Fantasy Masters of the Universe - Part 3

[wampa1]

Dark City and the Bat-flicks may have decent writing but they're absolutely not the tone a MOTU movie should be aiming for. I don't think Goyer has it him to capture that 80s heavy-metal / Flash Gordon magic.

 

[Deck Rickard]

Well, that was fast. Feet first into development hell!

 

[Thundarr]

Just get some competent action/sci-fi/fantasy director (doesn't have to be particularly high profile, just some workhorse type who knows what he's doing) who grew up in the 80s and "gets" the material.

Doesn't really matter who. We're not getting some A-lister directing this thing anyway.

Joss Whedon. The correct answer is always Joss Whedon.

 

[Dark Raven]

Well, that was fast. Feet first into development hell!

It never climbed out of there in the first place. I knew as soon as I saw David Goyer's name attached that he'd exit very soon.

 

[Farren]

Am I a bad person for absolutely adoring Frank Langella's performance in the original film? He's a malevolent force of nature and delivered a performance far greater than the film deserved. (Even if he did devour every ounce of the scenery in the process.)

I think Skeletor is one of his strongest performances.

He has said it was one of his favorite roles and that he took it because his son loved He-Man. I think it shows.

 

[superhero]

i got the originally 1980's master of the universe on blu ray!! sure they changed some things but only part i didn't like that prince adam didn't change into he-man!! & they didn't have orko or battle cat in it!! i mostly like it cause it reminds me of star wars!! im kind of glad they didn't make master of the universe 2!!

here's what master of the universe 2 would have looked liked:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jwjfkidmnes

 

[Thundarr]

i got the originally 1980's master of the universe on blu ray!! sure they changed some things but only part i didn't like that prince adam didn't change into he-man!! & they didn't have orko or battle cat in it!! i mostly like it cause it reminds me of star wars!! im kind of glad they didn't make master of the universe 2!!

here's what master of the universe 2 would have looked liked:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jwjfkidmnes

Thank God that sequel was never made. That looked like it would have totally sucked. It wouldn’t have even been enjoyably bad like the first Masters of the Universe movie. Dodged a bullet with that one.

 

[Deck Rickard]

I feel like Masters of the Universe could have worked as a movie if they didn’t cop out 20 minutes into it and bring the characters to our world. Talk about just being cheap. Oh, and Gwildor or whatever his name was looked like an aged up mutant from the Garbage Pail Kids Movie.

 

[terry78]

****, give me 150 mil and let me direct this damn thing. At this point I'd probably do a passable job.

 

[HUMANIMAL]

ragnarok was he-man at its finest...just dont copy it too much....add a bit mad max techno sci-fi in terms of style and dont go all jokey. even that dude from mars( still forget the title) was he-man already...it can be done right.
just hire someone who understands the source material...
i still want duncan jones, who made a pleasent warcraft movie (i know alot of people who play it and they where all satisfied)

 

[Thundarr]

I feel like Masters of the Universe could have worked as a movie if they didn’t cop out 20 minutes into it and bring the characters to our world. Talk about just being cheap. Oh, and Gwildor or whatever his name was looked like an aged up mutant from the Garbage Pail Kids Movie.

That was the studios fault. They insisted on the movie taking place on Earth in order to save money. Financially it made sense. But when it comes to making a good movie, not so much.

 

[Jordacar]

That was the studios fault. They insisted on the movie taking place on Earth in order to save money. Financially it made sense. But when it comes to making a good movie, not so much.

Even with that, it was still the most expensive movie Cannon Group ever produced (and was instrumental in their downfall funnily enough).

It took decades for the big studios to warm up to the idea of shelling out the big bucks for those silly sci-fi and superhero movies. More often than not, it was the up-and-coming indie houses like New Line, or schlock maniacs like Golan & Globus that saw a potential audience. That's why we got the Roger Corman FF when we did.

And yet even now with the MCU and other nostalgic action figure IPs taking over the box office, MOTU still can't get out of development hell. I've tried to write a script myself, and it really is a hard property to turn into a film, nevermind one that promises quality or profit.

 

[Sithborg]

Who knows, maybe the new Netflix She-Ra cartoon may help jump start a revival. Sort of like with Nick and TMNT.

 

[Thundarr]

Even with that, it was still the most expensive movie Cannon Group ever produced (and was instrumental in their downfall funnily enough).

It took decades for the big studios to warm up to the idea of shelling out the big bucks for those silly sci-fi and superhero movies. More often than not, it was the up-and-coming indie houses like New Line, or schlock maniacs like Golan & Globus that saw a potential audience. That's why we got the Roger Corman FF when we did.

And yet even now with the MCU and other nostalgic action figure IPs taking over the box office, MOTU still can't get out of development hell. I've tried to write a script myself, and it really is a hard property to turn into a film, nevermind one that promises quality or profit.

Just make this into a live action movie.

https://kisscartoon.ac/Cartoon/He-M...the-Universe-2002/Episode-001-002-003?id=4478

Done.

 

[TheVileOne]

Who knows, maybe the new Netflix She-Ra cartoon may help jump start a revival. Sort of like with Nick and TMNT.

Well the Netflix show is going to be She-Ra and not He-Man.

Honestly, I don't know how you make a modern day He-Man movie that can be a success unless someone like James Gunn or Matthew Vaughn are on board. Even then I still think it could be 50/50.

IMHO the tone should be like Raiders of the Lost Ark. But every script I read, writers seem to have no idea how to address the Adam/He-Man dynamic. They all struggle with it and want to avoid it like the plague.

Justin Marks' script was a mess, along with the transformation, and his idea of making Skeletor "vulnerable" was basically making him physically weak and sickly.

Adam Rifkin's script was only slightly better, but at least he used Orko OK. It's not a great script at all. However, his idea for Adam was having him as like a twin brother situation, and he was raised in the palace as like the cook's son. His twin brother is killed at the beginning. After he gets the Power Sword he gradually grows muscles and starts "growing" into He-Man over the course of the script. Skeletor's written a little bit better in this script. His relationship with Hordak is similar to the 2002 animate series. Bu it's a bit more like Keldor is the black sheep of the family and is corrupted by Hordak who he makes contact with and gives him power. And it was more coherent than the Justin Marks script. Marks' script is all over the place and not coherent at all. Its structure is awful.

Not sure what's worse though, Marks' He-Man script or his Voltron script, which was basically Voltron meets Mad Max. Also, Sven becomes a bad guy for no reason. Hunk's family dies and he doesn't react to it at all. Pidge is barely even a character. He's like a Japanese orphan who doesn't speak English and does machines. Keith is Jason Statham.

The Netflix series isn't perfect, but I think it's a very good modernization and updating of the Voltron story and premise.

 

[Jordacar]

Just make this into a live action movie.

https://kisscartoon.ac/Cartoon/He-M...the-Universe-2002/Episode-001-002-003?id=4478

Done.

Throw out the combat porn, you've got a 45-minute movie there. But yeah, I kind of used this as my starting point, trying to create the origin story that the original cartoon couldn't tell, but with a $200 million budget and absent the constraints of 80s broadcast standards & practices. t:

 

[TheVileOne]

In a He-Man movie you are going to need some combat porn .

Gary Hartle did say though they basically had to put in lots of twirling and stuff because they couldn't have characters actually slashing and stabbing each other.

One of my favorite fights though is in the beginning of the second season premiere. Orko retrieves the sword for Adam who becomes He-Man, and He-Man is the last man standing to defend Grayskull from Skeletor, the Evil Warriors and he Evil Council and he takes them all on solo. They also ultimately get the best of He-Man as well, but it's still a really cool fight.

 

[Jordacar]

You for sure gotta have those scenes where all the action figures come out to play.

 

[TheVileOne]

I'd very much like a Grayskull vs. Hordak and the Horde type scene where basically Castle Grayskull becomes the Grayskull of legend and the Sword of Power is locked away. And like Grayskull fighting off like Grizzlor, Man-tenna, and other Horde agents and like cutting a path to Hordak.

 

[Thundarr]

Throw out the combat porn, you've got a 45-minute movie there. But yeah, I kind of used this as my starting point, trying to create the origin story that the original cartoon couldn't tell, but with a $200 million budget and absent the constraints of 80s broadcast standards & practices. t:

Keep the combat porn in, but add to it and make it more violent. Also create new expendable minions for Skeletor to send against The Masters. Something along the lines of the Uruk-Hai in LOTR, the storm troopers in the Star Wars OT, or the battle droids in the Star Wars PT. Something that Tri-Clops had developed in his lab to allow Skeletor to overwhelm King Randor’s troops with sheer numbers.

Personally I like the idea of the minions being mutant clones mass produced in Tri-Clops’ lab. Not only does this make Skeletor and his evil army a greater threat in the movie, but it also lays the groundwork for the introduction of Fakor in a theoretical sequel (Tri-Clops manages to get a sample of He-Man’s DNA and uses that to produce a clone that’s just as powerful, but loyal to Skeletor). It also makes Skeletor look even more evil and cruel, for in order to make his clone minions he would need a source of DNA. That source could be Eternian soldiers taken as prisoners during Keldor’s first attempt at conquering Eternia. Then their DNA is altered in the lab in order to make them stronger and more obedient. Thus they look no longer human.

 

[Iceman]

You can't take out combat porn from a He-Man film!

 

[terry78]

Lol, I went on Twitter and basically bagged Phil Lord and Chris Miller to take the task.

 

[Iceman]

I feel like Masters of the Universe could have worked as a movie if they didn’t cop out 20 minutes into it and bring the characters to our world. Talk about just being cheap. Oh, and Gwildor or whatever his name was looked like an aged up mutant from the Garbage Pail Kids Movie.

Yeah coming over here was the bit I didn't like.

 

[TheVileOne]

Keep the combat porn in, but add to it and make it more violent. Also create new expendable minions for Skeletor to send against The Masters. Something along the lines of the Uruk-Hai in LOTR, the storm troopers in the Star Wars OT, or the battle droids in the Star Wars PT. Something that Tri-Clops had developed in his lab to allow Skeletor to overwhelm King Randor’s troops with sheer numbers.

Personally I like the idea of the minions being mutant clones mass produced in Tri-Clops’ lab. Not only does this make Skeletor and his evil army a greater threat in the movie, but it also lays the groundwork for the introduction of Fakor in a theoretical sequel (Tri-Clops manages to get a sample of He-Man’s DNA and uses that to produce a clone that’s just as powerful, but loyal to Skeletor). It also makes Skeletor look even more evil and cruel, for in order to make his clone minions he would need a source of DNA. That source could be Eternian soldiers taken as prisoners during Keldor’s first attempt at conquering Eternia. Then their DNA is altered in the lab in order to make them stronger and more obedient. Thus they look no longer human.

Just give Skeletor some random redshirt equivalent foot soldiers. The Evil Warriors will be like the leaders. Beast Man will be the beast master. Tri-Klops will be his mad scientist. Evil-Lyn is his evil mage and second-in-command. If you have Mer-Man, that can be his like naval or underwater creature leader. Trap-Jaw could be second general.

 

[Thundarr]

Just give Skeletor some random redshirt equivalent foot soldiers. The Evil Warriors will be like the leaders. Beast Man will be the beast master. Tri-Klops will be his mad scientist. Evil-Lyn is his evil mage and second-in-command. If you have Mer-Man, that can be his like naval or underwater creature leader. Trap-Jaw could be second general.

I’m pretty sure I just wrote that very thing in my previous post. I just called them storm troopers not redshirts.