Should the New He-Man film have ANY Connection to Earth?

[Darth Latveria]

You want what you cannot have: a revival of MYP.



Filmation has never had a proper live-action adaptation. You want people like me -- people who've followed the show since we were kids in the 80's -- to chuck twenty-five years of history in the name of doing away with so-called "cheesiness". To me, that is a slap in the face.

I'll admit Filmation is not perfect. There's plenty I would change about it (Adam's pink tights, The Sorceress's "HE-MAN! I'M WEAKENING!")

At the same time, this business of completely re-writing established backstories is just too, too much. It renders MOTU into something almost un-recognizable.



If I want to see blood and terror, I'll watch CNN.

25 years of history? Dude, the show ended after 2 years and that was that. It was over. No more history (except for the New Adventures). So what we have is 2 or 3 years of history, that is over 20 years old. A few yrs can be tacked on to add some of the comics, assuming the comics followed the same basic plotline.

I grew up loving He-Man as well. I had a huge collection of toys, posters, etc. It was awesome. Eventually the show ended and I could no longer see it in syndication. About 13 yrs later, I saw it on DVD and watched it for the first time again. Sadly, the show just didn't age well.

Admittedly, as much as I liked the MYP, I think it was flawed as well. I would have given the villains more wins. I wouldn't have made the sorceress look like an egyptian goddess. Hell, i would also have cut out most of the technology crap (I never liked that aspect of it, but I understand that I am definitely unique on that issue). I certainly wouldn't have had Randor be a soldier who was named king. There are quite a few things I would've changed, and would love to see changed in the movie.

What they did decide to change, they changed for the better.

As for the issue of completely rewriting established backstories, how would this make He-Man unrecognizeable? Most of the people who want Marlena to be from Earth agree it should be about 30 seconds of time in the movie. In the vast majority of the Filmation episodes, no mention was made of Earth whatsoever.

The changes that I want are changes that will give MOTU a chance of succeeding in the 21st century. Corniness simply doesn't sell like it used to. Non-MOTU adults don't want to see a bumbling fool like Orko using his magic to great a giant cake that topples on MAA or to create an alarm clock out of bomb parts that blows up the lab. If they want comedy in the movie, they want it to be from a character that they don't end up utterly despising because of his sheer annoying incompetence.

When it comes to the talking animals... Like I said, it really depends on how it is done. It is very easy to do wrong, but if it can be done in a way that makes sense and doesn't look silly, then sure.

I agree that Marlena coming from Earth will not destroy the movie. It is just a stupid idea that will make people have a lower view of MOTU in general, but if they overall like the movie they will end up saying, "yeah, that MOTU stuff is cool excewpt for that stupid Marlena nonsense" and they don't like it, it will just be another thing to bash. So I agree that it won't kill MOTU, just make it seem more silly.

As for Adam's pink tights... Well, we agree on that one.

[Divia]

You want what you cannot have: a revival of MYP.

Filmation has never had a proper live-action adaptation. You want people like me -- people who've followed the show since we were kids in the 80's -- to chuck twenty-five years of history in the name of doing away with so-called "cheesiness". To me, that is a slap in the face.

We dont want people who have followed it since they were kids to make it into something that only THEY will like. Thats a big black hole that none of us want to go into. This maybe part of the problem that MYP fell into. They tried to revamp the old toon with cooler looking people, but the same stories. We loved em, the younger generation not so much. We need something more..something different. If you hold to the general idea...Skeletor bad, Keldor was Randor's brother, wanted power..Greyskull etc..that will be enough to draw 80s fans. No one remembers all the little details save hardcore people like us. And personally we can't even agree on how a movie should be done.

At the same time, this business of completely re-writing established backstories is just too, too much. It renders MOTU into something almost un-recognizable.

How is it being rewritten so no one can recongize it?

If I want to see blood and terror, I'll watch CNN.

Agreed, you dont need blood and terror, but you need to feel a bit of danger, or wahts the point? You dont wnat camp and cheese.

Who said anything about blood and terror?

Do you really think that by taking out some camp and cheese factors you end up with blood and terror?
You're insulting the MotU property.

MOTU has many different layers and I agree with you, Nate. Just becuase we leave out a detail here or change something that does not mean it will destory what we know as MOTU.

The key here is to make a movie the MASSES will see.

[Orko's Magic Hat]

@ Orko's Magic Hat: My hat's off to you friend.

Though we may disagree on things, you are expressing yourself and views on this matter very well. Giving good points to consider being in favor of a nod to Earth or Talking green tigers.

Again, though I don't want those things in a MotU movie, you are a voice of reason I believe in these parts.

Especially putting up with opinionated jerks like me.

It's easy for us to swing hard to our sides and defend them, where I see that you are one that is keeping open minded about things.

I don't know why I felt the need to express that, but I did, and there it is.
Thanks O'sMH.

EDIT: @Brad2dbone: Nicely put bro... nicely put indeed.

I say what I feel, I think its important to say what you would like just in case, certain producers or writers are watching

[Darth Latveria]

I say what I feel, I think its important to say what you would like just in case, certain producers or writers are watching

So they can come away thoroughly confused

[Orko's Magic Hat]

So they can come away thoroughly confused

But confusion's good

[Mirage]

Agreed, you dont need blood and terror, but you need to feel a bit of danger, or wahts the point? You dont wnat camp and cheese.

I agree, we can do away wth the cheese.



A little camp, OTOH, never hurt anyone (Where would "Batman" have been without Jack Nicholson's Joker? )

[Darth Latveria]

I agree with you about the camp. JN's Joker was awesome, but part of his greatness was that he wasn't a really stupid and irritating character. I think that to get a similar effect for the MOTU movie, we should have skeletor have a certain amount of "style". Hard to explain, but while he should be really dark and evil, there should be a certain bit of panache to him.

[KILLER-CLONE]

I think Earth can be tied in, ONLY if it can be done in a plausible way, i.e. it's the far, far future, mankind has colonized other planets in our galaxy, and Eternia is one of those planets. But as for any of the MOTU characters being from Earth... I'm more iffy on that. Why does Marlena need to be from Earth? Or Adam? To me, it's enough to say that the humans of Eternia are descended from the original human colonists. Nothing more than that is really necessary, IMHO. You're both wrong, though, in regards to LOTR. If either of you had actually researched Tolkien and his work, you'd know that Middle-earth IS Earth... thousands of years in the past! The name Middle-earth wasn't even created by Tolkien. It's a modern English transliteration of various ancient names for the Earth, from various cultures. In fact, it's the modern English equivalent of the Norse name for the Earth, Midgard. Of course, Tolkien was really into history and languages. As a linguist, he even based his invented languages on real languages from European cultures. If Elvish sounds familiar, it's because it's based on a real language. I think the end of the Third Age (the time period of Lord of the Rings) is supposed to be roughly 6,000 years ago. Just like Robert E. Howard's Hyborean Age (the era in which Conan's adventures take place) is Howard's imaginary ancient Earth of about 12,000 years ago!

Now, of course, with MOTU being Science Fantasy, you could always give it the ultimate Science Fantasy twist, which is that this story, seemingly set in a distant, forgotten past, is actually taking place in Earth's far FUTURE, thousands of years from now, when our present day is the past that mankind has forgotten!

Anyway, there's different ways to go with it, as long as it makes sense, and isn't as campy as one or more of the characters being astronauts from Earth some... 10 or 20 years from now, or something stupid like that, then I'll probably be okay with it... unless they foolishly do a rehash of the first movie, and have He-Man and company running around on modern day Earth. There's no reason to do that kind of low budget cheese AGAIN. It would surely put the final nail in this franchise's coffin!

Dude, I think you're being too literal in your interpretation of the question posed by this thread. I think the question is should a MOTU movie involve Earth as in 'our Earth'. Modern Earth. The Middle Earth of LOTR is NOT our Earth. it may be 'earth' in another time but its not OUR Earth. So I stand by my original statement that LOTR is set in Middle Earth, not Earth. Middle Earth is as 'made up' as Eternia or A Galaxy Far Far Away. Just because Tolkien said that Middle Earth is our Earth millennia ago doesn't make it true in fact. It's all fantasy. And that's the point.

And by the way I was bought up in a household where Star Wars and LOTR ruled so I think I know my Tolkien law.

[evenflow]

Having Marleena from Earth is enough, leave it out for the rest of the time.

[Steph]

I don't think the movie plot should have anything related to Earth in it. There is so much story potential to work with the main characters- I feel that any MOTU would be diluted if the movie makers tried to cram every nostalgic fact into a 2-3 hour flick. I would want Earth to take any time away from seeing the wonders of Eternia like Grayskull, Snake Mountain, the Palace of Eterinia.

If Marlena did appear in the movie- I believe her primary role should be emotional pillar in Adams life. If said scene did happen, and there was a pan across the room showing a space suit, or part of some Earth space ship- without focusing on it or making it part of the plot- that would be cool too.

So my answer- a critical or minor plot in the movie, no. An Easter egg, would be fine.

[kolobosrexx]

...You want the PERFECT Skeletor, go with Langella's portrayal... His dialogue towards the end in particular hints at more character depth than the whole movie had... MYP's is close in malevolence, but still a bit too "witty". He SHOULDN'T be funny. Serious Villains who TRY to be funny on purpose are lame. Serious villans who get laughs because they are so arrogant/take themselves so seriously are better, i.e. Max Von Sydow's Ming the Merciless from "Flash Gordon". His origin in MYP is fantastic, however... Keep Keldor, Hordak's "price", being made from human/Gar into a supernatural being...

[Neutro]

You're really hanging your hat on that, and I'll agree that it is cannon.
Filmation cannon.
Go with MYP and you get another cannon, may I remind you it's the latest MotU cannon.

And might I remind you that the Filmation cannon is also hands down the most successful cannon to date and is responsible for making "He-Man+MOTU" the 80's icon it is today.

25 years of history? Dude, the show ended after 2 years and that was that. It was over. No more history (except for the New Adventures). So what we have is 2 or 3 years of history, that is over 20 years old. A few yrs can be tacked on to add some of the comics, assuming the comics followed the same basic plotline.

I grew up loving He-Man as well. I had a huge collection of toys, posters, etc. It was awesome. Eventually the show ended and I could no longer see it in syndication. About 13 yrs later, I saw it on DVD and watched it for the first time again. Sadly, the show just didn't age well.

Sure it hasn't been on the air for quite some time now but I believe it lasted in syndication till at least 1990, which gives it more like 7 years of air time...

Middle Earth is as 'made up' as Eternia or A Galaxy Far Far Away. Just because Tolkien said that Middle Earth is our Earth millennia ago doesn't make it true in fact. It's all fantasy. And that's the point.

And further, Modern Earth in Transformers is just as 'made up' as well; as far as I know, giant transforming robots have yet to come down from the sky and wage war on us....

Just my 3 cents.

[Divia]

I don't think the movie plot should have anything related to Earth in it. There is so much story potential to work with the main characters- I feel that any MOTU would be diluted if the movie makers tried to cram every nostalgic fact into a 2-3 hour flick. I would want Earth to take any time away from seeing the wonders of Eternia like Grayskull, Snake Mountain, the Palace of Eterinia.

If Marlena did appear in the movie- I believe her primary role should be emotional pillar in Adams life. If said scene did happen, and there was a pan across the room showing a space suit, or part of some Earth space ship- without focusing on it or making it part of the plot- that would be cool too.

So my answer- a critical or minor plot in the movie, no. An Easter egg, would be fine.

Agreed. And while some didnt like it, I thought her role in MYP's cartoon was a good one. She was a kind, loving mother, but a awarrior when FORCED into the position. She could do it if she wanted to.

Furthermore, and i'm not sure if this was added, but the original movie had Earth in it. I think we should try to get away from that horrid piece of work as much as possible. Parrells should not be drawn between the old film and th enew one becuase if you have that you are gonna have people think its just like the one from the 80s.

[krosfyah]

Agreed. And while some didnt like it, I thought her role in MYP's cartoon was a good one. She was a kind, loving mother, but a awarrior when FORCED into the position. She could do it if she wanted to.

Furthermore, and i'm not sure if this was added, but the original movie had Earth in it. I think we should try to get away from that horrid piece of work as much as possible. Parrells should not be drawn between the old film and th enew one becuase if you have that you are gonna have people think its just like the one from the 80s.

she was terrible in MYP to begin with, it's only after her costume change when she got my attn. I think most people felt the same, prior to that the only thing she had to add was "Oh Randor..."

[Darth Latveria]

Sure it hasn't been on the air for quite some time now but I believe it lasted in syndication till at least 1990, which gives it more like 7 years of air time...

Well, when i was referring to history, I actually meant the creation of history, not the repetition of it. For instance, if asked how much history Cheers has, I would say 11 years, referring to the 11 seasons, as opposed to 25 years, which refers to the 11 seasons and the 14 years of syndication.

[DanzigSpice]

Which actors would you want playing the characters? I think Paul Telfer (Hercules) would be perfect as He-man.

[Baena]

Which actors would you want playing the characters? I think Paul Telfer (Hercules) would be perfect as He-man.

Hmmm, potential there on the look for sure, but can he act?

[DanzigSpice]

well, i've only seen him in Hercules but he did a good job. he looks the part w/out going overboard. though dolph lungren looked good as he-man but paul telfer is younger and would be more believable in the price adam character as well as he-man. www.youtube.com might have a couple clips of him. i remember reading last summer that he was up for the role in a new conan movie. he definetly has potential to be an action hero. too bad he's under the radar.

[Mirage]

Furthermore, and i'm not sure if this was added, but the original movie had Earth in it. I think we should try to get away from that horrid piece of work as much as possible. Parrells should not be drawn between the old film and th enew one becuase if you have that you are gonna have people think its just like the one from the 80s.

If we were to SET the new movie on Earth, then I would agree.


As far as the average moviegoer is concerned, MOTU begins and ends with Filmation. To suddenly turn Marlena into this alien warrior princess would give the appearance of the writers pulling a plotline out of thier ***.

[Darth Latveria]

If we were to SET the new movie on Earth, then I would agree.


As far as the average moviegoer is concerned, MOTU begins and ends with Filmation. To suddenly turn Marlena into this alien warrior princess would give the appearance of the writers pulling a plotline out of thier ***.

The average movie goer has no idea that Marlena was from Earth in the filmation series. Consequently, her being from Earth looks like it was pulled out of their ass since the idea is ****.

[Mirage]

Good morning, Darth:

The average movie goer has no idea that Marlena was from Earth in the filmation series.

It was stated quite clearly in "Teela's Quest" that she was from Earth.

[Darth Latveria]

Good morning, Darth:





It was stated quite clearly in "Teela's Quest" that she was from Earth.

Good morning to you too, Mister. M

I don't in any way doubt that she was explicitly stated to be from Earth in the series. What I doubt is that the average movie goer has much of a recollection of the series.

The movie will need to appeal to millions of people, but only thousands have seen the old series recently enough to remember that Marlena was from Earth in the original series. As a matter of fact, I am willing to bet that a comparable number of people have seen the MYP series in the last few yrs *simply because it was on TV* to the number of people who have seen the filmation series.

In any case, I was wondering something. Where did this alien warrior princess idea come from? Was that what they did in MYP? Also, what you mean by alien? In the filmation series she was an alien, at least from their perspective. Do you mean an alien by their perspective, ours or both?

[Divia]

Good morning, Darth:

It was stated quite clearly in "Teela's Quest" that she was from Earth.

yes, and the point being what? How many people do you honestly think will remember that? My friend and I used to watch the cartoons all the time, but I highly doubt she, or others will remember such a detail. What do they remember. Skeletor bad. He-Man good. And on a good day there are some who will remember that Adam turned into He-Man. And on an even better day they may remember the other characters.

If we were to SET the new movie on Earth, then I would agree.


As far as the average moviegoer is concerned, MOTU begins and ends with Filmation. To suddenly turn Marlena into this alien warrior princess would give the appearance of the writers pulling a plotline out of thier ***.

Disagree. The average moviegoer will not remember said detail. It wont matter to them one way or another if she is a warrior princess or if she is from earth. Why? Becuase they hardly remember anything from the toon to begin with save little things here and there. It would be far better to leave all references to earth out of this movie and create the He-man in his own universe.

[Mirage]

Do you mean an alien by their perspective, ours or both?

IIRC, she was supposedly from Anwat Gar.

Fron our perspective, she was an alien warrior princess.

[MEK_A_NOSE]

Lets look at all the recent comic book to movies, cartoon to movies, that were successful. If you don't count sequels, they all have origin stories. Hulk (its hard to say successful and that title in the same writing), Spiderman, Ghost Rider, batman, residence evil, doom. All contained some background to lead up to the acutally action. Most of them, started out with origins.

Start of Marlena comes to Eternia from earth when she was going with the people to save the earth from the meteor from armagedon and they missed and she was the only survivor from that expedition and ended up on a strange planet. Randor, not yet king was fighting with Keldor and the whole melt the face away thing happens.

Kornus and Keldor, now skeletor have a fight and trap jaw is born. That is a great 45 minutes of a movie there. 10 minutes marlena getting ready for her voyage and messes up. 45minutes into the movie adam is born. Adora as well if you wish. skeletor imprisons Randor and Marlena, Sorceress gives Adam the magic sword and tells him to say, "By the power of grey skull" becomes He-Man to rescue his parents in the last 15 minutes of the movie. Leaves people beging for a sequel. Don't over expose He-Man, if the LOTR followed Frodo the whole time, it would have sucked. If Batman only showed Batman the whole movie it would suck.

Transformers made me happy when they only showed Megatron at a minimum. I want more!!

See i think we all have our fan boy inside of us wanting things to go a specific way. However what about those who don't know about MOTU? Getting them interested is the key into having a full revival