-MOTU REVALATION
Note- you would do well to watch the entire series in one sitting or over a weekend, not several months apart.
“Wow them in the end.” - Brian Cox.
The short review is this… 4 stars out of 5… IF you watch all the way to the end and keep an open mind.
A few missteps in marketing, character design and show runner/ internet speculator dishonesty keep it from its full 5 stars, but when seen all at once, it is an excellent show.
Now for the long form…
WARNING! HEAVY SPOILERS AHEAD!
Part 1. An exercise in patience.
Several moments in entertainment have stuck with me throughout my life. The ones that made me curse the screen, throw a comic book across the room and angrily flip off the TV.
Luke Skywalker losing his hand.
Han Solo frozen in Carbonite.
The death of Superman.
John Wayne’s death in The Cowboys.
Captain America saying hail Hydra.
Han Solo’s death.
Luke Skywalker’s death.
Tom Hanks’ death in Saving private Ryan.
The list could go on and on. But the latest are the deaths of He-man, Orko and Moss Man.
At first I despised these decisions with every fiber of my being. There it was. Yet another example of my fondly held memories being ripped to shreds. But, lowly bubbling underneath it was the knowledge that the story wasn’t over. The second half had yet to be viewed. Much like the Death of Superman in the early 90s, Captain America’s traitorous turn and basically every left turn Star Wars took, I knew the best stuff was yet to come. After all, Han Solo would return, Luke Skywalker got a new hand, I knew the 4 Supermen weren’t the real man of steel and I knew Steve Rogers could never really be that evil. It was just the twist in the plot. We viewers have to be patient and see the stories through to the end before we judge them.
Now, a good storyteller knows that these problems must always be rectified in some way by the end of the piece. And almost always, they are. Han Solo returned first to help save the rebellion and also the galaxy, but also as a final goodbye in his son’s memory, or the way Ben Solo wished their last exchange had gone and it was beautiful. Luke Skywalker redeemed Darth Vader and then did face down the entire First Order with a laser sword and also bought time for the resistance to escape, much like his mentor, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Steve Rogers overcame his evil doppelganger and saved the world… and now, He-man returned, with all the power of Greyskull to save Eternia with the rest of the Masters of the universe and I am very satisfied.
The first half…
To put it bluntly, I hated the first half of MOTU Revalation. But that was mostly because it was incomplete and I had no idea what was coming next. I could only hope. I had followed all the news of this show from the start and I was psyched as all get out to see what was behind Kevin Smith’s Greyskull walls. After all, he SAID he was a lifelong fan. And so am I. I’ve been following and collecting where/whenever possible and affordable, this franchise since I was 3. So I couldn’t possibly conceive that a super fan would make something that sucked out of something that was simultaneously so great, but also so easy to continue to make even greater.
And then the internet came along. Now, to say that Smith did no wrong and that the commentators were exactly correct would be a lie. No. Kevin Smith lied to us. About being a super fan. About who the show centered around. And when found out, he lashed out at the commentators who’d lashed out at him. And all involved acted like children, without even having sat through the entire series. And this of course soured much of the fandom against a well animated, mostly well written, mostly well designed show. Sides were formed, lines were drawn and the internet does what it does best… divide people over stupid shit. And ALMOST ruined a perfectly good show.
The first half of the show was quite a shock, in both good and bad ways. First the good ways…
1.) It was very interesting to see what could happen if Skeletor won.
2.) The use of under-used or never used characters, like Faker, Clamp Champ and Stinkor and best of all, Scare Glow.
3.) Actual stakes and consequences for actions both good and bad.
4.) Mostly all good voice acting choices.
5.) Excellent animation.
6.) Mark Hamill as Skeletor.
7.) Preternia.
8.) Subternia.
9.) King Greyskull
10.) Wun-dar. A Wonder-bread crossover toy, for goodness sake. It’s hilarious.
11.) The use of creatures and vehicles we all had or wanted as kids.
12.) Fleshing out more of the supporting character’s on both sides a bit, like Beast-man and Tri-klops.
13.) Moss-man and Orko’s sacrifices.
14.) The opening of the episodes with all the classic artwork and Liam Cunningham’s voiceover is…just… my goodness, it’s fantastic!!
15.) The action sequences, holy crap! When this show gets it right, it gets it soooooooooo right!
The bad ways…
1.) Teela’s modern design is not very good. Way too masculine and why always the weird haircut on all modern heroines?
2.) Sarah Michelle Gellar was not the best pick to voice Teela. She did her best, clearly, but it just didn’t fit.
3.) Teela was way too angry at one of her closest friends for dying to save her and everyone else. I understood the emotions surrounding the years-long deception of Teela and King Randor etc, but upon reaching the Eternian afterlife and seeing Adam there and speaking to him again, she should have let go of her anger and mended the fences.
4.) Kevin Conroy was a terrible choice to play Mer-man. Conroy should have played Moss Man and Alan Oppenheimer should have retained the role of Mer-man.
5.) Mark Hamill should have been much more nasal in his performance, and less Joker-y. But I still enjoyed it. I just imagine he took up smoking these last several years.
6.) Evil-Lyn’s design as God-Lyn. Her design as the new Sorceress was much better and too short lived.
7.) Splitting the show into 2 halves.
8.) Race-swapping King Greyskull. It’s preposterous to imagine that a member of the very pasty, blonde haired, blue-eyed Prince Adam’s family would be not the same race as him. Andra being different was not a big deal, as she was a very small character before this show, and not related to the main character’s family at all. Much the same if the voice of, say, Buzz-Off went from a white person to a black person. It wouldn’t make a difference to me. But King Greyskull is a level of disbelief suspension I just can’t do.
9.) Killing Moss-man and Orko. I love Moss-man and Orko! But I get it.
10.) Faker, once exposed should have reverted to his blue skin. A small gripe, but worth noting.
The good far outweighs the bad. Unfortunately the internet blew things far out of proportion and almost everyone fell for it. And I think that the biggest problem. Had people abstained from final judgment and waited to say the show sucked or was great would’ve been more helpful. And if the shows management had told the truth about the show and not insulted fans, that would’ve been even more helpful, but here in 2021, no one can control themselves it seems, and all over a cartoon. I confess, it was difficult for me to hold my own thoughts back for so long on an incomplete show, but I did and I’m so glad I did. It truly was an exercise in patience to NOT just spray my feelings all over the net and wait for the second half. If only You-tubers and show runners could do the same. (Heaving sigh…) But I digress, on to part 2.
Part 2. Good things come to those that wait.
George Lucas said in an interview that drama, in a 3 act play goes, the 1st act, you introduce all your characters, in act 2, you place the characters in an impossible situation, dump them in a black hole, they’re never able to get out and in the 3rd they get out (I’m paraphrasing.).
Superman’s death in the 90’s was essentially the second act in the long-lived character’s story, but you could also pick up from that universe’s canon in 1986 as the 1st act. His return was the 3rd act.
The same could be said with Captain America in the Secret Empire storyline. And again with both Luke Skywalker and Han Solo, who essentially got 2 character arcs and had to deal with 2 seperate sets of consequences of theirs and others actions.
MOTU Revalation part 2 is the 3rd act of MOTU, stemming from its original show in the 80’s (the first act), on to Revalation part 1 (the second act) and finally bringing it home in this second half. And what a half it was! The battle between Savage He-man and, basically everyone evil was fantastic. It reminded me of the Hulk Vs Wolverine and Thor animated films. Just great action all around. We see Teela finally embracing her new destiny as the Sorceress and the Royal family coming together after such a tragic split in part 1. And again, many little-shown characters getting a little light on them.
Of course, it’s not all roses. There are some farts. Still too little of actual He-man on screen. It’s just like a Godzilla movie. You go to see the monsters bludgeon each other but you get mostly humans spouting off about computers or the environment or some such nonsense. We put up with it, but we all know that at least half of the film SHOULD be the monsters. And the same goes with He-man in this series. Less isn’t more here. In the classic series and in the 2002 version, you got your He-man fix every episode. The show runners here should have taken a page from those books. But with that said, the pros again outweighs the cons.
The pros are as follows…
1.) Seeing Evil-Lyn usurp power from Skeletor. She said she would do as much in the '02 series and it’s neat twist.
2.) Seeing Skeletor and Evil-Lyn come to blows over power.
3.) Savage He-man and his battle ax beating the snot out of basically every henchman and Skelegod was great.
4.) The familial reconciliations between Adam and Randor, Randor and Marlena, Duncan and Teela, Teela and the Sorceress. Very nice. Very heartfelt and long overdue.
5.) Evil-Lyn’s back story, and Skeletor’s appearance in it, as an agent of Hordak, before he presumably betrayed him.
6.) The sneaky resurgence of Hordak set up for a sequel. This would indeed be a great way to introduce Adora/She-ra as Hordak’s right hand, Deapara (as in the MOTU comics.)
7.) He-man being He-man at last.
8.) King Randor and Queen Marlena being awesome.
9.) The return of Orko.
10.) Man at Arms being awesome as usual. This show did a fantastic job with him.
12.) He-man was NOT cast aside at the end. Nor did he relinquish his destiny to another character as the internet predicted.
13.) Adam and Teela finally see each other as the heroes they are and the spark between them is clear.
14.) Evil-Lyn embracing a new path, out from the thumb of Skeletor. I’ll be interested to see where that goes.
15.) Skeletor’s short-sighted obsession with He-man, to the end. I love it. A few call backs to the live action film in there too! And He-man’s declaration that it isn’t all about them. Because He-man doesnt do this for himself, he fights to defend all the people of Eternia. He is what all Eternians should strive to be like.
The cons…
1.) Evil-Lyn’s design as God-Lyn. What is up with the crappy hairdos? For real? And what’s up with the abs and pecs on a lady? I get that she had the power at that time, but that doesn’t necessarily mean she has to be a bodybuilder too. Her design as the evil Sorceress was far better.
2.) How many beings can “have the power” at the same time? I counted 3, all having said the words and raised the sword, becoming their ultimate selves. If Afam had wanted to share the power with Skeletor, that’s one thing, but once he lifted the sword etc, Evil-Lyn should’ve reverted to her Sorceress-form to face Teela.
3.) The sexual stuff between Evil-Lyn and Skeletor. That could’ve been done more simply or just be implied. She didn’t have to actually mount him. It’s a cartoon, FFS. A little too “Game of thrones” to suit me. (That show sucks).
4.) Did Preternia get restored? Do the people of Eternia just fade to nothing or go straight to Subternia when they die? That should’ve been made more clear.
5.) Not enough He-man.
That’s it, really. The second half, despite being about half exposition, was far superior to the first, and really tied it all up nicely, leaving the door open to more stories.
And no, Teela and Andra were not a couple. It IS possible for two people of either sex to be just very good friends, like Bucky Barnes and Sam Wilson, the Lone Ranger and Tonto, etc. There were complaints of “queer-baiting” but that was only there if your mind put it there. Adam and Teela will explore their relationship more, if more seasons come around, I’m sure.
There were those that called this show the “Last Jedi” of MOTU, but its not. It’s its own thing, not that that would be bad if it were, because TLJ was a fine film. Not superb, but well enough that I’ve watched it and enjoyed it several times (I affectionately call it "Luke Skywalker’s Unforgiven.).
In the future, if this show has one, the production team would do well to just be upfront and honest about the shows direction and not insult the audience. And likewise, the audience should not judge a thing before it even premieres, souring those that may have enjoyed it. Maybe, just maybe, we could all be a little better on these things.
The bottom line here is that this is a very good show. It isn’t perfect. It stumbles at times, but there is so much to like, you can overlook the small things.
I believe the people who would give this show a perfect score are being dishonest with themselves in their reviews to not see its pimples and imperfections. And on the same hand, those who would give this show the poorest score are those who want only to eat a massive bowl of member-berries and crap out the same thing they watched as a kid. But eating the same thing over and over gets boring and that’s one thing this show ISN’T.
So sit back, relax and strap in for a well-animated, well-voiced adventure with just the right amount of nostalgia and twists to keep you hooked. And if you stay for the whole thing, IT WILL WOW YOU IN THE END. 4 stars out of 5.
Final note - The 2002 MOTU show is superior to this show in every way. Almost 20 yrs old and it holds up today. No, it does not get a good ending, as it was cancelled abruptly, but damn, if that wasn’t a good time! And it’s worth yours too, if you liked Revalation.
