WesternAnimation Part 2 - That was... something!
Just finished watching Part 2, and while it isn't terrible by any stretch of the word, I have to say that all that build-up from the end of Part 1 was completely nullified with Part 2.
Skeletor in his new God form doesn't last one episode of screen-time before being unceremoniously dethroned by Evil-Lyn, who takes one good look at the universe and goes "There is no God, only suffering and death, I must erase it all!"
Uh... Okay, I get that this is a more mature take on a children's show, but I feel like the writers are trying way too hard here, specially with the whole "I was raised in poverty, then my starving parents tried to eat me, then I had to grow up in a sewer." It feels like the writers have suddenly forgotten what universe they're writing the characters in for the sake of forced drama and it really doesn't work.
Also, there is this one line:
- Skeletor: "This is how it must be! He-Man and Skeletor locked forever into an eternal battle!"He-Man: "It's not about us!" (while Teela comes back from defeating Evil-Lyn)
Yeah, that's real subtle. I'm not in the camp of people who are utterly offended and disgusted by this show's mere existence, but can you please not insult the very audience you've alienated into watching your show?
If there's a bottom-line here, it's this: Whether you care about He-Man or not, alienating your audience isn't commendable. Telling your fans "Hey, this show is literally all about He-Man!" and then going "Ha ha, it isn't about He-Man at all! Take that, viewers!" is pretty low, even if half of the criticism is unwarranted Nostalgia Filter rage.
I wonder if I can take Sailor Moon, make Tuxedo Mask the main hero, then have Sailor Moon herself tell all the disgusted viewers that the show is not about her at all, I'm sure that would go very well.
As for the show itself... This wasn't bad, but I don't think I would consider it any more than just okay. I doubt I will be rewatching or recommending this series to anybody I know, He-Man fans or not. It's not bad, it's just... something!
WesternAnimation (Spoilers galore) Wasted potential, though an interesting Analysis on "Death of the Author"
I'm one of the 'old guard' that watched the original He-Man cartoon on TV, and I have no problems with He-Man dying or focusing side-characters. In fact, this is far from the first time I saw He-Man die (he bit the dust some times in comics)
On its own, the series is somewhat on the mediocre (As in 'medium') to just 'bad', nothing to tear yourself apart or break furniture over. Other reviews explained better that what really sinks this series is how Teela went from the 'by the book' rigorous soldier that was a good person and good friend to Adam, wanting him to be better (not knowing he was He-Man) to an insufferable egomaniac: She couldn't care less if the whole universe is slowly dying an agonizing death, or how Adam had to live with a secret his whole life till he sacrificed himself to save her, to her, they 'lied to her'. And since she is the protagonist of the show, we have to endure her tantrums.
There were good ideas that were sadly tossed aside, such as 'How would the kingdom react to the revelation of Adam being He-Man?'. Or, going with the 'no more power route', exploring his life as Adam, give him things to do that show he is smart and kind-hearted without He-Man. The twin swords were also wasted: They could have been better used instead of 'seek this mcguffin piece'.
The big problem, and the interesting part comes from the creator of this new series: Kevin Smith. For those who had the luck of missing all the drama, he promised viewers that it would be a series about He-man, making a trailer focusing on him (a pretty good one I might add) and, when caught lying, denied the fact, threw a tantrum, and blamed the viewers, telling them to 'grow the (expletive deleted) up' when reactions were bad. Not only that, he was also caught gloating how he 'killed he-man twice', and how he 'made Orko cool before killing him'. Producers were also caught saying that 'there are too many blondes' when deciding to turn King Greyskull black. I'm not bothered at the change, but they could have handled it a lot better. For example, announcing this change was to 'show that anyone, regardless of their origins, can wield the power, if their hearts are pure' as a friend said.
After hearing that, I watched the series again, and with this point of view in mind the episodes interestingly unfolded in new ways. It felt as if everything was made out of genuine spite, with characters dying not because of valiant and selfless actions, but because the author hated them, wanting shock value. And Teela being so self-absorbed because doing otherwise would mean acknowledging good deeds from He-Man.
Overall, the series would be better received if the creators were honest from the getgo and knew how to deal with their fanbase. It's like ordering a pizza, being given an hamburger, and getting yelled at because you didn't like it. Frankly, this kind of behavior needs to stop.
WesternAnimation Part 1 - Fails where She-Ra and the Princesses of Power succeeds
I would say I'm a casual fan of the Masters of the Universe franchise, I had fond memories of the 2002 reboot of He-Man, watched a few episodes of the 1983 reboot and liked them just the same along with having high praise for 2018's She-Ra and the Princesses of Power reboot that Dreamworks made.
This show much like the 2018 She-Ra reboot tried to be a deconstruction, albeit jumping on that horse much earlier, straight at the end in the first episode. While most of The Power of Grayskull wouldn't feel too out of place in an attempted sequel of the show, with Skeletor attempting to conquer Castle Greyskull, which actually was a truly epic battle that is the highlight of the show. Notice what I just said right there, that was the highlight, this fact alone does not bode well for the rest of the show.
See, the end on this confrontation basically kicks Adam out of the main character position and puts Teela in his place. Now focusing on a different character would not be too much of an issue, albeit Kevin Smith's lying that this will be a story about He-Man making it harder to swallow. But even without the lies, the consequences of the battle, one that has given the woman feelings of betrayal and grief has pushed Teela into a woman that is hard to watch. She's become a major jerk, and not an entertaining jerk, an obnoxious one that the audience has the bad luck to accept as the protagonist.
If one was to watch the She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, one might be able to draw comparisons between Teela and Catra. However, Catra is not only more entertaining to watch with her amusingly snarky and magnificently cunning personality but she fits in a better position in her show than Teela does in this one, namely, as a villain. The show makes no bones about how her misery is heavily self-inflicted and the real key to happiness would be leaving the Horde, but her grudge against her former friend Adora prevents her from realising this.
Now, there's another character that while not as obnoxious as Teela, isn't really that strong of a character either named Andra. She is supposed to be the more optimistic foil to Teela with knack at engineering and...I've basically explored most of her character already. The minute Teela ends up with more companions, she's overshadowed by characters with more interesting personalities. She feels like a lesser version of Bow from She-Ra, who has a more solid place in the cast, The Heart that keeps the glue between himself, Adora and Glimmer together despite the clashes between Adora and Glimmer.
As for the rest of the cast, with the exception of King Randor who does not appear past the first episode, they are what gives the show some redeeming quality. Seeing how both heroes and villains are affected from the fallout of the Battle for Greyskull. Unfortunately, Teela still has the spotlight, which means you have to bear her unbearable personality to get to these parts. It's a shame really...
WesternAnimation Part 1 - For what it is, I enjoyed it (SPOILERS)
Let me just start this review by saying I have never watched the original He-Man, nor its 2002 remake, nor anything else about this franchise. So, I don't really have any ill feelings towards it or think it's "destroying my childhood" or whatever.
That being said, I will criticize the producers for running off their mouths and alienating the fanbase, claiming this series was going to be "all about He-Man" or "not focused at all on Teela", both of which turn out to be flat-out lies once you watch the show proper. He-Man in this show is at best a side-character, he literally shows up just to die twice and for Teela to take over.
I don't really have anything against the producers making a show about Teela instead of He-Man, but whether you're on the side of the "haters" or the "anti-haters" of this controversy, you must agree that this show was mostly advertised on empty promises from the producers' part, which is nothing admirable.
As for the show itself, in the opinion of a newcomer who's never watched anything He-Man or Masters of the Universe related, it was greatly enjoyable. I did enjoy the character interactions, the development, the set-up and the animation. I don't really know how much service (or disservice) the show does to the classic series, but I will say, it got me hooked. There wasn't really a moment where I felt bored, which is mostly what I feel while rewatching other old cartoons of the same era.
The only problem I have with the show, ironically, is Teela herself. She comes off as a terrible protagonist. Most of her contribution to the plot is throwing tantrums and blaming everyone else, while being as much of an unhelpful jerk as she can be.
One moment that really made me lose my patience with Teela was in Episode 2, where things are so dire one of the bad guys join the heroes' side and they explain to Teela that all of the universe is on the brink of absolute extinction if they don't find a way to restore its magic, Teela's response? "But you lied to me!"
It's at this point Evil-Lyn, the bad guy of the show, seems like a more heroic protagonist, and it doesn't end there. Two episodes later, Orko dies in what I can only describe as a greatly done emotional scene that genuinely made me tear-eyed, only for Teela and her new best friend to immediately ruin it by trying to murder Evil-Lyn for, in their words, "not trying hard enough to save him."
From the little I've seen of He-Man/Prince Adam and Cringer, they look like great, charismatic characters. Admittedly, I don't know how much they're like that in the original series, but I would too be pretty mad if someone made a show advertising characters like that as the main heroes, only for them to be replaced by the travesties that are Teela and Andra.
Other than that, I would call this show a banger. Great set-up, great character development, great animation and a hell of an exciting cliffhanger. I would give it an 8 out of 10.
WesternAnimation Part 2: Better yet worse than Part 1 (Spoilers for Part 1)
It's hard to pin down if Part 2 is an improvement or deterioration compared to Part 1 as while it never gets as painful to watch as its predecessor, it feels more groanworthy.
The most noticeable improvement is Teela's personality, gone is the whiney womanchild who you'd question ever deserved the promotion "Man in Arms" and in its place is a lady who rolls with the punches and does what needs to be done. While herself Teela is more bearable, the plot's favouritism towards her is not, suddenly gaining magic powers because her mother happens to be The Sorceress. Now you can argue that Adam also is granted power as He-Man but he had to make the sacrifice of being the fool and seen lowly by his best friend and father, unlike lucky Teela.
Speaking of Adam, he is definitely the highlight of the part, having the ability to turn into He-Man taken from him along with now seeing the consequences of his death in the world of the living after the bliss of Preternia. When he was on screen, I was engaged, genuinely rooting for him to come up top! And he was not the only stellar performance either, Man-in-Arms, Queen Marlena and even King Randor showed both maturity and genuine badassery!
Unfortunately, the villains were not so lucky in characterization with Skeletor going from a fun villain on a power trip after gaining He-Man's power to a shallow He-Man obsessed loon along with Evil-Lyn's and Beastman's character arcs destroyed in the middle of the part because the plot said so, which is particularly bad in Evil-Lyn's case as she becomes the second most important character of this part.
And for more minor characters, well I feel like Part 2 feels more disrespectful than Part 1. In the first part, minor characters got time to shine and if it's their time to go out, they go out with a bang! Part 2 on the other hand, is much more interested in shock value, taking out characters unimportant to the plot in an attempt to pull heartstrings, which doesn't make angry at the villains for inflicting such fates but angry at the writers for making characters victims of cheap writing!
I will give credit the plot less confusing than Part 1's nonsensical journey but the hand of the author is too visible in Part 2. It does give some epic scenes, most noticeably in Cleaved in Twain and Comes with Everything You See Here along with the heartwarming interactions in Reason and Blood but it also makes characters prevent things even when they logically should not have the power to do so and throws away predictable but promising ideas to subvert audience expectations, so the very visible railroad of the story is a mixed blessing.
I guess the more you like Part 1, the more you'll dislike Part 2. And since I both loved and hated Part 1 at the same time, I both love and hate Part 2 at the same time!