Midnight's Edge has a series on YouTube discussing the cartoon show "He-man and the Masters of the Universe". He starts with the creation of the toy line, which was originally going to be action figures from the "Conan the Barbarian" movie, and tracks the rise in popularity of the toys and the animated show, the introduction of "She-ra: Princess of Power", and why a toy line that pulled in $400 million in 1986 only made $7 million in 1987. His next video will discuss the live action movie.
I had heard before that the He-man dolls resulted from plans for Conan action figures—but they derived from the original script for the movie which had been developed by Oliver Stone. Skeletor is basically Thulsa Doom. James Earl Jones's character in the movie is called Thulsa Doom but is really Thoth Amon using a stolen identity.
I did not know that the He-man cartoon only ran for two seasons. The Dungeons and Dragons cartoon went for three seasons. Of course, there were a total of 130 episodes of He-man, and only a total of 27 for D&D.
An interesting video. Although MotU was pretty much doomed once TMNT came on the scene. Both the toys and the show of that property were significantly superior.
But it does bring up a question. Has there ever been an IP that was hugely popular with boys where the owners of that IP successfully managed to make it equally popular with girls while retaining its popularity with boys? The only example I can think of would be the Star Wars prequels, which seemed to bring in girls with the Queen Amidala character without turning boys away. But, I don't have the actual stats to back that up.
As kids, my friends and I thought the Masters of the Universe toys were cool, but that the original cartoon was lame. We preferred shows like GI Joe, Transformers, Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, Thundercats, and Robotech. Even the kid-centered Dungeons & Dragons cartoon was less kiddified than the Filmation Masters of the Universe series.
The 2002 series on Cartoon Network was quite good, though.
Quote from: hedgehobbit on January 17, 2022, 02:00:35 PM
An interesting video. Although MotU was pretty much doomed once TMNT came on the scene. Both the toys and the show of that property were significantly superior.
I don't think there was any overlap. 1986 was the year that MotU crashed and burned; it limped on through 1987 and the live-action movie, but even the plans for that year got scaled back. (Alas for the Powers of Grayskull!) The Turtles started with the comic in 1984, but didn't explode in public consciousness until 1987, as I understand it. I was never a TMNT fan; I followed MotU to the end, then moved into Transformers for a while, then Nintendo.
Quote from: Crusader X on January 17, 2022, 03:46:30 PM
As kids, my friends and I thought the Masters of the Universe toys were cool, but that the original cartoon was lame. We preferred shows like GI Joe, Transformers, Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, Thundercats, and Robotech. Even the kid-centered Dungeons & Dragons cartoon was less kiddified than the Filmation Masters of the Universe series.
The 2002 series on Cartoon Network was quite good, though.
I really liked what I saw of the 2002 reboot, but need to finish it.
Quote from: hedgehobbit on January 17, 2022, 02:00:35 PM
An interesting video. Although MotU was pretty much doomed once TMNT came on the scene. Both the toys and the show of that property were significantly superior.
As a fan of the Eastman and Laird comics, I thought the cartoon was pretty disappointing.
When I was growing up, I think the first cartoon I was into a lot was GI Joe, and then TMNT. I don't remember watching He-Man so I have no fond memories. Frankly I think the best part of He-Man is the Skeletor memes.
The 2021 CGI reboot is okay. It's more different than the 200X series, but it's still recognizable. It includes references that only diehard fans would understand. It's not perfect, but it's wholesome and it's a decent first effort. It's actually written to appeal to children and teach them lessons about friendship and sacrifice.
The clips of the 2021 reboot which I've seen on YouTube suggest something worthwhile for the target audience and not insulting to the older fans. I'd give it a chance if I weren't boycotting Netflix on general principle and trying to avoid the Big Brands as much as possible. :)
Quote from: cavalier973 on January 17, 2022, 08:01:11 AM
Midnight's Edge has a series on YouTube discussing the cartoon show "He-man and the Masters of the Universe". He starts with the creation of the toy line, which was originally going to be action figures from the "Conan the Barbarian" movie, and tracks the rise in popularity of the toys and the animated show, the introduction of "She-ra: Princess of Power", and why a toy line that pulled in $400 million in 1986 only made $7 million in 1987. His next video will discuss the live action movie.
I had heard before that the He-man dolls resulted from plans for Conan action figures—but they derived from the original script for the movie which had been developed by Oliver Stone. Skeletor is basically Thulsa Doom. James Earl Jones's character in the movie is called Thulsa Doom but is really Thoth Amon using a stolen identity.
I did not know that the He-man cartoon only ran for two seasons. The Dungeons and Dragons cartoon went for three seasons. Of course, there were a total of 130 episodes of He-man, and only a total of 27 for D&D.
According to others the He-Man was not based on Conan. Apparently just a persistent rumour based on some old dark haired test models and some spurious assumptions which really dont hold much water. The movie on the other had was originally a script for DCs New Gods. But it ended up being repurposed for He-Man. Not a bad movie really. But not very He-Man either.
Apparently one of the creators of He-man was a D&D fan.
Quote from: Omega on January 18, 2022, 11:30:12 PM
Quote from: cavalier973 on January 17, 2022, 08:01:11 AM
Midnight's Edge has a series on YouTube discussing the cartoon show "He-man and the Masters of the Universe". He starts with the creation of the toy line, which was originally going to be action figures from the "Conan the Barbarian" movie, and tracks the rise in popularity of the toys and the animated show, the introduction of "She-ra: Princess of Power", and why a toy line that pulled in $400 million in 1986 only made $7 million in 1987. His next video will discuss the live action movie.
I had heard before that the He-man dolls resulted from plans for Conan action figures—but they derived from the original script for the movie which had been developed by Oliver Stone. Skeletor is basically Thulsa Doom. James Earl Jones's character in the movie is called Thulsa Doom but is really Thoth Amon using a stolen identity.
I did not know that the He-man cartoon only ran for two seasons. The Dungeons and Dragons cartoon went for three seasons. Of course, there were a total of 130 episodes of He-man, and only a total of 27 for D&D.
According to others the He-Man was not based on Conan. Apparently just a persistent rumour based on some old dark haired test models and some spurious assumptions which really dont hold much water. The movie on the other had was originally a script for DCs New Gods. But it ended up being repurposed for He-Man. Not a bad movie really. But not very He-Man either.
Apparently one of the creators of He-man was a D&D fan.
Nuh-UH! I looked it up on the internet, and it shows that you're RIGHT! Um...wait a second...
https://www.cbr.com/he-man-conan-toy-tie-in/
" And the biggest point of the case was that everyone agreed that He-Man was in existence at Mattel BEFORE they signed the licensing deal with CPI."
Quote from: Omega on January 18, 2022, 11:30:12 PM
[According to others the He-Man was not based on Conan. Apparently just a persistent rumour based on some old dark haired test models and some spurious assumptions which really dont hold much water. The movie on the other had was originally a script for DCs New Gods. But it ended up being repurposed for He-Man. Not a bad movie really. But not very He-Man either.
This may be another case of confusion--I'm not sure if the script was intended for the New Gods, or if the writers and designers simply took a lot of inspiration from them. There are definitely strong Fourth World influences on He-Man, which become even clearer if you look up the series bible credited to Mark Halperin.
I have always been a little curious if Masters of the Universe would have stayed operational for a few more years had they not completely cut bait with He-Man after She-Ra started up. She-Ra started in, what, September of '85 and He-Man was out of new episodes a couple of months later.
Quote from: Thornhammer on January 19, 2022, 02:33:39 PM
I have always been a little curious if Masters of the Universe would have stayed operational for a few more years had they not completely cut bait with He-Man after She-Ra started up. She-Ra started in, what, September of '85 and He-Man was out of new episodes a couple of months later.
That's probably part of the reason (and the new episodes of He-Man had been held back from the 1984 season). Another reason is that the case assortments for the 86 figures wound up leaving a bunch of second-stringers clogging the shelves.
Quote from: Armchair Gamer on January 19, 2022, 08:16:28 AM
This may be another case of confusion--I'm not sure if the script was intended for the New Gods, or if the writers and designers simply took a lot of inspiration from them. There are definitely strong Fourth World influences on He-Man, which become even clearer if you look up the series bible credited to Mark Halperin.
It came up in one of the making of interviews. Also Jack Kirby noted it as well. Apparently it was not a full on script as I thought but rather the director drew heavily from it and even wanted Kirby to do the storyboards.
Quote from: Thornhammer on January 19, 2022, 02:33:39 PM
I have always been a little curious if Masters of the Universe would have stayed operational for a few more years had they not completely cut bait with He-Man after She-Ra started up. She-Ra started in, what, September of '85 and He-Man was out of new episodes a couple of months later.
Filmation rarely ran a series more than 2 seasons. 3 at most back then. Fat Albert being an exception. Most, despite going 2 or even 3 seasons rarely went over 30 episodes. Quite a few only ran 12 or so.
He-Man ran 2 seasons with 130 episodes and a crossover movie with She-Ra.
She-Ra ran 2 seasons with 93 episodes.
Fat Albert ran for 8 seasons and 110 episodes, not counting the odd side episodes they introduced like Brown Hornet and Legal Eagle.
Flash Gordon ran 2 seasons and 32 episodes.
Tarzan ran 4 seasons and 36 episodes that combined with Batman, Zorro, the Lone Ranger and some other shows.
Superman ran 3 seasons that merged with other shows like Batman, Aquaman, Superboy and so on.
Shazam went 3 seasons and 28 episodes.
Archie of all things ran usually 1 season but kept up with new shows for a good while or spin-offs like Sabrina, Groovie Ghoulies etc.
Bravestarr was the last and ran 65 episodes.