Masters of the Universe (film)

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For other uses, see Masters of the Universe (disambiguation).
Masters of the Universe
Directed by Gary Goddard
Produced by Edward R. Pressman, Yoram Globus, Menahem Golan
Written by David Odell,
Stephen Tolkin
Starring Dolph Lundgren,
Frank Langella,
Meg Foster,
Billy Barty
Courteney Cox
Robert Duncan McNeill
Jon Cypher
Music by Bill Conti
Distributed by Warner Home Video, Cannon Films
Release date(s) August 7, 1987
Running time 106 min.
Language English
Budget $17,000,000 (estimated)
IMDb profile

Masters of the Universe is a 1987 science fiction/fantasy film based on the toy line by the same name. The movie starred Dolph Lundgren as He-Man and Frank Langella as Skeletor. Other actors included Jon Cypher as Man-At-Arms, Chelsea Field as Teela and Billy Barty as Gwildor, the short Thenorian inventor/locksmith.

The film was released in the USA on August 7, 1987 well after the popularity of the toy line and cartoon had peaked.

Contents

[edit] Production

Conceptual art for the film was provided by famed European comic artist Moebius.
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Conceptual art for the film was provided by famed European comic artist Moebius.

The character of Gwildor was introduced to replace Orko as the short mischievous side-kick to He-Man. The director confirms this on the film's DVD audio-commentary. Dolph Lundgren had to perform all of his own stunts as there were no stunt doubles available who matched his size and build. Meg Foster's portrayal of Evil-Lyn is somewhat different from portrayals in other media. In the movie, she is seen more as Skeletor's lover and advisor than a witch who looks to overthrow him. However, she still uses magic during the movie and eventually abandons him before the final battle of the movie. The movie was originally planned to take place in Eternia, but the location was set to Earth due to budget constraints. Most of the buildings seen in the movie were destroyed later by the 1987 Whittier Narrows earthquake. The writers intended there to be a continuing rivalry between He-Man and Blade as the character utters at one point: "I've been waiting a long time for this." However due to the character's limited screen time this possible subplot was never explored.

The character of She-Ra, He-Man's twin sister, was originally going to feature in the movie, and concept designs were drawn for her costume. However, she never made it into any drafts of the screenplay. The original draft was written in late 1985, right around the time She-Ra was launching. Earlier drafts of the script reveal that the Eternians are descendants of Earthlings, and feature a NASA space probe and US flag being found in the vaults of Grayskull, prompting the explanation that human life arrived on Eternia when it was colonized by a space exploration team from Earth's future. This scene appeared in the comic adaptation of the movie. The final battle between He-Man and Skeletor was financed entirely on Gary Goddard's own money, after studio bosses cancelled funding prior to the movie's completion. As a result, Goddard was unable to make the final battle as elaborate as he had originally intended. In the final portion of the fight between Skeletor and He-Man after the Havoc Staff is destroyed, Skeletor unsheathes and proceeds to duel with a virtually identical sword to He-Man's. Although no explicit point is made about this in the film, it would seem to be an obvious reference to the concept from the original toyline that He-Man and Skeletor each possessed one "half" of the Power Sword, coloured grey and purple respectively. Skeletor's quest to possess both halves (which formed the key to Castle Greyskull) was his major ongoing motivation in the earliest MOTU minicomics and DC comics, but was largely ignored in the more well-known Filmation cartoon's continuity. As Skeletor's costume was changed from purple to black in the film, his sword accordingly reflects this change in his colour scheme as well. The concept of a sword whose halves were each possessed by two enemies had previously been used in the BlackStar toy line and cartoon, which had also been produced by Filmation, with something similar appearing in Michael Moorcock's stories about Elric, a part of his larger Multiverse mythology. Dolph Lundgren was the first actor cast for the film while Frank Langella was the last actor cast for the film.

[edit] Adaptation

As with most film adaptations of serialised fiction like cartoons and comic books, the movie does not follow the continuity of the Filmation animated series and Mattel minicomics. Most significantly Prince Adam, He-Man's secret identity, is never depicted or even mentioned, despite being a major theme of the cartoon and comics. Similarly, there are no references to Orko, King Randor, Queen Marlena, Trap-Jaw, Mer-Man or many of the other major characters known from the series.

Gwildor with the movie versions of Man-At-Arms and Teela.
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Gwildor with the movie versions of Man-At-Arms and Teela.

Furthermore, Skeletor is depicted as having a large army of apparently robotic black-armoured soldiers at his command, something entirely unprecedented for MOTU's primary villain. This allows him to conquer Eternia primarily due to his military prowess rather than via elaborate mystical plans as was his modus operandi in previous depictions. In addition, He-Man uses laser guns in some scenes, which He-Man never did in the Filmation animated series, although the original toyline and minicomics included several gun-themed accessories that He-Man's used, such as in the minicomic The Fastest Draw in the Universe.

In the film, Teela is shocked and appalled at the discovery that the people on Earth consume meat, which she sees as "barbaric", when meat was consumed in the series by characters including King Randor, with no indication that Teela was disturbed by it. (Although Teela expressed animosity in an episode of the series toward a hunter who froze his captive animals in suspended animation, she did not condemn the practice of eating meat, and indeed, at the end of the episode, King Randor outlawed the practice of hunting merely for sport, but not for the purpose of food, with no mention by Teela that she was dissatisfied with this law.) However, in the film Man-at-Arms recognizes the practise of eating meat.

Other examples of continuity differences include Beast Man in grunts and growls that only Karg can understand, Evil-Lyn utilising far less sorcery than usual, Teela relying entirely on high-tech firearms, and the general aesthetic redesign of all the characters and locations by French artist Moebius, including features such as the Power Sword and Castle Greyskull.

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
Dolph Lundgren as He-Man
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Dolph Lundgren as He-Man

Masters of the Universe takes place on the world of Eternia in the aftermath of Skeletor's war on Castle Grayskull, which he has won after seizing Grayskull and the surrounding city using a cosmic key developed by the Thenorian locksmith Gwildor. The Sorceress (Christina Pickles) is now Skeletor's prisoner and he begins to drain her life-force as he waits for the moon of Eternia to align with the Great Eye of the Universe that will bestow god-like power on him.

He-Man and his friends, still at large, free Gwildor and discover that he still has a working prototype of the key. They break in to Grayskull and attempt to free the Sorceress but as they are surrounded by Skeletor's soldiers, Gwildor randomly open a portal to Earth, allowing He-Man and his friends to escape. On Earth, the team splits up to search for misplaced key, which has been discovered by a pair of teenagers named Julie (Courteney Cox) and Kevin (Robert Duncan McNeill). Unfortunately Skeletor is close behind.

The movie also features a few of Skeletor's better known lackeys, mainly Evil-Lyn (Meg Foster) and Beast Man (Tony Carroll). The movie also features new evil warriors such Karg (Robert Towers), a bat-faced imp, Saurod (Pons Maar), a reptilian marksman, and Blade (Anthony De Longis), a dual-sword wielding warrior.

[edit] Comparison with Jack Kirby's Fourth World

Frank Langella as Skeletor
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Frank Langella as Skeletor

Comic book writer/artist John Byrne once compared the film to Jack Kirby's comic book metaseries Fourth World, stating in Comic Shop News #497:

   
“
 "The best New Gods movie, IMHO, is ´Masters of the Universe´. I even corresponded with the director, who told me this was his intent, and that he had tried to get [Jack] Kirby to do the production designs, but the studio nixed it." "Check it out. It requires some bending and an occasional sex change (Metron becomes an ugly dwarf, The Highfather becomes the Sorceress), but it's an amazingly close analog, otherwise. And Frank Langella's Skeletor is a dandy Darkseid!"
   
”

Director Gary Goddard provided a commentary track for the film's DVD release which makes no such claim regarding any intent to produce a covert New Gods adaptation, though he clarified things in a letter appearing in John Byrne's Next Men #26 where he stated:

   
“
 "As the director of Masters of the Universe, it was a pleasure to see that someone got it. Your comparison of the film to Kirby’s New Gods was not far off. In fact, the storyline was greatly inspired by the classic Fantastic Four/Doctor Doom epics, The New Gods and a bit of Thor thrown in here and there. I intended the film to be a “motion picture comic book,” though it was a tough proposition to sell to the studio at the time. 'Comics are just for kids,' they thought. They would not allow me to hire Jack Kirby who I desperately wanted to be the conceptual artist for the picture…

I grew up with Kirby's comics (I’ve still got all my Marvels from the first issue of Fantastic Four and Spider-Man through the time Kirby left) and I had great pleasure meeting him when he first moved to California. Since that time I enjoyed the friendship of Jack and Roz and was lucky enough to spend many hours with Jack, hearing how he created this character and that one, why a villain has to be even more powerful than a hero, and on and on. Jack was a great communicator, and listening to him was always an education. You might be interested to know that I tried to dedicate Masters of Universe to Jack Kirby in the closing credits, but the studio took the credit out."
   
”

Brian Cronin, author of the "Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed" column, concludes that "the film itself was not intended to be literally a reworked Fourth World, although the intent WAS to make the film a tribute to Jack Kirby - just a tribute to ALL of his work, not just the Fourth World." [1]

[edit] Possible Sequels

Masters of the Universe was a modest success and Cannon Films intended to create a sequel, which was eventually turned in to the action movie Cyborg. While not receiving much appraisal from critics and often criticised as being a Star Wars rip-off, the movie is surprisingly well-regarded in He-Man's fan-community (for a low-budget sci-fi film).

A new He-Man movie directed by John Woo was reportedly being developed, but despite many rumors circulating around the Internet regarding the film's production status and casting, the project was never officially green-lit. The film rights to He-Man have reportedly since reverted back to Mattel[2].

[edit] Popular Culture

[edit] References

  1. ^ Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed #75
  2. ^ Clint Morris, Fox2000 no longer has the Power of Grayskull, Moviehole, November 30, 2006.

[edit] External links

[edit] Official Sites

[edit] Interviews

[edit] Dolph: The Ultimate Guide

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