TheOriginOf.com

HE-MAN

March 30, 2007 – 2:03 pm

HE-MAN

He-Man known as “The Most powerful Man in the Universe” is a fictional character in the toy series “Masters of the Universe”. When the toy line made by Mattel did exceedingly well, Mattel with an eye on increased sale, asked Filmation, an animation studio to produce a cartoon series based on the toys. Thus “He-Man and the Masters of Universe” was born. He-Man first appeared in He-Man and the Masters of the Universe # 1 “Diamond Ray for Disappearance” in September, 1983. He-Man was voiced by John Erwin in the original series, Gary Chalk in “The New Adventures of He-Man” and Cam Clarke in the 2002 version of the cartoon.

Filmation produced an excellent first season of He-Man by putting in hard work. They used advanced technology to create realistic animation of character movements. The stunning artwork by background artists and the music by Shuki Levy, Haim Saban and Erika Lane was appreciated by all. At that time “He-Man” was clearly distinct from any other cartoon. He-Man is shown as Prince Adam of planet “Eternia” and has a magic sword. With the help of magical sword Adam can transform himself into very powerful He-Man and thus protect kingdom. He-Man gets his power from the Mysterious Castle Greyskull.

To transform into He-Man Adam has to draw his Sword of Power given to him by the Sorceress and utter the phrase “By the Power of Grayskull. I have the Power.” He also has the ability to transform his friend Cringer into his steed Battlecat. His main enemy, Skeletor, is always plotting to conquer Eternia and to control Castle Greyskull.

The show became immensely popular and the sales of “He-Man” toys produced by Mattel increased at a tremendous rate. When planet Eternia was threatened centuries ago by the twin forces of Hordak and the Snake-men who wished to dominate the planet, Grayskull, the warrior king of Eternia fought them. He had superhuman strength and powerful magic, with help of which he defeated Hordak but lost his life in the battle as well. His powers are transferred to his sword, which is taken into possession by the first Sorceress of Grayskull. After many years Keldor, brother of King Randor of Eternia fights for throne and is badly wounded. Hordak, now a spirit offers him assistance which Keldor accepts and is transformed in a skull-headed Skeletor. Then the sword which has been guarded by her and her predecessors till now is given by the current Sorceress to Prince Adam to save the kingdom.

A total of 130 episodes of “He-Man” in two series of 65 episodes each were made by Filmation. 77 more episodes of “She-Ra” (his twin sister) were also made. The first series had very good quality, which deteriorated at a very fast pace in the second series. After seeing the success of “He-Man” other manufacturers began the process of making cartoons based on their toys. In a span of two years the market for syndicated cartoons became saturated and overcrowded. Along with other programs, He-man also took a hit and its popularity started decreasing. Group W Productions, who owned Filmation, sold the studio to the French cosmetic giant, L’Oreal. L’Oreal was not interested in doing any animation; they just wanted the European rights of Filmation’s past products including He-Man.

The entire production staff of Filmation was fired in a single day. So, on February 3, 1989 any chances of further production of “He-Man” series were reduced to almost zero. In 2002, latest line of Mattel toys was released in sync with new cartoon that was aired by Cartoon Network. It didn’t survive for more than three years.