Ep 230: Be Kind Rewind (Masters of the Universe, 1987)

By the power of Grayskull, we made a huge mistake. This week on Be Kind Rewind, Dave, Cody, & Paul Walcher revisit 1987's Masters of the Universe — the flop that took down an entire movie studio. We dig into what holds up (Frank Langella performing Shakespeare under a skull mask, Dolph Lundgren as a walking action figure, James Tolkan from Back to the Future as a hardboiled detective who somehow ends up an honorary Master of the Universe), what doesn't (no Battle Cat, no Orko, no Prince Adam, no real Eternia), and the bonkers behind-the-scenes story including the studio running out of money three days before filming wrapped, a planned sequel that became Cyborg with Jean-Claude Van Damme, and a marketing pitch that simply said "make it Star Wars but He-Man." We also Muppetize the movie, find one of the most surprising Pastor's Corner moments hiding in a bad movie ever, and pick our winners and losers. Plus: the debut of Hot Take Cody as our new opener, a brand new Movie Game, and a bonus round on the top five highest-grossing toy movies of all time.