I was going to love it. And I did.
If Part 1 was "The Teela Show" then Part 2 was that and "The Evil-Lyn" show.
Though I am happy to also report that my other favorite character, Duncan the Man-at-Arms, also fared well.
My enjoyment of Evil-Lyn in particular and the MotU, in general, come not from watching the show back in the 80s all that much, but instead from one episode. The Witch and the Warrior, written by none other than Paul Dini himself. In an interesting twist, Paul Dini created the character Harley Quinn and Kevin Smith the executive producer of Masters of the Universe: Revelation named his own daughter Harley Quinn Smith.
Watching this was a fun romp through nostalgia land and there were more than a few tongue-in-cheek references. Also having Lena Headly as Evil-Lyn, Sarah Michelle Gellar as Teela and Liam Cunningham as Duncan was great. And Mark Hamil chewing up the scenery as Skeletor? That's just the icing on a great cake.
We get more background on Teela, and the payoff the original series promised. We get some more background on Evil-Lyn which is also great, but I think it is different than in other versions of this franchise. No matter really, I know even less about those.
Personally, I am thrilled we got a kick-ass Teela and Evil-Lyn. I always felt that He-Man himself was the least interesting character in the franchise, though this one made me feel a little different about that.
I like where it ended for all the characters involved. But especially for Evil-Lyn.
No new season has been announced, but I like what I am seeing here to be honest.
I've always felt that the original cartoon was aimed squarely at LITTLE boys --- 4, 5, 6 years old. The bad guys are totally incompetent (with the odd exception of Merman), He-Man's friends and family are incompetent (and therefore need saving), and there's no problem He-Man can't solve with a transformation sequence, one punch of a wall, and an inane quip. It's the most self-gratifying and non-threatening vision of heroism possible.
ReplyDeleteIt was very 80s morality. I was already "too old" for the market of this show when it was on back then. But I will confess this was a nice nostalgia trip.
ReplyDeleteI haven't had a chance to catch part two yet (probably what I'll do with my Thanksgiving), but I freakin' loved the first half of the season. I'm looking forward to seeing where things go following that cliffhanger from earlier in the year. And I haven't heard anything about future seasons, either... but I sure hope there's a plan for more.
ReplyDeleteI was the same way. Never a big MOTU but I really enjoyed this version of the cartoon. I can't speak to the older versions of Evil-Lyn but I'm a huge fan of this one. The others are done well too. I definitely like this version but it's not for the younger kids. I hope for a third season. This is a good jumping on point. Hope they keep it going. Some of the other MOTU animated features just don't do it for me. Glad to see others like it as well.
ReplyDelete