Subject: Skeletor
Culture: American fantasy fandom
Setting: Masters of the Universe
Context (Event Photos, Primary Sources, Secondary Sources, Field Notes)
* Misiroglu/Eury eds. 2006 p331-332
"Although he never did capture the power of Castle Grayskull and thus control the planet of Eternia and beyond, the villainous Skeletor nevertheless conquered the hearts and imaginations of children of the 1980s. With his bony yellow skeletal face and muscular blue-skinned body, Skeletor was frightening enough, but with added darkly magical powers, an energy-blasting Havoc Staff, and a loyal coterie of villainous followers, Skeletor caused much havoc for Eternia and its main defender, He-Man."
"Lord of Destruction. Master of Evil. Ruler of Demons. He-Man's arch-nemesis has held many titles, and been through countless incarnations over the years, but one thing's for certain: Skeletor is the type of evil that will never die.
"The maniacal horror has been battling He-Man, terrorizing Eternia, and trying to steal the secret power of Castle Grayskull ever since "Masters of the Universe" first burst into existence 40 years ago. He's clashed with He-Man through cartoons, comic books, and records. He has bent his considerable might towards trying to saving a big-screen live-action flop, and has even followed his hated enemy into space and back. Wherever He-Man goes, so goes Skeletor, and that now includes Kevin Smith's new adaptation for Netflix, "Masters of the Universe: Revelation."
"But even though Skeletor has been lurking around, plotting in the dark for decades, to many fans he's still a mystery. Who is Skeletor, really? What heart beats within this blue-skinned monster's chest? What memories lay buried in his fleshless skull? And how in the wide universe did a skull-faced monstrosity become one of the most popular children's characters ever created? Every good villain needs a certain amount of mystique [....]
"Skeletor helpfully explains in the 1981 mini-comic "He-Man and the Power Sword" that he'd been stranded on Eternia after traveling through a dimensional hole opened during "The Great Wars." He'd come from a dimension populated by "others of his kind," making clear he wasn't human. The comic also suggested that he was ancient. The Great Wars had left Eternia in ruins sometime in the distant past, so Skeletor had been around for awhile. You'd think that would have made him a bit more competent, but that early Skeletor was pretty easily bested by a barbarian with fancy costumes — which is about all He-Man was back in those days.
"... When Skeletor was first created, he was, as designer Mark Taylor shares in "The Toys That Made Us," "the very essence of evil." Filmation's "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe" series bible describes Skeletor as the last remaining ruler of Infinita, Eternia's evil twin planet inhabited with demons and monsters. He was an "evil, megalomaniacal, power-mad monster" determined to conquer Eternia. Admittedly, none of this was ever mentioned on the show, but it was the basis for Skeletor's stories."
"While the classic representation of him was as 'the cackling, goofy bad guy,' Fialkov says he found enough meat to add to the bony villain 'to make a meal out of it and cut a nice fine filet mignon.'
"Skeletor is the Darth Vader of the He-Man franchise, and Fialkov's origin is a similar one to the Star Wars foe: Before he's transformed into Skeletor by the evil Hordak, Keldor is an Eternian prince who should be in line to rule one day except for the fact that he's seen as different, which makes his younger brother Randor the future king (and father to He-Man).
"'As his face is melting off through the story while on his death march, Keldor relives the situations and people who shaped and ultimately led him to the dark side.
"'I look at my own life and I look at mistakes I've made and perceived slights vs. real slights. I feel like it's all stuff that any person understands, and it makes him a stronger villain,' Fialkov says.
"'I could show him having an acid bomb thrown at his head, but that's not what made him him. The fact that he got his face burned off is more than just the actual physical act of burning his face off. It has an emotional root. He's stripping away who he was to become who he will be.'"
Costume
"Inspiration can come from a number of places. Sometimes it bubbles up from a creative wellspring within, other times it comes from a dead body seen in a funhouse as a child. You never know until it hits you.
"Skeletor's inspiration, though, most definitely came from the latter. According to the Masters of the Universe episode of Netflix's "The Toys That Made Us," former Mattel designer Mark Taylor really did run into a body in the Pike Amusement Park funhouse when he was a kid. Actually, everyone at the park did. Taylor was sure the body was real, but no one else believed him. Then an arm fell off, and the folks at the amusement park realized they'd been scaring kids with an actual corpse.
"The corpse in question was once an outlaw named Elmer McCurdy, who'd been killed in a gunfight in 1911. No one claimed him for a burial, so an enterprising undertaker embalmed the body and charged people to see his work. Eventually a carnival man ran off with the corpse, and by the time it ended up in the Pike Amusement Park funhouse no one remembered it was real. Needless to say, that encounter stayed with Mattel's designer, so when it came time to create He-Man's big bad, Taylor drew from his own trauma. His original sketch got toned down a bit — traumatizing kids isn't usually great toy business — but without Elmer McCurdy, we wouldn't have Skeletor."
Staff
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