He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (1983)
130 episodes of Filmation muscle magic: Skeletor, Sorceress, Orko, and the most famous sword raising in cartoon history. The complete Eternia shelf, graded honestly.
Cast & Key People
Our Review
Filmation’s 130-episode syndication juggernaut, built to move Mattel action figures and sustained entirely by muscle bound Prince Adam raising a sword toward the sky. It is also one of the strangest cartoons of its era: a swords and sorcery show, laser swords and demon faced villains, that ended every single episode with an after school life lesson lecture.
The formula never varies and the formula rules. Skeletor is one of the great cartoon villains, half menace and half punchline, Alan Oppenheimer making every scheme delicious. Teela is secretly the real hero of the show, Orko is an acquired taste, and the 1985 episodes that finally answer who rules Eternia are some of the best Filmation ever drew.
Watch it in short sessions; 130 episodes of the same transformation sequence will break any adult. Netflix and Prime carry rotating masters-of-the-universe catalog slots; the complete series box set is the honest answer. 7 out of 10, most of that from the theme alone.
