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Daily Archives: 03/09/2015

We Have the Power: A Masters of the Universe/Princess of Power Memoir #3

Posted on 03/09/2015 by RA Stone
6

motupoptitle

Last time, I shared about my introduction to He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. I’d like to expand on that a little today and talk about some of the ways that He-Man was influential and the impact that the show had in a wider scope.

I’ve heard it described as a “generic rip-off of everything from Conan to the Jetsons,” but it’s a lot more than that, if you consider the time it was being written. It may have been conceived as a half-hour toy ads, but it became a cultural phenomenon.  It was innovative for its time , and it changed the way that children’s television is produced and marketed.

The planet Eternia featured a mix of fantasy/magic and science fiction elements.  The show also frequently relied on classical mythology. Genre-bending and mixing mythological influences is trendy now, but in 1983, it was pretty unusual, especially on television.

Hanna-Barbera did it a little bit with The Herculoids, but that cartoon was a series of short segments that ran together with other stories.  Technology was usually the province of one-off villains who appeared and were roundly defeated by Zandor and the Herculoids.

There were some superhero cartoons set in the modern world where the characters had quasi-magical abilities, but “magic” wasn’t common, and there was usually a dichotomy between magic users and the rest of the world. That’s actually still true most of the time.  He-Man was the first time science and magic were incorporated equally into the setting of a children’s show and utilized by the heroes.

Of course, there was Star Wars, which popularized mythic storytelling and translated a lot of common fantasy tropes a futuristic setting on the big screen.  Star Wars dances a lot more closely with “science fantasy” than “science fiction.”

For television audiences, though, there was really nothing like He-Man. It caught my imagination in a way similar to Dune, but with the addition of magic and constant presence.

Yep, I'm cheating.  The character designs are from MYP's MOTU 2002, but I'm a sucker for the love story between Randor and Marlena.  This piece is by Jazzylh.  Click the image to visit the DA gallery.

Yep, I’m cheating. The character designs are from MYP’s MOTU 2002, but I’m a sucker for the love story between Randor and Marlena. This piece is by Jazzylh. Click the image to visit the DA gallery.

Which brings up another first. He-Man was the first time that an animated television program ran 5 days a week. That was a big deal to a lot of kids, and it certainly became a big deal with its impact on modern television for children. Before that, most cartoons ran in segments of about fifteen minutes and different “episodes”/characters were mashed together for a half-hour slot.  Think Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry. Those shows have their origins in an era when cartoons were run in movie theaters before the main feature.

He-man was a lot more influential in its time than it ever receives credit for today. If it hadn’t been successful, popular 90s shows like Gargoyles and Batman: The Animated Series would never have been attempted.  My Little Pony is a Hasbro product, but I doubt that Friendship Is Magic would be on the air if Mattel hadn’t made its first big television/ toy-tie in such a success with He-Man.

Usually, He-Man and She-Ra are just mocked for bad production values, 80s-brand cheesyness, etc.

I can acknowledge those things and laugh at them, but I won’t dismiss He-Man as “just a cheesy toy ad.”

I mentioned last time that I’d be sharing a personal story today too, but I’ve been on my soapbox too long.  I’m gonna get down now and save that for another time! 😉

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Posted in Bylines, Masters of the Universe, Rose B Fischer, T.V. | Tagged art, cartoons, Entertainment, He-Man, Masters of the Universe, MOTU-POP Memoir, She-Ra, the 80s | 6 Replies

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