HE-MAN HAS THE POWER - ONCE MORE.

After the woeful display from Masters of the Universe: Revelation that left a bitter taste in fans’ mouths from the point of writing, direction and pandering; Mattel Television and Netflix offer a second new He-Man series that actually has He-Man as the central main character.
It’s not your daddy’s He-Man, and to be fair, I think given that it’s nearly been 4 decades since the original series by Filmation, you have to update some aspects in order to make the show relevant.
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The basic DNA is still there with Prince Adam taking on the mantle as the most powerful man in the universe, but like with the 2002 reboot (which was cancelled way too soon, I might add…), we see him at the start of his time as He-Man learning what it means to have these powers and we slowly see him evolve as a rookie leader and embracing the responsibility of his powers.

Teela wielding her magic

The characters I was impressed with the fresh approaches first of all is Teela.  She’s a lot more quirky compared to her previous incarnations (and especially a lot more likable than Sarah Michelle Gellar’s portrayal) with a lot of charisma and I love her character style that I think might have been inspired by X-Men’s Storm and I thought it was a clever idea for her to be a sorceress straight away as opposed to what we’ve seen in the past where she’s revealed to be the daughter of the Sorceress of Gray Skull, but here they just cut to the chase where she has her powers now and not waiting eons for it.  and the fact that she’s voiced by Kimberley Brooks who some of you may know as the voice of Kathy DuCaine from Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman, just makes it even better.

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Keldor before his transformation into Skeletor

​​Benjamin Diskin voices this Generation’s Skeletor and there’s a twist to this: he starts out as Keldor as he did in the 2002 series, only this time….he’s Adam’s Uncle and Randor’s Brother.  Once he becomes Skeletor courtesy of the Havoc Staff….how to best describe it?  Imagine if Alan Oppenheimer and Mark Hamill did the fusion dance and formed this Skeletor.  Ham-Opolis.

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Skeletor after his transformation from Keldor

And last but not least, 2021’s Cringer.  Voiced by Beast Wars’ alumni, David Kaye; he portrays the legendary Battle cat with a lot of class and eloquence.  This time Cringer is given his namesake because he refused to fight in the fight pit of RaQuass, who later becomes Beast man, who also talks in 3rd Person.  So imagine…Viktor Szazz speaking like The Rock.  He asks as more of a mentor and surrogate father-figure to Adam when the Prince had been left abandoned out in the forest with amnesia only being able to remember his name.

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Cringer transformed into Battle-Cat with He-Man

The writing, pacing, character arcs and evolution of the characters is very respectful to what has gone before but is still making fresh and relatable to a modern audience.
The score is decent.  It keeps the action driving and moments with no action very contemplative and tender where applicable.
The animation is amazing.  I love the lighting whenever something or someone is glowing.  This works especially well for the transformation scenes and whenever Teela is using hr magic to where he hands glow along with her eyes which compliments her white hair and outfit.
Short end of this: if you can get passed the fact that this is not exactly like the original series and it’s reboot in 2002, then it’s safe to say that you’ll enjoy this along with the new Generation that get to hear this iconic line “By the Power of Gray Skull…”
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He-Man has the power once more.

He-Man 2021