Customer Reviews

He-Man and the Masters of the Universe: The Complete First Season

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

There has been some confusion about the contents and quality of this set. Let me assure you most of the BCI goodness is here.

What it has:

- The picture and sound are very good for an 80s show and I would be shocked if its anything other than the BCI masters (I used to own them but sold them, wish I hadn't).

- There are 5 scripts, 50 profiles and 2 documentaries.

- The episodes are presented in storyline order, not air date order, for better or worse.

- The moral segment ("Safety first") at the end is included (Retro TV cuts those out, at least when I watched it).

- The DVDs themselves have the art the BCI series did. They are not double sided discs.

- The set even has the episode guide slip that I believe came with the BCI boxes.

What it does not have is the packaging and physical goodies of the BCI set. Its a double size Mill Creek case with the DVDs in protective envelopes and stacked in the case "square". Just like other Mill Creek releases, only bigger. Actually I like this mode of packaging, protective and easy to get to. But your mileage may vary. I wish it had the cards or whatever it was the BCI sets came with but not that big a deal.

With a $19.99 - $29.99 price tag if you don't have the BCI releases (and the physical goodies) and want the original He - Man serires buy this set. It's got all the content. Four and a half stars.

Note: Some of this was from memory (the BCI set I owned and sold :( ) so please correct me about the BCI set if I made any mistakes. I just wanted to clear the record about what was in the set and what wasn't there in this hastily written review.

I agree with most sentiments on here - the packaging, typical of Mill Creek, is pretty bad, considering that if you want to replace the default paper sleeves with something else, the case that houses the 8 dvd's is essentially useless. I wound up taking an empty 25 disc spindle and putting the He - Man dvd's in that just to make sure I wouldn't scratch the DVD's with the frequent removal of the dvd's from their cases.

With that said, the picture quality and sound is surprisingly pretty good (albeit there are on average about 10 episodes crammed up per dvd). I have a Denon receiver, a Sony HD TV, and some old school SONY dvd players but the episodes on the series look pretty crisp. At the time, I got this set for just under 13 dollars and to be quite frank, having 65 episodes of the first season for that price is a steal. Mind you, I've never owned the sets made available by BCI, although I did check them out from the library at one point. BCI sets are packed with more features but the Mill Creek version definitely has some interesting add ons.

As a person on a budget, I do not mind missing out on some added features that were made available by the BCI sets and what mattered to me the most is that what I originally bought this set for, the 65 episodes, did not disappoint. This one of the most cherished animated series that I've ever watched (Gargoyles, Batman the Animated Series, Justice League, Transformers, Voltron, Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Scooby Doo, etc. being others) and as being a father of a 3 year old, this is definitely a series I would like to have my son watch. The fact that the violence is pretty minimal and that there's an importance piece of advice from He Man at the end of every episode (i.e. stealing, being cognizant of others, etc) is what makes this series ageless.

Keeping it simple, I will review this dvd set based on a 1-5 star system.

Packaging: Its why we collect these dvds and Blu-Rays folks. When we see our favorite old show or film given a respectable and sometimes gratuitous package, we feel the increased desire to collect and own the real thing, and not just some digital bootleg or dvd-r.
In the case of Mill Creek's release of "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe: Complete First Season" we have a set that is basically Mill Creek. What I mean by this: 8 dvd's, each individually given a small black envelope and stacked within a wide plastic clamshell. Isn't this how cd-rom and dvd-rom games for PCs come? Isn't this how the install disc for my mouse came? Why must my 8 disc collection of He-Man come in these flimsy little envelopes rather than being entombed in a beautiful fold-out case, fully illustrated and filled with linear notes? Its Mill Creek. Its bang for the buck. ** 2 stars for packaging =(.

Picture Quality: My experience with Mill Creek releases has been minimal. I also own the Dungeons and Dragons complete set, similar in design to this one. Colors are bold in Eternia. Without a comparison to the older BCI prints, I must assume these are similar in scope. Prince Adam's shirt is so pink its mind-boggling. Blacks are deep and solid. I feel that the image quality is fair, and considering how old the show is, I grade the picture on the Mill Creek discs a solid **** 4 stars

Audio Presentation: I was extremely excited when I first loaded my He-Man collection into my home theatre. I feel that a film's soundtrack is equally important as its photography and editing. He-man MOTU has a very memorable theme, one which deserves to heard loud and clear. The audio comes across rather weak. I was forced to turn up my surround-sound system just beyond its halfway mark before I was satisfied with the level of sound! Perhaps this is due to age, or perhaps its because Mill Creek released this set. Raising the volume to such a degree did reveal some light hissing which I am never pleased to hear. I am being generous when I rate the Audio Presentation at *** 3 stars.

Keeping those three factors in mind, I must give the H-M MOTU set from Mill Creek an overall *** 3 stars. Worth buying for the collector or fan, but nothing to write home about.

Those of you who don't appreciate this release should realize how grateful you should be that it's even available. There are other great 80's cartoons that have not even been released in North America at all (M.A.S.K., the entire JEM, Pole Position, Inhumanoids etc). You are getting the entire first season in one box (not multiple sets, that costs more - which I hate) and it's only $20.00? Bare bones or not, this is a bargain. We really need to appreciate that Mill Creek made a quality show like this, and their other releases so affordable. Enjoy.

He-Man & The Masters of the Universe: Season One

When some of us were kids, we couldn't wait to get home from school and turn on the TV. A lot of our fondest memories were the great cartoons of the 80s and one that definitely stands out is He-man & The Masters of the Universe. As a child of the 80's, I had tons of He-man toys including Castle Grayskull. If you were also a child of the 80's, then you remember He-man on TV. Now that we've grown up, we can enjoy brief moments of our childhood on DVD with this boxed set.

This DVD set is the complete season 1 which consisted of 65 episodes. Mill Creek has recently gone out and started producing old TV show DVD sets which have gotten mixed reviews. They have received praises for selling relatively low priced DVDs, but the quality of some of their past DVDs have caused some consumers to worry.

I had the same worries as I went through the entire set. It took me almost a week watching a few episodes here and there. As I finished the entire set, I was glad to report that I had no problems with the DVDs. All the episodes played in its entirety. The DVD transfers were decent enough, but you do notice some quick pixels in sudden movements. Mill Creek did not spend much times in the transfer process, chances are they simply bought up the previous DVD rights release.

The last DVD had some decent documentaries with creators and writers. It was interesting hearing the story of how they got the series on air. Some parts got tedious because you can tell some of the writers just didn't remember much.

Now, I'm not going to cover all 65 episodes. There are some good episodes and there are some not so good ones. It's fun watching then again.

Overall, if you love He-man from your childhood. You'll enjoy this DVD. The price is reasonable for a boxed set and you get the entire season 1. It's a good buy.

These series include:

* 5 Complete Episode Scripts
* 50 detailed profiles of various characters, creatures and artifacts with video
* Documentary - The Secret Origins of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe
* Documentary - The Stories of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe Season 1 Part 1
* Documentary - The Stories of He-man and the Masters of the Universe Season 1 Part 2
* English & Spanish audio tracks

For the price you can't complain about these set, if you do want to complain about the lack of more bonus features then go ahead and spent hundreds of dollars on the BCI release, for the average fan who only needs to see the series and perhaps some good bonus features these is the set to go for.

I honestly do not understand why this product is getting such low ratings.

First off. Masters of the Universe was previously released by BCI. The first season was split in two volumes. with Double sided discs. The episodes are put in produciton order rather then story order. (for example 'Return of Orkos uncle' is set before 'Orkos Favorite Uncle'). These two dvd sets are now very pricy and hard to find.

This Mill Creek version in my opinon is much better. (which is why I dont understand the low rattings). First off you get the FULL season in one box set. thats 65, count them 65, full episodes in one set! Not split up in two sets. plus its all for a rather good price here on Amazon. Also they are not double sided discs (which you sometimes have to be very careful with espesialy around children). The storys are also put in story order not production order. so 'Dimond Ray of Dissaperance' the first episode put on the first disc is in fact the pilot episode. (thats why the story takes time to introduce the council of Evil). Just as here 'Orkos uncle' is placed before 'Return of Orkos Unlce" just as it should be.
So in other words you get the full season all in order, every episode, storys set in the correct cronilogical order, plus its all for a good price.

I have only ONE complaint and one reason for with holding the fifth star. the packaging. The box set has a small box compartment with the dics placed in paper sleeves within. not the most effeciant of ways to have a series set. this is my only complaint.

Everything else is top notch. so seriously people stop complaining and get this set while you still can!!!

As for the story itself. He man and the Masters of the Universe is very much a part of my childhood. He-man with his friends Man-at-Arms, Teela, the Sorceress, Orko, and all the rest battle Skeltor, Evil-lyn, Beastman, and various other foes.
this perhaps the preimer series for Filmation. even now after all this time this series still has its mark in history. its been made into a live aciton movie, its spawned two spin offs; one about She-ra one is the New Adventures, and it has been rebooted for a new generation in 2002. If your a fan of this series I would say get this set while you can.
Top notch work from Mill creek. scoring higher then the previous volume.
agian my only complaint is packaging, but everything else is good.

Thanks to Mill Creek for creating this awesome 1st season set and Amazon for their awesome service I can finally say i own The orginal He-Man the complete 1st season! I already own the later he-man cartoons from the 90s and beyond but i could never find the orginal cartoon sets anywhere that was very affordable for me, but 13 bucks for the complete 65 episode 1st season?! That was a hell of a deal! I was shocked to find that it even contained a episode guide and the discs all arrived mint and perfect. I have only watched a handful of episodes so far, but the video and audio look great to me, very colorful and crisp and the audio sounds great as well. I would recommend that if you love He-man just buy this fantastic set now and hope they will release season 2 soon.

I am glad to finally have the whole first seaston. Because I have a large DVD collection, I don't mind the packaging. But there is a flaw. The episodes in the pamplet are not numbered like they say they are. I put in disk four to play the episode with Shakoti. Later found out it is on disk 5 not 4. Other than that I am satisfied.

I used to love this cartoon when I was a kid. I was shocked to find out that they made 65 episodes because most of them I do not remember seeing. I cannot wait to see the second season.