There’s plenty of fantasy, sci-fi and action elements to be found in this animated sequel series – here’s our Masters Of The Universe: Revolution review.
Back in 2021, Netflix teamed up with director Kevin Smith to reboot the beloved 1980s cartoon He-Man And The Masters Of The Universe. The result: Masters Of The Universe: Revelation. For a reboot, it made some extremely bold choices. Proclaimed fans of the original He-Man show didn’t exactly react well to them.
Firstly, Smith’s series killed off both its titular hero and Skeletor, one of the most recognisable villains in cartoon history. The other choice that seemed to rile up viewers – and this is rather unfortunate, yet depressingly predictable – was making the show’s new lead a woman.
After all the ruckus, the series’ second part seemed to right the perceived wrongs of the first, reinstating He-Man and Skeletor as main characters while maintaining important roles for new characters, too. Now Kevin Smith returns as Executive Producer and Writer on a follow-up series, subtitled Revolution. I’m sure the fact that it shares all but two vowels with the last show’s name won’t cause any confusion at all.
Picking up where Revelation left off, Teela (Melissa Benoist) and Prince Adam (Chris Wood) are both struggling to follow in their parents’ footsteps, with Adam needing to learn how to lead and Teela settling into her role as the new sorceress of the Castle Grayskull. There’s also a new threat on the horizon as Skeletor (voiced impeccably, once again, by the great Mark Hamill) returns in cyborg form. Previously a user of magic, his power has been enhanced by the robotic hive mind called The Motherboard and now he plans world domination.
Across five colourful episodes, they each undertake their own journey. Adam must face-off against Skeletor. Teela goes on a journey to broaden her magical powers so she can restore Preternia, the series’ version of heaven, where the souls of fallen champions go. It’s a lot of plot to fit into five short episodes, and yet Masters Of The Universe: Revolution gets through it all at an incredible pace.
That pacing isn’t always consistent, and Teela’s arc suffers for it. Her story is less action-packed and contains more exposition that’s given away in clunky dialogue. It also doesn’t help that she’s a more serious character than Adam, and less prone to the cheesy one liners that we expect from a Masters Of The Universe show. Revolution as a whole isn’t quite as cheesy as it could be; at times it seems like it should lean into the silliness a bit more. There are, however, plenty of one liners delivered by Adam and Skeletor – although it does take three episodes for him to say ‘boob’.
This series seems to be surprisingly focused on Skeletor, with the character getting some unexpected backstory and development. The question is though: does Skeletor need development? He’s Skeletor. He’s evil. He has an amazing voice with which to say ‘boob’. Does he need to be more complex than that? I’d argue not, and while some of the twists to his tale are entirely unexpected, they’re not exactly needed, either.
While not all the elements of Revolution work, it delivers when it’s needed. The action sequences are fast-paced and well designed, and there are interesting fights between a variety of characters. As Teela and Adam get various power ups throughout the show, there are also lots of colourful transformation sequences that involve drastic physical – and outfit – changes. It’s in those scenes that you remember that Masters Of The Universe is owned by Mattel and started out as a line of toys. Maybe the company will do some Revolution action figures?
The final episode in particular pulls out all the stops to make sure it has the ‘cool factor’ that’s often expected from a grand finale. Monsters get bigger and more ridiculous, He-Man brings in more and more allies. It’s absolutely got the scale that this particular story calls for. Yet it also feels a little bit like everything’s been thrown at the wall in the hope that some of it will stick.
Unlike Revelation, this series ties up most of its loose ends after these first five episodes. With the exception of a final scene teasing more to come, it feels like a completed story arc. Given that Revolution and its prequel series have been colourful, action-packed shows with great villains and some brilliant voice acting, I wouldn’t be opposed to seeing more of Kevin Smith’s take on Masters Of The Universe.
Masters Of The Universe: Revolution is streaming now on Netflix.
