It never ceases to amaze me when I look how quickly the issue numbers are increasing. It won't be much longer until we get to issue 24, when the newsletter list turns 2 years old! There are over 1,100 subscribers now, which I also find beyond belief. I hope you're all enjoying these newsletters, and I'd love to hear what you think! My e-mail address is ctyner@awod.com.
For the past few newsletters, I've been posting articles by Matthew Martin(MLMARTIN@coe.edu) to clean up some of the continuity problems in the MotUverse. It looks like this will be the last one for now. :-)
Here's the third and probably final fanfic/article in my continuing attempt to bring order to the MotUverse. Before we start, there's another, more common element we need to deal with. There were numerous first appearances of given characters or groups throughout MotU/PoP. The Horde,the Comet Warriors (aka Rock People) and the Snake Men all come to mind, with two or three origins each.
How do we deal with this? As is typical when attempting to tie everythingtogether, some judicious ignoring is required. Each element can only haveone origin--pick one. (The Horde is pretty much decided for us, with SotS,but most other such elements work just as well with any origin.) The otherfirst encounters are just typical adventures that were accidentallyrecorded as first encounters, occassionally when elements of the realorigin tacked on to the beginning.
I know, I know, it's not really satisfying. But it's the best we can do.
The rest of this article deals with the last two elements added to thecanons, and the two most disliked--the live-action motion picture, and *TheNew Adventures of He-Man* cartoon series. I've also put together a roughtimeline to determine what fits when.
The Last Battle?
First of all, we need something of a hiatus between the end of themini-comics and the start of the movie. The length of the hiatus isundetermined, but it should include the following elements:
--The resolution of the Preternia arc.
--The final victory over the Horde, and Adora's choice to settle down onEtheria.
--The destruction, disappearance, or reconcealment of the Three Towers,with a reversion or transfer of their universal power to Castle Grayskull.(This may also explain the change in Grayskull's appearance, although thatcan also be chalked up to the problems of a film medium in capturing thetrue appearance of Eternia.)
Exactly how these events happened, and what else may have occured duringthe break in timelines, is definitely open to speculation. (If anyonewants to write fanfic in this unified MotUverse of mine, I'd love to seeit.) Since our heroes look considerably older and different in the moviein any case, a jump of a few years is quite plausible.
Now, as for the events of the movie itself, they fit in with littletrouble. Randor and Marlena were probably captured off-screen andimprisoned in Snake Mountain. We can assume Orko was off on Trolla, andSkeletor may have temporarily sealed the dimensional gates for a time inorder to avoid anyone like Orko, Zodac, the Horde, or She-Ra and theEtherian forces from interfering. (In the dark future two-parter in issues#12 and 13 of the Star comic, we learn that Skeletor _did_ use the CosmicKey to conquer Eternia, that Randor and Marlena _were_ imprisoned in SnakeMountain, and that Skeletor did seal the dimensional gates permanently oncehe acquired the power of Grayskull.) Adam remained He-Man for the durationof the movie's events in view of the current situation. Most of the HeroicWarriors were scattered, as Man-at-Arms points out, and it's possible mostof Skeletor's best soldiers were out hunting them down and quashing theresistance, leaving him with only his right-hand men (Beast Man andEvil-Lyn) and a few green soldiers to handle other situations.
So It Ends . . .
From the end of the movie, things flow pretty naturally into the NewAdventures. Most of Skeletor's henchmen were imprisoned, banished, or fledfor their lives, leaving him with only the dregs of his forces (like thegoat-men seen in *A New Beginning*). We saw his skull go green in thebrief shot after the credits, which explains that change. In addition, thelava beneath Grayskull undoubtedly did serious damage to his body. Whilehe may have been sustained for a while by his magic and the influence ofthe Evil Cloud (see *The Cosmic Key* mini-comic), in the end, Skeletor hadto resort to technology and devise cybernetic mechanisms to keep hisravaged body functioning. (This is derived more from the figure, which wasobviously Borg Skeletor.)
Most of the Heroic Warriors probably retired--Skeletor was a minornuisance, no longer the threat he's been since he returned to Eternia.He-Man, Teela, and Man-at-Arms were definitely left, but that may be all.
In fact, the New Adventures fit very easily into continuity in thebeginning. What happened beyond the ending, none can say. Skeletorappears to have been banished for eternity--the Sorceress promised in *ANew Beginning* that Eternia would forever be a world without Skeletor. Asfor He-Man, it's not made clear in the final episode (*The Battle forLeviton*, I believe), so it's up to us. Personally, I think of himreturning home to Eternia, marrying Teela, and ruling over an Eternia thatis beginning a process of healing and rebirth.
And what lies beyond Prince Adam, He-Man, Hero of Eternia? Another story. . .
Mini-Comics: Ends and Beginnings
*Sigh* The mini-comics provided a lot of great stories and background forunderused characters, but they also contribute more than their fair shareof headaches.
*The Cosmic Key*, the last mini-comic to be produced for the originalline, provides some continuity problems. In this mini, the Evil Cloud, asentient and malevolent black hole (IIRC--it was some form of spacialanomaly), threatens Eternia, recruiting Skeletor to help. He-Man, theSorceress, and Gwildor use the Cosmic Key to banish the Evil Cloud.
Naturally, this would appear to come after the movie, despite thereference to it being Gwildor's first appearance--if the Heroic Warriorshad known about the Cosmic Key, they wouldn't have let it fall into thehands of Skeletor's minions. _However_, the mini also includes Saurod, whowas destroyed halfway through the movie.
Solution? I hate using the twin replacement cliche, but it's probably ouronly option. We've seen clans of Beast Men and Mer-Men; given that most ofSaurod was covered by armor, Skeletor probably picked one of his kindredand equipped him with the same armor as his predecessor.
Then, there's the first mini-comic for the NA line (the toy line was justcalled He-Man, but New Adventures makes more sense overall), which featuresthree contradictions:
--The power of Grayskull was absorbed into Starship Eternia by a trick ofSkeletor's.
--The Sorceress was also sent to the future and acquried a suit ofform-fitting silver techno-armor.
--Prince Adam _permanently_ became He-Man.
The first really doesn't make much of a difference either way within theseries, and so can be ignored or accepted--since it's never referred to inthe series, I'm inclined to reject it and say that this is something madeup to explain how He-Man could draw on the power of Grayskull in thefuture. The Sorceress's transfer to the future probably falls under thesame category, since her appearance in the NA cartoon was apparently herold form.
As for Prince Adam becoming He-Man now and forever . . . I hate totallyrejecting a plot point (not a few lines or a minor detail, but a whole plotpoint), but that seems to be our only option. I am, with reluctance,forced to declare this element of the first New Adventures mini-comicincompatible with my attempts to unify the MotUverse.
Some days I don't like this job at all.
Timeline:
This timeline isn't a hard and fast list of what happened when; rather,it's where I place the various points of the canon in relation to one another.
1. '82-'83 mini-comics.
2. DC comic series
3. *He-Man and the Masters of the Universe* cartoon and '84-85mini-comics, intertwining with each other.
4. _Secret of the Sword_
5. *She-Ra, Princess of Power* cartoon, Star comics, '86 mini-comics(again intertwining).
6. '87 mini-comics.
7. *Uncovered gap*
8. _Masters of the Universe: The Motion Picture_
9. *The New Adventures of He-Man* cartoon.
[Greyskull Tales]
I know a lot of you are interested in learning more about the possibleupcoming 'Greyskull Tales'. Here is a web page containing a transcript ofa chat session with Robbie Beiswenger:
I was recently contacted by Joe Williams, the CEO/Presidents of RenaissanceComics and Movies. He is working on securing the rights to the series soit can be back on the air! He also told me that he's working on trying toget the rights to several other titles (he didn't specify them by name,though), so it might not be too much longer before we see a few great showsfrom the '80s back on the air. :)
I did send snail mail to Mr. Williams a few weeks ago and never got aresponse. I'm hoping that this isn't a hoax of some sort.
[Trivia]
Here is this month's trivia installment from Scott.
(1) Who is the Evil Sorceress who held King Miro prisoner?
(2) In the episode 'Hunt for He Man', what makes He-man sick?
(3) Name the cat Beastman uses to get Cringer's attention in "A BeastlySideshow".
(4) Name the Keeper of the Comets.
(5) In the episode "Mistaken Identity", Modulok mistakes a boy for beingHe-man's secret identity. Name this boy.
(6) In the episode 'Into the Abyss', what is the name of the cute littlecreature that Teela finds in the forest?
(7) What is the name of the episode in which Teela goes to the Oracle ofthe Crystal Sea in order to find out who her mother is?
(8) Name Skeletor's cold henchman.
(9) Where do the bird people live?
(10) What is the name of the evil villian in the episode 'One for All'?
Also, here are the answers to last month's questions:
(1) Q: What does Prince Adam say in order to begin his transformation into He-man? A: By the Power of Grayskull
(2) Q: What are 2 of Cringer's least favorite phrases to hear? A: "I have the Power" & "Come on, Cringer, we've got work to do."
(3) Q: Where is the Sea of Eternity located? A: Mystic Mountains
(4) Q: Where does Stratos live? A: Avion
(5) Q: What is the Royal Archeaologist's name? A: Malactha
(6) Q: What color is Man-At-Arms' hair? A: Brown
(7) Q: In the episode "Eternal Darkness", who is the evil villain who was trying to take over Eternia? A: Dark Dream
(8) Q: In the episode "Dree Elle's Return", Orko and Dree Elle had to sing in order to defeat the evil coming from a horn. What is this horn called? A: The Horn of Evil
(9) Q: In the episode 'Origin of the Sorceress', the Sorceress and He-manmust stop an evil wizard from coming to Eternia. What is his name? A: Morgoth
(10) Q: What is the name of the episode in which Teela temporarily becomes the Sorceress of Grayskull? A: "Teela's Triumph"
[What Is Grey1.jpg?]
This month's file attachment is a picture of Castle Grayskull taken outsideof Wet & Wild Waterworld in Orlando, Florida. It was sent to me byBloodVow (http://members.tripod.com/~BloodVow/).
[FAQ]
Some of us in the He-Man on-line community have decided it's time for aMasters of the Universe FAQ. We'd love to hear the questions you thinkneed to be answered. There's a form athttp://www.west.ga.net/~eternia/He-man/hmsr.html where you can submit questions for this FAQ.
How to make Dree-Elle: Take a Orko figure, get rid of his hat, and getsome yellow and green (I think) material for the hair and for her kerchief(bandana). If you have a Barbie doll, make her a surprise, shave her head...
How to make one of Skeletor's soldiers from the movie: Take a Robotofigure and paint him black, or you could use a horde trooper, but Ipersonally think that a Roboto figure would look better.
[Classifieds]
This section is turning out to be pretty large. :) If you'd like tosubmit a short ad, e-mail me at ctyner@awod.com.
Disclaimer: I am not responsible for any claims made in this section.
Searching for the mini-comics that came with the figures - BuckSnider@Aol.com
Need to find videos, especially w/ episodes featuring Evil-Lyn -Creep999@aol.com
Looking for Orko's ripchord! E-mail Leanne Shaw at: shaw5@erols.com
WTT for or WTB Star Comics Masters of the Universe #11, 12, and/or 13. Ihave many other Star and DC He-Man comics as well as episodes of thecartoon and cash. Contact Jacob at sorceress@tamu.edu
The Scrolls Of Grayskull: Issue 22 by Adam Tyner (ctyner@awod.com) and Scott White (Cringer) No copyright infringements were intended in the publishing of this newsletter.
