This is the first in a series of blogs looking at the TV shows, books and Films that made me the geek I am today.
The year is 1985, it’s Christmas and I’m and my Grandmothers house, this is the year that my folks relented and bought me all the He-Man toys I had been asking for. My dad wants to take a picture of me playing with these toys and starts setting them up around Castle Greyskull, cue an 8 year old me getting upset because Grizzlor should not be standing on the ramparts of Castle Greyskull, this of course did not matter to my dad who just wanted a picture but it does show how important Masters of the Universe was to me.
What it does not explain is that god awful tracksuit I’m wearing.
Masters of the Universe was that one thing that started me on the path to geekdom. The combination of magic swords and lasers were a potent mix for a small boy, in fact I loved the show so much that it was the first comic I collected and the first (and only) fan club I ever joined. You see for me it was more than just a show, it was my gateway into a wider world. It’s the reason I watched Star Wars, the reason I read Lord of the Rings and the reason I started writing, basically it was my Rosetta Stone into the realm of the geek.
Looking back I know the show has no real merit and in all honesty I can’t defend it. It’s not like it’s got a deep mythology or the characters are so well defined. As a 33 year old man I can’t with any kind of honesty defend this show.
It is a cartoon designed to sell toys, I know that and I not going to pretend otherwise.
Except as you know by now (if you have read my older blogs) there is one part of this show that still has merit. It gave us (in my humble opinion) one of the greatest and most underrated villains of all time.
Thank you Masters of the Universe, for giving the world Skeletor and indeed for turning me into a geek.