Masters of the Universe: Revolution - a rambling review

✔ SUPPORT ✔
Patreon: / councilofgeeks
Tip jar: PayPal.me/coun...
✔ SHOP ✔
Merch: www.teepublic....
Book that I Wrote: a.co/d/atfibBA
✔ SOCIAL MEDIA ✔
Twitter: / councilofgeeks
Facebook: / councilofgeeks
TikTok: www.tiktok.com...
Instagram: www.instagram....
Twitch: twitch.tv/councilofgeeks
✔ OTHER PROJECTS ✔
Podcast feed: councilofgeeks...
✔ CONTACT ✔
E-mail: [e-mail]
Mail:
Council of Geeks
PO Box 4429
St. Johnsbury, VT 05819

[@gozerthegozarian9500]

Man-tenna. The bugg-eyed fellow was called Man-tenna. Because his eyes pop out and look like antennas. The action figure had a switch on the back that let you pop his eyes in and out. This gave me much joy as a kid.

[@bobmathis-friedman6742]

Actually, there's a blink-and-you miss-it shot of baby Adora! I LOVED this! Also, in the comic book mini-series MASTERS OF THE MULTIVERSE, there's an alternate reality in which Keldor was never transformed into Skeletor...

[@saphcal]

i love how they never actually discuss Prince Adam's mom's origin, but just causally mention a few times that shes "an alien" herself and not from Eternia.

[@lionmom7629]

They've got Adoras abduction with plushy unicorn on the floor, and Despara at the end. I don't think they'd chance using that stuff if they had not worked something out.

[@DoctorBabylon]

I love that instead of taking the throne, Adam decides to dissolve the monarchy and gave power to the people. I can't believe you didn't mention that. Too often in fantasy the wicked king is cast down merely for the "rightful" king to ascend the throne, I liked that in this the villainous Keldor/Skeletor is by primogeniture actually the true heir to the throne. I wish more fantasy stories would end in the abolition of monarchy.

[@AMoniqueOcampo]

This felt very Saturday morning cartoon, but elevated. It was definitely fun and I agree with you about the pacing. The introduction of Guildor felt a bit "Remember the new guy"? I never saw the movie.

[@lionmom7629]

Thank you for pointing out that none of the jumps cause plot holes! Yes, they were rushed. They got cut in half timewise, probably because of all the negative garbage over Revelations, and because Netflix got a lot of garbage thrown their way with She Ra. So they are seeing the property as "controversial" even though that's ridiculous! But they were super careful to explain the plot in just about every scene and cover plot holes to an almost OCD extent. Kevin Smith showed his "nerd credentials" with this one. Capt Kirk and Luke Skywalker playing the same character, that's not likely to ever happen again. Meg Foster, Gwildor, the pink Cadillac. Deep, deep MOTU cuts. Rocket Hordak! Stonedar. I could go on all day. Shikotas mask is in the beginning. Fright Zone. Easter eggs for days. Rob David and the two Ted's have been involved with MOTU stuff for a long time.

[@voltijuice8576]

"So they are seeing the property as "controversial" even though that's ridiculous!" Yet - the prevailing media wisdom is that "controversy drives engagement!" Is it only certain very specific kinds of controversy? Am I expecting too much consistency? I don't know, so confused...

[@lionmom7629]

@@voltijuice8576 Well, it depends. No, I don't believe this talking point of "they are making property XYZ " controversial on purpose, because any coverage is "good" coverage, even if its negative" is true. I think its an irrational talking point, and it does not hold up in real life. When properties get targeted negatively online, especially because of character's demographics, it has an impact on future decisions. Its a motive for the money minded executives to press show runners, directors, writers to avoid "more controversy" to not take risks, to make the perceived public "happy." And the fact that negative targeting comes from a loud minority makes it look like "the public" doesn't want certain demographics in certain properties, even when the average viewer may not think that way at all. Long story short, the whole hunt for "wokeness" and the "anti woke" rhetoric has gone to such extremes that it really does have the potential to increase self censorship. And self censorship kills creativity. At least, that's my opinion on it. That's what I'm concerned about. The first installment of this show had very little that could be targeted. They race changed 2 obscure characters in an overwhemly historically white franchise, there was speculation that there might be an LGTBQ character, which wasn't even the case, and which was based on pretty much thin air, and a prominent female character was on screen for 3 episodes out of 10 without the male protagonist. And that was enough for the internet to lose its mind. I mean, that's just insane.

[@CyberController-]

10/10, got to see Kid Keldor

[@SpencerDragonMonster]

All that, and it nailed a specific kind of epic fantasy adventure vibe that just hits the spot for me, and has been captured on screen surprisingly rarely. And...green snake-girl Teela...mmmmhmmmm... And Skeletor pulling a SE7EN on Hoardack was priceless! I agree that Skeletor's...is "arc" the right word for it...?...anyway, yeah, that could have used more breathing room, though I kinda loved how He-Man calls him out during their final fight, literally skewering the tropes they'd been sort of dancing with.

[@saveversus]

I had a lot of fun watching it. It did feel like two shows, tho; Adam's stuff and Teela's stuff.

[@marocat4749]

i mean the original kinda and did expand her with every new intro. (and evelyn)

[@JesusGarcia-ii6it]

I have a question because my lore of the series is very bad, when we get to the dragon for the first time sorceress looks at a wall and sees 4 temples and she mentions the fourth castle as new to her then the dragon cuts in. Is that 4th castle important?

[@JaceSeren]

I loved it and I really want more. Hopefully we eventually get to see Adora show up. I was also surprised how many Star Trek folks he got in the cast.

[@billdenbrough501]

That champion that Leech, Grizzlor and Mantenna fight for Hordak is Stonedar from the original line. According to Smith the Netflix algorithm apparently showed that the audience didn't come back sufficiently for the 2nd five episodes of 'Revelation' to justify another 10 episode order so they were only allocated the budget for a 5 episodes run for 'Revolution'. If Netflix had dropped all of 'Revelation' at once that may have resulted in a different outcome but I guess we'll never know. I don't know if 'Revolution' needed ten episodes but it probably could have done with one or 2 more to let events breath a little. I just viewed it as a long, epic movie all at once anyway and it worked for me.

[@IanHollis]

I hope the various studios which own the various rights across properties can all play nice so we can get She-Ra in the next season!

[@davehall7041]

Thank you for a great video and I want to watch this and revelation and based on your review I will search them out asap as I loved masters of the universe as a kid

[@tristanmilner9511]

1:50 funny enough, turning an animated movie into a show is what happened with the original show. Sauce: The Toys that made us. He-Men episode. Since this show is more or less a continuation of the 80's cartoon, how funny would it be to reintroduce og She-Ra with a Christmas special?

[@Mangacide]

I have so many things I want to watch that I keep forgetting to make time fore. Maybe I'll be able to take this one on if I can remember to finish Pluto /sob

[@HBHaga]

I found myself humming the OG She-Ra theme more than once while watching this series.

[@CulturePhilter]

I know there are potential rights issues but I really hope if this gets a season 3 we get She-ra turning up too.

[@comcast2500]

I didn't really like the first season but this was really good. That little t's at the end was that supposed to be a female hordak, or maybe Adora?

[@pious83]

I'm an outlier fan but what I'd really like to see is the next series called MOTU: Invasion. Bringing in the Galactic Guardians and Space Mutants. Tying in NA, that this reboot paved over.

[@thevikingbear2343]

We will get more 5 episode seasons from now on, since the resolution of the writers strike demands streaming services to pay royalties to writers for shows with 6 or more episodes, so the studios will start making 5 episode shows.

[@MoramothHauntz]

Smith has said Netflix's algorithm dictated the shorter season. He has also stressed he had a lot of knowledgeable He-Man people with him. Glad you liked the series. I'm looking forward to catching up. The only He-Man deep cut I know is Molar, Eternian Dentist

[@pete2097]

You know, you should review the live film, it my childhood (am 42) and I really liked it even though it bombed.....

[@michaelyapp3254]

With the muddy character rights, I thought they might hint that Motherboard was Adora. Still marked out for the mid credits!

[@marocat4749]

i consider dogma the best christian movie, and it does check all points of saa christian movie while being so good. I am pretty sure the reboot did all but say it, he tried to take over the kingdom, his grudge against the king, , didhe call him even brother? Even that skeletor was kinda revived by hordak. Yes the snort, it probablxy even helps sellng hom as hordak being a bit goofy arrogant but also scary.

[@johnvinals7423]

Do you think they’re going to bring in the “She-Ra” characters like…oh, I don’t know…a certain iconic member of the Genus Felidae?

[@stevenfraser81]

At the moment they don't have the rights to use She-Ra or most of her supporting characters as Dreamworks/Universal own her now. They were able to use Hordak and the Horde because they were designed for and released as action figures during the original Masters Of The Universe toyline first, so they had to use those specific designs in Revolution to avoid getting into trouble. Other than that they can't use She-Ra, Glimmer, Bow, Catra, Shadow Weaver, Spirit/Swift Wind, Imp, Madam Razz etc.

[@johnvinals7423]

@@stevenfraser81That was clearly Despara/Adora at the end of the show, however. Please don’t tell me they’re going to make her straight in this version once they bring her in.

[@dinam3236]

Perfectly honest? I wasn't too impressed. It LOOKED gorgeous. The best part of Kevin Smith's MOTU has consistently been the visuals, and this series is even more visually stunning than Revolution was. So beautiful. The writing, however.... hooo boy. You're right that the writing was rushed; the story beats came too quick and most of the elements got too little screen-time to really make an impact. But a bigger problem was that this was the most pompous, self-important cliche storm I've seen. The dialogue was dull and uninspired, the plot and characters took themselves much too seriously, and the entire thing felt like mediocre MOTU fanfiction of the kind I would lose interest in after two chapters. I think perhaps after Revelation got all that fan ire, Revolution decided to play it ultra-safe, pander to the fan base, take no real risks, and just repeat all the story beats that the fandom have gone over fifty times before. I was mildly bored watching this series, ESPECIALLY the first two episodes. The third episode and on were a lot better, but by then I'd kinda soured on this incarnation of MOTU. The voice-acting also kind of seems to have taken a step down. I don't know, it may just be me, but most of the voice-actors sounmd like they're phoning it in. Except for Mark Hamill. that is. Mark Hamill steals every scene he's in and cements Skeletor as the absolute best character. Even when the writing is sub-par, which it often is, Mark Hamill's performance makes Skeletor entertaining and a delight to watch. And this is where I will praise the show. Skeletor is GREAT here. He's the one character who's consistently entertaining and engaging. He's so UNASHAMEDLY evil and has such a BLAST being the biggest asshole ever that any scene he's in is instantly 200% better. The rest of the villains are kinda meh (Motherboard is underwhelming and Hordak is... kinda just a generic Evil Dark Lord, even with the snort), but Skeletor is great. Orko and Gwildor were also good. Orko kinda felt like a non-entity for the first two episodes, but then in the third one he met Gwildor, remembered that he was supposed to have a personality, and really stepped up his game. The subplot with Orko and Gwildor was one of the real winners, probably because those two had a real chemistry together. I'll also give half a point to Andra and Evil-Lyn. I liked Andra being the unwitting pawn of Keldor and wanting to make amends; that felt genuine in a way a lot of characters did not. And Evil-Lyn had a pretty good character arc. I mean, we only got to see about half of it, and some of it came totally out of left field, but at least it was there and continued the development she got in Revolution. I have to say it though: Both Revolution and this show try to occasionally play her up as seductive and horny, and it DOES NOT WORK. I can see where "Evil-Lyn the seductress" might seem like a good idea, but the entire thing feels so tacked-on. It's like the script's going "oh, right, this is supposed to be for an older audience. Um. EVIL-LYN IS HORNY! Okay, back to the story." The scene with her and Teela catfighting over who'd get to bang He-Man was just bad... especially since they tried to combine it with the snake god as some kind of sex god. Named Kaa. Huh?! (And yes, I know it's spelled "Kah," but it's PRONOUNCED exactly like the Jungle Book snake.) I think all in all... the CGI MOTU series is still better. It too has some huge flaws, but it had better character work. better pacing, better plotting, better dialogue. and it actually tried doing something new. And Skeletor was the best part of that show too, come to think of it. I don't know if they'll make a third series but if they do I hope it'll be a LITTLE more inspired.

[@meander112]

Smile for the smile god!