He-Man and the Masters of the Universe

Infobox Television
show_name = He-Man and the Masters of the Universe


Series logo.
format = Action, Adventure, Animation
runtime = 22 min.
creator = Mattel
developer = Filmation
director = Hal Sutherland ("production director")
starring = John Erwin
Linda Gary
Alan Oppenheimer
Lou Scheimer
Erika Scheimer
country = USA
composer = Shuki Levy
Haim Saban
Erika Lane
executive_producer = Lou Scheimer
network = Syndicated
first_aired = September 30, 1983
last_aired = December 8, 1985
num_seasons = 2
num_episodes = 130
list_episodes =List of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe episodes
followed_by =
*""
*"The New Adventures of He-Man"
related ="He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (2002)"
imdb_id=0126158
tv_com_id=2132|

He-Man and the Masters of the Universe is an American animated television series produced by Filmation based on Mattel's successful toy line Masters of the Universe. It made its television debut in 1983 and ran until 1985, consisting of two seasons of 65 episodes each. Reruns continued to air in syndication until 1988, then moved to USA Network, where it aired from September 1989 to September 1990. The show, often referred to as simply "He-Man", was one of the most popular animated children's shows of the 1980s and has retained a heavy following to this day.

how profile

The show takes place on the fictional planet of Eternia, a planet of magic, myth and fantasy. The show's lead character is Prince Adam, the young son of Eternia's rulers, King Randor and Queen Marlena. Prince Adam is a seemingly cowardly, blond muscleman dressed in a pink-and-white chemise cote d'azur with perwinkle stockings and purple boots. However, Prince Adam possesses the Power Sword, and when he holds it aloft and says the magic words "By the Power of Grayskull! I have the Power!" he is transformed into He-Man, the most powerful man in the universe. He-Man is a brave, blond muscleman in a and loincloth. Together with his close allies, Battle Cat, Teela, Man-At-Arms and Orko, He-Man uses his powers to defend Eternia from the evil forces of Skeletor, a tyrannical warlord with a skull for a face. Skeletor's main goal is to conquer the mysterious fortress of Castle Grayskull, from which He-Man draws his powers. If he succeeds, Skeletor would be able to conquer not only Eternia, but the whole universe.

Despite the limited animation techniques that were used to produce the series, "He-Man" was notable for breaking the boundaries of censorship that had severely restricted the narrative scope of children's TV programming in the 1970s. For the first time in years, a cartoon series could feature a muscular superhero who was actually allowed to hit people, though he still could not use his sword often; more often than not He-Man opted to pick up his opponents and toss them away rather than hit them. The cartoon was controversial in that it was produced in connection with marketing a line of toys; advertising to children was itself controversial during this period. In the United Kingdom, advertising regulations forbade commercials for He-Man toys to accompany the program itself. In similar fashion to other shows at the time: notably "G.I. Joe", an attempt to mitigate the negative publicity generated by this controversy was made by including a "life lesson" or "moral of the story" at the end of each episode. This moral was usually directly tied to the action or central theme of that episode.

The show was so successful that it spawned a spin-off series, "" following the adventures of He-Man's sister. Mattel's subsequent attempts to relaunch the He-Man toy line have also led to the short-lived sequel series "The New Adventures of He-Man" in the early 1990s, and an update of the series for a contemporary audience in 2002.

It is also noted for featuring early script-writing work from later "Babylon 5" creator J. Michael Straczynski, Paul Dini of the 1990s ""-fame, and David Wise, head-writer of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles".

Cast list

* John Erwin as He-Man, Prince Adam, Ram-Man, Beast Man, Webstor, Whiplash and others
* Alan Oppenheimer as Cringer, Battlecat, Man-At-Arms, Skeletor, Mer-Man, Buzz-Off, Roboto and others
* Linda Gary as Teela, Evil-Lyn, Queen Marlena, The Sorceress and others
* Lou Scheimer as Orko, King Randor, Stratos, Man-E-Faces, Mekaneck, Zodak, Sy-Klone, Moss Man, Trap-Jaw, Tri-Klops, Kobra Khan, Clawful, Jitsu, Spikor, Two-Bad, Modulok and others
* Erika Scheimer as various other female voices
* George DiCenzo as various guest male voices

Opening introduction

"I am Adam, prince of Eternia and defender of the secrets of Castle Grayskull. This is Cringer, my fearless friend. Fabulous secret powers were revealed to me the day I held aloft my magic sword and said, "By the power of Grayskull... I have the power!" Cringer became the mighty Battlecat and I became He-Man, the most powerful man in the universe. Only three others share this secret: our friends the Sorceress, Man-at-Arms and Orko. Together we defend Castle Grayskull from the evil forces of Skeletor."

UK pop act Scouting for Girls use a section of this introduction during their live gigs before performing the 2007 song "The Mountains of Navaho" [ [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2xqDLQOTjE] YouTube Video, Mountains of Navaho]

The VHS release of 'The Dragon Invasion' released in the United Kingdom, uses an otherwise unused version of this opening, with the notable change of "...Together we defend Castle Grayskull from the evil Masters of the Universe". This strange variation comes from the fact that in the early production days of the cartoon series, the writers and producers were split over just "who" were the Masters of the Universe. Some felt it to be the Heroic Warriors, others the Evil Warriors, and others still to be all factions on Eternia.

In both versions of the introduction, there is a noticeable gap between "...Together we defend Castle Grayskull from..." and whichever variation comes next, presumably so that the intro would not need to be re-recorded when the production team settled on who the Masters of the Universe really were.

Episodes

DVD releases

BCI Eclipse LLC has released all 130 episodes of "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe" on DVD in Region 1 for the very first time in 4 volumes. Each volume contains an extensive array of special features including Documentaries, Character profiles, commentaries, DVD-ROM features, trivia, photo galleries and more.

The pilot episode, "Diamond Ray of Disappearance", has a minute or so of footage missing due to the master tapes being damaged. In the original version, after teleporting the King and Queen and Man-At-Arms away to another dimension, Skeletor turns the ray onto Orko, who gets stuck inside a vase which deflects the beam. Orko escapes to warn He-Man. Despite this missing footage to still exist on other media in circulation, complications over the rights to it prevented it from being inserted back into the DVD release.

The following Best-of collections were also released prior to the release of the season sets:

*The Best of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe: 10 Episode Collector's Edition - released July 12, 2005

*The Best of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe: Top 5 Episodes Season 1 - released August 23, 2005 (UMD)

*The Best of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe: Top 5 Episodes Season 2 - released August 23, 2005 (UMD)

ee also

*He-Man
*
*Masters of the Universe
*List of Masters of the Universe characters
*She-Ra
*"The New Adventures of He-Man"
*"He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (2002 TV series)"
*Skeletor
*Eternia
*"Masters of the Universe"

External links

* [http://www.princessofpower.co.uk/ HeMan and SheRa Information]
* [http://www.masterscast.com/ Masters Cast - He-Man and She-Ra Podcast]
*imdb title|0126158
*tv.com show|2132