(Most of these are originally from
this thread)
Not just Paul Dini... a lot of people who would go on to be big names later got their start on He-Man. Bruce Timm was also involved with it, as was J. Michael Straczynski.
Filmation's stuff in general was golden, and its always legit fun to show their work (particularly Bravestarr) to people who think 1990s cartoons were the first ones to do this or that thing.
Also as much as it led to some of their issues (like recycled animation), I gotta respect the company's commitment to making sure everything they made was produced on American soil (with the exception of a Zorro cartoon that they had to outsource because they literally did not have enough animators to make it in-house on schedule).
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Stinkor was literally never in the cartoon at all, because Filmation's writers thought he was a stupid character.
On that note, I kinda see what you mean--if you're looking at the franchise as a whole, yeah its pretty clear there were several people who had their own idea of what Masters of the Universe even was.
That's why I made the comparison to Lord of the Rings earlier. A lot of what made Tolkien's work special was Tolkien himself, and removing him hurts the work. Same deal with Filmation cartoons--the minute you see a version they weren't involved with, it immediately takes a nosedive. To be fair, some of those versions can at least be interesting fanfiction, but they always wind up feeling like they lost everything that made Filmation's versions great.
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Dude. How many cartoons are there where a hero and villain can just sit down and have a conversation? I've seen modern cartoons that do that, but its always in shows like Sonic Boom where its clear from the outset the "heroes" and "villains" aren't really all that opposed anyway, and the show itself is clearly not meant to be taken seriously.
In this case though? Evil-Lyn is a recurring character from day one, and its quite clear that, goofy as Skeletor can be, he and his minions have been a problem for awhile. So episodes that say she's got more going on than "evil for evil's sake" spark the imagination. I immediately got the idea that she has trust issues but is also desperate for companionship (how quick she was to save Teela from that sandworm and didn't even
try to play it off as a "because I still need you" thing speaks volumes).
Heck, shows for
adults often have a problem of writing "evil for the sake of evil" villains. I recall people praising the Nolan Batman films as being high art... and yet their grasp of any sort of meaningful theme or characterization is being trounced by a kids cartoon from 1983.
The depth doesn't stop there.
I myself just re-watched that episode and was shocked at all the little details I forgot. First, the good wizard dude who calls for He-Man and Teela at the beginning of the episode is actually from another episode, "Wizard of Stone Mountain" (where he had to be saved from demonic temptation and admits he used to have a thing for Teela). While you can watch this episode stand-alone and enjoy it, this is a show where the more you know, the more it adds to your understanding of events.
Oh, and there's an episode in Season Two that is a direct sequel to this one, where evil fat turban wizard guy is still a slug and tricks another wizard into undoing the spell.. then specifically guns for Evil-Lyn after that. This tendency for minor arcs to continue carries on into the She-Ra cartoon, which is part of why I count it and He-Man as being basically the same show. (examples:
He-Man episode.
She-Ra episode that continues the arc).
Even a minor element like He-Man's
mom is
given a backstory... which gets
called back to
more than once.
Then of course the planets of Eternia and Etheria themselves are given a lot that suggests a rich history (moreso in Eternia's case--the She-Ra series has a "rebels versus an empire" premise which, understandibly, means that you hear more about the Evil Horde than you do about the history of Etheria). I wish someone would make an open world game where you could explore these planets... as long as they don't do the boring Breath of the Wild thing where every legendary location is just a shrine or a korok seed.
Both shows also had awesome variety. One day it's
alternate dimensions, another day its "
they need this ancient dragon to save Man-at-Arms' life but the dragon will only do it if He-Man kills somebody for him." I also like that sometimes the shows are
serious and other times they're
funny, but lacking that "jarring tonal shift" quality modern cartoons can sometimes have (it helps that those aren't literally the same episode).
[NOTE: I'm not sure why the official youtube channel for She-Ra screws up their uploads. I had been using an alternative but this was a case where the alternative had an even worse screw up]
This is all one case where I feel like the Eighties Cartoon standard format of being more like short stories rather than being a continuous serialized story helps out. In serialization you often have to pick and choose what to focus on. The 2003 He-Man tried to be a continuous story and that meant we never got Queen Marlena being from Earth, never got Evil-Lyn having depth, we never got She-Ra
at all (though she was planned).... the short story format just gives writers more options, and makes the show feel more like a kid-friendly version of Robert E. Howard.
I like media that sets the imagination ablaze and gives me a lot I can sink my teeth into. That's rare to come across. Even the DCAU doesn't quite manage it to my satisfaction. These shows do.
And finally... the art and the soundtrack are fucking peak (unless you're really bothered by the stock footage, which I'm not)
That’s the only positive that fuck ass decade brought.
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