I remember my dad bringing home my first He-Man action figure, and saying that "this will be a classic someday". He was definately right about the toy line. Mattel produced a great line of Masters Of The Universe products in the first few years. As much as I loved this show in 1985 when I was 8, and as excited as I was to see this, I can honestly say that this series is NOT a fine or quality product. Tthe animation sucks. The two good animations they have (He-Man punching the camera, and when he mounts Battlecat) are used ad-nauseum, and everthing else looks literally hacked together. Filmation was so cheap, that you can see spots the "artists" forgot to colour, etc. The voice acting is also noticeably sub-par. Listening to Skeletor made me think I was watching a "cartoon remix" like Harvey Birdman, with all the sarcasm and convoluted dialogue. Also, after the first 10-15 episodes, you could really tell that this was a toy tie-in. They started introducing characters based squarely on gimmicks that would sell toys (Fisto, etc), not add to the ensemble, or propel the story forward. This brings me to the best point of He-Man. The stories were always based on moral values, and...suprisingly enough...showed quite a bit of depth, ranging from teamwork to death. This is a "best of" collection voted on by fans, and the episodes are in order from number 5 to number 1 for both "seasons". This causes some continuity issues if you watch them in the presented order. The packaging is top notch. It was nice to include "collector's cards" in what is basically a teaser. The package itself is bright and clean looking. The DVD menus are also well done, as is the restoration, although the latter really accentuates the original production flaws. All in all, this is a nice rainy Saturday set for those of you that remember 1985, and a great primer for the collection's release this fall.
