MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE (Gary Goddard, 1987)

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Re: MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE (Gary Goddard, 1987)

Postby Jox on 08 Mar 2017, 18:29

Jox wrote:
Jox wrote:Brian Baer's HOW HE-MAN MASTERED THE UNIVERSE TOY TO TV TO BIG SCREEN will be published on March 1st.

A large part of his book is devoted to the movie.

https://www.previewsworld.com/Catalog/D ... -Y.twitter
https://www.amazon.com/How-He-Man-Maste ... 1476665907

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Author Brian Baer discusses the book, more likely to come out in April:
http://blog.timesunion.com/comicbooks/h ... reen/6872/
So what exactly do you cover in the book? Do you talk about the mini-comics that came with the characters?

The book covers the toys, the mini comics, a bit on the comic books, the various cartoons and other series which never quite made it to air, along with some stuff about the newspaper comic strips, video games, and the various other tie-ins. A good chunk is about the ’87 movie, which has a very troubled but fascinating production. I tried to cover as much as I could, since the book is really about how He-Man and the Masters of the Universe shaped how current franchises operate.

I cover the mini comics and even give breakdowns of a few stories. The mini comics were pivotal in how the characters and the world of Eternia developed. Plus, some really talented creators (like DC Comics’ Bruce Timm!) worked on them.

It seems the book is now available!
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1476665907/
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Re: MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE (Gary Goddard, 1987)

Postby Jox on 13 Mar 2017, 17:27

Table of Contents

Preface: ­Man-E-Prefaces 1
Introduction: The Power of … Introduction! 8
1. The Secret History of ­He-Man 23
2. Enter Filmation! 41
3. ­Golan-Globus: Going Global 65
4. ­Pre-Production’s Quest 78
5. A Battle Fought in the Stars, Now … Comes to Earth 100
6. The Terror of ­Post-Production 130
7. "I’ll Be Back!" 145
8. ­He-Man Meets Cult Status 166
9. "Good Journey" 176
Filmography 195
Chapter Notes 201
Bibliography 210
Index 213

http://www.mcfarlandbooks.com/contents- ... 766-6590-0
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Re: MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE (Gary Goddard, 1987)

Postby Jox on 20 Mar 2017, 12:15

Legendary make-up artist Michael Westmore just published a book on his career which covers his work on MOTU and Frank Langella's Skeletor...
https://www.amazon.com/Makeup-Man-Creat ... 1630761907

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Re: MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE (Gary Goddard, 1987)

Postby Jox on 20 Mar 2017, 23:17

Meg Foster will attend Power-Con (the He-Man and She-Ra convention) on September 9th-10th
http://www.thepower-con.com/2017/03/meg ... -con-2017/

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Re: MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE (Gary Goddard, 1987)

Postby Jox on 25 Mar 2017, 20:49

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Brian Baer's boook review
http://www.he-man.org/news_article.php?id=6417

On the movie:
The third and next few chapters leads to the creation of the Masters of the Universe movie and the leading fallout from its financial failure. This is where Baer begins to really shine in his book. The subject of the film has been mired in tales of disappointment, lies, and failure. The author sorts out the stories with information from the actors, crew, and director. He does wander away from the subject material when he begins on the subject of the infamous producers and the business practices of Cannon Films. Their history does need to be covered, but Baer seems to divulge himself again.
Baer really hits his stride when he writes about the pre-production work and onset filming. He provides the details and information that every fan should know. He provides the reader with a lot of interesting stories on the how the film was made among the adversity of a crumbling studio.
The author spends the next few chapters of his book onto the matter of the Masters of the Universe movie. I don't know if he needs to retell the entire movie like how he did in chapter five, but he does give some thoughtful analysis of certain scenes and character portrayals.
What the reader will find interesting is what was not put on film. The author provided a lot of great information from the director and others involved about what they originally intended and some interesting plot points that were changed. Baer also acknowledges that the film could have been something else if things were different. He spends the next few chapters on the fallout of the film and decline of the toy line. He continues with the great details and insider information until he jumps to the next stage of He-Man's history.
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Re: MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE (Gary Goddard, 1987)

Postby Jox on 28 Mar 2017, 10:28

A second He-Man.org review of How He-Man Mastered the Universe
http://www.he-man.org/news_article.php?id=6425

On the motion picture:
(more through out the full review)
Although my digital review copy did not include scans of the final published back cover, nevertheless the title, preface and introduction present the book as being ostensibly how I have already described it -- an analytical overview of the whole history of MOTU across its different incarnations and media adaptations. To be fair, the book does cover all of this, and it is no mere lip-service, but what it is ultimately very clearly about is much more specific: the 1987 live-action movie.

Much to my surprise, this volume is predominantly a detailed description of the inception, creation, release and aftermath of the somewhat notorious film starring Dolph Lundgren as He-Man and Frank Langella as Skeletor, directed by Gary Goddard. As in, five of the nine chapters (and well over half of its pagecount) are almost entirely about the movie and its broader context in the story of Cannon Films and the infamous movie hucksters Golan and Globus.

You could say that this is much more a book about Hollywood than toy makers, although to be fair, it does frequently return to the issue of what Mattel sought to gain from the expected promotional power of having a motion picture based on its toy brand. There is analysis examining how the film's embattled production and bombing at the box office ended up being somewhat of a one-two punch that brought the independently dwindling vintage toyline to its knees, or at any rate did nothing to keep Masters off the ropes when it was already struggling.

Essentially, it is a question of emphasis and purpose. If you embrace the movie or are at any rate intrigued by behind-the-scenes information, close analysis of the film itself, and a focus on its place in the franchise, then all well and good.
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Re: MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE (Gary Goddard, 1987)

Postby Jox on 29 Mar 2017, 19:27

30 Years Back: Celebrating the Cinematic Delights of 1987 8)
Tom Jolliffe celebrates the cinematic delights of 1987…
https://www.flickeringmyth.com/2017/03/ ... s-of-1987/

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As blockbusters swarmed the cinemas and multiplexes began spreading, audiences demanded entertainment. That trend has carried on and intensified and it’s truer than ever in these days of Marvel adaptations. The 80’s got me into cinema. That passion developed through childhood fantasy favourites and by adulthood I could extend my tastes further to indulge in perhaps more intellectual fare. As it stands my tastes are eclectic to put it mildly.

So now I feel is a good time to focus on the delights that 1987 had to offer. It’s a nice round 30 years in the past, but also an important year as it marks the earliest cinema trip that I can recall. The film in question was my childhood favourite, which launched a life long appreciation of the one and only Dolph Lundgren. That film was of course, Masters of the Universe. Now by this time there was a whole cornucopia of fantasy films doing the rounds in theatres and on video. For a kid, with no discernible notion of technical, structural or dramatic quality control, anything that had a few sets, costumes and preferably a muscle-bound hero was the bees knees. I couldn’t spot the flaws in films like Legend, and I couldn’t even spot the flaws in a slew of Italian made Lou Ferrigno starrers that included Hercules and Sinbad of the Seven Seas. Adulthood and nostalgic repeat viewings lead to discovering that certain films you adored, were in fact, utter shit. Sometimes ridiculously so.

Masters of the Universe in retrospect it turns out wasn’t a great film. That said it’s got charm and I still love it, whilst there’s a numbingly repetitive production line element to many modern blockbusters that have seen retrospect go full circle and begin to make films like Krull and Masters now look better. Suddenly where adulthood illuminated certain flaws, a growing monotony in modern blockbusters now highlights hidden nuggets of charm and gold and even in retrospect now, one can fully appreciate the sheer, whole-hearted, theatrical scenery chewing of Frank Langella as Skeletor. He takes the role so seriously in fact that it goes beyond what might have been disastrously laughable overacting to inspired brilliance. So yeah, this film launched a passion for film in me. It took me away from the TV world (spent largely indulging in He-Man and Transformers) and into the world of film. Pure escapism at its finest and at 6 years old with a newly found ability to concentrate enough to take in a 90 minute film in one go, it meant the flame was lit, and still burns brightly.

Aside from Masters of the Universe, 1987 was a thoroughly “good journey” indeed (that was a Masters reference that any good fan of the film will get and the vast majority of you won’t). This is a year absolutely packed with films that took up repeat viewings as I turned from young lad, to teen and through to adult years. Some I discovered early (and earlier than I should have) and some a little later.

(...)
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Re: MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE (Gary Goddard, 1987)

Postby Jox on 30 Mar 2017, 21:46

Master of the Universe: an overlooked classic or just a tale of spareribs and a sweaty Dolph Lundgren
https://pionic.org/master-of-the-univer ... h-lundgren

interesting
In execution, the movie is reverting back to European styled sci-fi movies from the 1930's (envisioned after Metropolis) with its own kind of expressionism to it, but also weirdly blending well with the likes of Conan the Barbarian. In this regard, it tries to escape its source material once molded in plastic. With its mixture of glaring, colorful visuals and self-referencing comic reliefs, it could be seen as one of the forefathers of the modern Marvel movies - that’s bold, we know, but still... It also incorporates the portal metaphor, directly reaching out to us as the main characters from Eternia get stranded in a small American town, of course.




Another Ghana hand-painted poster
https://www.instagram.com/p/BR6xXgIF_LT/

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Re: MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE (Gary Goddard, 1987)

Postby Jox on 31 Mar 2017, 17:53

Jox wrote:30 Years Back: Celebrating the Cinematic Delights of 1987 8)
Tom Jolliffe celebrates the cinematic delights of 1987…
https://www.flickeringmyth.com/2017/03/ ... s-of-1987/

Gary Goddard reposted it saying:
I have to admit that I am enjoying the fact that Masters of the Universe continues to have a place in the hearts of many who saw it and remember it fondly. More and more of these arrivals and posts are occurring. And I'm also glad to see that Frank Langella is finally getting his long overdue recognition for creating a truly classic screen villain.
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Re: MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE (Gary Goddard, 1987)

Postby Jox on 04 Apr 2017, 09:38

Dolph interview for upcoming documentary Power of Grayskull: The Definitive History of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe

Randall Lobb‏ @thelabcoatguy
A great interview with the Master of the Universe himself, Dolph Lundgren. Super nice guy! http://ift.tt/2nUIe4A

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Randall Lobb‏ @thelabcoatguy
Dunno if Dolph's interested, but I'm thinking maybe we should start a boy band... man band? #fauxpopmedia #Powerof… http://ift.tt/2oCYK7k

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Re: MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE (Gary Goddard, 1987)

Postby Jox on 14 Apr 2017, 19:28

Production designer William Stout will attend Power-Con 2017
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Re: MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE (Gary Goddard, 1987)

Postby Jox on 18 Apr 2017, 20:42

A quirky anecdote from editor Glenn Erickson in his recent review of ELECTRIC BOOGALOO:
https://trailersfromhell.com/electric-b ... non-films/
The Menahem I saw in the editing rooms was very nice — he and his personal editor Alain Jakubowicz (interviewed in the doc) got along famously. I once saw Menahem spot music with an editor for Hanna’s War, and it all went swimmingly. Menahem came into the advertising area only a few times. One day he appeared out of nowhere and wandered into Mark Lowrie’s video editing room when we were eating lunch. He was cheerful and friendly, and asked about the editing machine. Mark’s bulletin board was covered with off-color gag Cannon ads he’d altered, some of which were pretty rude. One was a ‘Masters of the Universe’ poster changed to read, ‘Hamsters of the Universe.’ Dolph Lundgren’s head had been replaced with that of a guinea pig. Knowing full well that the average Israeli at Cannon had little sense of humor, we froze as Menahem paused in front of the bulletin board, scratching his chin, looking right at the hamster and the other near-obscene gag cartoons, etc. His mind must have been elsewhere because he just smiled and waved as he left. Either that, or his English wasn’t very good, and he couldn’t read the caustic jokes.
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Re: MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE (Gary Goddard, 1987)

Postby Jox on 21 Apr 2017, 19:12

Jox wrote:Production designer William Stout will attend Power-Con 2017
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Anthony De Longis is joining, and I think Gary Goddard and a couple others might as well...

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Re: MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE (Gary Goddard, 1987)

Postby Jox on 24 Apr 2017, 10:58

At the exhibition "Toys and cinema" at the Colmar toy museum (France)
http://www.museejouet.com/fr/exposition ... temporaire

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Re: MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE (Gary Goddard, 1987)

Postby Tom on 25 Apr 2017, 23:56

Jox wrote:
Jox wrote:30 Years Back: Celebrating the Cinematic Delights of 1987 8)
Tom Jolliffe celebrates the cinematic delights of 1987…
https://www.flickeringmyth.com/2017/03/ ... s-of-1987/

Gary Goddard reposted it saying:
I have to admit that I am enjoying the fact that Masters of the Universe continues to have a place in the hearts of many who saw it and remember it fondly. More and more of these arrivals and posts are occurring. And I'm also glad to see that Frank Langella is finally getting his long overdue recognition for creating a truly classic screen villain.

Wow...only just spotted this. That's awesome. Thanks Gary! ha ha :lol:
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