TVSquad

Mattel and Warner Brothers will no longer be working together on a big screen adaptation of the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe franchise. John Stevenson is still on to direct, but thankfully, Joel Silver has left the project (I still haven't forgiven him for his lies about Alan Moore).

The Masters of the Universe 1987 movie is still a guilty pleasure of mine (early Courtney Cox. Yum). Of course, the classic 1980's cartoon is where J. Michael Straczynski got his start before moving to bigger fish such as Babylon 5. The best big-screen adaptations usually happen when fans, or at least people who understand the source material, become filmmakers (the best examples are the Batman and Iron Man franchises). I didn't get the impression that this was happening with the He-Man movie.

Given the sheer volume of remakes that are happening, I wonder if this movie is even necessary. Do we even need another He-Man movie?

The 1980s was the beginning of the end for Filmation Studios ... sort of. For, while their Saturday morning fortunes began to fade and eventually disappear, their successes turned to the burgeoning syndication market. It was there, starting in the early 1980s, that the studio introduced us to a sword-wielding warrior who became an animated legend.

Unfortunately, the studio's success in syndication would be a small, but powerful, blip for the two-decade old company. By the end of the 1980s the studio would fade into memory as the company was broken up and its talent moved onto bigger and better things.

Where would we be without the hallowed television Christmas special? We would be engaged in enthralling conversations with relatives who like to give the backstory about the gall bladder operation pictures they still carry in their wallet. We would be playing defense against every breakable item in the house while the neighbor's kids get enough sugar in their systems to power the Space Shuttle. We would not only have to muster the courage to taste Grandma's homemade rum and Kahula fruitcake, but also to pretend that we like it without our stomach turning inside out, crawling up our esophagus and out of our mouth.

Even if those scenarios will be true for you on Dec. 25, I offer you my pity as my Christmas gift. Plus, you still would rather spend it listening to ol' Uncle Hernia Scar than watching one of these holiday hams.

In the glory days of the Saturday morning cartoon, translated to be from about 1966 to sometime in the 80s, a handful of studios dominated the network schedules from year to year. Eventually, names like Hanna-Barbera, Sid & Marty Kroftt, DePatie-Freeleng and Rankin-Bass became as common to see on the screen as the characters they created. Add to that list an animation and live-action studio that presented two faces: one of quality storytelling, characters and imagination, and another of mass-produced, limited animation.

I speak of Filmation Studios. From 1966 to 1988, this studio produced dozens of cartoons and live action series and paved the way for a number of genres that are still remembered to this day. It also gave us a number of talented artists and writers that went on to bigger and better things. Today, we take a look at this studio, which gave us The Archies, Jason of Star Command and He-Man.

Here are the new TV DVDs, in stores tomorrow.

• Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations - Collection 3
• BeastMaster - The Complete Collection
• Ben 10 - Season 4
• Charlie and Lola - Vol. 8
• Code Monkeys - Season 1
• Doctor Who - The Time Meddler, Black Orchid, and the Five Doctors 25th Anniversary Collection
• Family Ties - Season 4
• Foyle's War - Set 5
• Get Smart - Season 1
• He-Man and the Masters of the Universe - Vol. 3
• Laredo - Best of Season 2, Part 1
• Lonesome Dove - Collector's Edition
• Masters of Science Fiction - Complete Series
• Robin Hood - Season 1 (Blue-Ray) and Season 2
• Star Trek - Season 2 (Remastered)
• Sunset Tan - Season 1

Also: The Smothers Brothers - Best of Season 3 (Time-Life) was released last week.

Here are the new TV DVDs, in stores tomorrow.

• Absolutely Fabulous - Absolutely Everything
• Cory in the House - New and Improved
• Degrassi: The Next Generation - Season 6
• Gunsmoke - Season 2, Vol. 2
• He-Man and the Masters of the Universe - Vol. 2
• Holocaust - Anniversary Edition
• The Invaders - Season 1
• The Jackie Gleason Show - The Honeymooners: Collection 3 (color)
• Lipstick Jungle - Season 1
• MonsterQuest - Season 1
• One Piece - Season 1, First Voyage (Uncut)
• Rawhide - Season 3, Vol. 1
• The Three Stooges Collection - Vol. 2: 1937-39
• Wing Chun - Complete Series

First of all, some Adult Swim news:

The first Brak Show webisode is now online. Go watch it.

Also, some cool news for Metalocalypse fans: a brand new Dethklok album will be released on September 25, followed by the release of the first season DVD one week later. Before all of that, however, a brand new 2nd season, with that fresh "2nd season smell" will hit Adult Swim one week before the CD release. NOTE: Thanks to Holly for pointing out that this information changed since I first posted this.

Finally, you can bid on a tour of the Robot Chicken studio. Seth Green himself will be your tour guide.

So, you're now in that limbo period between the parade and Thanksgiving dinner where there isn't really much to do (well, except watch football. Blech!). So, you need something to occupy your time before you dig into that turkey with all of the trimmings. Boy, do I have that something for you!

Our friend iZ Reloaded (not his real name, I'm pretty sure) has compiled an extensive list of 1980's cartoon introductions that you can find on YouTube. There are seventy-five listed and they run the gamut, from Saturday morning fare like Pac-Man, Smurfs, and Dungeons and Dragons to syndicated classics like G.I. Joe, Transformers, He-Man and My Little Pony. Also included are intros to cartoons that I barely remember or never even saw, such as Potato Head Kids, Starcom and The Raccoons.

Paul Dini is best known for writing for such animated series as Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, Batman: the Animated Series, Krypto the Superdog, He-Man, and many, many others. George Lucas also selected him to pen episodes for his Star Wars cartoons Ewoks and Droids. There's a lot of us who grew up with Dini's work but know very little about him. Since he's one of those "behind the scenes" types you don't hear a lot about him, but the man has quite a hefty and impressive resume. He also has his own Live Journal that is quite entertaining. I especially enjoyed his attempt at trying to get into Mensa. Referring to the corpulent proctor as "Sans-A-Belt" was pure genius.

As anyone who reads IMDb knows, many of the titles listed as "in development" or even "announced" have to be taken with a grain of salt. So when you see the entry for a He-Man movie being directed by none other than John Woo, you have to ask yourself, "OK, who posted this crap? And if it's not crap, dear gods why are they making this?" Kryptonsite got news from the person listed to play Skeletor, John Glover (of Smallville), and he knows nothing about this movie. In any case, I hope the studios remember the first time such a task was attempted. Ugh.

[via JoBlo]