#96. He-Man and She-Ra Episodes (1/2)

“By the power of Grayskull… I have the power!”

L-R: Beast Man, Evil-Lyn, Skeletor, He-Man, Man-At-Arms, Orko (above), Teela, Sorceress

Why: I don’t remember exactly how it came up but one day a friend and I were discussing classic 80’s cartoons that we loved as a child. Of course He-Man and She-Ra came up. I’m sure all of us who grew up in the 80’s at one point stood in their lounge room with a pretend sword in their hand and uttered those immortal words that transformed Prince Adam into He-Man or Princess Adora into She-Ra. After that discussion I just had to watch at least one episode of each show.

Comments: Last night a couple of friends came round with the complete dvd box set collection of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. All 130 episodes ever made, we only watched 2.

The main question I wanted answered was, how did Prince Adam get his magic sword? Where did this sword come from? I mean, Superman obtained his powers from his home planet Krypton, Spiderman was bitten by a radio active spider and Batman was, well, an eccentric billionaire who liked to play with toys. Sadly, there was no answer. At the start of each episode Prince Adam simply tells us that one day he was given the sword to protect the powers of Castle Grayskull and all the inhabitants on Eternia by becoming the strongest man in the universe. That was it. That was the explanation. I guess as a kid you don’t question these things so why bother with a back story.

Plot line of each episode is essentially the same. The evil villain Skeletor, along with the help of his equally evil henchmen, Beast Man and Evil-Lyn, set out to destroy He-Man once and for all in order to take control of the powers of Castle Grayskull and rule all of Eternia. Why? Because they’re bad guys and that’s what they do. He-Man, along with his fearless feline companion Battle Cat, transformed from the cowardly pet tiger Cringer, foils Skeletors evil plan every time and saves the day. He does receive a little help from his friends Orko, Sorceress and Man-At-Arms who oddly enough bears a striking resemblance to Burt Reynolds. Only they know He-Mans true identity. Teela, Captain of the Guard and beautiful friend, also plays a role in helping save the day expect she doesn’t know that He-Man is in fact Prince Adam. It’s very Lois and Clarke expect instead of glasses coming off his clothes do and he acquires a remarkable tan.   

Before I started watching I was a little skeptical of what I could expect from 1983 cartoon quality and questioned whether my adult mind would actually enjoy it. Cartoons are always more enjoyable as a kid but I was more than pleasantly surprised. The graphics and creative variations to the standard plotline were quite impressive and inventive. In one episode He-Man is piloting a space craft with the computer technology to calculate land depth and distance. Pretty advanced stuff for 1983 I thought. The moral of the story segments at the end of each episode were also brilliant, highly educational and worthy character builders for young children. More cartoons nowadays should feature them.   

I did question the need to flash the words He-Man across the screen every five minutes along with a song like name chant but apart from that small flaw I rather enjoyed He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. I only hope She-Ra is equally impressive.

Check out You Tube for classic episodes.

My verdict:

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