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I have the Power….to make even Stinkor kind of cool.

I grew up as a huge fan of the original Masters of the Universe toyline, cartoon, comic book and related tie-ins. I owned almost every figure and vehicle and watched every episode multiple times. When the property was revived in 2002, I managed to miss the short-lived new cartoon on Cartoon Network and only picked up one of the new figures (Two-Bad, an old favorite). Thankfully, BCI and their Ink & Paint sublabel have managed to release that revival to continue their popular He-Man collection on DVD. Volume one came out months ago, and now volume two is here, with part three coming along soon.

The show manages the near-impossible; updating the characters and settings for today while still retaining the flavor of the original. The storyline remains the same, essentially – He-Man and his fellow Masters protect the sci-fantasy world of Eternia from the forces of Skeletor’s Evil Warriors. And they do just that over these thirteen episodes. We also start delving deeper into He-Man lore, as we are introduced to the Snake Men in a teaser for their major role in season two. We are also re-introduced to characters like Stinkor and introduced to new ones like the plant-being Evilseed. Speaking of Stinkor, he’s one of the prime examples of this new version in its abilities to redesign the oft-times silly original characters. Guys like him, Buzz-Off and Rattler came off as silly and gimicky in the old 1980s version, but here they actually come across fairly badass, at least visually.

While most of the episodes are presented in stand-alone format, there are underlying plot threads throughout that act as preludes to future shows. Webstor’s awakening within Snake Mountain or Stinkor’s early appearances before having his own spotlight origin episode are good examples, though the Snake Men plot is the major one.

These stories are still as fun and simple as the originals though, with pretty black-and-white lines dividing good and evil. The animation is pretty top-notch for television fare and while the voice acting occasionally leaves a little to be desired (they opted to give Stratos a “Sean Connery” voice and some other characters get very annoying “1980s-era” silly voices), it’s competent.

This three-disc set gives the viewer two discs containing the cartoons and a third filled with special features. Two episodes get the commentary treatment, which play while showing storyboards. A character gallery focuses on the villains and is a nice way to catch up on how they have been reworked for this series. A “behind the scenes” featurette is comprised of cast members recording their lines over and over. It’s kind of “eh.” We also get the usual image galleries, two episode animatics and scripts (accessible via DVD-ROM), as is the norm with these releases. Two collectors cards included in the neat packing (a foldout box with acetate slide cover) are created by Joshua Middleton and Sean Galloway.

Just overall neat stuff, and a fine continuation of the great job BCI has been doing with this property on DVD. And since the final episode here ended on a cliffhanger, it’s doing its job and having me waiting anxiously for volume three to come along soon. He-Man and the Masters of the Universe does remarkably well in bringing in new fans as well as appealing to those with a heart for nostalgia.

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