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The New Adventures of He-Man

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The New Adventures of He-Man
title screen
New Adventures of He-Man title screen
GenreAnimated television series
Created byDonald F. Glut (He-Man & Skeletor)
Steven J. Fisher
Developed byJack Olesker
Voices ofGary Chalk
Don Brown
Ted Cole
Michael Donovan
Campbell Lane
Scott McNeil
Doug Parker
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
Production
Executive producerJean Chalopin
Running time30 mins
Original release
ReleaseSeptember 1, 1990 –
June 1, 1991

The New Adventures of He-Man is an animated series which ran from 1990-91 to promote Mattel's toy line He-Man, an update of their successful Masters of the Universe line. The cartoon series, likewise, was intended to be a continuation of Filmation's series He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. However, besides Filmation not being involved whatsoever, this series differs considerably from the previous series.

Synopsis

He-Man, legendary defender of the planet Eternia, has been summoned to the future world of Primus to defend the planet from the evil Mutants of the neighboring world of Denebria. But his old adversary, Skeletor, has followed him, and allied himself with the Mutants in his fight to conquer the whole universe. Together with a team of Galactic Guardians, He-Man fights to defend Primus and all its power resources from the continuous attacks by Skeletor and the Mutants.

Continuity and story arcs

The original He-Man and the Masters of the Universe cartoon series had very little continuity, with no 'origin' episode or a clear-cut series finale, although "The Problem With Power" is often considered to qualify. The New Adventures series had two five part stories, with a six parter at the end of the series leading to the final episode. The final thirteen episodes also introduce a sub plot in which the series' two key female characters, Mara and Crita, travel to the planet Nekron to assist the kind Mites and the evil Gleanons.

The continuity between episodes is strong, events of previous episodes are often referenced in later stories. For example, the sixth episode "Sword and Staff", picked up shortly after the first five part story, with Skeletor depressed over his defeat at the end of that story.

Critical reaction

Although the show features strong writing and solid continuity, it was not a huge success, mainly given that fans of the Masters of the Universe franchise were somewhat disappointed at the series' departure from the pre-established format. He-Man, Skeletor and The Sorceress are the only characters from the original cartoon that feature regularly, and they only loosely resemble their counterparts from the original series in both appearances and personalities. King Randor, Queen Marlena and Teela all appear in single episodes but apart from them, no other characters from the original series appear as the action is moved away from Eternia and into the future, giving the whole show a more space-age feel. Likewise, the show contains much more emphasis on science fiction as opposed to the previous show's use of magic and fantasy, a change which some fans had difficulty adapting to.

Also, given that the show and toy line were launched almost immediately after the demise of the Masters of the Universe toy line, amidst waning interest in He-Man, it could be said that this relaunch was attempted too early, given that general enthusiasm for He-Man-related products had weakened in recent years. However, it should be noted that despite the failure to replicate the success of the original toyline and cartoon, the New Adventures toy line did run for four years, from 1988 to 1992, and spawned four waves of figures and vehicles.

Although generally disregarded from continuity by fans, the show nevertheless has a strong following among He-Man's fan community, and many agree that the over-all quality of the show's animation surpasses that of the original. It also includes some unique concepts such as displaying Skeletor having something of a love interest in the character of Crita and portraying him as something of an underdog, although some fans feel that Skeletor's portrayal had become increasingly humorous near the end of the original cartoon. Skeletor and the Mutants are also portrayed as more competent and threatening than the villains from the classic series, on one occasion actually succeeding in conquering Primus and bringing the population under their control for several episodes.

Minicomics

In the New Adventures minicomics packaged with the toys, the story is slightly different: when Prince Adam and Skeletor travel to Primus, Adam becomes He-Man in front of Skeletor, revealing his secret identity and giving up the identity of Prince Adam to remain permanently as He-Man. The "explosion" from the transformation damages Skeletor, and he has to become a cyborg in order to survive. Also, in the comics Skeletor does not fake allegiance to Flogg, but takes command of the Mutants.

The element of the transformation from Adam to He-Man is retained by the cartoon, as the makers felt it would be unwise to abandon it given that the transformation sequence had been one of the most popular elements of the original series.

DVD releases

The New Adventures of He-Man has been released on DVD by BCI Eclipse LLC.

DVD Name Ep # Region 1 Release Date
The New Adventures of He-Man: Volume 1 33 December 26, 2006
The New Adventures of He-Man: Volume 2 32 March 27, 2007

Episode Guide

  1. "A New Beginning"
  2. "Quest for the Crystals"
  3. "The Heat"
  4. "Attack on Onnor"
  5. "The Ultimate Challenge"
  6. "Sword & Staff"
  7. "The Pen Is Mightier Than the Sword... Or Is It?"
  8. "Glastnost Schmaznost"
  9. "The Youngest Hero"
  10. "The Festival of Lights"
  11. "The Gift"
  12. "Skeletor's Victory"
  13. "He-Man in Exile"
  14. "The Seeds of Resistance"
  15. "The Battle for Levitan"
  16. "Crack in the World"
  17. "Escape from Gaolotia"
  18. "He-Man Mutant"
  19. "Juggernaut"
  20. "Fading Star"
  21. "Skeletor's Revenge"
  22. "The Mind Lens"
  23. "Adam's Adventure"
  24. "Collision Course"
  25. "Planet of Junk"
  26. "Sanctuary"
  27. "Council of Clones"
  28. "Cold Freeze"
  29. "He-Caz"
  30. "Slaves to the Machine"
  31. "The Galactic Guardians"
  32. "The Siege of Serus"
  33. "The Children's Planet"
  34. "Zone of Darkness"
  35. "Once Upon a Time"
  36. "A Plague Upon Primus"
  37. "The Test of Time"
  38. "Four Ways To Sundown"
  39. "The Sheriff of Gorn City"
  40. "The New Wizard in Town"
  41. "The Nemesis Within"
  42. "He-Fan"
  43. "The Dream Zone"
  44. "Brain Drain"
  45. "You're In the Army Now"
  46. "No Easy Way"
  47. "The Guns of Nordor"
  48. "The Bride of Slushhead"
  49. "Dreadator"
  50. "Mutiny on the Mothership"
  51. "Rock to the Future"
  52. "The Running of the Herd"
  53. "Balance of Power"
  54. "The Tornadoes of Zil"
  55. "The Taking of Levitan"
  56. "Save Our City"
  57. "The Power of the Good and the Way of the Magic"
  58. "Queen's Gambit"
  59. "There's Gems In Them Hills"
  60. "The Call to the Games"
  61. "The Blacksmith of Crelus"
  62. "A Time To Leave"
  63. "The Games"
  64. "Flogg's Revenge"
  65. "The Final Invasion"

Cast

Trivia

  • The majority of episodes were written by Jack Olesker, who was story editor for the entire series and wrote the show's series bible.
  • A second season was planned in which He-Man and Skeletor were to return to Eternia and reunite with many characters from the original series, of whom one character, Man-At-Arms, was to have turned to the dark side and ruled Eternia as a dictator. But given the lack of sufficient viewer ratings, the show was cancelled after the first season. Series writer Jack Olesker revealed this intended plan on the he-man.org message boards in a post made in July 2006.
  • Larry DiTillio, one of the prime writers of Filmation's series, was approached to work on the show but turned down the offer as he disliked the series bible, feeling it was too far removed from the original show's premise.
  • Despite the change in appearance of many characters, the animators and artists did try and recreate the look of many locations in the first episode. The Royal Palace throne room is identical to the one featured in the original series, while Snake Mountain appears with a very similar look, and Skeletor still possesses his throne made of bones.
  • Gary Chalk, who voiced He-Man in this series, would later voice Man-At-Arms in the 2002 Mike Young series. However, Chalk did not provide the voice of He-Man's alter ego Prince Adam, unlike John Erwin of the 1983 series and Cam Clarke of the 2002 series, who did the voices of both He-Man and Adam. Adam was instead voiced by Doug Parker.
  • Unlike other versions of the Masters of the Universe where He-Man's power sword displays no magical powers beyond transforming He-Man into Adam and back again, this version imbued the sword with more magical powers, such as shooting out energy bolts that could also function as energy whips and force fields, or using the magic within the sword to accomplish feats his strength could not, such as sealing up cracks in the dome of an underwater city.
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