He-Man, Me-Boy
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Long ago, when I small, tiny, miniscule, microscopic (you get the idea), I used to tuck a twig in the back of my shirt and climb some place high (two or three stairs for example) and cry, “Wha wha whaaah wha wha wha!” holding the twig aloft.
Much later, I figured it was actually, “By the power of Grayskull!” I watched He-Man on Sundays and thought about it for the rest of the week. That was the time when there was little else on TV by way of kiddie entertainment. So I was really nice to read this piece by Sam Anderson on Slate.
The dialogue is tediously expository, written apparently for viewers who have slept through most of the episode: “Sorceress, you used the space portal to bring us here. Thanks!” or “Hurray! The power of Grayskull brought your memory back!”
Very much worth a read if you dug eternia back then. A year or two back, there was a much sexier version of the MOTU (that’s Masters of the Universe) on Cartoon Network. It had a swankier He-Man, a more gadget-ridden Man-at-Arms and a less see-through Skeletor.
I even liked their Hindi-dubbed version of it. Sample this: An overconfident He-Man rides right into a clearing surrounded by mammoth baddies. Then does some fancy on-the-fly kicking and punching successfully disorienting the giants.
Than he laughs out loud and says, “Yeh jitne bade hain…” (the bigger they are…)
One of the giants turns in time unexpectedly and rams his fists into the ‘incoming’ He-Man. He-Man crashes through solid rock and goes splat on the ground. He than rises slowly, groaning from the pain and finishes the sentence, “…utnee hee zor se maarte hain.” (the harder they hit)
The new series’ soundtrack however was too techno to be catchy. I still hum the old one sometimes, and I remember the whole intro speech by Prince Adam from the old series.
Aren’t you proud of me? 
Posted on Wednesday, May 17th, 2006 at 8:11 am and filed under comics, personal, readworthy.
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Ooh ooh ooh! I LOVED that show! Hey, do you remember what his tiger was called? I mean, when he became He-Man it became Battlecat, but what about when he was Prince Adam and it was in fraidy cat mode?
It was Crenger I think!
“This is my fearless friend Crenger!”
Remember?
Ooh. Close sir, but no cigar, I think. You put me on the right track though. If I remember rightly, then that critter was called Cringer, which kind of fits in with the overall theme of things rather nicely, no? Meanwhile, the article you linked to was a good read, and had some interesting links too, so thanks for the heads up