1987 Masters of the Universe Movie commentary

[Vinto-Man]

James Sawyer and Dylan Cook join myself as we discuss the 1987 MOTU movie starring Dolph Lundgren, Frank Langella and Courtney Cox. We hope you all have a "good journey" while you are listening!

http://motuchronicles.podbean.com/e/...ie-commentary/

[Croc-O-Bite!]

Cool. Thanks for the heads up. I'm downloading now.

[Captain Atkin]

Ooooo... I will be listening to this tonight!

[Battle Ram Man]

Downloaded!

[Guest]

I absolutely love when fans come together to speak positively about this film. Why? Because for years I've read critic reviews, movie enthusiast reviews, He-Man.org crying man-baby fanboy reviews, and seriously, these so called 'fans of MOTU' who knock this film, didn't DESERVE a He-Man movie, because it was too much for their tiny, close-minded, unimaginative (now adult brains) to appreciate.

Now before I try to seperate myself from the detractors and 'haters' of this film, allow me to admit, I too am a fanboy of many things (Star Wars, X-Men, Spider-Man), and sometimes I nitpick what I see in films (like the casting choice for Eddie Brock, or how Blob was handled in that awful Wolverine film) however the arguments as to why this was a 'blight' on their precious MOTU are juvenile and laughable, often requiring no real analysis and even less critical thought.

I'm convinced that every idiot that tears down this film does so because they wanted their live action movie to mirror childish 2 D drawings, with Meg Foster walking around in painted yellow skin, dressed in a slutty Macy's Day parade costume. Put creative control in 'fanboy' hands and the movie would have featured a sequence with a puppet Orko, making cakes and farting. It would have looked more like the reviled Star Wars Christmas special, than an actual adventure. Oh please, man babies, it just doesn't work on film... Are you a film maker? No. Shut up.

With all the information that has surfaced over the years revealing what Goddard and the production team had to go through (wrestling with Cannon for money, adhereing to Mattel's strict PG standards and ridiculous notions about what He-Man can and cannot do, stilfing his vision, and so on) I'm surprised the movie was ever completed, and even more surprise that it has held up so well. Quality costumes, compelling performances, a fantastic sci-fi film (transferred from source material written for 5 year olds) with heart.

This film is more than I could have ever asked for as a kid, and I still enjoy it now. Great commentary guys, I learned a few things along the way (like with the Snakemen scenes that never came to be), and it was refreshing to hear guys just loving this awesome piece of MOTU history.

Thanks guys. Good journey.

[Matthew L. Martin]

Sky Runner, I think you're overselling the film a bit. I've grown a little fonder of it since then and have a greater appreciation of the hurdles they had to go through producing it. Lundgren's He-Man is a bit too stiff and wooden, IMO, and I find Chelsea Fields and Christina Pickles generally unengaging. The humor bits at the start of the arrival on Earth are ill-placed and too close together; I think the Star adaptation improves things by jumping straight from the arrival on Earth to the graveyard without the cow and ribs scenes.

I will admit that the designs are top-notch (with the exception of the somewhat cut-rate Troopers and the overly gray look of Teela's uniform), the music is derivative but good, Langella and Foster steal the show, the effects work is good, and all around, it's a pretty decent B picture handicapped mostly by budget and some weak or inexperienced heroic leads.

Fair assessment. Its still an awesome film. If you could do a slight re-cast who would you choose?

[Captain Atkin]

Just finished listening to the podcast. Very entertaining