I have the power, 3.5 readers.
BTW…I also have THE SPOILERS! So don’t read on if you don’t want them.
BQB here with a review of Netflix’s Masters of the Universe: Revelation: Part 2.
Boy, there was so much internet backlash over Part 1. Remember that? Seems like forever ago now. If you forgot about it because you’re an adult with limited time to worry about cartoons, I don’t blame you. Basically, He-Man gets ganked in a fight where Skeletor also croaks in the first episode, and then the next few episodes are He-Man’s BFF Teela wandering about, trying to make sense of it all.
Critics called it a bait and switch. How can you call it a He-Man show without He-Man? Then again it wasn’t called He-Man, it was called MOTU, so that probably should have been a hint from the beginning.
Some even felt this was a product of woke-ism run amuck. Perhaps some Netflix exec decided it would be awful if a super straight, uber macho, musclebound, blonde white hetero male got to be the lead of a show so they put out a hit on America’s favorite 1980s cartoon barbarian.
While I get all the worries, they seem all for naught after watching part 2. The second part has a lot of Prince Adam, one episode of a feral He-Man, and one final episode where He-Man kicks ass and takes names, true He-Man style.
Kevin Smith explained in interviews he was trying to make a show that would appeal to kids and adults. A lot of today’s adults often think of their favorite 1980s cartoons through adult eyes, i.e. they think they were very sophisticated with their older brains, only to go back and watch reruns and realize this was nonsense created for mushbrained babies.
My only complaint is Smith almost accomplished his stated goal. It is something an adult could watch with their kids and neither would be bored…EXCEPT in one of the part 2 episodes, Evil-Lynn distracts Skeletor, offering to give up her evil booty as a means to swipe the power sword (which itself is discussed by way of a double entendre.) This part seems a bit much for a kids show and it could have been toned down to just, say, she gives our favorite baddy a smooch-a-roo whilst grabbing the power sword…yes, the power sword, not the….btw did we need to learn that Skeletor is anatomically correct from the neck down?
Speaking of Old Bonesy, it was cool to see He-Man and Skeletor team up against a larger threat. Meanwhile, Cersei Lannister aka Lena Headey really does steal the show as the voice of scary sorceress (with a gooey good center) Evil-Lynn. The whole show pretty much rests on her shoulders.
STATUS: Shelf-worthy. The complaints about a He-Man bait and switch are much ado about nothing when the series is viewed in its entirety. People just need to be patient. Also, another season is teased at the end, so that looks fun. Even so, if Evil-Lynn isn’t a focal point…IDK. Overall, as an old geezer, I enjoyed the 1980s feel in a cartoon that isn’t totally for mushbrained babies and it attempts to do something other than sell toys (although toys are selling now at your fave toy store, get yours while supplies last!)
SIDENOTE: Other than TMI about Skeletor sex, my only other complaint is the SPOILER Teela is the Sorcereress’ daughter and becomes the new sorceress herself thing comes out of the blue. Unless I missed something, it was never teased or alluded to. This is a show about revelations, where all the characters lay their cards out on the table and divulge the secrets they hid during the original show so…a simple allusion to Teela wondering who her mother is in Part 1 might have alleviated this. Part 1 has her become angry and jaded over discovering that He-Man was Prince Adam all along and he never told her so…wouldn’t she also have questions about her mother’s identity? Just a thought.
Bookshelf Battle 