Video

The intro to Filmation's long running Eighties animated TV series "He-Man and The Masters of The Universe," or just He-Man for short. Based on the toys by Mattel (who also provided the funding), He-Man ran for 130 episodes. It also had a spin-off series, in the form of "She-Ra: Princess of Power". A live-action film was produced by Cannon Film in 1987. Featuring an ever increasing army of characters, Filmation's usual level of animation and little to no competition at the time of its original airing. He-Man went on to achieve considerable success when it originally ran in 1983. The toyline from which it was based sold untold millions and caused many critics to cite it as nothing more than a half-hour toy commercial. When it reached the shores of the UK I absolutely adored the series, brought most of the toys and watched the cartoon to an almost religious extent. Today, I see it as an embarrassment to the art of animation and can't really watch an episode without cringing; walk cycles, animation repeats - He-man hits everything in the exact same way as he does in the intro - the best part of the art is the generally quite well done backgrounds. To be fair though, these problems where true of much of Filmations outpoint. If you watch Cringer when he is turned into Battlecat, he appears to be miming words. Apparently these words were "I have the power too!" or something to that effect; this was re-dubbed with the roaring sounds. The use of this introduction theme clip/subject is claimed under 'Fair Use' on the grounds of: 1) the clip/subject is used for - and accompanied with - comments on the show. Comments include such things as the producers of the show (as in the production company/s), the year it first aired and how long the series lasted in 'standard length' episodes. Also noted is the availability of subject on high quality, officially licensed media (e.g. DVD). 2a) Inferior quality of video in relation to the quality of the original source. Being at a much lower screen resolution at a high level of compression. In addition to the substantial generation loss caused as a result of the methods used, the process also causes compression artifacts in the form of: loss of image clarity, noise, pixelization, et al. 2b) The inferior nature coupled with the incomplete nature of this recording and the diminished potential value therein of this recording in relation to the original work. 3) The trivial nature of the potential value of subject's introductory theme (hereon referred to as 'intro'), less the actual show that would otherwise follow. On the basis that it is the show - rather than the show's intro - which is, in essence, the primary draw of any 'realistic' potential audience and therefore the main fiscal worth of the subject (relating to audience/market share and sales of merchandising, i.e. DVD and video). 4) Bar the occasional glimpse at an episode's title car, the clip is of the intro and nothing else. The length of the clip is determined by that of subject's intro original length, no more is taken. 5) The poster and host both receive no revenue from this clip's existence on this site.