News He-Man anime series from Kevin Smith coming to Netflix

[Kai "the spy"]

Apparently, there's now a conspiracy theory making the rounds in MotU fandom that Mattel is trying to sabotage the brand before all rights revert to Universal in 2023. Based on how different the new show is compared to the old show, as well as its "woke agenda". Aside from the basis of it being "I didn't like it, so obviously no sane person and/or true fan could like it", there are other factors why this is just silly, and I'm happy to post another Spector Creative video to explain why it is silly:

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[Unicron]

Yeah, some of the hater stuff is pretty bizarre. While I stand by some of my complaints regarding weak points in the writing, and while some other aspects I've read about the production are a bit questionable to me, the series really isn't all that bad so far. I'm keeping an open mind for the second half. I found on the second watch some of my potential concerns weren't as problematic as I initially thought they'd be on rewatch.

 

[Skipper]

It's like "Discovery has been cancelled but it's a secret so they are producing new bogus seasons to fool us"?

 

[Mr. Adventure]

It all seems pretty disingenuous to me. What I have found from the hating on this show is that it takes that "Smith lied and it's the Teela Show" or whatever and that it seems to end there. There never seems to be any good faith effort to take that, discuss it and then say OK, so given that, was it any good? No talk about animation, design, stories, the world, easter eggs, all of the other characters and so on or anything outside of (the lack of) He-Man himself. Once they got Smith to bite in response it's like throwing chum in the water for the sharks.

 

[Christopher]

I already reposted my Tor-dot-com rant about how Filmation was always "woke," feminist, and liberal, so I might as well repost my rebuttal to the "Teela show" complaints:

Sorry, but anyone who thinks that Teela wasn’t a coequal lead in the original show needs to rewatch it, if they ever even saw it. She got plenty of episodes centering on her, and she was always portrayed as He-Man’s closest, most important ally and friend. She was a badass action heroine in her own right, able to hold her own alongside He-Man without needing Fabulous Secret Powers to do it. So she has as every bit as much right to be centered in a Masters of the Universe story as Adam/He-Man does. Those so-called “fans” might as well complain that The Hound of the Baskervilles has too much Watson in it, or that “The Tholian Web” has too much Spock and McCoy in it.

And it’s naive to assume that a character has to be physically present to be important. Harry Lime is only in a few scenes of The Third Man, but his influence dominates the entire film and drives everything the characters do. Similarly, even though Adam/He-Man is not physically present in episodes 2-4 outside of flashbacks, a lot of the story is driven by his legacy, by what his loss means to the other characters, by how his memory motivates them moving forward. It’s still a story about him even without him being there.

 

[Paul Weaver]

Downnsides for me
- no 80s music
- no skeletor laugh
- animation not repetitive enough to really take me back to the 80s
- framerate low
- no date for the continuation

Not sure I could make a "this sucks" video out of that.

 

[Pauln6]

I already reposted my Tor-dot-com rant about how Filmation was always "woke," feminist, and liberal, so I might as well repost my rebuttal to the "Teela show" complaints:

Sorry, but anyone who thinks that Teela wasn’t a coequal lead in the original show needs to rewatch it, if they ever even saw it. She got plenty of episodes centering on her, and she was always portrayed as He-Man’s closest, most important ally and friend. She was a badass action heroine in her own right, able to hold her own alongside He-Man without needing Fabulous Secret Powers to do it. So she has as every bit as much right to be centered in a Masters of the Universe story as Adam/He-Man does. Those so-called “fans” might as well complain that The Hound of the Baskervilles has too much Watson in it, or that “The Tholian Web” has too much Spock and McCoy in it.

And it’s naive to assume that a character has to be physically present to be important. Harry Lime is only in a few scenes of The Third Man, but his influence dominates the entire film and drives everything the characters do. Similarly, even though Adam/He-Man is not physically present in episodes 2-4 outside of flashbacks, a lot of the story is driven by his legacy, by what his loss means to the other characters, by how his memory motivates them moving forward. It’s still a story about him even without him being there.

I'm fairly sure that when Smith said the show was about He-Man, he meant the legacy of He-Man and the haters have, in their own minds, not been able to process how that works. Misdirection is used in the show to try and keep it fresh but that concept seems to be offensive to them.

Tbh I am pleased he moved the timeline forward. It would be nice if someone would take the legacy and finish the story!

 

[Josh Kelton]

It's not like it's misleading to not have He-Man heavily featured in every episode, since it is titled "Masters of the Universe", rather than "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe"

 

[Pauln6]

It's not like it's misleading to not have He-Man heavily featured in every episode, since it is titled "Masters of the Universe", rather than "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe"

If I am honest, I would have liked to see a bit more of the second tier Masters beyond the brief cameo at the start. With 5 episodes to go, maybe they will do a Magnificent Seven and gather them up.

 

[Skipper]

Remind me: in the classic series, why the Sorceress couldn't tell Teela she was her daughter?

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Downnsides for me
- framerate low.

I watched some of the 2002 series after this and the animation there was pretty rough in comparison.

Remind me: in the classic series, why the Sorceress couldn't tell Teela she was her daughter?

According to wiki:
When Teela was an infant, the Sorceress gave her to Duncan (Man-At-Arms), to raise as his own, because the Sorceress felt that Castle Grayskull was too dangerous a place for her daughter to be raised. EDIT: I guess that doesn't explain why she couldn't tell her...

 

[Josh Kelton]

Just that she's not allowed to know for her own safety
https://he-man.fandom.com/wiki/Teela's_Quest

 

[Mr. Adventure]

I watched the very end of Teela's Quest and the sorceress says she needs to be able to fill her own destiny before one day assuming the mantle of sorceress herself.

 

[Josh Kelton]

Teela briefly gets to be sorceress in the episode "Teela's_Triumph", although the Spirit of Grayskull doesn't tell her specifically why she needs to take on the role.
https://he-man.fandom.com/wiki/Teela's_Triumph

 

[Josh Kelton]

The Sorceress might simply just want to get out of paying child support by not formally acknowledging that she's Teela's mother.

 

[Skipper]

Just that she's not allowed to know for her own safety
https://he-man.fandom.com/wiki/Teela's_Quest

...how so?

 

[Christopher]

...how so?

Perhaps she hasn't matured into her full power yet and she'd be in danger if anyone knew of her power and wanted to exploit it, or to kill her off before she achieved her full abilities?

 

[Pauln6]

I watched the very end of Teela's Quest and the sorceress says she needs to be able to fill her own destiny before one day assuming the mantle of sorceress herself.

So it may be that she doesn't want to force her to take on the mantle out of obligation but rather to choose it willingly.

 

[Skipper]

Perhaps she hasn't matured into her full power yet and she'd be in danger if anyone knew of her power and wanted to exploit it, or to kill her off before she achieved her full abilities?

It's a good guess. I wish they had said that explicitly in the show as well, instead of using the word "destiny" as an excuse. It seems to me that "destiny" is the favorite word of writers when they have to justify incomprehensible behavior on the part of the characters. "I'm so sorry to be forced to do this, but it's your destiny!"

 

[Mach5]

In the 2002 show Man at Arms basically calls the Sorceress out for being a bad mother. Getting her out of Grayskull for her safety is one thing, but being completely absent from her life is another thing entirely. And since Teela is a soldier who battles Snake-Mountaneers almost on daily basis anyway, the safety argument is a bit wonky as well.

At the end of Episode 10 Teela finally learns about her parentage, boards a space ship and leaves Eternia for good.

People who keep complaining about Teela behaving like an entitled egomaniac (and that's a lot of people) can't seem to get it. Her whole reality shattered when she found out that the people closest to her have been playing her for a fool her whole life.