Mattel's
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and She-Ra
Princess of Power action figure lines had been out
of the public eye for a while, but both animated series
were still in heavy syndication.
Mattel
knew they had to capitalize on this and decided to update
He-Man, and move him away from his barbaric origins. Science
had always been a theme of the original series, especially
in the cartoon, so Mattel brought He-Man into the world
of the future with technology all around him!
Filmation
had closed their doors in the very same year the new concept
was developed. Jetlag Productions were approached and asked
to produce one season's worth of sixty-five episodes.
The
animated series itself was ripe with continuity, had good
character development and brought up many situations that
the old He-Man and She-Ra series had not
covered. The writing was consistent with Jack Olesker mainly
at the helm, and the animation was on many occasions very
impressive. This animated series is probably one of the
most underrated parts of He-Man's impressive history.
The
action figure line simply titled He-Man, and the
animated series titled The New Adventures of He-Man
were launched roughly around the same time. Neither succeeded
as well as Mattel would have hoped for. It appeared that
the world was not yet ready for a He-Man re-launch.
