cimorene

I have strong feelings about the original She-Ra cartoon, even though it's bad in many ways. I was introduced to it when I was 3 or 4, and it played an important role in my childhood because I rewatched it on VHS frequently, for comfort or when I wanted to watch something about female characters.

Even though She-Ra always read as an adult to me, I identified with her so strongly that at 4 I reportedly held up an imaginary sword in defiance and shouted her transformation words when my mom tried to put me in timeout. At 18, shortly after I discovered slash, I wrote a couple of rather purple pieces of f/f fanfiction of my favorite characters (in spite of the fact that I wasn't aware of any fandom or potential audience for it).

The fact that I love the She-Ra world, yet find the original show only semi-watchable even with nostalgia filters engaged, means I've been wishing futilely that someone would reboot the franchise for almost 20 years. I've been on tenterhooks since the initial announcement of the reboot and I watched half of the series on the release day (13 Nov 2018).

The new Netflix/Dreamworks She-Ra and the Princesses of Power is better than the old show in many ways - possibly in every way except the theme music (which has become less catchy and bold, and acquired some anime-style sentimental lyrics) and the loss of Shadow Weaver's hood (my sister disagrees, but I think that no matter how cool her new mask and hair were, no combination thereof could be as cool as the ever-present empty hood with two gleaming eyes - that was badass and the new look is a downgrade).

Some of the Ways She-Ra and the Princesses of Power is Better than She-Ra: Princess of Power:

This list contains concepts and information not present in the trailer, but avoids signficant plot spoilers.

Apart from the basic pitch/concept, IMO the best-executed part of the old show were the background paintings. The Fright Zone was cool and the Whispering Woods was beautiful. The new ones look just as good - updated, tweaked, but highly reminiscent and just as great.

As I mentioned in my post when the trailer came out, the Barbie-esque character designs are swapped out for a diverse range of skin colors and body types. They did a great job with this, even down to the background characters we sometimes see who don't have any lines.

The rainbow 90s Ice Capades minidresses are swapped out for a variety of very different costume redesigns that are mostly practical and function-driven. Bow's and Queen Angella's are the only ones I can think of that seem very close. Mermista's and Frosta's new outfits were the most exciting, but Adora's Horde uniform alone (it now! has! pants!!!) would've been worth about 100 points. I'm not saying I love every detail of all of them, but overall they're fantastic.

The world-building seems to have more depth. We learn hints of the internal political struggles in the Horde, of Shadow Weaver's past, of Adora's childhood, of how magic works in general in the universe and why, more details of the functions of the technology the characters use - and it's relevant to the plot. We see some of the skills that are important for governing and ruling, for Angella and the other regional monarchs like Frosta, and for military leadership.

In the original, Adora apparently gets her ability to transform into She-Ra genetically, from the same place He-Man gets his, as his twin (which begs the question how his identity remains a secret if superhero transformation is passed down genetically with the crown). But because the mentor figure who administers the magic of her and He-Man's birthright lives in He-Man's world, She-Ra additionally gets a magic castle in the air and a mentor spirit, Light Hope, which belong to her new planet of Etheria and are apparently unaffiliated with Greyskull. The pre-existing castle in the air and its inhabitant spirit are evidently unknown to the rest of Etheria apart from Madame Razz, and they remain unexplained. In contrast, the new show works on setting up an exciting space opera backstory for the Crystal Castle - now relocated to the ground - and Light Hope, who now appears to be an artificial intelligence. The context of the Crystal Castle is a long-vanished race of technologically superior beings reminiscent of the Stargate universe's Ancients, and they figure elsewhere in the plot and worldbuilding as well.

(When Light Hope and the sword grabbed Adora at first in the reboot, I assumed the not-Ancients' galaxy-spanning nature was going to explain the sword being destined for her: the power of Greyskull was going to be linked to the not-Ancient gene and she was going to be like John Sheppard in SGA, an extra-powerful user, versus just someone who can get the lights to come on like McKay or Beckett. That was before I noticed that He-Man was left out entirely, though - I assume rights were not purchased, which makes sense if you think about it, although I always thought the Force-wielding long-lost twin thing was cool. But of course, without He-Man, Adora may not have been kidnapped on another world at all, so this explanation probably isn't true after all. But it would have been cool.)

There's a season-long arc with a plot that involves the gradual discovery of new information and multiple character arcs for different characters: Adora, Glimmer, Angella, Catra, Scorpia, Mermista, Frosta, Perfuma... this is a sharp contrast to the one-new-guest-star-per-episode style of the old show, where some of what seemed like the coolest characters, like Sweet Bee and Peek-a-Blue, often appeared in only one episode. (I think Frosta was in two?)

Swift Wind has a character arc too, and a couple of funny recurring gags.

I already loved Mermista for a number of reasons, but they improved on every one and then independently added an extra boatload of original greatness. She's fantastic. She's still a slightly closer friend than any of the other non-Bright-Moon characters; she's still got her awesome power over water and she's still got the ability to transform into a mermaid; she's still got blue hair (now dark teal) and the same blue-teal-green color scheme, but no longer pastel, and her new outfit is amazing, as is her side braid. But her waterfall grotto, which I loved, is now a majestic coastal area with giant rocks thrusting through the water protected by submerged shoals, and additionally, a kind of Namor/Aquaman-esque Neptune aesthetic. She's also got a brilliant drawling deadpan and is a laconic, sarcastic quipper who delivers some of the funniest lines.

In the old show, Frosta was my favorite non-She-Ra/Adora character, and it was mostly because she was the powered female ally with the least girly voice who was given all the eyerolls and sarcastic quips. Reboot Frosta has been aged down into a Lyanna-Mormontesque child ruler, grim-faced, solemn, independent, and very much on her dignity, so it's fair to give the sarcasm to her cousin (if they are cousins still). I wouldn't say this is an improvement over the old Frosta, because I loved her voice and the basic idea of her personality, if not her behavior in "Sweet Bee's Home", but the new stuff is different and cool, with plenty of room to grow. And the visual design of Frosta, her guards, and the Kingdom of Snows are a huge improvement - they bring to mind the winter gear worn by the Water Tribe in Avatar:TLA. I'm not knowledgeable enough to identify their specific origin, but they are reminiscent of traditional dress of the Greenland Inuit, the Sami, and the people of Siberia, to my eye, but with a strong blue-and-white palette.

We learn more about the history of the Rebellion and the Horde conquest of Etheria and it makes sense.

We get a glimpse of Horde troopers as people, out of their armor suits, and it seems to make sense.

There were bits following Catra at the Horde, more or less in her point of view, in the original show. Giving her more screentime, a character arc, an attempt at a believable and consistent psychological profile, and a bigger backstory, was a huge improvement. There was always a sort of suggestion of her as the 'rival' or opposite number to She-Ra, and the sibling-like relationship in the new backstory makes that make way more sense. Also her new outfit is a huge improvement (although it's sad that she can no longer transform into a big cat and/or doesn't have a panther pet/steed).

I've already said that the writing is better, which obviously means that the dialogue is better, but especially notable: jokes and witty quips, which tend to be actually funny, although they occasionally felt too modern (contemporary, present-day, i.e. timebound) to me, and a couple of times were weirdly placed in a serious dangerous setting that felt jarring. That's always a danger with witty quips though. And it's better overall to be funny than not, IMO, even if there were a few rough spots.

That's a lot of improvements, including all my major complaints about the original!

frosta hugging perfuma

But these straightforward upgrades aren't the only things I want to talk about.

There were a couple of other deliberate changes with obvious logical motivations that aren't necessarily inherently good or bad (some spoilers, not too specific):

Aging down. As mentioned in my post after the trailer was released, they've made most of the principals (with the exception of Angella, who was always Glimmer's mother, and a couple of other remnants of her generation) believably clustered around age 16 (although in some cases, and at some times, my wife and I agreed they seemed too young/silly, and the effect was definitely more like 13). Obviously, that choice has to do with the show being aimed at children. Most of the characters, in different ways, act in ways that are clearly due to their being teenaged: either gaps in knowledge,or because they're hormonal, impulsive, emotional, naturally self-centered, rebelling, Finding Themselves, and sometimes emo/mopey. These are all sensible legit choices that are mostly internally consistent, and it makes sense for these elements of character behavior to frequently be significant in the plot. That's just good writing.

'De-perfecting' Adora. Adora is about 16 too, and making that believable naturally leads to some alteration to her characterization. But aside from that, they've given her a new characterization, rebuilt from scratch, from a more human, adolescent perspective, to let the audience really experience her journey - the internal doubts, the emotional highs and lows, and the struggles of a young woman going through what she's going through. Adora in the original show was a very self-confident, shrewd, and self-controlled woman, who at least gave the impression of being calm and in control and knowing what she was doing when she was She-Ra (while in her normal identity, of course, she was more gentle and mild-mannered, like old school Clark Kent, but she was still mature, strategic, intelligent, frequently in contrast to Bow and Glimmer as confused sidekicks) - a bit like Superman did when in costume in that old black-and-white tv show from the 1950s. The pilot episode where she gets the sword was an exception; and the fact that after that she always seemed to know what she was doing and how to do it wasn't, perhaps, realistic (though I would argue that it's not unrealistic for someone to easily give the possibly false impression that they know exactly what they're doing, especially if the ability to give that impression was of benefit to them in surviving a dangerous toxic childhood environment - in fact it's a fairly common feature of adultified children of, for example, physical abusers, narcissists, or addicts).

Adora in the reboot definitely doesn't know what she's doing, and this generates a lot of interest as she struggles to learn about the sword, the Rebellion, the true nature of the Horde, and why she magically transforms into a tall buff woman with twenty miles of hair. She also just doesn't know what she's doing in her ordinary life, and we see social awkwardness, culture clashes due to her bizarre childhood, and some terrible errors in judgment caused by youthful inexperience and personal blind spots, such as agreeing to Glimmer's desire to keep dangerous secrets from Angella and the other adults (a distrust of authority would be expected for Adora, even if the original one never exhibited it). Since not all 16-year-olds are identical, this characterization is obviously a deliberate choice. I believe the show articulates its aim explicitly through Glimmer when Adora apologizes at one point for making mistakes and in the rush to comfort her, Glimmer says "If you were perfect, you would be boring!"*

These two changes collectively have a profoundly destabilizing (de-predictabilifying, energizing, etc) effect on the story - both through the inherent qualities of youth and through allowing us to see the doubts and internal struggles of a young Adora still finding her way.

They were likely intended to make the show more age-appropriate, more dynamic, more interesting, more varied, and, well, better. And the writers got a lot of plot and character development mileage out of both changes, so they were clearly effective! It's my misfortune that I find plots about teenaged melodrama exhausting and that dramatic irony where the audience can see the protagonist is making a mistake drives me crazy - it's a bit like secondhand embarrassment. People who don't share these specific dislikes, which is hopefully most people, will no doubt be (and have been, I've observed) generally delighted (including my wife, who was casually enjoying it while I was a sizzling and popping little knot of overflowing contradictory emotions).

The original Bow and Glimmer were always well-intentioned loyal friends who were tragically doomed to dimness by the necessity for someone nearby to ask silly questions to provide the opening for expositions and infodumps, and for Adora to generally be the voice of reason in whatever transparent after-school-special morality lesson they were trying to illustrate. (I did say it was badly written!) So I was used to them frequently being very silly, but it felt like a 180 from Adora, and one that unwelcomely put me on the edge of my seat, white-knuckling and arguing with/ranting at the screen as if Adora and the writers could simultaneously hear me (ask

waxjism about it sometime; it was all an emotional blur and I don't remember any details).

As a result, it's a bit of an understatement when I say that my emotional response gets tangled up in my ability to analyze #2, the characterization of Adora. I had to take a week-long break halfway through the season before I felt strong enough to finish it, and I burst into tears more than once trying to discuss it with various people. (Calm down, me, geez.)

But a lot changed there, and it was pivotal to the plot; I think it's necessary to look deeper at Adora's characterization in both places, including but not limited to

*: whether the original Adora actually was too perfect and boring as a result of it.

I'm gonna do that in a follow-up post.