She-Ra: Princess of Power

This article is about the animated television series. For the fictional character, see She-Ra.

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	USA
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 CBS Television Distribution
Broadcast
Original channel	first-run syndication (1985-1987) USA Network (1988-1989) qubo Channel (2010-present) Nickelodeon in March 19, 2012
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. Reruns of the show currently air on the Qubo Night Owl Block, and on the Retro Television Network, as well as Teletoon Retro in Canada.

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 served as a Horde Force Captain before being rescued by He-Man and joining the Great Rebellion. With her Sword of Protection Adora can become She-Ra; just as Prince Adam can become He-Man. After reuniting with her parents she decides to return to Etheria.

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.

Series run

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. It was intended that She-Ra and her cast of characters would be re-introduced into the 2002 He-Man reboot series. However due to the series being canceled, this never came to be.

Cast

• Melendy Britt - Princess Adora/She-Ra, Catra, Madame Razz, Mermista, Jewelstar, Octavia
• George DiCenzo - Hordak, Bow, General Sundar, Sea Hawk, Red Knight, Duke Dreer, Dylamug (shared), Vultak, Tung Lashor
• Alan Oppenheimer - Skeletor, Cringer/Battle Cat, Man-At-Arms
• Diane Pershing - Netossa, Spinerella, Sweet Bee
• Lou Scheimer - Kowl, Mantenna, Leech, Horde Troopers, Horde Prime, Spirit/Swift Wind, Light Hope, Broom, Grizzlor, Modulok, Orko, Snout Spout, Inspector Darkney, Dylamug (shared)
• Linda Gary - Glimmer, Shadow Weaver, Scorpia, Castaspella, Entrapta, Teela
• John Erwin - Prince Adam/He-Man, Beast Man
• Erika Scheimer - Queen Angella, Flutterina, Frosta, Imp, Starla, Peekablue, Perfuma, Loo-Kee

Characters

See also: List of She-Ra: Princess of Power characters

Main Characters

• She-Ra - The protagonist of the show. She is Princess Adora who is Prince Adam's long lost twin sister. When they were babies, the evil Hordak, leader of the Horde, stole her and made her the agent of the evil Horde. After finding out her true identity, she and her friends formed a group called, "The Rebellion," to defend Etheria against Hordak. Only a few knows her identity as She-Ra: they are Light Hope, Madame Razz, and Kowl.

• Spirit/Swiftwind - Beloved steed to She-ra/Adora. When Adora uses her sword to change into She-ra, Spirit also changes into Switfwind, a unicorn.

• Bow and Arrow - One of the member and co-founder of The Rebellion. Bow and his horse, Arrow, have a special bond. He and Kowl are best friends with a hate/love relationship. He is also close to Glimmer. His weapon is an bow and arrows.

• Glimmer - Co-founder of The Rebellion and former leader before giving the title to She-Ra. She is the daughter of Queen Angella. She has special powers that uses magic to produce light from her hands or staff.

• Queen Angella Queen of Bright Moon. A magician with huge white, feathery wings.

• Kowl - Half koala and owl. One of the three who knows Adora's secret. Is prone to cowardliness much like Cringer on He-Man. Can read minds of other members of their species if they have some feathers of the other

• Madame Razz- A sweet, clumsy magician who seems to be absent-minded and forget or mispronounce spells but everything works out in the end. She has a broom, Broom, who helps her fly. She is another person who knows Adora's secret.

• Light Hope - a beautiful, magical source of light. He is the guardian of Crystal Castle. He is the third person who knows Adora's secret. He is a mentor for She-ra and gives advice.

• Loo-Kee - A chipmunk like creature. He appears in the middle of the episodes where he camouflage himself. At the end of each episodes, he'll ask if the audience saw where he is. He provides the moral of the story at the end of each episodes too.

Evil Horde

• Hordak - Leader of the Horde who taken most of Etheria. He was the former master of Skeletor (from He-Man). His body is made out of weapons and devices.

• Shadow Weaver - One of the most powerful sorceress in Etheria. She and Castapella used to trained together under a great Etherian Sorcerer, Norwyn. However, she betrayed them to join forces with Hordak for power.

• Grizzlor - A unintelligent beast like man who makes stupid remarks to Hordak. He has great strength.

Episodes

Main article: List of She-Ra: Princess of Power episodes

Reaction

The important characters on She-Ra: Princess of Power were predominantly female. 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. unlike He-man there was less violence and the animation on She-Ra was more vibrant and colorful than on the He-Man show. These were attempts to make the show appeal more to girls.

DVD releases

BCI Eclipse LLC (under license from Entertainment Rights) released all 93 episodes of She-Ra: Princess of Power on DVD in Region 1 in 3 volumes in 2006-2007. Each volume contains an extensive array of special features including documentaries, character profiles, commentaries, DVD-ROM features, trivia, photo galleries and more. As of 2009, these releases have been discontinued and are out of print as BCI Eclipse ceased operations.

On May 31, 2010, Classic Media announced that they plan on re-releasing the series on DVD in Region 1. They subsequently re-released Season 1, volume 1 on September 28, 2010. Unlike the BCI Eclipse release however, this release contains fewer episodes, a 2-disc set featuring 20 episodes. On January 24, 2011, Classic Media released She-Ra: The Princess of Power - The Complete Series.

On October 19, 2009, Universal Pictures UK (Under license from Classic Media) released Season One, volume one in the UK, exclusively through retailer HMV. It is available in their stores and through their website. Since early 2010, other retailers like Amazon.co.uk, have also began selling the box set.

In Region 4, Madman Entertainment has released the entire series on DVD in Australia in 3 volume sets (similar to BCI Eclipse releases).

DVD Name	Ep#	Release dates
		Region 1	Region 4
Season 1, Volume 1	33	November 7, 2006 (BCI)	March 15, 2007
Season 1, Volume 2	33	April 3, 2007 (BCI)	August 16, 2007
Season 2	28	September 4, 2007 (BCI)	December 5, 2007
The Complete Series	94	January 24, 2011	June 24, 2009

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: PrincessofPower.co.uk for News and Info
• She-Ra: Princess of Power at Hulu
• The Ultimate She - Ra Website Guide