No Surrender Cinema: Masters of the Universe: Revelation (S1 Eps6-10)
(This edition of No Surrender Cinema contains spoilers for Masters of the Universe: Revelation Part 2. If you hate that sort of thing and haven’t seen every episode of the series yet, come back when you have!)
By the Power of Grayskull, it’s a special Thanksgiving edition of No Surrender Cinema! Can the good guys take back the power that was stolen by Skeletor? Part One of Masters of the Universe: Revelation left us on a cliffhanger where ol’ boneface left Prince Adam for dead and assumed control of the Power Sword, turning himself into a Skelegod. The time has now come to stop hanging on that cliff and to enter Eternia to see if He-Man will ever return and lead the battle to make things right!
The second half of Revelation picks up where we left off; Prince Adam has been mortally wounded by a power-mad Skeletor, who spent the majority of Part One feigning his death. While friend and foe alike were busy banding together to restore the magic to Eternia, ol’ Skelly was hiding out inside of Evil-Lyn’s magical staff, and has just caused Adam to die at his hands… that is until The Sorceress uses what’s left of her magic and sacrifices herself to ensure the safety of Adam, Teela, Andra, and Cringer. The four are whisked away, but with Grayskull’s guardian as his latest victim, Skeltor/Skelegod appoints Evil-Lyn as the new Sorceress so that she can share his newfound power, and he then sets out to slaughter all those who don’t bow down to him.
Unfortunately for Skeletor, Teela has discovered her untapped potential to make magic happen, and saves Adam from death. Another magical moment, shown in the original trailer for Part 2, sees Prince Adam show that the Sword of Power isn’t necessary to turn into something more powerful, and he evens the odds by transforming into a savage version of his stronger form. The Savage He-Man is essentially a barbarian version of the Savage Hulk; he can dispatch all of his enemies in a furious rage, but it’s not the easiest job in the world to calm him down, as his friends soon find out. It’s not until the quartet are reunited with King Randor and Queen Marlena that Savage He-Man settles down long enough to become Adam again, and the remaining heroes start to plot how they can take back Grayskull.
Speaking of Grayskull, things aren’t going so smooth over there. Showing that there is no honor among thieves, a jaded Evil-Lyn steals the power from Skeletor and grows mad, promising to destroy everything in her wake. Lyn is so intent on going scorched earth that she even destroys MOTU’s version of the afterlife, Preternia, which means heroes like Moss Man and King Grayskull wind up dying for a second time! Now THAT’S evil. This sets up the unlikely alliance of Adam and Skeletor, who enter into a battle with God-Lyn while Andra and Teela rescue Man-At-Arms. God-Lyn, with Beast Man by her side as a larger, more beastly creature, raises the dead from Subternia, led by Scare Glow, and the Evil Warriors begin to overwhelm the Eternian army… until friends like Buzz-Off, Stratos, and a reincarnated Orko help them overcome the odds. In the midst of the epic confrontation, Adam once again takes hold of the Sword of Power, taking the battle between God-Lyn and Beast Man to the next level.
Although I won’t give away many details about the full ending of Masters of the Universe: Revelation, I feel like a lot of it was telegraphed and can be easily guessed. It truly amazed me that the first five episodes that were released this summer were so divisive, causing people that claimed to be lifelong MOTU fans to freak out and disown their favorite franchise for “screwing things up”. People forget that this was a ten episode journey, not a five episode one, and it’s far from the “Woke Teela Show” as many worried it would be. One of the best things about Revelation is that it gives so many of the secondary characters depth that they never had in previous installments. Evil-Lyn’s backstory shows why she is ready to bring certain doom down upon everyone. Her alliance with Beast Man gives him purpose while keeping him subservient, as he was to Skeletor before her, but since when did Beast Man of all people make poignant speeches? That may have been the biggest character twist in the entire series (I’m half kidding about that).
While we do get the evolution of Teela and the revelation(!) of something that has long been hinted at, the spotlight isn’t solely on her. He-Man is back in his normal form to lead the Eternian forces into battle against the undead and settle his differences with Skeletor once and for all. I would go as far to say as the show isn’t about any one character per se, but more about one thing; Castle Grayskull and the magic and power within it. We see what it does to our noble prince and the courageous Teela, and how it poisons power-mad Skeletor and Evil-Lyn even more. The magic is the main focus, and the battle of good vs. evil with the power at stake ranks right up there with the live action encounters we’ve seen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Speaking of battles, the thing that I got most excited for here happened during a battle in the dungeon of Grayskull. As Teela set out to save her father, she and Andra were attacked by a few familiar goons. Spikor and Clawful were around in the Filmation days, it was the appearance of Blade from Cannon’s Masters of the Universe live action film that made my Cannon loving heart happy. He wasn’t the only one making his animated debut here (Both Goat Man and Pigboy were presented as bumbling flunkies here for the first time in cartoon form), but his appearance showed how Kevin Smith and company have opened up Revelation enough that it goes beyond it’s connection to the original MOTU cartoon and encompasses the 1987 film, children’s books, and comics.
There were so many people claiming disappointment and saying that Part One had turned them off, and I do hope those people suck it up and check out Part Two. The writing enables characters that have long been seen as supplementary to shine as centerpieces of the story, consequences can and do happen (RIP for now, Fisto and Clamp Champ), there are enough Easter Eggs to keep MOTU maniacs like myself happy and hooked on what’s coming next, and a twist in the final moments leaves the door to Eternia wide open for Netflix to bring us a sequel to this series sooner than later (I hope!). So this Thanksgiving weekend, after you’re done binging on turkey and pie, sit back on the couch and binge on the second half of Revelation.
All ten episodes of Masters of the Universe: Revelation are now streaming on Netflix.
