She-Ra is returning in a new Netflix series: fabulous or meh?

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Another day, another reboot. At least today’s news is a little more welcome than yesterday’s talk of the possible return of Blossom. She-Ra, Princess of Power is returning with a new animated series coming to Netflix next year. In a release announcing the new project, the streaming service said the new She-Ra is “a modern take on the ’80s girl power icon for a new generation of young fans” and will celebrate “female friendship and empowerment, led by a warrior princess tailor-made for today”.

She-Ra 2018 is coming to you courtesy of DreamWorks Animation and showrunner Noelle Stevenson, an award-winning cartoonist and writer, whose previous work includes the fantasy comic Nimona and the comics series Lumberjanes, centering on a group of campers fighting supernatural forces at a “Camp for Hardcore Lady Types.” Noelle also worked on Marvel Comics’ Runaways, featuring a lesbian heroine, and was on the writing team for Disney’s animated TV series Wander Over Yonder. On Tuesday, Noelle shared the news of her project on Twitter:

In case you’re too old (or young) to remember, She-Ra was a spin-off of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. The original animated series, which ran for 93 episodes from 1985 to 1986, introduced She-Ra as the alter ego of Princess Adora, the sister of He-Man. Along with sidekicks Swift Wind, her pegasus/unicorn hybrid companion, and Kowl, a Dr. Moreau-esqe fever dream creation mixing an owl and a koala bear, She-Ra led the Great Rebellion, fighting against the Evil Horde, who took over the planet Etheria. She-Ra has super strength and the ability to telepathically communicate with people and animals. Yes kids, drugs were a hell of a thing in the 80s. The series was quite popular and sold a lot of toys.

Needless to say, fans of the original series were ecstatic to hear the news of the reboot.

Initially, the thought of this reboot left me feeling very “meh,” but with Noelle’s credentials, this is sure to be a radical, but welcome update of the original series, which, if you want to catch up on (or take a walk down childhood memory lane), is now streaming on Netflix. Heck, I might even tune in. And, in keeping with the spirit of the holidays, if you have 45 minutes to spare, check out the He-Man and She-Ra Christmas Special. It’s a whole lot of holiday-themed WTF, and I kind of love it.

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28 Responses to “She-Ra is returning in a new Netflix series: fabulous or meh?”

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  1. Snazzy says:

    She-Ra was way cooler than He-Man
    I’m down for this 🙂 Don’t judge me

  2. A says:

    If she’s white then nah.

    • slowsnow says:

      And blonde… And super booby…
      Ok, half joking here.
      I do feel that these hyper “feminine” shaped characters (ahem WW) have to go at some point or at least not be the norm.
      That said, I would not make her Asian or Black. But yes to have Asian and Black and Latino and Native American “colleagues” that would be as important as her. No need to changer her but at least diversify the characters and make interesting stories.
      And make NEW comics with a kickass Asian or Black female superheroes please. Let’s go crazy: both.
      In France there is a super animation called Kirikou with a black little boy who was everyone’s favorite a few years ago and a super evil/good black witch. My kids loved it.

      • A says:

        Nope. I said if SHE’s white I’m not watching. WOC should not be relegated to sidekicks. This is the exact reason I hated Wonder Woman. But I do agree that there should be more original work featuring WOC.

      • slowsnow says:

        Yes @A, I cannot take that from you. Sorrry, it was insensitive to focus on something else when you feel that way and rightly so.
        I hated WW for many reasons. One of them, to add to this subject, the group with the cliche Native American narrative – WTF was that all about. So yeah, sorry.
        Rooting for you for a powerful badass WOC superhero with a powerful first role.

    • kimbers says:

      still gonna watch it.

      there are no 80s, female, mexican cartoon characters out there, but still love me some she-ra! love that bird with big ears and her horse! she was always smarter than HeMan lol

      in fact I’m gonna have to stream the Xmas special now!!

    • FlyLikeAbird says:

      @A, If you truly were a She-ra fan you wouldn’t be saying that. So you were never gonna be watching it anyway and you ve chosen to make it a political thing instead. Yawn.

  3. Bobbymilly says:

    She Ra is amazing!!!!

    Best news of 2017!

    • Lady Africa says:

      As a black girl watching She-ra I was very impressed with her strength, not once did I think of her skin color .

      • kimbers says:

        me too! i had mentioned that there were no mexican female characters in the 80s, but loved me some she-ra! i always watched cartoons with a strong female character when i was little. I didn’t care about skin color, just what type of character they were.

  4. Louise177 says:

    I loved She-Ra. I remember crying went it was cancelled.

  5. slowsnow says:

    Oh god, I just watched the video. Memoriiiiiies.
    And that sh*t is sooooo camp.

    • Esmom says:

      I remember feeling like it was campy before I even understood what camp was! It sounds like the reboot has potential but it would be nice to see something original from someone as clearly talented as Stevenson.

      • slowsnow says:

        Agree and agree. I remember feeling all glittery eyed and overcome with a sense of utter detail and colourfulness of it all when I watched it.
        Also, as @A noted above, we need a WOC superhero at this point. Lesbian. Difference! Not another white, blonde bombshell.

  6. WendyNerd says:

    I LOVE Lumberjanes, so I am here for this.

  7. Spikey says:

    THE BEST NEWS EVER! God, I’m so excited! I’m still holding on to a She-Ra t-shirt from my teens, it must be over 20 years old by now.

  8. Lizzie says:

    i was she-ra for halloween when i was 5 and it was the most bad ass costume ever. my mom replicated the outfit but where it was skin – she used sparkly beige material (not see through! ) and my dad made the head gear, shield and sword out of cardboard and painted them. it was so cool. they really left it all on the court that year.

  9. Globug says:

    Meh. About 25 years too late.

  10. smcollins says:

    80’s kid here. I was all about some She-Ra, He-Man, Thundercats…This sounds like it might be kinda cool. I’m definitely curious.

  11. adastraperaspera says:

    Approve!!

  12. GeekLuva says:

    Glimmer was my favorite. My sister & I played with the action figures ( I think we almost had them all). And we saw Rainbow Brite in Hallmark the other day! All my 80’s are coming back!

  13. margie says:

    My grandma saved all of my She-Ra toys from when I was little, and my 8 and 3 years old sons play with her castle and all the figures now. I can’t wait to show them this show.

  14. Happy21 says:

    I love that there are people here who grew up with She-Ra!
    I think, the cartoon reboot will do well on the heels of Wonder Woman and the ‘girl power’ generation.
    Woohoo!

  15. booRadley says:

    I loved she-ra growing up, I loved xena in my teens (and still do to this day, and will forever until I die) and now I get to raise a tiny human who of her own volition picked She-ra one day to watch out of the Netflix queue and its now one of her favourites. Her favourites change by the minute, and I found classic xena action figures, that she plays with more than her Barbie’s (she’s only 2).
    Parent of the year??

  16. I Choose Me says:

    She-Ra had way better storylines and characters than He-Man. I wanna say yay to a reboot but I’m skeptical. I hope the animation itself will be a cut above what it was. And we’re not treated to something along the lines of Teen Titans Go!

  17. Sarah Mckay says:

    and now i have to watch some she-ra and he-man 🙂