Back in May, Cartoon Network announced that they were resuscitating the ’80s animated series ‘Thundercats’ as ‘Thundercats Roar’ and… well, everyone hated what they saw. Cartoon Network had previously revived this series in 2011 as a more sophisticated adult-targeted series, but when the tie-in toy line flopped, it was quickly cancelled after one season. The new version seems to borrow from more current shows like ‘Steven Universe’ and ‘Adventure Time’ and the exaggerated art style did not go over well with the grown-ups who grew up with the property.
Now, Netflix is dusting off another ’80s classic with a major redesign– She-Ra. While the original iteration was a spin-off from ‘Masters of the Universe’ and was named ‘She-Ra: Princess of Power’, the new take is called ‘She-Ra and the Princesses of Power’, elevating her friends to royal status. But will fans be more accepting of this reboot than they were of ‘Thundercats’?
Here is a preview of what to expect:
As you can tell right off the bat, She-Ra and her alter ego Adora are decidedly younger and less glam in this update. She-Ra’s outfit used to feature a Wonder Woman-esque bustier, but that has been redesigned as a more concealing top that goes up to her neck. She is also wearing boyshorts underneath her miniskirt and her headdress is scaled back.
As for her appearance as Adora, she isn’t wearing makeup and her hair is pulled back in a ponytail. It looks as though she has pants on instead of the bare-legged leotard she wore in the ’80s.
It’s unclear what Catra’s role on the new show is, but she and Adora are shown side-by-side indicating that perhaps she isn’t the villain she was in the original. The new pictures also offer a glimpse of the kingdom of Brightmoon, Glimmer, and Bow. Glimmer has undergone a ‘Steven Universe’-like makeover, giving her a curvier figure, while Bow has been switched from Caucasian to whatever the Etherian equivalent of African American is.
Aimee Carrero voices She-Ra and Adora. The cast also features Joe Amato as Modulok, Lauren Ash as Scorpia, Krystal Joy Brown as Netossa, Jordan Fisher as Seahawk, Karen Fukuhara as Glimmer, Keston John as Hordak, Merit Leighton as Frosta, Vella Lovell as Mermista, AJ Michalka as Catra, Sandra Oh as Castaspella, Genesis Rodriguez as Perfuma, Marcus Scribner as Bow, Reshma Shetty as Queen Angella, Lorraine Toussaint as Shadow Weaver and Christine Woods as Entrapta.
Noelle Stevenson, creator of the graphic novel ‘Nimona’ and comic series ‘Lumberjanes’ is spearheading ‘She-Ra and the Princesses of Power’, which will be produced by Dreamworks Animation Television. Describing why she was drawn to ‘She-Ra’, she said:
“I was really interested in finding what my next project would be, and finding something epic, serialized, action-adventure, fantasy, sci-fi…all of the things I wanted to do. [She-Ra] has this majority female cast, it’s centered around a female hero, it’s got rainbows and it’s got robots, it’s got everything I like in one place.
“When you’re working on a pitch, you have no idea if it’ll go or not, or really what will happen. At that stage, anything can happen, so it’s best not to get too attached to what you’re working on. But I realized at one point, ‘Oh my God, I love this, I really, really want this.’ Two and a half years later, I’ve only gotten more entrenched in it. It is very, very dear to me.”
If you are afraid that this new toon will take too many liberties, rest assured, as Stevenson assures that the essence of the original will remain intact.
“We’ve really started from the same starting point where the original show started from because Adora has such a great backstory. She’s separated from her family as a baby, she’s sent to another planet, she’s adopted by the villain overlord and raised by him in this evil army. She’s been raised to believe that the villains are doing the right thing and that the Princesses are the evil ones. And so we follow her as she has this crisis of faith; she’s been very sheltered her whole life and as she starts to experience the world, she realizes that there’s more to this than she knew, that maybe there’s a reason they were called the Evil Horde, that maybe they were evil.
“As She-Ra, she doesn’t know how to act. This is all new to her, and it’s a little clumsy at first. It’s like an uncomfortable suit. She’s like, ‘Okay, here I am. I’m very glamorous, I’m very strong, people are looking up to me — because I’m very tall.’”
‘She-Ra and the Princesses of Power’ premiers on Netflix on November 16.
Source: Entertainment Weekly
