He-Man's first foray into theaters in 1987 didn't exactly go as planned, but the once-mighty
TV and toy phenomenon is finally poised to get the reboot treatment.
Even though the first movie was a flop, the new Masters of the Universe is far more likely
to blow you away.
Here's why.
To say that the 1987 film Masters of the Universe was a bit of a disappointment would be a massive
understatement.
The movie starred Dolph Lundgren as He-Man, Frank Langella as the villainous Skeletor,
and a young Courteney Cox as a newly introduced Earthling character named Julia Winston.
Cox's character, in a way, embodied many fans' major problems with the film.
There wasn't anything wrong with the future Friends star's performance, per se, but her
having such a key role in the film left fans hugely frustrated — for two reasons.
First, Julia is from Earth — which is also where most of the film takes place.
By contrast, the cartoon and comics were based on the planet Eternia, a fantastical land
that combined elements of sword and sorcery with science fiction.
By taking He-Man out of that familiar setting and transporting him to Earth, the movie was
forced to tell a fish-out-of-water story that prevented fans from getting to experience
He-Man in his element.
Secondly, Julia Winston never appeared in the cartoon, the comics, or the toy line.
She was a character created solely for the film, and she wasn't the only one.
Despite having dozens of well-liked and fascinating characters at their disposal, the filmmakers
chose to forego them all in favor of their own like keyboard-playing Kevin.
"What do you think?"
"Sounds great."
The creative team behind the new Masters of the Universe surely know just what went wrong
with the original, and there's no way they're going to repeat the mistakes of the past.
Sorry, Kevin.
It may be 2019, but these days you'd be forgiven for thinking it was actually 1989.
Everywhere you look in pop culture, the decade of big hair, neon clothing, and Reaganomics
seems to be taking over.
Just look at what's on TV these days: Modern reboots of classic '80s series MacGyver and
Magnum P.I. are both important blocks of CBS' primetime lineup, while ABC's comedy lineup
is partly anchored by the '80s-set The Goldbergs and The Conners, a continuation of '80s hit
Roseanne.
On top of all that, Netflix has a Voltron reboot, the Full House follow-up Fuller House,
'80s wrestling drama GLOW, and, of course, the massively popular Stranger Things, which
even got Coca-Cola to bring back New Coke — one of the biggest product failures of
all time — as a tie-in.
Netflix also produces She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, a reboot of He-Man's female-focused
spinoff series, which debuted in 1985.
If anything, the movie industry is even more in love with the '80s.
2019 alone has seen reboots of Child's Play and Pet Sematary, with new sequels for The
Terminator and Rambo on the way.
In 2020, things are going to get even more retro — with belated sequels for Ghostbusters,
Bill & Ted, Coming to America, and Top Gun all slated for release.
Even the upcoming Wonder Woman sequel takes place in the '80s, and they're not even being
subtle with that one — the film is literally called Wonder Woman: 1984.
People just can't get enough of the '80s right now, which means the time is ripe for a reboot
of one of the decade's most iconic contributions to pop culture.
Noah Centineo probably isn't who most Masters of the Universe fans had in mind for the role
of He-Man.
The young actor has dark hair instead of Prince Adam's signature blond, for example.
He's also fairly slight of build and lacks a bodybuilder's physique.
On top of that, he's only 23 years old.
That means Centineo was born in 1996 — long after He-Man had his moment in the sun.
But despite his appearance not quite matching cartoon He-Man's and his relative youth, Centineo
is who Sony Pictures cast for the lead role in the new Masters of the Universe.
And believe it or not, they seem to have known exactly what they were doing.
Centineo may not look much like He-Man, but he is poised to deliver a memorable performance
as the character nonetheless.
Centineo burst onto the scene in a big way in 2018 thanks to his role in the Netflix
teen romance To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, before appearing in two more films
for the streaming giant: Sierra Burgess Is a Loser and The Perfect Date.
Thanks to his charismatic performances in these films, Centineo has become something
of an internet sensation, and his likability factor will likely go a long way toward helping
him sell his incarnation of He-Man.
And it's happened before, too: just take a look at Chris Pratt.
He wasn't anyone's idea of a typical action hero when he was playing chubby slacker Andy
Dwyer on Parks & Recreation, but his performance as Star-Lord in Guardians of the Galaxy completely
changed people's perception of him — and now he's one of the world's biggest action
stars.
Expect Centineo to undergo a similar transformation.
And sure, he can work out and throw on a wig to pull off the look of He-Man, but what's
really going to make his performance memorable is star quality.
Luckily, he's got that in spades.
Two of the hottest genres in pop culture right now are science fiction and fantasy.
For the past several years, the box office is dominated by the Marvel Cinematic Universe,
which has been trending more and more toward straight-up science fiction.
Avengers: Endgame deals with time travel, aliens, and all kinds of intergalactic insanity,
And, of course, another sci-fi film, Avatar, was the top box office earner worldwide before
Endgame took the crown.
On television, fantasy is in vogue, with the series finale of Game of Thrones recently
becoming the most-watched episode of any show in HBO history.
And with multiple Game of Thrones spinoffs in the works, along with adaptations of Lord
of the Rings and The Wheel of Time, it seems like fantasy will continue to dominate TV
for years to come.
But it's when you successfully blend these two genres that the real magic happens.
"Surprise!"
Thor: Ragnarok managed to pull this off with aplomb.
By taking Thor, the most fantasy-friendly Marvel character, and putting him in a retro
science-fiction environment, the movie came up with something truly special and unique.
Except, of course, it wasn't all that unique, because He-Man and the Masters of the Universe
was doing it 35 years earlier.
He-Man is about a society on the planet Eternia where magic and alien technology exist together
and are employed equally.
He-Man may wield a magic sword and hang out with a sorceress, but he also sometimes flies
a ship that shoots lasers.
Fantasy and sci-fi can be tons of fun when they're mixed together, and given the franchise's
long-established history of doing just that, the new Masters of the Universe movie ought
to be a blast.
Look, not everyone likes He-Man.
That's fair.
Prince Adam is kind of a dork, and He-Man himself is kind of just a buff guy with a
bad haircut and no personality.
But, like the 1987 original, this new movie isn't called "He-Man," it's called "Masters
of the Universe."
Masters, plural.
He-Man is part of an Avengers-like squad that fights evil, and each one of them is more
awesome than the last.
There's Man-At-Arms, who's a master at every weapon and has a sick mustache; Teela, a unicorn-riding
goddess; and Battle Cat, the armored steed that Prince Adam's cowardly tiger Cringer
turns into whenever Adam becomes He-Man.
And as cool as the heroes of the franchise are, the villains are even better.
Battling against He-Man for the power of Castle Grayskull are evildoers like Beast Man, a
hulking monster; Evil-Lyn, a magic wand-wielding sorceress with a pun for a name; and Trap
Jaw, a cyborg with sharp metal teeth and an arm that can be swapped out for numerous weapons.
All of these bad guys act as henchmen for Skeletor, one of the most iconic villains
in all of genre fiction.
Skeletor is a diabolical blue-skinned brute with a skull for a head and an unquenchable
lust for power.
For many, he's the best part of Masters of the Universe, and seeing him adapted onto
the big screen using today's technology will be worth the price of admission all on its
own.
As you've probably figured out by now, Masters of the Universe is a pretty fantastical franchise,
full of all kinds of magic powers, battles, heroes and villains.
Oh, and a castle shaped like a skull.
Of course, it was relatively easy to show all of these things in animated form in the
1980s, because all you had to do was draw them.
But bringing it all to life convincingly in a live-action movie was always going to be
a far more difficult task.
In the '80s, CGI was practically unheard of and most movies were still using puppetry
and other practical effects.
Puppetry can be fun and definitely has a strong nostalgia factor nowadays, but it typically
isn't the most convincing visual effect modern movies have at their disposal.
Over the past few years, however, CGI has finally reached the point where it can create
entire worlds and characters that are virtually indistinguishable from real life.
In Avengers: Infinity War and its sequel Endgame, for instance, the villain Thanos is completely
computer and motion capture-generated.
Despite all that, however, he still feels like a real character.
His facial expressions and other movements are incredibly lifelike, and at no point in
either of those movies does he ever feel artificial.
Using this technology will be the key to creating a convincing Eternia, and the prospect of
seeing the planet come to life like never before is very exciting indeed.
Post-credits scenes have become something of a given with big blockbusters over the
past decade, thanks largely to Marvel popularizing the trend, but they've actually been around
for far longer.
And although they were rare at the time, post-credits scenes would still occasionally pop up in
some 1980s films — mostly used in comedies to squeeze in one more joke, like in 1980's
Airplane!, 1987's Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, and 1986's Ferris Bueller's Day Off, which
had one of the most memorable of the decade.
You're still here?
It’s over.
Go home."
But then there was the post-credits scene in the original Masters of the Universe — which
remains one of the most notorious ever made.
Near the end of the film, He-Man and Skeletor engage in a final battle that ends when He-Man
knocks Skeletor into an unfathomably deep pit.
Skeletor is presumed dead, and the film ends on a happy note.
So far, so normal, right?
Well, after the credits have rolled, this happens.
"I'll be back!"
It's a tantalizing — if slightly lame — promise, and one which was doubtless made by a bunch
of filmmakers who were confident they'd one day be producing a sequel.
But, in the end, it turned out that Skeletor lied.
Because the film was a massive critical and box office failure, no sequel was ever produced,
making Skeletor's tease at the end of the film utterly pointless.
But now, with the new Masters of the Universe on the way, Skeletor will finally make his
long-awaited return to the silver screen — and the character will be able to keep his promise
after all these years.
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