Power of Grayskull: A Definitive Film Review

Hi, this is Larry DiTillio, writer for He -Man

and Beast Wars, and you are listening to the

GeekCast Radio Network. Prince of Eternia, defender

of the secrets of Castle Grayskull. This is Cringer,

my fearless friend. Fabulous secret powers were

revealed to me the day I held aloft my magic

sword and said, By the power of Grayskull! Yeah,

you're probably gonna have to get the images

from now until we... finish all four of these

damn podcasts well maybe not all four of them

but at least for the rest of he -man because

I can't I try getting images from hulu but I

cuz hulu when I pause it it won't because I have

to use it on the on their website I fucking hate

that Something must be happening, something big!

We better get to Whispering Woods fast! I getcha!

By the power of Braceco! Hello and welcome to

the 100th episode of the Powers of Grayskull

series here on the GeekCast Radio Network. I'm

of course TF2 and Mike, that's right, the fucking

great one is here, along with my idiot co -host

Optimus Solo. I don't think that word means what

you think it means. Yes, it really does. And

this is Pogs episode 100. We are here to talk

about stuff we... Originally the plan for this

was... Kevin was actually gonna be here at my

house and we were gonna do the commentary for

the 1987 live -action film Due to Skeletor and

his evil warriors that has not happened yet.

We now have that planned for episode 120 if it

doesn't happen by then I'm going to just have

to you know Stalk Kevin and make sure he gets

his ass over here because I sure as hell ain't

going out to Whatever the hell name your county

is Rockford County or whatever. It's called out

there But yes, 100th episode of the podcast.

It's only taken us seven years to get here We

should have been here at year two, but you know

life is the way it is and the way it was I blame

Mike I don't think so for at least half of it

No, maybe a quarter of it. Not half. Come on

now. We'll settle on a third. I don't think so

And Yeah, we are gonna like I said we swish it

around we're gonna be talking about the power

of gray skull the definitive History of he man

and the Masters of the universe. This is done

by definitive films They've done a couple of

these. I don't know how many but I remember when

this was announced I was like very very cool

can't wait to see that this was I think one or

two years ago that this was out. I could be wrong.

I don't know. Last year. Last year. Okay, it

was last year. And we also have to talk about

something very sad. You didn't get the chance

to do this. I did and Michael Wilson did because

it was part of our Beast Wars podcast. But about

nine years ago, we got a chance to talk to Larry

DiTillio. And Larry is a guy that wrote our childhood.

He's one of the many that wrote our childhood

that helped shape the cartoons that we watched

when we grew up in the 80s, in the 90s. He recently

passed away. I saw Kristy Marks post about this

and I was not sure like... You know most people

on Facebook are oh I'll just share I didn't I

wasn't gonna disrespect her post because it was

set to you know not public and I Messaged her

and I said hey, you know I'm sorry to hear about

Larry's passing You know let me know when I can

share this news when it becomes public I don't

want to do it before then kind of thing kind

of like you know paying respects to the family

kind of thing Even though Christy isn't a part

of his family, but she worked with him all those

years And yeah, so we're gonna dedicate this

episode to Larry it was Super fun and informative.

I know you and I had wanted to get him back on

here before the end of this podcast and Yeah,

we took too long. Yeah Life just happens folks.

There's you know The Carpe Diem only goes so

far you can only seize the day so many times

before Life just kicks you right in the nuts

Yeah Yeah, he started off way back when 1972

was his first writing credit with fat Albert

and the Cosby kids And then really got into it

obviously in the 80s with what we've been talking

about with He -Man. He -Man, She -Ra, etc. was

kind of like the initial breakthrough. Yeah,

he was the guy. There would be no She -Ra Princess

of Power without Larry D 'Itilio. He was the

guy that actually named her She -Ra. Right, he

and Whatchamacallit did most of the Bible for

She -Ra as far as setting up what that series

was going to be, even though for He -Man he was

mainly a writer, he was really giving the reins

for She -Ra and what it was going to become and

kind of to pull that all off. So he actually

gets credit, he even has a credit in the most

recent She -Ra series because they credit him

as the creator of the character. right uh...

for sure in the princesses of power which just

came out last year as well so nineteen seventy

two uh... technically his last writing credits

unless the one that was in pre -production at

the time of his passing gets made and finished

actually his last reading credit from what i

can tell us from transformers animated Oh wow,

that's right. Which is 2009. So it's been a while

since he has been writing. IMDb does list him

as a writer for a thing called Clive Barker's

The Coat Room, which is in pre -production, so

we'll have to wait and see if something happens

with that or not. But otherwise 2009 Predacons

Rising would have been his last writing credit

for Transformers animated. So kind of full circle

back to kind of that action series that he started

with, like He -Man She -Ra and then obviously

into like the world of Transformers, which you

guys have spent quite a deal talking about some

of the other episodes he wrote for Beast Wars.

Yep. Obviously in the Beast Unleashed podcast.

It was him and Bob Forward all over that series.

Right, so he wrote 13 episodes of Beast Wars,

I believe. Had some writing credits in the 2002

series of He -Man, which we're about to get to

in The Powers of Grayskull. So those are probably

the things that are closest to our hearts, as

far as things that we kind of have a close tie

to, but a smattering of other shows as well.

Rock and Wrestling, I guess, would be the next

closest, kind of up our alley. few things in

Captain Power and Centurions, Bionic Six, Galaxy

High School, et cetera, et cetera. But those

are the main things that I knew him from. And

I think we've talked about it quite a bit with,

back when we were talking about the Filmation

series with both He -Man and She -Ra, specifically

He -Man, that when we did the wrap up of that

episode and I did some statistics to kind of

see, you know, which writers, because we ranked

the episodes obviously with no knowledge of who

wrote them necessarily. You know, we gave our

typical rating score just based on the story,

based on the episode, what we liked, what we

didn't like. And then after all was said and

done, I actually compiled it based on the writers

to see if there was specific writers we liked

more or less. And it was probably no surprise

to us that the Larry DiTillio episodes. were

one of the most higher rankings uh... of that

series and i mean if you look at those two series

both he man and shira he created characters like

grand amir and hantara and just really really

cool interesting characters writing he was responsible

for all of that obviously other people like lou

schimer uh... You know, we're responsible for

getting He -Man off the ground and things like

that, but Larry's contributions, that series,

that whole franchise would not be what it was

and what it is to people now without Larry DiTillio.

Right. Yeah, absolutely So in the you know You

can go back into the archives of the powers of

grayskull series to kind of see some of the episodes

that we really raved But I would suggest going

and looking at the recap of both the He -Man

and the She -Ra series specifically of the He

-Man series because I think that's when we get

into it the most but especially his work with

Granamir And he had multiple episodes that were

related to that character. So it was he was really

good at what he did and if you Familiar with

him if you're or if you were a fan of kind of

a lot of the cartoons of the 80s and 90s I would

suggest Also, I know Christy Marx commented on

that as well, but I would search out Jay Michael

Straczynski on Twitter Or Facebook I found it

through Twitter but he has a link to a message

that he posted on Facebook and it's quite a lengthy

message and he goes into the fact that you know

for almost a decade they were basically best

friends uh... larry was in the human first and

then uh... straszinski came in after that but

then straszinski left and a lot of the products

he was involved with you brought larry with them

they're really good friends their families knew

each other said uh... they had a falling out

later on in life and kind of didn't speak for

a long time uh... and then kind of sort of reconnected

through some of the conventions and what not

but i would suggest going and finding his face

book post because it's a it's a good insight

into kind of the person where the tillio was

in kind of the he had from fellow writers and

people involved in the behind the scenes of these

shows yeah when when I saw that that Christy

had posted that I actually sent her a message

on on Facebook and I'm one of those people that

I don't type on on smartphones I just don't my

fingers are too fat so I use voice command all

the time. Right. And I teared up when I sent

her this. This is just my own personal message

to her. I just read your post about Larry. I'm

so sorry to hear of his passing. There are no

words I could say to you or to anyone who was

closer to him than I was to help in this process.

All I can say is that he helped shape all of

us 80s kids' childhoods just like you did. Yeah,

absolutely. Very well said, and I think even

a lot of people that didn't realize it, it's

like the people that don't realize, you know,

certain people voiced a lot of the characters

they loved or different things of that nature.

Like, he wrote a lot of the different series

that at least our generation loved, so it was

sad to see that, but he definitely left his mark

and will be remembered through his writing for

sure, and I think a lot of people that came after

him kind of modeled some of the stuff they did

after him. Yes, absolutely. And as I said earlier,

we are here to talk about the documentary. We're

gonna hear, you're gonna take a quick break,

and you're gonna hear a line from Erica Shimer

and Alan Oppenheimer. We'll be back after this.

Don Irwin, he -man, really, really lovely, lovely

man. He did his work, he was prepared, he got

his lines, he really cared, and then he sort

of disappeared. For two years, I tried. I said,

if you came out, the line would be around the

block between he and I. He just won't... He thinks

about it. He says, oh, no, you know I'm not he,

man. I said, no shit. And I'm not Skeletor. So

what? The enigma about John Irwin is he's just

an incredibly shy guy. You know, put him behind

a microphone, you know, off camera. He works

great. Alright folks we are back and holy crap

this documentary What did you think of it I absolutely

loved it I thought it was great a full -on quote

-unquote definitive night really quote -unquote,

but you know full -on history of The entire brand

that is Masters of the universe, right? And they

left nothing out and it's so I don't mean to

bring the show down again But it's so weird watching

this and seeing Dean Stefan who was the 2002

series kind of guy Because he also passed away

recently not this year. I think it was last year

or the year before Yeah, so when we do get to

the 2002 series every episode that we do of the

02 series is gonna be dedicated to Dean's memory

Yeah, for sure. This documentary, I mean, for

me it could have been like twice as long as it

was, almost. I would have kept watching and kept

getting more insight and whatnot. First off,

I think anybody that's a He -Man fan of any kind,

whether you were a fan of the 2002 series, whether

you were a She -Ra fan, whether you were a New

Adventures fan, whether you were just a fan of

the toys or, you know, whatever it might be,

this is definitely worth... Checking out and

getting to see the whole scope of what this franchise

Meant or even if you have no idea what he meant

is but you know that people like from our generation

Loved it or have a fond memory of it I think

this gives you insight as to why because it's

definitely very in -depth. I mean you're getting

Stuff about every series you're getting stuff

from behind the scenes from the writers you're

getting stuff from the voice actors You're getting

a good section of time spent with the the movie

the live -action movie They go into the depth

of that a lot they talk about the toys And the

you know the collectible aspect of it so I mean

it is very I would almost put this and then if

Almost add a little companion piece of that one

episode of the toys that made us that they go

into even more with the He -Man toys and even

that could have been longer because I feel like

they could have dealt with some of more of the

individual toy lines but if you watch both things

you're gonna get a great breadth and depth of

knowledge about all things He -Man and it's very

interesting that also I would say if you're a

fan of the art this is especially for you because

they show a gazillion Examples of drawings of

storyboards of artwork of and I'm not just talking

about the cartoon. I'm talking about the movie

I'm talking about, you know every aspect of this

they go into depth and it's really kind of interesting

to see some of the different takes on like The

characters what they might have looked like in

early drafts some of the stuff they were throwing

around All the fact that they did They had William

Stout on there talking about his movie designs.

Yeah the fact that when he originally designed

it he man had blood on his sword and Mattel came

back and was like oh No, no, no he man doesn't

kill You know they had to kind of Rechange it

and whatever and so he's flipping through all

these pages in this documentary and then shows

obviously what the final the the final thing

ended up being Yeah, and just some great segments

like I really enjoyed the conversations I had

with Franklin Jela about the movie and about

his playing of Skeletor and what kind of all

that took and how much he a lot of times you

see that like somebody's involved with one of

these more Maybe toy related or child related

franchises, and they kind of like try to shy

away from it You almost even got a little of

that at first from Dolph But it's nice to see

someone like Frank embraced it fully, who still

considers it one of his... favorite if not his

favorite roles just because of what he was allowed

to do and how much respect he had for the character

in the and kind of the story in the franchise

and you can tell because in the movie he is probably

one of the brightest spots which will get to

you know down the road episode a hundred twenty

but uh... so that was a lot of fun uh... and

then for me it's always fun kind of listen to

the voice actors talk about what you got both

uh... you know alan oppenheimer some of the originals

then you get some of like brian dobson cam clark

from the two thousand two series talking So that

was a lot of fun as well. What was some of your

favorite parts of this? I was surprised, but

I wasn't surprised that we did not see John Irwin.

And it goes back to that clip I just played.

He's a shy guy. He's one of those voice actors

that in the moment absolutely loves it, absolutely

wants to put his all into it. that's work he

leaves it there he goes home and he lives his

life outside of whatever and unfortunately doesn't

look like uh... they've had any luck in convincing

him to go to one of these conventions at some

point but i don't know it'd be nice if you did

that would be uh... that would be huge for fans

they would go nuts they would lose their minds

for that it's you know it's like You know, Alan

Oppenheimer said in the documentary, it's also

like what people have been telling Frank Welker

for years, and Frank Welker is now going to some

of these Transformers conventions. It's not that

we want to... I've said this before with anything.

It doesn't matter if it's a Nickelback album.

It doesn't matter if it's an episode of Knight

Rider. I don't care what it is. If I'm a fan

of someone or something that someone has done,

that's what I care about. I don't wanna know

what they had for breakfast. In this age of social

media and everybody puts everything online and

everything else, I really don't care what Dolph

Lundgren had for breakfast as long as he gives

me a great performance as He -Man or as the guy

from the Expendables movies or Drago or whatever.

It doesn't matter to me. Yes, I absolutely love

the people that have done this stuff, but...

I'm not here to get into their personal lives.

I mean, unless we're interviewing them, sure,

I'll ask them. I'm not gonna ask them what they

had for breakfast, but you know what I mean.

We'll ask those certain personal questions kind

of a thing, and if they answer, they answer.

If they don't, they don't. But when it comes

to this whole celebrity business thing, I care

about the property, and I care about the characters

that people are enacting on the screen, stage,

whatever, cartoons, whatever. Yeah, I thought

another thing that was neat about it is that

it didn't really ignore any sections of the franchise's

history like it does talk about the new adventures

for a little bit it does even go into the you

know the the Classics line of toys and that part

of it So it doesn't just because it wasn't you

know one of the TV series or it wasn't this doesn't

mean they ignore it They kind of touch on all

aspects. That's why I'm saying it could have

even been longer because I would have allowed

them to You know double the time they spent on

on a lot of that stuff So it would have been

really cool to even see more, but they do do

a very comprehensive job of that if you want

more on the toys like I said you can check out

that other episode and then you have kind of

a little bit of everything even more in depth,

but I think the only thing about these types

of documentaries that bug me is I always get

jealous when I see them interviewing or having

someone that's being a part of it that all it

says is like He -Man historian or He -Man collector

or He -Man fan I'm like yes I'm one of those

two yeah you gotta be in the right place at the

right time I know you can't help but be like

how did you get on there well I could you know

I don't know the guy personally but I can tell

you why obviously Val Staples was on there number

one he owns he man dot org be single largest

P -Man website on the entire internet. James

Etok, the man has... I've talked to him several

times on Facebook and Twitter. I want to get

him on here for an interview. He did the He -Man

and She -Ra filmation, what's it called, guidebook

or whatever it is called, a couple years ago.

And I specifically wanted for us to interview

him for that simply because, hello, we've spent

the last seven years going through all this stuff

as well. But yeah, I mean... It's so interesting

to see which fans they go to and which ones they

contact, and as I said, it's probably, you know,

a matter of timing. Maybe they had flown out

to LA or whatever. I mean, they can't get to

all of us, sadly. One day we'll be on one of

these special features. But that's the only the

only jealous part of me Because it is the same

way with like some of the who is the one guy

that was doing all the special features on the

DVDs for like Transformers and GI Joe and he

got to like insert all the information. I'm like,

come on. I could have done that But no, that's

just jealousy straight jealousy. But yeah, this

is this is really cool It gives you a little

bit of every aspect of this show. It has a lot

of main people involved in it So you're not dealing

that's kind of one good thing though is that

it's not all fan You know stuff. This is a lot

of the actual people involved whether it be producing

writing coming up with the toy line the voice

actors though You know the Lou Shimer's of the

world like you get stuff from everybody So that's

very cool, and it's nice to kind of see that

insight it is absolutely and I loved the I loved

the the whole thing with Paul Cleveland and Mark

Mark Taylor and I'm gonna interrupt you real

quick because I have a plane in the background

and it's showing all the interviews they did

right now just listen to these names like Oppenheimer

Brian Dobson David wise Dean Stefan cam Clark

Dolph Lundgren Erica Shimer Franklin Jela Gabe

Coot J. Michael Shudzinski James etac Larry de

Tillio was interviewed in this obviously So I

mean they're Tom Cito Val Staples like you talked

about I mean It's just so many people that they

got to be involved with this and it's nice to

see that all those people are proud of their

part and they were just talking about towards

the end that it's one of the neat things about

He -Man is it was so successful and it was so

popular because of not just one person but because

of this barrage of people that had played different

parts of it whether it was like they mentioned

who came up with the name or who came up with

the toy designs who came up with the character

backstories the Filmation group that really kind

of made it, you know Popular and successful like

there's so many different people that had to

do something to make this successful It's kind

of a crazy story because you would think that

would almost make it not possible That it required

so many different people, but they were able

to pull it off Yep, absolutely different people

with different skill sets that can add something

to each part of you know right the And when they

get into the toy development, and how do they

actually got the series to be pitched? It's so

crazy because there were so many people that

were literally saying stuff on the fly that they

hadn't even planned like you know like they would

they were in the pitch meeting and you know somebody

was asking them this something about something

that they didn't have prepared and they're like

yeah we have that or you know or oh we're gonna

do this to solve that problem even though they

had never discussed that before and then they

had to like go and rush and like get that together

or this together like it's such a crazy story

but it all worked yeah absolutely so any fans

should check this out for sure Absolutely it

is on Netflix for anybody that wants to see it.

I'm sure it's on DVD as well I don't know but

I'm 99 .9 % sure If not, I'm sure it will be

soon and this is also something that was a I

believe Kickstarter Campaign to raise money for

this I was It's crazy to if you read all the

names on the Kickstarter like the banks for the

support Because some of these are people that

I'm familiar with like some of these are people

that I know from the internet like I know God

my mind just went blank. Who's our friend that

does all the toy reviews? No, no The other guy,

the big He -Man guy. Oh, Pixel Dan. Yeah, he's

on. His name is listed on here as somebody who

donated to the Kickstarter. I didn't know this

was a Kickstarter. Otherwise, I would have donated

and got my damn name on the screen. But it was

funny because I was reading through this the

one time just like watching for all the names.

I'm like, wait a second, because there was like

a half a dozen names that we've had interactions

with, that we've talked to, that we've had on

the network and stuff like that. It was kind

of crazy. Yep. Very, very, very crazy. I guess

you got to pay attention to Kickstarter more.

Yeah, kind of It also Since the last time we

had a chance to record a podcast since episode

99 came out like Earlier this year late last

year. I don't remember Super seven who is now

doing the Masters of Universe toy lines has come

out with classics the William Stout collection

So, it's classic style movie figures. So, you

get, you know, Dolph Lundgren's He -Man, you

get Frank Langella's, two versions of Frank Langella's

Skeletor, and then you've got, um, what's his

name? Kargargak, whatever his name is. The two

figures that I would want if I was still collecting

actual action figures and not just Funko Pops,

um, the two Skeletors. They're amazing! Yeah,

for sure. i mean i have a chance to go out and

that's what i saw some snapshots that have made

me interested so after check that out sometime

absolutely just absolutely amazing uh... alright

so what else do we want to talk about this hundredth

episode Well, I mean, not too much except for

obviously check this documentary out. It's only

about an hour and a half. If you want more, there's

obviously the comprehensive guide. You need to

check that book out because we're going to be

eventually discussing or at least mentioning

some stuff about that. Check out the Toys That

Made Us episode if you want more just specific

toy related information about it. And then obviously,

stay tuned for the last few episodes that we

have of the new adventures because then we're

going to start having fun again. Then we're going

to be getting into the 2002 series and that's

when and it's gonna be back to stuff we can enjoy.

It's gonna kinda bridge the gap into more fun

stuff coming from Mike and I. Yep. Other stuff

that isn't seven years of the same franchise.

Yeah, we're gonna be bouncing all over the place

like a ping pong ball. That's right. Like a yo

-yo. Yeah. Like a slinky. Oh god, stop. Okay.

But yeah, I mean, it's just been a wild ride.

We've got 25 episodes left of the show. I'll

say this now. We argued about it in a few earlier

episodes. We're probably going to argue about

it in a few of the episodes that you guys haven't

heard yet, because we've already pre -recorded

them. We will come back and cover the new Shitra

series at some point. Why are you calling it

that? Because. I'm sorry. It was really good.

Did you see the, uh... the link I had sent you

about the YouTube video for International Women's

Day? No, not yet. Okay, so DreamWorks and the

people that created and run and whatever for

She -Ra and the Princesses of Power put out this

video for International Women's Day. They all

but tell you to ignore where the franchise started.

I'm going to have to reserve comment until I

actually see it. Obviously, yes, you will. But

it's one of those things where it is one of the

single most offensive videos I've ever seen coming

from a reboot or a kind of thing of, hey, this

is a new series with the franchise character,

yadda, yadda, yadda. The voice they're probably

reacting more. I haven't seen it, but they're

probably acting more to the the powers that be

in the companies versus the actual Series because

the even the series, you know Larry DiTillio

and J. Michael Straczynski and they and those

people involved with Shira were even fighting

that battle To try to make it so it wasn't this

offensive, you know, we'll get into it more But

I'll say this right now the series was good though

The girl that voices Adora slash She -Ra... No,

the series is not good. It has horrible, horrible

moments. No, the series is good overall. No,

not really. The girl that voices She -Ra slash

Adora basically says, oh, well, back in the day

it was just, you know, a bunch of boys' cartoons

with girls worshipping them or something. I forget

what she actually says, but she basically says

that, you know... It was nothing but boys toys

back then, which is not true. You look at Jem,

you look at Shira, you look at, hell, My Little

Pony, Care Bears, all of that had female empowerment.

Yeah, like I said, I'll reserve until I actually

get to see it, because I don't know if I can

trust you, Mike. Oh, you can trust me on this

one. Because you don't think the series was good

either, and the series was fantastic. It has

its moments that I have a lot of problems with.

I look forward to getting into those with you.

Yeah, that's gonna be two or three years down

the line. I need a break. Episode 125 is the

stopping point for now, so we can continue on

this other journey that we have, this weekday

aftertune journey that we have. As Optimus Solo

said, coming up is episode 101 to 107, which

is the final... episodes of The New Adventures

and then an episode of Wanna Wait, we start to

get to the good stuff. The 2002 Masters of the

Universe cartoon series. Anything else you want

to pimp out before we get out of here? Nope,

just stay tuned to all our Twitter and Facebook

pages so that you can kind of keep up to date

with what's coming up and kind of some interesting

changes and new things that are happening. So

stay tuned for that. Absolutely. Twitters are

at GeekCastRadio for the network. I am at TFU

and Mike. He is at Optimus Solo. You can also

follow at Pao of Grayskull for this show. Follow

at CinemaGeekCast for his movie show that he

does every seven months. We have an episode every,

almost every week or every other week in here

in the last three months. Oh boy. For now, I

am TF2 and Mike with... Though Optimus Solo and

TF2 and Mike does not stand for the fucking great

one. Yes, it does. Until next time. No, it does.

By the power and for the honor of Grayskull,

we will catch you next time. He's the only one

that thinks that. I am correct, and I'm the one

that does the editing over here. I can cut you

off any time I want. technical difficulties let's

move on shall we get ready for action -packed

excitement as the most powerful man in the universe

comes to television in a fantastic world of dragons

and sorcery join he -man and the masters of the

universe right here Monday through Friday they'll

be coming your way soon he -man and the masters

of the universe