Saturday, May 22, 2010

80s Flashback-She-Ra

I grew up in a rural area, without much television. Then, we moved to a less rural, but still rural area that had cable. It was a joyous time in a tweens life, because there were all sorts of new shows. Cartoons weren't limited to Saturday morning anymore, you could also watch them after school.

There were a lot of my favorites, but I remember She-Ra. She was the Princess of Power and she was invincible. Even at the time, I thought they actually made her too tough (and He-Man as well). The people she fought alongside (The Great Rebellion) didn't seem to do much, so they looked weak in comparison. In fact, the bad guys (Hordak and the Evil Horde) were also very weak. She always defeated them, easily. She would jump out of the way and two bad guys would crash into each other. If you have the Three Stooges on you payroll, odds are you won't last long being a bad guy. The Evil Horde still ruled over Etheria though, even though She-Ra could have driven them out rather easily.

The animation also left a lot to be desired. They re-used frames, pictures, and poses. In fact, I can still remember the one they used every episode that was half of She-Ra's head, a close-up of her talking while she dispensed some moral lesson. I'm not sure how she got to be so moral, since she was kidnapped and raised by Hordak, but as a kid I didn't question that plot hole.

She-Ra still has a place in my heart. There weren't a lot of strong females that were leads in the 1980s, so I did appreciate her. I'm also a sucker for sword fighters, it still lasts to this day. I'm just glad that children's cartoons have gotten better. The bad guys are much better and tougher, as are the "fight scenes." The better the bad guy, the better your hero or heroine looks.

4 comments:

Tawny said...

Oh man! I totally loved She-Ra too! It was an easy way to to get my brother and me to get along. He would play HeMan with me as long as I had SheRa. She was almost my favourite, but Gem and the Holograms still took first prize in my book :)

Jodi Ulschmid said...

I remember She-Ra! I didn't get that channel but my cousin did and he had all the figurines. Loved going over their to play with them! There was no fighting over who gets who either. :)

Modred Vintage said...

Thanks for the comments. Just wanted to add I loved Jem too, esp. Pizzazz and the Misfits. I'm sure I'll do a blog post about them in the future.

Knotted Nest said...

There was a girl in my highschool whose middle name was She-Ra! I remember being soooo jealous :)