History Film / MastersoftheUniverse

* MovieSuperheroesWearBlack: As it came from a popular toyline the original characters were all manner of bright colors, with Skeletor having purple skin and cloak while He-Man had silver chest armor and red loincloth while both wear a lot of black. Duncan and Teela's bronze armor became more of a muted silver.

* CanonForeigner: Kevin and Julie. TheFilmOfTheSeries used only the most immediate characters of the show. He-Man, Duncan (Man-At-Arms), Teela and the Sorceress are the only heroes, with a sidekick being a hairy gremlin called Gwildor (who vaguely fills out Orko's role in being comic relief, although he is also a MadScientist who is responsible for the plot). Skeletor, Evil-Lyn, and Beast Man are the only villains, with a group of improvised minions to fill out the ranks, in particular an eyepatch-wearing bald swordsman named Blade who sort of fills the role of TheDragon. They both got action figures in the toyline, but no attempt has ever been made to integrate them into any main canon.
** The commentary track on the DVD sheds a lot of light on why the movie lacked certain key characters from the franchise and why other characters were so drastically altered (notably Teela and Duncan). Suffice it to say, they had only a little money (most of it spent building the insanely elaborate Grayskull set they only barely got to use) and an extremely limited amount of time to film things. (The track also explains the presence of the mysterious pig-faced boy in the Grayskull throne room.)

* NearVillainVictory: Skeletor becomes a PhysicalGod at the climax of the movie, the Sorceress is near-death, and everyone heroic is either captured or fighting a losing battle.

** When Skeletor is receiving the powers of Grayskull his face is briefly turned yellow due of the the energy surge, thus resembling his cartoon counterpart.

** Just before receiving the powers of Grayskull, Skeletor names himself "Master of the Universe". In the original cartoon, Skeletor and his forces were the [[TitleCharacter eponymous "Masters of the Universe"]] before the opening narration was changed.

The movie features Skeletor acquiring the Cosmic Key, a teleportation device from Gwildor, an eccentric inventor, which gives him an edge in his war against He-Man. Eventually the heroes find an identical device and use it to escape capture, accidentally traveling to a distant planet -- Earth. Skeletor is not far behind. Starring Creator/DolphLundgren as He-Man and Creator/FrankLangella as Skeletor, Creator/MegFoster as Evil-Lyn and a young Creator/CourteneyCox and [[Series/StarTrekVoyager Robert Duncan McNeill]] as teenage sweethearts Julie Winston and Kevin Corrigan, who are caught up in the events.

* PeggySue: Julie gets to go back [[spoiler:save her parents at the end.]]

A 1987 film directed by Gary Goddard for Creator/TheCannonGroup, based upon [[Franchise/MastersOfTheUniverse the franchise of the same name]].

* {{Expy}}: Gwildor was made to replace Orko, who would have been impractical to do in live-action.

* HypercompetentSidekick: Skeletor isn't inept, but his dragoness Evil-Lyn proves to be very competent when she's forced to work with the mercenaries. She looks through Karg's lies, successfully interrogates Kevin and tricks Julie to hand her the key.

* NonProtagonistResolver: Kevin. [[SubvertedTrope On Earth at least]].

* WomanScorned: Evil-Lyn obviously deeply loves Skeletor but over the course of the film comes to realise he does not care for her and eventually abandons him, withdrawing her forces and dooming him to defeat.

* ChekhovsSkill: Kevin is a musician and initially mistakes the Cosmic Key as a fancy synthesizer, as it uses musical tones as part of its operation. A music shop employee even teases him as "Mr. Perfect Pitch." In the climax of the Earth-based story, the heroes' Cosmic Key is badly damaged. Gwildor was able to repair its basic function but the memory and targeting system are fried, making it functionally impossible to return to Eternia. Kevin is able to recreate the same musical composition, bringing them right back to Grayskull.

* MugglesDoItBetter: Though Earthlings are outgunned because the [[{{Phlebotinum}} technology]] of Eternia is clearly more advanced than Earth's, it appears to derive from similar sources and be fairly easy to master with native technical skill. One scene demonstrates this in that a microwave Kevin happens to be using interferes with the bad guys' scanners (just as it has been known to interfere with our own radio, television, and wi-fi signals). Kevin is able to operate the musical key effectively once Gwildor helps him hook a Casio keyboard from the local music shop up to it, and in one rather entertaining scene, Lubic demonstrates that good old-fashioned shotgun slugs work just as well on those MechaMooks as any of Eternia's energy weapons.

* SupportingProtagonist: Double Subverted. While He-Man is the still hero of the movie and the focus character on Eternia, when he arrives on Earth, the role of POV character goes to Kevin, then back to He-Man once everyone is back on Eternia.

* ''WomanScorned'': Evil-Lyn obviously deeply loves Skeletor but over the course of the film comes to realise he does not care for her and eventually abandons him, withdrawing her forces and dooming him to defeat.

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->''"At the center of the Universe, at the border between the light and the dark stands Castle Greyskull. For countless ages, the [[BigGood Sorceress of Greyskull]] has kept this universe in harmony. But the armies of darkness do not rest, and the capture of Greyskull is ever most in their minds. For to those who control Greyskull will come . . . the Power.\\\

* KneelBeforeZod: Skeletor becomes a god and demands He-Man kneel before him, using magic to force him to his knees.

* KnifeNut: They don't call him "Blade" for nothing.

* DarthVaderClone: Skeletor's mooks all dress in black armour and Vader shaped helmets.

* EvilIsSexy: the slinky Evil-Lynn struts around the screen in a figure flattering metal corset, bewitching all around her with her haunting eyes and placing a slave collar upon the heroine's boyfriend.

* ActionGirl: Teela. It's a RunningGag that her first impulse is to shoot everything.

* AdultFear: Kevin and Julie are pursued by ruthless mercenaries and have almost no adult figures to help them, as Julie's parents are dead and Carl is brutalized when he tries to help. It's a ''very'' good thing they run into He-Man.

* IAteWhat:
** Teela remarks "What a barbaric world!" when Man-At-Arms shocks her and Gwildor by telling them in a matter-of-fact way that the food they were eating on Earth used to be a live animal.
** Man-At-Arms, meanwhile, finishes his ribs with some amusement, evidently not sharing their vegetarian principles.
-->'''Man-At-Arms''': Never think when you're hungry!

* IncomingHam: Is the music becoming loud and bombastic? Do you hear echoing thumping sound and [[LargeHam someone shouting]] with a [[EvilSoundsRaspy growling voice]]? Skeletor has arrived.

* ItSucksToBeTheChosenOne:
** Kevin and Julie, two normal earth teens don't like the idea of being chased around and nearly killed just because they happend to find the {{MacGuffin}} that everybody wants. Heck Kevin even tried to [[RefusalOfTheCall refuse the call]]!
** And what are they supposed to do afterward? Tell people they saved the universe from a monomaniacal god at the center of the universe in an alternate timeline? Sure, people will believe that.

** Skeletor down to the core. '''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S87lvHz1qoM&feature=related I DARE ANYTHING]]''' '''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjAUdSgSIzA&feature=relmfu YOU MORTAL!]]'''