He-Man and the Masters of the Universe

He-Man and the Masters of the Universe
Series logo.
Genre	Animated series, Action, Fantasy
Directed by	Hal Sutherland (production director)
Starring	John Erwin Linda Gary Alan Oppenheimer Lou Scheimer Erika Scheimer
Composer(s)	Shuki Levy Haim Saban Erika Lane
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	130 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Lou Scheimer
Running time	22 min.
Production company(s)	Filmation Associates Mattel
Distributor	Group W Productions
Broadcast
Original channel	Syndicated
Original run	September 26, 1983 – December 8, 1985
Chronology
Followed by	She-Ra: Princess of Power The New Adventures of He-Man
Related shows	He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (2002)

He-Man and the Masters of the Universe is an American animated television series produced by Filmation based on Mattel's successful toy line Masters of the Universe. The show, often referred to as simply He-Man, was one of the most popular animated children's shows of the 1980s and has retained a heavy following to this day.^[1][2]

It made its television debut in 1983 and ran until 1985, consisting of two seasons of 65 episodes each. Reruns continued to air in syndication until 1988, at which point USA Network bought the rights to the series. USA aired He-Man until September 1990.

Opening narration

"I am Adam, prince of Eternia and defender of the secrets of Castle Grayskull. This is Cringer, my fearless friend. Fabulous secret powers were revealed to me the day I held aloft my magic sword and said 'By the Power of Grayskull...I HAVE THE POWER!' Cringer became the mighty Battlecat, and I became He-Man, the most powerful man in the universe! Only a few others share this secret: our friends the Sorceress, Man-At-Arms and Orko. Together we defend Castle Grayskull from the evil forces of Skeletor."

Show profile

The show takes place on the fictional planet of Eternia, a planet of magic, myth and fantasy. The show's lead character is Prince Adam, the young son of Eternia's rulers, King Randor and Queen Marlena. Whenever Prince Adam uses the Power Sword, and when he holds it aloft and says the magic words "By the Power of Grayskull...I have the Power!" he is transformed into He-Man, the most powerful man in the universe. Together with his close allies, Battle Cat, Teela, Man-At-Arms and Orko, He-Man uses his powers to defend Eternia from the evil forces of Skeletor. Skeletor's main goal is to conquer the mysterious fortress of Castle Grayskull, from which He-Man draws his powers. If he succeeds, Skeletor would be able to conquer not only Eternia, but the whole universe.^[3]

Despite the limited animation techniques that were used to produce the series, He-Man was notable for breaking the boundaries of censorship that had severely restricted the narrative scope of children's TV programming in the 1970s. For the first time in years, a cartoon series could feature a muscular superhero who was actually allowed to hit people (although he more typically used wrestling-style moves rather than actually punching enemies), though he still could not use his sword often; more often than not He-Man opted to pick up his opponents and toss them away rather than hit them. The cartoon was controversial in that it was produced in connection with marketing a line of toys; advertising to children was itself controversial during this period. In the United Kingdom, advertising regulations forbade commercials for He-Man toys to accompany the program itself. In similar fashion to other shows at the time: notably G.I. Joe, an attempt to mitigate the negative publicity generated by this controversy was made by including a "life lesson" or "moral of the story" at the end of each episode. This moral was usually directly tied to the action or central theme of that episode.^[4][5][6]

The show was so successful that it spawned a spin-off series, She-Ra: Princess of Power following the adventures of He-Man's sister.^[7]Mattel's subsequent attempts to relaunch the He-Man toy line have also led to the short-lived sequel series The New Adventures of He-Man in the early 1990s, and an update of the series for a contemporary audience in 2002.

It is also noted for featuring early script-writing work from later Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski, Paul Dini of the 1990s Batman-fame, and David Wise, head-writer of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.^[8]

In 2009, IGN ranked the series as the 58th greatest animated show of all time in their Top 100 list.^[9]

Cast list

• John Erwin as He-Man, Prince Adam, Ram-Man, Beast Man, Webstor, Whiplash and others
• Alan Oppenheimer as Cringer, Battlecat, Man-At-Arms, Skeletor, Mer-Man, Buzz-Off, Roboto and others
• Linda Gary (initially mis-credited as, and mistaken for, Linda Gray) as Teela, Evil-Lyn, Queen Marlena, The Sorceress and others
• Lou Scheimer (usually credited as Erik Gunden) as Orko, King Randor, Stratos, Man-E-Faces, Mekaneck, Zodak, Sy-Klone, Moss Man, Trap-Jaw, Tri-Klops, Kobra Khan, Clawful, Jitsu, Spikor, Two-Bad, Modulok and others
• Erika Scheimer as various other female voices
• George DiCenzo as various guest male voices

Episodes

Characters

DVD releases

BCI Eclipse LLC (under license from Entertainment Rights) has released all 130 episodes of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe on DVD in Region 1, in 4 volumes. All 4 volumes have also been released in Region 4 by Madman Entertainment. Each volume contains an extensive array of special features including Documentaries, Character profiles, commentaries, DVD-ROM features, trivia, photo galleries and more.

A 10-episode Best-of collection was also released in Region 1 & 4.

References

External links

• He-Man and the Masters of the Universe at YouTube
• He-man.org
• Masters Cast - He-Man and She-Ra Podcast
• He-Man and the Masters of the Universe at the Internet Movie Database
• He-Man and the Masters of the Universe at TV.com
• Masters of the Universe at Hulu