Memories #4 - Queen Marlena figure?

In an effort to make a note of all my He-Man and She-Ra childhood memories I've decided that every once in a while I will make reference to them here! There is no particular order to these; just amusing little anecdotes from years gone by.

I remember being in school one day in 1984 and we were lining up to go into class. Back then the Masters of the Universe toy craze was ridiculous; it was all the kids talked about! One kid in the line was remarking to the others that he owned a Queen Marlena action figure. All the other kids called him a liar, but part of me wanted to believe him. They never made a Queen Marlena figure, but as we know, King Randor would appear, much to the surprise many of us...


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The Royal Palace once more...

In the first episode of The New Adventures of He-Man, "A New Beginning", we see the Eternian Royal Palace in all its glory. It is clear that the artists looked to the Filmation show for inspiration, at least with the initial entrance. However, here the Royal Palace does not look that inviting, and is somewhat grim in its appearance. Much like the homage to Filmation's Snake Mountain in the same episode, this could be any old background. That said, it is nice that they decided to pay homage to the original series.


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Memories #3 - Key-Man?!

In an effort to make a note of all my He-Man and She-Ra childhood memories I've decided that every once in a while I will make reference to them here! There is no particular order to these; just amusing little anecdotes from years gone by.

When I was a child I had to have my tonsils taken out; I believe it was 1984. As a gift for "being so good" my parents bought me the UK Masters of the Universe annual; the first one released with all the prototype images within. There was a kid in my ward who stated unequivocally that He-Man was actually called "Key-Man"! This kid was not playing about; this was his genuine belief. I wonder at what point in his youth did he realize the mistake. Anyway, the sad ending to this story is that I took a Man-At-Arms action figure into the hospital with me, to keep me safe; sadly I forgot about him and left him behind!


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Skeletor's muscles!

Here are an amusing couple of images from the She-Ra season one episode "Of Shadows and Skulls". The first image is very much in-keeping with Filmation's style of animation. However, when Skeletor frees himself it becomes all-too apparent that the animator is having a field day drawing Skeletor. Not only do we get incredible definition rendering on Skeletor, making him look super-buff, but we also see his belly button! It also appears that Skeletor has chest muscles where most men do not! For some reason this just makes me chuckle every time...


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Memories #2 - Moss Man leapt over a fence!

In an effort to make a note of all my He-Man and She-Ra childhood memories I've decided that every once in a while I will make reference to them here! There is no particular order to these; just amusing little anecdotes from years gone by.

I was the first kid in my class to have a Moss Man action figure, and yes, he still smelt of luscious pine. One lunch time we were playing with Moss Man in the school's playing fields, specifically near the trees and shrubbery, because, of course, Moss Man could naturally camouflage himself amongst all that greenery! At one point my "friend" decided to see how high he could throw Moss Man. Unfortunately he threw Moss Man up in the air at an angle. Subsequently my new action figure ended up going over a fence and into the garden of one of the houses that backed onto the school. I sadly never saw Moss Man again...


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Skeletor's human guards.

One of the oddities seen during the first episode of The New Adventures of He-Man, "A New Beginning", is that Skeletor's throne room within Snake Mountain is guarded by two human guards. During the course of the Filmation series we saw Skeletor flanked by random villains, but none were ever this human or subservient. Also note that they have very strict uniforms bearing a skull-like emblem.


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Memories #1 - Road Ripper?

In an effort to make a note of all my He-Man and She-Ra childhood memories I've decided that every once in a while I will make reference to them here! There is no particular order to these; just amusing little anecdotes from years gone by.

On the backs of the Masters of the Universe minicomics they would list all the action figures at the bottom in bold, with a star next to some to indicate they would be "coming soon". I distinctly remember looking at the names and being incredibly puzzled by the name Road Ripper. I actually thought it was an action figure! I remember trying to figure out what kind of character Road Ripper would be. A few months later I would discover that it was a garish green vehicle with a rip cord...


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TWENTY-SEVEN years ago at 4.20pm...

It's hard to believe, but at 4.20pm today on the 5th September 1983, some TWENTY-SEVEN years ago, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe had its WORLD premiere in the UK! Oddly the series wouldn't premiere in the USA until September 26th. The first episode aired was naturally the pilot episode "Diamond Ray of Disappearance". In celebration of that day I thought it would be cool to not only show off some very interesting storyboard pages from the episode, but also a bunch of deleted scenes, and random pieces of information about the episode from my recently published He-Man and the Masters of the Universe book!

Firstly, I present the first twelve pages of Robby London's draft script. You will notice that the Diamond Ray of Disappearance is merely called the "Diamond of Disappearance" throughout. No mention of the word "ray", even in the title! Also, in these pages you will discover where Prince Adam lost King Randor's Zoom Chariot! Oh, and Orko is still Gorpo at this point in production...




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Next are some storyboards, illustrated by the fantastic Bob Kline. You will notice the numerous additional scenes during the fight between He-Man and Trap Jaw. And check out the incredibly cool rendering on the art during the brief fight between He-Man and the rock beast.



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Here are some interesting pieces of trivia that you may or may not know.

* In one of Robby London's earliest drafts the Diamond Ray of Disappearance was called the Lost Stone of Souls.

* In this script the Evil Warriors are referred to as the "Masters", harkening back to the early notion that the villains were the "Masters of the Universe"; a phrase that pops up in the original pilot introduction, and the episodes "Like Father, Like Daughter" and "Colossor Awakes".

* At some point the original master of this episode was damaged. Subsequently all video and DVD releases throughout the last few years are missing the scene in which a vase falls on Orko's head, deflecting the Diamond Ray's blast, enabling him to escape.

* When He-Man first enters Castle Grayskull he stands silently before the Window of Spirits. If you listen carefully you can hear him say in reference to the Sorceress, "Maybe we can reach her in the Window of Spirits!" The line is present in the storyboard, but the volume of the vocal track is too quiet.

* This episode is one of three that was used in the direct-to-video movie, "The Greatest Adventures Of All", which it should be noted was shown as a premiere at the Mann's Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles.

And finally I present two images of Trap Jaw deleted from the episode which were to take place during his fight with He-Man. The first image which shows him frowning is an animation cel with matching background that I proudly own. The second illustration I took the original line art, colored it, and positioned it over a sky background so you can see how the shot would've looked in the episode.


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I hope you enjoyed this little tribute to the episode that started it all!

Snake Moutain once more...

In the first episode of The New Adventures of He-Man, "A New Beginning", we see Snake Mountain in all its glory. It is clear that the artists looked to the Filmation show for inspiration. However, the magic and overpowering sense of evil that was evident in the Filmation show is not apparent here. This could be any old background. That said, it is nice that they decided to pay homage to the original series.


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That's not Cringer...

We see a glaring error in issue fifty-three of the UK Masters of the Universe comic. The text in the box that accompanies this panel states that Cringer alongside Orko will act as rearguard, and yet we clearly see Battle Cat in the illustration. No doubt that the reason for this error was the fact that these UK comics, at least from issue fifty onwards, were translated from a foreign source. This is why the dialogue in these issues can seem rather stilted at times...


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