Masters of the Universe: Revelations- The Forge at the Forest of Forever

 "We saved the world... didn't we."

Oh my. It's weird that this is (for now) only five episodes long, but this is a proper season finale and no mistake.

So much happens. The quest narrative moves to Preternia, a kind of good place Eternians go when they die. But this is more of a Valhalla than a Heaven, full of hunts and machismo and old heroes like He-Ro and wise old King Grayskull. But Adam stands out- of all the legendary heroes, only he chooses his weaker form. 

There are good character scenes between Teela and Adam, but we have no clue until the end how dramatic things are going to be. Roboto's death is a very big, very emotional scene. Adam's decision to return to Earth to help his friend, knowing he will sacrifice all chance of returning to afterlife, is moving. 

But it seems as though all is well. Adam speaks the words we know so well, and magic returns to Eternia.. and then it happens: Skeletor, unsuspectedly hiding in Lyn's staff, returns, and fatally stabs Adam mid-transformation. All is lost, and it's a bloody good cliffhanger.

More please. How long do we have to wait?

Masters of the Universe: Revelations- Land of the Dead

 "Oh, bollocks..."

This episode is, perhaps, a little more formulaic than its predecessors in that it has our prtagonists on a quest in Hell- more of a Hades really. Here they are tested by Scare Glow, played by the great Tony Todd and, I've just discovered, one of the last classic toys released, at the same time as the movie characters. And it's all, really, about Teela facing her fear, namely that Adam never really trusted her.

There's some good stuff here, not least Orko's background and the revelation that his self-esteem issues stem from his upbringing. He has an increasingly nice bond with Evil Lyn, perhaps the wisest of all the characters. It's good to see Trollia. And the ending is, of course, splendidly shocking. But this felt more like a space-filling middle episode than most.

Still, that's only a relative criticism in an impressive series, and the characterisation continues to impress.

Masters of the Universe: Revelations- The Most Dangerous Man in Eternia

"I don't know why I thought the lady named Evil-Lyn would be nice..."

Another rushed evening, so blogging this.

I've never read any Joseph Campbell, and probably never will: I tend to take a dim view of overly reductive classification of mythical narratives into quests, hero's journey or any of that. Taken too far it shrinks the world of story to be smaller than it should be. This episode, however, is blatantly part of an overall quest narrative and also features a reconciliation, of sorts, between father and daughter.

Kevin Smith, of course, is far too clever not to be meta about this. Theres rather a lot going on, and not just the witty dialogue ("He-Man had the sense of humour of a teenager who didn't get out much"). There's Man-at-Arms being the typical old ex-hero who refuses to get back in the saddle, nicely subverted by Roboto. There's the splendid Evil-Lyn's gloriously cynical advice to Andra and Teela as she regrets wasting her life with Skeletor and, more broadly, a realigning of allegiances across the board. The conveniently easy definitions of good and evil are gone.

This is good stuff- well-written and acted. I'm enjoying the He-Man vs Skeletor flashbacks at the start of each episode, too.