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DVD Review: He-Man and the Masters of the Universe: Season 2, Vol. 1
by R.J. Carter
Published: June 3, 2006
Once upon a time, in a faraway realm fondly called "The Eighties", there was a thing called weekday afternoon cartoons. And chief among these were the adventures that took place in a world of science and sorcery, on the distant planet of Eternia.
Eternia was populated by a number of varied and interesting people -- some of them good, like King Randor, Queen Marlena, Prince Adam, Man-at-Arms, and Teela; and some of them evil, like Skeletor and his many minions like Beast Man, Webstor, Evil Lyn, and Trapjaw.
Fortunately, the good guys had a powerful friend among them in Prince Adam, who could magically transform into the most powerful man in the universe: He-Man! Yes, it was a silly name, and to be honest we had to wonder why no one could recognize him since both Prince Adam and He-Man looked nearly identical (for that matter, so did his partner in fighting, Battlecat, who was the 'fraidy-cat Cringer when in civilian life.)
He-Man and Battlecat greet their friends, Teela, Ram Man,
and Man-at-Arms, after sealing a demon into its prison.
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The second season of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe allowed for the writers to really open up and let loose, creating a multi-layered universe of characters and relationships that went beyond most other half-hour adventure cartoons that competed with it. We learn the origin of the enigmatic Sorceress, who guards Castle Grayskull, in a story written by Babylon 5 and Amazing Spider-Man's J. M. Straczynski. Science fiction veteran D.C. Fontana delivers up the story of how Cringer came to be Battlecat. Characters who had formerly been just background material suddenly became more fleshed out: we learn that Queen Marlena was actually a lost astronaut from Earth, that the Sorceress is Teela's mother, and we find King Randor's long lost father, King Miro.
This volume packages the first thirty-three episodes of the second season on five discs. The sixth disc is loaded down with special features, including two documentaries. The first featurette brings together many of the writers and storyboard artists to discuss their history with He-Man. The second focuses more on the history of Filmation, a small animation company comprised of three men and a mannequin, who managed to finally get into the big time by faking a production company to DC Comics' Mort Weisinger in order to win the contract for the Superman syndicated cartoons. There's also access to art and scrolling-text profiles of thirty characters, each with a playable clip spotlighting the character.
The viewer can elect to play all the episodes or select them individually. The menu for the latter features a list that, when selecting an episode, displays any additional options (such as commentary) that the episode may have. It also refreshes the episode synopsis at the top of the screen without having to go to a new page to do so. Now, you could press play at this point, but it's worth the extra step to go to an episode's chapter menu. It is here that you will get "Orko's Fun Facts", a set of trivia about the episode selected.
An embossed slipcase holds a fanfold disc storage case. The fully exposed interior is set so that the images on the discs meld with the image on the background. The opposite sides show scenes from the series, including the information of what episode the scene came from. These scenes are such that the pieces that would have been in motion are glossy against the flatter scenery, just like a cel.
The case stores more than the six discs, though. There is a four-page episode guide, and two high-quality postcards with characters from the series as rendered by some of today's top artists. This particular copy has a full-cast scene by Emiliano Santalucia and another of Teela getting carried away by Beast Man, done by Frank Cho. All the cards have bio information on the back by Andy Mangels, who also hosts the commentary tracks and produced the bonus features.
Content and presentation are forged together perfectly to make this precisely the kind of set that makes DVD collector's giddy.
Audio settings can be set to either English or Spanish, Dolby Digital.
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe
Season Two, Volume One
Disc Guide
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Disc 1
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Disc 2
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MU066 - The Cat and the Spider
-- optional commentary with Andy Mangels and Larry DiTillio
MU067 - The Energy Beast
MU068 - Day of the Machines
MU069 - The Gamesman
MU070 - Fisto's Forest
MU071 - The Rarest Gift of All
MU072 - The Great Books Mystery
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MU073 - Origin of the Sorceress
MU074 - Island of Fear
MU075 - To Save Skeletor
MU076 - The Ice Age Cometh
MU077 - Trouble in Trolla
-- optional commentary with Andy Mangels, Larry DiTillio, Lou Scheimer and Erika Scheimer.
MU078 - Betrayal of Stratos
MU079 - Disappearing Dragons
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Disc 3
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Disc 4
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MU080 - The Shadow of Skeletor
MU081 - The Arena
MU082 - Attack from Below
MU083 - Into the Abyss
MU084 - Fraidy Cat
MU085 - The Rainbow Warrior
-- optional commentary with Andy Mangels, Tom Sito, Tom Tataranowicz, and Dave Teague.
MU086 - A Trip to Morainia
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MU087 - Things That Go Bump in the Night
MU088 - Three on a Dare
MU089 - Just a Little Lie
MU090 - One for All
MU091 - Jacob and the Widgets
MU092 - The Littlest Giant
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Disc 5
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Disc 6
Special Features
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MU093 - Trouble's Middle Name
MU094 - Journey to Stone City
MU095 - A Bird in the Hand
MU096 - Battlecat
MU097 - The Time Wheel
MU098 - Search for the Past
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Documentary Features
-- The Stories of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe - Part III (31:51)
-- The Magic of Filmation (32:44)
Character Profiles
Animated Storyboard (MU093 - "Trouble's Middle Name")
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe Scripts
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