Masters of the Universe: Revolution brings back He-Man, the most powerful man in the universe, to the screens. Streaming on Netflix, the first of the five episodes of the revival series’ second season promised peace in Eternia, but with the death of King Randor, the action begins. It’s in continuation with the 10 episodes aired in 2021, which means that it took the makers three years to go from Revelation to Revolution.
Prince Adam was having difficulty in choosing between throne and power, while Teela, the new sorceress, was pursuing her dream of restoring Subternia — the land of the dead. She wanted all of Eternia’s heroes to have a final resting place which was destroyed by Evil Lyn in Revelation.
The surprising entry was the return of King Randor’s long lost brother Keldor, the upgrade of the ‘Sword of Power’, and the introduction of Gwildor, the locksmith-cum-inventor.
In Masters of the Universe, one could see some more characters from the original 1980s series, and there is more drama in the story. There is Granamyr, the dragon, Queen Marlena flying a fighter plane as well as the mighty Hordak’s legs shape-shifting into a rocket. The real fight is between magic and technology and man, it was tough.
The ‘bad guys’ suffer in the end, but it also happened in the previous season, everyone was back with a believable reason for survival. The story, cheeky references and clunky one-liners have kept the old magic alive, while the animation reminds of the original He-Man series. CGI is used to enhance scenes that need magic to overcome technology in the end.
Director Kevin Smith has done a marvellous job in re-introducing He-Man to the younger generation. Now something about the voice-over artists as well. While Chris Wood is still He-Man, Alicia Silverstone was replaced as Queen Marlena by Gates McFadden, while Supergirl actress Melissa Benoist steps in as Teela in place of Sarah Michelle Gellar.
As for the senior actors, Mark Hamill manages to shed his Joker persona to bring life to Skeletor, where he is joined by the legendary William Shatner who makes his vocal appearance as Keldor.
Published in Dawn, Young World, February 3rd, 2024
