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

[Christopher]

I've seen some of the 2000's show and liked it for the most part, but I've never finished it. It's on Prime Video, so I might give it a shot.

Yeah, the 2002 remake wasn't bad -- certainly a lot better than the 1990 New Adventures, which purported to be a sequel to the original but wasn't from Filmation (which was defunct by then) and bore little resemblance.

I guess that's how it has to be with Netflix these days. Write every finale like you won't get another season.

Heck, that's how Joss Whedon wrote most of his TV shows back in the '90s-'00s. People say "these days," but there's nothing remotely new about it -- ever since the dawn of TV (and no doubt radio before that), putting a show on the air has always been a gamble where cancellation was more likely than renewal. The TV landscape has always been littered with shows that were cancelled after a season or less, but we don't remember them as well as we remember the minority of long-running hits, creating the false impression that long runs are normal.

I grew up in an era when SF/fantasy shows rarely made it to three seasons and hardly ever surpassed five, and I had to see countless shows I enjoyed get axed after half a season, or sometimes as few as three episodes. At least modern streaming shows are guaranteed to get their full seasons released.

 

[Kai "the spy"]

Star Trek didn't do season finale cliffhangers until Best of Both Worlds, and from what I've heard (being to young to have experienced it), it was a huge gamble, and a lot of fans didn't like it. More fans loved it, which is why they became the norm.

But back to MotU, Kevin Smith talked a lot about the BTS of Revolution, why it had less episodes than Revelations and things like that, in the most recent episode of Fatman Beyond:

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[Set Harth]

It did kind of suck a little to have to wait until the next season to get the resolution.

 

[Unicron]

I liked the new season a lot. Its a bit more cramped story wise compared the the first part of the first season, but it was still fun and had some twists that I didn't expect. The very final twist

Spoiler: MotU Revolution Episode 5 spoilers

Hinting at Despara is really interesting, although if its just a tease and its some random character using the identity it will be a bit of a disappointment. Hopefully they worked out something with Dreamworks or whoever owns She-Ra to allow Despara to be a version of Adora, especially since we see her kidnapping in a flashback in this half of the season.

Yeah, I agree that having only five episodes means having to cram a lot of stuff in, but I felt like the writing quality of Revolution was a bit stronger overall than some of the writing problems in Revelations (and there are certainly a few noticable plot conveniences, but it's more understandable in such a limited format. ). Overall, I really enjoyed how they picked up the character development that Revelations started and went in some very interesting directions. I'm curious if Netflix is considering a future sequel, to maybe pick up using the Horde again (for purposes of introducing Despara/She-Ra, partly) and whether such a sequel will continue Lynn's evolution.

 

[kirk55555]

Yeah, I agree that having only five episodes means having to cram a lot of stuff in, but I felt like the writing quality of Revolution was a bit stronger overall than some of the writing problems in Revelations (and there are certainly a few noticable plot conveniences, but it's more understandable in such a limited format. ). Overall, I really enjoyed how they picked up the character development that Revelations started and went in some very interesting directions. I'm curious if Netflix is considering a future sequel, to maybe pick up using the Horde again (for purposes of introducing Despara/She-Ra, partly) and whether such a sequel will continue Lynn's evolution.

I watched Kevin Smith's latest Fatman beyond video podcast thing on youtube (I'm subscribed to his youtube channel) and he basically said that he's open for more and that they obviously teased things for another season, but that its down to Netflix, who apparently need three months of viewing data before deciding on a sequel (at least for He-Man, things might be different for live action shows/etc). If the data looks good they'll probably green light another season and writing/etc can begin. But even then things start slowly, because the team behind the show actually breaks up after production of a season ends and the animation house gets other jobs, which is why it takes a decent amount of time between seasons even if the decision to continue only takes a few months.

So it seems like Netflix is open to it, depending on what their algorithm says. It was their algorithm that actually lead to season 2 only having 5 episodes, they said the data made a shorter season make more sense and Smith thinks that it ended up being right. Also, the show has the advantage of their Netflix executive/point of contact being a fan of He-Man, and the guy on the IP owners side really knowing the property and liking what they've been doing, so it really feels like a third season is very likely if the viewing numbers make sense to Netflix, which Smith seemed cautiously optimistic about based on how people were reacting to the show (apparently he's getting a lot more praise and a lot less abuse even from the more obnoxious parts of the internet this time around, which is nice to hear).

Basically Smith isn't guaranteeing another season, but he seems more then willing to do it and it really looks like its down to the numbers, unless Netflix has some weird shake ups, I guess.

 

[Gryffindorian]

I just finished streaming Revolution on Netflix, and it was the best animated incarnation of He-Man since the original series aired in the 1980s.

* The casting of talented voice actors was superb, and each of them brought so much life to their MotU character. I totally geeked out when I heard their iconic voices: Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden), James T. Kirk (William Shatner), Q (John de Lancie), Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey), The Joker/Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), Supergirl (Melissa Benoist, and Mon El (Chris Wood as the titular He-Man, Prince Adam).
* Gwildor, a character from the live-action 1980s MotU film, was a nice addition as the locksmith and inventor who helped make enhancements to He-Man's power sword.
* Seeing Hordak and the Horde felt like I was watching the classic She-Ra: Princess of Power again, sans the hero herself. I wonder after the end scene if we'll see She-ra in a future installment of this series.

Splendid!

 

[Christopher]

Just finished this. It was fairly good, though very fanservicey, what with giving Shatner's character a Kirk line ("I'm laughing at the superior intellect"), bringing in Gwildor, etc. Interesting how Duncan said he and He-Man met Gwildor back when they traveled the universe together -- it feels like an attempt to graft the movie into the animated continuity, or rather, to define this universe's past as including approximate versions of both. And of course there was the in-joke reference that Gwildor was a lot like Orko, since he was created as a substitute for Orko.

I assume most of the new costumes, armor, vehicles, etc. were based on things from the toy line, and they even incorporated the original Teela action figure's snake armor into the story. But was He-Man's new look in the finale based on anything? I thought it might be from the 1990 New Adventures series, but it wasn't anything like that version, or like Dolph Lundgren's movie look. Did they actually go for innovation rather than imitation?

Is this the first time William Shatner and Mark Hamill have played the same character?