Kevin Smith promises he won't ruin your childhood with his new 'He-Man' cartoon

Kevin Smith has a new Netflix series based on He-Man. Masters of the Universe: Revelation launches July 23 and Smith says if you were a fan of the'80s cartoon, you won't be disappointed.

Video Transcript

- Still know the tune?

- Some things you can never forget.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

I have the power!

KEVIN POLOWY: Let's talk some "Masters of the Universe." With remakes and reboots and whatnot in IP, you always hear that stupid expression. They're ruining my childhood. I feel like you are resurrecting my childhood with this one, Saturday morning cartoon style. Was that-- was that the goal here?

KEVIN SMITH: The only difference between this version and, say, the classic, what we call the legacy version, the old Filmation cartoon is their cartoon was very episodic in nature. Very rarely did any episodes tie together. Ours is one giant epic, as if somebody was like, go make a "Masters of the Universe" movie. So that's kind of like-- it's one tale, and it's chopped up into multiple chapters. The idea was to take the Filmation cartoon, all the relationships that everybody knows, not reinvent it and stuff, but just do the next episode as if the next episode they decided to switch format and go like, let's tell one long story. And let's let them clash swords. Like, let's make it for grownups because that's who I was hired to do this for. Same show that you remember, except we're just going to grow it up and make it for you now.

Honestly, Kev, like, I'm-- no hype whatsoever. This is, like, one of my top five favorite things I've ever worked on and likely-- like, for years, I was like, when I die, they'll be like, he made "Clerks," and that's where it ends. I honestly feel like he made "Clerks," and he made that one He-Man thing that one time. Like, it's so wonderful. And I can't take credit for it. Like, I'm involved, naturally, but I've got writers with me. I've got artists, Powerhouse Animation.

I've been around for a red hot minute and whatnot, and generally the stuff I do, Kev, is met with like, you know, Kevin Smith fans are like, great! One more try at the [BLEEP] slot machine. Let's hope we get some cherries this top. [BLEEP] lemons. But most people are indifferent to the things I do. This is, I think, the first thing honestly, like, ever in my entire career where, you know, people are deeply engaged with it. And they're like, you go, girl. Like, you've got my childhood covered.