MASTERS OF THE UNIVERS: REVELATION (L to R) MARK HAMILL as SKELETOR and CHRIS WOOD as HE-MAN in episode 101 of MASTERS OF THE UNIVERS: REVELATION Cr. COURTESY OF NETFLIX © 2021
Rob David and Tim Sheridan both grew up with Masters of the Universe toys in their toy boxes. Now they have made it a milestone in their career. The two are collaborating on Masters of the Universe: Revelation, the much-publicized revival of the 1980s animated series Filmation. The show hits Netflix on July 23.
David cut his teeth writing for children’s television series including Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go !, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Robotboy before landing his position as vice president of creative content for the toy company Mattel. behind Masters of the Universe. He is executive producer and co-creator of the new series, alongside executive producer / showrunner Kevin Smith.
Sheridan is already riding a wave of success in 2021, having written the script for the animated films Batman: The Long Halloween, Parts I & II, Transformers: War for Cybertron Trilogy and Superman: Man of Tomorrow. Here he gets exclusive credit for the fourth episode of the series, one of the most important. As a gay man himself, Sheridan also brings a queer lens to the material, bringing to the fore existing LGBTQ themes that have made He-Man something of a gay icon (not to mention a viral sensation). .
Masters of the Universe: Revelation picks up shortly after the original 1980s series ended and aims to elevate the material to a more adult level. When the evil Skeletor (voiced here by Mark Hamil) launches an attack on Castle Grayskull, Prince Adam (Chris Wood) raises his magical sword to become the He-Man Champion again. Although he manages to defeat Skeletor again, his victory comes at a high price as all the magic in the universe is lost and the planet Eternia is plunged into apocalyptic chaos. He-Man’s friend Teela (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and Orko (Griffin Newman) form a difficult alliance with Skeletor’s lieutenant Evil-Lyn (Lena Heady) to try and restore balance in the universe before the death of Eternia.
We sat down with David and Sheridan to discuss the new show, He-Man’s tongue-in-cheek, enduring gay fanbase, and fulfilling their lifelong dream of bringing a more grown-up tone to the series. . Masters of the Universe: Revelation debuts on Netflix on July 23.
So I know that both of you are avowed fans of He-Man. Rob, I know Masters of the Universe is a big property for Mattel, legacy property, if you will. When you were presented with the idea of a darker interpretation of the material, did you hesitate?
RD: Not much from me. If anything, I had to be removed. My work at Mattel is outside the realm of toys. I work in the entertainment side of the business; my background is in writing television for children and families. Before we did Revelation, I wrote the comics for DC. Part of that, because it was specifically an older audience, we could do some very upsetting and disastrous stakes. Speaking of doing a show with Ted Biaselli on Netflix, we had a wonderful breakfast at Comic-Con in 2018. We said, “Wouldn’t it be great to do a show for the adult fans? We knew we could do it in a way where the characters were as deep as we’d always imagined, and storylines that had stakes and realism that matched the idealized version of Masters of the Universe that we all had in mind.
MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE: REVELATION (L to R) GRIFFIN NEWMAN as ORKO, TIFFANY SMITH as ANDRA, SARAH MICHELLE GELLAR as TEELA, JUSTIN LONG as ROBOTO and LENA HEADEY as EVIL-LYN in episode 103 of MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE: REVELATION Cr. COURTESY OF NETFLIX © 2021
Why the choice to make a sequel to the original series rather than a clean reboot?
RD: Personally, because we’re talking to people who grew up in the original series. They have been waiting for the elements of the story to pay off for almost four decades. There was also a Mattel show produced in 2002 [that rebooted the series]. It was also simultaneously trying to appeal to the fans who grew up with the original. It happened at a certain point in the story, and then it ended. There were still some parts of the story that didn’t pay off. We have another He-Man show that we’re doing with Netflix that caters to the next generation of fans. They will have Prince Adam whom they will meet for the first time. But for this show, we’re talking directly to people who grew up with the original. We just wanted to say here are the toys where you left them. Just pick them up and keep going.
TS: I’m glad you said that about the toys. Funny, I can’t find this series darker. The way I played with toys as a kid, I feel like that’s what we tried to bring to life. There were always high stakes for me when playing with the toys. I think you can look and say it’s darker [than the original series], but it’s not darker than the way I played with the toys.
RD: I agree with Tim. The other thing that I hope will happen Revelation is that they are real heroes. Sometimes heroes are all the more heroic the more they have to overcome. And at the end of the day, these people really care about each other. They love each other. That’s why we care about the stakes. They are good people in difficult situations. One thing we wanted to do was deconstruct some of these characters and put them back together. There are two characters Tim just brought out of the park: Evil-Lyn and Orko. I hope I am not advancing here …
A little, but please carry on.
RD: Without spoiling anything, there is an episode where Orko and Evil-Lyn take center stage and it has some of the most beautiful and enlightening dialogue that sells these characters in incredible ways. The script has arrived and Kevin [Smith] texted me have you already read it !? And he sent me a picture of him crying.
MASTERS OF THE UNIVERS: REVELATION (L to R) GRIFFIN NEWMAN as ORKO in episode 101 of MASTERS OF THE UNIVERS: REVELATION Cr. COURTESY OF NETFLIX © 2021
Wow.
RD: He was reading Tim’s script. Anyone who thinks Kevin’s tears are for public consumption only, they are rightfully moved by this stuff.
TS: He’s also crying in no time.
[Laughter]
TS: He’s a wonderful man.
It’s a great setup. Tim, I invited you here for several reasons, the first being that you wrote my favorite episode of the show. You bring dimension to the characters in a powerful way. Orko, for example, gets a level of depth we’ve never seen before – he’s a far cry from the goofy wizard from the original series. How do you go about developing these layers?
TS: Well first, thanks for saying that. Let me say this show is a team effort. What you are seeing is the product of a group of people. I think Orko and Evil-Lyn are the characters I identify with the most. I feel Orko, who always strives, but does not always succeed in heroism. And Evil-Lyn is just a fabulous diva. When I sat down to work on the episode, we just heard that Lena Heady was going to play Evil-Lyn. I immediately ran over to my computer and rewrote all of his dialogs to it. I don’t know Lena, but I know her work. Something magical is happening: I knew what she could do because I had seen her so many times. So I didn’t need to hold back. She could sell him and make him human. So if Evil-Lyn and Orko work, I have to thank Lena and Griffin.
The voice expressed here is exceptional. The other sneaky thing you do is top notch fan service. Again, without giving anything away, you introduce some characters that were produced as toys, but never included in the original TV series. How do you go about integrating them?
TS: The first meeting we had – Rob, correct me if I’m wrong – I feel like Kevin asked “What’s the character you’ve never seen and want to see on the show?” ? ” Without wasting a moment, Ted said “Scareglow”. So we knew from that moment that Scareglow was coming. I think for me having a black slate in a way allowed me to approach Scareglow and say what is he talking about. It’s a great thing about Masters of the Universe that if you look at a toy you immediately know what its “thing” is – the theme of the character. With Scareglow, relying on fear as a motivating force was the quick understanding we had of him. The other thing that was really funny was the concept of the shiny: his fascination with things that shine. It can mean a lot of things.
RD: I have to intervene on this. The fear aspect of Scareglow is really important. Often times when taking these characters you want to be true to the basic concept. But you also use them because of how they work in terms of story and broader themes. The fear was really important. What we are trying to do with Revelation is to take the concept of empowerment – the theme that makes the Masters of the Universe ever green – and expand it to show how we all have power. Adam has always portrayed this, but now we have the chance to dramatize this for a wide range of characters. The sword of power has always been a metaphor for a key to unleashing inner strength. You can use it to transform the world. And the barrier to that is fear – fear of the outside, fear of the inside. So when you have that dynamic in play, inviting Scareglow into our story as a person to embody that in a key way, I can’t wait for people to see this moment.
MASTERS OF THE UNIVERS: REVELATION (L to R) TONY TODD as SCARE GLOW in episode 104 of MASTERS OF THE UNIVERS: REVELATION Cr. COURTESY OF NETFLIX © 2021
TS: If I can “yes and” Rob for a second. The Classic Era – much of it is about the secrets of our identity.
RD: Secrets of Greyskull.
TS: Secrets that we keep from our family, friends and ourselves. When we walked in and looked at this from a modern point of view and where we are in our lives, we said, “What are these secrets that we keep – our” fabulous secret powers. – what if we keep …
