Tuesday, September 2, 2008

He-Man And The Masters Of The Universe: Volume Three


If you were a kid in the eighties and you had any taste at all you will love He-Man (unless of course you're a whinging bitch like Aaron who is going to bang on about how it didn't have an overall story arc and blah, blah, blah). Big deal Az!!! He was He-Man!!! He rocked! Skeletor was the best villain ever! You learnt a moral at the end of each episode and that's why we are such great people today. Oh yes, everything we do right, Generation X owes to He-Man.

The cool thing about the 2002 version of He-Man was that it took everything that was great about the original series and turned it into something that would appeal to a modern audience, whose sensibilities did actually include vague story arcs and the like. In some ways this was almost targeted more at the fans than at the kids who were going to buy the toys again. Hopefully that's not the reason the thing was cancelled.

This box set covers the last thirteen episodes and, indeed, all there is of season two. At the end of the last season, Adam had lost his power sword and was having to defend Grayskull by himself, while Skeletor, who had let his soldiers get captured, had formed a new new council of evil to attack Grayskull. When his own soldiers turned up to help attack it looked very grim for Adam indeed.

Naturally Adam manages to escape this situation, find his power sword and defeat Skeletor, which is what we all expected, but it's mostly thanks to his friends, and most notably of them, MossMan! How cool to see him back again. This season introduces us to a whole new range of characters. Zodac returns and actually does something, while Fisto is introduced into the series. As of episode three, the title changes to Masters Of The Universe Vs The Snake-Men after Evil-Lyn helps Kobra Kahn and Rattlor free King Hsss and his snake men army. We discover they existed a long time ago and even battled King Grayskull, the man whose power Adam calls on to become He-Man. So, along with King Hsss, Tung Lashor, Sssqueeze and Snake Face, we also get glimpses of Hordak, Mantanna, Leech and Grizzlor as they are being set up to become the big bad villains for season three.

Which sadly never came around.

And it is sad, because, quite frankly, Season Two of the 2002 He-Man is bloody great. It rollicks along, providing us with some great stories, some wonderful fan moments showing us Eternia's past, and a story arc for King Hsss as he tries to take over Eternia, knowing that Hordak is just itching to be released from his prison.

I have no idea why this series was cancelled, and whoever chose to do it should be bloody shot for it.

"A"

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