Modulok attacks Teela!

The Masters of the Universe minicomic "The Treachery of Modulok!" features an abundance of small action-packed panels! In these few panels we see Teela confront the villainous Modulok, the star of this particular minicomic. I like the fact that Modulok refers to Teela as the "warrior goddess", something that was pretty much abandoned when the Filmation series came about, even though in this comic her look is clearly based on the cartoon! I also like the third panel in which we can see Modulok strike Teela numerous times, with lots of little points of contact indicated!


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Disappearing hearts trick.

The underappreciated season one She-Ra episode "Bow's Farewell" is one of my favorites. It features a pretty unique story which primarily takes place in Twigget Village, features an impressive set piece with She-Ra, Swift Wind, and one of Etheria's moons, and presents Bow as a valuable and clever member of the Great Rebellion! Throughout the episodes there are also quite a few notable moments of nice direction. In particular, during the opening battle between Bow and the Horde Troopers, we see him use his tricks to escape capture. One of his tricks involves using flashpowder to disappear. A great touch on one such instance has the dissipating smoke form beautiful heart-shaped imagery!



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Man-At-Arms versus poster glue!

Here are some more wonderful storyboard panels illustrated by Tom Sito from "The Greatest Show on Eternia". While the final scene in the episode was pretty well animated, the expressiveness of Man-At-Arms in these panels has to be seen to be believed. The third panel with Man-At-Arms throwing the bucket full of poster glue to the ground is fantastic! Notice that Orko is drawn without any ears; this was actually something many of the storyboard artists did in their boards...


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A brief review #021 - "The Royal Cousin"

As many of you will know, in 2010 I published The unofficial cartoon guide to He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. At 300+ pages the book features 700+ pieces of trivia, 460+ deleted scenes, 360+ examples of animation reuse, 380+ quotes, 50+ abandoned episodes, and a LOT more! It is the book that NO fan of the Filmation series can live without! BUY IT NOW!

As an incentive, here is my brief review and rating (as they appear in the book) for "The Royal Cousin"...

Robby London not only manages to include a great deal of character development in this script, but also turns in an enjoyable action-packed story; featuring a small, but great cast of characters. Prince Jeremy has to be one of the most dislikeable characters to have ever appeared in the series. It is a testament to both the writing, and the voice acting of Erika Scheimer that he also has one of the most believable character turns. The story itself is thoroughly entertaining with Evil-Lyn enjoying her time in the spotlight. As the episode progresses it is interesting to see how each character reacts to Jeremy; and that in itself is what makes the episode better than most. 6/10

Now, may I ask; what is YOUR rating?

Wraparound differences #7

Here are some more examples of how the wraparound segment from "She-Ra Unchained" featured vastly different footage when retelling the events of "Beast Island". The images on the left are from the episode "Beast Island" showing the moment when He-Man is freed from his chains by Kowl. However, as you can see in the images on the right, in the wraparound from "She-Ra Unchained", He-Man actually breaks the chains himself with no help from Kowl.



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FREE animation art giveaway!

Have you ever wanted to own a piece of He-Man and She-Ra history? Now is your chance! Until the 29th of January 2012 (one week from now) you can win a free He-Man or She-Ra animation cel by contributing your comments to this very Blog! See the rules listed on the image in this post. As I type this people have already started commenting...


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Forward's faces.

In his storyboards for the season two He-Man episode "Into the Abyss" artist Bob Forward would illustrate beautifully detailed panels, and balance them out with extremely comical panels. Here are two panels that make me chuckle, mainly due to the way in which he has illustrated both Man-At-Arms and Prince Adam in close-up.


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Prince Adam's medallion?!

In a previous post I mentioned a panel that featured a gray-haired Teela from "Skeletor's Surprise", a story from issue one of the UK Masters of the Universe comic. Something I did not highlight in that previous post I will now highlight here. Obviously in this panel Prince Adam's look is somewhat different to what we are used to, but most interesting of all is that he is sporting a medallion! Oddly, due to the way in which the artist has illustrated his jacket, the look kind of works...


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Wraparound differences #6

Here are some more examples of how the wraparound segment from "She-Ra Unchained" featured vastly different footage when retelling the events of "Beast Island". The images on the left are from the episode "Beast Island" showing Shadow Weaver taking the Sword of Protection from an unconscious Adora. However, as you can see in the images on the right, in the wraparound from "She-Ra Unchained", even though the first shot is the same, the special effects are not as exposed, and the second shot of Shadow Weaver holding the sword is from a less dramatic angle.



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Beast Man turns up the heat.

Here are a couple of beautifully illustrated panels of Beast Man by Rich Chidlaw from the storyboards to the season one He-Man episode "The Region of Ice". The rendering of the villain in these panels is superb, as is the cross-hatching and grey marker shading. Looking at these panels you would think that the final scene would actually have shadows, but sadly Filmation opted to keep the basic flat colors on show.


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Coloring Orko like 1996!

Back in 1996, working on a computer to create unique graphics was quite a challenge. Adobe Photoshop was still in its infancy, and computers were not versatile as they are now. In the early days of the He-Man and She-Ra on-line community we would create images to keep each other entertained. One of the earliest images I created was by using Paint Shop Pro to recolor Orko. Of course that image is incredibly small that it would not be worth displaying on this Blog, so I have lovingly recreated the image!


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Wraparound differences #5

Here are some more examples of how the wraparound segment from "She-Ra Unchained" featured vastly different footage when retelling the events of "Beast Island". The images on the left are from the episode "Beast Island" showing the moment Adora confronts Hordak and Shadow Weaver as she learns the truth, with Shadow Weaver sending her to sleep with a spell. However, as you can see in the images on the right, in the wraparound from "She-Ra Unchained", the angle is much less dramatic for the confrontation. It is actually amusing to see how tiny Hordak's throne is in this shot. Also, in the following shot, the sleep spell Shadow Weaver places on Adora is formed of a green mist.



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Light Hope's outside appearances.

Light Hope rarely ventured outside of the Crystal Castle in the She-Ra series. Although he appeared in various locations in the season one episode "The Stone in the Sword", those particular locations were still inside the Crystal Castle. His first notable appearance outside of the castle was as a glowing star in the season one episode "Treasure of the First Ones". His second outside appearance occurred in the season two episode "When Whispering Woods Last Bloomed", in which he appeared to She-Ra in his more familiar form.


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Bob Forward's relaxed companions.

Here is a lovingly-illustrated panel from the storyboards for the season two He-Man episode "Into the Abyss" by Bob Forward. Much like the famous transformation sequence in this episode, Robert Lamb's script did not call for this character set-up. It appears that when storyboarding this episode Bob Forward was clearly in a creative kind of mood! The best thing of all is that this panel was beautifully translated to the screen.


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Wraparound differences #4

Here are some more examples of how the wraparound segment from "She-Ra Unchained" featured vastly different footage when retelling the events of "Beast Island". The images on the left are from the episode "Beast Island" showing the scene in which a Horde Trooper steals a horse from a family. However, as you can see in the images on the right, in the wraparound from "She-Ra Unchained", the shots were directed from very different angles, resulting in a much more simplistic look.




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Evilseed arrives!

Here is a beautiful piece of layout artwork from the episode "Evilseed" by the late great Fred Carrillo. This piece was illustrated to give the storyboard artists and director a sense of how the scene may play out. This scene was wonderfully directed in the episode, and this illustration is incredibly atmospheric.


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He-Man and Night Stalker?

In this illustration from issue fourteen of the Masters of the Universe Adventure magazine we can see that the colorist has mistakenly colored Stridor as Night Stalker. This is not the first time the robotic horse would receive a unique paint job. Search through this Blog and you will find another questionably-colored version of Stridor!


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Wraparound differences #3

Back in 2006 I showcased how the wraparound segment from "Beast Island" featured alternative footage when retelling the events of "Into Etheria". Some six years later I thought it would be good to showcase the wraparound segment from the following episode "She-Ra Unchained", and how it features vastly different footage when retelling the events of "Beast Island". The image on the left is from the episode "Beast Island" showing He-Man struggling to break free of his chains. However, as you can see in the image on the right, in the wraparound from "She-Ra Unchained", it shows a much more expressive piece of animation as He-Man attempts to break free!


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Poor Dragoon...

Quite a while ago I revealed that the original ending to the season one He-Man episode "Dawn of Dragoon" had the villain Dragoon fall into the Bottomless Hole of Trolla, never to be seen again. This was changed at the eleventh hour to have He-Man and Battle Cat team-up to save him. Here is another page from the original ending showing He-Man and Battle Cat briefly discussing Dragoon's demise...


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Bow's beard?

Here is a fascinating piece of layout artwork from the season one She-Ra episode "Beast Island". In this illustration we can see that the artist has illustrated Bow with a beard! And no, before you ask, it is not a fake beard. The artist clearly did not have a completed model sheet of Bow, or was simply illustrating the character from memory. Either way, it makes for a striking find. Notice also that the heart emblem on his armor is missing. Having drawn a large cross on the image, the head of layout has also written a note at the top of the illustration saying that the artist needs to "see correction"...


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FILMATION ART: Mystic Mountains.

For the last fifteen years I have collected He-Man and She-Ra animation artwork. As a result I have amassed a pretty large collection! Here I present a piece of original background artwork from the He-Man episode "Eye of the Beholder". Even though I have never been a fan of this particular episode, this one single image always stood out to me, as we see the beauty of the Mystic Mountains. Aside from the wonderful detail this artwork is beautifully colored with pinks and purples highlighting the various rock formations that work their way up the mountain. One of the things I love most about this piece is the small gathering of clouds around the summit, indicating just how tall this mountain is!


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And here is how the background was used in the episode...

YEAR SEVEN BEGINS! :)

It is hard to believe that this Blog is entering its seventh year! The scary thing is, as I type this, there is no end in sight! I guess as a "celebration" of sorts, let us look at the old banners that have adorned this long-running He-Man and She-Ra Blog!

2006

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2007

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2008-2009

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The current Snake Mountain-revolving banner has worked well since 2010, so I have no real intention of replacing it just yet...