She-Ra: Princess of Power

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She-Ra: Princess of Power
Opening titles.
Genre	Animated series, Action, Fantasy
Voices of	Melendy Britt Linda Gary John Erwin George DiCenzo Lou Scheimer Erika Scheimer
Composer(s)	Shuki Levy Haim Saban
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	93 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Lou Scheimer
Location(s)	United States
Running time	30 minutes
Production company(s)	Filmation Associates Mattel
Distributor	Group W Productions
Broadcast
Original channel	first-run syndication
First shown in	United States
Original run	September 9, 1985 – December 5, 1987
Chronology
Preceded by	He-Man and the Masters of the Universe
Followed by	The New Adventures of He-Man

She-Ra: Princess of Power is an American animated television series produced in 1985 by Filmation. It is a spinoff of Filmation's highly successful He-Man and the Masters of the Universe series, aimed primarily at a young girls' audience to counter-balance the latter show's popularity with boys. As was the case with its predecessor, the show was based on a toy line by Mattel (titled Princess of Power, itself a spin-off from Mattel's Masters of the Universe line) and was produced with financial backing from Mattel to promote the toys. The show follows the adventures of She-Ra, He-Man's twin sister, who is leading a group of freedom fighters known as the Great Rebellion in the hope of freeing their homeworld of Etheria from the tyrannical rule of Hordak and the Evil Horde. She-Ra makes her début in He-Man and She-Ra: The Secret of the Sword, a full length animated movie that was created by compiling together the first five episodes of the-then forthcoming syndicated series: "Into Etheria", "Beast Island", "She-Ra Unchained", "Reunions" and "Battle For Bright Moon". The series premiered in 1985 and was cancelled in 1986, after 2 seasons and 93 episodes. Reruns aired on USA Network from September 1988 to September 1989.

She-Ra first appears alongside He-Man in the theatrical film The Secret of the Sword, which eventually became the first five episodes of the She-Ra series. She-Ra is He-Man's twin sister who was kidnapped at birth by Hordak and taken to Etheria, where she was made to believe she was a general against the Great Rebellion. He-Man eventually finds her and turns her to the good side. With her Sword of Protection, just like He-Man, Adora becomes She-Ra. After reuniting with her parents she decides to return to Etheria and join the Great Rebellion.

Opening narration

"I am Adora, He-Man's twin sister and defender of the Crystal Castle. This is Spirit, my beloved steed. Fabulous secrets were revealed to me the day I held aloft my sword and said 'For the honor of Grayskull...I AM SHE-RA!' Only a few others share this secret. Among them are Light Hope, Madame Razz, and Kowl. Together, we and my friends of the Great Rebellion strive to free Etheria from the evil forces of Hordak."

Plot

The show revolves around Adora's adventures with the Great Rebellion battling against the evil Horde, of which she was once part. It was virtually identical to He-Man and the Masters of the Universe in structure, even down to the show's opening introduction, some of the theme music, and the fact that Adora's secret identity is shared by three other characters. In the storyline, the Horde once ruled Eternia and Skeletor worked for Hordak as his second-in-command. The Horde was defeated by King Randor and the Masters and Hordak fled Eternia, taking Randor's infant daughter with him, leaving Skeletor behind as the main bad guy on Eternia. Many characters from He-Man guest starred frequently on She-Ra's show. The first season of the show ran five days a week, like He-Man, with the second season being reduced to a Saturday morning cartoon. She-Ra ended in 1987, and the character was never again mentioned in any other version of He-Man.^[1]

Cast

• Melendy Britt -She-Ra/Princess Adora, Catra, Castaspella, Mermista, Jewelstar, Octavia

• George DiCenzo - Hordak, Bow, General Sundar, Sea Hawk, Red Knight, Duke Dreer, Dylamug (shared), Vultak, Tung Lashor

• Alan Oppenheimer - Skeletor, Battle Cat, Man-At-Arms

• Diane Pershing -Netossa, Spinerella, Sweet Bee

• Lou Scheimer -Kowl, Mantenna, Leech, Grizzlor, Modulok, The Horde Troopers, Spirit/Swift Wind, Multi-Bot, Orko, Snout Spout

• Linda Gary - Glimmer, Shadow Weaver, Scorpia, Madame Razz, Entrapta

• John Erwin -Prince Adam/He-Man, Beast Man

• Erika Scheimer - Queen Angella, Frosta, Imp, Starla, Peekablue, Loo-Kee

Characters

Episodes

Reaction

Most of the important characters on She-Ra: Princess of Power were predominately female characters. With the exception of Hordak (the evil villain), Bow and Sea Hawk (who only made a few appearances) the male characters were secondary or portrayed as weaker, silly, bumbling comic relief type characters. By contrast, most of the female characters on the show (which were much more plentiful) were usually powerful and authoritative or formidable and significant in some way. The animation on She-Ra was also more vibrant and colorful than on the He-Man show. These were attempts to make the show appeal more to girls. Despite this, the action oriented nature of the show, its similarities in storytelling to He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, and frequent crossovers with the latter show made She-Ra equally popular among similarly aged boys as well.^[2]

DVD releases

BCI Eclipse LLC (under license from Entertainment Rights) has released all 94 episodes of She-Ra: Princess of Power on DVD in Region 1 in 3 volumes. All 3 volumes have also been released in Region 4 by Madman Entertainment. Each volume contains an extensive array of special features including Documentaries, Character profiles, commentaries, DVD-ROM features, trivia, photo galleries and more. The complete collection of Season 1 has been released in the UK in October 2009 A 10-episode Best-of collection was also released in Region 1 & 4.

References

External links

• She-Ra: Princess of Power (1985-1987) at the Internet Movie Database
• She-Ra: Princess of Power at TV.com
• She-Ra: Princess of Power at YouTube
• She-Ra: Princess of Power at Hulu
• The Ultimate She - Ra Website Guide