Why the CGI He-man and the Masters of the Universe series is under-rated

It puts a new spin on an old franchise

The first thing you'll notice when looking at the images from the show is that a lot of the characters have been DRASTICALLY changed from their original incarnations, many being race-swapped (in the case of Teela who is now a young black girl from the lower wards), gender-swapped (in the case of Krass who I mentioned is a female version of Ram Man), and even age-swapped (in the case of Duncan who is no longer Teela's father but a teen genius who is the same age as the rest of the main cast) along with the personalities and backstories of many characters being switched around (like Cringer being Adam's stoic surrogate father instead of cowardly pet) on top of the general aesthetics being a radical departure from the Conan-inspired barbarian imagery of old in favor of leaning more into the sci-fi side of science-fantasy (but still retaining some of the fantasy elements such as magic being a big part of the world) with many of the characters and settings looking like they came straight out of Overwatch. these changes may be a turn-off to some viewers who are accustomed to the classics, but I assure you that it's actually all well-executed here with a cast of colorful characters that are all likable and well-developed . I'd compare this series to other reboots of beloved 80s properties that took massive creative risks such as 2008's Transformers: Animated or 2018's Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles which were met with backlash when they first came out due to the sheer creative liberties they took with their source material but eventually developed their own dedicated fanbases over time by those who were willing to give it a chance. 

(NOTE: I am not saying that trying something new with an established IP is an inherently good or bad thing, sometimes it can turn out horribly like the much-maligned Teen Titans GO! or the ungodly piece of CalArts cringe known as Thundercats ROAR! that sadly replaced the excellent 2011 reboot) 

One big change the CG He-man series made to the mythology is the whole gimmick of the series: that being He-man having the ability to SHARE the power of Grayskull with his friends giving all five of our main heroes the ability to transform into "masters of the universe" akin to the Shazam family in the 2019 DC superhero film of the same name (which much like the Shazam movie also ties into the show's whole "found family" theme). call me crazy, but I love this idea. I mean He-man could already do that in the 80s and 2002 series with Battle cat, giving him the ability to share the power with the whole team is basically taking an idea that already existed in the original lore and expanding upon it. not only that, but they gave the bad guys the ability to transform as well introducing an evil counterpart to the power of Grayskull known as the power of Havoc (named after Skeletor's Havoc staff) with Skeletor's crew of "Dark masters" serving as dark reflections of our heroes. 

I also love how the CGI he-man series plays around with the lore while also paying respect to what came before, such as having Adam instead of living in the palace being an orphan kid raised in the jungle by the tiger tribe discovering that he's the lost prince of Eternos later on which basically took He-man's tribal origins from the old mini-comics and combined it with the "prince of Eternia" backstory we all know and love to create something new and fresh. there's also the storyline of Keldor being Adam's evil uncle and older brother to King Randor who was denied the throne harkens back to the backstory of the 2002 series (albeit now looking like an evil Robert Downey Jr. this time around), even Ork-O being reimagined as a derelict security robot that Duncan accidentally uploaded the memories of the original Orko into making the poor bot think he's a real Trollan wizard (think something along the lines of Buzz Lightyear in the first Toy Story movie) made for a fun new take on the character. I always got excited seeing all the cool and creative ways this series manages to marry the elements of the old with the new. it's He-man for a new generation.