‘Masters of the Universe: Revelation’ Has The Nostalgic Power
The muscle-bound hero and his nemesis Skeletor will join She-Ra on Netflix this summer.
The new series focuses on new, original stories from writer/director Kevin Smith (who has been a fan for decades) that tie up some of the unresolved storylines in the original series that aired in the 1980s. Smith told EW that he’s has been a He-Man fan for decades.
“Everything I’ve ever worked on in like 27 years, this is easily in the top five of my favorite, most satisfying projects. When I die, they’ll be like, ‘He made Clerks, remember?’ ‘Cause that’s the most memorable thing I think I’ve ever done. I think this has a running shot at being like, ‘He made Clerks and that one cartoon that one time.'”
The animation is from Powerhouse Animation, the folks behind Castlevania. They put out a bunch of great looking stills today. It definitely has Powerhouse’s look to it, and it works. The style looks like a grown up version of the original cartoon rather than a total revision like what we saw with Thundercats a few years back.
The visuals aren’t the only thing to get excited about. Mark Hamill and Kevin Conroy meet again in the animated series – along with some other great names, including the frontman of Black Flag as one of Skeletor’s henchmen. Full voice cast list:
- Lena Headey as Evil-Lyn
- Chris Wood as Prince Adam / He-Man
- Sarah Michelle Gellar as Teela
- Liam Cunningham as Man-At-Arms
- Stephen Root as Cringer
- Diedrich Bader as King Randor / Trap Jaw
- Griffin Newman as Orko
- Tiffany Smith as Andra
- Henry Rollins as Tri-Klops
- Alan Oppenheimer as Moss Man
- Susan Eisenberg as Sorceress
- Alicia Silverstone as Queen Marlena
- Justin Long as Roboto
- Jason Mewes as Stinkor
- Phil LaMarr as He-Ro
- Tony Todd as Scare Glow
- Cree Summer as Priestess
- Kevin Michael Richardson as Beast Man
- Kevin Conroy as Mer-Man
- Harley Quinn Smith as Ileena
According to Smith the series is being treated as a sequel, so the mythos is expanding not changing. It’s aimed at the 30 and 40 something year old fans that watched as kids, so expect more complex stories too.
“We get to see them 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 [He-Man and Skeletor] 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.”
Part One of Masters of the Universe: Revelation hits Netflix on July 23rd.
