In the last half of 2007, when the folks at now-defunct BCI Eclipse outlined their plans for home video releases of the 2002 ("Mike Young Productions") version of
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, they talked about a possible high definition release of the show, mentioning Blu-ray along with their standard DVD release. They
still had those plans in mind by August 2008...just a few months before they were shut down by parent company Navarre.
Since then the home video license for the 2002 animated series has been picked up by Mill Creek Entertainment, which has already announced a pair of
September 29th DVD releases, including
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe - The Complete Series (every episode on 4 discs; see cover art for the DVD set below). We held out little hope, honestly, that Mill Creek would move forward with any Blu-ray plans for the set, since BCI was of course a completely different company. But fans like our reader "Demetris G" (thanks for the heads-up!) wrote to Mill Creek and asked, and this is the reply they got from the studio:
Thank you for your interest in Mill Creek Entertainment and the upcoming He-Man DVD releases. To answer your request, there is a Blu-Ray version of this DVD set in the works and it is slated to be released sometime in 2010. The announcement of this release will made upon our website in the future so, please continue to monitor our site for details on this and other future titles.
We've double-checked directly with the studio on this, and they've confirmed that they do have it in mind....but added this important information that tells us to take it with a grain of salt: "
the release is conceptual, and will still need to be approved by Mattel. However, if and when we secure permission, this release will rock your socks off!"
So Mattel could still veto a Blu-ray release, but Mill Creek would really like to do it. And what plans they have! They would like to do it as a
Complete Series release, just like their DVDs, but with the graphics quality you expect from high-def. What about extras? They would most definitely include bonus material, and if possible commission new supplements just for the Blu release, and/or try to get an additional on-package item included with it.
They obviously haven't set a release schedule in stone, but would like to have it out in the first part of 2010 if at all possible (think March-ish)...but that could still move. Our contact also told us to disregard any package art that you may have seen online at any message boards, blogs, etc.; some intense fans have apparently taken the DVD art below and PhotoShopped it onto a Blu-ray package template, making it look like something from the studio. We're told (with a smile and a wink) that this homemade effort "
is not from Mill Creek, and it’s not as good as ours will be!" Well, all right then...we'll hold you to that when the time comes.
It's obviously still just in the planning stages, but we're excited. Aren't you? As the price of Blu-ray Disc players
come down, and the popularity of flat-screen HDTV sets
grows, and as the cables needed to connect those two are available
cheap online (at a fraction of the in-store price), then releases like this will make more and more sense. Stay tuned for updates!
