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In
the early 1980's, Mattel was supposed to create
a line of toys that resembled "Conan the Barbarian"
action figures. But the marketing department
must have decided that an uncivilized pagan
sword-wielding barbarian might not be the ideal
role model for children, and so the toy line
was converted into the "Masters of the Universe"
series of toys.
Mattel hired the film studio Filmmation
to create a television cartoon to go along with
the toy line, as was the trend in the eighties.
Their background artists created some stunning
and surreal settings for the action, and the
incidental music by Shuki Levy, Haim Saban and
Erika Lane was often haunting and lyrical. "He-Man"
had a storybook type feel, but it was an adventure
for boys.
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The
series started off straightforwardly enough,
telling simple adventure stories from the planet
Eternia. The prince of Eternia, Adam, has a
magic sword which can transform him into He-Man,
an incredibly powerful defender of the kingdom.
His nemesis, the evil Skeletor, plots with his
henchmen to conquer Eternia, and also to control
the mysterious Castle Greyskull from which He-Man
gets his power. After throwing in a few allies
for He-Man, a lot of melodramatic comic-book
dialogue, and the occasional magic artifact,
another typical cartoon adventure series was
born.
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