HE-MAN and SHE-RA

HE-MAN and SHE-RA

It has been a while since my last review here is a review from a classic animation series a two in one review for both He-Man and She-Ra. Both series from Filmation and two of my favorite series during my childhood.

In 1983 He-Man series aired with 130 episodes under Filmation.

The series came out with the titular character He-Man also known as Prince Adam the son of King Randor and Queen Marlena, an earthling astronaut whose ship crashed on Eternia and married Randor the current king of Eternia. The king and queen are both clueless that their son Adam is the protector of Eternia He-Man. Since King Randor and Queen Marlena does not know that He-Man and Adam are one and the same they both wished that He-Man was also their son. Adam is not the only who transforms but also his pet green tiger Cringer who turns into a gigantic Battle Cat.

He-Man shares his secrets with the Sorceress the guardian of Castle Greyskull, Man-at-Arms and Orco a floating magician from another dimension.

He-Man transforms after he says the phrase “BY THE POWER OF GREYSKULL. I HAVE THE POWER”. He also has his sword raised as he says the phrase, after transforming pointing the sword to Cringer that later transforms into Battle Cat. His sword is called the Sword of Power a magical sword that has been given to him by the Sorceress which has been kept hidden inside Castle Greyskull to be given to the chosen warrior to protect all of Eternia and the secrets of Castle Greyskull.

His arch enemy is Skeletor a what seemed to be a sorcerer with a skull face and a body which seemed to be flesh and blood. He has been bent to take over Eternia as well as to get all the secrets that dwell within the Castle Greyskull which He-man and Sorceress protects.

Fast forward to 1985 She-Ra was then produced by Filmation as a spinoff to the He-Man series that came out in 1983 introducing the titular character, She-Ra or Adora also Princess Adora the kidnapped daughter of the king and queen of Eternia and also the twin sister of Adam or He-Man. She too owns a special sword known as the Sword of Protection which was delivered to her by Adam/He-Man when he was given a task by the Sorceress to travel to another dimension after a gateway opened inside Castle Greyskull as well as the awakening of the other sword that looks similar to He-Man’s sword.

She-Ra who known only as Adora during that time was also the Force Captain of Hordak that leads invasion forces to take over new territories. To make Adora work for him, he had his witch named Shadow Weaver to put her under a mind control spell and keeping her inside the Hord Empire to prevent her from seeing his true intentions for the land of Etheria which he plans to conquer.

Hordak once tried to rule and conquer Eternia where he worked alongside his apprentice Skeletor but ended up failing and tried to kidnap the twin babies of the king and queen namely Adam and Adora but was only able to take Adora after Man at Arms stopped him. As he escaped, he was chased by both Man at Arms and Sorceress after Skeletor spilled the beans when he was left behind by Hordak.

Adora also took her sword from Adam unknowing that they are brother and sister at the same time twins. Adam in He-Man form was captured by Adora. Well they have to make the story interesting.

Adora’s eyes was opened after seeing the truth about the Hord and accepted that everything taught to her by Hordak were all wrong and decided to help He-Man who was at the moment was being drained of his Will Power or Fighting Spirit to charge up a weapon to destroy the Rebel Base.

Adora after accepting the Sword of Protection and raising her sword with the phrase “FOR THE HONOR OF GREYSKULL, I AM SHE-RA” just like Adam she has an animal companion a horse named Spirit and turns into a winged unicorn named Swift Wind or Swiftie.

Comparing the swords of both He-Man and She-Ra both are very alike considering that the owners of both swords are twins and the only difference was their gender, for the swords the difference is that He-Man’s Sword of Power is a straight up sword with not much design while She-Ra’s Sword of Protection has a gem embedded near the handle.

Both twins have incredible strength and inhuman abilities to showcase in the series and they both keep their identities a secret but of course there are a few who knows of their secret. For She-Ra she has Madame Razz, Light Hope, Kowl.

She-Ra has an ability to understand creatures that cannot speak and her sword can turn into several forms like a shield and a rope and I think there are other forms that it turned into.

Both series were very well made for an animation series during the 80’s although there are instances that the proportions are not well balanced but since it was made in 80’s at the same time the fluidity of each movements were very well made.

Just consider the number of animation cells used for each motions of movements even though there are a lot of times that stock footages were used just like in the fight scenes. Although I never noticed it since I was just a kid back then looking for entertainment.

She-Ra came out with roughly 93 episodes a bit shorter than the He-Man series.

Both series made their mark on the children during that time and became one of the favorite series that came out.

Between the two series only the He-Man series got a live action film titled Master of the Universe where the main lead He-Man was portrayed by none other than Dolph Lundgren.

One crossover animated film was made for both He-Man and She-Ra which was a Christmas special where they were able to travel to earth as well as to celebrate Christmas along with their parents specially with their mother who is an earthling who has chosen to live in Eternia with her new family.

Another thing to note in the He-Man series was the character design made for He-Man himself he was fashioned to look like a barbarian wearing furred brief like trunks and his sword is tucked on his back which often time not seen in most scenes of He-Man making it more magical since even in the form of Adam the sword is no where to be seen and later we see him taking his sword from his back and turning into He-Man. This idea was carried over to She-Ra series where her sword is often not seen hanging from her back even in her She-Ra form. They have their own dimensional pocket in this series.

For an 80’s cartoon this is one of my favorites to watch. Both series received reboots and for the He-Man series it received a supposed sequel for the 1983 series which came out in 1990 but I have not seen it completely yet as well as the He-Man reboot which I have not finished. For the She-Ra reboot which I have seen is set for a review of its own.

I will recommend this series for the younger audience who want to see good quality 80’s cartoons.

credits to the owners of the videos and pictures