From 2002-2003 Mattel revived He-Man and The Masters of the Universe both into a new cartoon and toy line.
When the series first came to DVD there were complaints that chunks from episodes were missing and that the cut wasn’t very good.

The Complete Series offers all 39 episodes in wide screen format, with an approximate cost of $15.00.  The set comes in a large clam-shell case with four disks popped into the center of the case. The disks are sadly packaged in CD-ROM sleeves made of paper with a clear plastic center. Cheap–yeah, however, you can always spend a few dollars and get a case that is the same size to take the box art page and standard clips on the inside with a “butterfly” that can hold the remaining disks.

The disks themselves have nice art featuring some of the minor characters. As luck would have it, all of the episodes played, so it’s not made all that cheap.

The first season features a minor retelling of the fiction behind He-Man and Skeletor and the set finishes with multiple “Snake Men” stories which were not as good as the more classic stores featuring He-Man versus Skeletor.

The art itself is beautiful and resembles Anime. The amount of action to story is great, however, there is a lot of wire-foo and showboating from the characters which slows the story down after a while.

The best aspect is the fact that the minor characters are touched on a whole lot more than they were in the 80’s cartoon which gives them more depth than they once had.

There is not a proper ending to the series and the last episode of the show is rushed along by battles being skipped (probably because the viewer knows the outcome anyway) and is so focused on the “Snake Men” that Skeletor and his group are shown cowering in a very quick scene. To me, it’s disappointing.

For the fans of He-man, I do recommend this set if only to enjoy the episodes featuring Skeletor which most are well-written and animated. The voices are great and the deeper story into the characters is welcomed.  I do know that there are a lot of fans out there of the “Snake Men” and to your disappointment, the opening credits do not include the He-Man versus The Snake Men beginning.

Still, it’s a good show and I enjoyed it to the point where I watched it in 2 days.

GRADE: B

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