YBFREE.comIn Pursuit of Human Interests
| YBFREE.com In Pursuit of Human Interests |
Archives | BLOG | Auctions | Shoppe | Message Board | Company Info | Search |
Once upon the time, there was a brilliantly designed work of art known as He-Man. The series was ahead of its time and still one of the best-animated shows of the 80s. It may have been a thirty-minute 
advertisement for a successful toy line, but it also represented a time when shows weren't about cute cuddly characters with stupid names, rather they were about action, heroes, mythology and larger than life characters with intriguing stories to tell. He-Man was so successful that it warranted a spin-off, and what better way to continue the epic saga, then with an unknown sister named She-Ra.
She-Ra: Princess of Power was created in 1985 and lasted two seasons, with 93 episodes in total. The show was a spin-off of the He-Man and the Masters of Universe series produced by Filmation, and was also a thirty-minute commercial for another Mattel toy line. While the show appeared to be created for young girls to jump on the Masters of the Universe bandwagon, boys, including yours truly, religiously watched the show.
The show started with a five-part mini-series that began on Eternia, He-Man's home planet, and continued on into Etheria, the planet where She-Ra grew up. Adam, He-Man's alter ego finds out from the Sorceress that he has a twin sister. The Horde, an evil group led by Hordak, which included Skeletor, is in a constant battle with King Randor and Queen Marlena of Eternia's troops. Realizing that he is fighting a losing battle, and that Skeletor is getting too powerful, Hordak kidnaps one of the twins and leaves the planet behind.
Adam travels to Etheria to deliver the news to Adora, his twin sister. He must go through the Horde's troops to get to her, and pretty much does it on his own. Adam shows off some fighting skills of his own as well as an intelligence he never really showed much of in his own series. Adora is all ready trained to fight, but everyone could use a little extra boost, and that boost comes in the form of her own sword. Adam reveals Adora's true identity to her and with an almost duplicate sword (this one has a jewel in it), allows Adora to transform into She-Ra. "For the honor of Greyskull, I am She-Ra," allows her to change into a powerful warrior, just as powerful as her twin brother.
Hordak, who actually has control of Etheria, has more than a rag-tag group of rebels to deal with. He has to do battle with a young girl who has lived a life of lies, thanks to his malicious ways. (Nothing like a woman scorned to keep a story pumping) Besides Hordak and some of his men, the show is predominantly a show about the strength of women. Bow is the only male in the rebel camp, which includes Glimmer, Peekablue, Sweet Bee, Frosta, Castaspella, Madame Razz, and Flutterina. I always thought that Bow would be Adora's love interest, but that never seemed to pan out. Guests like Sea Hawk, seemed to be more suited for her. Sea Hawk was one of the best guests on the show and I always thought they should have tried to create a spin-off for him, but never did. Glimmer was about the only memorable character for the good guys, other than She-Ra, Bow, and that annoying creature Kowl. Madame Razz was a cheap knock off of Orko from He-Man. Adora had a horse named Spirit that would change into Swift Wind, with her the sword's power. The show did not contain the same memorable cast of characters that He-Man did, but it did contain the same sense of adventure and action, always followed by a positive message that kids can use in their lives.
The shows were self-contained and never really contained running themes other than the fight between good and evil. Hordak always had some masterful plan thwarted by She-Ra and her merry rebels. Hordak was a coldhearted evil bastard and was just as cool as Skeletor. The show featured magic, great animation, cool fight scenes and a great message that even in the darkest of times, good will always triumph over evil as long as maintain hope.
She-Ra kicked ass, but the show was eventually cancelled as Mattel stopped the toy line while they continued to push Barbie. Without a toy line to advertise, the show eventually went into repeats and eventually went onto the USA Network, where it stayed until the early 90's, before disappearing from our lives. Hallmark now owns the rights to the classic series and can be seen on foreign stations, but as of this moment, there does not seem to be a possibility of the show once again airing in the states. It's a shame, as it never got a chance to end properly and was worthy of more episodes, when you consider some of the trash on TV nowadays. The only way to get to see some of these shows and purchase the toys is to go to conventions and buy tapes or go through the Internet, on such sites like Ebay.
In the past, girls had someone to look up to. Today, there seem to be no more female heroes on television. Women need a hero to look up to and She-Ra was a positive role model who showed strength in the face of danger and proved that women can kick ass, too.
Send any comments or questions about this article to Bandwidth@ybfree.com.