She-Ra Princess of Power Review

Time for a confession: As an animation-loving kid in the 1980s, I didn't care much for She-Ra. Don't get me wrong, I gave her obligatory respect for being He-Man's twin-sister and all but I would be lying if I told you that I was glued to the set for She-Ra's adventures in Etheria the way I anticipated He-Man's romps through Eternia. Blame it on poor timing. After all, She-Ra's meteoric rise into culture coincided with my own "all girls have cooties" phase. What's worse is that most of my cartoon enjoyment back in those days was derived directly from my ability to recreate the magic through my action figures. Since She-Ra's toy line looked much more feminine than the muscular brutes that made up my Masters of the Universe collection, I simply found myself shrugging off the whole phenomenon in favor of my He-Man only regime.

As time marched on I made a series of shocking discoveries about not only She-Ra and company but the fairer sex in general: They're not only fun to watch in action but a vast majority of them do not in fact have cooties. Enter She-Ra The Princess of Power Season One, Volume 1 from BCI. This beautifully packaged 6-disc compilation not only picks up right where its He-Man counterparts left off, it does so with finesse, grace, and style (all things I couldn't have cared less about the first time around).

The structure of the show, for those who have somehow managed to steer clear of it throughout the years, is very similar to He-Man. In fact the cast was structured intentionally so that nearly every He-Man and the Masters of the Universe character had a counterpart in She-Ra Princess of Power. The show even shared many of the same writers with its male-driven sibling series. What's most interesting about Season One is that despite the fact that Filmation had the writing and animation process of producing this type of show down to a science at the time, the company clearly struggled to find a natural balance of She-Ra's powers and abilities. This is especially apparent early on when we encounter episodes where She-Ra possesses such gifts as the ability to communicate telepathically and to heal wounded or injured animals with her touch only to sort of fade away by later episodes. Apparently (and probably sensibly) the show's writers wished to replace He-Man's sheer strength with more female-friendly abilities. Ultimately, by the conclusion of the first series many of these bugs had been worked out by the creative team behind the production and the compromise that stuck was She-Ra's ability to transform her sword into various shapes upon her command. While I'm not still entirely impressed with this odd deviation from Prince Adam's Grayskull-given talents, I will say that at least it is not an overused gimmick.

Also new to the series was the scope of the villainy. He-Man typically consisted of two types of foes: His rouge's gallery (Skeletor and company) who would devise a devious plot only to be shut down by He-Man or a creatively adopted fairytale moral. She-Ra takes a new twist on this trend by starting out a member of the Evil Horde herself. Brainwashed from birth, she is made to see the error in her (and their) ways only after a visit from her twin brother Adam. Then once her flip-flop to the forces of good (the Great Rebellion) the viewer is given an enemy that is much easier to despise in the Horde. Rather than simply a bunch of sideshow rejects stowed away in lava-land, the Horde takes on the presence of a totalitarian government with its agents acting as corrupt police officers (kind of like the Stormtroopers from Star Wars). This works out pretty well in the long-term and provides a much stronger viewer-passion for good to triumph over evil.

Also new to the formula is Loo-Kee, a strange little rainbow colored creature who is hidden in the background of every episode. At the end he reveals his location just before offering up the standard moral tag that Orko handled in He-Man. The creative team confessed despising the whole Loo-Kee gimmick but I have to be honest here, looking for him is rather addicting. And just to settle any bets, Loo-Key predated the very popular Where's Waldo phenomenon that would follow shortly thereafter.

All in all, the animation surpasses the efforts witnessed in He-Man (due to a larger budget). My biggest compliant of the first season may come as a surprise considering how I started this review: I actually feel that He-Man crossover episodes are a bit too common. As an original He-Fan, this may sound like blasphemy but it seems like every time She-Ra would start to gain a little momentum on her own, the writers felt the need to toss He-Man into the formula and basically reset the system. It seems to me like She-Ra's universe contains so many interesting characters and environments that we see so little of to begin with that overloading us with the brother and sister duo distracts from the uniqueness of the She-Ra experience. I'm hoping this was rectified in later episodes.

As far as the 6-disc compilation goes, this is standard BCI goodness, which is to say sheer perfection from a collector's standpoint. The box art and inner flip-sleeve are spot-on and like always the episode guide and even the disc art go way above and beyond industry standard. Also included is the requisite pair of collector art cards this time by Dave Johnson and Humberto Ramos. Many readers have written in to express confusion as to whether or not the feature-length She-Ra animated movie, The Secret of the Sword is included on this compilation. The answer is that it is indeed. It is simply broken up into the first 5 episodes of disc 1. For those who long for the uninterrupted cinematic experience, BCI does offer the film as a standalone set that also includes the top five episodes of the series as voted on by fans entitled The Best of She-Ra Princess of Power (yes, I will be reviewing that set soon as well).

As for extra features, Season One, Volume 1 again takes no shorts (and is only slightly less impressive when compared directly to the amazing amounts of information BCI jammed into their He-Man collections). Among the gems here are 2 full episode commentaries by members of the creative staff (including the writers). Also (and my favorite) are The Stories of She-Ra, a documentary segment where the show's writers explain their motivation and thought process behind various episodes of the season.

Also included are a full length animated storyboard comparison, 50 character profiles, Facts and Trivia section, and DVD-ROM entries of 5 complete episode scripts, the She-Ra series bible, Secret of the Sword comic book, and She-Ra coloring book.

Included on this installment are the following 32 episodes:

Into Etheria
Beast Island
She-Ra Unchained
Reunions
Battle For Bright Moon
Duel at Devlan
The Sea Hawk
The Red Knight
The Missing Ax
The Prisoners of Beast Island
The Peril of Whispering Woods
The Laughing Dragon
King Miro's Journey
Friendship
He Ain't Heavy
Return of the Sea Hawk
A Loss for Words
Horde Prime Takes A Holiday
Enchanted Castle
Three Courageous Hearts
The Stone in the Sword
The Crystal Castle
The Crown of Knowledge
The Mines of Mondor
Small Problems
Book Burning
The Eldritch Mist
Bow's Farewell
The Price of Freedom
Play It Again, Bow
The Reluctant Wizard
Friends Are Where You Find Them