By the power of Grayskull – the time has come! Netflix’s Masters of the Universe: Revelation is here! With Kevin Smith at the helm, we know that this is going to be an epic ride. We aren’t getting a reboot, but a continuation of the original series that dives into the world of Eternia and the unfinished stories within. In the very first episode, “The Power of Grayskull,” kicks off like the nostalgia we know and love, but we quickly find ourselves in a whole new adventure with greater stakes at hand.
DISCLAIMER: This, my friends, is a recap and, by nature, will include major spoilers. I highly suggest watching Masters of the Universe: Revelation first before diving into these. Binge all five episodes here!
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“The Power of Grayskull” opens with a brief reminder of who’s who and what’s what in the world of Eternia. We see a brief moment of a hooded man who looks quite a bit like He-Man (voiced by Chris Wood) leading a group of prisoners behind him. At the royal castle, everyone is celebrating Teela’s (voiced by Sarah Michelle Gellar) promotion to Man-at-Arms. Everyone seems to be there, except Prince Adam (voiced by Chris Wood).
In the desert, we see the hooded man finally reveal himself to be He-Man. He is met at the gates of Greyskull by Sorceress (voiced by Susan Eisenberg), who is surprised to see him there and not at Teela’s promotion. He doesn’t say anything, though. Instead, one of the prisoners reveals that he is, in fact, Skeletor (voiced by Mark Hamill), here to take over Greyskull once again. But Sorceress isn’t impressed and sends him flying.
Back at the royal castle, Cringer (voiced by Stephen Root) is having a rough time with all the loud noises, so Orko (voiced by Griffin Newman) performs a quick spell to incase him in a soundproof bubble. But, that bubble doesn’t have air and Orko only makes things worse when he tries to help him. Thankfully Prince Adam is there to prick the bubble with a needle. But if Prince Adam is there… then who is at Castle Greyskull! We see a quick glimpse of the wannabe He-Man turning against Sorceress.
Things are still going well at the ceremony and Adam and Teela even have a few moments to themselves. This is our reminder that while Teela may know a lot to help her in her new role as Man-at-Arms, she still doesn’t know the real identity of He-Man. And Prince Adam doesn’t seem ready to share that with her at this time.
At Castle Greyskull, we finally learn that the fake He-Man is a robot and Evil-Lyn (voiced by Lena Headey) uses her powers to create the illusion. It turns out the Sorceress might be in a bit over her head, but she isn’t ready to back down. She knows that Skeletor has never and will never succeed in taking Castle Greyskull. But Skeletor has something else up his sleeve.
He doesn’t want the castle. He wants what happens to be underneath. And he has an entire army from Snake Mountain waiting outside to tear Greyskull down stone by stone. Skeletor knows that he has Sorceress backed into a corner this time. He taunts her to call out to her champion. Back at the royal castle, just as Teela is being knighted, Prince Adam hears the call and the original Man-at-Arms (voiced by Liam Cunningham) tells Teela to lead them into battle.
King Randor (voiced by Diedrich Bader) and Queen Marlena (voiced by Alicia Silverstone) lead their people into safety and Adam sneaks off with Cringer and Orko to prepare for battle. Cringer tries to convince Adam not to go, but he isn’t ready to turn away from a fight. And in a rush of pure nostalgia, we hear the ionic words as Adam shifts into He-Man and Cringer becomes Battle Cat.
“The Power of Greyskull” shifts to an all-out brawl as Teela and her men fight to defend Castle Greyskull from Skeletor and his cronies. Inside, Teela and Man-at-Arms find Sorceress under attack by the fake He-Man. They easily deal with him, but Evil-Lyn still stands in their way. With the help of Orka and Teela, she gets knocked out of the fight rather quickly.
Teela heads downstairs to find Skeletor, who has been waiting for He-Man to arrive. And arrive he does, just in time to save Teela. He also shares with her that they are now standing at the heart of Greyskull and the place where all magic in Eternia begins. Skeletor reveals he plans to steal the magic flowing here all for himself. It’s a two-on-one battle until Evil-Lyn joins the fray.
Things are going well until Skeletor gets the upper hand for a brief moment. However, Moss Man (voiced by Alan Oppenheimer) isn’t ready to let Skeletor win this battle. And things are looking good until Skeletor completely incinerates him. This changes the entire tone of the episode as He-Man then drives the sword of power straight through Skeletor. But what he doesn’t realize is that he also uses it to unlock the Hall of Wisdom right behind him.
Within the Hall of Wisdom is all the knowledge of the elders hidden behind the illusion of Castle Greyskull. And now Skeletor plans to steal the secrets for himself and strikes the ball of magic. Just before all comes to an end, Sorceress is able to stop time for everyone except Teela and He-Man. They only have moments to spare and Sorceress wanted to see Teela one last time.
But He-Man has another idea. His plan is to call upon the Power of Greyskull again while already in this form and use the sword as a conduit for all the power. Teela is confused by the “other form” comment, but they have more pressing matters at hand. They all know that if He-Man does this, the blast will kill him. They don’t have much time and He-Man decides to sacrifice himself to save all of Eternia.
As time continues, He-Man calls out for the power once more and contains the blast. This splits the sword of power into two and reverts He-Man and Battle Cat back into their original forms. In the brief moments before the power completely kills Skeletor and Prince Adam, Teela finally realizes the true identity of He-Man. In the wake of the battle, Evil-Lyn grabs what is left of Skeletor’s staff and disappears.
Back at the royal castle, Man-At-Arms informs King Randor and Queen Marlena of what has happened. As King Randor gives a small speech about how Eternia has lost a great champion, Queen Marlena cries out that they have lost their son. This proves that she knew Adam was He-Man all along. King Randor then realizes that Man-At-Arms also knew Adam’s secret.
He strips Man-At-Arms of his title, banishes him from the royal castle and warns him that he will be executed if he returns. King Randor tells Teela to remove him at once, but she throws down her sword in disgust. Not in how he treated Man-At-Arms. But over the fact that everyone except for her knew Adam’s secret. After all, she had done for them; they turned out to all be liars, including Adam.
“Power of Grayskull” comes to a close as in a fit of anger and rage, Teela storms out of the royal castle, leaving them all behind.
RELATED: Check out all of our Masters of the Universe: Revelation recaps here!
Now that is how you kick off a series! The very first episode of Masters of the Universe: Revelation has everything we needed this series to be. It has nostalgic callbacks to give us the rush of nostalgia that we love but also brings the franchise into the current century. We have fighting. Actual fighting. Not just words thrown back and forth and summersaults across the screen. We also see how this series is giving the franchise a much more mature tone.
The moment where Skeletor kills Moss Man and the tone switches really drives home the idea that this isn’t falling into the same tropes as the original series. Then they went and killed He-Man as well. We know that this series focuses heavily on Teela’s journey and this episode really kicks it off. After years of being lied to, she finally knows the truth about her best friend and she can’t even yell at him for it. We can’t wait to see how this journey pans out for her.
https://www.geekgirlauthority.com/masters-of-the-universe-revelation-cast-interview/
Who I Am: A nerd by the strictest definition. I enjoy diving straight into my favorite fandoms without a care in the world. I live on video/board games, fantasy movies and TV, and all things geeky.
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