Hey, Man, He-Man's Back!
by Joal Ryan
Oct 4, 2004, 4:30 PM PT
It looks like He-Man is powering up again.
Action director John Woo has been tapped to helm a new, live-action version of the 1980s toy-rific toon, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, Fox confirms.
According to Daily Variety, Woo (Face/Off) will do double duty as producer, writer/director Adam Rifkin (Detroit Rock City) will pen the script, and Fox's Fox 2000 division will bring Eternia back to life.
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All of this leaves one logical question: "Who's going to be in it?," asked John Erwin.
Erwin is the veteran actor who gave He-Man his he-manly voice in the 1980s TV series. (He also helped Morris the Cat express his finicky feline thoughts in the classic TV commercials dating back to 1969.)
When contacted Monday for his reaction to a planned new He-Man movie, Erwin wished the project well, and although essentially retired, offered his services.
"If [the leading man] has a heavy lisp, I'll be ready to go," the voice-over actor joked.
Unfortunately, there was no word yet on a potential cast.
For those not raised on 1980s television, an explanation: He-Man was a pop-culture phenomenon, ample evidence of which can be found to this day on the likes of eBay where everything from He-Man lunch boxes to He-Man adhesive bandages (sorry, "Battle Strips") tempt collectors.
The TV series chronicled the adventures of Prince Adam of Eternia who buffed up when he held a sword above his head and roared, "I have the power!," thereby turning into toondom's version of Mark McGwire, He-Man.
Joined with his trusty clawed companion, Battle Cat, He-Man battled the evildoing, in-desperate-need-of-a-facial Skeletor. Twin sister She-Ra (apparently, She-Woman just didn't click) got her own show in 1985.
To Erwin, what differentiated He-Man from other toons was its accessibility. "It was one of the first shows to go five days a week," Erwin said of the series, which debuted in first-run syndication in 1983. "The kids didn't have to wait until Saturday."
The kids also didn't have to wait for the tie-in toys--Mattel Inc., home of Barbie, et. al, helped produce the series.
Owing to the success of the toys and the show, He-Man got his first big-screen closeup in 1987 in Masters of the Universe, a then-modestly budgeted flick ($17 million, per IMDb.com) from Cannon Films, the non-esteemed studio of Superman IV. Dolph Lundgren, the non-esteemed actor of Red Scorpion, starred. Fans griped.
"It better not be a repeat of the 1987 movie!" was one of the stipulations issued on the fan site, He-Man.org, regarding the new project.
"[The original movie] had its charm, but failed to deliver on a story or the characters that fans expected," Val Staples, Webmaster of He-Man.org and force behind the new Masters of the Universe comic-book series, said in an email interview Monday. "We all hope the new movie will pay careful homage to what made Masters of the Universe great."
By the power of Grayskull...
