So, now that the second half of MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE: REVELATIONS has made it to the public, what did I think of it. As you may recall, I wasn’t too high on the first half that premiered last summer. I thought that killing off the two characters the audience most wanted to see (He-Man and Skeletor) in the first episode, only to not bring them back until the end of the last episode, was a slap in the face of the very He-Man Kevin Smith was trying to pander to while also mocking. Smith is not, nor has he ever been a fan of He-Man, despite what he says in interviews from the last year. He doesn’t even know what year the show premiered in let alone the nuances of the show and its characters.
It appears that he still doesn’t.
You see, Kevin Smith loves money and putting his name and face on any and everything to get people to notice him. Smith doesn’t care about He-Man. Just watch some of the videos where he is talking about crappy MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE was and how crappy of a character He-Man is. There’s more proof of Smith’s hate for the universe and it’s characters than there is believable footage of him saying how much he loves He-Man and how he used to watch it as a child. It’s all bullshit.
I hoped that this second half would be better than the first and I was right to a point. This second half has Prince Adam as one of the characters this time along with Cringer and it is nice having them around for longer than a cameo. It was nice to see a lot more of the characters we all know and love. It was also nice to see a bunch of stuff from the 1987 feature film show up here. The animation is killer and the score by Bear McCreary is some of his best work. There is a lot of things to love about this half.
Then there’s the other stuff.
Did this show need to be as violent as it was? I know, old man screaming at a cloud, but HE-MAN AND THE MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE was never a violent show. They never killed anyone and there was never any blood. I know that the youth of today needs to see graphic violence in their cartoons or else they go mad. Here we see He-Man after he killed a creature with his bare hands and there is blood dripping from his hand. Why? I mean, I know why, but why did we need to see that? Smith took a show that was aimed at kids that was wholesome and positive and turned it into every other fantasy movie ever made. He-Man stood out because he was different than the other barbarian types. We don’t need to see the level of gore that we see here.
Next is the story. Skeletor becomes a god and then Evil-Lyn steals that from him and she becomes a god. How many fantasy films have we seen this exact story play out? Tons of them have something like this happening in it. The times when Skeletor and/or Evil-Lyn are waxing philosophically about how the world is empty and blah blah blah, I was reminded of the 2000 fantasy classic, DUNGEONS & DRAGONS with Jeremy Irons really earning his paycheck as one of the worst/best performances ever. It’s a bad sign when your audience is thinking of worse movies or tv shows while watching yours. This is the first that has ever happened too. I never think of bad movies while watching other movies unless they did that on purpose. Did Smith want his audience thinking of shitty movies while watching his “love letter to He-man”? I wouldn’t be surprised if that were the case.
The other thing that bothered me was the fan service. Fan service is a good thing. I love seeing familiar characters and places in the movies and tv shows but I hate when the filmmakers need to point out the reference just in case you didn’t get it. It’s like how Kevin Smith takes pictures with people. He is always pointing to the person he is taking the picture with like “Can You Believe Who Is Standing Next To Me?” but here it’s with He-Man characters. There is a scene where Pig Boy shows up. I leaned forward in my seat and said “Is that Pig Boy?” I was amazed that Pig Boy of all characters showed up. Then Teela says “Is that Pig Boy?” and I lost a ton of the remaining respect I had for this show. Smith must know that the people watching this will ask that question out loud. Why include that line? It’s not like the audience who has gotten the reference is going to say “Oh yeah. That is definitely Pig Boy.” No. They will say “Who?” and move on. He included this line because he thinks it’s funny, but he also hates He-Man fans and feels the need to remind them of something they already know. Blade also shows up for literally five seconds and is never seen again. He is so unimposing that the character he is fighting just walks away and he does nothing.
Smith did the same thing in his 2010 masterpiece COP OUT. There is a scene at the beginning of the film where Tracy Morgan is doing a bunch of different impressions of people while he is interrogating a suspect. He goes through a bunch of them and every time he does one, it cuts to Bruce Willis who then says exactly what the impression is. Most audience members will recognize most of these references as they are surface level references, but Smith feels the need to show his audience how stupid he thinks they are.
Ram Man shows up and Smith again feels the need to point out that it is indeed Ram Man. Mr. Smith, we know who Ram Man is. You don’t need to point out these references. We know them already and those who don’t aren’t going to care.
So, do I recommend this second half? If you really need to see where the story goes, then sure, go right ahead. If you don’t care or have seen more than six fantasy films in your lifetime, then no. While the animation is amazing and the score is the type you have in your phone to listen to when not watching the show, the show never overcomes the hurdles that Smith has placed on the show. He wants you to know that you are stupid for liking this show and it’s characters so much and he wants you to know that he will keep on pointing out how stupid he thinks you are in other things too. The second half is better than the first half, but that is like eating a semi rotten piece of fruit after eating a completely rotten piece. It’s bad no matter what.
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