Masters of the Universe: Revelations - Return to Eternia

When I was a child, for a few years, there were some cartoons that I watched after school most days.  He-Man and the Masters of the Universe was one of those cartoons.  I always enjoyed it, but I don’t remember a lot of things since it has been years since I’ve seen it.  I’ve also seen the live action movie several times.  I heard something about another Masters of the Universe, but I didn’t know much about it.  The first part of Masters of the Universe: Revelations was released on Netflix on July 23, 2021.

Masters of the Universe: Revelations is an animated series developed by Kevin Smith.  It is connected to the original He-Man and the Masters of the Universe cartoon and features many of the same characters.  The series is being released in two parts.  The first part has five episodes.  I’m not sure when the second part will be released or how many episodes it will have, but I will definitely watch it.    All five episodes were released at the same time and I did binge all of them at once.  Each of the five episodes was about twenty-five minutes long, give or take a few minutes.    

I am only going to briefly discuss the plot of Masters of the Universe: Revelations.  Several things happen in these five episodes and I don’t want to spoil things for people.  I really didn’t know anything specific about the plot when I watched the series.  

**Minor Plot Discussion**

While a ceremony is going for Teela receiving the mantle of Man-At-Arms, Skeletor and Evil-Lyn start an attack on Castle Grayskull. He-Man, Teela, Man-At-Arms and the rest of the Royal Guard go to deal with the situation.  Things do not go well and all of Eternia is damaged because most of the magic is lost.  Teela ends up going on a journey to ultimately try to deal with the new problems.  She is accompanied by some old friends, some new, and even an enemy or two.

**End of Minor Plot Discussion**

I had not been expecting Teela to end up the main character of  Masters of the Universe: Revelations.  I wasn’t upset by it.  I just hadn’t expected it.  I guess I just figured since He-Man had been the focus of the original cartoon that would be going on in this one too even though his name is not part of the title this time.  I’m fine with Teela being the focus of the series, or at least, of these five episodes.  It was just a little different at first.  Some people may be bothered by that.  I think it works for these episodes.  There were a few things that happened that I didn’t really like, though they did fit with the story.  Some things are resolved by the end of the fifth episode, while there are still other things to be handled in the episodes that haven’t been released yet.  I didn’t think the episodes were predictable.

It has been years and years since I last saw He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, so I really don’t remember much from it.  There are some characters that I don’t remember at all even though I’m pretty sure they were in the original cartoon.  There were some characters that I believe were new for this series.  I was still able to enjoy Masters of the Universe: Revelations.  I think people who haven’t seen the original will be able to enjoy this one.  I also think fans of it who remember more than I do will be able to enjoy it too.  Some fans of the original may not like the direction this series goes in.  There is action and violence throughout the five episodes, though it really isn’t that bad.  The series has the TV-PG rating in the United States.  A few things that happen may be upsetting to younger children.  It may be a good idea for parents to watch the series first to decide if it is ok for their children even though it is animated.  The animation is very well done by Powerhouse Animation Studios.  Dark Horse Comics is releasing a four issue miniseries comic of the same name that is a prequel to the series.  The first issue was released on July 7, 2021.

Masters of the Universe: Revelations has a really good voice cast.  Somehow I had not known ahead of time that Mark Hamill was doing the voice of Skeletor, but as soon as I heard the character, I was convinced it was him.  The voice of Teela sounded familiar to me right away, though I couldn’t figure who it was while I was watching it.  Sarah Michelle Gellar did a good job with the voice.  Evil-Lyn ends up with a decent amount to do in the episodes and Lena Headey’s voice fit the character.  I did recognize Dedrich Bader’s voice for a few characters and Dennis Haysbert.  I really didn’t recognize any of the other voices.  Chris Wood as Adam/He-Man sounded different from how I remembered, which does make sense since it is a different voice actor.  I wasn’t really bothered by that.  It was just different.  

Masters of the Universe: Revelations wasn’t exactly what I was expecting, but it was very entertaining and I think it is worth watching.  I will definitely watch the second half of the series once it is released.  I don’t know if there are any plans for another season of the series or not.