The New Adventures of He-Man (1990–1991) User Reviews

He-Man Wearing Pants!

[DarthBill · 6/10 · 18 August 2008]

Sequel to the 1980s Filmmation He-Man finds He-Man/Prince Adam (He-Man voiced by Gary Chalk, who later voiced Man-At-Arms on the 2002 He-Man series, Adam voiced by Doug Parker, as opposed to the 1980s and 2002 versions where He-Man/Adam was voiced by the same actor, John Erwin and Cam Clarke respectively) being flung into the future to defend the planet Primus from the evil mutants; his old enemy, Skeletor, comes along for the ride and joins forces with the Mutants. New friends, new foes, the battle of Good VS. Evil continues.

I admit when I saw this again on DVD after having not seen it for years it wasn't as bad as I remembered it being. Certainly the opening into had good music and there was some great animation (that is when the animators actually had enough time to go a good job, as some episodes look rushed), some of the episodes were actually genuinely entertaining, in addition to attempts to give it more of a forward going story arc. The biggest gripe? Well, it just doesn't look or feel like the He-Man we know and love. Writer Laurence "Larry" DiTillio, who wrote for both the 1980s He-Man and 2002 He-Man, apparently agreed and thus decided not to write for this series (although Michael Reaves wrote for all three series). One of my friends actually described this version of He-Man as looking like a pirate while Adam looks like a Roman shepherd peasant, but hey, at least they actually looked different, thus adding to the idea of a "disguise".

Still, worth a look for die hards.

A blemish on the face of the He-Man legacy

[tifftori-1 · 1/10 · 27 January 2008]

Deplorable. Ridiculous. Not even sub-standard fun. The anime style is annoying. The queen of Eternia has blue hair? Why is Prince Adam dressed like a shepherd? And as Prince Adam- the voice is SO gay. The lisps are unmistakable. No, being gay is not the problem. I'm gay but prefer Prince Adam/He-Man to be masculine, bold and strong. He is suppose to be the almighty defender after all. And Skeletor- yelch. NOT scary, not frightening. Why is his face green? And why did they have to change the chant that turns Adam into He-Man? "By the power of Eternia"? Um...it's "By the power of Grayskull" people!! You cannot make a Batman movie or cartoon and take him out of Gotham. Superman will always be in Metropolis. You CANNOT go changing a characters legacy just because you want to. BAD producers.

Other reviews on the net have said the show can stand on its own. Um...NO it cannot. It's a pathetic attempt to breath new life into a classic story that was in no need of CPR. Guess the old saying is true- if it ain't broke, don't fix it. For me this will be like the film Halloween 3. I will forget it ever happened.

BAD producers!!! Shame!!!

Not a bad series

[TheLittleSongbird · 7/10 · 16 August 2012]

The New Adventures of He-Man is not the best of anything to do with He-Man but I didn't think it deplorable either. I watched the series with intrepidation because I remembered disliking it as a child, but as an adult while there are flaws it is not as bad as I remembered. The pilot episode was on the uninspired side and the animation quality is uneven, a lot of the time it is colourful and unique but there are also times where the character designs are jerky and the backgrounds lack life. However, the music is catchy and cool, the action sequences are choreographed well and compel you at least and the transformation sequence was the one I remembered always really liking and that is still the case here. The writing does have some stilted moments but is often funny, intelligent and with a sense of conflict, the story-lines are thought out well and interesting and the characters whether heroes or villains are engaging. The voice acting is very good. All in all, The New Adventures of He-Man is not bad, better than I remembered. It will never be one of my favourite shows but compared to some of the awful animated shows of the past decade or so it is deserving of a better reputation. 7/10 Bethany Cox

A worthy sequel

[m-ozfirat · 7/10 · 1 September 2017]

The new adventures of He-man was a better sequel to the original series then She-Ra as it was done not purely for commerce but for television art and certainly the final seal on the He-man legacy compared to the banal 2000 revival when the era of He-man was long over. The series has its good points and its bad points which I will explain along with my final verdict.

The Good

The story lines lines in the original were excellent but told with simplicity and naivety this series avoids that dual approach and makes the story lines more complicated within the same theme without being wooden. The character of Adam is mature and one that is realistic as a young prince rather then a young imbecile and is better represented in appearance though the long hair from the original is better both for the prince and his alter ego He-man. The original allies of He-man are also better represented both as animation and as characters. The annoying pet Tiger from the series is gone reinforcing these strengths and He-man has more abilities with his sword as well as his original strengths of speed and strength.

The Bad

Unlike He-man and his alter ego Skeletor in the original series was better both as a character and the way he was represented especially his mannerisms, appearance and voice this Skeletor has no charm this goes beyond Skeletor to his new followers as his minions in the original all had the charm and attraction he had. The adventures are all set in space and in the future not in different parts of the galaxies were He-man always travelled allowing for different adventures. The animation but not representation is better when done in Manga opposed to the hastened and rough original in Filmation but was done with anime making it more like Star Wars rather then He-man the Japanese style of animation in Thundercats would of been better the transformation scenes are less dramatic and this looses the charm from the original series.

In short a noble series and one that makes up for the weaknesses of the original and its excess sequels but however lacks its charm.

Flawed, but mostly rock solid.

[djaxisravenguard · 8/10 · 3 May 2007]

As far as sequels go, this show takes the sword and sorcery of the original, and tacks on an uninspired time travel pilot. But if you disregard the initial episode, the show itself is a bonafide jewel.

This is "The New Adventures of He-Man", and as the title implies, the adventures are new. Both He-Man and Skeletor gain new allies, new powers, and newly found depth to their characters. Skeletor in particular is no longer just a bumbling goon, but he has not turned into the sinister live action movie version of the character. He still has a wry sense of humor and a surprising amount of humility as he is no longer the true alpha dog, but his villainous works are just as heinous as a "real" villain's.

Which brings me to the mutants. Early into the show it's readily apparent that like Skeletor's last minions, they do have a penchant for mistakes, but are a much stronger and fearsome group. Instead of being just a mish mash of villains, they're a well oiled fighting machine strengthened by years of war. Flogg in particular is far from the brightest tool in the shed, but he's as sincere as can be, and you can see it in him, that if he was just a little bit better at his job, perhaps even Eternia would need to fear him.

He-Man as well gets an overhaul, with a much heavier focus on "the way of the magic." His power sword has taken on She-Ra like transformation powers and can not only defend and reflect enemy weapons, but can also be used as a "gun" itself. This part did bother me, as it just feels tacked on, as though the creators wanted him to be so good, that guns were out of the picture. Yet the more useful (this time) Adam ends up with some gun-play...

As solid as the villains are, the Galactic Guardians really seem to be more akin to the bad guys of the old series. There's very few introductions and more often than not their victories feel more like lucky breaks than true skill. While the mutant's mistakes are essentially luck for the Guardians, if really feels like I said. If Flogg was just one iota more competent or maybe if Skeletor truly fell into the line of command as a cooperative underling, the people of Primus would be in grave danger.

Plotwise, the (generally) five episode story arcs are superb, with the earliest one having shades of Vietnam and even aspects similar to WW2. The stand alone episodes range from well done (especially the episodes around the scientists) to terrible (a galactic rodeo anyone?) But all of them serve at least some purpose.

Animation is at times a bit "jerky" but the fight scenes are much closer to Japanese anime than traditional American animation. Overall, the lips sync with the voices well, and at in many cases the show has a very clean feel to it. The backgrounds also range from unique to downright boring, but largely lean towards unique.

Sound is another high point. Ouside of a few goofy music clips, the music itself is good enough at time to drive anyone with a taste for electronica wild. Voices, like all cartoons, range from annoying to pleasing, but all seem to fit the characters.

In summation, at the least The New Adventures of He-Man is a must see for fans but could also be enjoyed by people new to the franchise.

He Man to the Future

[hellraiser7 · 8/10 · 12 January 2017]

It's funny from how big the "He-Man" franchise has became there have been some camps, from those that really love the original series, She-Ra, and even the 2000 revival. And then of course you've got some of those trolls out there that really love this show.

This is another under the radar gem that despite being part of the franchise has became forgotten. It's kinda understandable why most fans of "He-Man" were slightly put off or even confused by this entry. But this show took place at a time before sequels had rules, they wanted to revive the franchise so they decided to do something different by putting him in space and the future, which I personally thought was a cool idea.

Like any sequel this show indeed had a different feel, some things were the same but also different at the same time. In the original adventures they were planetary based, where in the new "He-Man" we actually see both "He-Man" and "Skelator" on interplanetary adventures which is cool because it really broaden the universe of the franchise showing that there really are more fantastic things going on other than in Eternia. It just really made me fascinating I remember always wondering where else both will go and what we'll see next. This also has a more lighter tone making the show a bit lighthearted, where in the original that also was but there was also a more seriousness to it.

The animation I think is very good which I thought was really cool for it's time; obviously slightly inspired by Japanese Animation as there was a bit more flow and movement with the characters, as well as the detail in background and characters themselves.

I really like the action which I thought in proves on the original because there more motion and a bit more going on. From some of the vechilar and aerial assault action we actually got a lot more of that, even like the designs of the vehicles from both sides where are unique especially the rollers that the mutants ride which are prolific on those standing up motor scooters we now have. Though those vehicles are a bit daft because they don't exactly have the greatest protection as you can easily shoot the driver.

We even see some shootouts which was cool though I wish that both sides got to use their specialized weapons a bit more which is one weak point for the show. And best of all see both He-Man and Skelator use their weapons a lot more, with He-Man's sword they added something to it by actually giving it some magical abilities.

I do like the new ensemble characters and the dynamics formed their solid if not as good as the original ensemble. That is also probably what put some people off because their not the same as in the old, but this is a sequel after all so you can't expect the same thing. The Galactic Guardians their pretty solid/decent I kinda felt they should of been fleshed out a bit more so they'd stand out better but they serve their functions all the same.

Though I think it's the mutants that are the most colorful. I really like Flogg whom despite being in command of an army he's a moron, unable to tell he's being manipulated by Skelator or being duped if it bit him in the butt. Along with his subordinate villain Slushhead whom is true to his name as is probably more moronic than him. Critta I really like how devious and smart she is as well as sexy with that voice despite raspy which I didn't mind and other outfit she wore latter in the series.

And of course He-Man and Skelator. He-Man was still well He-Man but at last he was doing things, he was kicking butt as usual. Skelator though I feel he lacked his menace in this show which is another weak point for the show. But that is a small quibble as is still himself, the voice was good kinda almost sounds a bit like Jack Nickelson. Instead of being a direct leader he's more of a leader behind the scenes. Here we see more of a con artist side to Skelator as he is manipulating and scheming his way to conquest. Which I though was interesting because sometimes people behind the scenes have more power and control than actors of the play.

The music is decent, the theme song is pretty good as it has that futuristic epic tone to it. Though I wouldn't say it makes it on my list of favorite themes, the original theme is still the best.

Yeah the show isn't perfect some bits of humor are kinda lame but that's commonplace in comedy it's always a hit or miss affair. I also would've liked to of had some of the old characters come back (not all that would be too crowded) which I felt would of boosted the series up more just to show that He-Man and Skelator aren't totally out of touch with Eternia, but most importantly help the new dynamics gel better.

I wouldn't mind if they ever made another "He-Man" revival series that they revive this series as well but probably as the form of a season, broaden the mythos even more by having more depth on the characters and the planets they come from, a little more insight into the war and how it's affected both sides and also lets have a few more characters from the original series come to the future with He-Man and Skelator; it's just a thought.

Yeah this series doesn't surpass the original in my book, but it's a solid sequel all the same that I think for fans of the franchise it's at least worth a look or at least when your in the right mood.

Rating: 3 stars

The Battle Continues!!!!

[atomic_dog02 · 2 July 2000]

Taking place 10,000 years into the future. The planet of Primus(Eternia) is under attack by Floog and his mutants of moon Nordor. In order to stop the attacks, the great minds of Primus built a time machince to find a legend, the power of the good and the way of the magic. Such a being is He-Man, the most powerful man in the universe. He-Man didn't come to the future alone, Skeletor , the evil lord of destruction followed He-Man to the future. So as the story goes on He-Man joined the Galactic Gaurdians, and Skeletor joined the mutants. Thus beginning the New Adventures series. It was a good series, Mattel tried, but it was not a good time. The only thing good about the series was the transformation sequence. later