He-Man and She-Ra: A Christmas Special

Saw this with my kiddos after we had watched the Netflix remake, so the most enjoyable part was trying to identify the old characters with them. The plot is truly incomprehensible, and, despite the length (almost 45 minutes!) it questions the notion of a Christmas special. Despite the length (almost 45 minutes!), the only holiday elements are a trip to earth, which is covered in snow, and a he-man Santa Claus. It's mostly just an excuse for a rare He-Man/She-Ra crossover. Because of course we need more of those! By far the coolest thing about the story is how Skeletor gets the holiday spirit, saving two kids and their dog from the grinch-like Horde Prime.

He-Man and She-Ra join forces to stop their respective galleries of rogues, as well as Transformer rip-off villain Horde Prime. After a convoluted way of joining our world with Eternia (not as bad as the live- action movie) a pair of Earth Children are lost over the Christmas season. If they spread the message and joy of Christmas it could ruin Horde Prime's plans. The twins bounce between heroes and villains, before ending up with Skeletor, but surely such an evil villain as he will be immune to the warmth and happiness of Christmas. It's a lot of daft fun that brings in weirdos such as the Manchines. With the mixture of fantasy fairies, sci-fi soldiers, monsters, medieval knights, and giant robots, it's certainly trying to cover all of its toy potential bases. The message really is in the right place, acknowledging that presents can be fun but are not everything, and that not everybody celebrates Christmas. It's the importance of its message that we should focus on. If you're an 80's child, you'll really want to see this.

Two Children become lost when they go to find their family's Christmas tree, befriended by Orko they set about to bring the goodwill of Christmas to Eternia.

In 1985, in the hight of this popularity came this hour shy Christmas special. Filmmation's offering works just like the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and its spin-off She-Ra episodes. Even though a commercial for the twist waist & power punch action toys it also had some great stories and morals to share, this is more of the same. Naturally there's the recycling of the same cells but there's plenty of new footage including cute children, a puppy and Adam dressed as Santa Claus.

When Alisha and Manuel visit Eternia their goodwill attracts the unwelcome attention of Horde Prime and Skeletor. The tale switches between planets and this special has a mix of fantasy elements synonymous with both shows - fairies, soldiers, monsters and (also thrown in are Transformer-like) robots.

Amongst the action set-ups there's some nice writing from Don Heckman and Bob Forward with plenty of sugary cuteness and animated visual treats. Look for Orko's nod to Ghostbusters. For fan's it bridges Earth to Queen Marlina, there's the on screen mix of Eterniain and Etheria characters and Skeletor's transition from super villain to reluctant nice guy. After Hordak orders Skeletor to kidnap the kids there's a great scene where they explain Christmas to Skeletor:

Skeletor: Tell me more about this "Christmas."

Miguel: Well, it's a wonderful time of the year. Everyone has lots of fun.

Skeletor: You mean they get in fights?

Miguel: No, no - they have fun!

Skeletor: Fights are fun. I like fights!

Miguel: And you give each other presents.

Skeletor: And when you open them, they explode, right?

Miguel: No! They're nice gifts.

Skeletor: Nice? Doesn't sound like much fun to me!

Priceless. Today, 30 years later directors Bill Reed and Ernie Schmidt offering may have trouble keeping up with the pace and style of contemporary cartoons but it's a heart warming story, fitting for the seasonal period, complete with some catchy songs and all the regular character favourites (voices from legend Alan Oppenheimer, John Erwin and Linda Gary to name a few).

While possibly not the best Christmas cartoon, that prize is up for debate, it's still has great nostalgic value and is great viewing for children.

As a fan of He-Man and She-Ra, I enjoyed this special. In it, Eternia is celebrating Prince Adam and Adora's birthday. and the heroes of Eternia are getting help from Etheria's Great Rebellion to get things set up, which is reminding Queen Marlena of Christmas (this is based on the original shows, where Queen Marlena is from Earth). Meanwhile, Prince Adam and Adora is called into action, transforming into He-Man and She-Ra when Orko gets caught launching Man-At-Arms' new Spy Eye, especially when Skeletor goes after it in his Collector. However, a magical mishap warps Orko and the Sky Spy to Earth, where the silly Trolla saves two kids from an avalanche. He brings them back to Eternia, and they bring Christmas to Eternia, which causes Horde Prime to order their kidnapping.

Yeah, this may be a cheesy Christmas special, but it's a good one. Just like every episode of the two series (He-Man And The Masters Of The Universe and She-Ra: Princess of Power), there is plenty of action. Yep, even in a Christmas Special, Skeletor and Hordak are going to cause trouble for everyone. It still has the cheesy humor the shows are known for, and it has a good moral about the meaning of Christmas.

He-Man and She-Ra: A Christmas Special (1985) is a movie I recently rewatched for the first time in a long time on Tubi. The storyline follows some children that are accidentally sent to Eternia at the worst time ever, just before Christmas. Initially, they run into Skeletor and his horde which sounds like doom and gloom; but when Christmas is at risk, could Skeletor change his ways and save the day?

This movie is codirected by Bill Reed (Earthworm Jim) and Ernie Schmidt (Duck Tales & Mighty Mouse) and contains the voices of John Erwin (Babe), Alan Oppenheimer (Westworld), Linda Gary (Switch), Melendy Britt (Cheers) and Lou Scheimer (Chappie).

I absolutely love this movie and it brings so much nostalgia back from my childhood. The He-man music is classic and it's always fun seeing Eternia. She'Ra's grand appearance is epic as is Skeletor and his zings at any and everybody. The ending is surprising and very entertaining; and I must say, Skeletor truly steals the show.

Overall this is a very fun movie that is a must see for anyone who grew up in the 80s. I would score this a 7.5/10 and strongly recommend seeing it once.