The New Adventures of He-Man Volume One (1989)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: B+ Episodes: C+
After
looking at the original series, here is the Volume One release of the 1990 Season of The New Adventures of He-Man.
For those unfamiliar with the He-Man series, here is a slight wrap
up. He-man premiered from Filmation
Studios in 1983 and ran until 1985 under the title He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, running for a total of 130
classic and epic episodes. In a way to
pull fans back into the He-Man universe, in 1989 the production of a new series
continuing the He-Man storyline went underway with the updated title The New Adventures of He-Man. In this series He-Man is summoned to the
future to save a planet known as Primus from the invading mutants of the
neighboring planet Denebria. When
traveling through the time-rift into the future He-Man is followed by his old
Nemesis Skeletor. Once in the future,
Skeletor allies himself with the evil mutants in a plot to overtake planet
Primus. With his magic sword by his side
He-Man ventures into a new and strange world, in order to protect the freedom
and lives of a planet in need.
The New Adventures of He-Man on the whole is quite good, but
not as good as He-Man and the Masters of
the Universe (nor did it receive as large of a fan base); this does not
mean the show should be dismissed. The
animation is not always as detailed as the Masters
of the Universe series, but does display interesting characters unique to
this new He-Man animation branch.
Skeletor is not as dark and twisted in this series and is often
portrayed in a comical manner, which is disappointing. Where as He-Man characters have always been
slightly hokey, this series at times takes too many liberties with serious
action heroes and villains. Though the
series characters are not as great as Masters
of the Universe and the animation is not as detailed, The New Adventures of He-Man does go above and beyond Masters of the Universe in the areas of
continuity and storyline. The original
series was quite sporadic and lacked continuity, often dismissing past actions
and events for the purposes of new story arches. The
New Adventures of He-Man, however, breaks the stories into large chunks
which may include up to 5 or 6 episodes focusing on one story. Also little is every forgotten and often
times events are referenced again later.
Continuity is not something that was focused on greatly in animated
series until recently, with such series as Justice League using this
technique. In many ways this animated
series if nothing else was ahead of its time.
The
technical aspects of this 6 Disc, 33 episode collection are not great but
suitable. The picture is presented in an
adequate 1.33 X 1 Full Screen. The
picture quality varies at points, definitely showing wear and tear and to some
degree debris particles. It seems that
the original animation masters were used for this transfer, but as is seen with
many cartoons of the 1980s not great care was always taken in storing
them. The picture quality by no means is
horrible, but just a slight reminder of that if not careful these animated
classics can be easily damaged. The
picture quality, outside of the slight debris, does seem light and fuzzy at
times but overall the colors remain vibrant.
The sound is presented in a simple Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo that does
have some issues with occasionally sounding distant but on the whole nice. The extras for this quite large, Volume 1 set
are some of the best this reviewer has seen on an animated television series
set.
Fans of
the series are in for a huge treat with not one but two brand new documentaries
on the series, featuring a documentary on Creating
The New Adventures of He-man in which writers, artists, and experts
discuss in good depth the behind the scenes action. The other documentary entitled The Comic Book Adventures of He-man and the
Masters of the Universe, takes viewers on an epic tale through the years
in both the comic book and animated arena and how He-man conquered all. The 6-Disc set also comes with 2 collectible
4 X 6 exclusive He-man art cards, presented on thick cardboard. The list of extras goes on to include such
great elements as 50 detailed character profiles, an Art Gallery, Commercial
Bumpers, Trivia and Fun Facts, and lots more.
The creators of this series and DVD Set truly took the fans into
consideration on this one, and the best part
the spine of this DVD Set slipcase
continues the He-man mural started in 2005 with He-man and the Masters of the Universe: Season One-Volume One.
Though
the series does not live up to its predecessor, it definitely has its own
unique qualities and moments of greatness.
For fans of He-man this series will pull you right back in, having
ageless feel and allows viewers to be a kid again; though I could still have
done without the end public service announcements. Go buy this, you will have fun
BY THE POWER OF ETERNIA!
- Michael P Dougherty II
