Kothos' first appearance.

"The Witch and The Warrior" is one of the most fondly remembered episodes of the He-Man series, mainly due to the team-up of Teela and Evil-Lyn. It is also memorable as it features the first appearance of Kothos, the evil wizard that steals all of Evil-Lyn's magic. This color guide shows how the character looked upon his first appearance. However, his second appearance would differ slightly...


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Why was Mermista French?

I love it when animated shows inexplicably give their characters Earth-based accents, even though these characters hail from alien worlds! One such example is Mermista in the She-Ra series. Melendy Britt voiced numerous characters throughout the series, but for some strange reason the decision was made to have Mermista speak with a French accent! Oddly, this accent suited her character, and enhanced her few appearances in the series, and in the season two episode "The Pearl" we learn that all of Mermista's race speak with a French accent.


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Purple Weaver?

Here is an oddly colored panel from "The Stolen Smiles", a story that appeared in the very first issue of the UK Princess of Power comic. In this one panel, the only color panel that Shadow Weaver appears in, she is colored in a purple cloak with blue skin! An odd change, but an interesting one nonetheless...


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"A New Beginning" #6

Here I present the final three pages of the story that changed the life of He-Man in the UK Masters of the Universe Adventure magazine! "A New Beginning" marked the start of The New Adventures of He-Man and the magazine title was changed simply to He-Man. In this story we see how He-Man and Skeletor leave Eternia, amass their respective forces, and start their ongoing war in the Tri-Solar Galaxy! I love the action in the panels depicting the fight between He-Man and Skeletor. Also, it is worth noting that we see that He-Man's Sword of Power actually transform on the final page!


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We'll try once again...

Here is an illustration from issue sixty of the UK Masters of the Universe comic. Hordak's caption for this panel pretty much sums it up! Once more Skeletor, Hordak, and King Hiss attempt to work together in an effort to conquer Eternia. From issue fifty onwards these three villains often teamed up, with very little success. Will they succeed on this occasion? I doubt it...


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Run Mer-Man! Run!

Mer-Man made a few appearances in the Ladybird books, and often he would at some point end up running away from Skeletor. This illustration from "Castle Grayskull Under Attack!" provides me with one such example. Once again, Skeletor shakes his fists angrily in the direction of Mer-Man. Mer-Man's pose is hilarious; with his comedy run, and the look back in the direction of Skeletor...


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"A New Beginning" #5

Here I present pages seventeen to twenty of the story that changed the life of He-Man in the UK Masters of the Universe Adventure magazine! "A New Beginning" marked the start of The New Adventures of He-Man and the magazine title was changed simply to He-Man. In this story we see how He-Man and Skeletor leave Eternia, amass their respective forces, and start their ongoing war in the Tri-Solar Galaxy! Skeletor is at last sporting his new costume...


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Why did Castaspella sound so old?

Melendy Britt was a fine voice actress in the She-Ra series; most notably voicing Adora, She-Ra, and Catra perfectly. However, when it came to the role of Castaspella, something went wrong somewhere. Many of those that worked on She-Ra felt that the voice was completely out of sorts with the look of the character. And they were right! Whilst Melendy gave Castaspella a truly unique-sounding voice, it was clearly suited to a much older character. Why this particular voice was chosen to suit the character by the heads at Filmation will always puzzle me...


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Mushroom People?!

Here is an interesting piece of artwork that I doubt anyone has ever seen before. You would be forgiven for not recognizing these characters, as they were supposed to appear in the season one She-Ra episode "Into the Dark Dimension", but for some reason never did! It is a shame they never appeared, as the character designs by Harry Sabin are really quite nice to look at, with each character exuding personality!


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"A New Beginning" #4

Here I present pages thirteen to sixteen of the story that changed the life of He-Man in the UK Masters of the Universe Adventure magazine! "A New Beginning" marked the start of The New Adventures of He-Man and the magazine title was changed simply to He-Man. In this story we see how He-Man and Skeletor leave Eternia, amass their respective forces, and start their ongoing war in the Tri-Solar Galaxy! It is worth mentioning at this point that the writers use the European names for the characters rather than the much easier to digest American names!


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The colors of King Boreas.

Here is an interesting item that many people will never have seen before. As you can see this model sheet of King Boreas from "A Trip to Morainia" has been hand colored, presumably by Erv Kaplan. Erv was the director of color and would create the color schemes to most, if not all, of the characters that appeared in the He-Man and She-Ra series. He would use pencils to determine what colors worked best for each character. Once approved, he would then notify the painters what cel paints to use in order to color the characters.


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Repta model sheet.

One of the many memorable aspects of the season two He-Man episode "Origin of the Sorceress" is the fact that it features the first appearance of the Evil Horde. The three unnamed representatives of the Horde clearly sport the emblem that we would soon associate with the villains featured in the She-Ra series. Here is a model sheet featuring Repta, described in the script as having "the features of a lizard"...


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"A New Beginning" #3

Here I present pages nine to twelve of the story that changed the life of He-Man in the UK Masters of the Universe Adventure magazine! "A New Beginning" marked the start of The New Adventures of He-Man and the magazine title was changed simply to He-Man. In this story we see how He-Man and Skeletor leave Eternia, amass their respective forces, and start their ongoing war in the Tri-Solar Galaxy! Darius, who appears in this strip, is famously known as the action figure that was heavily promoted, but never actually released...


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Orko's comic strip #8

Almost every issue of the UK Masters of the Universe comic featured an Orko comic strip on the inside front cover. As this Blog continues I will try and feature all of them for your amusement. Here I present the "Orko the Magician" comic strip from issue eight. In this particular strip King Randor comes across as Orko's boss, as if the Trollan were in his place of work!


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Golden Book transformation!

Here is a striking illustration from the Masters of the Universe Golden Book "Time Trouble" by Luis Eduardo Barreto featuring Prince Adam and Cringer transforming into their other selves! I love the way in which Cringer is illustrated to look like the Filmation character model, but with a lot more expression and freedom in his pose. And Prince Adam's strong pose as he calls upon the power of Castle Grayskull is very impressive. When the Golden Book stories were turned into limited animation videos by the same company, this scene was often used to show the transformation taking place!


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"A New Beginning" #2

Here I present pages five to eight of the story that changed the life of He-Man in the UK Masters of the Universe Adventure magazine! "A New Beginning" marked the start of The New Adventures of He-Man and the magazine title was changed simply to He-Man. In this story we see how He-Man and Skeletor leave Eternia, amass their respective forces, and start their ongoing war in the Tri-Solar Galaxy! Amazingly it appears that Skeletor already knows that Prince Adam is He-Man before this story even begins, as Skeletor does not even remark on the transformation sequence!


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The castle of King Jared.

"The Crown of Knowledge" is a very unique She-Ra episode with a plot that does not feel at all like an average episode of the series. Here is a beautiful panning shot seen in the episode showing the landscape upon which King Jared's castle sits. The way in which the sky is painted from day to night is impressive, as are the harsh clouds that seem to rear up behind the castle. No points for spotting Loo-Kee though; it was always fairly easy...


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Overseer posed.

Here is a model sheet of the Overseer; a character that was only ever seen in the season one She-Ra episode "The Mines of Mondor", and whose name I revealed in a post a good few years ago! While I have never thought there is too much to write about the character, this powerful-looking model sheet pose does make me think that this character could have worked in other episodes. Oddly, I think that the color scheme they gave him in the actual episode was a little uninspiring!


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"A New Beginning" #1

Here I present the first four pages of the story that changed the life of He-Man in the UK Masters of the Universe Adventure magazine! "A New Beginning" marked the start of The New Adventures of He-Man and the magazine title was changed simply to He-Man. In this story we see how He-Man and Skeletor leave Eternia, amass their respective forces, and start their ongoing war in the Tri-Solar Galaxy! I remember the first time I picked this comic up in the shops and was shocked and saddened to see Prince Adam leave Eternia with Skeletor!


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"Droid of Destruction" #2

Here are the remaining three pages of "Droid of Destruction" a very memorable story from issue seven of the UK Masters of the Universe comic. It is worth mentioning that Prince Adam carries a rock with him so that when captured by Hordak's droid he is able to strike the Sword of Power against stone and become He-Man. I have mentioned on the Blog before how the early UK comics and UK annuals stated that striking the sword against stone was the only way in which the transformation could take place!


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Horde Prime must not be seen clearly.

In Robert Lamb's script for "Micah of Bright Moon" he specifically states to the storyboard artists that Horde Prime "must not be seen clearly". This is interesting because it implies that during production the writers and artists at Filmation were still undecided as to how to present Horde Prime to the audience. As I mentioned in a post a couple of weeks ago, Bob Forward had written a visual joke involving Horde Prime wearing Bermuda shorts in his script for "Horde Prime Takes A Holiday". I for one cannot even begin to fathom why any writer or artist would want to include Horde Prime visually in an episode, because by remaining unseen the character is far stronger, and mysterious!


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A brief review #004 - "Diamond Ray of Disappearance"

As many of you will know, in 2010 I published The unofficial cartoon guide to He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. At 300+ pages the book features 700+ pieces of trivia, 460+ deleted scenes, 360+ examples of animation reuse, 380+ quotes, 50+ abandoned episodes, and a LOT more! It is the book that NO fan of the Filmation series can live without! BUY IT NOW!

As an incentive, here is my brief review and rating (as they appear in the book) for "Diamond Ray of Disappearance"...

As the official first episode of the series Robby London manages to craft a script that advertises Mattel's product, introduces us to a cast of weird and wonderful characters that inhabit an unusual planet, and establishes the basic premise of the series; all within the space of twenty-two minutes. While the writing may be questionable at times the script manages to establish certain character traits for future story lines, most notably King Randor's disappointment in his son. The plot is incredibly simple, and yet because the pace never slows we are entertained thoroughly. As pilot episodes go, Robby London crafted one of the best. 7/10

Now, may I ask; what is YOUR rating?