He-Man and the Masters of the Universe: Season 2

Like quite a few other reviews have also stated, I, too grew up with this cartoon. I buy cartoon DVD's on a fairly consistent basis for my own enjoyment and when He-Man became available in all it's glory I purchased it. I have Season One by another company, BCI, and I purchased Season Two by this company, Classic Media/Mill Creek Entertainment. I may purchase Mill Creek's Season One simply because they don't split up the episode, "House of Shokoti", on two separate DVD discs like the BCI release does.But this review is about Mill Creek's Season Two release which I have. There are 8 disc's...the first 7 contain episodes of the series while the 8th is the Extra features disc. As mentioned in another review the discs are housed in paper sleeves...stacked one after the other...which causes one to have to rummage through the discs whenever you want to grab a particular one. The disc I find myself watching the most are Disc's 1 and 4 through 6. I watch disc 7 on occasion but it has the least amount of episodes...BUT it contains the episode giving Moss Man a lot of screen-time: "The Ancient Mirror of Avathar". It's also on this disc that "The Problem With Power" can be found. This particular episode is very deep and is one of just a couple of episodes that shed the good vs. evil overtone and dig deeper into the individual characters. In that episode you see He-Man transform back into Adam for the only time in the Filmation series history and you hear the phrase that he uses to instigate the transformation, too.Speaking of character studies we get to see plenty of in-depth character studies in "Search for the Past" where the history of the character's are put front and center: King Randor's father, King Miro, turns out to be alive and held prisoner by The Enchantress. We see Man-At-Arms and King Randor behave like young warriors while on the search for King Miro. He-Man comes to the rescue and saves King Miro, who parachutes down from lost mountain with He-Man where they're encountered by Man-at-Arms. The Enchantress, by now, has imprisoned Randor. The Enchantress' gopher, Drude, eventually frees Randor...leading to the eventual face to face reunion of Randor and Miro. He-Man changes back to Adam and in one scene you see three generations of Eternian royalty: Miro, Randor, and Adam.In the "Time Wheel" we see a former king of Eternia, Tamusk, return to present-day Eternia thanks to a time wheel accidentally spun by Orko while snooping in an ancient laboratory. Tamusk, believing he's in his own time, flees for his palace only to see it drastically changed. Believing that this King Randor is some evil sorcerer who caused all these changes he attempts to do battle with the famously peaceful Randor. The remainder of the episode is spent tracking down Tamusk once he finally leaves the palace in an attempt to convince him that he's thousands of years in the future.One of my favorites in this collection is "Orko's Return" where we have a departure, of sorts, from the usual dose of action/adventure. In a more comical story Trap Jaw and Beast Man become the possessors of what's called an Amber Crystal. The two use it's magic to build a huge fortress while abducting Orko from the palace. Orko happened to be in the middle of magic performance when he disappeared...leaving Adam and Teela to continue laughing and applauding while Man-at-Arms, always alert, has a look of concern. In short, Trap Jaw and Beast Man use their newly acquired magic to control Orko and turn him into their slave. This ultimately backfires and the rest of the episode centers around the battle of wits between Orko, Trap Jaw, and Beast Man as He-Man and company track down the fortress. Orko uses his magic to make wishes come true...literally...driving the evil pair into fits of frustration and anger. It's later revealed that Trap Jaw stole the magic crystal from Evil Lyn.Season Two, unlike the first season, relied very little on the Castle Grayskull backdrop...oh, it still appeared in mostly every episode and was always shown whenever Adam changed into He-Man...but there weren't that many stories about Skeletor and his warriors attempting to take it over. In Season One, for example, the first several episodes were centered specifically around the take-over or destruction of Castle Grayskull while further episodes always had some sort of Grayskull-referenced plot point. In Season Two the Evil Warriors apparently had moved on...even though there were a few episodes in Season Two that felt like a Season One episode, if you know what I mean!Since the Castle wasn't used as a major part of the story-lines in the Season Two episodes that meant that the Sorceress appeared infrequently. Notable exceptions were the episodes "Teela's Triumph" on Disc 5 where the Sorceress (Teela's biological mother) spent much of the episode in her falcon form, Zoar, trapped in another dimension. Teela, unaware of who her biological mother is, awkwardly becomes the Sorceress at the request of the Spirit of Castle Grayskull. In "The Origin of the Sorceress" on Disc 1 we see the story of how Teela'na (the true name of the Sorceress) becomes the keeper of the castle. In that episode we also see the Horde as invaders of Eternia...which ultimately leads to Teela'na becoming the Sorceress. The Horde, whose members wear a red bat logo on their chests, become more prominent in the He-Man spin-off cartoon, She-Ra. Interestingly, though, the Sorceress doesn't refer to them as The Horde in this episode...she simply refers to them as "an invading army" even though fans of the series will no doubt make the connection to The Horde.There are comical moments in almost all of the episodes...particularly from Orko (his magical mayhem often backfires directly at Man-at-Arms) but often the humor comes from Skeletor and his warriors. Beast Man, for starters, in most episodes is portrayed as a dumb sycophant. There are a few where he's written as an actual sinister villain. Skeletor has his share of comical expressions. Beast Man is often called Beastie or Fur-Face by Skeletor. In the "Energy Beast" episode Skeletor not only delivers a line referencing the radio series, The Shadow, but he also borrows heavily from Edgar Allan Poe when calling for a spy that he sent to eavesdrop at Castle Grayskull. In other episodes Skeletor talks directly to the audience...often complaining about his warrior's collective ineptitude.The series used a relatively small voice cast and so you're going to have quite a few secondary and one-shot characters that pop up who sound the same. John Erwin, the guy who voiced Adam/He-Man can also be heard in numerous other roles. A lot of the Kings from other kingdoms on Eternia and softer-speaking characters were voiced by Erwin. His main roles were He-Man/Adam, Ram Man, Squinch (a Widget), Beast Man, Whiplash, and Webstor. Linda Gary did 99% of all the female characters: Queen Marlena, Teela, The Sorceress, Evil Lyn, and other female roles that appeared. Alan Oppenheimer's main voices were Cringer/Battle Cat, Man-at-Arms, Melaktha, Skeletor, and Mer-Man. Like John Erwin and Linda Gary, Oppenheimer did a lot of secondary characters as well. Erika Scheimer, the daughter of the program's producer, Lou Scheimer, often did female roles that sounded like teenagers or younger women. She didn't have a recurring character on He-Man. Lou Scheimer provided the voices for almost everyone else not mentioned: Orko, Montork, Stratos, Fisto, Man-E-Faces, King Randor, Trap Jaw, Tri-Klops, Two-Bad, and others.I'm more into comical cartoons, which will become crystal clear if any of you've seen any of my other cartoon reviews, but He-Man and a couple of others from the same early/mid '80s time period will continue to be favorites of mine.My picks from Season Two as the stand-out episodes:1. The Origin of the Sorceress2. Visitors From Earth3. Day of the Machines4. The Energy Beast5. Teela's Triumph6. The Time Wheel7. Search for the Past8. Here, There, Skeletor's Everywhere9. The Rainbow Warrior10. Orko's Return11. The Island of Fear12. To Save Skeletor13. Capture the Comet Keeper14. Monster on the Mountain15. Into the Abyss16. The Problem With Power17. The Great Books Mystery18. The Shadow of Skeletor19. The Gamesman20. Battlecat

Disc 1The Cat And The SpiderThe Energy BeastDay Of The MachinesThe GamesmanFisto's ForestThe Rarest Gift Of allThe great Books MysteryOrigin Of The SorceressIsland Of fearTo Save Skeletor Disc 2The Ice Age ComethTrouble In TrollaBetrayal Of StratosDisappearing DragonsThe Shadow Of SkeletorThe ArenaAttack From BelowInto The AbyssFraidy CatThe Rainbow Warrior Disc 3A Trip To MorainiaThings That Go Bump In The NightThree on a DareJust A Little lieOne For AllJacob And The WidgetsThe Littlest GiantTrouble's Middle NameJourney To Stone CityA Bird In The Hand Disc 4Battle CatThe time WheelSearch For The PastHunt For He-ManThe Greatest Show On EterniaNot So BlindRevenge Is Never SweetThe Good shall SurviveThe Secret Of GrayskullNo Job Too Small Disc 5The Bitter RoseThe GamblerTeela's TriumphOrko's New FriendDouble TroubleThe Eternia FlowerMistaken identityBattle Of The DragonsTime Doesn't FlyHere, There, Skeletors Everywhere Disc 6Beauty And the BeastOrko's ReturnVisitors From EarthMonster On the MountainThe Magic FallsSearch For A SonHappy Birthday RobotoThe Toy MakerBargain Wiith EvilCapture The Comet Keeper Disc 7The Ancient Mirror Of AvatharThe GamesTo Save The CreaturesThe Cold ZoneThe Problem with Power

I bought this under the ruse of wanting to share some of my childhood with my son; in reality, I wanted it for myself. I love this show, with all its cheesy details and reused animation sequences. Two things I love about the He Man empire (TV show, toys, etc): 1) The cartoon is/was very bold in explaining the differences between right and wrong (something that is all but lost in 21st century America) and 2) it was sheer genius from a business point of view! Cartoons were filmed on a shoestring with "repurposed" character likenesses and reused animation sequences. The toy line was also genius for many of these same reasons. For example, Stinkor and Mer-man were basically the same action figure with different paint--genius.Season 2 is great because we're introduced (or re-introduced) to many new characters such as Robot, Buzz-off, Mekaneck, Clawful, Two Bad, Spikor, Webstor, Fisto, and the list goes on and on. I love these DVDs and I WILL share them with my son when he gets older. The bonus features are great--interviews with the writers and animators, character profiles complete with scenes featuring the profiled character, colorful box-enclosed cased, etc. The only reason I didn't get this 5 stars was for the same reason many complain about this DVD set--the packaging. The case is great, but the paper sleeves jammed into a CD cased-sized hole in the case seems cheap, is cumbersome, and detracts from the over-all quality of this set. A must-buy.

I remember as a kid making trades with other kids to get my hands on He-Man toys I didn't have at the time. The toys were awesome to play with and we had tons of fun on a daily bases. That being said none of it would be possible were it not for this fantastic cartoon that was far ahead of its time in the 80's. He-Man was the coolest hero around and we all wanted to be him, every episode concludes with a special message for kids highlighting the moral of the story, the cause and consequences - show me a cartoon that does that today. This is a safe cartoon for all kids with cool characters and an endless supply of good vs evil. If you've never seen it give it a try an let the kids enjoy it, otherwise enjoy that kid in you again - Saturday mornings lives on again in my living room, ENJOY!

It took a year but Universal/Classic Media have finally released the 10 episode best of Season Two DVD. This is technically the very first time episodes from Season Two have been released in the UK. No doubt that Season One would have to be re-released before we see a new full release of Season Two, but if you still want more He-Man after the Best of Season One, then defenately get this as it's worth the price.The quality of the episodes is once again superb, using the superior PAL masters that were in Hallmark's possession, before the Filmation back catalogue was brought by Entertainment Rights, then Classic Media. These episodes couldn't be any higher in quality, at least by DVD standards. ;)The episodes as before were chosen by James Eatock; author of Cereal:Geek magazine and the unofficial He-Man Episode Guide. Like before in the Best of Season One disc, there is a slight alteration between this and the two disc BCI Eclipse U.S. release, all the Season Two episodes are included, except for 'To Save Skeletor', which has been replaced.The episodes are as follows;1. Origin of the Sorceress2. The Shadow of Skeletor3. The Arena4. Into The Abyss5. The Rainbow Warrior6. Three On A Dare7. Battlecat8. Not So Blind9. Teela's Triumph10. The Problem With PowerOverall another worthwhile purchase for all He-Man fans new and old alike.

Brilliant he man and she ra is one of my favourite cartoons of the 80s this came in a decent case with a shiny cardboard sleeve over the top,it's got all the shows from season 2 plus extras and for the price much better buying it from usa who always have better deals and more for your money then us brits get.

Not the fault of the seller but got assuming it would have English language as well (as the DVD set did) but it doesn't...it also says on the product description its in German (with no mention of English) i just didn't look properly...but still very disappointed

Great tv series watched it when I was a kid,it's better than some new cartoons my kids love it to 😊

Good old classic cartoon