Tales Off the Drawing Board

October 5, 2004


The buzz of the day appears to be that John Woo (PayCheck, MI2, Face/Off, upcoming Spy Hunter) has been tapped to direct and produce a live-action He-Man and the Masters of the Universe movie with Adam Rifkin (Detroit Rock City, The Chase) currently named as writer. E! Online : Zap2it : Variety (Subscription Only).
I’m still holding this one over in the "I’ll believe it when I see it" column because there is so much that could possibly happen to kill the project. Being the huge He-fan that I am, I’m more than a little surprised (albeit pleasantly, if it’s true) by this news. With the new He-Man figures no longer available from major market players like Wal-Mart and Target, etc. and Cartoon Network no longer airing episodes of the new cartoon, I assumed that this was a dead property (except for the ongoing comic book and collector’s market).

In 1988-89, I had almost every figure that was available to the general market (the only one I was missing was Clamp Champ). I had Castle Grayskull, Snake Mountain, and the much sought-after Eternia playset. I had the minor playsets like Point Dread (technically a Grayskull Add-on that came with the Talon Fighter), the Slime Pit and the Fright Zone. I had vehicles. I had books. I had comics. I had a subscription to the magazine. I had the movie poster.

Unfortunately, the other thing I had was an old electric blanket with a short in it.

Long story short, my room caught fire - all my comics turned to carbon and my carefully set-up MOTU world came out of the ordeal as a block of grey/blue/purple plastic. The only survivors were a shirtless Clawful and a Snake man with half of his face melted off. Oddly, it was also at that time that Mattel pulled the plug on He-Man. It was the end of an era.

I moved on to other pursuits and used the insurance payment to buy a computer. I was, nonetheless, excited a few years ago to hear about the He-Man renaissance - and disappointed a couple of years later that it had not captured the imaginations of this generation like the original had captured mine (Ice Armor He-Man? What were they thinking?). I’m hopeful that, if this movie is made, it will be either a new beginning for the property - re-introducing the characters I loved to a new generation, or a fitting end to an enduring legacy.