‘Masters Of The Universe: Revolutions’ Showrunner Kevin Smith Defends ‘Revelations’ Focus On Teela Over He-Man: “We Really Went Out Of Our Way To Honor What It Was That People Loved About MOTU”
Spencer Baculi
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Despite the absolutely massive rejection of the move among fans, Masters of the Universe: Revolutions showrunner Kevin Smith remains proud of his decision to focus the preceding Revelations series on Teela instead of He-Man, as according to him, the choice was not made out of malice but rather as a way “to honor what it was that people loved” about the franchise’s original outing.
The ever-tearful creative offered this defense of his previous dance with the franchise while speaking with SFX Magazine in promotion of Revolutions‘ upcoming January 25th premiere date.
Asked if he had any regrets over the previous series’ relegating He-Man to second fiddle behind Teela, Smith asserted, “I know there are people that went after Revelation for putting Teela first or whatever, but we didn’t. Teela was as much a part of the story as she’s always been a part of the story.”
“I thought it would be a cool aspect of storytelling to remove the center of our universe for a few episodes and then bring him back,” he further explained to the publication. “That wasn’t me going, ‘Let’s break this franchise!’ by any stretch of the imagination. People who wanted to attack the show were like, ‘They killed He-Man’, but it wasn’t as if Mattel or Netflix were saying, ‘Here man, go kill a franchise for us. That’s why we brought you here!’ Naturally, He-Man was always going to come back.”
Proceeding to further double down on what remains arguably one of the most notorious creative blunders of his entire career, Smith then opined, “Everything we did in He-Man’s absence and when we brought him back still tied in heavily with the lore.”
“I’m a person who has enjoyed a franchise or two in his lifetime, and naturally I enjoy it when they respect the things that have gone before,” concluded the showrunner. “We really went out of our way to honor what it was that people loved about MOTU. Everybody involved had skin in the game as to whether this would be a reinvention of the franchise or a spiritual continuation of the franchise. We were all in the latter camp.”
Yet, though Smith claims that the decision to shift the series’ focus away from its main character was done out of ‘respect’ for its history, lore, and fans, his actions decidedly speak otherwise – and his actions show a distinct pattern of ‘storytelling by subversion’.
For example, in addition to Teela taking center stage, Revelations not only saw Prince Adam’s choosing to protect Eternia by pretending to be ‘dead’ while he recovered from his last battle with Skeletor treated by his red-headed love interest as a purely selfish and emotionally abusive act, but also killed off Orko – per Smith’s own words – for nothing more than shock value.
Suffice to say, these don’t seem like the acts of someone who genuinely cares about the franchise and its fans, but rather someone more focused on cheaply establishing themselves within the annals of a franchise’s history by ‘subverting expectations’ than making an actual effort to endear themselves to history with a genuinely good piece of work.
However, in the interest of fairness, it should be noted that there is a genuine possibility that Smith truly believes his work on Revelations was done out of love and respect for the franchise.
After all, as evidenced by the fact that he praised The Flash‘s ghoulish, CGI-reviving of Christopher Reeve and George Reeves’ respective versions of Superman – “It didn’t feel like an insult,” he told Rolling Stone. “That felt like a homage.” – it’s not out of the question that, after years of mindlessly cheering on every poor production decision made by numerous film studios and comic book publishers, he actually thinks that simply ‘doing something new with a character’ is the utmost sign of respect, logic and lore be damned.
As noted above, for any fan willing to roll the die on more Smith-led adventures in Eternia, Masters of the Universe: Revolutions hits Netflix on January 25th.
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