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SeanShards

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,303
Is this in the same universe as Netflix's She-Ra or is it it's own thing?

Its' own thing. There are two MOTU shows in production atm, this one, and "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe" which is closer to She-Ra but, as far as we know, not connected. She-Ra's showrunner has said there are no plans for a connection either.
 
Jun 17, 2019
2,182
Please, please, please, let there be a surprise with Melendy Britt come back and Voice She-Ra some how, or have her voice a character in the show please. They're twins, they should at least have some nod to them being twins.

But wow, Sara playing Teela, that's so cool. Does that mean Freddie gets to come in there and be a voice too? I hope so, she played opposite him in Star Wars Rebels, come on Kevin do the same for him here!
 

Mandos

Member
Nov 27, 2017
30,866
That's quite a cast.

I'm going to hand in my nerd card though and say I know almost literally fucking nothing about Masters of the Universe except that I could identify Skeletor and He-Man (I had a few toys from it, but never actually watched it growing up)
Same here
Jason Mews as Stinkor, bless


Aside from everyone saying Bill from King of the Hill, he was also a voice in Bee & Puppycat :)


They did the same thing with the CG Ninja Turtles cartoon, got the original VA for Donatello and then cast him as Raph XD
You have that backwards, it was original cartoon Ralph and they cast him as Donny in the new one. He's not the only reprise, a ton of recurring ones were too, Mondo Hecko was a former Mikey and Slash was Leo from the animated movie if I remember right
 
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Oct 25, 2017
1,111
Gotta imagine Ralph Garman will be in an episode at some point. LoL at people shitting on Kevin for working with his friends, all directors do this. And everyone here would do the same especially for your kids.
 

SpankyDoodle

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,082
Same here

You have that backwards, it was original cartoon Ralph and they cast him as Donny in the new one. He's not the only reprise, a ton of recurring ones were too, Mondo Hecko was a former Mikey and Slash was Donny from the animated movie if I remember right
Shit! Yep I totally flipped them hahaha whoops! I don't think I got to Mondo Gekko though, that's awesome! I need to go back and finish watching that show, it was great!
 

Crackhead_Bob

Banned
Nov 1, 2017
1,865
Has any info on the art style been revealed? 1980's rotoscope animation isn't going to sell well in the 2020's.

Honestly, I wish they had done a hard reboot. Yes, I know they did one back in the early 2000's, but I was hoping they would try something more inspired... like the artwork on the packaging.
 

Crackhead_Bob

Banned
Nov 1, 2017
1,865
I was just thinking... which version of Skeletor will Hamill be angling more toward, Alan Oppenheimer or Frank Langella? Or will he imbue his Joker characterization into the character?
 
Oct 8, 2019
9,120
Has any info on the art style been revealed? 1980's rotoscope animation isn't going to sell well in the 2020's.

Honestly, I wish they had done a hard reboot. Yes, I know they did one back in the early 2000's, but I was hoping they would try something more inspired... like the artwork on the packaging.

I would rather have another reboot simply because I doubt will actually come off like a sequel to the campy 1980's he-man show. I just assume its going to be more like the 2000's version which was a lot more serious.

 

Cheerilee

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
3,969
Is this in the same universe as Netflix's She-Ra or is it it's own thing?
Its' own thing. There are two MOTU shows in production atm, this one, and "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe" which is closer to She-Ra but, as far as we know, not connected. She-Ra's showrunner has said there are no plans for a connection either.
Just to expand on this a little, Mattel made the original He Man toys, and then they got Filmation to make the cartoon. Filmation got some "creator" rights to some of their cartoon-exclusive ideas, and then Filmation made She Ra, and basically all of She Ra came from Filmation's ideas and wasn't based on toys from Mattel. That means that Filmation has even more "creator" rights over She Ra than they do over He Man.

This is apparently why the Dolph Lundgren/Frank Langella movie never had Orko (because Orko was a cartoon creation), and why Dolph Lundgren never transformed into Prince Adam (because in the toys, He Man and Prince Adam were two entirely different people). Because Mattel (or I guess maybe Canon Films?) didn't want to work with Filmation. The live action movie was based on the toys, not the cartoon.

Dreamworks somewhat recently bought the remains of dead Filmation. So Dreamworks owns a bit of He Man (mostly the cartoon version), and more of She Ra. So Dreamworks got Mattel's permission and made a She Ra cartoon. Meanwhile, Mattel because interested in taking another crack at making a live action He Man movie. And then Kevin Smith stepped in to make this new He Man cartoon. It's intended to be a direct sequel to the old Filmation He Man cartoon. Kevin Smith/Mattel got permission from Dreamworks to do that.

So He Man is currently being made by Mattel, while She Ra is currently being made by Dreamworks. But both groups are playing nice with each other (it's a beneficial alliance), and crossovers are apparently possible. But they're both being made by different groups, who are doing their own thing, so crossovers are not a certainty (but there is definitely a chance).
 

sir_crocodile

Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,479
Just to expand on this a little, Mattel made the original He Man toys, and then they got Filmation to make the cartoon. Filmation got some "creator" rights to some of their cartoon-exclusive ideas, and then Filmation made She Ra, and basically all of She Ra came from Filmation's ideas and wasn't based on toys from Mattel. That means that Filmation has even more "creator" rights over She Ra than they do over He Man.

This is apparently why the Dolph Lundgren/Frank Langella movie never had Orko (because Orko was a cartoon creation), and why Dolph Lundgren never transformed into Prince Adam (because in the toys, He Man and Prince Adam were two entirely different people). Because Mattel (or I guess maybe Canon Films?) didn't want to work with Filmation. The live action movie was based on the toys, not the cartoon.

I always assumed Canon, given their financial problems just didn't want to spend the money to have a floating character
 

P-Bo

One Winged Slayer
Member
Jun 17, 2019
4,405
If I wasn't already hyped before (which I was), this casting list really has me excited--can't wait for a trailer or more details!

Always glad to see Alan Oppenheimer still getting work.
 

SeanShards

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,303
Just to expand on this a little, Mattel made the original He Man toys, and then they got Filmation to make the cartoon. Filmation got some "creator" rights to some of their cartoon-exclusive ideas, and then Filmation made She Ra, and basically all of She Ra came from Filmation's ideas and wasn't based on toys from Mattel. That means that Filmation has even more "creator" rights over She Ra than they do over He Man.

This is apparently why the Dolph Lundgren/Frank Langella movie never had Orko (because Orko was a cartoon creation), and why Dolph Lundgren never transformed into Prince Adam (because in the toys, He Man and Prince Adam were two entirely different people). Because Mattel (or I guess maybe Canon Films?) didn't want to work with Filmation. The live action movie was based on the toys, not the cartoon.

Dreamworks somewhat recently bought the remains of dead Filmation. So Dreamworks owns a bit of He Man (mostly the cartoon version), and more of She Ra. So Dreamworks got Mattel's permission and made a She Ra cartoon. Meanwhile, Mattel because interested in taking another crack at making a live action He Man movie. And then Kevin Smith stepped in to make this new He Man cartoon. It's intended to be a direct sequel to the old Filmation He Man cartoon. Kevin Smith/Mattel got permission from Dreamworks to do that.

So He Man is currently being made by Mattel, while She Ra is currently being made by Dreamworks. But both groups are playing nice with each other (it's a beneficial alliance), and crossovers are apparently possible. But they're both being made by different groups, who are doing their own thing, so crossovers are not a certainty (but there is definitely a chance).

Interesting! Thanks for this, I knew bits but nowhere near the full story.
 

PHOENIXZERO

Member
Oct 29, 2017
12,059
I was amused that Alan Oppenheimer was brought in but not Skeletor but yeah, he like John Erwin are pretty up there in age and I doubt either could do the voices to where they wouldn't sound off if they tried it plus it's probably a larger work load, Alan is almost 90 and Erwin is in his early 80s.

Sucks Larry DiTillio passed away but would be cool if J. Michael Straczynski or Michael Halperin had something to do with it creatively. Though to be fair DiTillio and Straczynski had greater influence on She-Ra (which they should get created by rights) than He-Man though they did write both. Halperin created the series bible and later worked on developing and making the initial bible for the 200X series.

Kind of crazy that there's three MOTU things in the works for Netflix along with She-Ra which is ending soon. There's this but there's also the new reboot series coming about that's going to be made by the studio that does Trollhunters then there's the live action movie that's officially moving to Netflix.

You guys should really watch the Toys that Made Us.

I had no idea my childhood was that commercialized. They literally came up with the toys for HeMan first, then created teh characters, created a comicbook to sell the Masters of the Universe toys and a follow up TV show to sell the toys.

Yeah, I kind of kept following this stuff over the years and it took me some time to come to terms with certain things that haven't aged well but their being toy commericals became pretty much standard for most animated shows in the 80s after Reagan's FCC rolled back regulations that restricted this sort of thing. That episode of the Toys That Made Us was fine until the bullshit about She-Ra killing MOTU got brought up and they let it go unchallenged which is should have been since it's not what happened, pretty much soured me on it. The Power of Grayskull documentary is much, much better an also on Netflix.

Has any info on the art style been revealed? 1980's rotoscope animation isn't going to sell well in the 2020's.

Honestly, I wish they had done a hard reboot. Yes, I know they did one back in the early 2000's, but I was hoping they would try something more inspired... like the artwork on the packaging.
It's definitely not going to that, Filmation used it and a ton of shortcuts because of just how limited they were back then in terms of time and budget and wanting to keep production in the US, this is being designed and animated by the same group as the Castlevania series on Netflix so I'd expect it to be more closer to that.
 
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TheJollyCorner

The Fallen
Nov 7, 2017
9,448
I recommend anyone and everyone that has Netflix (US; can't speak for other territories) watch The Power of Grayskull documentary. It's great.
 

PHOENIXZERO

Member
Oct 29, 2017
12,059
I recommend anyone and everyone that has Netflix (US; can't speak for other territories) watch The Power of Grayskull documentary. It's great.
I agree 100%, it's and not just because I'm kind of acquainted with one of the makers of it (though more his wife who I've "known" for years) but because it's pretty much the definitive MOTU documentary, much much better than the Toys That Made Us episode.
 

Nakenorm

The Fallen
Oct 26, 2017
22,262
I'm definitely interested even if I'm actually not that familiar with the source material.
Aside from all the memes I don't think I've seen a single episode of the classic cartoon, just the 2002 reboot.
 

Cheerilee

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
3,969
I always assumed Canon, given their financial problems just didn't want to spend the money to have a floating character
That might be. I was just watching the Netflix documentary (which was great, thanks guys!), and they pointed out that She Ra got designed for the live action He Man movie, and her costume got made and everything, before the studio decided to cut her from the movie because they decided that Teela had the "female" ground covered as much as they felt it needed to be.

So the live action movie probably had Filmation's permission/approval. Unless the character of She Ra was created by Mattel and landed on the "Mattel" side of the fence. Things are apparently a bit messy in that regard, like Hordak was created as a toy, as a He Man villain, so he lands on the "Mattel" side of the fence, despite being She Ra's primary villain.

But "Orko's a Filmation character" still works as an easy way to point out how Mattel and Filmation (who is now Dreamworks) have distinct positions in the He Man franchise.

Dreamworks owns some of He Man (like Orko). Mattel owns some of She Ra (like Hordak). But Mattel owns most of He Man, while Dreamworks owns most of She Ra. Mattel could completely shut down She Ra, while Dreamworks could impose some slight restrictions onto He Man (Mattel is in a fundamentally much stronger position). But fortunately, both sides seem to have a good relationship and are working together for their mutual benefit.
 

captive

Member
Oct 25, 2017
16,988
Houston
Yeah, I kind of kept following this stuff over the years and it took me some time to come to terms with certain things that haven't aged well but their being toy commericals became pretty much standard for most animated shows in the 80s after Reagan's FCC rolled back regulations that restricted this sort of thing. That episode of the Toys That Made Us was fine until the bullshit about She-Ra killing MOTU got brought up and they let it go unchallenged which is should have been since it's not what happened, pretty much soured me on it. The Power of Grayskull documentary is much, much better an also on Netflix.
I felt like the ladies they were interviewing said that was the stupidest thing ever. But I could see how the interviewer didn't push them on that.
 

Crackhead_Bob

Banned
Nov 1, 2017
1,865
I was amused that Alan Oppenheimer was brought in but not Skeletor but yeah, he like John Erwin are pretty up there in age and I doubt either could do the voices to where they wouldn't sound off if they tried it plus it's probably a larger work load, Alan is almost 90 and Erwin is in his early 80s.

Sucks Larry DiTillio passed away but would be cool if J. Michael Straczynski or Michael Halperin had something to do with it creatively. Though to be fair DiTillio and Straczynski had greater influence on She-Ra (which they should get created by rights) than He-Man though they did write both. Halperin created the series bible and later worked on developing and making the initial bible for the 200X series.

Kind of crazy that there's three MOTU things in the works for Netflix along with She-Ra which is ending soon. There's this but there's also the new reboot series coming about that's going to be made by the studio that does Trollhunters then there's the live action movie that's officially moving to Netflix.



Yeah, I kind of kept following this stuff over the years and it took me some time to come to terms with certain things that haven't aged well but their being toy commericals became pretty much standard for most animated shows in the 80s after Reagan's FCC rolled back regulations that restricted this sort of thing. That episode of the Toys That Made Us was fine until the bullshit about She-Ra killing MOTU got brought up and they let it go unchallenged which is should have been since it's not what happened, pretty much soured me on it. The Power of Grayskull documentary is much, much better an also on Netflix.


It's definitely not going to that, Filmation used it and a ton of shortcuts because of just how limited they were back then in terms of time and budget and wanting to keep production in the US, this is being designed and animated by the same group as the Castlevania series on Netflix so I'd expect it to be more closer to that.

I can't see why they couldn't do a reboot. There's enough lore to construct a long involved storyline the way they did with the recent Voltron series. Filmation brings too much baggage, and it's not good when you consider the old show had to walk a tightrope of selling mechandise and dispensing PSA's at the end of each episode. And, as I stated earlier, the art and animation sucked.
 

Simo

Member
Oct 26, 2017
4,881
Michigan, USA
Mattel had a prerecorded thing in their investors site talking about the IP and the shows and movie. They had a segment featuring interviews with Revelations cast which included some snippets of them in the recording studio. Someone went ahead and hosted the Hamill (Skeletor) and Headey (Evil Lyn) segments with some old footage.


I don't know about Skeletor....lol
 

Cheerilee

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
3,969
I can't see why they couldn't do a reboot. There's enough lore to construct a long involved storyline the way they did with the recent Voltron series. Filmation brings too much baggage, and it's not good when you consider the old show had to walk a tightrope of selling mechandise and dispensing PSA's at the end of each episode. And, as I stated earlier, the art and animation sucked.
They are doing a reboot.

- They've got the new She Ra show, made by Dreamworks, which is a reboot.
- They've also got this new Kevin Smith show, which is a retro oldschool throwback, supposedly a direct sequel to the old cartoon, made by the studio that made that recent Castlevania anime.
- They've also got a new 3D CG reboot that's being made by the Trollhunters studio.
- And they've also got a new live action movie in the works, made by Sony Pictures (assuming it ever gets off the ground).

All four properties are completely unrelated.
 

PHOENIXZERO

Member
Oct 29, 2017
12,059
I felt like the ladies they were interviewing said that was the stupidest thing ever. But I could see how the interviewer didn't push them on that.
Yeah but it would have been nice to see them talk about why it actually collapsed so quickly. There was a lot of greed and incompetence behind it along with other factors that had nothing to do with girls getting She-Ra. That point which unfortunately gets parroted now really is incredibly stupid.

Honestly with the level of incompetence from the people running Mattel over the course of ~25 years it's kind of amazing the company is still around.
 

PHOENIXZERO

Member
Oct 29, 2017
12,059
I can't see why they couldn't do a reboot. There's enough lore to construct a long involved storyline the way they did with the recent Voltron series. Filmation brings too much baggage, and it's not good when you consider the old show had to walk a tightrope of selling mechandise and dispensing PSA's at the end of each episode. And, as I stated earlier, the art and animation sucked.
There is a reboot coming, the Filmation show was okayed by Mattel for that purpose but Filmation didn't push selling toys all that much which can be seen with how many of the toys that were never in the show, the 200X reboot that Mattel had much greater control and influence over due to Mike Young Productions not having even a fraction of the clout Filmation did back then and was a lot worse with it despite being much better overall. I wish it was popular enough for a continuation instead of the original.

And yeah again the animation sucked for the most part but that's mainly due to the budget and deadlines they had in producing roughly 50 episodes a year in a time when the US TV animation industry was on its death bed.
 

Mandos

Member
Nov 27, 2017
30,866