Power of Grayskull: The Definitive History of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (Blu-ray Review)

• Reviewed by: Tim Salmons
• Review Date: Jan 09, 2025
• Format: Blu-ray Disc
• 

Director

Randall Lobb/Robert McCallum

Release Date(s)

2017 (November 26, 2024)

Studio(s)

Definitive Film/FauxPop Media/Pyre Productions USA (ETR Media/Vinegar Syndrome)

• Film/Program Grade: C+
• Video Grade: A-
• Audio Grade: C+
• Extras Grade: B+

Review

Growing up in the 80s as a fan of He-Man, it’s hard to believe that we’re still talking about it, other than glimpsing back at it through nostalgia goggles. It’s not it once was, of course, which was a toy franchise juggernaut that rivaled the G.I. Joe and Barbie toy lines, but it’s still going strong today with new TV iterations, a long-gestating live action film in the works, and most importantly for fans, more action figures and merchandise. Definitive Films documentarians Randall Lobb and Robert McCallum, who also produced documentary features on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Conan the Barbarian, and Nintendo video game franchises, examined the history of He-Man in all of its incarnations in 2017 with Power of Grayskull: The Definitive History of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe.

Any good documentary worth its weight in salt can be interesting, fully depending upon several factors: the quality of the interviews, the participation of those who are directly tied to the subject matter, and most importantly, having a narrative thread that viewers can follow. Many documentaries these days tend not to have the latter, meaning that you’re just watching a group of talking heads for upwards of two hours without a firm narrative foothold. In the case of Power of Grayskull, it doesn’t help that there was already a quality documentary made about He-Man for the Netflix show The Toys That Made Us, which interviewed many of the same people responsible for the creation of the original toys, but also several who were not interviewed or didn’t participate in Power of Grayskull. So from a fan’s perspective, as well as someone who’s seen a plethora of documentaries over the years, Power of Grayskull had much going against it.

While the efforts are generally applauded, Power of Grayskull doesn’t fully live up to its “Definitive” moniker. It’s far from that, feeling more like an amateur effort, but with access to some excellent interviews. It can be very sloppy with little to no pace, poor sound mixing, and what I tend to look for most, which is a narrative throughline. The interviews seem randomly cut together at times, switching back and forth between those in the know and the fans, without any sort of build or forward propulsion. Annoying as well is the constant low drone of synth-pop underneath it all, never used effectively and mostly cutting off during transitions. The documentary also seems to go on longer than it needs to, especially at the end when its time to wrap things up and the interviewees are still praising how wonderful and impactful the He-Man franchise is.

On the other hand, Power of Grayskull does fill in some gaps and gets more involved in aspects of the franchise that The Toys That Made Us episode didn’t cover or glossed over, with particular regards to the live action 1987 film, and the other cartoons iterations from the 1990s and 2000s that were unsuccessful. It doesn’t go super deep, but there are interviews with the folks involved in those productions. And the quality of the interviews themselves, meaning the content they contain and the way they’re shot, is quite good. As such, Power of Grayskull has its charms, but if it was put together a little better, it could have been much more memorable and effective.

Power of Grayskull: The Definitive History of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe contains a mix of HD footage of interviews and interstitials mixed with low res footage of cartoons and commercials, as well as clips from older interviews, and stills of designs and merchandise ephemera galore. It’s looks pretty good, never appearing jumbled or jarring from one piece of footage to the next. Quite often, the commercials and clips are framed within a TV overlay, which certainly helps to smooth thing out. Everything appears bright and colorful, with clear definition. Bitrates mainly sit between 25 and 35Mbps during interviews, occasionally spiking, but also dipping during moments when there’s less visual information to work with. In other words, it’s encoded well and looks good for what it is.

Audio is included in English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and 2.0 Dolby Digital with optional subtitles in English SDH. As I previously mentioned, this documentary isn’t mixed very well, mostly because of the placement of the interview audio. It tends to sit somewhere in the center left, which is awkward on the ears. The 5.1 track opens up the music and occasional ambient moments, and there’s some bass activity there to be had, but neither track is all that satisfactory because of how it’s all mixed. You get used to it after a while, but you shouldn’t have to.

The 1080p Blu-ray release of Power of Grayskull: The Definitive History of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe from ETR Media via Vinegar Syndrome sits in a clear Amaray case with double-sided artwork, featuring the main poster artwork on the front, and artwork with Castle Grayskull in the background on the reverse. The following extras are included, all in HD:

• The Definitive Behind the Scenes (32:29)
• Deleted Scenes:
  • Comics (14:11)
  • Saturday Morning Legacy of Filmation (22:14)
  • Mattel (20:55)
  • Re-Boots (15:06)
• Hope, Honor, Heart – An Expanded Look at the Origins of She-Ra (20:51)
• The Fans of MOTU (20:26)
• Poster Time Lapse (3:13)
• Official Trailer (2:50)
• Raw Content:
  • Arnaud Collection (5:55)
  • Bill Stout Archive (17:38)
  • Early Concepts and Illustrations with Charles Zembillas (28:06)
  • Movie (9:33)
  • Mark Taylor (10:43)
  • Martin Arriola (11:13)
  • Mike Barbato (16:43)
  • Pop Mhan (11:02)
  • Ted Mayer (7:38)

The Definitive Behind the Scenes is a mini-documentary that details the making of Power of Grayskull, featuring interviews with the folks who put it together, including directors Randall Lobb and Robert McCallum, cinematographer Isaac Elliott-Fisher, and editor Mark Hussey. The Deleted Scenes delve more fully into their respective subject matters, as does Hope, Honor, Heart, which expands upon the origins of She-Ra. The Fans of MOTU is an edited compilation of videos shot by Kickstarter backers and fans, each showing off their Masters of the Universe collections and delving into their love for the franchise. Poster Time Lapse shows the artist who was hired to create the film’s poster painting the original artwork. Next is the film’s trailer and a series of extended discussions with various participants called Raw Content.

Part of me wants Power of Grayskull to be better than it is, but between it and The Toys That Made Us, it covers a lot of ground. There’s still a definitive documentary to be made about the making of the 1987 Masters of the Universe film, but it’s been fun to relive much of my childhood, and ETR’s Blu-ray release of Power of Grayskull: The Definitive History of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, while flawed, is still a nice disc overall.

- Tim Salmons

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