The New Adventures of He-Man (1990)[edit][]
Skeletor in his "Disks of Doom" form in The New Adventures of He-Man
The New Adventures series sees Skeletor with a new outfit, chest armour, 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 is good and who is evil, Skeletor and He-Man are both transported to the futuristic planet Primus, 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.[10]
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.[10]
Although The New Adventures series follows the continuity of the Filmation cartoon, Skeletor is quite a different 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 relationship with Crita, a female mutant with purple skin. He even dances with her in one episode. He also 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 displaying a more relaxed attitude, when enraged 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.[11]
The first toys for the "New Adventures" line, which was Marketed simply as "He-Man", gave a different explanation for how He-Man and Skeletor ended up in the future via a mini-comic packed in with various figures, as well as actually providing a reason for the cybernetics Skeletor employed in the first few episodes of the "New Adventures" TV series. In this mini-comic, Skeletor also learned that He-Man and Prince Adam were the same being, only for Adam to become He-Man permanently. The energy output caused by this final change from prince to warrior was partly the reason for Skeletor's new cybernetic look when the character was forced to take drastic measures to treat wounds that would have otherwise been fatal without treatment.