He Man and the Masters of the Universe!

- last updated 15th December 2002

He Man and the Masters of the Universe was a very very good television programme indeed. While not quite achieving the heady heights of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, it soared high and far above other such diverse programmes as Star Trek, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space 9, and, uh, Star Trek: Voyager. Especially the latter.

Anyway, this is the basic premise of the He Man series:

The planet Eternia is ruled over by a wise and just king, King Randor. His wife, Queen Marlena, originally came from Earth, but nobody on Eternia knows this (apart, obviously, from Queen Marlena, and probably a number of other select individuals, to wit, He Man). The planet Eternia is constantly under threat from the dastardly evil and dashingly 2-dimensional villain Skeletor, who wants to conquer it for his own evil ends. Fortunately, when Prince Adam, son of Randor and Marlena, holds aloft his magic sword and says, "By the Power of Grayskull!", he transforms into a physically strong but mentally challenged person called He Man, who has a tendency to go round messing up Skeletor's schemes, and generally making Eternia a very safe place.

As is generally the case with superheroes, He Man could not reveal his identity to anyone but a few friends. These friends were his cat Cringer (a necessary inclusion, given that Cringer tended to turn into Battle Cat whenever "By the Power of Grayskull" was uttered), the Sorceress (another necessary inclusion, because she actually granted Prince Adam the power to turn into He Man in the first place), Man at Arms (not really a necessary inclusion, but forgivable because it did occasionally lead to some interesting plots) and Orko (who was entirely unnecessary, not only to knowing the secret, but also to the entire series). Needless to say, Skeletor and his bunch of misfits knew nothing other than that Prince Adam and He Man were never seen together.

It is my aim to bring this most wonderful cartoon back on air in the UK. So write to ITV and ask them to put it back on. If He Man does ever return, I assure you, it shall irritate Jonathan Barker intensely!

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