The reboot of She-Ra is now available to binge on Netflix, and you really wanna set aside some time for this one. Want to know a little more? Here are a few thoughts on the two-part opener…
She-Ra begins with with “The Sword: Part 1 and 2,” and for fans of the original cartoon, a lot of the basic beats are still there. Adora is an orphan (as far as we know) raised to be a member of the Horde. She’s promoted to Force Captain only to find the Sword of Protection in enemy territory and learn that she can transform into She-Ra, Princess of Power. She ends up joining the opposing side of the war she was once fighting, creating a rift with her old comrade Catra (promoted here to a true friend in Adora’s life as opposed to the aggressive antagonist of the original cartoon). The divide between Adora and Catra is clearly set as one of the main arcs of the series, and it’s incredibly compelling—more so when you consider how rare it is to have the larger emotional arc of a genre television show centered on a relationship between two women who aren’t related.
And it’s a best friend to best enemy relationship, which is just… I feel like I, personally, was handed a very specific gift? Just for me? If you’re a fan of Thor-Loki or Doctor-Master or Buffy-Faith type dynamics, this show is ready for you. It lives where you live. Except instead of coming in after the relationship is already broken up, which is more common, we get to watch it fall apart in real time.
The setup is simple enough, but the show’s rainbow visuals, delightful cast, and crackling sense of humor are anything but. It has a great deal in common spiritually with other animated luminaries of the past decade or so, from Avatar: The Last Airbender to Steven Universe, leaving a lot to love in its wake. Adora’s transformation sequence every time she takes up the sword is sure to please fans of Sailor Moon as well. (Can I please get dressed like that every morning? This appeases my need for drama greatly.) The planet of Etheria feels very much its own world, and the redesigns of familiar faces really make the whole look cohere beautifully. (Did I mention that Shadow Weaver is played by Lorraine Toussaint? And doesn’t look like an overgrown Jawa anymore? And that she’s played by Lorraine Toussaint???)
The title has been changed to Princesses of Power for a reason, though; this series intends to take the periphery characters of the original cartoon and turn them into their own superteam—Adora’s friend Glimmer is one of the princesses in question, and there’s mention of an old princess alliance that existed before the Horde gained more power. The show is moving toward uniting a crew of warriors who will each have their own people to think of, and their own abilities to bring to the table. There are characters without “powers” as well, exemplified by Bow, Glimmer’s BFF who is an expert archer and all-around lovable anchor. He serves as the group’s common sense sounding board, which is entirely subversive from where I’m sitting; the general rule of fiction allows boys to be reckless and make mistakes and try new things, while women are always called on to be staid and sensible and prevent everyone from getting into trouble. In this particular setup, we have a core trio that features two women who rush into danger and don’t enjoy stopping to mull over their options while their guy pal frets behind them, desperate to get them to slow down.
Of course, that’s the dynamic that we can see coming, unformed as it is—as far as the first episodes are concerned, it takes Glimmer a little while to get on board with the whole “befriending the enemy” deal. Alongside their developing relationship, the show seems poised to take a sharp look at isolationism, particularly in the way the various princess kingdoms have drawn apart since the end of their alliance. If the theme of She-Ra is that we must unite to defeat darkness, rely on each other’s strengths and bolster one another when we feel weakest, then it’s timely as ever. The trust that builds suddenly between Adora, Glimmer, and Bow drives the story forward, but it’s also a guiding principle that is promptly lauded as a strength that the trio share.
While it is unclear from these opening episodes as to whether or not the series will have queer characters, the show reads as utterly queer in just about every aspect. In fact, if you were to make the argument that there’s no such thing as heterosexuality on Etheria, it wouldn’t be a hard sell. (I am making that argument, in case that wasn’t clear.) Most of the characters so far read fluidly on the gender and sexuality spectrum. Even more excitingly, there’s an incredible range of animated body types and skin tones on display. This is a major swerve away from the original She-Ra, where the goal of selling toys meant that all the female characters had the same figure—making it easier to use the same toy mold and interchangeable accessories. This time, we get a cast that will give every little girl and boy and gender non-conforming kid someone to look up to, someone who they can align with for any number of reasons, be it hair color, awesome hobbies, or curvier hips.
This shouldn’t be a surprise coming from showrunner Noelle Stevenson, whose previous work on her comics Lumberjanes and Nimona always showcased a fantastic array of female characters. It means a lot to see Stevenson working to fill in such a sizable gap in animation and space fantasy epics; while we’ve had a few trailblazers showing the way, there still aren’t that many offerings that feature the sheer number female leads that She-Ra is setting itself up to showcase. And there’s hopefully more to come, too: while the creative team originally started with a plan for one season, they’ve now expanded to four (though the show has not yet been officially renewed). With any luck, we’ll have a lot more coming (and so many group cosplays to look forward to). Here’s to the Princess Alliance, and all the battles they’ve yet to win.
Also have you heard the theme song yet? You really should. You really, really—you know what, here you go:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTI-3naa8TM
Emmet Asher-Perrin will say that there is a character named Emily later on who is an accurate portrayal. You can bug him on Twitter and Tumblr, and read more of her work here and elsewhere.
I have been watching two episodes per night, with stars in my eyes (much like Adora when she saw her first horse)! My parents were fully on the Satan-is-tempting-your-child-through-toys bandwagon when the original She-Ra was popular, and so I was never allowed to watch the original cartoons, and the She-Ra toys I received from others were promptly thrown away or returned. I feel like I’ve gotten a little of my childhood back.
We’re going to start watching this over the weekend, so I’m excited to see this review. My girls devoured the original (as well as He-man), and are excited for this.
My only regret is that I’ve wanted a concerted, organized, cohesive, adult-friendly Masters of the Universe for a decade, with multiple shows and books, etc. This doesn’t seem like the start of that. So I’ll enjoy it for what it is and try to not be hampered by what its not likely to be.
I liked that they made Glimmer a heavy girl, it really gave us a proper diversity of body shapes. Not so hot on the way it made the Nerd-Princess both evil and nasally sounding, that is a stereotype that could have been dispensed with. I quite enjoyed it, otherwise. I certainly do not understand the complaints from certain quarters about the quality of animation (do they not realise that the original was made by Filmation with three generic poses and one clip of people walking?), it was better than many other current and recent cartoons in that at least its characters actually looked like people instead of marshmallows or noodles.
I’m sad that they didn’t license “Princess of Power” by Two Nice Girls for at least some part of the soundtrack.
I’m SO into this show. It’s well-written, with great characters and legitimately awesome fantasy drama. It’s better than a show based on an 80s toy-based cartoon has any right being.
I love how it’s just casually devoid of gendered stereotypes. Girls aren’t derided for being too feminine or not feminine enough, boys don’t worry about whether or not things are manly, it’s such a cool thing to see in children’s media.
@3. I’m not sure I’d describe Entrapta as “evil” –more like ignorant of the consequences of her actions in pursuit of Knowledge. Until recently, she probably never even had friends to be endangered. She actually reminds me a bit of Walter Bishop on Fringe.
I anticipate that season 2 will involve her coming face-to-face with the human cost of what she’s doing and being forced to make some hard choices.
She-ra was an reflection of mascular he-man , for feminist idea’s satisfaction in 80’s and it wasn’t bad at all for that times. actually it was a great cartoon for its era. As usual there is another remake dissappointment.
I LOVE THIS SHOW. I usually make my daughter wait until 5PM after school to watch tv. I put it on first thing when she got home. Even my husband loves it. This show is a hugs win in every category.
I’m loving this series. I watched some of Princess of Power a long time ago and didn’t connect with it much, but Princesses of Power is just about perfect. It’s the best kind of remake, full of love for the original, building on what worked and downplaying or discarding what didn’t.
Since Avatar, every similar show has the Designated Sokka, and Bow fits that role perfectly. Good at heart, competent at one thing but mostly clueless/dumb as a box of hair.
@10 That pre-dates Avatar, Bow in the original series could only dream of being as competent and useful as that box of hair. Good at arrows, warm hearted, but ultimately as much a hindrance as an asset.
My sons both love the show, we watched at least half of it this weekend.
Captain Seahawk is definitely queer. Like, almost offensively stereotypical 80s Village People queer.
@12 He may be camp, but he is pretty clearly Het though. He’s in love with the Sea Princess, Mermista. If anything, we could use more Camp Straights on tv.
I’m not getting any sense of peril from the Horde, aside from Shadow Weaver. The troops are as goofy as 1980s He-Man (Scorpina: “I warn you, I’m a hugger <smile>”) but more of them are humans. Sending the still-in-shirtsleeves cadets with newly-minted Force Captain Catra to retrieve Adora is one thing, but even the armored regular troops seem effective mainly because the native Etherian kingdoms are decidedly not.
I’ve only screened the first five eps, and thus far, there is nothing subtle about the personalities of the heroes (Glimmer, Bow, flower-child, Mermista) — character nuance has been limited to Adora, Catra, and Glimmer’s mother. Hordak’s pet devil-cherub isn’t exactly instilling a sense of menace.
The animation quality isn’t great — shapes don’t remain constant when characters rotate.
I’m not a fan of She-Ra’s boots — they seem oversized (is that a visual pun re: her discomfort?) — nor Catra’s eye coloration. In the photos in the Wikipedia article explaining “feline complete heterochromia” the iris is the entire visible part of the eyeball, but human eyelids are arranged differently to expose uncolored sclera.
Does Etheria not have pajamas? In the palace, both Glimmer and Adora sleep in their clothes and boots. This is taking the “everybody has just one wardrobe design” animation efficiency shortcut to a bothersome length.
I really like the new animation style and the diversity of characters (She-Ra’s shorts still bother me but more because they felt like censorship for the sake of censorship, and not a true costume re-design), but the writing has been really cringy. I couldn’t get into this new reboot. Both He-Man and She-Ra were pretty campy as hell, but a lot of this was a cringe-fest.
There are a lot of YouTube makers who hate the new show, this duo being one of them: Netflix’s She-Ra Is A Dumpster Fire
For my part, I just binged-watched the new show, and I think it’s better than the older one.
@philip, all that I’ll agree with is that the characters should be wearing PJ’s when sleeping (and I’ll further add that they should be barefoot when they are asleep, as well as be wearing different clothing in different situations, just like in real life and on the show that this is a stylistic sequel to, Avatar: The Last Airbender [I love that Adora was wearing a kind of swimsuit, as well as being barefoot-I want to see more.])
I loved the show, and all the characters (Glimmer, Bow, and Seahawk particularly), but I agree with Phillip that I’m not getting any sense of menace from the Horde. In fact, they all seem reasonable and friendly… even Hordak!
EDIT: Oh, and the THEME SONG! “WE’RE GONNA WIN IN THE END!”
I felt like the first episode did a decent enough job of setting up that “princess” is code for “walking WMD” in this context, so generic Horde troopers being outclassed by a whole group of princesses (and Bow) is to be expected. We haven’t really seen any real “troops” for the resistance aside from the Brightmoon castle guards and Perfuma’s subjects; the resistance seems to prefer to rely on quality compared to the Horde’s reliance on quantity (it’s X-wings versus TIE fighters all over again).
my sisters watch she-ra I sometimes tag into watching it awesome show