Mattel SDCC 2007 He-Man panel reveals nothing

After waiting day after day for any type of recap as to what went on and what was announced at the Mattel He-man panel at SDCC 2007, He-Man.org finally came out of its slumber to post a recap. I had little luck finding any information on the panel prior to this posting including in several different forums, he-man.org forums included.

The basic rundown is that nothing was announced that we didn’t already know. There is a movie in the works, but no details to report. They wouldn’t even say if it was definitely a live action, cgi, or animated. They could only posture and say that it was looking like it would most likely be live action.

The DVD news we were all waiting for eagerly? All they divulged was that they are working out the details and will have more to report when all is finalized. Any sort of details of substance that are currently floating around seem to originate from the BCI representative that posts on the He-man.org forums. He mentioned a widescreen format and a couple of other small tidbits, but most of the real details that everyone wants to know about are really still being worked out.

Continue reading for the actual rundown of the panel as posted by He-Man.org.

For starters, Mattel hosted a panel in San Diego where they showed an episode from the 200x Mike Young Productions cartoon.
Mattel first revealed that the panel was going to be an extra feature on the DVD set.
After the introductions of panel members that followed, they opened the floor to questions, which we’ll summarize:
1. Will there be more seasons of the new cartoon?
A. Mattel then revealed that the movie was in fact in development at Warner Brothers, but nothing was said about more of the cartoon.
2. Will anything be done to celebrate the 25th anniversary of He-Man?
A. Mattel explained how the purpose of the panel and their convention display was to gauge fan interest in MOTU, and they were amazed at how much support there was. They then went on to say how 2007 wouldn’t see anything big for He-Man, but how fans could expect things to happen for MOTU in 2008.
3. Are there any plans for a web presence by Mattel for MOTU, such as a mailing list or updates to mastersoftheuniverse.com?
A. Mattel said that was one of the things they were thinking about.
4. Was there an episode that was never aired for the new cartoon, and if so, would it be found on the upcoming DVD set?
A. There is a script for episode 40, but nothing more was said about it.
5. Who was the inspiration for the Faceless One and would they further explore his connection to his daughter Evil-Lyn?
A. Larry DiTillio is the father of the Faceless One character and he was a product of his imagination, and it was stated how they would have explored him further if the cartoon has continued.
6. What are the plans involving the new He-Man prototype (see below) shown at Mattel’s booth?
A. Mattel pretended to not know what they were talking about.
7. Since King Grayskull was twice the size of He-Man, does He-Man have all of the power of King Grayskull or only half his power?
A. Apparently there was a lot of debate internally of how King Grayskull and He-Man compare. King Grayskull was based around the original barbaric concept of He-Man. And discussions took place about how Prince Adam would handle the power of He-Man when he hadn’t killed or hurt anyone in battle, where it was implied that King Grayskull probably did. The passing of power was Adam’s destiny and part of his lineage. It was also stated how future plans hoped to include things dealing with He-Man’s twin sister (Adora). Ian Richter’s knowledge of He-Man played a big role in shapping the story of the MYP He-Man cartoon.
Mattel then asked of the audience liked the new prototype, to which they responded with a cheer.
8. Will the new series on DVD have a mural that ties into the mural on the classic DVD sets?
A. Mattel only said that they were still talking with BCI about DVD plans.
9. Was the Sorceress going to be killed as part of Teela’s destiny to become the Sorceress? And if so, was Teela going to have her classic green Goddess costume, or more like the Sorceress’ or Veena’s costume?
A. The episode Ties That Bind teased at Teela’s destiny. And that in the future, the Sorceress would probably have been killed.
10. Why did things end so suddenly with the revamp?
A. Mattel didn’t offer any reasons for why, but said the focus now was on the future movie and what feedback they got from the fans there at the con.
11. What would be the extra features on the upcoming DVD, and would there be a King Grayskull toy?
A. Mattel asked fans if they wanted a King Grayskull toy, to which they cheered. As far as the DVD, they said they were currently working on a list of what would be on the set.
12. When can we expect news about the movie?
A. Mattel only revealed how it was still in development.
13. Would there be any direct-to-DVD movies to continue the new cartoon?
A. It depends a lot on how well the DVD does collecting the 200x He-Man series.
14. Any hopes of releasing the previously unreleased classic He-Ro and Eldor toys?
A. Mattel has discussed them and is aware of fan interest. Mattel offered up some possible trivia of how they believed Eldor started off being called Mentor.
15. Are there any comic books planned to tell the stories from the new cartoon that were not developed.
A. Mattel asked fans if they’d be interested in comic books about these stories, to which the audience cheered.
16. If they rereleased He-Man, would there be any new characters?
A. Mattel is still determining what their plans are, and once again said a lot of it would be dependent on what happened with the movie.
17. Would there be an High Definition release of the DVD series?
A. Mattel said they are still working on that.
18. Did the new cartoon stories depend on how Mattel wanted to portray the toys?
A. Toys were never an issue. The primary concern was to tell good stories.
19. Was there any personal ideals that writers wanted to uphold in the stories they told?
A. Ties That Bind was cited as an example of a story featuring the connection between a mother and her daughter. Power of Grayskull was cited as an example of discovering one’s inner power.
20. Is the new movie animated or live-action?
A. Mattel stated again how it was still in development, but their assumption is that it would be live-action.
21. Are there any actors they wanted to play various roles in the movie?
A. After a couple of jokes, Mattel said how the movie had not gotten to that stage yet.
22. Would there be more technology surrounding Hordak, since he was presented as just magical in the new show?
A. Mattel said more characters would have been shown that presented the technological element. But, that they wanted to keep things centered around magic to emphasize Hordak’s ties to Skeletor and the mythos on Eternia dealing with magic.
23. Will there be any cartoon marathons?
A. Mattel said there are no plans right now, but perhaps in the future.
24. Would the DVD set include bonus features similar to BCI’s classic MOTU releases?
A. Mattel once again said they are still working on what would be included on the DVD. Mattel revealed how so much of the development material for the classic show and cartoon had been lost or destroyed. But these days, they have a large archive of everything that is done so there will be a large selection of things to choose from for the new DVD sets.
25. Are the Four Horsemen continuing the Mini-Statue line, asked due to the lack of Mini-statues shown at Comic-Con.
A. It was stated how they were behind schedule at the moment and they are currently trying to catch up.
26. Are there any prototypes fans don’t know of from the classic toy line for unreleased toys?
A. Mattel gave a bit of history on the toy creation process, but nothing indicated that any unknown prototypes exist.
– At this point, the audio became too soft to make out, but the last three questions seemed to deal with classic toys and some of the history behind how things were created, and about the creative writing process for the new cartoon series.