He-Man 2 and Storytelling

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 So, a new He-Man cartoon is coming to Netflix.

And I'm here for it.
But already the whiners are coming out of the woodwork - people who didn't like the first series, and are thus automatically expecting the second series to suck.

Notice:  The first series didn't suck. You just didn't like it. There's a difference.

Me? I liked the new series. Why?
Because it was more than a 30-minute toy commercial.
Because it added to the lore of the setting.
Because we got to look at other characters and learn more about them.

Because it showed a very interesting side to society - that being 'everyone relied on He-Man, how does the world react to him dying?' His very absence and how people responded to it - how society changed - was interesting. He doesn't have to be there to have his presence felt.

We got to learn more about Castle Greyskull, more about the power of He-Man, more about Teela's heritage, more about Evil-Lyn. The world became more complex, more detailed, and richer for the experience. It became more than a power-fantasy, it became a setting, the characters became more than flat stereotypes.

And the complaints?
  • Bad storytelling?  No. It wasn't. It's just not the story these people wanted. And it shouldn't have had to be.
  • Too much Teela, not enough He-Man? That's subjective - I liked the way it played out - I liked that it pulled the rug out from under the audience.
  • He-Man didn't do enough? Subjective. He did a lot - he just didn't do it alone, which was a very refreshing change.
The 80s cartoon was simple. Painfully so at times. It was incredibly one-dimensional, and most of the characters were paper-thin archetypes. This series was not that. It was complex, the characters were fleshed out more, the way that the characters interacted with each other made for a richer tapestry.

Was it wrong to bump He-Man out for the majority of the series? No, because, again, it showed what his absence did to civilization - what people had to do to adapt to a new world. And then it explored the lore of Greyskull and He-Man, and then it brought him back.

Sometimes, to learn about a character, you need to remove them from the scene. It's advanced storytelling. It might not be what any particular viewer wants - but that doesn't make the story objectively bad. Hell, there's shows I like, then they get to a certain point, and I won't watch it.  Not because it's bad - I'll admit that the show is probably still quite good.  It just isn't the kind of story I enjoy.

No, I think a bunch of people wanted nostalgic power-fantasy, and didn't get it. Well, here's the thing. Kevin Smith had a story he wanted to tell. This was his story, not theirs. And if they didn't like it? *shrug*  Not his problem. I enjoyed it, I thought he did a good job, I'm looking forward to seeing what comes next.

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