She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

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This article is about the 2018 Netflix series. For the 1985 television series, see She-Ra: Princess of Power.
She-Ra and the
Princesses of Power
File:She-Ra and The Princesses of Power Logo.png
Genre <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Based on
Developed by Noelle Stevenson
Voices of <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Opening theme "Warriors" by Aaliyah Rose
Ending theme "I Have The Power"
Composer(s) Sunna Wehrmeijer
Country of origin United States
Original language(s) English
No. of seasons 5
No. of episodes 52 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s) <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Running time 24 minutes
Production company(s) <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Distributor <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Release
Original network Netflix
Original release November 13, 2018 (2018-11-13) –
May 15, 2020 (2020-05-15)
Chronology
Related shows
External links
Website

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power is an American animated streaming television series developed by Noelle Stevenson and produced by DreamWorks Animation Television. Like the 1985 Filmation series She-Ra: Princess of Power, of which it is a reboot, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power tells the tale of Adora, a teenager who can transform into the heroine She-Ra and leads a group of other magical princesses in a rebellion against the evil Lord Hordak and his Horde.

The series premiered as a Netflix original program on November 13, 2018. Its fifth and final season was released on May 15, 2020.[1]

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power received critical acclaim, with particular praise for its diverse cast and the complex relationship between She-Ra and her best friend-turned-archenemy Catra. In 2019, the show was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Kids & Family Programming,[2] as well as a Daytime Emmy Award at the 46th Daytime Emmy Awards.

Synopsis

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See also: List of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power episodes

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power is set on the planet Etheria and follows the stories of Adora and Catra, orphans who were raised to be soldiers in the Horde. They are part of an evil army led by Hordak, a tyrannical despot who dreams of conquering the planet. One day, after getting lost in the woods, Adora finds a magic sword that transforms her into the legendary Princess of Power, She-Ra. Realizing the Horde is actually evil and has been inflicting suffering on Etheria and its inhabitants, Adora decides to join the Rebellion in the fight against the Horde. She helps rebuild the Princess Alliance, a league of kingdoms ruled by other magical girls that once all opposed Hordak. However, Adora's newfound allegiance to the Rebellion pits her against Catra, her former best friend, whose feelings of betrayal and abandonment twist her personal ambitions and lead her to become Adora's mortal enemy. Much of the show centers around their conflict. [3]

In the first season, Adora helps reassemble the Princess Alliance, which successfully defends the rebel stronghold of Bright Moon against the Horde's assault. Meanwhile, Catra rises in the ranks to become Hordak's second-in-command. In the second and third seasons, Hordak attempts to build an interdimensional portal which will allow him to contact his creator, the warlord Horde Prime. Catra activates the portal even though it threatens to tear the planet apart, and rebellion leader Queen Angella sacrifices herself to stop it. In the fourth season, friction arises between Adora and her friend Glimmer (Angella's daughter and the new queen of Bright Moon) when Adora learns that her sword is the key to an ancient superweapon inside Etheria. When Glimmer attempts to use the superweapon to win the war, Etheria is pulled through a portal, becoming vulnerable to attack by Horde Prime's armada. In order to prevent the weapon from activating, Adora destroys her sword, losing access to her She-Ra powers; in the confusion, Glimmer and Catra are captured by Horde Prime.

The final season follows Adora's journey to liberate Etheria from Horde Prime's reign. Adora rescues Catra and Glimmer from Horde Prime's ship, rediscovering her She-Ra powers in the process, but in the meantime Horde Prime has subdued much of Etheria with his mind-control capabilities. The princesses and Catra work together to disable Horde Prime's hivemind and stop him from accessing Etheria's ancient superweapon. In the end, it is Adora and Catra's love for each other that enables She-Ra to destroy the weapon and save the universe from Horde Prime's tyrannical reign.

Cast and characters

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See also: List of She-Ra: Princess of Power and She-Ra and the Princesses of Power characters

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Production

Development

Development and production of the series began concurrently in April 2016. Showrunner Noelle Stevenson initially pitched it to Netflix on the assumption of creating only one season, but in November 2018, she explained that "we now have four arcs of 13 episodes done".[6] She-Ra is created using traditional animation, with the exception of some computer animation for "complicated machinery".[7][8] The animation is provided by South Korean studio NE4U.

Themes

The first season of the serialized She-Ra reboot focuses on establishing the characters and their relationships in order to set up future seasons, initially by way of introducing "princesses of the week" to the core cast of Adora and her close friends, Glimmer and Bow.[9] While the core premise and characters of the original series were carried over, as well as many of its affectations (such as Adora's transformation catchphrase "For the honor of Grayskull!"),[10] the reboot sets itself apart from the 1980s series by its almost entirely female cast. The characters were made to be deliberately diverse,[9] both in regard to appearance as well as character traits. For instance, some characters range from good to "evil but understandable", "utterly amoral" or "full-blown hippie".[11] He-Man, who in the original version was She-Ra's brother who "awakens her destiny", does not appear in the reboot, in order to set up She-Ra as a hero in her own right.[12]

According to Stevenson, the show's thematic core is the relationships among its characters, which range from "wide-eyed love" to "heart-rending jealousy, crushes and infatuations".[13] Reviewers particularly highlighted the convincing portrayal of the anti-hero Catra and her complicated "frenemy" relationship with Adora,[11][9] which The Verge described as "the best animated antihero story since Avatar: The Last Airbender's Zuko".[14] In addition, the series addresses such themes as abusive relationships and overcoming trauma,[15] prejudice, isolationism (as exemplified, initially, by the princesses), colonization, imperialism, and genocide (a result of Hordak's planetary-scale warfare).[13] There is a strong focus on the struggle to break free of sociopolitical indoctrination, explored mainly through the stories of Adora, Hordak, and Light Hope. The series also emphasizes the necessity of taking action no matter one's own power or circumstances; it portrays magic as fallible and dependent on its wielder's skill and determination--Adora's powers in particular are directly tied to her love for her friends[16]. Despite this, Adora's main internal conflict stems from being told she must suppress her personal desires in order to be the hero Etheria needs. Finally, Horde Prime's regime in Season 5 contains elements reminiscent of fundamentalist Christianity, which Stevenson has noted are not meant to be criticisms of religion itself but rather the kind of leadership seen in extremist, cult-like organizations.[17].

LGBT representation

The creators indicated prior to release that the series would provide LGBT representation.[18] Tor.com commented that the series "reads as utterly queer in just about every aspect", with many characters coded as fluid in terms of gender or sexuality, and none as clearly heterosexual.[19] Stevenson said that when a network executive asked what the rainbow in the climax of the first season's finale meant, she replied: "The gay agenda".[20]

The relationship between Adora and Catra has undercurrents of romantic tension from the beginning of the series,[11][21][22] and concludes with a mutual confession of love and an on-screen kiss in the final episode. The scene has been regarded as a revolutionary moment in the history of children's media and LGBT representation.[23][24][25]

The series features same-sex attraction and romance among secondary and side characters as well. The romantic relationship between two female side characters, Spinnerella and Netossa, appears beginning in the first season,[26][27][28] and receives more attention in a plot arc in the fifth season when Netossa must rescue her wife from the villain's mind control.[25] The second season introduces a gay couple, Bow's fathers Lance and George. Additionally, it is strongly implied that Scorpia, Catra's right-hand through most of the series, has feelings for Catra and at one point asks her out on a date.[citation needed]

In addition to queer romantic relationships, the series also features diverse gender identities. The fourth season introduced Double Trouble, a non-binary character who uses the singular they pronoun and is voiced by the non-binary actor and writer Jacob Tobia.[29][30] The character designer Rae Geiger said that the character Jewelstar, featured in the fifth season and voiced by the transgender actor Alex Blue Davis, is a transgender man. Geiger also said that they intended for Adora's ally Perfuma to be read as a transgender woman, though this is not acknowledged in the show.[31]

Staff and cast

File:Noelle Stevenson, Aimee Carrero & AJ Michalka (32596048737).jpg
Noelle Stevenson, the creator of the rebooted She-Ra, with Aimee Carrero, voice of She-Ra, and AJ Michalka, voice of Catra.

The series' showrunner and creator is Noelle Stevenson, a cartoonist who became known for her Eisner Award-winning comics Nimona and Lumberjanes. The principal voice cast includes Aimee Carrero as She-Ra, AJ Michalka as Catra, Karen Fukuhara as Glimmer, and Marcus Scribner as Bow.[32] Mary Elizabeth McGlynn is the voice director.[33] The series has an all-female writers' room, and only one man in the regular voice cast.[13] Around 45 people work on She-Ra in the DreamWorks offices in Glendale.[7]

Design

File:She-Ra comparison.png
She-Ra in the 1985 series (left) and her 2018 redesign (right) that triggered debate on social media.

Visually, the rebooted She-Ra series takes inspiration from anime and the works of Hayao Miyazaki and Moebius. Whereas the original series' heroines were all of exactly the same size and shape to facilitate animation and toy production, and were all white (with the late exception of Netossa), the new series' characters are intentionally diverse in shape and ethnicity.[13]

Character design

After first images of She-Ra's design were released in July 2018, controversy ensued on social media. Some Internet users contended that she was not as "beautiful and sexy",[34] voluptuous or glamorous as in the original series,[35] or that she looked like a boy.[36] Other users responded that the new series tried to avoid sexualizing a children's show,[37] and conveyed body positivity.[34]

J. Michael Straczynski, the co-creator of the original series, commented that his She-Ra was written as "a warrior, first and foremost", and that "anyone who is looking back at [her] as the 'ideal woman' is doing so through the lens of prepubescent ... interest and kind of, understandably, imprinted on her like baby ducks. I get it. But that wasn't the creative intent."[38] Fan artists, mostly young women inspired by the new design's detractors to improve the new character's profile and her reputation, responded to She-Ra's redesign and the controversy over it with a wave of artworks celebrating the heroine's new look.[35]

Music

The series' title song is "Warriors" by Aaliyah Rose.[39] The Washington Post highlighted it as one of the "theme song/opening credits so good it must not be skipped, right up there with Daredevil, The Crown and Narcos".[10]

The soundtrack was composed by Sunna Wehrmeijer. She aimed at creating a "contemporary '80s synth-sound combined with orchestral adventure", based on the creators' desire to feature "big and epic" but also "sparkly" music. It was released to the public April 29th 2019 and included a cover of the theme song by AJ Michalka. [40]

Broadcast and promotion

Episodes

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Main article: List of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power episodes
Season Episodes Originally released
1 13 November 13, 2018 (2018-11-13)
2 7 April 26, 2019 (2019-04-26)
3 6 August 2, 2019 (2019-08-02)
4 13 November 5, 2019 (2019-11-05)
5 13 May 15, 2020 (2020-05-15)

Promotion

A first teaser trailer released in September 2018 showcased Adora's transformation into She-Ra.[41] Longer trailers were released in October[42] and November 2018.[43] On January 24, 2019, the network announced the series' renewal for a second season, which debuted on April 26 of that year.[44]

As a novelty for a television series, the series' website is available in a virtual reality format, and is set up to present the user with a virtual crystal palace.[45]

Reception

Critical response

While Metacritic has not assigned the series a weighted average score, it has given all six reviews by mainstream critics a score of an 80 or above out of 100.[46]

The first season received critical acclaim, with the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reporting a 100% approval rating based on 24 reviews, with an average rating of 7.66/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "By the grace of Greyskull, [the first season of] She-Ra and the Princesses of Power packs a powerful visual punch that hits even harder thanks to layered writing and multidimensional characters – the perfect show for seasoned fans and little ones alike."[47]

Entertainment Weekly's Darren Franich described the series as "a funny-wonderful pop fantasy animated like disco fireworks, fun for kids of all genders and any parents looking for something happy to cry about". Franich appreciated the self-aware humor and "hiply transgressive newness". Franich also noted some repetition, occasionally flat animation and the final showdown's predictable outcome. He found some of the tension in contemporary American politics reflected in the series' portrayal of the rebuilding of a "coalition of powerful liberal-minded thinkers left in disarray after a brutal defeat years ago by a monstrously all-consuming bad dude".[11] Collider called the series "visually exciting, emotionally charged, and unexpectedly hilarious", and "one of the best new shows of the year".[48] David Griffin at IGN praised the series for successfully rebooting the franchise but concluded that "Adora could have used more time with the Horde to help develop her character".[49]

Hypable praised the series' diversity and the multifaceted relationships among some of its core characters, but found much of the first season's plot "simplistic", and the rotating cast of princesses given short shrift.[9] The Washington Post highlighted the "top-notch" voice cast and particularly the work of Lorraine Toussaint as the sorceress Shadow Weaver.[10] The Verge commented that the series' biggest problem was that it was "retreading territory that Steven Universe and the two Avatar animated series did better", with several characters and plot points heavily reminiscent of elements from these earlier animated series, and also criticized the early episodes' shallow plot.[14]

The second season has an 85% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 13 reviews, with an average rating of 7.84/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "She-Ra and the Princesses of Power continues to go from strength to strength with ebullient flair in a second season that will enrapture younger fans while reminding adult viewers about the virtues of friendship and kindness."[50]

The third season has a 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 9 reviews, with an average rating of 8/10.[51]

The fourth season has a 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 11 reviews, with an average rating of 8.58/10.[52]

The fifth and final season has a 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 13 reviews, with an average rating of 9/10.[53]

Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Nominee(s) Result Ref.
2019
 Daytime Emmy Awards Outstanding Casting for an Animated Series or Special She-Ra and the Princesses of Power Nominated [54]
GLAAD Media Awards Outstanding Kids & Family Program She-Ra and the Princesses of Power Nominated [55]
Golden Trailer Awards Best Animation/Family TV Spot She-Ra and the Princesses of Power Nominated [56]
2020
 Annie Awards Best Music – TV/Media Sunna Wehrmeijer for "Beast Island" Nominated
Critics' Choice Television Awards Best Animated Series She-Ra and the Princesses of Power Nominated [57]
Casting Society of America Television – Animation Ania O’Hare Nominated [58]
GLAAD Media Awards Outstanding Kids & Family Programming She-Ra and the Princesses of Power Nominated [59]
Daytime Emmy Awards Outstanding Daytime Promotional Announcement - Network or Program She-Ra and the Princesses of Power Won [60]

Livestream comments controversy

On August 26, 2020, an interview[61] with Noelle Stevenson and other members of the series' crew sparked controversy on social media.[62][63] In the interview, Stevenson described an inside joke she shared with storyboarder Sam Szymanski, according to which Bow's brothers had names that rhymed with his, including one named "Sow" who was said to "till the fields".[64][65] Some saw this as an unintentionally racist "joke" connotative of slavery and in bad taste.[66][62] Stevenson apologized for the comments and wrote that she'd rededicate herself to examining her "language and behavior" so she wouldn't make the same mistake again.[67][68]

References

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  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Radulovic, Petrana. “She-Ra's Final Villain Was Modeled after Real Cult Leaders.” Polygon, 20 May 2020, www.polygon.com/2020/5/20/21265608/she-ra-and-the-princesses-of-power-villain-horde-prime-creation-noelle-stevenson.
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  31. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  32. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  34. ↑ 34.0 34.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  35. ↑ 35.0 35.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  36. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  37. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  38. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Emphasis in original.
  39. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  40. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  41. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  44. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  45. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  46. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  47. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  48. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  49. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  50. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  51. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  52. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  54. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  60. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  61. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  62. ↑ 62.0 62.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  63. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  64. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  65. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  66. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  68. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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