Grayskull: Masters of the Universe - Part 2

[Thundarr]

Do we wanna integrate She-Ra into this franchise?

I actually would like to see them do it.

By the fourth movie they're gonna need something different to keep the fans' interest up. You can't just give them more of the same over and over again. Since Hordak was the primary villain on She-Ra's show, it makes sense that if you're going to introduce him into the fourth He-Man movie, you should introduce She-Ra/Adora as well. As long as it's well written, the fans will eat it up.

 

[Pink Ranger]

Just for fun's sake (as I doubt this will ever become a long-term film franchise) I would actually use the Horde in movie #3, and save the Snakemen for later. Thereby we could get She-Ra established in #3, and in a theoretical film #4 you could have He-Man and She-Ra teaming up.

 

[Thundarr]

Just for fun's sake (as I doubt this will ever become a long-term film franchise) I would actually use the Horde in movie #3, and save the Snakemen for later. Thereby we could get She-Ra established in #3, and in a theoretical film #4 you could have He-Man and She-Ra teaming up.

That could work too. Then again, after watching Michael Bay's first Transformers movie I wasn't sure that it would become a major film franchise either. Now, years later, he has four Transformers movies out, and I think I read somewhere that he has plans for a fifth. So you never know.

 

[rogue trooper]

Mainly because of the European markets, they had to tone down a lot of things that could have been considered scary. Also why there are so many non-Skeletor episodes too.

Different times I suppose. I think Filmation's Flash Gordon was on TV in the late 70's/very early 80's. By the time He-Man came on, 1983, villains had to be "Evil but harmless" to keep from frightening the kids. At least that's my best guess.

All very likely. Filmation was also the most restrained animation studio as far as content, I believe.

 

[Jordacar]

I'm not gonna lie: the main reason I want a He-Man movie is so we can eventually get a She-Ra movie. It's such a bummer that one has to follow the other.

 

[Airwings]

Four films sounds too much. I don't know if it's possible to keep up the interest for that long. We're talking about 8-10 years here.
But MCU has succeeded doing just that, so maybe...

 

[Airwings]

I'm guessing Hordak? I'd save him for the fourth film.

1st Movie: The origins of Skeletor and He-Man. Skeletor and his henchmen are soundly defeated.

2nd Movie: Skeletor gathers some additional henchmen, becoming an even greater threat. He-Man nearly loses the battle but pulls out a victory at the last moment.

3rd Movie: Skeletor is defeated by King Hiss, who takes over Snake Mountain. He-Man must team up not only with Zodak to defeat the snakemen, but also forge an uneasy alliance with Skeletor as well.

4th Movie: Skeletor, his forces depleted due to the invasion of King Hiss and his snakemen, joins forces with Hordak and his army. Enter Prince Adam's long lost sister Adora, who transforms into She-Ra: Princess Of Power.

That's how I see the movies playing out at least.

You're guessing right. It's Hordak.

And Skeletor actually has enough henchmen to fill two films with him as main villain. And when he returns in third and fourth, he could still have found new ones.

 

[DawnWarrior]

1st Movie: The origins of Skeletor and He-Man. Skeletor and his henchmen are soundly defeated.

2nd Movie: Skeletor gathers some additional henchmen, becoming an even greater threat. He-Man nearly loses the battle but pulls out a victory at the last moment.

3rd Movie: Skeletor is defeated by King Hiss, who takes over Snake Mountain. He-Man must team up not only with Zodak to defeat the snakemen, but also forge an uneasy alliance with Skeletor as well.

4th Movie: Skeletor, his forces depleted due to the invasion of King Hiss and his snakemen, joins forces with Hordak and his army. Enter Prince Adam's long lost sister Adora, who transforms into She-Ra: Princess Of Power.

Not bad. I personally want to see She-Ra sooner though, so my layout is a little different:

3rd movie: Marketed as a spin-off, Prince Adam travels to Etheria, where he discovers Hordak is alive and well and has taken over the planet. Adora becomes She-Ra and helps the rebels win a decisive battle against Hordak's forces.

4th movie: Adora & Adam travel to Eternia to check in with the king and queen. Hordak chases them there and tries to team-up with Skeletor. That's the first part of the movie; Adora soon heads back to Etheria to help the rebels, and that's the rest of the movie.

5th movie: He-Man fights King Hiss.

I know that could turn out to be awkward as hell once She-Ra's in the picture and the movies have to split time between her and He-Man, but I just want my She-Ra movie already.

Four films sounds too much. I don't know if it's possible to keep up the interest for that long. We're talking about 8-10 years here.
But MCU has succeeded doing just that, so maybe...

Hey, if it happens, it happens. No one expected The Fast & the Furious would spawn six sequels and a theme-park ride.

 

[TheVileOne]

Obviously you want more movies, but you have to put everything into making sure the first movie takes off.

 

[Thundarr]

Obviously you want more movies, but you have to put everything into making sure the first movie takes off.

True. I'm sure the producers of the 1987 movie thought that they were going to have a string of sequels on their hands (hence their teaser ending), but their first movie wasn't strong enough to spawn any sequels.

But if the writer from the Thor movies puts as much thought, effort, and creativity into the MOTU movie as he did the first two Thor films, I'm sure we'll have nothing to worry about.

 

[the_ultimate_evil]

The main problem with this is the to backers sony and mattel. Songs not gonna throw a load of money at an untested franchise and mattel will want complete control over every little detail. Thank Christ that a certain brand manager has buggered off



As for things like the horde and snake men, yes save them for the sequels but they just can't be introduced they need to be woven through the film and backstory. Spoken in flash backs to king grayskull etc

 

[Lord]

Wasn't there a storyline in the comics where He-Man goes back in time and fights ancient Snake men? Maybe it would be better to have the snake king as part of a time travel story instead of having him resurrect.

That could work too. Then again, after watching Michael Bay's first Transformers movie I wasn't sure that it would become a major film franchise either. Now, years later, he has four Transformers movies out, and I think I read somewhere that he has plans for a fifth. So you never know.

Realy? The Transformers franchise was much bigger than He-Man's, wasn't considered as much of a joke and had Spielberg backing it up, that film was a sure hit imao.

 

[Pink Ranger]

I'm not gonna lie: the main reason I want a He-Man movie is so we can eventually get a She-Ra movie. It's such a bummer that one has to follow the other.

In some ways you are correct, but I've always felt that in today's market She-Ra is more marketable as a standalone property than He-Man is. As a standalone property, She-Ra is basically Disney Princesses but with more action-adventure and a stronger storyline (i.e. the characters actually exist in the same time and place, unlike Mulan and Pocohantas for example).

Theoretically, you could actually launch She-Ra as a successful standalone property. Just make Adora's origin more mysterious, that she's a child from another world without specifying which one. She doesn't have to gain the Sword Of Protection from He-Man, she could get it from Lighthope, or just pull it out of a lake or a rock or something.

 

[Lord]

She-Ra's also an easier name to market, i mean, He-Man's......what it is, which is why most market his brand as "Masters of the Universe" instead, but then again, Master of the Universe is itself an easier name to market than She-Ra.

 

[Pink Ranger]

Also, girls still play with physical toys these days, whereas boys graduate to gaming quite quickly. And with a girl's property, you have more product variation: dolls, doll accessories, plushes, costumes and costume accessories, casual gaming, miscellaneous branded accessories. If I was working at Mattel, I would seriously consider re-launching She-Ra by itself as a serious moneymaker.

 

[Thundarr]

Wasn't there a storyline in the comics where He-Man goes back in time and fights ancient Snake men? Maybe it would be better to have the snake king as part of a time travel story instead of having him resurrect.



Realy? The Transformers franchise was much bigger than He-Man's, wasn't considered as much of a joke and had Spielberg backing it up, that film was a sure hit imao.

Are you talking about the original show/toy line? Because as I recall they were both about equally loved by the kids at that time (I should know, I was one of them). Both shows had an element od silliness to them, though I'll admit MOTU at the time was maybe a little sillier. But as for popularity, I'd put them about equal.

Now when it comes to the movie, first off it had Michael Bay's finger prints all over it (slow-mo panning shots, explosions everywhere, etc). And I found Shia Lagoof's acting to be horrendous. I also didn't care much for the way Sam and his parents were written. Now the movie had some FANTASTIC VFX, but great effects don't necessarily make for a great movie. Just ask anyone who suffered through the Star Wars prequels.

 

[Pink Ranger]

Transformers has had a much longer life cycle as a property though. Even when the original series ended, toys were still being made, then you had the Beast Wars canon, then came Robots In Disguise, and on and on and on.

He-Man basically died when the original cartoon died. She-Ra was more or less its own property at that point, the movie was kind of a flop, practically nobody remembers Galactic He-Man anymore, and the 200X line and series, while excellent, bombed as a commercial franchise.

Transformers has the advantage of basically being about fast cars and being set on Earth, while He-man is really abstract by today's standards. Otherworldly fantasy is a really risky property to handle, for every Lord of the Rings you've got a Conan, John Carter and Dungeon Siege.

 

[Lord]

Are you talking about the original show/toy line? Because as I recall they were both about equally loved by the kids at that time (I should know, I was one of them). Both shows had an element od silliness to them, though I'll admit MOTU at the time was maybe a little sillier. But as for popularity, I'd put them about equal.

Well, i wasn't born in those times, neither did i grow up with those cartoons, i actualy find He-Man realy terrible for it's time, expecialy when compared to stuff that was killing it outside the USA at the time, like Saint Seiya, Heidi, etc. But as Pink Ranger has said, Transformers has had a longer sales cycle than He-Man, He-Man's came and went like a lightbolt, i believe there's even a book about the rise and fall of the brand.

Regarding their silliness, the thing is that "He-Man" by itself isn't a nae that can be easily taken seriously, don't get me wrong, Transformers is silly by itself (cars transforming into robots is inherently silly), but there's a reason He-Man has become such a large target for gay jokes. Transformers also had better animation than He-Man and lasted for longer, then after Generation 1, you had the whole Beast Wars brand, even when the franchise wasn't as successful, it still had those animes that gained some popularity at their time. He-Man's revival in 2002 was well liked by old fans but was not a comercial success.

Transformers realy is easier to make a hit of, you have a neat concept of robots who disguise as cars, with He-Man, the concept is harder describe, it's pretty much a merging of different concepts, both science fiction and high fantasy.

Now when it comes to the movie, first off it had Michael Bay's finger prints all over it (slow-mo panning shots, explosions everywhere, etc). And I found Shia Lagoof's acting to be horrendous. I also didn't care much for the way Sam and his parents were written. Now the movie had some FANTASTIC VFX, but great effects don't necessarily make for a great movie. Just ask anyone who suffered through the Star Wars prequels.

Dude, i never said the Transformers films were good, i just argued that the franchise was easier to turn into a hit, expecialy with the first film being godfathered by Spielberg himself.

 

[Airwings]

with He-Man, the concept is harder describe, it's pretty much a merging of different concepts, both science fiction and high fantasy.

To make it work, they would have to put a lot of effort in it even if it's risky.
Get a director who is passionate about MOTU and the characters, not someone who follows the studio's every bid.

Wasn't there a storyline in the comics where He-Man goes back in time and fights ancient Snake men? Maybe it would be better to have the snake king as part of a time travel story instead of having him resurrect.

No, it won't be better.
The resurrection is part of MOTU cannon. Skeletor brings some of the Snake Men back from limbo, as he believes he could have an even better chance to defeat He-Man. But Kobra Khan betrays Skeletor and join forces with King Hiss.
Hiss is a warlord in his own right. And he has an agenda of his own.
I would say he's the more powerful of the two. That's why Skeletor later on must fight alongside the good warriors to take him down.

Another thing that's bad with a time travel story is that it will alter the course of history. If Snake Men were defeated by He-Man (and some of his allies) back in ancient times, Eternia wouldn't be as devastated as it was, and then not as easy for Hordak to invade.
And without Hordak, there wouldn't be any Skeletor. It wouldn't be any reason for Greyskull to transfer his powers to a sword either, and no reason for a Sorceress to protect the castle for centuries.

3rd Movie: Skeletor is defeated by King Hiss, who takes over Snake Mountain. He-Man must team up not only with Zodak to defeat the snakemen, but also forge an uneasy alliance with Skeletor as well.

I would rather see this in the second film.
The question is if King Hiss is too powerful even for He-Man and that it's Zodak who should give the final blow to the snake king.

 

[Lord]

Is there anything from new Adventures of He-Man that should be put into the film series if has more than a single film? Or should it mostly take the concepts from the original mini-comics with the plots from the 2002 cartoon and the comics?

 

[TheVileOne]

I have nothing against New Adventures, but there is really nothing there you want as the basis of your film other than that there are other planets, galaxies, villains out there.

 

[Thundarr]

Is there anything from new Adventures of He-Man that should be put into the film series if has more than a single film? Or should it mostly take the concepts from the original mini-comics with the plots from the 2002 cartoon and the comics?

I think it should mostly be a retelling of the 2002 series with elements from the original mini-comics and the current comic series.

New Adventures strayed so much from the source material that it hardly resembled He-Man at all.

 

[terry78]

Keep Orko. You lose Orko, I will boycott the **** out of this flick.

 

[Jordacar]

I think a crucial ingredient to making this movie is the filmmakers being able to shamelessly embrace the sillier and more outlandish elements of the mythos while balancing that with the solid, unsanitized, bone-crunching story that we all want.

And that means the movie needs Orko.

 

[the_ultimate_evil]

anyone reading the dc comic run at the moment, it had its moments like the cross over with the JLA and some terrible moments with

Spoiler

orko turning out to be the big bad while possessed

but the current run with He-Man: The Eternity War is bloody superb