Thread by @AlexandraErin

Rewatching Part I in anticipation of watching Part II soon.

https://twitter.com/AlexandraErin/status/1418719729984933890

One thing I think the internet troll brigade missed about Revelation Part I is that the first episode was the series finale and heroic send-off that He-Man and his fans never got, due to the cranked-out toy commercial nature of the original series.

He-Man's already blurred-together adventures just kind of tapered off without any kind of resolution for the character or for the dangling plot arc(s) like Marlena knowing her son's secret or Teela's true sorcerous heritage when the suits decided it was time to sell She-Ra toys.

The portion of MOTU: Revelation that happens before the time skip is the ending to a version of that show that could have been more serial and story-based than episodic and gimmick based.

So we get Skeletor making a bigger play than he's ever made before (and considering that most episodes had him going over 9000% for his goals, this requires a revelation... new information to act on, changing his target), worthy of a grand finale.

When He-Man interferes, Skeletor explicitly declares it to be their last battle, and Skeletor triumphs (in a way that is likely to be Pyrrhic, though he likely would think the slim chance of universal mastery is worth the great risk of universal destruction)...

...only to be stopped by He-Man, fully knowing the cost of his actions, making a heroic sacrifice, which brings about the end of the story the show would have been telling and creates a setup for another story to follow.

The series is not "more episodes of He-Man and the Maters of the Universe (1983)", which... that would have been painfully unwatchable as anything other than parody/pastiche, but a finale to the show that *could* have been and a sequel that takes on its biggest questions.

As a side note, my favorite formula for cartoon nostalgia updates is:

1. Take the old version.
2. Take its direct source material.
3. Blend them together with a mix of respect, affection, and tongue-in-cheek acknowledgement of the weak spots.
4. Add a generational aspect.

Cartoons that fit this model include Voltron: Legendary Defender, Ducktales (2017), and all three of the recent Netflix MOTU-verse adaptations: SPOP, MOTU: Revelation, and He-Man & MOTU (2021).

And in a less literal sense, Venture Bros., which basically perfected the template.

I love Lyn's look of dawning realization and mounting horror as Skeletor re-emerges at the end of part 1. One of my favorite villain tropes is the character who really could go either way but chooses evil when they see another choice withering away.

(No part 2 spoilers, please.)

It's what I love about the confrontation between Han and Kylo Ren in episode seven. I firmly believe Kylo didn't know for sure what he was going to do until the light went out (signaling the Starkiller was ready to fire again) and he thought the Dark Side had won for sure.