I'm a little slow on the uptake when it comes to hot YouTube videos. I prefer Orson Welles and Max Von Sydow to Fred, but that's just me. My son recently introduced me to what is actually a rather old favorite on YouTube, but to which I am a new convert. That video is the elegantly edited mash-up of "He-Man" with a song by Four Non-Blondes.
I said, hey! What's going on!
The video is positively brilliant. After what had been a fairly bad day, I was introduced to this bit of genius and laughed all the way through it the first time and then for the next forty or so times my younger son replayed it. If you haven't seen the video, click here.
The innovative idea behind this restructuring of the "He-Man" paradigm got me to thinking of the "Transformers" movie franchise. And, just like that, I was sad again. Perhaps it is just a case of Michael Bay directing it or it could be related to the entire lack of innovation and imagination relative to that big screen adaptation of the small screen cartoon series of the 1980s, but whatever the reason, "Transformers" and its multiple sequels are a perfect example of the oppositional approach to the 21st century concept of rebooting.
A "He-Man" movie is just a matter of time away. A live action "He-Man" movie would almost certainly be the best way to stimulate a bit of creativity. A live action "He-Man" musical in the form of that YouTube video would be even more imaginative. Can you imagine the intensity of the surreal bit of comedy that would be produced by turning the stiff and bizarre world inhabited by He-Man and his friends and enemies into a rock opera style movie? Of course, it wouldn't have to be a real rock opera; He-Man's ability to talk without compromising that wicked coolness he keeps intact despite the pageboy haircut should not be undermined.
This is exactly the kind of comic inspiration that the world of big screen live action reboots of 1980s comedies needs. "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" proved that not all live action transformations of animated figures from the Age of Cosby need not be the equivalent of intellect-reducing example of Michael Bay's ignorance of what it means to direct a movie.
I am literally begging, pleading and beseeching someone in Hollywood to take a look at He-Man lip-synching the overwrought lyrics of Four Non-Blondes and get the inspiration for a revolution in 1980s cartoon live action reboots.
For more from Timothy Sexton, Yahoo! Voices first Writer of the Year, check out:
Great Cartoons Canceled Before Their Time
Why Garth Jennings and Not Jonathan Liebesman Should Reboot Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
