Oct 15, 2010

New Adventures of He-Man

The New Adventures of He-Man. Normally known as the red-headed stepchild, or the Cousin Oliver of MOTU lore.

This is a fan made video using NA footage.

Why is NA so hated? Why did I hate NA? Those are a few interesting questions.

MOTU died for the first time in 1987. (Post He-Dolph...) Oversaturation of Product, lack of new Filmation MOTU episodes, and other stuff helped kill the line for the first time. Two years later Mattel had a ballsy idea. Taking HE-Man and Skeletor out of Eternia and placing them in a brand new world with new allies and enemies. This world was more Sci-fi than Swords and Sorcery. The toys were smaller, thinner and did not look like the beefy stocky MOTU toys of ancient times (two years before NA).

THAT was the cause of fan alienation (and hatred). For years I've ignored The New Adventures until recently. Thanks to He-Man.org (Best MOTU site EVER...) I had an opportunity to read a bit of info about New Adventures written by none other than one of the minds behind the New Adventures Cartoon: Jack Olesker. (He wrote about 37 of the 65 NA Episodes, so he surely had a lot to do with it.)

Then came MOTUC Optikk... An awesome figure on its own right, even if it was a MOTUC Trap Jaw with a new crotch, head, and Armor. NA is here to stay, just like PoP and 200X.

I HAD to give NA a chance. I received access to a copy of NA Volume I, so I began watching.

I will not do an episode by episode review, because it's too much info to process.

The Good:
-He-Man is not Superman: Here He-Man has to struggle while battling his enemies. (Finally, no mega punches or tossing everyone across the planet for an easy win.)
-Continuity: The episodes HAVE to be seen in order unlike Filmation's MOTU.
-Skeletor is downright insane! He's no longer tethered to take over Eternia or Graskull. He's got only one thing in mind... He-Man. He's ready to kill an entire planet just to get at He-Man. Also he plays Flogg and the mutants like a violin. Skeletor is more devious, manipulative... Kinda reminds me of James Woods in Hercules... but more Skeletor like.

The Bad:
-Skeletor's Eyes and Badger Teeth. The eyes change from white to red in a few episodes, but the Teeth... Man! Those teeth are so huge!
-Flogg is Dumb as bricks: I despise Dumb Villain leaders, but it seems that Floggy is getting Smarter.
-The whole Primus Shield thing: That shield keeps breaking down so often AND the mutants get in so easily. I'm starting to wonder: "Why bother using the old people powered shield if it breaks down so often?"

The Ugly:
-The Scientists! Oh The Scientists! someone please, get rid of them! (or at least their annoying voices.

Now does it suck, is it good, or am I just wasting time?
It's actually a decent show. Kinda wish that I would've given it a chance before. There's a few things that bother me, but I can understand why they're there. It's a shame that the second Season of NA never happened... Why? 3 Words:

Evil... Man-at-Arms
Ok that's 4 words... or two if Man-at-Arms is counted as one word hyphenated.

Basically Duncan takes over Eternia, and HE-man must return to fix it. But we'll never see this.

The Show is a tad less corny than Filmation, enjoyable, and a lot better than I expected.
I definitely have become a New Adventures fan... It sucks that my favorite NA characters will not Make it as MOTUC figs: Drissi, Crita, Mara and Master Sebrian...

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