Masters of the Universe (film)
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| Masters of the Universe | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster. |
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| 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 James Tolkan Christina Pickles |
| Music by | Bill Conti |
| Cinematography | Hanania Baer |
| Editing by | Anne V. Coates |
| Distributed by | Warner Home Video, Cannon Films |
| Release date(s) | August 7, 1987 |
| Running time | 106 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $17,000,000 (estimated) |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Masters of the Universe is a 1987 science fiction/fantasy film based on the toy line by the same name. The movie stars Dolph Lundgren as He-Man and Frank Langella as Skeletor. Other actors include 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 after the popularity of the toy line and cartoon had peaked.
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[edit] Production
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This section does not cite any references or sources. (March 2008) Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. |
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, as the level of special effects technology at the time would have not allowed for the character of Orko to be created. Dolph Lundgren had to perform all of his own stunts as there were no stunt doubles available who matched his size and build. The movie was originally planned to take place in Eternia, but the location was changed 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 latter character utters at one point, "I've been waiting a long time for this." However due to the character's limited screen time this 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 Castle 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 appears 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 form the key to Castle Grayskull, 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, after Sylvester Stallone refused an offer to star as He-Man, 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. Furthermore, Skeletor is depicted as having a large army of apparently robotic black-armored 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 is his modus operandi in other depictions. In addition, He-Man uses laser guns in some scenes, which He-Man never does in the Filmation animated series, although the original toyline and minicomics include several gun-themed accessories that He-Man uses, 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 is consumed in the series by characters including King Randor, with no indication that Teela is disturbed by it. There is no mention of Teela being the daughter of the Sorceress of Castle Grayskull.
Other examples of differences in the adaptation include Beast Man speaking in grunts and growls that only Karg can understand, Evil-Lyn utilizing far less sorcery than usual, and her portrayal as a more loyal advisor to Skeletor who hopes to share his power than a witch who looks to overthrow him (though she does abandon him before the final battle at the end of the film). Other differences include Teela relying entirely on high-tech firearms, and the general aesthetic redesign of all the characters and locations by French artist Moebius, including the Power Sword and Castle Grayskull.
[edit] Plot
The movie begins 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 upon 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 into Grayskull and attempt to free the Sorceress but as they are surrounded by Skeletor's soldiers, Gwildor randomly opens a portal to Earth, allowing He-Man and his friends to escape. On Earth, the team split up to search for the 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. Though it has never been said officially in the movie where on Earth He-Man and his friends landed, and no clear indications or hints were made in any scene obvious to all as to where they could possibly be, the director Gary Goddard during the commentary of the film on DVD confirmed indirectly that they are to be somewhere in Los Angeles, California.
The movie 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
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] Reaction
With a budget of $17 million, the movie grossed $17,336,370 in the U.S., and an additional combined $1.5 million in Germany and Australia.[2] It is referred to as a "flop" by Variety magazine[3], and has a 22% fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.[4]
[edit] Sequels
[edit] Aborted attempts
- Cannon Films intended to create a sequel, which is indicated after the end credits when it is revealed that Skeletor in fact survives his fall. The idea was abandoned when Cannon wouldn't pay for Mattel's fees and the production used the already-made costumes and sets for the improvised action movie Cyborg.
- 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.[5]
[edit] 2009 film
There is a He-Man and the Masters of the Universe movie currently in production, produced by Joel Silver and written by Justin Marks. The film will reportedly employ visual effects to a large degree, as was done with 300.[3] An alleged script has been leaked of a potential movie script for a new movie .[1][2]
[edit] References
- ^ Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed #75
- ^ Box Office/Business information for the film at the Internet Movie Database.
- ^ a b "He-Man Returning to the Big Screen" superherohype.com/Variety; May 24, 2007
- ^ Masters of the Universe at Rotten Tomatoes
- ^ Clint Morris, Fox2000 no longer has the Power of Grayskull, Moviehole, November 30, 2006.
[edit] External links
- He-Man.org
- Masters of the Universe at the Internet Movie Database
- Masters of the Universe at Allmovie
- New Gods Tidbits - John Byrne on the film's connection to New Gods
- Comics2Film - History of Proposed New Film
[edit] Official sites
- Dolph Lundgren - He-Man (Flash)
- Robert Duncan McNeill - Kevin
- Anthony De Longis - Blade
- Director - Gary Goddard
- Executive Producer - Edward R. Pressman
- Production Designer - William Stout
[edit] Interviews
- As It Began - William Stout Interview
- Comic Art & Graffix Gallery - William Stout Interview
- Comic Zone - William Stout Interview (Windows Media Player)
- Filmwerks.com - Albert Pyun Interview
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