Techtite's TV Reviews!

"It is said by trivia buffs that He-man's expression changes a total of 61 times in one single shot this episode..."

---from the review

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OOPS! While this little err might've been corrected if you're reading this some time after its initial release (July 18, 2006), the first discs of this DVD set had a small error, where the chapter listing for "Sweet Bee's Home" was switched with the one for "Horde Prime Takes a Holiday." In fact; while on screen trivia for one seems pretty intact, trivia for "Holiday" seems like half of one and half of the other, as it were. It's a little mistake that is easily overlooked, though, so ...whatever.

The Great Loo-Kee debate. Every episode ended with a puzzle best summarized as, "Looky, looky; where is Loo-Kee?" Just before ending each episode with a moral message, Loo-Kee would show kiddies where he was hiding, in one of the animation cel backdrops in that episode. "Here I am!" he'd squeal, like a mommy going "Peek-a-boo" to her baby. Some people liked this addition. Me...? I felt he was the "Jar-Jar Binks" of his day. I don't know; it just seemed like too much of a Sesame Street way to end each show for me. What do other fans think?

Join The Girlish She-Ra as She Fights The Girlish ...Horde! Time out, please: "Evil Horde"...? Yeah, well, see, while this series was based on "girl toys," it was an action cartoon at its core, and needed its "villain" to fight. The original plan was to have her enemy be a vain witch, but that seemed too wishy-washy. Yet there was a line of toys intended for He-Man, called The Evil Horde, led by the skull-faced Hordak (aka Skeletor's mentor). The Horde was not yet introduced in He-Man cartoons so they decided to make Hordak She-Ra's arch enemy. Ask not how much Hordak always looked like a GI-Joe "Cobra Commander" doll in a shelf of Barbie dolls. She-Ra needed a foe. So be it.

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The Best Of 

She-Ra: Princess of Power!

Click picture to order this DVD 

A Review by Techtite

Know all about the show? Jump to the DVD extras.

Talk to a dozen fans of the He-man cartoons from the 1980's, and ask them what they felt about its spin-off, She-Ra: Princess of Power. You'll likely get a dozen totally different responses. Yet that's part of what made She-Ra so noteworthy. Love or hate her, she evoked a lot of emotion...as will her series' impending release on DVD, in a 2 disc "Best" collection.

For those unaware; She-Ra was essentially the "Xena: Warrior Princess" to He-man's "Hercules." As the story goes: She-Ra is He-man's twin sister, stolen from her royal heritage when she was just a baby. Now young adults, He-man seeks out his sister, and gives her the magical sword which is her birthright. She holds aloft the sword, utters the mantra, "For the honor of Greyskull" and becomes She-Ra, Princess of Power! Her mission: to lead The Great Rebellion against The Evil Horde.

Jump ahead two decades, when She-Ra is finally available on DVD, in a "Top Ten" best collection. Note that I put "Top Ten" In quotes. It's no big deal, really, but any definitive She-Ra collection would have to include the series pilot, "The Secret of the Sword." This gives the full story of who Adora is and her relation to He-man, as the whole She-ra saga begins. The problem: Secret of the Sword was a "week long" pilot, lasting five episodes. This leaves this "Top Ten" set with only five more episodes to work with. Bummer...sort of.

Which episodes are the remaining five? Polls were taken at the non-profit fan site, He-man.org, with the following five episodes given the most votes. The winners are as follows:

Episode 18: Horde Prime Takes a Holiday In Short Summary: This is the episode where She-Ra's sword makes five transformations in just one episode. It also is another episode guest starring He-man, which is always cool. The story: Hordak is put in charge of Horde Prime's attack ship. He-man is worried Hordak will use the ship to attack Eternia. Skeletor thinks so too...but why destroy the ship, when he can take it for himself? Added Trivia Bytes: On a serious note, this is the only episode in She-Ra history where the final moral message is not given by Loo-Kee, but by He-man and She-Ra, who give a serious message to kids about child abuse. Techtite.com rating: Deep Impact. This was a good episode all around, from a fan perspective (the sword's many transformations), and a mature one (the final moral).

Episode 21: The Stone in the Sword In Short Summary: Far better than a cliche rip-off of King Arthur tales, the "stone" is question is actually the jewel in Adora's power sword. It gets broken, and She-Ra is changed back into Adora. The good news is that no enemy saw her secret identity; the bad news is that she is Adora for good until the "stone" is fixed somehow. The only person who can help is Light Hope, who Adora cannot reach without the help of She-Ra's horse, Swift Wind. As an added challenge, Hordak has kidnapped Bow, so Adora must find a way to become She-Ra again, and quickly! Added Trivia Bytes: This is the first episode featuring "Light Hope." Techtite.com rating: Large Crater.

Episode 29: The Price of Freedom In Short Summary: In another He-man guest starring episode, the series offers a far more serious minded view of war than you'd probably expect in a cartoon. In addition, this episode portrays Hordak as a corrupt dictator and not the comedic villain he was often portrayed as, in most episodes. The core story is about a bunch of villagers who are being attacked by Hordak. Yet saving their village is not as important to them as gaining their freedom. They soon join Adora and Bow in The Great Rebellion to do just that. Added Trivia Bytes: This was a good episode, though with all due respect, you'd expect Loo-Kee's final moral to be more inspiring than "Kids, please be careful with fire." Techtite.com rating: Deep Impact. Another fine example of how cartoons are not just for kids, with thought provoking stories and intelligent subject matter.

Episode 56: Of Shadows and Skulls  In Short Summary: This episode guest stars Skeletor, who joins forces with Shadow Weaver to overthrow Hordak. As you'd expect, upon imprisoning Hordak, Skeletor imprisons Shadow Weaver as well, so he can be complete ruler of the evil horde. Added Trivia Bytes: Though these five "best" episodes were indeed decided by a vote, many fans have random ideas of how this episode (which just barely made the list) could've beaten various other top ten episodes, including: The Sea Hawk (The first "real" episode of the series after Secret of the Sword, which introduced Adora's frequent love interest, "Sea Hawk"); Day of the Flowers (He-man and She-Ra lose their swords and must fight as Adora and Adam), Swifty's Baby (Swift Wind is a Dad!), The Unicorn King (you can imagine how cool a "land of unicorns" story is to She-Ra's female fans!), and Into the Dark Dimension (Hordak and She-Ra must work together to escape a dimension they're trapped within). It's not that this episode isn't "good." It just goes to show how close a race it was, for some episodes to be among the "top five." Techtite.com rating: Good...but is it the "best"...? Small Crater.

Episode 85: Sweet Bee's Home In Short Summary: Another episode guest starring Adam/He-man (do you see a pattern here?), this is often considered one of the most well directed episodes of the series. A space vessel has been shot down, and She-Ra, He-man, and friends must work together to save the pilot, who is still alive. Yet the real fun of this story is the amusing attention an amorous Frosta gives to the completely oblivious He-man. It doesn't amuse Frosta, however, that the alien they must save is another female, and He-man seems to give her a lot of attention... Added Trivia Bytes: It is said by trivia buffs that He-man's expression changes a total of 61 times in one single shot this episode; the one when Frosta is trying to give him a kiss. Still; I suppose it is saying something about season two when I tell you that this is the only episode from that season to make it onto this "Best" collection. Techtite.com rating: Deep Impact.

Yet the real thrill here is yet another series coming to DVD after an over 2 decade absence on the store shelves. This isn't even getting into the cool bonus features that He-man DVD sets are now known for. The end result is a thrill to fans, but they may be a thrill to others as well. If you're sick of the too frequent "village idiot" cartoons these days, and want some gritty thought-provoking cartoons for your pre-teen child, I'd recommend giving She-Ra a fighting chance. Girls will love it! Boys will love the amusing He-man crossovers. Cartoon fans will simply love it, period.

---Techtite

DVD Extras: As with the He-man DVD collections of recent years, there's a documentary interviewing the cast and crew responsible for the series. In addition, select episodes offer audio commentary from Larry DiTillo, Alan Oppenheimer, Lou Scheimer, and Gwen Wetzler. 

Also like the other He-man DVD sets, two exclusive collectible art cards are included in the box, as drawn specially for this collection by two well known modern comic artists. One has She-Ra fighting Catra; the other has Frosta fighting Scorpia. The latter artist hid Loo-Kee in his photo for an added series homage. Yet my favorite of the two would have to be the one of She-Ra, since after all, this collection is all about her. 

People who saw that cool music video extra in the She-Ra/He-man Christmas Special DVD may have wondered if they should've kept that for the first She-Ra DVD, because it would be so perfect there. Rest assured; that music video featurette is not only present in its original form (as a featurette interview with the song's lyricist, plus the original music video), but has also been "upgraded" special for this DVD, with a storyboard comparison, an optional sing-a-long, an optional music edit, and even the same music video in Spanish(!). Cool.

Additional extras include scripts for all 5 episodes for any PC with DVD-ROM compatibility. Easter Eggs are also said to be present, but I couldn't find them in time for this DVD review. This isn't even getting into the cool attention to detail all He-man discs have been given lately, with each episode's "chapter" menu screen offering amusing trivia. In short, if you never felt She-Ra needed to be on your DVD shelf next to He-man, this DVD set will be the one to change your mind!

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