Skeletor
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Skeletor is a fictional character in the toy, cartoon and comic book series Masters of the Universe ("MOTU"), where he is the arch-enemy of He-Man, and the main antagonist of MOTU. He is the greatest threat to present day Eternia. He seeks to conquer Castle Grayskull so he can learn all of Eternia's ancient secrets which would make him unstoppable, and which would enable him to conquer and rule all of Eternia. In the minicomic and Filmation series, Skeletor's origin is unknown, but is implied that he was once Keldor, the brother of King Randor, though in the Mike Young Productions series, he is directly portrayed as such.
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[edit] History
[edit] Filmation Animated Series
Skeletor was, as the Sorceress of Grayskull called him, a demon from another dimension. He is a blue-skinned, skull-faced warlord who rules the dark side of Eternia from Snake Mountain with an iron fist. He learned black magic from Hordak, the powerful warlord of Eternia's sister planet Etheria, of whom he was once the second-in-command. In the animated movie The Secret of the Sword, it is revealed that Skeletor betrayed Hordak, who had abducted Princess Adora after his forces were defeated, by telling The Sorceress and Man-At-Arms the way to the Hordak's secret base.
Fitting, as it is revealed that Skeletor himself built Snake Mountain (which in the 2002 series was portrayed as originally being King Hiss's base of operations).
Skeletor's portrayal in the series was generally comical, as the show's writers were forced to use villains mainly for comic value to keep the show suitable for young children. While he had a genuinely sinister personality in the beginning, as the series progressed Skeletor was treated as more and more incompetent, often bordering on a pantomime villain. However, several episodes still showed the greater extent of Skeletor's evil, such as "The Problem With Power" in which he tricks He-Man into thinking he has killed a man with his own power, knowing that He-Man will exile himself in shame for his mistake.
He was voiced by veteran voice actor Alan Oppenheimer.
[edit] The New Adventures of He-Man
The New Adventures series sees Skeletor with a new costume, an armoured chest, cybernetic implants and a pink cape. Skeletor fools the Galactic Guardians, Hydron and Flipshot, into thinking he is the force of good they need to save their home planet Primus, when in fact they came looking for He-Man. Unable to decide who was good and who was evil, Skeletor and He-Man are both transported to the future, where Skeletor reveals his true evil nature to the Primans as the Mutants attack. Skeletor and the Mutant leader, Flogg, come to an agreement: Skeletor will help Flogg conquer Primus in return for Flogg's help in destroying He-Man. One of Flogg's terms is that he will remain in charge of the Mutants. Skeletor agrees, and is able to manipulate and control Flogg from behind the scenes, while making himself a force to be reckoned with among Primans and Mutants alike.
In the episode "Sword and Staff" Skeletor finds a powerful crystal on Moon Nordor and absorbs its power, making him more powerful and evil than ever before, and changing his appearance drastically, including a yellow face with red eyes, and different armour and helmet (based on the "Disks of Doom Skeletor" toy). Throughout the series, Skeletor concocts various schemes to destroy He-Man and conquer Primus. When Teela arrives in the future, she tells Skeletor Eternia has been peaceful since he left. Skeletor actually succeeds in conquering Primus after a clever scheme fooling Primus and its ruler, Master Sebrian, into thinking the Mutants wanted peace. Flogg is able to proclaim himself King of Primus and the Mutants seize control of the planet, with Skeletor in pursuit of He-Man and the growing rebellion against the Mutant invaders. The Mutants remain in control of the planet for some time; as Mara states in the episode "Skeletor's Victory" that she and He-Man have been in the wilderness for days. The Mutant invaders are eventually forced to flee Primus when the entire planet rises up against them and their Mothership is forcibly removed from the planet. Skeletor and Floggs' dominance over Primus and victory over the Primans lasts for a total of five episodes including "The Gift", "Skeletor's Victory", "He-Man in Exile", "The Seeds of Resistance" and "The Battle of Levitan".
Skeletor also has an admirer among the Mutants named Crita, an attractive and ruthlessly evil female who works aboard the Mothership. She and Skeletor become closer throughout the series, leading Skeletor to show flirtatious behaviour toward her, even dancing with her. His advances are often interrupted by Flogg, who tends to become jealous he is not being paid more attention. However, Skeletor shows in "Escape the Galolotia" that he would be perfectly willing to destroy her if it suited him. Despite the events of that episode, Crita apparently forgives Skeletor, who arranges for her to be sent to Nekron to assist the evil Gleanon warriors in their war against the peaceful Mytes.
At the end of the series, Skeletor and the Mutants take part in the Galactic Games where they fight the Galactic Guardians and He-Man. The Guardians win the games, but the organisers of the games capture them. During their imprisonment, Flogg finally decides to attack Primus with everything he has, including having the Gleanons, under Crita's leadership, assist them. Skeletor intends to have his final battle with He-Man, and sets up an ambush. The Mutants are able to conquer Primus once again, with the Galactic Guardians and He-Man absent, but the Guardians escape their captivity and return in the Starship Eternia. The Primans are once again able to defeat the Mutants, and Flogg, realising he has finally lost, agrees to surrender all his forces. Skeletor flies into a rage, finally expressing his true opinion of Flogg. Flogg attempts to shoot Skeletor, but is stopped by Crita at the last moment. Skeletor then transports himself, Crita, He-Man and Mara (who had become Crita's own arch enemy and leader of the Mytes) to the ancient ruins of the Oasis on Primus and challenges He-Man to their final battle. Skeletor is caught off guard and Mara throws Crita into him, knocking the two off a cliff ledge and into a shuttle pod. He-Man is able to take Skeletor's staff after their battle and uses his power sword to trap Skeletor and Crita within the shuttle pod and exile them into space. Skeletor promises Crita he will return to destroy He-Man.
The second season of the series would have featured Skeletor returning to Eternia, where Man-At-Arms would have turned evil and set himself up as dictator in He-Man's absence. Skeletor would be seen manipulating both He-Man and Man-At-Arms, and the series would have ended with the two friends reconciling and Man-At-Arms returning to his former good ways, as they journeyed to Primus to help their friends. Skeletor would have taken advantage of the opportunity, and conquered Eternia while they were gone. But the New Adventures line was ultimately short lived, and the second series was never produced.
Although The New Adventures series follows the continuity of the Filmation cartoon, Skeletor is quite a different character. He is a far more maniacal and insane character; he possesses a sarcastic sense of humor and often jokes and laughs, taking his own failures much better than in the previous series. He has a genuine friendship with Crita, and works well with Flogg, Slush Head and the other Mutants as part of their team as well as having a pet named Gur. Though often showing a more relaxed attitude he shows that when angered he simply becomes a maniac and lashes out in anger at anyone around him. He is able to instill fear into Flogg, despite being perfectly willing to take his orders when it suits his own purposes. Overall, the Skeletor in this series is portrayed as a far more competent and threatening character, despite his often comedic lines. In an interview, Campbell Lane, the voice actor for Skeletor, claimed he based his portrayal of Skeletor around The Joker from Batman.
[edit] Mike Young Productions animated series
Skeletor was formerly a warlord known as Keldor who trained under Hordak. He gathered a small band of warriors (Beast-Man, Kronis, Mer-Man, Tri-Klops, and Evil-Lyn) to attack the Hall of Wisdom. They encountered resistance from Captain Randor and his officers; Keldor fought Randor personally, wielding two swords with astounding proficiency, but when Randor disarmed him, Keldor threw a vial of acid at him. Randor deflected it with his shield, and the acid splashed on Keldor's face.
Kronis called the retreat, and Evil-Lyn took Keldor to Hordak's sanctuary, where Keldor summoned Hordak to save his life. Keldor agreed to pay whatever price Hordak wished for his life, and Hordak transformed him, stripping the damaged tissues from his skull and dubbing him Skeletor; Keldor's head had been completely stripped of soft tissues, leaving only a floating skull. When Keldor saw his new appearance, he laughed maniacally - the incident perhaps shattering whatever sanity he had left.
Trapped in the Dark Hemisphere by the Mystic Wall, Skeletor designed a machine that would smash it, but it needed the Corodite Crystal as a power source. When Mer-Man retrieved it, Skeletor destroyed the Mystic Wall, and returned to menacing Eternia.
Unlike this previous portrayal's, Skeletor was not concerned with Castle Grayskull right away, until a giant fish-monster headed toward it and the "Masters of the Universe" (Eternian warriors led by Man-At-Arms and He-Man) stopped it, forcing Skeletor to ponder what could be in that ancient pile of stones worth dying for. (At the time, the Heroic Warriors seemed ready and willing to let Grayskull fall, and would likely have done so, if not for the urgings of Man-at-Arms, who had been swallowed whole by the monster.) He directly attacked it with his Council of Evil (himself, Count Marzo, Evilseed, the evil Giant and Webstor). When King Hiss and the Snake Men were freed from the Void, Hiss imprisoned Skeletor, having him devoured by a giant snake, but Skeletor escaped after the Masters defeated Hiss.
Despite owing his life to Hordak, Skeletor destroyed Hordak's sanctuary to prevent him from returning. At the end of the Second Season King Hiss revived Serpos, the Serpent God, who had been transformed into Snake Mountain by the Elders; Skeletor and his minions were inside the mountain at that time. Although Serpos was defeated and restored to its Snake Mountain form. Had season three of the cartoon been produced, it would have seen Skeletor and He Man dealing with the Horde invasion and the powerful Hordak, who it was said Skeletor would eventually have defeated.
Some fans believe that the 2002 version of the character was the most competent version of Skeletor to date (although as before, he still never accomplishes any real victory; thus far, only the New Adventures version of Skeletor has been able to do that). While he was given many comedic moments, they seemed merely to add to his air of villainy, instead of detract from it. For instance, when he had a belt attached to him that weakened him when he had evil thoughts, it seemed to be funny to see him be nice at first, but eventually it drove home his more homicidal tendencies, which became apparent at the end of the episode when he had the evil warriors strung up, telling them he was going to make them suffer for enjoying his "condition". When Evil-Lyn pleaded for mercy he merely turned and said "I... think not" before dunking them in lava.
In the cancelled 2002 show, Skeletor was portrayed somewhat as a bully towards his minions using his powerful abilities to threaten his followers or to silence them. He would also (as before) constantly blame his followers for their defeats at the hands of the Masters of the Universe and ruled through a policy of fear which made him somewhat different compared to King Hiss. Also like previous versions, he was shown to possess almost no loyalty towards his followers as demonstrated in the last episodes of the first season where he sends his own evil warriors into a trap to get captured just to lull the Masters of the Universe into a false sense of security. He even went as far as replacing them with his 'Council of Evil'. Despite this, he was shown to be power mad and unwilling to share the spoils of war; as demonstrated when he told Count Marzo, when questioned if they will gain anything from Castle Grayskull, that he would give them a reward if he felt like doing so. In the beginning of the first season he demonstrated a deep rooted hatred towards King Randor for his part to play in destroying his face and making him what he is now; though he also attributes that to Evil-lyn for saving him. This gradually shifts towards a hatred against He-man for standing in his way constantly. Furthermore, his maniacal laughter can perhaps indicate that he might have gone insane by the loss of his face, something that is mentioned in the 'Icons of Evil' comics when Kronis, who later became the villain Trap-Jaw, mentioned that Skeletor was no longer the leader he once followed. Finally, despite his evil, Skeletor has been known to grovel should his life be in jeopardy though this is usually an attempt to get the upper hand before betraying his 'savior' which was seen on a few occasions to trick He-man into dropping down his guard before attacking and escaping.
Also, whereas in previous incarnations he was generally portrayed as being less powerful than He-Man, in this new version, Skeletor appeared to be more than a match for him.
As with all the Mike Young Productions series' characters, Skeletor's appearance was based on his figure from the Four Horsemen-designed toyline for which the cartoon was produced to promote. Skeletor was the character that received perhaps the least-extensive redesign from his original toy/cartoon version. However, when this new design was then translated into animated form, MYP's artists (usually) gave him a voluminous cape, something which neither the new toy nor the original incarnation of the character ever wore, but may have been influenced by Skeletor's costume in the 1987 film. When a later convention-exclusive figure of Keldor was made using the existing Skeletor body, a removable cloth cape was included. As the figure came with three swappable heads including his Keldor face; his burning, acid-splashed visage; and his final Skeletor head, this figure could thus be configured into a "show-accurate" caped Skeletor.
[edit] Masters of the Universe The Motion Picture
In 1987 Cannon Films released a feature film version of Masters of the Universe. The role of Skeletor was played by acclaimed actor Frank Langella, who arguably gave the best performance in the film, and in the opinions of some fans, this was the best overall depiction of Skeletor. Famous voice artist and writer Bryan Pyle tried but failed to procure the voice acting job of Skeletor originally, and eventually was forced to do sound effects and lesser voices on the show.
Due to the film's PG rating, this Skeletor was given license to be much darker than his cartoon counterpart ever could. At one point he casually incinerates one of his henchmen as punishment for failing him. Langella's Skeletor was given a depth that had been absent from all prior interpretations. Perhaps the best glimpse given into the villain's psyche occurs when he is torturing a captive He-Man. Leaning in close to the hero, he inquires "Tell me about the loneliness of Good, He-Man... Is it equal to the loneliness of Evil?"
This Skeletor is clad in slightly different attire than traditional representations of the character. Rather than dark purple he wears all black, his costume is less scant, covering his whole body and he has a flowing, regal cape.
This version of Skeletor is also able to achieve that which his previous incarnations could not. He unlocks the powers of Grayskull and becomes a living god. As he receives ultimate power Skeletor makes a dramatic speech worthy of the culmination of his life's evil dreams.
- "People of Eternia! I stand before the Great Eye of the galaxy, chosen by destiny to receive the very powers of Grayskull! This inevitable moment will transpire before your eyes, even as He-Man himself bears witness to it... Now. I, Skeletor, am Master of the Universe! Yes! Yes... I feel it, the power... fills me. I feel the universe within me! I am... I am a part of the cosmos! Its power flows... Flows through me! Of what consequence are you now? This planet, these people. They are nothing to me! The universe is power! Pure, unstoppable power! and I am that Force! I am that Power!"
- (Addressing He-Man) "Kneel before your master! Fool! You are no longer my equal! I am more than man! More than life! I... am... a... GOD!!! Now. You... will... kneeeel! Kneeeel!"
Interestingly this tirade bears some resemblance to a speech that would be made much later by Frank Langella in another film, The Ninth Gate, when his character Boris Balkan attempts to become a master of black magic.
Imbued with cosmic power, Skeletor transforms himself into his own concept of a god. He is clad in radiant, golden armour and crowned with an opulent, horned head piece, which partially resembled the brief glimpse given of the exterior of the cinematic version of Castle Grayskull. He discharges beams of pure energy from his eyes. This moment in the film is strikingly similar to a storyline in Marvel Comics, Captain America, where another skull faced super-villain, The Red Skull achieves godlike power through possession of a device called the cosmic cube. Like Skeletor the Red Skull gives himself a suit of golden armour and like Skeletor he fails to achieve his final victory, despite his supposed ascension to godhood. Both also make the same mistake of trying to make their enemies live in slavery to them, rather than just killing them. The two villains even suffer a similar defeat, the Red Skull falling off a cliff into the ocean and Skeletor plummeting into a watery abyss below Castle Grayskull. The movie contains a hidden ending, in a post end credits sequence Skeletor resurfaces from the water and announces "I'll be back". Despite this a sequel to the Masters of the Universe movie has not materialized.
The shot of Skeletor falling to his apparent death is somewhat derivative of the Emperor's demise in Return of the Jedi. This may be due to the fact that the film's visual effects supervisor, Richard Edlund had worked on the original Star Wars trilogy. for the movie Skeletor suggests that the designer initially preferred a more traditional approach to the villain's appearance.
[edit] Mini Comics
[edit] Pre-Filmation series minicomics
The first minicomics that accompanied the 1981-1983 line of Masters of the Universe toys presented the earliest version of MOTU continuity and are fascinating for their many differences from the more widely-known continuity of the later Filmation cartoon and the later minicomics which sought to complement it. For example, there is no royal court of Eternia (Eternos), no King Randor and Queen Marlena, and certainly no Prince Adam. Instead, He-Man is depicted as the scarcely-superhuman champion of a tribe of stone-age jungle-dwellers.
These very first minicomics (which were actually more like storybooks, with a single image per page footed by prose) stated that Skeletor was originally an inhabitant of another dimension, populated with others of "his kind". During "The Great Wars" (an ambiguous and intriguing concept which was largely ignored in later continuities) a hole was opened in the dimensional wall and Skeletor was thrown from his world into Eternia. Significantly different to the lonelier and entirely self-serving Skeletor of later depictions, the villain's key motivation in this first story was to reopen the rift between his world and Eternia, thus allowing Skeletor's race to invade and conquer Eternia alongside him. This was the initially-stated reason behind Skeletor's desire to obtain the powers of Castle Grayskull, not merely seeking power for its own sake as was generally the case in later depictions.
However, as this first incarnation of MOTU continuity was particularly short-lived, many questions about this version of Skeletor's origin were left unanswered, particularly as this original story remained vague about Skeletor's people. What was Skeletor's status amongst his own kind? Did they all look like him or was he the only one with a skull face? Were they all sorcerers? Did they all share his evil dreams of conquest? A panel from the first minicomic hints that they are just like Skeletor, but unfortunately doesn't show their faces. [1]. Of course this particular origin of Skeletor occurred in a different continuity from that of the better known animated series, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe.
[edit] Post-Filmation series minicomics
In the minicomics that followed the cancellation of the Filmation animated series (which can be seen as following on from the same continuity as the Filmation series, although there are still various contradictions) it is hinted that Skeletor is in fact Keldor, King Randor's long lost brother.
This inference occurs specifically in 1986 minicomic entitled "The Search for Keldor," a story that involves Prince Adam and Randor searching for Randor's lost brother Keldor. When Skeletor learns of their quest, he muses that "they must never discover the secret of Keldor," as the truth will lead to his (Skeletor's) destruction.
In this story King Randor announces that Keldor disappeared years ago. "He thought to master magic-- when his experiments went wrong and he was lost in a dimension beyond time!" One of the few elements of Skeletor's back story that had remained consistent throughout the various MOTU continuities was that he had come to Eternia from another dimension.
It is likely that Randor’s statement about Keldor disappearing to another dimension was an attempt to reconcile Skeletor being He-Man’s uncle with his Extra-Eternian origins. To find what happened to Keldor, Randor and the Sorceress attempt to peer through the dimensional veil.
Randor announces "I think I see Keldor… Or is it…" Before he can see anything else, Skeletor appears, determined to stop them from finding out any more. Although Skeletor is defeated, he is able to prevent Randor from discovering Keldor’s fate.
Skeletor’s frantic effort to cover up what happened to Keldor, combined with the fact that Keldor vanished to another dimension when attempting to become a master sorcerer, is taken as heavy inference that the two characters were indeed one and the same. Unfortunately, because the original MOTU toyline came to an end before the story could be resolved, it was never fully disclosed if this was officially intended to be the case.
However Steven Grant, the writer-for-hire of the minicomic in question, stated in a he-man.org interview that "As far as I remember, Keldor was Skeletor ... But, I don't think that was ever going to be revealed ... I seem to remember it as one of those things Mattel came up with out of the blue ... Slur Keldor and you end up with Skeletor ... His back-story wasn't really worked out. Some sort of evil cosmic energies altered him. I think they were going for a Darth Vader thing, but it was a tack-on... The main idea was that if they found out Skeletor was Keldor, they'd be able to find out what had changed him and might find some way to reverse it."[2]
In the new continuity of the 2002 animated series by Mike Young Productions (see below), Skeletor’s original name is definitely Keldor, his appearance as such is shown and his exploits partially depicted. However it seems unlikely that he would be related to Randor in this continuity, as he has Skeletor's blue skin and some other slightly nonhuman features whilst still Keldor. In an he-man.org interview with one of producers of the 2002 series, it is revealed that Keldor is the half brother of Randor; they have different mothers.
[edit] The question of Skeletor's head
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This section appears to contradict itself. Please see the discussion on the talk page. |
The Hordak scene described above is the only depiction to date of a completely hoodless "classic"-style (i.e. not the film, not New Adventures) Skeletor. Thus, the MYP series' clarification of nature of Skeletor's head as a magically floating skull with no visible connecting tissue (or even any exposed spinal column for that matter) was the first such explanation of how Skeletor's fleshy body actually connects to his skull. However, this "magical floating skull" version is not necessarily what was intended for previous depictions of the character, who may have had neck tissues which reached to the base of his skull before giving way to exposed bone in either a withered or grisly manner (which could well explain the wearing of a concealing hood on an otherwise scantily-clad body).
In one episode of Filmation's series, titled "The Greatest Show on Eternia" Skeletor is seen unhooded in one scene in which he is shot into the air clinging to a giant firework, his hood being pushed back by air pressure exposing his skull. However, the hood is not pulled far back enough to reveal Skeletor's neck, or lack of one.
Interestingly the toy version of Skeletor in New Adventures, which was intended to be a continuation of the original 1980s toyline/Filmation cartoon continuity, does have visible flesh on his neck which even reaches up to cover the back of his head almost to the crown, as if having regrown. However, since the original Skeletor was rarely shown without his hood it is conceivable that this flesh had always been present and merely hidden. In the New Adventures cartoon however, Skeletor has a neck made from flesh, but his head is simply a skull, in later episodes his helmet was destroyed, revealing a bald skull with ragged hair emerging from it. The only apparent contradiction to this appears in the debatably canonical storybook-comic The Power of Point Dread/Danger at Castle Grayskull in which Skeletor's hood falls back but it still rests only just past his crown and thus is relatively inconclusive about the status of his neck. The two first "New Adventures" minicomics, The New Adventure and Skeletor's Journey briefly show the injured Skeletor without his cowl, the second showing him even with ears.[3]
It is also noteworthy that although the Filmation and MYP cartoons (and all comic books) have depicted Skeletor's visible skull as a uniform colour of yellow or bone-white, both of the original 1980s and the initial 2002 toys of Skeletor actually feature a skull that is only yellow in the centre of the face. These toys, which are after all what the surrounding media are all based upon, actually show the head coloured green around the edges of the face, perhaps suggesting that the rest of the hooded skull might be green. Interestingly however, the New Adventures Skeletor's aforementioned flesh on the back of his head does not directly give way to the yellow bone, but rather has an intermediary area of green colour. This could explain the green edges to the classic Skeletor toy's face and is entirely consistent with the above theory that he may have always had only his face devoid of flesh rather than his entire head, although it is unknown (and probably unknowable) whether this was the original intent.
It has never been clarified as to what extent any version of Skeletor is supposed to have remaining fleshy matter in his head, and thus to what extent Skeletor retains normal biological functions, if any. All versions of Skeletor (apart from the 1987 film) depict him as having clearly empty eye sockets, sometimes with either permanently or intermittently visible glowing points of scarlet energy instead of actual biological eyes. However it has never been clarified whether he has a tongue and thus if he talks by magical means (because while it is possible to speak without lips, one still requires a tongue), or whether he needs to eat or drink. The last pilot episode of the MYP series did however depict Skeletor enjoying some manner of warm drink. Although Skeletor can clearly hear, he has never been depicted as having ears, even on the New Adventures toy. He does seem to have a sense of smell though, as he is shown in the 2002 MYP series attempting to block his (nonexistent) nose when Stinkor appears before him to beg a boon, which has some logic as his skull would still have nasal passages permitting him to breathe, if he in fact still needs to.
Some fans have suggested that Skeletor may be an undead fantasy creature called a lich due to the fact that he (in the MYP version of the mythos) died or came close to it, only to have his mortal body kept alive in an inhuman state by dark magic.
[edit] Powers and abilities
Skeletor possesses an array of mystic powers that seem to vary depending on the whims of the particular writer using him at the time, however all portray him as an extremely powerful sorcerer with control over a vast range of dark magical powers.
He is usually armed with a magical weapon called the Havoc Staff; a long pole crowned with a small replica of a ram's skull and a crystal ball embedded within. He can discharge bolts of mystic force from the head of the staff, or use it as a focus for more powerful forms of magic. Sometimes Skeletor has displayed the ability to discharge energy from his own body, as is seen in the 1987 MOTU movie where he casts lightning from his hands, and in the original animated series where he projected energy from his fingertips and even his eye sockets. In the 2002 series, his inate powers seemed much more limited; though his abilities when in conjunction with his Havoc Staff seemed nearly unlimited in scope and highly potent in raw power.
In the early mini-comics Skeletor sometimes possessed one of the halves of the power sword. From this weapon he could also project magic energies. He has displayed many other skills also, such as the ability to teleport himself and others over vast distances, send telepathic commands to his minions, open gateways between dimensions or perform remote viewing. He has also shown himself to be a gifted swordsman. As a master of the mystic arts he is also privy to much secret knowledge about the universe.
Despite his occasionally bungling actions and personality, all versions portray Skeletor as being extremely cunning and intelligent but with a lack of common sense and an arrogance that invariably lead to his downfall.
Also, some toy versions of Skeletor have been featured in media:
- Dragon Blaster Skeletor: Featured in the 1984 minicomic "Skeletor's Dragon". In addition to Skeletor's powers depicted above, he had some energy-draining chains and was aided by a little dragon who could spray a sleeping mist from its mouth.
- Terror Claws Skeletor: This version of Skeletor had claw gloves known as the terror claws. Strangely, Skeletor wore his "original" costume in all the minicomics in which used the terror claws (including the Terror Claws Skeletor minicomic "The Terror Claws Strike!"). In the only minicomic that showed him wearing the "terror claws" costume ("The Cosmic Key") he didn't use the terror claws!
- "New Adventures" Skeletor: The Skeletor figure featured in "The New Adventures of He-Man". In the minicomics, Skeletor uses that costume after becoming a cyborg. In the TV version, he's only wearing a different costume than the "original".
- Disk of Doom Skeletor: The second "New Adventures" Skeletor version. This version first appeared in the episode "The Sword and the Staff" and became the regular version of Skeletor in the series until the last episode. This Skeletor version wore a skull-shaped chest armor and a white helmet. The figure came with a disk launcher, but in the series Skeletor continued using the Havoc Staff.
- Battle Sounds Skeletor: This figure was made as a "talking" Skeletor figure for the 2002 toyline. In the TV episode "Sky War", Skeletor transforms into his "Battle Sounds" version after eating Ambrosia, a miraculous food made by the Andreenids, Buzz-Off's people. As Battle Sounds Skeletor, he's stronger and more powerful.
- Samurai Skeletor: With the power of the Legacy Stones, Skeletor transformed into his samurai version in the episode "The Mystery of Anwat Gar". This Skeletor wears samurai armor, is stronger and, fittingly, has samurai weapons.
- Battle Armor Skeletor: Skeletor dons a battle armor. In the episode "Of Machines and Men", a being called Sortech sends the battle armor to Skeletor. This is the 2003 Battle Armor Skeletor figure, and must not be confused with a 1983 Skeletor figure with the same name, that was not featured in any media.
[edit] Panthor
Panthor is Skeletor's evil feline companion, a giant purple panther who serves as an evil counterpart to Battle Cat. Panthor is portrayed as Skeletor's pet, being at the right of his throne. Perhaps not coincidentally, Skeletor's behavior with Panthor looks very similar to other evil-mastermind-and-cat pairs, such as Inspector Gadget's Dr. Claw or Ernst Stavro Blofeld from the James Bond films (except that Panthor is bigger and more feral than the other cats). In battle, Panthor dons an armor that allows Skeletor to ride him. Sometimes, Skeletor acts cruel and nasty to Panthor but, when compared with Skeletor's behavior to his other henchmen, Panthor is relatively well treated.
In the 2002 series, Panthor was only ridden twice. He was also portrayed as the only thing Skeletor was actually attached to. He never berates Panthor, and in fact talks to him more on the level of equals than he does with any of his other warriors, with the possible exception of Evil Lyn.
[edit] The Scare Glow controversy
It is also possible that Skeletor’s ultimate fate may have been hinted at by Mattel through the character Scare Glow, Evil Ghost of Skeletor. This, of course, is dependent on Scare Glow and Skeletor being one and the same. Greater exploration of this particular question is available in Scare Glow’s own entry.
[edit] The Skeletor and Thulsa Doom Connection
Just as He-Man was inspired by Conan, Skeletor was somewhat inspired by the comics version of Thulsa Doom which looked like a more evil version of him, a skull-headed sorcerer with a hood. Skeletor's title as "lord of snake mountain" may have been inspired by Thulsa Doom's title as "master of the mountain of power" though the movie version of Thulsa Doom resembled Thoth-Amon who may have inspired the creation of King Hiss. Even Snake Mountain bears resemblance to the Mountain of Power in Conan as well as Panthor who seems to have been copied from Thulsa Doom's cameo pet jaguar. Also like Thulsa Doom in the comics, he is not an evil lawful type and frequently mistreats his troops.
[edit] Skeletor in popular culture
- A reference was made to Skeletor in "The Blunder Years", the fifth episode from The Simpsons' 13th season. In this episode, the title family attends a magic show, during which the magician refers to Mr. Burns as "Skeletor". Homer laughs along, and then quietly asks Lisa: "What's a Skeletor?"
- On the short lived TV series Once A Hero of 1988, Skeletor made a brief cameo appearance. Towards the end when Captain Justice returns back the "Real Earth," a group of comic book characters can be seen cheering him on. In that group shot you can see Spider-Woman, Firestar, and Skeletor. Review with screen captures on www.stomptokyo.com
- Skeletor also appears in an episode of the Cartoon Network program "Robot Chicken" (a 15 minute long satirical program consisting of stop-motion animation using action figures) along with Lex Luthor, Cobra Commander, and Mumm-Ra in a carpool in a traffic jam. Skeletor is driving the car and late in the sketch he passes gas, much to the chagrin of his supervillain carpool mates.
- Is portrayed as Dustin Diamond's arch-enemy on the Late Night with Conan O'Brien sketch "totally fake Hollywood Stories"
- A music video produced by Bam Margera for his band Gnar Kill features Brandon DiCamillo dressed as Skeletor.
- A reference to Skeletor is portrayed in World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade; the Horde's Arathi Basin battle master in Shattrah City has the name Keldor the Lost, is undead with blue skin and wears an outfit similar to the one of Skeletor.
- "Skeletor" is a nickname given to a corpse in the Lost episode, "Tricia Tanaka Is Dead". Although identified as "Roger Workman" by the other survivors, Sawyer refers to him as "Skeletor" based on his body's advanced decomposition.
[edit] See also
- Szkieletor, an incomplete structure in Kraków, Poland, nicknamed after Skeletor
