Masters of the Universe is a 1987 science fiction fantasyfilm based on the toy line by the same name. The movie stars Dolph Lundgren as He-Man and Frank Langella as Skeletor. Other actors include Jon Cypher as Man-At-Arms, Chelsea Field as Teela and Billy Barty as Gwildor, the short Thenorian inventor/locksmith.
The film was released in the United States on August 7, 1987 after the popularity of the toy line and cartoon had peaked.
Plot
On the Planet Eternia, at the centre of the universe, the forces of Skeletor (Frank Langella) have managed to seize control over Castle Grayskull, and after defeating (off-panel) the biggest part of Eternia's armies, capture the Sorceress of Grayskull (Christina Pickles). Skeletor is planning to exploit Grayskull's hidden powers when the "Great Eye of the Galaxy", a portal in the castle's throne room, opens and Eternia's moon is correctly aligned with it.
The remaining Eternian forces are scattered and outnumbered. One of Skeletor's patrols is attacked by Eternia's greatest warrior and Skeletor's archenemy, He-Man (Dolph Lundgren), veteran soldier Man-At-Arms (Jon Cypher) and his daughter Teela (Chelsea Field). During the battle, He-Man rescues a Thenorian inventor and locksmith named Gwildor (Billy Barty), who reveals to his rescuers his newest invention: a "Cosmic Key", which can open a portal to any location in time and space. Skeletor stole the key from him and used it to get into Castle Grayskull, but Gwildor kept the prototype. Gwildor leads the others into a secret passageway straight to the Castle before a field commander of Skeletor's armies named Karg could storm inside the house of the Thenorian.
At Grayskull, the group is surrounded by Skeletor and his troops. Gwildor uses his key to open a random gateway through which the group escapes to Earth, but on arriving there, the key is lost and the Eternians split up to find it. Nearby, a pair of teenagers named Julie (Courteney Cox) and Kevin (Robert Duncan McNeill) discover the key in a crater and start pressing its buttons. At Grayskull, Skeletor's second-in-command, Evil-Lyn (Meg Foster), tracks the key to Earth and prepares a small team of mercenaries to recover it. They consist of Saurod, Blade, Beast Man. Karg is appointed as their leader.
Kevin and Julie are spending the evening at their high school, because Julie is moving away that night following the deaths of her mother and father in a plane crash, and wants to say goodbye to Kevin and the rest of her friends. However, Kevin is curious about the key, and thinking it to be a Japanese synthesizer, takes it away to a music store to get a second opinion, leaving Julie alone. A portal then opens, with the mercenaries storming into the gym where Julie is, before she narrowly escapes. He-Man is searching nearby and hears Julie in distress. He-Man attacks the accompanying troops and saves Julie, and Man-At-Arms and Teela chase the mercenaries away. On their return to Grayskull, Skeletor is infuriated by the mercenaries' failure and kills Saurod. He then sends them back to Earth with a larger force under the command of Evil-Lyn.
Kevin returns to the school, which has nearly been burnt down from the melee. The detective on scene, Lubic (James Tolkan), takes Kevin to Julie's house to look for her. Over the phone, Julie reveals to Kevin the importance of the Cosmic Key, but Lubic confiscates it from Kevin, suspecting it to be stolen. Immediately afterwards, Evil-Lyn capture and interrogate Kevin, then leave to acquire the Key from Lubic. Julie, along with He-Man and his comrades, meet up with Kevin and then proceed to the aforementioned music store, where Lubic has taken the key for expert advice. Lubic suspects the Eternians to be responsible for the attack at the school and attempts to arrest them, but is interrupted by the arrival of Evil-Lyn and her troops. A battle ensues, during which Evil-Lyn, masquerading as Julie's dead mother (Gwynne Gilford), persuades her to steal the key. Julie acquires the key, which Evil-Lyn uses to open another doorway through which Skeletor arrives on Earth.
He-Man manages to retrieve the Key back from Evil-Lyn, but Skeletor captures his friends and threatens to kill them all unless He-Man surrenders unconditionally. He-Man surrenders and returns to Eternia with Skeletor, but during the course of these events, Julie is fatally injured by Skeletor's magic and the second Key is damaged. Gwildor tries to repair it, but says that the tones needed to return to Eternia were erased. Kevin, an amateur musician, however, remembers them, and uses a keyboard to recreate the tones and open a portal. He is pursued by Lubic, who continues to seek the arrest of him and the Eternians.
On Eternia, Skeletor, tortures He-Man in order to persuade him to kneel before him, but He-Man refuses. When the Great Eye opens, Skeletor absorbs an enormous amount of power from the universe and is transformed into an armored warrior god. He continues to try to force He-Man to swear allegiance to him, but is interrupted by the arrival of He-Man's friends, Kevin and Lubic, who arrive through a portal that they managed to open. He-Man is freed, and along with his friends engages Skeletor's forces in combat, during which he breaks Skeletor's staff, causing him to lose his newfound powers. Skeletor continues to engage He-Man with his sword, but as a result, is vanquished by falling into a deep pit.
After He-Man's victory, Julie is healed by the Sorceress, and along with Kevin, says good-bye before leaving through a doorway back to Earth. When Julie awakens in her bed, she finds her parents downstairs, alive and well, about to take their fateful flight. Julie stops them from leaving and finds Kevin, who confirms their shared experiences was not a dream, and holds out a souvenir from Eternia: a blue, marble-sized sphere showing the image of He-Man.
After the credits roll, Skeletor's head pops out of the pink liquid at the bottom of the pit that he was thrown into and says "I'll be back!"
Production
The original draft of the script by David Odell was reviewed in episode 3 of the He-Man and She-Ra podcast, Masters Cast. The script revealed that the movie intended to be more faithful to the original source material. The original draft included more time spent on Eternia, Snake Mountain, Beastman had a speaking role, and even revealed that He-Man's mother was originally from Earth, thus linking the two planets. [1]
Comparison with Jack Kirby's Fourth World
Comic book writer/artist John Byrne compared the film to Jack Kirby's comic book metaseries Fourth World, stating in Comic Shop News #497:
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"The best New Gods movie, IMHO, is ´Masters of the Universe´. I even corresponded with the director, who told me this was his intent, and that he had tried to get [Jack] Kirby to do the production designs, but the studio nixed it." "Check it out. It requires some bending and an occasional sex change (Metron becomes an ugly dwarf, The Highfather becomes the Sorceress), but it's an amazingly close analog, otherwise. And Frank Langella's Skeletor is a dandy Darkseid!" |
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Director Gary Goddard clarified this in a letter appearing in John Byrne's Next Men #26, in which he stated:
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"As the director of Masters of the Universe, it was a pleasure to see that someone got it. Your comparison of the film to Kirby’s New Gods was not far off. In fact, the storyline was greatly inspired by the classic Fantastic Four/Doctor Doom epics, The New Gods and a bit of Thor thrown in here and there. I intended the film to be a “motion picture comic book,” though it was a tough proposition to sell to the studio at the time. 'Comics are just for kids,' they thought. They would not allow me to hire Jack Kirby who I desperately wanted to be the conceptual artist for the picture…
I grew up with Kirby's comics (I’ve still got all my Marvels from the first issue of Fantastic Four and Spider-Man through the time Kirby left) and I had great pleasure meeting him when he first moved to California. Since that time I enjoyed the friendship of Jack and Roz and was lucky enough to spend many hours with Jack, hearing how he created this character and that one, why a villain has to be even more powerful than a hero, and on and on. Jack was a great communicator, and listening to him was always an education. You might be interested to know that I tried to dedicate Masters of Universe to Jack Kirby in the closing credits, but the studio took the credit out."
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Brian Cronin, author of the "Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed" column, concludes that "the film itself was not intended to be literally a reworked Fourth World, although the intent WAS to make the film a tribute to Jack Kirby - just a tribute to ALL of his work, not just the Fourth World."[2]
Reaction
With a budget of $17 million, the movie grossed $17,336,370 in the U.S., and an additional combined $1.5 million in Germany and Australia.[3] It is referred to as a "flop" by Variety magazine,[4] and has a 13% "rotten" rating at Rotten Tomatoes.[5]
Sequels
Cannon Films intended to create a sequel, which is indicated after the end credits when it is revealed that Skeletor in fact survives his fall. The idea was abandoned when Cannon wouldn't pay for Mattel's fees and the production used the already-made costumes and sets for the improvised action movie Cyborg.
A new He-Man movie directed by John Woo was reportedly being developed, but despite many rumors circulating around the Internet regarding the film's production status and casting, the project was never officially green-lit. The film rights to He-Man have reportedly since reverted back to Mattel.[6]
As recently as fall of 2008, there was a new feature film in development entitled Grayskull: Masters of the Universe, produced by Joel Silver and written by Justin Marks. The film would reportedly employ visual effects to a large degree, as was done with 300.[4] An alleged script has been leaked.[7] Recently, the studio announced that Kung Fu Panda director John Stevenson will take on directing duties, probably with a new screenplay.[8][9]
References
- ^ Masters Cast - Episode 3 - http://masterscast.com/podcasts/masterscast_ep003.mp3
- ^ Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed #75
- ^ Box Office/Business information for the film at the Internet Movie Database.
- ^ a b "He-Man Returning to the Big Screen" superherohype.com/Variety; May 24, 2007
- ^ Masters of the Universe at Rotten Tomatoes
- ^ Clint Morris, Fox2000 no longer has the Power of Grayskull, Moviehole, November 30, 2006.
- ^ "Grayskull: Masters of the Universe Script Review "; latinoreview.com; June 2, 2008
- ^ Fleming, Michael. In august 2009 it was revealed that [[Renny Harlin] director of Die Hard 2 and Cliffhanger, would likely direct the movie sometime in 2010 at Pinewood Studios for a 2011 release."WB, Joel Silver shaping He-Man film", Variety, 29 January 2009.
- ^ "Panda director 'for He-Man movie'". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7860384.stm. Retrieved 2009-09-24.
External links
Interviews
Actors
Production
