He-Man and friends fight against the evil Skeletor and minions for control of Eternia! Gary Goddard’s 1987 cult favorite Has the Power on 4k & Blu-ray via Toy Robot.
The Film
I make no excuses. I love 1987’s Masters of the Universe. Hell, I rather enjoyed the 2026 Masters of the Universe. But that uses franchise nostalgia for the earlier movie, TV shows, and action figures to make something fun and knowing. Gary Goddard’s film IS the nostalgia. The Dolph Lundgren-led film is big, dumb, and brainless. But it is well aware of such, as is everyone involved. No one thought they were making peak cinema, but they all knew they were making peak B-movie, pure cheese on a budget, and they gave it everything. Especially Frank Langella as Skeletor. It’s a fun film, well aware of its roots, and smaller than it should be on a budget (it stretched, then broke legendary genre filmmaker Cannon Group’s finances), with great actors, wonderfully silly effects, and 80s kids’ swords-and-sorcery silliness, all used to great effect.
Though I’d venture to guess most reading this review and possibly picking up the Toy Robot 4k & Blu-ray are very aware, I’ll go ahead and break it down. Just in case. Here’s What’s Goin’ On… Based on the action figure series and subsequent cartoon show, Masters of the Universe features the buff, sword-wielding He-Man and his friends Man-At-Arms, Teela, and others fighting the evil forces of Skeletor, Evil-Lyn, Beastman, Blade, and others in the techno-medieval world of Eternia. But for this movie, due to budgets and all that, some of that is shifted. He-Man is always He-Man and never his alter ego Prince Adam (his parents and the power structure are never mentioned), and never with Battlecat. Flying goofus sorcerer Orko becomes dwarf tinkerer Gwildor and, oh yeah, it’s mostly on Earth with just Castle Grayskull and some outdoor shots at the Vasquez Rocks and matte paintings standing in for all of Eternia. Jumping right into the story, no need for any sort of set-up outside a Star Wars scroll, Skeletor has defeated his enemies and seized Castle Grayskull. In an attempt to save the good guys and stop total domination, the Sorceress sends He-Man, Man-At-Arms, Teela, and Gwildor to Earth. There they meet teenagers Julie and Kevin and try get to get back.
So, yeah, it’s a bit different in setting, but the overal plotting matches. Both forces try to find the McGuffins (a pair of Cosmic Keys) in order to get what they want. They get into various skirmishes around town: in teh school, a music shop, and up and down a strangely empty downtown street. Putting the setting aside, it has all the fun of the show. I loved the wonderful production design of the various weapons and vehicles, from the flying discs to Skeletor’s float (in my memory from a kid, he had a full-on parade!) And in Eternia, Greyskull looks pretty darned good.
It’s all done with self-awareness. It’s not jokey or purely campy, as writer David Odell and director Gary Godard know it is on its own. Everyone is game. Dolph Lundgren is a bit flat, but that’s fine, as he was still working past language barriers and learning how to work with the sword. But damned if he doesn’t look the part (maybe less so than the new guy, but I digress). Courteney Cox, just after Brian De Palma’s video for Bruce Springsteen’s Dancing in the Dark, is cute and charming, as is her relationship with Robert Duncan McNeill, better known as Star Trek Voyager’s Tom Paris. Billy Barty, always a vaudevillian at heart, brings great joy under piles of makeup and animatronics as Gwildor; he’s kinda the heart of the film. Let’s not forget the recently passed James Tolkan getting on another slacker after Back to the Future. Meg Foster is perfectly cast as Evil-Lyn, using her sharp looks and bewitching eyes to great effect (Allison Brie was a wonderful Evil-Lyn too, but very different).
Finally, as Jared Leto would do in 2026, Frank Langella absolutely steals the show as Skeletor, playing with the unrepentant, disgustingly and deliciously campy pure evil. Langella has said the skull-faced sorcerer was his favorite character to play because he was just purely and simply evil, no hidden good to dig into, no tragic otherness like his wonderful 1970s stage and screen Dracula (one of my favorites). Just over-the-top gleeful evil. Cue the cartoon Skeletor: “I don’t like to feel good. I like to feel evil” meme. Because Langella loves to feel evil.
While I watched a lot of it in my youth, since it was always on TV, I’ve revisited Masters of the Universe every few years since then. And I still love the hell out of it. Maybe it’s nostalgia; maybe I’m reading it straight as a fun B-picture from Cannon Group. Maybe I’m wrong. If I am, I don’t want to be right, as I want to keep enjoying Masters of the Universe!
The package contains two cuts of the film: the theatrical 106-minute version and a workprint about 4 minutes longer. The workprint adds a few character moments and a couple of jokes. Despite the short difference, it flows a little better; when those moments were cut, they weren’t smoothed over, leading to a few weird cuts.
Packaging and Presentation
Toy Robot puts Masters of the Universe on two 4k discs, one with each cut (and features). It is also available for Blu-ray if preferred. One disc is pressed to the back of the black case. The other is on an inner flipper. The other side has three lobby/art cards. A reversible sleeve contains two of the original posters. The case slides into a thick box with new art. A Toy Robot stylist Obi-strip slides around the case. It has spine TR-003. The new restoration is damned good-looking, with the 80s detail popping through in both the fantastic and normal. I’ve seen this on TV, DVD, Blu-ray, and now 4k and I remember how hard it used to be to see it, it’s a darker film that used to get blacked out in lower resolution. Now we can appreciate the production design (even if the increased clarity also shows flaws, but I’m cool with it). The workprint doesn’t show any changes when previously lost footage comes in, seamless instead of the normal slide into SD. Damned fine. The sound is similarly fine, with 5.1 and 2.0 for both cuts. It’s a noisy film, and nothing is lost.
The Features
Toy Robot brings over the commentary from the old release, along with new features.
Disc 1
Commentary (2007)
Director Gary Goddard gives a fine overview of every aspect of the film, the financial troubles, working with the cast, and pulling it all together by the skin of everyone’s teeth. Appreciative and detailed; solid.
Behind the Legend (1987)
Very short EPK, super cheery and fun (4m)
Theatrical Trailer and Teaser Trailer
(3 min)
Stills gallery
A couple of hundred behind-the-scenes and production photos. Fun stuff. (plays on auto for 12 minutes)
Production Design
25 designs for Greyskull. Awesome. Wish had more than just that one place, though. (plays on auto for 2 minutes)
Disc 2
Commentary (new)
Production Designer William Stout gets more into the technical details than the other commentary. While he drops away here and there, I loved hearing the nitty-gritty of building it from the ground up, how he and the other craftspeople approached the creation, working around the small budget, Golan and/or Globus nearly sabotaging it with their producing (with this and Superman IV, they were grasping at financial straws and panicking).
Becoming Kevin (new)
Robert Duncan McNeill talks about his career before (soaps) and after (Star Trek), and the experiences of his first big movie set; he had a similar two-production thing like Michael J. Fox did in Back to the Future. He’s funny and forthcoming with a great talk. (16m)
They Call Me Blade (new)
As he was on Circle of Iron, Anthony De Longis is a born storyteller in his stuntmanship. I loved hearing his work then and now. Amazing attitude and sense of joy in his career as a slew of bad guys. (14m)
Designing the Universe (new)
William Stout gets into a few aspects he couldn’t in teh commentary for time and detail. Just as fascinating. (17m)
Final Notes
I have the power! Hell yes. Toy Robot’s new edition of Masters of the Universe will make genre fans of a certain age happy with a great transfer, a longer cut, and just the sheer enjoyment of revisiting a cult favorite. A solid slate of features sets it up as well, with two commentaries and a bunch of interviews.
