When Kevin Smith introduced the miniseries Masters of the Universe: Revelation two years ago, his goal was to create the version of the show that every kid in the 1980s THOUGHT they were watching. As it stands the Filmation original doesn’t hold up very well; by modern standards it’s quite goofy and rather boring. Revelation was anything but, and a giant upgrade.
If you still haven’t seen it, it’s still up on Netflix and you might want to skip this recap: Revelation begins with Skeletor actually uncovering the secrets of Castle Greyskull, and the resulting clash with He-Man winds up killing them both. The story then flashes forward to follow Teela in a dark future where magic is dying in Eternia and the only hope is to break into their version of Valhalla and bring Prince Adam’s spirit back.
Teela manages to do this, but Skeletor returns and steals He-Man’s power, turning himself into the god-warrior he always wanted to be. Also, Adam can never return to Mattel Valhalla even if he dies again, and then it’s rendered moot when Evil-Lyn steals the Ultimate Power from Skeletor and DESTROYS Mattel Valhalla as some kind of Nietzschian statement. In the end He-Man gets the power of Greyskull back and saves Eternia, but for how long?
About this long. In the follow-up miniseries Masters of the Universe: Revolution, Skeletor is where we left him: captured by the sentient computer Motherboard, whom he seems to have now merged with in his latest power grab. But that’s not all: evil dictator Hordak has arrived with his army to conquer Eternia, and he’s got the foreboding voice of Keith David:
In addition to David, Masters of the Universe: Revolution should star the same voice cast as the original — they did not supply a list, but we haven’t heard of any substitutions. We’ll learn more when the full trailer comes out. The epic clash of might and magic continues January 25.
