| He-Man She-Ra A Christmas Special | |
|---|---|
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| "What's this, what's this, there's white things in the air." - Skeletor | |
| Riffed by | Ronin Fox Trax |
| Riffers | Ronin Fox |
| Series | Masters of the Universe Series |
| Date Released | February 26, 2009 |
He-Man She-Ra A Christmas Special is a 1985 syndicated television special based around a crossover of the animated series He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and its spinoff She-Ra: Princess of Power. It was written by Bob Forward and Don Heckman and directed by Bill Reed and Ernie Schmidt. It marks the second time the casts of the two series crossed over, the first being He-Man She-Ra The Secret of the Sword. The plot centers around a pair of Earth children who teach the people of Eternia and Etheria the spirit of Christmas between multiple abductions.
Ronin Fox Trax released their riff of the special in February of 2009, it is available through iRiffs and Gumroad.
Synopsis and Preview[]
[Spoilers Begin]
Ronin Fox Trax He-Man She-Ra A Christmas Special
The palace of Eternia is filled with friends from the kingdom and from the world of Etheria as celebrations are planned for the birthday of the twins Prince Adam and Princess Adora. Queen Marlena remarks that the celebration reminds her of Christmas, a very special holiday that would be going on right now on her home planet of Earth.
Meanwhile Prince Adam helps Man-At-Arms with his newest project, the Sky Spy. Man-At-Arms explains that it is a space shuttle that can safely and easily keep tabs on Skeletor. When they leave to join the party, Orko arrives to investigate and play with the controls of the Sky Spy, accidentally triggering it to launch. Skeletor is able to track the launch from his ship, the Collector. He attacks, but is stopped by He-Man and She-Ra, none of whom know who is piloting the Sky Spy.
Orko, unable to understand the controls, tries to force the ship to land with a magic spell, but mistakenly teleports the ship to crash land on Earth. There he quickly meets two children named Miguel and Alisha, who were in the woods to find their family a Christmas Tree when they became lost. Orko befrends them and takes them back to the Sky Spy to keep warm, and the children explain to him what Christmas is.
On Eternia, everyone realizes that Orko is missing and conclude that he must have been in the Sky Spy. Man-At-Arms is able to trace the ship and Marlena recognizes Earth's coordinates. Man-At-Arms has a transport beam that can return Orko, but it requires a Carium Water Crystal as a power source, and there are none on Eternia. Adora believes she can get one on Etheria. Transforming into She-Ra she travels to her adopted homeworld.
On Etheria, She-Ra meets with Mermista and together face a creature unimaginatively known as the Beast Monster in order to obtain the crystal. As She-Ra tries to travel back to Eternia she is captured by a group of evil Decepticon rip-offs called the Monstroids. They leave her imprisoned in a solid bubble shaped prison, and she easily escapes.
Adora returns to Eternia, and the crystal is able to power the transport beam. As expected, it is able to return Orko, but Orko is stupid enough to bring the children along. Since the crystal takes time to charge, it will be several days before the children can be returned home. The children, not fully understanding the danger of this world full of skeleton wizards and freaks are only concerned about the fact that they might miss Christmas. Marlena makes everything better on the surface by deciding to combine the upcoming birthday party with a Christmas party, thus introducing Adam and Adora the to the resentment every kid with a December birthday shares.
Sensing the plot has started, Horde Prime, the leader of the evil Horde that was created after Hordak lost too many times to remain credible, summons Skeletor and Hordak. He tells them briefly about the concept of Christmas spirit, and that it is dangerous to their evil cause. He then orders them to retrieve the children, promising a reward.
Bow writes a Christmas song with all the ability and finesse you would expect from an alien who learned about Christmas minutes ago and everyone dances to it. While everyone is distracted, Hordak arrives and uses a tractor beam to kidnap the children and Orko. They transport to Etheria, but are quickly captured themselves by the Monstroids, proving that the Monstroids have great skill in grabbing things that stupidly fly directly over them. The Monstroids force Hordak and his troops to retreat as they take the children themselves.
While the captives wait, they are rescued by the Manchines, a bunch of small and "adorable" transforming robots who fight the Monstroids in what must be very ineffective ways. One Manchine named Cutter is able to cut the bars of the cell and lead Orko and the kids directly to the place where the Monstroids stand around and wait to kidnap people, so the Monstroids try and kidnap them again. Before they can, He-Man and She-Ra arrive, thanks to the help of Peekablue finding the children with her powers. While He-Man and She-Ra foil the kidnapping, the children are kidnapped by Skeletor. A Manchine dog named Relay also goes with them.
Hordak tries to retake the children, but only is able to cripple Skeletor's sky-scooter, causing it to crash in the mountains. Skeletor starts herding the children on foot, but they start to complain about the cold. Skeletor uses his magic to give them warmer clothes. He also agrees to take Relay along, though he first wanted to leave him behind in the snow to die. When they are attacked by a snowbeast, Skeletor defends himself and the kids. The kids, already accomplishing the thing they do best (being captured) go to the second best thing they do and explain Christmas to Skeletor.
Horde Prime arrieves in his ship and everyone meets around it. Hordak knocks out Skeletor with a laser and keeps He-Man and She-Ra busy with Horde Troopers while he attempts to take the children to his master. Relay wakes up Skeletor, who then attacks Horde Prime's ship with his magic. When Horde Prime tries to counterattack, He-Man and She-Ra toss his ship into space with a strength that begs the question, why do the villains even try? The children thank Skeletor for saving them, and Skeletor hates it.
The Christmas party goes on as planned, with Adam dressed as Santa and presents that include flying belts. The kids are then returned home with the charged transport beam. Migel and Alisha's parents aren't nearly as shaken up by the several days the kids have been gone looking for a tree as they should be.
In the moral ending, Prince Adam tells all of us that Christmas is really about "caring, sharing and goodwill and its spirit is within all of us." Orko just wants presents. Orko is a greedy jerk.
[Spoilers End]
Cast and Crew[]
- John Erwin as He-Man / Prince Adam / Cutter / Webstor
- Alan Oppenheimer as Skeletor / Man-At-Arms / Zipper
- Linda Gary as Teela / Queen Marlena
- Lana Beeson as Alicia
- Melendy Britt as She-Ra / Princess Adora / Mermista / Catra
- George DiCenzo as Hordak / Bow
- Erica Scheimer as Peekablue / Perfuma / Mother
- R.D. Rob as Miguel
- Lou Scheimer as Orko / King Randor / Swift Wind / Spikor / Two-Bad / Modulok / Kowl / Rattlor / Horde Prime / Father / Multi-Bot
Quotes[]
Notes[]
- Released after Christmas as a tie-in to the release of Ronin Fox Trax's riff of the live action Masters of the Universe.