Kevin Smith details the heartbreaking reaction to the first half of Masters of the Universe: Revelation. When Smith was first announced to be working on the newest animated incarnation of Masters of the Universe in December 2019, excitement was high among fans of both the original property and those who enjoy Smith’s film and comic book work. The series assembled an all-star voice cast and anticipation grew for the return of one of the most popular toy brands of the 1980s.

Netflix decided to split the 10-episode series into two parts, with the first half dropping on the service on July 23, 2021. The series received positive reviews from critics, but shortly after the premiere, the series audience score was review bombed on Rotten Tomatoes to drop as many were upset at some of the major changes to the Masters of the Universe mythos. For instance, some were unhappy with He-Man not being the main focus of the series and instead it being about Teela. The second half of the season premiered on November 23, 2021, with the fate of the series currently unknown but a tease of a potential Revelation season 2 was set up in the final moments of the show.

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In a recent interview with Thrillist, Smith spoke about the backlash to the first half of the series. The filmmaker is very open about the heartbreaking experience and draws a parallel to witnessing what happened with the response to Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Smith acknowledges the difference between people’s actual grievances while also realizing that some people jumped on a bandwagon of hate for a perceived political agenda of the series. Smith said:

“A lot of people were dismissive, but at the root of it, yes, I’m sure there were some people who were just jumping on a political bandwagon. But you had some cats who were legit like, ‘This was my childhood, and you did sad things to all of them.’…I’ll be honest with you. I had nothing but enthusiasm right up to the moment the episodes dropped. Because honestly, I didn’t think we screwed with anyone’s childhood. I thought we honored it. If you know the Mattel source material, this thing is so crazy true to what was created years ago. Which, by the time you get to the second half, you see what we were going for. I honestly felt like, ‘Oh man, any kid who’s ever loved Masters of the Universe who’s an adult now is going to love this.’ I knew there were going to be some people who were like, ‘It ain’t for me,’ but I never thought we would make people unhappy.

“In the way that I sat by the sidelines and watched people react to The Last Jedi and thought, ‘Man, people really take this stuff seriously!’ I suddenly found myself at the epicenter of something like that and it was heartbreaking for me because I honestly thought we were giving people the ultimate Masters of the Universe, so it was a bummer.”

The comparison to The Last Jedi seems appropriate on a number of levels. Both that film and Masters of the Universe: Revelation are continuations of properties that were popular in the 1980s and whose audiences saw them as kids are now adults with built-in perceived expectations of what they want the story and characters to be. Both The Last Jedi and Masters of the Universe: Revelation pushes their stories in bold new directions that re-examine the mythology and lore with what came before, while also digging deeper into the characters. They are also two projects made with love of the material that wants to deconstruct but also remind why the material is also enduring in the first place, which is also likely to upset certain audiences who just want to recapture the magic of when they first discovered it.

Masters of the Universe: Revelation, alongside both the Netflix She-Ra and the Princesses of Power and the recently released CGI animated He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, shows the faith that both Mattel and Netflix have in the brand overall. All three shows while using the same basic framework allow the creators to make new exciting stories for various different audiences who may not like all of the same things. While Masters of the Universe: Revelationmay have been made for older audiences who have grown up with the original series, the show also could appeal to a slightly older audience of kids who maybe have no attachment to the original while also wanting a fun stand-alone fantasy/sci-fi story in the vein of series like Avatar: The Last Airbender or The Legend of Korra.

Source: Thrillist

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Richard Fink
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Richard Fink is a news writer for Screen Rant. He graduated from Arizona State University in 2016 with a degree in Film and Media Production. He loves the finer things in life, like cold Diet Coke on a hot summer day. Richard is a fan of all things Star Wars, Marvel, DC, and Film History.

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