He-Man and the Masters of the Universe: Volume One (review)

By the power of Numbskull! I remember the cheesy cartoon of the same name from way back when I was a kid, but this is not it: this is even cheesier. Apparently, someone decided the story of the adventures of the supernaturally strong blond adonis lunk had not been told properly in the 1980s, and demanded to be retold. So here are 13 episodes from 2002 -- these versions are expanded from what originally aired on Cartoon Network -- about the young and dumb Prince Adam, scion of the royal family of the planet Eternia(TM), where the Mystic Wall(TM) holds back evil (which comes in the form of monsters each of whom is, it seems, a reincarnation of one of the Three Stooges, except with claws and Crayola-colored fur), until it doesn’t anymore. And then the Sorceress(TM) of Castle Grayskull(TM) turns Adam in He-Man. Or something. And he fights the Stooge monsters. A lot. The only thing surprising in the least about this collection is how seriously it takes itself: there are audio commentaries here, for pete’s sake, as if there’s anything deep or hidden to be explored in the simplistic, even boneheaded stories on offer. Oh, and there are also animatics and image galleries, as if the animation was at all worth exploring in depth. Wow. [buy at Amazon]

(Technorati tags: He-Man and the Masters of the Universe)