Mattel’s 1982 Masters of the Universe toy line spawned a global phenomenon that really took off with the arrival of its animated series in 1983, leading to a movie spin-off which introduced the world to He-Man’s twin sister, She-Ra, in 1985. Despite their popularity, both series were relatively short-lived, with neither lasting for more than a couple of years (although, of course, both survived in comic book form and still live on today thanks to varyingly-successful rebooted versions).
Available as two separate box sets, each collection includes every episode of the original Filmation series (130 for He-Man, 93 for She-Ra), along with the Secret of the Sword movie, the 1985 Christmas special, and an extended version of 2017’s Power of Grayskull: The Definitive History of He-Man documentary which allows an additional sixty minutes to be spent on concept art, She-Ra’s origins and Filmation’s legacy.
As fun and watchable as both series are, not to mention the historical importance of the influence they had over countless animated series that followed, it’s a shame that both sets include the exact same bonus material where so much more could have been done. Pretty much a straight re-release of collections that were released in the US a few years ago (if you don’t include the extras, the episodes have all previously been released elsewhere as well), there isn’t much here that fans of the show won’t already own in other forms, and it’s quite baffling that this is a bog-standard DVD release when significant series like these are crying out for the full-on remastered Blu-ray treatment. Potentially some disappointment for long-time fans, then, but still worth picking up for those who are looking to add either of these titles to their collection.
