He-Men & Mooninites

There have actually been three cartoon series starring He-Man, the “most powerful man in the universe”, but the one I'm most familiar with is the original He-man and the Masters of the Universe from the ‘80s. I got a lot of life lessons from that show, and was young enough to take the morals at the end of each episode seriously. When it finally came to DVD, I grabbed the first season and found that, unlike other cartoons from my youth, it really didn't stand the test of time. In fact, with no offense meant to my friends of alternate persuasions, it was kind of “gay”. It was the story of Prince Adam, timid royalty who transformed into a masculine barbarian by holding an enchanted sword and shouting, “By the power of Grayskull! I have the power!”. Despite the fact that Adam and He-man looked exactly alike, save for the fact that Adam sported a pink shirt and softer voice while He-man wore a metal strap, furry shorts, and had reverb added to his voice, no one ever connected the two, not even his own parents! The king would often chide him for not being more of a brave warrior like his alter-ego.

Though I have fond memories of the toys and the series, I found I couldn't sit through more than a few episodes at a time. When the second season came out, I bought it, while the first season remained unfinished. When the third set came out, I saved my money. Eventually I forced myself to watch the two sets I owned, and did find some gems in the rough. It was interesting to see names like Bruce Timm and Paul Dini in the credits. I didn't pay attention to writers or artists so much when I was still in single digits, but by the ‘90s those two gentlemen became personal heroes with the advent of Batman: The Animated Series. I realized I still needed to be an innocent child to appreciate a cartoon that was neither as dark nor mature as I remembered it to be. Cartoons have come a long way from the ‘80s as well, and standalone plotlines were replaced with seasonal arcs and continuity similar to hour-long adult dramas.

Apparently, there was a show called The New Adventures of He-Man in the early ‘90s, in which our hero pursued his rival Skeletor to another world, one of far more science fiction than fantasy. I have a fuzzy memory of the opening credits, and I'm certain I never made it past them. I would sooner watch the live-action film with Dolph Lundgren.

In 2002, Cartoon Network aired a new He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. The show received a lot of good buzz and had I cable television, I probably would have watched it. A new line of highly detailed action figures were released to coincide with the show. Recently, I've been catching up with this series online and I have to say, it was a definite improvement over the original. Skeletor had a genuine origin from the start, a tyrant named Keldor who has his face burned off with acid during a fight with Adam's father. In the original series he just kind of sat around in a mountain chuckling and ordering his minions to do bad stuff. Rather than differentiate Adam by making him effeminate, he's portrayed as a teenager, with a completely different build from He-Man. When he finally gets his sword and transforms into a warrior, it's plausible that his closest friends and allies don't make the connection.

The show utilized a lot more of the characters too in each episode. I found it odd that, when shows promoting toy lines were so popular in the ‘80s, the original tended to focus on a very small core cast with sporadic appearances by the other Masters. Man-At-Arms, one of the few to know Adam's secret and a staple of the original show, had a more commanding presence and was a formidable warrior as well as a weapons designer. I'm most familiar with Gary Chalk's voice work as Optimus Primal, a heroic leader in Beast Wars, so his unmistakable tones definitely made Man-At-Arms seem like the guy in charge.

I've only seen nine episodes so far, and I've read the series was prematurely canceled in the second season, which is a shame. It was nice to see a classic concept revisited and improved upon.

Ironically, while kid's shows become more serious and mature, animated series aimed at adults have gone the opposite direction. I had never seen Aqua Teen Hunger Force, nor did a show about talking fast food really appeal to me. The show has gotten a lot of press lately though. It's creators were arrested for a “bomb scare” in Boston when they put up magnetic lighted signs depicting 8-bit video game characters from the show, the Mooninites. Later released on bail, they jokingly avoided questions at a press conference.

These are scary times, but to look at the devices, which resemble Lite Brites, could authorities have overreacted? Should the artists be more sensitive about the issue and lay off the drugs? Is it possible that the following silly cartoon cracked me up?:



At the end of the day, with no real harm done and for the cost of bail and legal expenses, these guys got a lot of free publicity for a nonsensical show that might otherwise have flown under the radar. In an age where controversy fuels publicity and Rosie O'Donnell makes a habit out of insulting and starting “feuds” with other celebrities, one has to question certain coincidences.

Aqua Teen Hunger Force is coming soon to a theater near you. Who has the power?