The Top 10 Fantasy Films, The Toy Movie Hall of Fame, and ‘Masters of the Universe,’ with Griffin Newman!

June 5, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

Griffin Newman, who voices Orko in the new Masters of the Universe animated series, dates his obsession with He-Man to summer camp, where a counselor named Grunge introduced him to the franchise a decade after it had already cratered. "How could something have been that big of a cultural phenomenon and completely disappeared by the time I was conscious?" he asks. That question—about the strange half-life of a property that was never as enduring as Star Wars or Transformers—runs through this episode of The Big Picture, where Sean Fennessey and Newman use the new live-action Masters of the Universe film as a launchpad to examine the current box office landscape, the mechanics of toy-based movies, and the peculiar challenge of adapting a piece of intellectual property that was cobbled together from a dozen conflicting pitches.

The Unrepeatable Success of Obsession

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What you'll learn

1 (00:15) **Episode Introduction & Guest Welcome** - Sean introduces the episode's topics: *Masters of the Universe*, top fantasy films, and the Toy Movie Hall of Fame, with guest Griffin Newman.
2 (03:03) **The Box Office Anomaly: 'Obsession'** - Sean and Griffin analyze the unprecedented box office performance of the horror film *Obsession*, which continues to grow in its third week.
3 (22:19) **Deconstructing He-Man's Origins** - A deep dive into the history of *Masters of the Universe*, from its toy-first creation to its "garbage plate" mythology.
4 (33:13) **Griffin's Personal He-Man Journey** - Griffin shares his unique path to becoming a He-Man superfan and later voicing Orko in a Kevin Smith-produced cartoon.
5 (40:09) **'Masters of the Universe' Review: The Framework** - Sean and Griffin give their initial, conflicted reactions to the new film, praising its central concept while criticizing its execution.
6 (48:36) **The 'Barbie' Comparison and Tone Problems** - The film is analyzed through the lens of Greta Gerwig's *Barbie*, with Adam's journey being the male inverse of Barbie's.
7 (56:02) **Director Travis Knight's Personal Touch** - The conversation turns to Travis Knight as the ideal director for this project, given his own biography as the son of Nike's Phil Knight.

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Show Notes

Sean joins forces with Griffin Newman of the Blank Check podcast. Together, they discuss the recent run of box-office successes and what it says about the current state of movies (2:16), before answering the call of Grayskull and journeying to Eternia to unpack the latest adaptation of 'Masters of the Universe' (21:25). While there, they discuss the best high-fantasy films of all time (1:15:40), and Griffin unveils his Toy Movie Hall of Fame (1:25:58). Later, Sean sits down with Samara Weaving and Adam Rehmeier, the star and director of the new crime romance 'Carolina Caroline,' to discuss making the film and the winding paths that led them there (1:45:20).

Hosts: Sean Fennessey

Guests: Griffin Newman, Samara Weaving, and Adam Rehmeier

Producer: Jack Sanders

Production Support: Lucas Cavanagh, Sarah Reddy, and Jamie Yukich

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