Customer Reviews

She-Ra - Princess of Power - Season One, Vol. 2

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This is yet another great set. The packaging again is spectacular and the content is also wonderful. You get part 2 of the She-Ra story, collectible postcards, and much more. It is great to see this fantastic show get the treatment it deserves.

BCI/Eclipse/ and Ink and Paint have made another great release in this second box set in the She-Ra Series! From the box art design down to the discs this is an excellent package. Great Bonus Features also! This set contains another 33 Episodes and we have only one more set to go to own all the She-Ra episodes! If you were ever a fan of this Series and already own Season one Volume one Then Grab this Set ASAP! Hope to see the Final set of She-Ra released Summer/Fall of 2007!

She-Ra returns to DVD in style with the second half of Season One. Here we see fan faves such as Huntara, Horde Prime Takes A Holiday, Anchors Aloft Parts 1 and 2, and Loo-Kee Lends A Hand. Plus many other episodes including yet more appearances by her twin brother He-Man as well as the episodes A Talent For Trouble and The Greatest Magic featuring Orko, and Of Shadows And Skulls which features Skeletor. Two more amazing art cards accompany the set as well as the second part of The Stories of She-Ra documentary. You cant go wrong if you buy this set. Continue the story of She-Ra and support Filmation's continuance of the He-Man and She-Ra properties. Let The Power Return For The Honor Of Greyskull, buy Season One Part Two.

Another job well done by BCI/Eclipse. The box artwork (inside & out) is awesome. The picture and sound quality are good and there are some great episodes in this set. The special features include a short documentary featuring the writers of the show sharing their thoughts on various episodes. There are character profiles and more DVD-ROM features. The two art cards are some of the better work, so far, in the series.
I just have to say, again, how glad I am that this series is finally out on DVD. I used to worry that I would never get another chance to see this great series again. I can't wait for the next and, unfortunately, final installment to be released.

In continuing with my reviews of the BCI Eclipse She-Ra DVD sets, today we will be taking a look at the second volume of the first season of Filmation's fantastic She Ra: Princess of Power.

To begin, this 6-disc collection contains the final 33 episodes of the debut (1985) season. The show is structured very similarly to its He-Man counterpart with a bit more emphasis on fantasy over science. While the cast of characters closely mimics a reverse-sexed He-Man lineup (female leads & male supporting cast this time), rather than hover cars and battle tanks, the She-Ra heroes ride horseback. Interestingly, the show's writers have admitted that there was a subtle environmentalist theme occurring within the show's message: In that the heroes (the Great Rebellion) were naturalists who lived off the land while the Horde used their technology to trash the beauty of Etheria. In fact the Fright Zone itself often appeared as an industrially inspired factory surrounded by thick smog.

Politics aside, the writing of the second half of the first season was quite consistent with the level of quality achieved in the first half; which is to say quite on par with some of the better moments of the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe run. In fact a majority of the writers for She-Ra came over directly from their He-Man assignments. Also like before, the color pallet and animation quality itself actually surpasses that of the He-Man series on account of the fact that She-Ra was granted a higher budget to work with (and as the creative staff admitted on the included documentary, by this point in time Filmation was operating as a well-oiled machine).

Once again we are given several He-Man/ She-Ra crossover episodes throughout the 6-disc set which while well done, in my opinion often slowed down She-Ra's solo momentum. However, some of the highlights of this volume include the introduction to the interesting alien "Rock People" and a really solid episode called Huntara in which She-Ra finally meets her potential physical match. My only compliant is that despite such a massive supporting cast to work with, the show's writers were still pretty stingy with who we meet in our travels. Characters like Frosta, Mermista, Perfuma, even Queen Angella, are used in extreme moderation. However, Adora's love interest (Sea Hawk) makes a return with a few surprises to boot and Glimmer's family tree expands in one of the episodes.

From the surprise file- The odd little character who "hides" in every episode, Loo-Kee, is actually the hero of a single episode in this set (Loo-Kee Lends a Hand) and in the episode Magicats, it is revealed that these characters were developed as a back-door pilot for a potential spin-off series that never actually developed. A shame too as they had potential.

Like always the case, BCI's packaging and presentation are the benchmark of the animation industry. The exterior packaging and inner-sleeve artwork is spectacular as are the disc labels themselves. Once again BCI takes the backseat to no one when it comes to special features. Included here are the following:
English & Spanish Audio Tracks for all 32 episodes. "The Stories of She-Ra, Princess of Power, Part II" - Interviews with Producers, Writers, Directors and Experts, specifically commenting on episodes 33-65 of Season 1. Audio Commentary for Episode 39 "Intro the Dark Dimension" with writer J. Michael Straczynski, and Episode 45 "Huntara", with executive producer Lou Scheimer and creator/writer Larry DiTillio, both moderated by Andy Mangels. Full Length Animated Storyboard-with interactive Episode Comparison for Episode 45 "Huntara" with optional Audio commentary. 50 Character Profiles, Fun Facts and Trivia, Image Galleries, DVD-ROM scripts for episodes:
episode 39
episode 45
episode 51
episode 53
episode 56
episode 59
episode 60
episode 63
And of course a pair of 2 collectible 4" x 6" exclusive She-Ra Season 1 Vol. 2 art cards by acclaimed comic book artists.

This excellent compilation contains the following 33 episodes which complete the first season of She Ra: Princess of Power.

A Talent for Trouble
Troll's Dream
Gateway to Trouble
The Unicorn King
The Anxious Apprentice
Zoo Story
Into the Dark Dimension
Treasure of the First Ones
Glimmer's Story
Enemy With My Face
Welcome Back, Kowl
The Rock People
Huntara
Micah of Bright Moon
The Price of Power
Birds of a Feather
For Want of a Horse
Just Like Me
My Friend, My Enemy
The Wizard
Unexpected Ally
The Light of the Crystal
Loo-Kee Lends a Hand
Of Shadows and Skulls
Jungle Fever
Black Snow
Anchors Aloft Part 1
Anchors Aloft Part 2
Darksmoke and Fire
Magicats
Flowers for Hordak
Wild Child
The Greatest Magic

The second part of the series introduces the newest characters of the great rebilleion and of the evil horde.

Fans of He-Man should consider adding the series 2 boxed sets as part o their collection. Many episodes features He-Man and his friends Orko and the Sorceress. Also included are two episodes with Skelletor, very very funny indeed ~

Great packaging, episdoe summaries and art cards of the characters.

I don't know why neither He-Man or She-Ra weren't released on DVD back when He-Man made a comeback in 2002. Hallmark must not have seen a market in these. But we have proven that there is by purchasing these sets. This very set continues the She-Ra story in a great way. Beginning and ending the set with Orko episodes, great way to do it, IMO, because Orko is one of my favorite characters. Thank you, BCI!

So, out of all the 80's cartoon DVD sets that I've procured in the past 7 or so years I keep getting amazed by the ones that stand out as my favorites as far as content and presentation. I grew up addicted to shows like He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, G.I. Joe, Transformers, the Silverhawks and Bravestarr for the most part; you know manly shows full of action and misfired lasers that never seemed to hit anything more important than rocks and the odd robot. There were a handful of shows that barely hit my radar like Robotech (too soap opera-y, you can see my thoughts on the show here), Jem (a guilty pleasure to be sure), and She-Ra Princess of Power, which just seemed like He-Man for girls.

When I sat down and started watching She-Ra recently, I was immediately struck by how wrong I was, and it's made for a lot of fun recent cartoon watching. If you haven't seen it, the show is a spin-off of He-Man that deals with the land of Etheria (which I think is actually a planet, though like Erternia in He-Man that's confounded me for years) and its inhabitants battling to get free of Hordak and his evil Horde (a mixture of He-Man-esque villains and stormtrooper-like robot things) who rule over the world. As you find out in the five-episode movie, the Secret of the Sword, which kicked off the first Vol. of DVDs (also available on the Best Of She-Ra set), one of Hordak's minions Adora (who was Captain of the Horde Troopers) is actually the long lost twin sister of Prince Adam, aka He-Man, who helps to free her of the magical hold that Hordak (via another minion Shadow Weaver) has on her. Adam brought a special sword (the Sword of Protection) for Adora, which like his Sword of Power has the ability with the power of Greyskull to transform her into the mighty She-Ra. Adora then bands together with a rag tag group of rebels to help build a rebellion against Hordak like so many Star Wars movie cliches.

This for me, is actually what sets She-Ra apart from He-Man and most of the cartoons of the 80's in that the heroes are coming from the losing side against an evil that has for all intents and purposes already succeeded in it's goal of world domination. Typically it's always the other way around in cartoons, so to have the balance of power shifted is pretty interesting. I also really dig the oppressing technology-minded world of the Horde, which is destroying all that's good and natural in Etheria. It ends up feeling very Matrix like in this respect. The landscapes and backgrounds are a hell of a lot more interesting with disturbing hidden words like 'obey' and 'evil' in the various bits of machinery and stuff. It makes for an over all darker show and the motivations of the characters end up being a little more relatable.

Of course being an 80's cartoon, the show does suffer from a ton of stereotypes. It's truly a mirror image of the He-Man cartoon with a cast of mostly female characters, Princess Glimmer, Queen Angella, Frosta and Madame Razz (who is the equivalent of Orko) and only one guy, Bow (the bizzaro version of Teela) as well as Spirit, Adora's horse who turns into Swift Wind the winged unicorn ala Cringer to Battle Cat when Adors becomes She-Ra. To sort of cement it as a "girl's show" there are some very Disney-esque talking animals/animated-inanimate objects with the addition of Kowl, a weird creature that's some sort of cross between an owl, a flying squirrel and a box of crayons as well as Broom, Madame Razz's sidekick that is what it's name suggests. The names of the places are all very "girly" as well, what with the Whispering Woods and the Crystal Castle (which has a gate keeper named Lighthope that's one of four people to know Adora's secret of being She-Ra (filled out by Kowl, Madame Razz & Broom.) Well I guess there are actually six people who know seeing as He-Man and the Sorceress also know. Damn it, there's also Sprit/Swift Wind, and I'm sure Cringer/Battle Cat, Man-At-Arms, and Orko all know seeing as Prince Adam confides in them as well. Fine, everybody probably knows. Secrets schmeecrets. Anyway, I think these 80's stereotypes actually help to accentuate the show from a nostalgia prospective.

The show has also been fun to watch for its variations on common 80's cartoon conventions, for instance the moral at the end of the show. In every episode of She-Ra there is a character named Loo-Kee (which I think is sort of named for Loki the Norse god of mischief) who is hiding somewhere in one of the backgrounds and at the end of the show he pops up to let you know where he was and to help you with the moral for the show. I thought was pretty ingenious as kids will be more likely to listen to what he's saying because they spent the last half hour subconsciously trying to find him. The Show is also a great example of how you don't need to stick to stereotypes to market a cartoon. Though it's obviously for girls, it's more or less a carbon copy of He-Man, which is stereotypically for boys and proves that both boys and girls can like the same things and don't have to be separated. It's surely a show that set up the groundwork for action shows like Justice League and Teen Titans that are marketed to both boys and girls.

I know I'm beginning to sound like a broken record with this, but once again this DVD set was released by BCI Eclipse, under their Ink & Paint division, which has done an amazing job with package and menu design, presentation of the content, not to mention a bunch of fun special features. There's a new installment of the behind the scenes documentary series by Andy Mangels, which ran through the entire He-Man series of DVDs and just as interesting and informative, as well as games, character profiles and some commentaries. All in all, with 33 episodes, the worthwhile extras, and the beautiful packaging, for around $30 you definitely get your money's worth with this set.

She-Ra I will truly never grow old of. It's a classic animation that has good morals twisted into the themes. I'm very glad I own the entire collection!

Once again, another great DVD box set! I think it's time She-Ra makes her grand debut in Hollywood soon. Wouldn't you love to see the Princess of Power and her friends on the big screen?

The shows are once again superb and full of action and adventure, but always insightful as they tell morals that both adults and children need reminders of in today's "anything goes" society.

However, here's some criticism about She-Ra's "Friends":

1.) You only see one episode that features a story regarding Frosta who has incredible powers. I didn't realize how magical and powerful she is and yet the writers didn't do her or the rebellions justice because she could have been such a great asset to the show.

2.) You will only see Mermista once and only briefly. She's another character who was not developed. The same applies to Perfumia as well.

3.) Don't expect to see Sweet Bee and Fluterina at all.

4.) Glimmer seems to have selective powers in this season. She could do all kinds of cool things in season 1, volume 1, but couldn't in this edition???

However, I love the shows anyways. They're a real treat for the entire family!