The 2002 Masters of the Universe Series Begins with The Beginnings Parts 1-3

This is Man at Arms and you are listening to

the Masters of Grayskull. Thank you Mr. Gary

Chalk as Man at Arms from the 2002 He -Man and

the Masters of the Universe cartoon series for

giving us that promo. I'm of course TFG and Mike

joining me is Optimus Solo. Hello sir. Hello.

We just want to put this at the beginning of

every episode for... Masters of grayskull we

dedicate every single episode of this to the

memory of Dean Stefan Dean who is the writer

storyboard art and not storyboard a story editor

all that kind of stuff on the 2002 he -man series

passed away May 15th of 2018 and Not only are

we doing this because we're finishing our powers

of grayskull series podcast We're also I feel

at this point doing this in the memory of him

because the stories that he helped Create and

build for this series It revitalized the motu

franchise in my personal opinion. Yeah, absolutely

It's unfortunate that we didn't have a chance

to ever talk to him before the show, but we can

at least remember him as we move forward Absolutely,

and now on with the show. I am Adam Prince of

Eternia Defender of the secrets of Castle Grayskull.

This is Cringer my fearless friend fabulous Hello,

this is Optimus Solo, and welcome to the 108th

chapter in our Powers of Greyskull series with

me for this journey into the Masters of the Universe

franchise, as always is TFG1 Michael. Hello,

and we are now Masters of Greyskull, because

that space shit didn't happen. But before we

can finally close the book on that space shit,

you have a correction to make. yeah i think it

was last episode 106107 where i said that brian

dobson was skeletor i meant campbell lane for

the new adventures obviously i knew it was campbell

lane because campbell lane was um... rampage

in in beast wars so i guess i was just so excited

to get to the good stuff that i misspoke and

said brian dobson was skeletor in new adventures

which he's not he is keldor slash skeletor and

a bunch of other characters That's the type of

mistake that we can forgive it's yeah I'm sure

you'll have other mistakes that I won't be as

forgiving for like when you think an episode

is better or worse than I do Coming up soon,

but I I think we can both agree that almost all

of these episodes are gonna be better than any

Because when we get to the ratings and rankings

or whatever of each of these episodes I was gonna

talk about it. I'll talk about it now Is that

I'm trying to like temper? my ratings a little

bit because I don't want it to be just the fact

that these are that much better than the other

one that makes me over rank these episodes. Like

I want to be like, OK, I got to leave some room

for there to be something, you know, higher or

lower or whatever. Like we'll see here. But in

this episode of Masters of Grayskull, that's

what we're calling it, right? We'll be giving

you our thoughts on the first three episodes

of that series, which are all entitled The Beginnings,

part one, two and three. So we hope you're ready

because it's finally time. to go back to Eternia.

Alright, first up today guys, as you could probably

suspect, is episode 1, which is entitled The

Beginnings Part 1, air dates somewhere around

August 16, 2002. Writer was Dean Stefan. And

the plot synopsis goes a little something like

this. On the distant planet of Eternia, young

Prince Adam finds out by the sorceress of Grayskull

that he is destined to become a hero of great

power in order to stop the forces of Skeletor

from rising. This is kind of setting the stage

of some of that doesn't go all the way through

all that but it kind of sets the stage for what

we get so Mike we start with a flashback to King

Randor's earlier days as well as some of the

other characters that we learn that we know and

love some of their earlier days as we deal with

this council and an attack from Keldor on Randor

and kind of the repercussions of that then we

flash forward to Tila and Prince Adam and we

kind of get to present day as far as what we're

talking about for the rest of the series and

kind of their interactions and then the return

of Skeletor slash Keldor. So what were your thoughts

on how we kind of how they decided to start this

series and where they kind of took off from?

I love the origin story and we see just how and

what caused skeletor to become skeletor because

the whole keldor thing i think they obviously

added that in the in the folklore since the original

eighties series kind of a thing and i along with

adas barron had been and we still are reading

the masters universe comics that dc comics has

been doing in the comics they do have the keldor

skeletor the keldor past and the skeletor you

know present kind of thing In that, I don't think

they do so much in this, I don't remember if

they say it so much in this, but in that, they

full on make it a family connection. Oh yeah,

they will eventually. Okay, I was not sure, I

thought that's where this would start, like where

the comics got it from was this, but I absolutely

love that, I think that's great. The animation

is top notch, the character designs are... Classic

yet modern because they're slightly different

bulkier kind of things. I mean man -in -arms

still looks like man -in -arms sorceress Kind

of looks likes I mean czar is great, but you

know her design is is all new and different kind

of a thing Adams design everybody can shut up

about the fucking pink shirt now Because it's

more magenta than pink in this Yeah, and this

kind of is a preface guys since this is the first

episode of the series usually when we get to

the first episode of the individual series we

do spend a little bit more time kind of going

into the characters the designs the voices the

some of those choices so we will be kind of going

in a little bit more in depth into those here

and we'll You know in the future episodes. We'll

only talk about new characters that appear at

such detail But I think a couple things that

it noticed right off the bat and you kind of

mentioned started to mention it there a little

bit but one difference that we have here between

this series and the Filmation series in a way,

is they do a little bit more to distinguish two

different looks in between Adam and He -Man.

It's not as much of a carbon copy. It's not as

much as the Clark Kent Superman, you know what

I mean? took some concerted efforts to try to

distinguish the two characters so that it wasn't

as obvious that they were the two same people.

Another interesting thing is with the voice,

obviously done by Cam Clark, who a lot of us

at that time would have recognized from his turtles

work, et cetera. But from what I've heard, and

I think this was on one of the commentary tracks

or research somewhere along the way, is that

they actually... auditioned multiple people for

Prince Adam and then they had separate auditions

for He -Man. There wasn't necessarily an intention

to have the same person voice both characters.

However, Cam Clark, according to them, had the

best Adam and the best He -Man. So they ended

up still going with somebody that was doing both

voices, both characters with the same person.

So that was interesting. And he does a very good

job of separating his two voices. the reason

being is not only is cam clark an amazing voice

actor the thing of it is is all of his voices

i've ever heard some have been that younger kid

and some have been that big bold kind of character

like the human voices um this came out 2002 so

yeah that what i'm going to reference it was

already out at this point uh we had gone back

and watched this a number of years ago on DVD,

the two of us, because we were doing some sort

of review for GCRN, or whatever. You had never

seen it, or whatever it was. But we had seen

this a number of years ago, like right before

we started POGS. And even back then, with Cam

Clark, I feel like his atom is more... Sort of

Leonardo ish. It's not Leonardo from TMNT, but

it's sort of that way Yeah, it's real close.

However, his he -man It wasn't then but it's

more now as we're doing this now as I just watch

this as we're recording this I heard more Liquid

Snake in the He -Man voice, Liquid Snake from

Metal Gear Solid games, the villain from Metal

Gear Solid. I heard him because he's that voice

as well. I heard more of that in He -Man's voice

when he's doing the big boastful, like, you know,

not today, Skeletor, or Bone Brain, or whatever

it is that he says, Evil One. Anytime he says

Evil One, I'm like, ooh, that is so Liquid Snake,

and obviously it is, but the point is, Cam has

such a range. that why wouldn't they have cast

him as both? And I think the other thing is,

sorry to cut you off, the other thing is, and

I'll mention this later more for story plot,

but I'll mention it here, as far as I remember

watching the DVD special features, they wanted

Adam and He -Man to be so different because,

as we've already said, in the original Filmation

series, they were basically, you know, just changed

clothes. Right. Adams a teenager Adams 16 17

whatever it is. He's a young prince He's a this

he's a that and he man is well he man, you know,

I mean he's a he's he's a big guy He's he's an

adult and Adam is still a kid and that juxtaposition

Works very well. Yeah or for the series i'm sure

people will compare this to shazam uh... other

things like shazam as of this recording it just

come out uh... that movie with obviously billy

batts and being the kid and then transforming

into this you know adult version of himself even

though he still acts kid -like and there are

moments in this in this beginning three -parter

Adam finally goes and gets the power and becomes

he -man. There are little moments later that

I see the little kid in him come out as he is

he -man. It's just like a little smile or something

like that or a little like nod kind of a thing.

But yeah, no, I absolutely love it. I will admit

that it is like the Kam Clark that I know from

the 80s and early 90s typically you know most

of the time would be using that Adam voice would

be using that younger sounding voice because

it was really distinct and kind of was his kind

of um his golden ticket type of thing in the

voice acting and so like when I so that's the

voice of his that I'm used to so I gotta admit

when I first heard him again as Adam it always

throws me off a little bit because I'm picturing

other characters etc etc I will say by the time

the three -parter is over and I'm kind of into

the the show now it doesn't as much bug me. Not

that it bugged me, it just kind of... through

me distracted me maybe a little bit because i'm

like oh i know this guy is somebody else but

i do like the fact that it is so distinct from

what he's doing as he man which is very nice

not just a lower pitched version of the same

voice but an all altogether different take on

that um what do you think because i know on the

commentary track they talk about the fact that

they were considering just starting out at the

point where adam and tila are doing a little

jousting training etc in the yard like that was

initially i guess at one point going to be one

of the spots they were contemplating starting

the episode on they decided to get that, but

you know, add that more kind of mythological

backstory with Keldor and Skeletor. I'm assuming

you're a fan of them doing that. Oh yeah, absolutely.

Because we're at a time now and even, you know,

back in 2002, I'm sure this was produced somewhere

between late 2001, 2000, mid 2001 kind of a thing.

But, um, Even in 2002 most cartoons that we wanted

at that time even though we were all adults by

then We wanted more story -driven cartoons. Episode

of the week or villain of the week or that kind

of stuff was kind of like going away. And then,

you know, this came up and everything else, you

know, Turtles, the 2003 Turtles series came up

and a lot of other things. So no, yeah, I absolutely,

because we would have been asking the question

just like we asked all those questions in the

past X number of episodes we did of New Adventures.

What's the story? What's the this? What's the

that? And they give... everything to everybody

in here. They give all kinds of development.

They create backstories. They do this. They do

that. It's just so wonderful and refreshing.

Yeah. And a couple other changes. Like you mentioned,

obviously the Sorceress has a different look

and more, a little bit more of Egyptian themed

look there. I think I like it better. I'm still

undecided, but I think I like this version of

the Sorceress a little bit better. I'll wait

until later on in the series to make a confirmed

decision on that. But they also made some other

specific choices in this series, and they revolved

around the fact that they were not necessarily

trying to gear this series towards little kids.

They made a concerted effort to make this more

towards, you know, maybe like a nine to... You

know teenage year Instead of like us, you know

five to ten age group like they're definitely

looking for You know upper elementary school

middle school, you know those types of an audience

perhaps And they made us a couple specific choices

to go along with that number one. We get a cringer

slash battle cat that doesn't speak thank god

so they they i was going to ask you your opinion

but i think i've i've just learned it but their

idea there was that they wanted they didn't want

a bunch of animals that talked because i thought

that might have geared it more towards a younger

audience and they also are trying to obviously

we've had very iconic skeletor performance from

alan oppenheimer in the in the original series

and obviously well based on our Viewings of new

adventure. Campbell Lane was one of the best

parts of that series Even if you might not be

as like a known and as iconic as Alan Oppenheimer

Skeletor He was still probably the best part

of that series so they decided with Skeletor

with this one that they wanted to dial back a

little bit with the Campiness and then some of

the over -the -top, you know, maybe not necessarily

cheesiness, but you know some of that Humor and

juvenile aspects that we got from him not saying

they take away his humor. He still has funny

lines, he still has things that he says that

we're going to talk about, but they were trying

to make it a little bit more intimidating, a

little bit more serious, and a little less campy.

So between Cringer and Battle Cat decision and

some of the decisions around Skeletor, how did

those work or not work for you in the beginning

episodes? They worked so well. Like, I didn't

really say anything in my notes about Skeletor

being kind of having funny lines or comical until

almost the end. It's almost like, you know, when

he's gloating is when he is comical. He is comical

in episode three. Yeah, he this this Skeletor.

Number one is a hell of a lot more competent.

Number two is completely different, obviously,

than the new Adventure Skeletor. He's not under

somebody else's thumb. He is the Master of Evil.

That's what he is, you know? I mean, honestly,

until he's... until it's revealed in part two...

We see keldor we see what happens to keldor with

the the green news or whatever you know the the

anti mutagen or whatever the hell it was that

you know the the poison that eventually burned

off his face he's like ah my face my face and

He dives off the cliff and Randor's like, no,

and then they escape. We don't see his face.

We don't see what happens to him. We see that

in the beginning of it, obviously, that Keldor

is this blue faced guy and whatever. And he still

has the Skeletor kind of voice that, uh, Brian

Dobson is doing for him, but obviously it's,

it's a lot, it's not as evil as it'll become.

Right. We don't actually get to see the actual

reveal of Skeletor's face itself until like,

Halfway into like part two, which I think is

really cool. They hide that away. They don't

give that away They don't just that's the thing

with this these first three episodes They give

you just enough to stay with it to want to watch

more without needing to They're not just doing

exposition just to do exposition. They're not

like as I watch these three parts back again,

it's Everything is done for a reason everything

is done at a time and and a pace that is well

executed ah captain randor please forgive the

intrusion keldor and his forces are moving on

the capital yes we know we were just discussing

You must evacuate. If Keldor's forces breach

the Hall of Wisdom, you will be vanquished and

all the power of Eternia will be his. Your forces

will defeat him. And you, Randor, as king, shall

rule Eternia in our place. King? I'm merely a

soldier. No, I agree with that. Before we get

too much into the story, I just want to ask you

a couple more questions about characters and

some of the stuff like that. I do have perhaps

one character that just based off this initial

couple episodes so far that I like the Filmation

version better. I don't know if you'll agree

or disagree with me, but I like the Filmation

orko better. Yes, that is the one I will probably

agree with you on. Filmation orko's design is

way better. And voice. Yes. Nothing against Gabe

Cuth. I think he does a good job with the role.

I just it just doesn't quite work for me as much

as as the filmation version did in that series.

Like it's just something's a little bit off.

off on that one for me, just at least in the

initial couple episodes. Did you notice that

we got to see a pre -Trapjaw version of Trapjaw,

Cronus? Yep, Cronus, yep. And the early shot

there, kind of the flashback, so that was kind

of cool. So getting into the specifics of the

episode, and we'll talk more characters as they

pop up here and as we join in the discussion,

but things you really liked about this first

part, anything that you haven't mentioned yet?

I've kind of already mentioned it all. I thought

my note about Adam you know the teenager thing

uh... it actually is the the note is different

but part of it is here with the part one is i

love the way that they make adam a teenager along

with tila and yet obviously he becomes a man

and turning into he -man later but the fact that

they're both at least age range the same They're

not one is not old too much older than the other

one is not an adult one is not a kid You know

they're both kids. They're both young and learning

and whatever obviously teal is way further along

than Adam is because Adam's a lazy slob and he

likes to sleep, but It's just one of those things

where it's refreshing to have an Adam that is

so different from what he has to become as he

man Yeah, absolutely. I don't know if you noticed

another tie -in to Filmation or not, but Merman

retrieves the Chordite crystal. And that is what

the widgets mind back in the filmation series

I think it had something to do with he man's

harness as well As far as what that was forged

from so that's very interesting cool way to tie

it in in a different way As far as that goes

to carry I mentioned that orco didn't really

work for me necessarily to that do specifically

right away fit the characters perfectly in my

mind and we were to talk about cam clark but

gary chalk as man at arms is perfect and brian

dobson obviously a skeletor is perfect like those

two are probably the the two that most hit it

out of the park for me in this first episode

I, like you, do like that they show that Randor

Keldor stuff in the beginning. I like that they

specifically tell us the age of Adam, that he's

16. He was having his 16th birthday, basically,

in this three -parter. I think my favorite part

about this whole episode is that because of that

back part that they give us, it actually explains,

for the first time in my recollection in the

whole franchise, where He -Man's power... Actually

comes from like we know it comes from Castle

Grayskull like we know there's a connection there

But this one really solidifies that fact that

the council of elders Literally formed together

and put all of their power into this oracle,

which then is infused into He -Man and the sword,

etc. So like, it's very cool that we kind of

get that explanation. We have this council of

elders that's watching over the land. I guess

much like the New Adventures had that kind of

council, but this is cooler. And that they, you

know, they actually do form into that power.

And that's where we're getting the power that

turns Prince Adam into He -Man. So I really like

that. You mentioned something in kind of your

likes that I'm going to mention as kind of my

one my one problem with this episode not necessarily

a problem but my one maybe nitpick and that is

I do enjoy the fact that they at first don't

show Skeletor's face like That is fine. I like

that we know something kind of hit him and we

know something's going to be eventually revealed

and he's going to have more of a skeletal look

than he did as Keldor, etc. So we know something's

cool. They're kind of building the tension as

far as not showing us that right away. And I

think it's fine when he's got the hood on and

it's kind of hunched over and you can't see it.

Or if there's shadows. I just think they went

too far with it. I think there's too many times

where it's forced for us not to see it and it's

not natural. Like there was times where we're

looking straight at him and there should be no

shadow and his face is blacked out. Like that

bugged me a little bit. Like I wouldn't mind

if he was kind of sulking around and hiding his

face or if he was truly in dark places and in

shadows. But they should have avoided shots that

were directly a front. shots of him where there

was no face shown like that bugged me a little

bit so let me ask you okay the um i know what

face shots you're talking about like when they're

showing just the black blackness of the inside

of his hood kind of a thing and it's just all

shadows whatever i think i don't remember and

i just watched this so i should remember this

like did his eyes ever glow before his face was

revealed or anything not in the shots that i'm

talking about the shots i'm talking about were

straight black right okay so Think the reason

why that was done again is not so much that they

didn't want to blow the reveal too soon But they

probably I get that mom I mean I like it because

it's a mystery you don't know you don't know

you obviously know it's him and Yeah, you're

right the shadows are a little weird at times

however They could not have shown it any earlier

than when they did cuz to have the effect of

you know Rando or realizing what happened, right?

I just think they should have done what they

did in the right in the way in the beginning

You have him like seated far away on a throne

and the full throne is in the shadow So, you

know, you're not gonna see him or you have him

like on a I don't know like on a Mountain top

or hilltop or something like you have him far

away where he can't be seen or you have him off

to the side Just speaking those are all fine.

I just think they could have avoided some of

the like he's out in broad daylight You can see

everything around him, but his face is black.

Like that's the only But close -up shots. Right.

So that was like my only nitpick. Are we doing

awards for this one? Because I have power swords.

We can, but I think we need to switch it up a

little bit for this series and make it a little

bit more fresher. We do all the awards at the

end of this show. Okay. Sounds good. What about

ratings? I have one last note. I do enjoy Adam's

skepticism about the whole thing. Like... i don't

know if you don't believe that you know my sixteenth

birthday party's gonna be in here now kind of

a thing when it goes to race you know whatever

the whole skepticism of an absolute enjoy that

uh... part one i do for i had to i'd just enjoyed

it way too much Yeah, I waffle back and forth

between four and a four and a half. And this

is the part of me that's like, I can't just come

right out the gate just because it's better than

New Adventures and give everything like fives.

But so I'm at a four as well only because of

the nitpick on Skeletor's face, I guess a little

bit. But otherwise gives us a lot of what we

want and great foundation, great backstory and

good designs, good characters. I'm a fan, right

off the bat, like we know we would be. So, double

fours for us, we're gonna take a quick break

and come back with part two. It's Showtime Synergy!

The latest review podcast from the Geekcast Radio

Network is here! So join TFG One Mike, Nicole

Hailstorm, and myself, Lady Rec, as we will be

reviewing all 65 episodes of Jow in the Holograms

in a 25 episode long podcast. You can find Showtime

Synergy on iTunes and GeekCastRadio .com. We

are the truly outrageous podcast that you want

to be listening to. in pushing the forces of

evil back to the dark hemisphere. Peace will

come to Eternia, but only for a time. And then?

A hero shall emerge to protect Eternia. How will

I know this hero? Decian, the superhero webcomic.

Decian's got superhero antics and sexy girls.

For action, drama, mayhem, and more, read it

now at Decian .com. D -A -S -I -E -N .com. And

for the new Decian podcast, go to Patreon .com

slash Decian. Revenge is like a Jafari stool.

It tastes best when served cold. All you will

taste is the bitterness of defeat, Keldor. Persuaded

to be a bit more forthcoming All right next up

guys is part two of this three -part pilot slash

first episode of the series same air date as

we mentioned before August 2012 2012 2002 good

lord try to jump 10 years into the future. August

16, 2002, same writer, Dean Stephanie, was writing

all three parts of this. So this is not much

to do with plot here. I mean, obviously we're

continuing the same story here. Adam's actually

going to go to Castle Grayskull. Keldor is now,

you know, full -on Skeletor, going to reveal

himself to that, attack the palace, et cetera,

and we're going to have Randor basically being

kidnapped. at this point, during this episode,

I believe. So, obviously, this middle section

of a three -parter, how did you feel that it

progressed? And is it on the same level as the

first episode so far? What did you like? What

did you not like? Oh, yeah, I absolutely loved

it. I think it lived. I love the way that the

series continues in a fuller, long play kind

of story. Like, yes, do I wish the DVDs or the

iTunes or the whatever didn't have previously?

the previously on segments in the dvd material

i understand why they needed that obviously for

when it was airing x number of years ago but

um once the story started from the previously

on he -man uh i absolutely love it i love the

fuller stories that it has i love how evenly

timed the battle scenes and the speaking scenes

are. It's not just all battles, it's not just

all talking, it's just, it's not just exposition

for the sake of exposition. Right. It's actually

a true way of telling the story without giving

out too much, without spending out too much time.

Yes, we have Orko throughout kind of a thing,

but Orko, at least in this first three -parter,

is not as annoying. He most likely will become

even though we don't really like or go in this

series We don't have that, you know Scientist

crap and that's better than that. Yeah, exactly.

No, I agree This orca was better than those scientists,

but I'm saying like we don't have too much time

waste or hell We didn't even talk about this

the beginning. Look at the intro. Look at the

theme song By the power, you know, he tries to

go into it and then boom, the villains attack.

Like, we're not messing around with this show.

Like, we're not giving Adam time to become He

-Man in the intro of even the theme song. Like,

they're not doing that. They're just attacking

and fighting back and whatever. And I love the

way that they do that. Yeah, absolutely. I thought

this episode has a lot of good action. A little

bit more action -packed than the first episode.

Obviously, the first episode has to do a lot

of kind of establishing some storylines and stuff

like that. This has a lot more action. and I

thought they did a really good job of isolating

a lot of one -on -one battles that really make

it so that we can showcase the characters' abilities

a bit. They do this in two different ways in

this three -parter, and I apologize, because

sometimes I'm getting the different parts kind

of mixed together, but at one point, I think

this might be in part one, but if not, it was

right away in part two, where each of the villains

is taking their best stab at trying to... Bust

down the the wall the mystical wall that's separating

the the evil warriors from the palace, etc Which

was created obviously by the sorceress and etc

to keep them out but there's a crack in it and

they we see each person tried so we get to see

trap draw try to Highlight one of his abilities.

We see Beastman try to do it. We see evil in

try to do it, etc, etc So that first off does

a good job. And then in this episode specifically

We get one -on -one battles between Stratos and

Beastman one -on -one between Evelyn and Tila

one -on -one between trap -jaw and mechaneck,

merman and mani -faces, man -at -arms and claw

-full, and then some littler ones where they

kind of interchange and et cetera, et cetera,

but those are some of the main ones I remember

highlighting. And it was really cool because

you got to see, like just for example, merman

and mani -faces, you get to see mani -faces use

his different faces and kind of what each one

brings to it. Mechaneck definitely highlights

his abilities with using his head to kind of

not just see, but he can use it in battles. to

basically move someone way across and slam them

into a wall or something like that. You get to

see Evelyn doing a lot of her magic. You get

to see Stratos' flying capability. So immediately

in the second episode, we're getting more...

More one -on -one shot or more our specific attention

to specific characters than we get a lot of times

in these entire series So that was very nice

in the battle scene that you're talking about

All the characters you just mentioned that are

not man -at -arms or Tila or whatever not the

nor like Mechaneck and and Clawful and Maniface,

Mekhaneck and Manifaces, this is the most screen

time they've had ever. Ever. I mean, same thing

with, like, Triclops. Triclops is in one episode

of the original filmation series. One or two,

maybe. And it was, like, late in season two,

I think. Yeah, like, they established him as,

like, you know, the tech guy. You know, we already

know that. The tech, spy kind of guy. Yeah, yeah.

And Beast Man is obviously the guy that talks

to the beast. Merman is the fish dude. Um, it's

kind of funny on the commentary because they

they Talk about the that they actually did an

intelligence hierarchy for the evil warriors

Like they actually put it on a board or on paper

or something at one point They don't go into

it specifically, but they do mention that the

top three were Obviously Skeletor was the most

intelligent and then evil in right after that

and they do say that triclops would have been

next Before you kind of get down to the the rest

of them So it's kind of they're already kind

of outlining some of those things and giving

us hints at that right away, even though it's

not a ton of time, but they do a good job of

isolating like, hey, this is what, and it's not

just, hey, this is a toy and this is what that

toy can do. It's like, hey, this is a characteristic

or a trait of this character that we're gonna

establish now because it's gonna be used throughout

the series possibly. So I thought that was really

cool. And obviously this is the first time where...

Cam Clark or Prince Adam becomes He -Man. I know

we already talked about it a little bit in part

one, even though it didn't happen in part one.

Part two is where he gets the sword, you know,

he holds it up high, he turns into He -Man, and

we get to see the different voices, etc. So that

is a cool part, obviously, of this episode of

the first time we see the transformation. I know

you're a big fan of all the different transformations

throughout the Filmation series, etc. What did

you think of this transformation? I like it.

I understand why they're doing it the way they're

doing it. The only nitpick I have is the power

sword. Yeah, me too. Why does it have to move

and switch and transform and whatever to release

the power? They talk about that a little bit.

I don't know if that's why it has to release

the power. I know that they talked about... The

fact that apparently I don't know which version

of the toy, but there's some toy out there where

the sword actually did Move or did did have some

type of like action function? and that's specifically

why they made the sword do that in the cartoon

because they Had never had a cartoon where the

sword actually had that function that the toy

did I'm not familiar with what toy that would

have been because the toys that I had the sword

was just a static like stationary Object like

it didn't move at all But apparently there must

be one version out there somewhere of one of

the toys that had a moving part on that sword

So that's why they did that but I am not as big

a fan of this sword as I am of the filmation

sword I like the filmation sword better. I like

the filmation sword better for the transformation

for what this sword is I Like it in action. Yeah,

I can see that I can definitely see that This

episode also gives us I don't know. Maybe I just

didn't notice it in part one but in part two

we get to start seeing part two and part three

and I know this is very like Finite detail that

nobody really needs to hear about or pays attention

to probably but they do these little transitional

bumper type things in between when they're going

from like Skeletor to human or or good to bad

or different settings or whatever the first one

that I noticed is very weird because it's like

Skeletor's face and it's like the other ones

that I've seen in the first three parts are weapons

like it's either a I don't know like a Havoc

staff or the power sword or something that's

like flying through and it's like Transition

us from one to the other the first one that I

noticed with humans face kind of go or Skeletor's

face kind of Twisting around and spinning around

it was really weird Where is the power of Eternia?

I told you. I don't know. But if I did, I would

reveal nothing. Perhaps a little not -so -gentle

persuasion is in order. For anybody that's watching

the second part go back and watch that and tell

me I don't know It seemed like a weird bumper

and I hope they don't do that one again. The

weapons are much better My other nitpick on this

one is they finally reveal Skeletor's face, which

we talked about, you know They've been hiding

it hiding it hiding. It's been black black black.

They finally show it I don't know if I was as

impressed as I was hoping I would be when they

show his face it's a little I Don't know. It's

it's Okay I don't know if it's my favorite version

of his face. It's good But then they after they

show it they immediately have another scene like

right after that where they go back to hiding

it again I'm like, okay You've already shown

his face like you don't have to go back and start

being the black face again like so I'm done with

that I need that to be over but that's just a

minor nitpick anything else about this episode

good or bad The reveal of Adam and the he -man

was just amazing. We kind of talked about that

the cliffhanger ending for part two. I absolutely

love that. I thought that was great. I thought

there was going to be something about Skeletor

that I nitpicked, but I couldn't tell you what

it was. I wasn't even hearing you talk about

the face thing and how whatever. It wasn't even

that. I think there could have been a little

more detail in his face. I think my issue is,

and I noticed this more during the battle with

him and He -Man in part three, is that the skull,

quote unquote, non lip or lip movements. Yeah.

Like to me don't like what he's saying. The face

is obviously it's a skull. It's a bone. It's

a what? Like he can't fully conjecture eyes because

he doesn't have skin. Right. What he is saying.

It looks like an anime type thing where, you

know, your mouth moves and then Blah blah blah,

you know, it's one of those things. Um Does it

make me take any points off the episode or off

the series? I don't it was just something I just

noticed is I saw him talking to he man or whatever

Kind of a thing and it's a little annoying But

as long as like you said with the blackface thing

as long as you're not like looking right at it

or noticing right on Point while he's talking.

It's fine. It's not that big of a deal Yeah,

and the cliffhanger like you're talking about

is obviously He -Man's first appearance with

the Masters. So it's his first time where they're

gonna see him and there's a whatever magnetite

headed right for Tila and we're gonna see if

he's gonna stop it or not. So that's kind of

where this episode leaves off. What kind of rating

did you give this second part? Four and a half.

Okay, so you went up on this one. Oh, yeah. Okay.

Again, everything about it. Not only is this

something we didn't really talk with part two

yet. I mentioned in part one, the animation,

not just the style, but the how fluid all the

animation is, minus the Skeletor mouth thing,

how fluid it all is, the design of it all. I

mean, Eternia looks amazing. The fact that we're

actually going to other places other than the

palace, the castle, or Snake Mountain. Snake

Mountain looks fucking awesome. I mean, even

back in filmation, Snake Mountain was impressive

then. I'm sorry, this puts that Snake Mountain

to shame. I mean, it's basically an updated version

of that, but it's so much cooler. I think Snake

Mountain is better in this version. I don't know

if Castle Grayskull is. The 3D -ness of it is,

if you know what I'm kind of talking about. Old

filmation Castle Grayskull at times felt very

flat. They never really explored. There were

several times, obviously, She -Ra, Secret of

the Sword, yada yada yada, they went through

the door, they went through the gate. That's

one thing I was going to mention earlier when

we were talking about Castle Grayskull. how they

get to where the power is and how he follows

their how Adam follows the Sorceress through

the cast like we actually see various hallways

in the scale and how big it actually is the outside

design I can kind of agree with you yeah that's

all I was it's a little like when you're facing

it head -on like when the jaw bridge like drops

or when you know he man or Adam is looking right

on it sure it looks great that like Drive away

up to it It's a little off but it's not They

do a much better job of showing the inside the

scale the scope of how big it is how crazy it

is How much of a maze that it would be to find

something in there? I just maybe the outside

like front part. I maybe prefer the filmation,

but just barely I you went up a little bit on

this episode. I'm back and forth. I've had both

the first part and the second part at fours.

I've had both the first part and second part

at four and a halfs. I've had one at one and

one at the other. I can't decide. What really

does it for me is the isolated battles that they

show on this one. So my final ranking for right

now, same as the first one, I'm at four on the

first one and four on the second one. So I can't

decide which one I like better. I'm still trying

to determine that. So we're gonna take a break

and see how we end this three -parter, if it's

a positive or if it slides down a little bit.

We'll have to wait and see. Do you like retro

cartoons? Then Saturday morning rewind is the

podcast for you Join them each month as they

talk about classic cartoons and interview legendary

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to SaturdayMorningRewind .com. And be prepared

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SaturdayMorningRewind .com. Saturday Morning

Rewind was voted best podcast ever by its host

Tim Neidell. So it's gotta be good. to settle

for revenge. the last episode of for today is

the beginning of part three which is obviously

episode three same air date august sixteen two

thousand two written by dean stefan so obviously

the plot is the conclusion of this original story

so we have he man who is attempting to save randor

who has been somewhat kidnapped by Skeletor,

and then we have the rest of the Masters doing

their thing, specifically Tila trying to save

Man -at -Arms, who has been captured by Merman.

It's kind of a side story, so that's kind of

what we have here. It's basically still dealing

with that initial... Idea that this is the first

time that the evil warriors and Skeletor have

been able to get past that wall This is their

first encounter with The world and was trying

to figure out what's happening and then obviously

the introduction of human into this whole thing

It's just kind of that first initial encounter

that we're concluding here and then we're gonna

be able to go on and set the stage for the whole

series one thing we didn't mention that I need

to go back and backtrack just a little bit before

we get to this episode another thing I forgot

to say that I really like about the first episode

And the well first part second part is that when?

Skeletor first gets past the wall they do a great

job of establishing the fact that He doesn't

understand or know what has happened on the other

side of the wall since he has been there. You

know, he's coming out expecting to go back and

march back in and find the Council of Elders

and all this other stuff and the building they

were in, etc., which none of it exists. And so

part of it is his search for them and their power

and what happened, etc. So I do like the fact

that he is kind of a fish out of water, not realizing

what has happened in the time that has passed.

So I just wanted to get that out of the way.

But as far as this wrap up of the three -parter.

I'll give you the stage for a little bit. What

did you like and dislike? Yeah, you're right

about this the Skeletor storyline and again it

goes to character development it goes towards,

you know characterized storytelling, I mean They

did everything right with the character storytelling

in these first three episodes. I think He man's

arrival and everything that he did in the battle

plus the battle with Skeletor just so damn good

I need to look this up, or I need to message

my He -Man historian buddy, James Etok, and ask

him. I know it was part of the original story

with the action figures when we watched Power

of Grayskull, the definitive film. I think they

mentioned about how He -Man has half and Skeletor

has half, so no one side, good or evil, has the

key to Castle Grayskull with the swords. But

Skeletor, the dual swords, oh wow. That's awesome.

Not only does he have the Havoc staff, but he

has the dual power sword thing. That is so friggin'

cool. Absolutely love that. As I mentioned earlier,

has some funny lines in here as well. Battlecat

versus Panther. Wow. That's a battle that they

started on the screen and just kept going and

going and going off screen until Skeletor was

like, okay, here we go. Let's get out of here,

kind of a thing. Orko is annoying, but... The

good thing about Orko in this is everyone shuts

him up fairly quickly, like once the secret is,

you know, being kept kind of a thing, both He

-Man at different times, both He -Man and Man

in Arms say stuff to basically without belittling

Orko or telling him to shut up, you know... Orko

isn't Rattrap. There isn't this great big thing

where Man -at -Arms can say to Orko, shut up

Orko, shut up Rattrap kind of a thing. It's not

that at all, but they do a great job of only

allowing Orko so much, at least at this point.

He had one scene with the magic trick stuff earlier.

Orko may not be Rattrap, but Merman is Waspinator.

Yes, Merman is most definitely Waspinator. It's

for sure. It's it's kind of nice having some

of the bees and honestly after you know again

two -time Motu voice actor and Gary Chuck he

was he man Adam in what no he wasn't Adam he

was he man in in new adventures and He's man

-in -arms here. I think I think Gary's voice

lends more to man -at -arms as a care as a character

in general than he man but uh absolutely dug

it i thought it was great so i i watched all

three of these episodes on the dvd complete series

set um with with just watching them straight

then there is some of the episodes throughout

this whole series that have commentary tracks

right um with dean stefan and a few of the other

people involved and i was able to re -watch the

first episode with the commentary track on and

the second one also has one i only got about

halfway through that the third one has one i

didn't get to watch that at all But what I I'll

try to watch most of these beforehand so I can

add any little snip tidbits and trivia or whatever

But one thing that they mentioned before they

even get to the third one they I think they talk

about it in part two commentary is that Basically,

this was and this is gonna get to kind of some

of my why I'm gonna come down a little bit on

this episode from the other two Originally this

whole intro pilots, you know multi -part Initial

foray into this series was supposed to be a two

-parter and the the artist and the storyboard

and etc etc did you know kind of ran a ran wild

with it and then they thought that they had you

know too much for two parts so they had two decisions

to make and it was either to really hack it up

a little bit and take a whole bunch of stuff

out to make it get down to the length that it

needed to be for two parts or to keep everything

in and add some filler to make it enough for

three because they were kind of between two and

three episodes. My only problem with that and

I'm glad that they didn't take anything out necessarily

because I wouldn't have wanted them to cut some

of that stuff that we got away. But you can I

think it's like and I want to listen to the commentary

for the third one to see if they specifically

Mention this but it seems to me that it's blatantly

obvious that this is the episode that has the

filler and it is the entire Segment of the side

story with merman and man -at -arms and I could

have done without that Because to me all it did

was slow down the story and mess with the pacing

a little bit of what I cared about I did not

care about that part of the story at all I didn't

carry okay I thought I just drug on way too long

as far as Tila trying to rescue her her dad and

merman when the big sea monster thing and all

I wanted to do is get back to either more one

-on -one battles with the evil warriors and the

and the masters that are without Skeletor and

without He -Man or get to He -Man, Skeletor,

and Randor and spend more time with that. Like,

I don't know if I like that side story being

kind of put into this episode. I agree and I

disagree because it's one of those things where

the way I'm viewing this three -parter, especially

the third part here, is that the Masters and

the evil warriors, more so on the Master side,

it's military. It's army, it's navy, it's air

force, it's marines, it's whatever military thing

you want to say about it. Each part, each warrior

has their own part of a battle, and there was

already so many people for everybody else to

fight that Tila could go off and try to save

her father. I do agree. The scene lasted a little

bit too long, but I don't... I don't... not like

that they did do the scene, because let's face

it, it has the biggest attorney and fart in history.

Yeah, like I said, that whole sequence I just

wasn't a big fan of. I thought it, like I said,

brought the pace into the whole episode down

a little bit. What I did like, like you mentioned,

Skeletor has a couple of great lines, you know,

having his fingers crossed when he makes the

promise or whatever. And then this is the filmation

Skeletor coming through here. So I'm glad they

didn't completely take out his humor. But at

one point he has the line. such courage, I believe

I'm going to gag. So that was a fantastic line.

The only other things that I kind of was nitpicking

a little bit was there is not much of a transition

of He -Man learning what his powers are and how

to use them. And I don't necessarily have a huge

problem with that because he is, you know, infused

with this power of the Elder. So he's going to

be some of it's just going to be like, hey, he

has his power. He's a big giant dude. Like he

knows how to do certain things. But I get that

he has this powerful sword and whatnot. When

he first arrives with the Masters, I don't know

why he would just inherently know that he's going

to be able to break the earth and pick up a big

chunk of it that is like... Take Luke Skywalker

for example. You know what I mean? Like he has

the force in him He doesn't know how to or know

that he can lift up an x -wing. You know what

I mean? Like it's not just he's like, oh, here's

this I'm gonna magically pick this up like I

yeah I wish there was something that would have

been like where he struggled or where he like

did something by accident I was like, oh crap.

Like I can I'm really strong now You know what

I mean? Like something that wasn't just like

hey, I'm gonna just pick up a mile of earth.

Yeah the difference between this and filmation

while he does pick it up he doesn't just pick

it up it is a strain on him because I think that

straining part of the scene where he ends up

on bended knee kind of a thing right and then

he ends up back on his feet like it's him learning

like you know hey I have this power I'm not just

gonna pick this up and heave ho no island of

water kind of thing it was just the initial thought

that right trigger in his mind that I'm going

to try I'm going to attempt to pick up this land

What like it wasn't just like he was catching

that big rock or the whatever the the meteorite

thing that was coming at him I don't know that

seemed a little bit weird I would have liked

that to be a little bit more eased into it, but

other than that He also knew that Skeletor's

weapon was called a havoc staff. That's convenient,

but That's neither here nor there. So What about

a rating for this one for you? gotta give it

a five it was just yes it was just no way yeah

than the other two parts they're all good if

I could give them all this is a major step down

from the first two no it's all of it together

together yes but this is the inferior part of

the three well I give this one a three What?

No. This was nowhere near the echelon of the

first two parts. They spent 10 minutes dealing

with Man -At -Arms and Merman, which totally

has nothing to do with this whole three -parter.

I know, this is not even close to as good as

the first two parts. It's a three. The other

two are fours, maybe four and a halfs. This one

is three at the best three and a half. That's

my thoughts. uh... though reason besides the

reason besides of what you're saying a man in

arms the reason why i'm giving it a five is mainly

because of adam as he meant he meant himself

whatever two different people where you want

to say where he basically has to pretend that

that's not his father that's just the king and

the whole thing of at the end of their uh...

Where he's digging his sword in and making sure

he can save the king and the king, you know randor

asked him Yeah, obviously Stratos comes in and

everything else and we kind of get this Not really

a happy ending. Everybody's gonna be okay But

we get that a little bit and then we get obviously

Skeletor wanting to obviously do more and kind

of that so that's why more so than i'm giving

it a five again battle cat panther battle very

cool the actual battle with all of the masters

and evil warriors very very cool absolutely love

that i think you are possibly ranking it based

on the fact that it's a three -parter and this

is like the culmination of it but i think if

you're really looking at the individual parts

i don't think this is as good as the other two

like you basically and i have a problem with

this but you basically went up on each episode

so you started four then go four and a half and

go to five so basically each part got better

for you i think it's the opposite i think if

you were to really nitpick The part one is the

best we get that backstory the keldor part the

really the mythology I think it's the second

one's either just right on par or just maybe

a tiny tiny tiny bit worse And then I think the

third parts worse than the other I think it gets

gradually worse as we go through the three partners

None of them are bad. None of them are bad episodes.

I'm not saying that like I'm at three three and

a half Maybe on the last one. So that's still

a positive above -average rating. So I think

it's a good start a lot to like Yep All right

any as we're kind of Summing this three -parter

up. Do you have specific people that really stood

out or in the good or negative way overall? So

we can get to the power swords and Havoc staff

things I'll give the power sword to almost everybody

Because it's so new it's so interesting it's

so different even whiplash and claw full had

some great battle scenes in there, and they're

not care - I mean, in this three -parter you

look at the character scenes that Clawful has

and Clawful is just a dumbass, but the battle

scenes with him and with - Who he's fighting

and stuff like that. That was really cool What

about you on power swords? Um, I think man -at

-arms first of all I think he does a good job

of establishing himself kind of as that like

person that is the bridge between He -Man and

Adam And you know who knows and who doesn't know

I think Gary Chalk is perfect for his voice So

I really like what we see with man -at -arms

and also the fact that he is there at the beginning

with Randor and Keldor Like he's got that tie

-in for everything. So I'd really like man -at

-arms. I think the sorceress is pretty badass

in this so far And then from the other side,

I would probably say they do a really impressive

job of establishing Evil Lynn as a badass and

as someone not to be messed with. Like, she levels

an entire forest at one point, so her power is

almost up there rivaling Skeletor, and I think

they just do a really good job of establishing

her as one of the main villains that is actually

competent. And then they even tease it a little

bit at the end where... There's almost a little

bit of dissension between her and in Skeletor

So I really like that and then Skeletor like

I he's he's great His voice is great and he's

got just a just the right amount of humor for

me where it's not campy But it's still he's still

funny, but intimidating so I like that if I was

go ahead He's more sinister than silly. Yeah,

but he does have a little silly which is cool

And then if I'm on the other side Havoc staff

wise, it's really just for me. Maybe Prince Adam

at the beginning He's a little but like he's

a 15 16 year old So I get it a little bit like

he's got to be a little bit of a bitch But he

definitely is in that first episode running away

from his the first time he gets, you know Presented

with the power and the story. It's like I'm out

of here, you know kind of a bitch move and then

the evil warriors Outside of evil in none of

them come across as too confident in the in this

certain in this first section There is one spot

where whatchamacallit. I think Trapped you know

merman gets the best of many faces in that one

-on -one battle But other than that they they

most of them get handed their ass handed to them

in those one -on -one battles Most of their powers

are not strong enough to you know help break

down the wall I know evil lens wasn't either

but and some of them just came across as kind

of you know, the the dumb Henchmen which is fine.

We need some of those but I still got to give

them a havoc staff for it Yeah, so I have to

give a havoc staff to obviously orko. Yeah, I

Don't know how I don't remember off that my head

will go because it's been years since I rewatch

this again so right we'll have to see further

how more annoying he gets but What little annoying

he was in the beginning it? I'm glad they quelled

a little bit. He still has to have a Havoc staff.

The only reason why I'm going to give this character

a Havoc staff is because I don't like the rhyming.

Evelyn, the rhyming magic has got to go. That's

the only thing I don't like about her and her

character is just the rhyming magic thing. And

I'm like, ooh, at first I was like, ooh, this

is going to be a rhyme. So let me think. What

word is she going to rhyme with? Oh, wait, that

wasn't the word I thought she was going to rhyme

with. Yeah, yeah, I'm not a big fan of that either,

but I still think she came across as basically

Mostly a badass in this so I can't complain too

much in general about her so that That's the

first three -parter good way to start off. Yep,

absolutely What a ridiculous concept. Thank you

for listening to us as we are the masters of

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enjoyed the gray skull goodness today and don't

forget to join us in our next adventure when

we will take a look at the next three episodes

of He -Man and the Masters of the Universe from

2002, which are The Courage of Adam, Sky War,

and we jump into the deep end. For now, I am

TFG1 Mike with Optima Solo. By the power and

for the honor of Grayskull, we have the power.