He-Man and the Masters of the Universe
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Image:He-Man & the Masters of the Universe.jpgHe-Man and the Masters of the Universe is an American animated television series produced by Filmation based on Mattel's successful toy line Masters of the Universe. It made its television debut in 1983 and ran until 1985, consisting of two seasons of 65 episodes each. The show was one of the most popular animated children's shows of the 1980s and has retained a heavy cult following to this day.
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Show profile
The show takes place on the fictitious planet of Eternia, a land of magic, myth and fantasy. The show's lead character is Prince Adam, the young son of Eternia's rulers (King Randor and Queen Marlena). Prince Adam is a seemingly cowardly, blond muscleman dressed in a Cote d'Azur chemise. However, Prince Adam possesses a magic sword, and when he holds it aloft and says the magic words "By the Power of Grayskull! I have the Power!" he is transformed into He-Man, the most powerful man in the universe. He-Man is a brave, blond muscleman in a baldric and loincloth. Together with his close allies, Battle Cat, Teela, Man-At-Arms and Orko, He-Man uses his powers to defend Eternia from the evil forces of Skeletor, a tyrannical warlord with a skull for a face. Skeletor's main goal is to conquer the mysterious fortress of Castle Grayskull, from which He-Man draws his powers. Were he to succeed, Skeletor would be able to conquer not only Eternia, but the whole universe.
Despite the limited animation techniques that were used to produce the series, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe was notable for breaking the boundaries of censorship that had severely restricted the narrative scope of children's TV programming in the 1970s. For the first time in years, a cartoon series could feature a muscular superhero who was actually allowed to hit people, though he still couldn't use his sword often. The cartoon was controversial in that it was produced in connection with marketing a line of toys; advertising to children was itself controversial during this period. In Britain, advertising regulations forbade commercials for He-Man toys to accompany the program itself. In similar fashion to other shows at the time (notably G.I. Joe), an attempt to mitigate the negative publicity generated by this controversy was made by including a "life lesson" or "moral of the story" at the end of each episode. This moral was usually directly tied to the action or central theme of that episode.
The cartoon series was also particularly remarkable because it was the very first animated series produced directly for syndication, as opposed to all other syndicated cartoons of the time which were re-runs of old Saturday morning cartoons.
The show was so successful that it spawned a spin-off series, She-Ra: Princess of Power following the adventures of He-Man's sister. Mattel's subsequent attempts to relaunch the He-Man toy line have also led to the short-lived 'sequel' series The New Adventures of He-Man in the early 1990s, and an update of the series for a contemporary audience in 2002.
It is also noted for featuring early script-writing work from later Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski, and Paul Dini of the 90s Batman-fame.
Cast list
- John Erwin as He-Man, Prince Adam, Ram-Man, Faker, Beast Man, Webstor, Whiplash and others
- Alan Oppenheimer as Cringer, Battlecat, Man-At-Arms, Skeletor, Mer-Man, Buzz-Off, Roboto and others
- Linda Gary as Teela, Evil-Lyn, Queen Marlena, The Sorceress of Castle Grayskull and others
- Lou Scheimer as Orko, King Randor, Stratos, Man-E-Faces, Mekaneck, Zodak, Sy-Klone, Moss Man, Trap-Jaw, Tri-Klops, Kobra Khan, Clawful, Jitsu, Spikor, Two-Bad, Modulok and others
- Erika Scheimer as various other female voices, including an alternate Queen Marlena
Episodes
The following is a list of episodes of the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe television series.
Season 1
| Production Code | Episode Name | Writer | Director | Moral |
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| MU001 | The Cosmic Comet |
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| MU002 | The Shaping Staff | |||
| MU003 | Disappearing Act |
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| MU004 | Diamond Ray of Disappearance |
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| MU005 | She-Demon of Phantos |
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| MU006 | Teela's Quest |
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| MU007 | The Curse of the Spellstone |
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| MU008 | The Time Corridor |
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| MU009 | The Dragon Invasion |
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| MU010 | A Friend In Need |
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| MU011 | Masks of Power |
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| MU012 | Evil-Lyn's Plot |
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| MU013 | Like Father, Like Daughter |
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| MU014 | Colossor Awakes |
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| MU015 | A Beastly Sideshow |
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| MU016 | Reign of the Monster |
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| MU017 | Daimar the Demon |
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| MU018 | Creatures from the Tar Swamp |
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| MU019 | Quest for He-Man |
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| MU020 | Dawn of Dragoon |
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| MU021 | The Royal Cousin |
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| MU022 | Song of Celice |
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| MU023 | The Return of Orko's Uncle |
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| MU024 | Wizard of Stone Mountain |
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| MU025 | Evilseed |
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| MU026 | Ordeal in the Darklands |
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| MU027 | Orko's Favorite Uncle |
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| MU028 | The Defection |
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| MU029 | Prince Adam No More |
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| MU030 | The Taking of Grayskull |
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| MU031 | A Tale of Two Cities |
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| MU032 | Search for the VHO |
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| MU033 | The Starchild |
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| MU034 | The Dragon's Gift |
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| MU035 | The Sleepers Awaken |
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| MU036 | The Search |
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| MU037 | It's Not My Fault |
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| MU038 | Valley of Power |
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| MU039 | Trouble in Arcadia |
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| MU040 | House of Shokoti Part I |
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| MU041 | House of Shokoti Part II |
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| MU042 | Double Edged Sword |
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| MU043 | The Mystery of Man-E-Faces |
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| MU044 | The Region of Ice |
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| MU045 | Orko's Missing Magic |
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| MU046 | Eternal Darkness |
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| MU047 | Keeper of the Ancient Ruins |
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| MU048 | Return of Evil |
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| MU049 | Return of the Gryphon |
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| MU050 | Temple of the Sun |
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| MU051 | City Beneath the Sea |
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| MU052 | Teela's Trial |
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| MU053 | Dree Elle's Return |
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| MU054 | Game Plan |
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| MU055 | Eye of the Beholder |
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| MU056 | Quest for the Sword |
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| MU057 | Castle of Heroes |
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| MU058 | The Once and Future Duke |
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| MU059 | The Witch and the Warrior |
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| MU060 | The Return of Granamyr |
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| MU061 | Pawns of the Game Master |
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| MU062 | Golden Disks of Knowledge |
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| MU063 | The Huntsman |
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| MU064 | The Remedy |
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| MU065 | The Heart of a Giant |
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Season 2
| Production Code | Episode Name | Writer | Director | Moral |
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| MU066 | The Cat and the Spider |
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| MU067 | The Energy Beast |
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| MU068 | Day of the Machines |
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| MU069 | The Gamesman |
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| MU070 | Fisto's Forest |
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| MU071 | The Rarest Gift of All |
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| MU072 | The Great Books Mystery |
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| MU073 | Origin of the Sorceress |
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| MU074 | Island of Fear |
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| MU075 | To Save Skeletor |
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| MU076 | The Ice Age Cometh |
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| MU077 | Trouble in Trolla |
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| MU078 | Betrayal of Stratos |
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| MU079 | Disappearing Dragons |
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| MU080 | The Shadow of Skeletor |
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| MU081 | The Arena |
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| MU082 | Attack from Below |
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| MU083 | Into the Abyss |
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| MU084 | Fraidy Cat |
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| MU085 | The Rainbow Warrior |
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| MU086 | A Trip to Morainia |
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| MU087 | Things That Go Bump in the Night |
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| MU088 | Three on a Dare |
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| MU089 | Just a Little Lie |
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| MU090 | One for All |
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| MU091 | Jacob and the Widgets |
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| MU092 | The Littlest Giant |
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| MU093 | Trouble's Middle Name |
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| MU094 | Journey to Stone City |
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| MU095 | A Bird in the Hand |
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| MU096 | Battlecat |
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| MU097 | The Time Wheel |
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| MU098 | Search for the Past |
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| MU099 | Hunt for He-Man |
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| MU100 | The Greatest Show on Eternia |
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| MU101 | Not so Blind |
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| MU102 | Revenge is Never Sweet |
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| MU103 | The Good Shall Survive |
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| MU104 | The Secret of Grayskull |
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| MU105 | No Job Too Small |
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| MU106 | The Bitter Rose |
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| MU107 | The Gambler |
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| MU108 | Teela's Triumph |
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| MU109 | Orko's New Friend |
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| MU110 | The Problem with Power |
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| MU111 | Double Trouble |
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| MU112 | The Eternia Flower |
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| MU113 | Happy Birthday Roboto |
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| MU114 | Battle of the Dragons |
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| MU115 | Time Doesn't Fly |
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| MU116 | Here, There, Skeletors Everywhere |
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| MU117 | Beauty and the Beast |
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| MU118 | Orko's Return |
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| MU119 | Visitors from Earth |
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| MU120 | Monster on the Mountain |
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| MU121 | The Magic Falls |
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| MU122 | Search for a Son |
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| MU123 | Mistaken Identity |
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| MU124 | The Toy Maker |
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| MU125 | Bargain with Evil |
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| MU126 | Capture the Comet Keeper |
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| MU127 | The Ancient Mirror of Avathar |
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| MU128 | The Games |
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| MU129 | To Save the Creatures |
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| MU130 | The Cold Zone |
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See also
- He-Man
- Masters of the Universe
- She-Ra
- The New Adventures of He-Man
- He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (2002)
- Skeletor
- Masters of the Universe (film)
Trivia
- There is a lot of confusion over the exact order of the episodes. The production codes allocated appear to indicate nothing more than the formal clearance of an episode's script and often this order is directly contradicted on screen - for example The Return of Orko's Uncle (code: MU023) has an earlier production code than the introduction of Orko's Favourite Uncle (code: MU027).
- The episode Diamond Ray of Disappearance (code: MU004) is the nearest thing to a debut episode. It was written as the first episode for the cartoon and has an extended sequence at the start which carefully introduces all the villains. However curiously little effort is made to introduce the heroes.
- The order is further confused by successive VHS and DVD releases which have often followed the production code order with little regard for the chronological sequence of the episodes. As a result of this, the first episode shown is often The Cosmic Comet (code: MU001).
- Lou Scheimer credited some of his voices to the pseudonym Erik Gunden.
de:He-Man sr:Хи-мен и господари свемира sv:He-Man and the Masters of the Universe