From Here To Eternia: A Look Back At He-Man & She-Ra In Animation

He-Man and She-Ra have had ongoing franchises since the early 80s. The entre Masters Of The Universe toy line was a giant melting pot of concepts and ideas that each incarnation would add on to its legacy. Whether it was animated, live action, in comics, or storybooks, the ongoing saga of the worlds of Eternia and Etheria helped this sci-fi/fantasy/superhero/adventure epic create its own mythology over the last four decades.

Masters Of The Universe was conceived because Mattel president Ray Wagner turned down Star Wars toy line. Former Mattel employee Bernie Loomis bought the rights to Star Wars. Mattel has instead licensed movie tie-ins like Flash Gordon, and Clash Of The Titans, both of which bombed. They got the rights to Conan The Barbarian in 1982, but it was a Rated-R movie, so they couldn't make it, unlike various other toy lines like Rambo, Robocop, and Toxic Avenger that eventually did get their own kid's merchandise. 

MOTU came out of the need to create an original toy line not based on an existing franchise. Roger Sweet designed made first concept art for He-Man. Mark Taylor created initial MOTU designs, including Skeletor based on a carnival ride. Castle Grayskull was a collector set as MOTU’s “Capture the flag" where whoever currently ruled the castle would raise their own flag on Grayskull. Battle Cat was originally modeled from a tiger in the Big Jim toy line. MOTU was originally called Lords Of Power when it started in 1982, but was changed when they thought it was too religious themed. Power Lords was however used by Revell in their own toy line in 1983.

Action figures first came with mini comics that established the initial lore. He-Man here was a solo savage warrior with the Power Sword split in two. Teela and The Sorceress were the same person, sometimes with green skin. DC Comics created a mini-series that altered He-Man's origin to secretly be Prince Adam. This also included a crossover of He-Man fighting Superman.

Mattel got Lou Schiemer and Filmation to handle the original animated series. Filmation also created Blackstar, another sci-fi series about a hero with magic sword split in two. Filmation’s past experience with the character of Shazam played a part in Adam’s transformations. They also made Queen Marlena coming from Earth, like in Blackstar. Orko was added to the show to help teach children lessons based slightly on an annoying dragon that Filmation used in the second season of Flash Gordon.

MOTU set up 80s original TV toy boom where a whole TV series would be based on a toy line. Hasbro made an entire empire on this with their franchises like G.I. Joe, Transformers, Jem, and My Little Pony.

Ironically, there was a Filipino live-action knock off movie titled Hee-Man: Master Of None that was a barbarian parody with a scrawny main character.

With the He-Man show gaining as many girl watchers as there were boys, Mattel’s Barbie department first set up the idea for She-Ra. Adora was He-Man's twin sister who initially wore a mask made from her headdress. In the original mini-comics She-Ra originally had her whole team fighting only Catra and Entrapta. Catra was the one who got powers from her mask and had a pink lioness named Clawdeen. She-Ra was another parallel of He-Man to Shazam as he also had a missing twin sister who shared the same power as him.

Hordak and The Horde began the “third faction” in toy lines similar to The Stingers from Jem, or the Lunatacs in Thundercats. The Horde became She-Ra's enemy as she led the Great Rebellion against them to free the planet Etheria.

Oversaturation of extra characters on both MOTU and She-Ra lead to slowing Mattel’s expansion. The He-Man/She-Ra Christmas Special was the last production of Filmation’s He-Man franchise while the She-Ra show went on for another two years.

King Hiss and the Snake Men were brought in as a fourth faction in the MOTU action figures. This was going to lead into a new lineup lead by a different character named He-Ro, but it was cancelled due the 80s generation growing out of the collecting action figures.

In 1987, a live-action also motion picture based on MOTU crashed entire line. The film also began the “fantasy characters coming to Earth” trope also used in Beastmaster and The Smurfs. She-Ra was supposed to be in the film too. 

Mattel tried a comeback in 1989 with The New Adventures Of He-Man that gave into “putting the characters into space” trope, similar to Gilligan's Island and Josie And The Pussycats. Jetlag Productions did the animation, which later produced Conan The Adventurer. New Adventures also first introduced the character of Mara as He-Man's love interest.

In 2002, Mattel started a total reboot toy line and TV series which was animated by Mike Young Productions and ran on Cartoon Network. It was developed by Michael Halperin who worked on the original series. This new lore was introduced including King Grayskull becoming the original He-Man. Skeletor’s origin of Keldor is also revealed. 

Shortly after the 2002 MOTU series ended, nostalgic toys for kids were suddenly rebranded as adult collectibles. DC Comics did three series of MOTU comics with Skeletor being Adam’s uncle. Adora worked for the Horde as Despara. They later did a crossover with Thundercats, as well as one with Injustice.

Dreamwork’s She-Ra And The Princesses Of Power came out in 2018 developed by N.D. Stevenson. He went on to work on the Lumberjanes comic, and creating the Nimona graphic novel that Netflix picked up the movie rights from Blue Sky Studios after it was bought up by Disney. This show didn’t have any connection to MOTU. Adora and Catra were friends. Clawdeen was replaced with Melog. Melog went from a golem to a space cat. Double Trouble was added as a shapeshifter. Mara was brought back as the original She-Ra. There was a ton of fan backlash over giving She-Ra battle shorts instead of a skimpy mini-skirt.

Masters Of The Universe: Revelation came out in 2021 for Netflix by Kevin Smith through Powerhouse Animation Studios. It was a pseudo-sequel to the 80s show which ran for 10 episodes. The first part was well played as a quest, but the second half got bogged down trying to focus too much on Teela and Evil-Lyn trying to find their place in a world run by musclebound men.

Netflix created a new He-Man And The Masters Of The Universe which also premiered in 2021 meant to sell toys. It took inspiration from video games like Final Fantasy and Overwatch. Skeletor is confirmed to be He-Man's uncle Keldor, and Ram-Man was gender-swapped into the original character of Ram-Ma'am. It finished up after 24 episodes, even though there were plans to have He-Man and his friends fight Hordak on modern day Earth in future seasons.

Masters Of The Universe: Revolution was released for Netflix in 2024 as a follow-up to Revelation where Skeletor remembers his true origins as Keldor. This season only had five episodes with a slightly rushed plot, but was satisfying with the characters evolving and accepting new responsibilities, as well as a star-studded cast.