Customer Reviews

The Best of She-Ra - Princess of Power

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My life is complete.

I have spent MANY, MANY YEARS waiting for "She-Ra" to come out on DVD, and it's FINALLY happening! HOORAY!

The release of the "She-Ra" DVD sets will be similar to that of the "He-Man" DVDs. The first "She-Ra" DVD set will consist of the movie "The Secret of the Sword" (which features He-Man and explains how Adam has a twin sister, how Adora became She-Ra, etc.) as well as five of the most popular episodes from the series, which were voted on by fans at He-Man.org. The five episodes that will be featured on the "Best of She-Ra" DVD are "The Price of Freedom," "The Sword in the Stone," "Horde Prime Takes a Holiday," "Of Shadows and Skulls," and (my personal favorite) "Sweet Bee's Home."

The quality of the "He-Man" DVD sets is incredible, and the "She-Ra" DVDs are expected to be just as good, if not better. In addition to the fully restored episodes, the "Best of She-Ra" DVD set will include a documentary, feature-length audio commentary, a music video, storyboard spreads, DVD-ROM scripts, "She-Ra" trivia, hidden Easter eggs, and two collectible comic book art cards. How cool is that?!

Also, just like the "He-Man" DVDs, the complete "She-Ra: Princess of Power" series will be released on DVD in three separate volumes beginning this fall. Each DVD set will contain a variety of special bonus features.

Words cannot express how excited I am about this DVD set! I grew up obsessed with She-Ra, and I am STILL obsessed with She-Ra! When I was a young girl I owned all the She-Ra action figures, the Crystal Castle...even that awful Crystal Falls playset that had a pump shaped like a seashell and squirted water all over everything! I had She-Ra books, She-Ra clothes, a She-Ra birthday cake...EVERYTHING! For the past 20 years I've had to settle for watching my treasured yet crappy VHS copies of the series that I always feared would fall apart at any moment. Now I'm finally going to have the entire series on DVD to enjoy in all its glory for the rest of my life! I couldn't be happier!

July 18 is already marked on my calendar...I am probably going to take the day off work so I can sit at home and watch "She-Ra" all day! I'll be able to recite the words to every episode, too, since I watched them all about a thousand times! "I am Adora, He-man's twin sister and defender of the Crystal Castle." AHHHH! I get goosebumps just thinking about it!

SHE-RA FOREVER!!!

BCI The people responcible for He-Man's DVDS are releasing all 93 episodes of She-Ra in 3 volumes like the He-Man sets.

All 3 sets will contain special features by the makers of the show just like the He-Man ones. first one is due in full, next in about feb 07, last about june 07. The New Adventures of He-Man will be released in 2 volumes at the same time as the last 2 She-Ra volumes. the Final original He-Man volume will be released at the same time as the first She-Ra Volume.

This volume is a 2 disc set to the Best Of She-Ra featuring The Secret Of The Sword Movie Version and 5 Best Episodes on the second disc which are EPI 56. Of Shadows and Skulls/EPI 85. Sweet Bee's Home/EPI 18. Horde Prime Takes A Holiday/EPI 21. The Stone In The Sword/EPI 29. The Price Of Freedom

The Secret Of The Sword was also the first five episodes of She-Ra with a lot of extra scenes on it which will be the first 5 episodes on the first 1 out of 3 She-Ra volumes

She-Ra is one of the best 80's classics. plus it liturally follows on from He-Man as the Secret Of The Sword tells us and now all us fans can finally see what has not been on TV for the past 15 years.

When you are discussing cartoons from the 1980's that were geared primarily towards girls Jem & The Holograms and She-Ra are certain to come up in discussion. She-Ra was a spin off series from the popular syndicated cartoon series He Man and the Masters of the Universe. She-Ra premiered on television in 1985. The show was very popular with girls--and boys. She-Ra was a tough girl and she could hang with the bad guys. Although she was He-Man's twin sister, she lived in her own world and had her own set of characters. Whereas He Man's primary nemesis was Skeletor She-Ra had to fight Hordak and his realm. Similar to the He-Man character, She-Ra had an alter less dynamic side. When she wasn't She-Ra she was a more human woman named Adora.

The Best Of She-Ra-The Princess of Power are the first actual She-Ra episodes to arrive on DVD. Fans of the He-Man/She-Ra franchise will recall that BCI Eclipse released a He-Man "best of" last summer as a pre-curser to releasing season sets of the show. The Best of She-Ra Princess of Power includes the feature film "The Secret of The Sword." This film introduced the She-Ra character and her connected to Prince Adam/He-Man. This film is featured on disc one of the set.

Disc 2 includes five fan voted favorite episodes. The episodes included with the set are as follows:
Of Shadows and Skulls-Episode #56
Sweet Bee's Home-Episode #85
Horde Prime Takes a Holiday-Episode #18
The Stone In The Sword-Episode #21
The Price of Freedom-Episode #29

Of the favorite chosen episodes He-Man is featured in three of the episodes. This says that fans enjoyed when the two shows crossed paths. In addition to the episodes the second disc includes a documentary and other bonus features. The documentary features new interviews with people who were very important to the She-Ra show. Director Gwen Wetlzer, Producer Lou Sceimer, writer Franci Moss, key coordinator Dori Littel-Herrick and She-Ra voice actress Erica Scheimer are among the show crew members who appear in the documentary. Also included in the bonus features are a music video featurette, audio commentary, trivia, fun facts, scripts, and a Spanish language audio track. The set also includes two collectible cards. It's really great to finally have She-Ra on DVD after all of these years and BCI/Ink Paint did a great job with the box set.

It's been a long slow process. Online petitions, the revamp version Cartoon Network attempted(admirably) and constant devotion by fans. But now the saga is ours for the taking as He-Man and his twin sister She-Ra: Princess of Power arrives on DVD. Returning to the small screens, largely thanks to website stir by He-Man.org, BCI Eclipse rereleased a Best Of DVD for the one that started it all, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, as well as two subsequent volumes containing the entire first season of the hit animated series. Then the transition cemented his twin sister as He-Man and She-Ra's Christmas Special recieved the BCI treatment, hinting at the rerelease of the best possible crossover for a spinoff, She-Ra's first five episodes.

That's right. The Secret of The Sword, the compilation into an hour and a half long feature film is being released on DVD alongside the five best episodes of She-Ra: Princess of Power. You cant possibly ask for anything better than that for devotees of Lou and Erika Scheimer, as well as the entire Filmation family. Also, a plus of The Secret of the Sword, is the linking of the voice actors names to their characters on the show. Certainly giving John Erwin and Melendy Britt, but especially Alan Oppenheimer the recognition of their hard work.

Take control of the Power and the Honor of Greyskull and buy this DVD set. Prove that BCI Eclipse as well as fans around the world have done the right thing in bringing back these shows. And remember a time where the animation and stories were worth something. Let He-Man and She-Ra stand up to Spongebob and Jimmy Neutron.

Let The Power Return

The `girl' spin off of He-man was always so much more than a thinly disguised vehicle to sell toys to myself and other impressionable young girls. Debuting in the full length 1984 animated movie, He-Man and She-Ra: The Secret of the Sword, the She-Ra series also dared to pose tough questions about ethics and politics--to its predominantly child audience.

Adora is Prince Adam's twin sister however, she was kidnapped at birth and taken to the planet Etheria by a very evil warlord known as Hordak--a partner of Skeletor's, who works for the Horde Prime.

Adora then actually worked for Hordak for a while, conveniently unaware of her true identity and ensuring obligations. However, timely intervention by her brother subsequently sets Adora on the right path---and her horse Spirit can then transform into the Unicorn Swift-Wind.

It's therefore fitting to note that her brother (and his own superhero alter-ego) makes `special guest appearances' throughout several of the episodes which were selected for inclusion on this DVD release. I do want to emphasize though how and why She-Ra is special in its own right, and not just a `girl copy' of an earlier series.

Unlike Adam, Adora is confident, and athletic, this girl readily takes care of herself even when not a `superhero'--and Spirit is also very confident.

It's a good thing too, because "The stone in the sword" shows Adora's adventures to get her sword repaired when the jewel ultimately responsible for transforming her into She-Ra becomes cracked. Apparently this subsequent repair job does such a good job because another need for a jewel replacement never comes up again---which you think it possibly could considering all of the `battles' which this character actually has.

I think this series readily transcends `children's fare' because it repeatedly touches on themes of seeking redemption for one's past crimes committed against humanity. Whomever she is, Adora knows what she was personally responsible for in the past, and essentially is now trying to make amends--by working with `the rebellion' a grassroots movement of people who are trying to end the reign of terror which is being inflicted upon them by an oppressive regime. This plot device would somewhat foreshadow Xena, another `warrior princess'.

Another ethical issue arose in "The price of freedom". After believing she had saved people from being burnt up in their villages, She-Ra realizes another danger is present. The survivors are now trapped in a mine which could collapse at any second. This episode importantly acknowledges `superheroes' as imperfect beings--Adora is learning that despite her best efforts to do good in the world as She-Ra, she is going to make honest mistakes which inadvertently place innocent people in dangerous situations.

I shudder to think how this still-holds-up series would have been violated (ala He-Man) if a live action movie actually had been made. I'm thinking that the memories of one of my favorite childhood heroines would have been trashed. It ultimately was for the best that we just have the cartoon then.

Women and their powers figure prominently throughout the cartoon, but Bow, the local magic archer is around to provide good advice. Completely egalitarian, he does not assume these women around him are `defenseless', `helpless' or `weak' overthrowing Hordak and his thugs requires everybody's active involvement.

Other pivotal characters include Queen Angela and her daughter princess Glimmer. Again breaking archetypes, this royalty repeatedly demonstrate themselves just as cable of pitching in against the Horde--they are after all deposed monarchs! However, it's important to clarify they had been taken out of power because of the Horde Prime's actions and not because they were personally mean people to their subjects.

The critical dichotomy of good and bad rulers is further reinforced with the characters of Castaspella, Mermista, and Frosta. These rulers actually are in power of their respective domains--but recognize the inherent danger the Horde Prime poses to freedom, justice and fairness for all. They also have really cool super powers of their own--Having grown up in Colorado, I thought Frosta's powers over cold were the most interesting, but that Castaspella had the better outfit--also because I am a brunette. Mermista was okay, but her ability to grow/ungrow legs for land travel just did not do anything for me.

She-ra's main villain in this series actually is not her `old boss' but Catra--the self-described jealous beauty who actually has an ability to transform herself into a cat-and who also works for the Horde. If She-ra/Adora represents the `good' side of powerful women, Catra represents the corrupted and shallow. Catra certainly is capable of holding her own in a fight, but a preoccupation with looks and vanity clarifies her as `evil'. Good women do not only think of themselves.

Magic obviously features more prominently throughout She-Ra's world. It is clarified though that because she is bad, Shadow Weaver's power only comes through Hordak--and the Horde Prime's approval of using her powers for whatever they say (such as making people deceptively `pass' for others so they provide false and even dangerously misleading information in "Sweet Bee's Home"). Unlike Madame Razz (who works with the Rebellion--and is one of the keepers of Adora's secret identity), Shadow Weaver's `independent woman' personality actually is a façade and she can be punished for failure to effectively carry out orders as expected. Furthermore, unlike the women of the Rebellion--who can turn to their colleagues without an ever-lurking fear of betrayal--Shadow Weaver has no true friends.

"Of Shadows and Skulls" is the episode which stands out the most because of how it's `workplace ethics' issues continue being applicable to me and other adults who grew up watching this series. Shadow Weaver enters into a temporary alliance with Skeletor to overthrow Hordak--but then gets trapped by Skeletor himself--who obviously did not want to share power with her even if they had been able to pull off that scenario as was planned.

However, writers aiming for consistency would have then had Shadow Weaver recognize that the Horde Prime is an employer not worth sticking around with---and also had her join the same Rebellion which she formerly had been working to quell. After experiencing such an intra-organization betrayal, this `powerful' sorceress instead stayed on, and the conflict apparently was swept under the rug.

Another power struggle occurs between Skeletor and Hordak in "Horde Prime Takes a Holiday" Hordak is temporarily left in charge of a ship called `The Velvet Glove', making Skeletor jealous largely because he just sees another opportunity for increased power and control over others. Although it involves another cross-over, this episode is comparatively very weak because if Skeletor has become so preoccupied with securing resources on Etheria, how will he successfully then conquer Eternia?---still a `free' planet. Plus, you would figure that Skeletor already has an arsenal of his own and one more battle vehicle really won't make a difference.

Extras include a documentary, feature-length audio commentary, a music video, storyboard spreads, DVD-ROM scripts, "She-Ra" trivia, hidden Easter eggs, and two collectible comic book art cards.

I know this will come off as nitpicking to some people considering that any DVD material of She-Ra is at long last finally released, but we need whole entire seasons available. I understand that somebody probably did put time and care into selecting the released episodes, but it had a 1985-1986 season 93 episode run and the package comes bundled with the aforementioned extras.

The Best of She-Ra release was almost flawless with the only problem being that they didn't choose to include the 5-Part Extended Version of Secret of the Sword which apparently is what all the fans really wanted to see. However, since the boxed sets are on their way and those will be the first 5 epsiodes that are included the lapse is entirely forgivable and I suppose if they had to shove Secret of the Sword Lite somewhere the best-of disc compendium is probably a good place for it since people would be unlikely to buy a stand-alone version and there might not be sufficient space on the upcoming box set release. However, everything else is perfect. They've included all three versions of the "I Have The Power" music video (Sing-A-Long, Extended, and Spanish), two trailers for Secret of the Sword's theatrical release, and some very nice interviews with the Scheimers (Lou & Erika) and many others involved in the project including Babylon 5's J. Michael Straczynski who (in a refreshing change from the Hollywood norm) isn't now too important to give an interview for work done in the past. I daresay this approach to releasing series is one of the best I've seen and should become an industry standard.

Ever since I was a little girl I loved watching She-Ra and I loved the toys. I always remember the first time I got a She-Ra doll for Christmas. We went to a toy store and my mom told me to choose a Barbie doll for Christmas (I guess I already figured out Santa didn't exist), but instead I remember I walked to another aisle and told her I wanted this other doll. It turned out to be She-Ra. Since it was about half the price of a Barbie doll she told me to get two of them; so I got She-Ra and Catra. On the 24th we were told that we can only open one present and guess which one I chose?!
The cartoon was so fun to watch. I would hurry from school to watch at least 15 minutes left of the cartoon. When the Secret of the Sword was aired (during school hours), I was sick so I couldn't go to school for two days; obviously I didn't want to miss any episodes so I kept pretending to be "sick".
Me and my sister loved the show! I loved the powers that the characters possessed and I loved to see She-Ra flying on Swift Wind all the way up in the sky. I always used to pretend I was She-Ra at home raising a sword and fighting the bad guys.
This is a DVD that I would not miss for the world and I will also purchase all the seasons once they are released. I also have DVD's of He-man.
I really recommend these two awesome 80 cartoons if in some way you want to relive your childhood. Plus they also have some very good moral values to give. Totally cool cartoons! Thanks BCI!!

I grew up watching She-Ra and He-Man and was completely delighted to see her release on DVD. This is a nice collection of episodes as well as the Secret of the Sword movie. My niece (6 years old) watched it at my house and is completely hooked! Its great to have She-Ra back for a new generation of young girls who need to see a strong women role model kick some HOARD BUTT. If you are fan of action hero's you will LOVE IT.

First of all this show is a classic sequel to "He-Man and The Masters of the Universe" and was sort of aimed at young ladies but boys watched it not only for appearences by He-Man and friends especially Skeletor or the cool bad guys like Hordak which appeared in the "Masters of the Universe" comics and action figures but the hot animated and well drawn chicks such as my first crush Adora, Frosta, Catra, Glimmer and such. This has the 1985 full length theatrical animated feature "He-Man and She-Ra in Secret of the Sword" which tells the story of the Sorceress whom senses that the long lost Eterian princess Adora is destined to have the power of greyskull just like He-Man, she assigns Prince Adam ( a.k.a. He-Man) and Cringer to Etheria which is in another dimension to find Adora who has a special destiny to become She-Ra yet she doesn't know it, the planet has been taken over by Skeletor's former teacher Hordak and his Horde minions like the goofy-voiced Mantena, the sexy Catra, the mystical Shadow Weaver, the brainless Grizzlor, the tough gal Scorpia, the energy sucking Leech and the silly little flying devil Imp. He plans on enslaving the entire population as there's a band of rebels lead by the courageous Bow and is assisted by the weird flying animal Kowl and the pink haired beauty Glimmer help He-Man/Adam to battle against Hordak as well as Skeletor.

The movie is a fantastic introduction and semi-pilot to "She-Ra: Princess of Power" with cool new characters, good animation and nice design especially plenty of action. The second disc has the five best episodes as chosen by fans which are "Of Shadows and Skulls" has Shadow Weaver so jealous of Hordak that she summons up Skeletor from Eternia to capture Hordak, "Sweet Bee's Home" has He-Man visiting She-Ra on her planet as he falls in love with an alien bee-like woman named Sweet Bee but the beautiful ice warrior Frosta gets jealous of him even though she has a big crush on him and Hordak plans on using Sweet-Bee's people as slaves, next "Horde Prime Takes a Holiday" has the dark overlord Horde Prime taking a vacation and having Hordak to be responsible to take care of his spaceship while he's away, until Skeletor shows up as he wants to take over the ship for his purposes as only She-Ra and He-Man must stop them. "The Stone in The Sword" has Adora who can't change into She-Ra because the stone in her sword has been cracked and must go through special tasks in order to have the power restored and finally "The Price of Freedom" has He-Man comes to Eternia after the Sorceress has recieved a distress signal and there's villagers who have been saved from their burning homes and are trapped in a old mine that might crumble any time as only He-Man and She-Ra can save them.

This 2-Disc DVD set has quality picture and sound with cool extras like trailers, music videos, easter eggs, Scripts, and a featurette. If you liked 80's animated fantasy and He-Man, i recommend this! don't be shy guys, there's plenty of hot cartoon chicks here especially Adora, Frosta and Catra being the hottest babes on the show.

A great find for any MOTU He-man/She-ra fan or collector. The dvd edition of the "Secret of the Sword" and top 5 episodes is absolutely devine. The picture and sound is clear and in all dvd splendor wonderful! (for those of us who have been watching old VHS taped off of the television or poorly burned dvds from these VHS tapes- your going to LOVE this dvd).

The 5 episodes included characters such as Glimmer, Bow, Mermista, Frosta, Sweet Bea, Hordac, Cat-ra, Skeletor & Shadow weaver(from He-man series)and some other vilians-Angellica is in the movie (disc 1) as well as He-man and She-ra's family and roots back in Etheria (He-man's home planet). 3 of the 5 episodes include He-man and She-ra working together- which is great- and shows that fans loved the brother and sister duo working together to fight the evils of Etheria.

On the second disc there is also a commentary (approx 20-30 mins) by the creaters and writers of He-man and She-ra. It's great to hear them talk about the characters and the development of the show.

Any 80s child or fan of the 1980s cartoons will love this edition and should make it a part of their collection. It's well worth the price and great to own. Don't wait for the whole season to come out- the bonus features are worth investing in this dvd.