I apparently expected Evil-Lyn to sound like. Because you don't need the up and down of a normal human tone. Evil-Lyn is just so sick and tired of everything, so you don't need somebody who has different pitches to their voice.
I have to say, Mark Hamill as Skeletor. I don't know, he just sounded like the Joker.
Mon: Same!
Ron: I've heard Mark Hamill do voices in different things. I mean it wasn't bad, he did a good Skeletor, But there was too much Joker in it.
Mon: I agree with you, I really expected him to do something a little bit different. He's very menacing, and he gets that, but again, it just felt like that Joker-vibe was too strong. It’s a bit disappointing. I thought Susan Eisenberg as the Sorceress was underwhelming. She doesn't have very many scenes, but again, there’s just no urgency. Yes, the Sorceress is very calm, but even then, if she's panicked, or worried about the state of the world, you would expect her to change the tempo of her speech at least. But she does not. So, I was a bit disappointed. The person I liked was Griffin Newman as Orko.
Ron: Oh, wow, really?
Mon: Yeah, he sounded exactly like the way I remember Orko sounding. I don't know if he actually did sound like that but I felt like this is pretty much what Orko would be like.
Ron: I think for the most past, he did fine as Orko, but there were just a few points where I I felt like his voice was going a bit too high, especially when Orko was feeling emotional, and I can understand why that is happening but they kind of hurt my ears.
Mon: Okay, yeah, I agree.
Ron: So, what did you think of Chris Wood as He-Man.
Mon: He had so little to say, which is disappointing. I thought his Prince Adam was on point. Very good. His He-Man was good. But I don't understand why they changed how he says “I have the power”?
Ron: I know!
Mon: They changed the flow of it. It flows so nice in the original series, and here, I do know if they were trying to show that he is feeling the power, so there's a little bit of pain and maybe some friction, which is why he's saying it a little bit slowly, and then finally I have the power, it comes out a little bit more fluently, but it just doesn't flow the same way, or maybe it's because we have the original motto in our minds and we can hear it. Listening to it in this series, I was like no, it's not right.
But I thought he was good, I kinda actually liked what he did.
Ron: I feel like he didn't have to do anything too much. He just kept it neutral, and I think that worked. It was fine.
And finally, we have Tiffany Smith as Andra. Her voice fit perfectly. Andra is definitely like the everyman over here. She's kinda quirky, kind of funny, a bit lost. She’ll state the obvious when the situation is truly dire. I think she did a pretty good job.
This was just a really fun experience. We really had no idea that we would enjoy it this much.
Mon: We couldn’t stop watching it. And I have to say, I was so excited to talk about it that I insisted that we do this episode. And I'm glad we’re doing it, mostly because this is the kind of show which, unfortunately, attracts a lot of discourse, mostly the wrong kind of discourse. And if anything, people should go into it wanting to have a conversation, wanting to provoke thought. Wanting to enjoy themselves, because this is a beloved property which has now entered the 21st century. It's fine that things are evolving, things are changing, and it's good that it’s happening for the better. If they made this show, and it was towing the same line, who would want to watch it? And with Teela being, basically, the new Master of the Universe, detour with Skeletor now having the power - it will be gone soon. But despite that, we need more people to enjoy the different kinds of characters that these worlds build.
And also, let's be honest, nobody ever understood why He-Man never revealed his true identity to Teela. Everybody else knew but Teela didn’t, and they were always hanging out.
Ron: Yeah, yeah, I'm glad they got that over and done with in the very first episode. You know, she gets to be angry about it, and to have a conversation about it with Prince Adam in Preternia. You know what, that's all done and dusted. Now he dead. Time to move on; bigger problems to solve, quite literally.
Mon: So we gotta admit, I love this show. You love this show. We think you'll love this show too. Go and watch Netflix’s Masters of the Universe: Revelation, and tell us what you thought about it.
Ron: You can find us on Twitter @Stereo_Geeks. Or send us an email [email protected]. We hope you enjoyed this episode. And see you next week!
Mon: The Stereo Geeks logo was created using Canva. The music for our podcast comes courtesy Audionautix.
[Continuum by Audionautix plays]
Transcription by Otter.ai, Ron, and Mon.