'Masters of the Universe: Revelation' Part 1 web series review: A fitting return to form for He-Man

Created by: Kevin Smith

Cast: Chris Wood, Mark Hamill, Sarah Michelle Gellar

Score: 3.5 stars

If anyone remembers the original He-Man cartoon, or any comic book, or even that strange, campy 1987 film with Dolph Lundgren, you know how the series typically plays out: Skeletor hatches a plan to seize Castle Grayskull, and sometimes even succeeds, but is always thwarted by He-Man.

In that regard, Masters of the Universe: Revelation is rather similar - for the first few minutes anyway. Skeletor lays a siege of Castle Grayskull using an actually semi-competent plan, and He-Man thwarts him, again, only to realise that Skeletor was aiming for something far more important than the Castle itself. The result? Eternia ending up on the edge of destruction.

The story of Revelation is something you've probably seen scattered all over various pieces of media. By and far, while it does do the job at bringing the world of Eternia to a more modern dispensation, it does not do a lot that can be considered truly unique, preferring to skirt around the edges of taking inspiration from other sources and adding them to itself, but that is mostly fine since this is essentially just one half of a whole.

Where the series shines, however, is in its characters. At a very minor expense of the story, Revelation puts every single character front and centre, both on Skeletor's team and on He-Man's, with a particularly strong focus on Teela, Evil-Lyn, Orko, and surprisingly, Skeletor himself.

Particular focus is laid on Teela and her relation to all that is in Eternia, having being disillusioned in the battle for Grayskull. The entire series, at least so far, has been her journey to reclaim what was lost, both for the world and herself personally. Everyone else, be it Evil-Lyn or Orko or Roboto, are all essentially riding on the back of her growth, growing in character themselves.

As for Skeletor, it's extremely rare to see him have an actually competent plan with sufficiently competent execution, and for once, he feels more menacing than he has ever been before. This Skeletor knows how to use He-Man's strength against him, quite literally, which is key to his formidable presence in the show. That and Mark Hamill's voice acting, which is remarkable.

On the flip side, however, Mark Hamill is also a big weakness for Skeletor. Hamill's voice acting, though ever-powerful since his days as the Joker, is just that. Skeletor...sounds an awful lot like the Joker, which feels rather jarring. People who have not seen the animated Batman series won't be bothered, but those who have might notice more than a few similarities in the voice that goes beyond Hamill's performance.

But those are just minor nitpicks. In terms of overall voice acting, the series does bring back the memories of the original animated show in a way that only rewatching it can do. It has a sufficient balance of nostalgia and modernity that elevates the entire presentation, alongside the animation that just oozes classic He-Man with an updated flourish. Chris Wood has the ideal a powerful tone as He-Man and a lighthearted one as Prince Adam, while Sarah Michelle Gellar does a wonderful job at bringing Teela to life. The rest of the cast, too, is nothing to sneeze at.

Overall, Masters of the Universe: Revelation is more than a worthy successor to the original series. It fits the bill for what He-Man should be while bringing forward much of the world to a more grounded realm while remaining true to its fantastical roots.