Mini-DVD Review: The New Adventures of He-Man Vol. 2 (March 27)

Saturday, March 24, 2007

Mini-DVD Review: The New Adventures of He-Man Vol. 2 (March 27)

Welcome to another edition of mini-DVD reviews! Today we take a look at BCI's second & final volume of The New Adventures of He-Man. The New Adventures He-Man of course was created because of the popularity of the original series in syndication. It lasted one full season, and you can get the final half of that season on a great 6-disc set from BCI. See my mini-DVD review of The New Adventures of He-Man - Volume 2:

The New Adventures of He-Man - Volume 2 (BCI, $49.98) brings the final 32 episodes from the series' only season. BCI did a VERY nice job with the original series and volume one of the new series, and this set is right on par. The series had just one season, and probably isn't as popular as the original series. Like I mentioned last time, I don't remember much about this series at all actually. Like the original He-Man, this was a first-run syndicated series and aired weekdays after school in 1990-91, so every day was basically a new episode. We have great extras again on these DVDs. BCI is very consistent and doesn't disappoint. In this series, He-Man heads to the future to the planet Primus. No more planet Eternia, but the villain Skeletor is back! The main villain in this really is Flogg and his mutants. This is certainly a new beginning and different from the original series, but still good! None of the original characters are back but He-Man and Skeletor. The menu screen has the options of Play All, Episodes, and Settings, with nice animated menus. When we select a sub-menu we get a nice transition music or even a nice transition video. When we select Settings, we change from English to Spanish, or vice versa. When we go to Episodes, nice animation and music plays with the episode title listed, you can choose play or select chapters to get to a scene faster. The director and writers of each episode are listed along with a nice long synopsis of the episode. Like the original series DVDs and volume one of this serues, these are the most informative episode menus I have ever seen. Nicely done! Chapters sub-menu has 4 stops with a nice little video in the box of each and interesting facts from Gleep on the right...again informative! The video is pretty good and the audio is also decent. There are a few episodes that are digitally remastered for optimum video & audio....you'll be greeted with that night in the beginning of rhe episode, if they had to remaster it. I guess those had terrible prints, but the remastered episodes look great! The packaging is the same style as the original series and volume one of the new series, a nice outer box with a very nice looking digipak. There are nice images on the digipak along with memorable quotes from the episodes on this set. Each disc has its own section, so no overlapping and easy to take out. Also the disc's art matches the packaging when we take the disc out...so cool. A nice episode booklet comes with the set that details so much along with two collectible 4 X 6 cards by two wonderful artists. BCI's consistency continues as we have had all this on previous sets. On the episodes itself, each one runs around 22 minutes or so. The bonus features are all on disc six. All the extras are listed on the main menu on disc six. The first option is Documentary Features, there are two of them: "Fans of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe" and this runs 29:14. The top fans of this brand have come for this feature to talk about the history and their take...not only for the new series but the original series as well. The next documentary is "The Power of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe" and this runs 28:35. This documentary gives the final take from the producers and other people behind the scenes...very informative! Then the next extra is called "Character Profiles." 50 detailed profiles of various Characters, Guest Characters and Technologies. When selecting one from each category, you get some text and you can play a little clip related to what you chose. Very cool. Finally, there is also a trailers section for other BCI/Ink & Paint DVDs such as She-Ra, Flash Gordon and the original He-Man.
This is indeed a wonderful set and BCI finishes the He-Man brand in a great and quality way, just like how they started. I don't remember much about this show, but thanks to BCI, I can relive this and try to remember. Now I have the original series and the new series all on DVD! All He-Man aficionados should get them all, if they haven't already. And if you've always wanted to see these series, try starting today. By the power of good and the way of the magic, the battle begins anew, but buying this final DVD is still the old way by clicking on the link below! Primus is yours!
-- Reviewed by Pavan