The mysterious, caped, blue-skinned dude!

Sometimes background cast members in the He-Man and She-Ra series would be very straightforward in design, often based on stock designs. I think it's fair to say that we lost count of how many times Mallek's character design from "Wizard of Stone Mountain" reappeared in a crowd shot! "To Save the Creatures" is an appalling story, and yet one of the only good things about this season two He-Man episode (aside from the Chef Allen cameo) is that there are quite a few new character designs on display. Some of them are pretty cool, whilst others are just plain weird! This image below features two of the never-before-seen character designs. Now I don't care too much for the odd creature in the foreground of the shot, but who is the mysterious, caped, blue-skinned dude in the background?! Names anyone?


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Pony!

In The New Adventures of He-Man episode "The Running of the Herd" the Mutants invade Sagitar's home planet in full force. When one of the centaur-like warriors reports the invasion Skeletor appears on his communication device and comically makes reference to another of the big toylines of the eighties!

For your listening pleasure, My Little...

Squash and Stretch Evil Warriors...

Richard Trueblood had a lot of fun when directing "The Games" for He-Man's season two (especially with the character Spikor). This first becomes apparent in the opening scene at Snake Mountain when Skeletor introduces his latest invention to the assembled Evil Warriors. Rather unconventionally for the He-Man series their faces squash and stretch very amusingly leading to a memorable few images from the episode where the visuals were more impressive than the story!


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Peephole Mutants!

Ever wondered what the Mutants from The New Adventures of He-Man would look like through a peephole? Didn't think so! But in any case the Public Service Announcement at the end of "The Bride of Slushhead" features two of the scientists, Alcon and Gepple, informing viewers never to open the door unless they know who is on the other side.


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Too much!

A hilarious, laugh-infectious scene occurs in The New Adventures of He-Man episode "The Sheriff of Gorn City." Flogg, as always under the unsaid command of Skeletor, is pretending to be an ally to Flipshot, the Galactic Guardian who has just been made the new Sheriff of Gorn City. As Flipshot communicates with the Mutants over a monitor screen Skeletor, in hiding, stifles his laughter as Flogg tries his best to act the ally and hold back his own laughter! When the communication ends both Skeletor and Flogg break down...

For your listening pleasure, Flogg and Skeletor in hysterics!

Sunset on Eternia.

Here I've assembled a nice panning shot from "The Problem With Power" with He-Man carrying the slightly delicate Teela into the sunset in one of the most memorable endings to an episode. The interesting thing to see with the background is how it is painted at the far right to look like a generic sky panning shot, only to have the brush strokes altered quite noticeably to mark the beginning of the sunset. A truly beautiful image from the artists at Filmation.


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The greatest story never told...

As development was well underway on the She-Ra series J. Michael Straczynski decided to start creating synopses of the episodes in production. The interesting things about these synopses is that some are different in plot than the final animated episodes, and some have minor differences, such as location changes or character changes. More importantly some of these episodes were never actually made! One of the most notable is "The Heart of Dark Hope." It's not that hard to comprehend why an episode where She-Ra, He-Man AND the Sorceress team-up to save Light Hope (Dark Hope) would be a classic! Read for yourself!


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Nah!

In The New Adventures of He-Man episode "Mutiny on the Mothership" the Galactic Guardians and the Mutants are forced to work together to free their ships which have become entangled. As Flipshot muses over a day he thought he'd never see He-Man contemplates that maybe this will be the beginning of a new bond between the people of Primus and the Mutants...

For your listening pleasure, He-Man contemplates...

Posed like Prince Adam...

The 1987 Masters of the Universe annual was interesting in that it was the first annual to reference the Filmation cartoon visually, as the artists had referred to early conceptual artwork and the toyline before. This image from "The Diamond Sword of Goman" is a perfect example as we can see Skeletor and Beast Man in their classic model sheet poses. But what is more interesting about this image is Tri-Klops. Instead of being in his model sheet pose, he is actually posed like Prince Adam with his hand clutching his belt!


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Spikor poses: The Revenge!

I addressed some of Spikor's poses from "The Games" back in the Spikor poses! Blog entry...Well here's some more from the same episode! Not only does Spikor sound stupid, but he acts immature and childish. One of the funniest scenes in this episode occurs near the end as Spikor confronts He-Man. Spikor begins a small announcement in his unusual fragmented way striking pose after pose as he declares his imminent victory. Richard Trueblood was obviously having a lot of fun with this character!






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Stratos on Etheria?

Robert Lamb came up with numerous story ideas during his time working on She-Ra. One of many which unfortunately never saw the light of day was an untitled story that would've seen Stratos together with She-Ra, He-Man and Orko take on Vultak! One can only begin to imagine how much fun it would've been to see Stratos, who only made three appearances in He-Man's season two, show up in She-Ra in a prominent role. Read for yourself!


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Imperfect Evil Warriors...

In the opening story of the first issue of the UK Masters of the Universe comic we are treated to the origins of Eternia, and introduced to the three main groups, the Heroic Warriors, the Evil Warriors and the Evil Horde. These images were somewhat odd in places, none so more than the Evil Warriors image. Incorporating an assortment of styles the artist also mixed up the characters; Clawful has hands, and even more startling Kobra Khan has somehow acquired Trap Jaw's robotic arm!


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Your feet?!

For sixty-four episodes of The New Adventures of He-Man series Skeletor maintained the illusion that he worked under the leadership of Flogg, even though both he and Flogg knew who was in charge! In this clip from the episode "Collision Course" Skeletor overjoyed with receiving the plans for a Gravity Generator proclaims that He-Man and all of Primus will be cowering at his feet, upsetting Flogg and the omission of his own feet!

For your listening pleasure, Your feet?!


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Okay?

What prompts Flogg in "The Heat" to have the most wide-eyed look of uncertainty in the entire series of The New Adventures of He-Man?



For your listening pleasure, Skeletor explaining what they won't do upon first arriving on Primus!

"Let's humor him!"

Can't wait to hear the Fan Commentaries for the UK He-Man and the Masters of the Universe DVDs featuring Dave "Dagar" Newman and I, the mighty Busta Toons? What do you mean YES?! :( - Well here I present a nice little teaser of us two Brits waxing lyrical on "Keeper of the Ancient Ruins."

For your listening pleasure (?), "Let's humor him!"

A thrilling, new dimension!

The fortnightly UK Masters of the Universe comic had unfortunately been cancelled with issue seventy-two, but had lived on in the monthly Masters of the Universe Adventure comic! For a few issues the Adventure comic had hinted that something big was on its way with regards to the lives of He-Man and Skeletor, and on the back cover of issue eighteen we finally saw the monumental change that was about to occur; the comic would now focus on The New Adventures of He-Man!


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Scorpia's UK cameo...Jukka style!

Regular visitor and longtime He-Man and She-Ra community member Jukka Issakainen colored this earlier Blog entry image of Scorpia striking He-Man through a wall from the UK Masters of the Universe comic! You have to see this to believe it - It's outrageously awesome!


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50th Blog Entry! :)

It seems odd, but already here we are with the landmark 50th Blog Entry! :) - I'm hoping that all you who come to visit on a near-daily basis enjoy have enjoyed this Blog thus far, and maybe at times have learnt something new about the He-Man and She-Ra! A big THANK YOU to those who have posted comments, and to those who have yet to post comments, BRING IT ON! :)

So let's take a quick glance over the previous forty-nine posts...

01 - Welcome...
02 - Snoopy and a Smurf?
03 - Mer-Man = Drama?
04 - Witnesses!
05 - Emiliano's Princess of 1999!
06 - Orko's refreshingly original spell!
07 - Deciphering Orko's spell...
08 - Road Rage!
09 - He-Man rides into battle...
10 - Cat got your tongue?
11 - How does a lion find...
12 - The evil warlord from ancient times.
13 - Road Rage (again)!
14 - She-Wha?!
15 - Santalucia's Blog!
16 - Even when I'm right, I'm wrong!
17 - Horde Prime?
18 - Scorpia's UK cameo...
19 - August 28th 1986! :)
20 - This is most unsettling.
21 - Anime Glimmer!
22 - The cowardly cat's point of view.
23 - He knows what to do!
24 - Teela...in pink?
25 - Snake Mountain: Explained!
26 - Poisonous?
27 - What was Faker?
28 - Faker "corrected" model sheet!
29 - Man-E-Faces: Unmasked!
30 - The Sorceress?!
31 - Happy Valentine's Day! :)
32 - Evil Robotic He-Man Imposter!
33 - Panthor's armor?
34 - Evil Robotic He-Man Imposter (again)!
35 - Jukka and Mike Bock take on Faker!
36 - 21 years ago to this very day...
37 - Icer's "roar."
38 - The Sword of Power?
39 - The other side of the mountain...
40 - Spikor poses!
41 - Yeeowww!
42 - This kitten has claws...
43 - Thick-Skull!
44 - Seven, Eight, Nine...
45 - Evil-Lyn's origins...
46 - Hourglass Guardian.
47 - Light Spinner?
48 - Dark Hope?
49 - Commentary Time!

Commentary Time!

Yesterday Dave "Dagar" Newman and I had the pleasure of performing the Fan Commentaries for the UK He-Man and the Masters of the Universe DVDs Volumes 7, 8 AND 9! Can you guess what episodes we chose to wax lyrical on? Just kidding, I'm not going to be that conceited! Here's the six episodes we chose:

Volume Seven
MU040 - "House of Shokoti" Part 1
MU041 - "House of Shokoti" Part 2

Volume Eight
MU047 - "Keeper of the Ancient Ruins"
MU050 - "Temple of The Sun"

Volume Nine
MU054 - "Game Plan"
MU059 - "The Witch and The Warrior"

If I can I'll post an audio clip from one of the above episodes in the next few days!

Dark Hope?

In the earliest developmental work on the She-Ra series the guardian of the Crystal Castle, Light Hope, had a less aspiring name, Dark Hope! Described as a "very mysterious being" and appearing only as "a pair of baleful red eyes, floating in a corridor of infinite darkness", it is understandable why they later decided to make the character more colorful and appealing. However Dark Hope was still referred to as such when the scripts were being written, and it appears to have been a change at the eleventh hour.

Light Spinner?

In issue twenty-three of the UK Masters of the Universe comic The Secret Files of Scrollos revealed a fascinating origin for a Princess of Power cast member! It is told that Shadow Weaver was once a young sorceress called Light Spinner (get it?), who was taught the "evil ways of the dark force" by Hordak! I like this origin, albeit rather brief, for Shadow Weaver, because it makes mention of Hordak's magical skills, something he would vigorously turn his back on in favor of Horde science.


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Hourglass Guardian.

The Sorceress as we know was the guardian of Castle Grayskull and one of the most powerful characters in the He-Man series. However the show did not often focus on her amazing figure, a figure she somehow maintained even though she was confined to the castle in her human form, and didn't appear to get much exercise! Filmation women were often inevitable very shapely, and this shot in "Daimar the Demon" shows just how the Sorceress sported a pretty accurate hourglass figure! :)


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Evil-Lyn's origins...

Now character origins are always very much up in the air depending on the writer and the canon. In issue twenty-two of the UK Masters of the Universe comic The Secret Files of Scrollos tells us that Evil-Lyn was once a young woman who possessed magical powers, surprisingly serving King Randor and Queen Marlena in the royal household! Scrollos then tells us that upon learning of Skeletor's presence on Eternia the young woman used her magical powers to transform herself into Evil-Lyn and asked to join Skeletor's army. Personally I prefer this origin for Evil-Lyn more than the often-mentioned co-pilot aboard Queen Marlena's ship...


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Seven, Eight, Nine...

Hold onto your hats true believers...

UK He-Man and the Masters of the Universe DVDs Volumes 7, 8 AND 9 are going to be released by the Contender Entertainment Group in the forthcoming months! :)

Volume 7 will be as it was advertised back in 2004, with the two big extra features that I spent a month working on and of course Fan Commentaries - Volumes 8 and 9 will contain the episodes to wrap up season one, and will possibly contain more commentaries...

I'm taking care of business (I ain't got much choice, as I work for the DVD authoring house), so consider these DVDs in safe hands! :)

It's odd; as I type this I'm working on the UK DVDs AND the US DVDs...

Thick-Skull!

UK cult hero, and star of his own animated series, Bananaman appeared in a comic titled Dandy as one of a handful of characters. The comic was harmless fun that never took itself seriously, and the Bananaman strip was no exception! In this panel from issue two thousand four hunderd and twenty-three we can see that writer/artist John Geering was slightly influenced by He-Man! :)


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