Season:  1

Number of Episodes:  1-11

On Air:  1983

Note:  This is Part 1 of a planned six part series of He-Man And The Master Of The Universe Season 1.  This review talks about episodes 1-11 in Season 1 in broadcast order.

He-Man And The Masters Of The Universe is a show I was familiar with and watched as a kid.   However besides He-Man and Skeletor I really didn't remember much about the cartoon.  In 2021 Netflix released Masters Of The Universe Revelations and after watching both parts of that show I was curious about the original cartoon.  So I decided to start from the beginning and watch this cartoon series very much like I did Transformers a few years ago.  After the first eleven episodes, I see a cartoon which is a product of its time but still fun to watch.

The show takes place on the planet Eternia, a place where magic and technology exist together.  The main character is Prince Adam, whose outward appearance and actions seems to be of someone who is carefree and runs from trouble.  However, Adam has the power to turn into He-Man, and when doing so he gains immense strength, stamina and command.  Along with He-Man their is leader of the castle guard Man At Arms, his daughter Teela, the mage Orko, the Sorceress  who lives at Castle Grayskull, Adam's pet tiger Cringer (who also transforms into Battle Cat when Adam transforms to He-Man)  and a list of other characters that work with them.  They all fight the forces of Skeletor, who has is own list of bad guys working for him like Beastman, Mer-Man and Evil Lyn.

The main plot of the show is that Skeletor wants the power within Castle Grayskull while He-Man and his friends have to stop him.  Most episodes fall back to this main plot point while a few go off on their own stories.  Most episodes start with Skeletor hatching a plan to either capture Castle Grayskull or attacking the castle, the plan Skeletor has causes Adam to sneak away and become He-Man (only Man at Arms, The Sorceress and Orko know about Adam turning into He-Man) and He-Man comes in and saves the day.  Each episode also ended with a PSA announcement similar to what G. I. Joe did with there cartoon.

All of these episodes are stand alone episodes and can be watched in any order.  My favorite episode was "Teela's Quest"  as it explains a little backstory on Adams mom Queen Marlena and Teela's mom and her destiny.  This is something that was brought up again in Masters Of The Universe Revelations.  Really all of the first eleven episodes were alright and I didn't find any of them horrible or bad.  They mostly just stuck to the formula of good guys fighting bad guys. 

This show came out in 1983 and I expected the animation to be a little rough and I was right.  When I say rough I don't mean it is hard to watch but it's not the same as today's smoother computer drawn graphics.  The voice acting is good and I had no problem anyone's portrayal of the characters.  The opening is great and is something I watch every episode.  The part in the show where Adam puts his sword into the air and yells "I have the power!" transforming him into He-Man is also iconic.  The sound effects were alright but the music was good.  I liked the parts where He-Man comes into the episode, the action is ramping up and in the background music you hear He-Man being sung.

The first eleven episodes of He-Man And The Masters Of The Universe kept me entertained and that was the most important thing for me.  There is no deep, thoughtful story telling here or an overarching goal to the story.  It is good vs evil, plain and simple.  The show has a range of interesting characters both good and bad.  After watching the first eleven episodes I am looking forward to getting through the next eleven.