He-Man and the Masters of the Universe was an enormous toy brand in the 1980s, supported by a hit TV cartoon, countless books and comics, all manner of branded junk, and a 1987 live-action movie starring Dolph Lundgren and Courteney Cox which made kids very, very confused indeed. And it's come back, now and again, in the years since, with various reboots never achieving quite the success of the 1983 original. Most notably, memes, TV ads and parodies have kept the characters contemporary - anyone for a HEYYEYAAEYAAAEYAEYAA?
But Netflix's Masters of the Universe: Revelation might just change that, and elevate the franchise to new 21st century heights. If the news of the streaming service bringing He-Man, Skeletor, Teela et al back to television is fresh information, strap in, because this is a wild ride you're about to go on.
Entertainment Weekly has just revealed a whole host of stills from the show, which premieres on Netflix on July 23 - and they look awesome. Seriously. Reboots can stick too close to the source material and fail; or fly too far from it and flop, too. But this? This seems a perfect marriage of modern animation and old-school iconography. I am wholly here for it. Check out a few stills below, and head to Entertainment Weekly for even more.
Yep, that's He-Man and Skeletor, alright. No doubting that. The two main guys, fighting, that's what they do - and what they will do, more, in this show.
And that is absolutely Battle-Cat, wholly owning the screen. Like He-Man, he's not always in that form, and is also magically transformed. It's a picture you can hear, right? At least, if you're a child of the '80s.
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Masters of the Universe: Revelation is being directed by Kevin Smith (Clerks, Dogma, Mallrats), it's animated by the team at Powerhouse Animation Studios (Blood of Zeus, Mortal Kombat X, Castlevania), and its score is composed by Bear McCreary (God of War, 10 Cloverfield Lane, Godzilla: King of the Monsters). That's all very impressive indeed, but the cast? The cast is something else.
Star Wars legend Mark Hammill is playing Skeletor - can't wait for that. Buffy herself, Sarah Michelle Geller, is Teela; and Clueless and Batman & Robin star Alicia Silverstone plays Queen Marlena. Game of Thrones pair Liam Cunningham and Lena Headey are Man-At-Arms and Evil Lyn, respectively. Kevin Conroy plays Mer-Man, punk hero Henry Rollins is Tri-Klops, and Jason Mewes (aka Jay of Jay and Silent Bob fame) is Stinkor. Yes, Stinkor. I had the toy and it did, indeed, stink. Look, the '80s were weird.
Playing He-Man - and his non-mighty form of Prince Adam, who uses the Sword of Power to get buff and batter the baddies - is Chris Wood, best known for The Vampire Diaries, Supergirl, and Legacies. Let's have a look at another couple of stills, shall we?
There's the Sorceress of Grayskull, with He-Man, doing some magic, as is her wont. I expect Castle Grayskull will be a very key location in Revelation. (Surely?)
And that's Prince Adam holding aloft the sword, most likely about to get his transformation on - a transformation which, with its McCreary-penned music alone, made Kevin Smith cry, back in February. Of Masters of the Universe: Revelation, Smith told Entertainment Weekly: "[Of] everything I've ever worked on in like 27 years, this is easily in the top five of my favourite, most satisfying projects." And he expanded on what kind of stories his series is going to tell:
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"We get to see [He-Man and Skeletor] engage not just in clashing swords, but in far deeper conversations than we've ever seen them before. It's not just simply like these two dudes have been trying to beat each other up for decades. We get to tell stories of abuse. We get to kind of tell stories of isolation, grief. We use these characters as long as they've been around - and most people consider them toys or action figures - to tell insanely human stories set in a very inhuman world."
Can you tell I'm pretty up for this? Good, good. Related: we've covered another very-1980s thing lately, too, in the shape of Transformers.
Featured Image Credit: Netflix, Mattel/Filmation