The Basics

Welcome. It is I, GUY-DOR (well, actually my name is Steve, but this is the internet and I'm a nerd, so please let me have this). I am here to GUIDE you (get it?) in the ways of He-Man and friends.

This site is a (very subjective) episode guide to the original Filmation series, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and its associated spinoffs. That is: Here you will find a cross-referenced guide with lists of character & vehicle appearances, plot summaries, PSAs, monsters, favorite lines of dialogue, memorable stills from the animation, and so on. I also explore the larger lore of the Filmation He-Man universe and provide my own commentary and explorations of the stories.

This site does not (at the moment!) explore any of the later iterations of the He-Man characters in other series or films; nor is it meant to be a comprehensive resource for learning about the toys of the time or any later toy releases (though I certainly discuss those).

One other note: I built these pages by testing them on Google Chrome on a desktop computer, so that is the recommended way to view them. You CAN view them on mobile devices, but since I haven't figured out the trick to the whole adaptive web design thing yet, the experience is sub-optimal and the pages display better with your phone turned sideways.



A Disclaimer and an Apology

This site is in no way affiliated with Mattel or any other corporation that owns the rights to He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. Just getting that out of the way - ahem, please don't sue me.

Now the apology - which I mean in the old, archaic sense of an explanation or defense. You might think that a grown man should apologize - in the more commonly used sense of a regretful owning-up to a mistake - for spending his time on something like this, but whether warranted or not, that's not what you're about to read.

In 1983, when the Filmation cartoon first began airing and the first toys were being sold, I was 5 years old - probably the absolute ideal age for falling in love with this franchise and its incredibly successful merchandising methods. He-Man became an integral part of my childhood and no doubt continues to inspire and influence me in ways that I don't even know. Thankfully it was a positive show which aimed to teach good lessons and morals (while also very effectively accomplishing its central mission: selling!). Its message of personal empowerment and individual autonomy hit a generation of young boys (and some girls) right in the zeitgeist. Its brazen and often nonsensical concoction of science fiction and fantasy was a shotgun blast across the nerdiness spectrum.

I had the opportunity to fall in love with the show all over again in the 2010s, when my son was little and some of the episodes became available to stream on Netflix. Sharing it with him and seeing him fall under its spell was very special to me. This site is my love letter to the original Filmation cartoons, a wallowing in nostalgia and lost youth which I hope will resonate with others of my generation (and possibly the curious from earlier or later generations), while also providing some entertainment and amusement.

Enjoy - for Grayskull and Eternia!


GUY-DOR (then Steve, left) with his brother and website co-developer, Jim (right) with He-Man toys; November 1983.



Acknowledgments

Here is where I acknowledge my debt to other reference sites used while writing/creating this database.

Wiki Grayskull - When I first came up with the idea for doing this episode guide, I of course checked to see whether anyone else already had. Wiki Grayskull definitely beat me to the power punch - their site was a fantastic resource as I was building mine. As I've already noted elsewhere, I feel my guide offers some different and original aspects that make it worth the duplications; but I heartily recommend them for extra trivia, knowledge on cast, and data on the expanded (non-Filmation) He-Man universe.

The Toy Collectors Guide - thetoycollectorsguide.com was a fantastic resource for checking Mattel's toy releases chronologically, and comparing the toys to their animated counterparts.

Wikipedia - specifically the article "List of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe episodes" (here), and later the article "List of She-Ra: Princess of Power episodes" (here), from which I got all the episode codes used throughout this site, as well as the original air dates - so I hope those were accurate! I also occasionally used these as a source for spelling of character/place/object names.

The graphics on this page - The purplish background behind the site's logo was lifted from MU064's "The Remedy," and represents the Cragmoor Narrows that He-Man must fly through to bring back a cure for Man-at-Arms's old friend and teacher, Rohad. The logo itself was created by me in Photoshop but obviously mimics the Masters of the Universe logo from the Filmation series. To recreate it I used a YouTube tutorial I stumbled across by a channel called Film Masters - though I didn't exactly follow their methods, which were a bit clunky, I nevertheless owe them a debt for giving me the basic idea.

The graphics on other pages - The image at the top of the Notes page is from MU031's "A Tale of Two Cities," and shows a portion of the city of Operon. The image at the top of the Guide page shows the home of the great dragon (and one of my personal all-time favorite MOTU characters), Granamyr, in Darksmoke, as depicted in his first and best appearance in MU034's "The Dragon's Gift." The image at the top of the Search page is the oft-used background painting of Eternia as seen from space, used in many MOTU episodes. I honestly don't remember which of those episodes I grabbed it from.

Fonts - The font used for much of the lettering on both the MOTU toys and cartoon title screens is Serif Gothic, a fact which is easily found online. I used this font where possible in the site. For the She-Ra episode pages I used a free font inspired by the original series, and appropriately named "Shera," by Joanna Vu.

My Brother - Though he is not by any means a reference site, I wanted to add a very special thanks to my brother Jim for helping with the database parts of this website. Without him it would most assuredly not exist, so I'm very indebted to him. Thanks Bro! Jim Genzano is, among other things, the author of the Stranger World fantasy series, which can be found to read on Amazon and B&N.



Contact

Questions? Advice? Just want to jaw about He-Man? I'm here for you.
Because I'm a bit of a dinosaur I do not currently use any social media platforms.