It seems like every show has a Christmas special, but some are more special than others, and none are more special than ‘He-Man & She-Ra: A Christmas Special’. I don’t mean special as in good. No, I mean special as in that dog that keeps running in to walls or tripping over its own tail. The He-Man & She-Ra Christmas special is a wonderful kind of nonsense.
To be fair, as a He-Man fan I can tell you that the classic show was never actually any good. It was a collection of crazy looking characters punching each other to sell kids toys, so the Christmas special has to viewed through that lens, and even then it doesn’t make any sense. The whole plot is that Orko accidentally kidnaps some kids from Earth, and that Horde Prime wants them dealt with before they spread Christmas cheer throughout the land, so He-Man and She-Ra do a bunch of random stuff to save the kids, which they fail at. Leaving Skeletor to save the day.
Sorry to spoil it for you, but hey it came out in 1985, so you had 30 years to watch it. I am sure that to a bunch of executives a toy line cartoon show airing a Christmas episode makes perfect financial sense, but for She-Ra and He-Man it ended up being even more bonkers than usual. I am sure had I watched it as a child, I would not have questioned it one bit, but watching it for the first time as an ‘adult’, I can tell you I had a hard time keeping up with what was going one. It wasn’t until I gave up on the story that I could enjoy it for what it was, capitalism. Pure child centered capitalism, and it made me feel young again.
I really shouldn’t recommend ‘He-Man & She-Ra: A Christmas Special’, but I am. It brought me back to a time when cartoons where pure advertising and plots were optional, and I loved every minutes of them. I had a lot of fun with this inane mini-movie, and if you grew up when I did, you may too. Merry Christmas from Eternia everyone!