‘She-Ra’ is back, with a better look and bigger purpose
The campy 80s animated character is back, but with 2018 sensibilities
In many ways, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, a new Netflix series from DreamWorks Animation, will be familiar to fans of the campy original. Adora is here, discovering the magic sword that transforms her into She-Ra when she invokes “the honour of Grayskull”, and so is Catra, her feline friend and on-again, off-again foe.
There are rainbow-colored flying unicorns and villains with giant red claws for hands, not to mention cool spaceships and battles royale. But the reboot, from Noelle Stevenson, who has received critical acclaim for her imaginative girl-centric graphic novels, has more than cheap-looking frivolity on its mind.
In place of the often-static animation of the original, the rebooted She-Ra lives in a vibrant world with stylistic homages to French artist Jean Giraud (aka Moebius), Japanese movie director Hayao Miyazaki and mainstream anime.
And the series tackles some pretty heavy topics, such as colonialism, genocide and isolationism, while aiming to maintain the buoyancy of its inspiration. “I love the original,” Stevenson, 26, said. “But we wanted to take what was fun about it and deepen it, and flesh it out.”
The original series, which ran for just two seasons, was probably best known for its ties to a popular Mattel line of action figures. But Stevenson — a graphic novelist and artist whose Nimona, about a mischievous shapeshifting girl who can belch fire and turn into a Triceratops, was nominated for a National Book Award — thought the cartoon offered possibilities for a re-imagining. On a recent afternoon, Stevenson was in her office here at DreamWorks, explaining how she had adapted a story about a sword-wielding teen heroine and her group of superpowered pals for 2018.
In the original, nearly every heroine was the exact same size and shape, with matching faces and swimsuit-model bodies (which made it easier for the animators, not to mention the folks who made the toys, which were really what that original show was all about).
They all had big ‘80s hair. And nearly all of them were white (Netossa, a late addition to the show, was a notable exception). “One of the first things we wanted to do was make the characters different sizes, shapes and ethnicities,” Stevenson said.
In the new series, which debuts on November 13, there are black warriors, Asian ice princesses and brown mermaids. Body types run from waif-slim to roundish; hairstyles include Rapunzel-long tresses, bobs and fades.
The voice cast, which includes Karen Fukuhara (Suicide Squad), Reshma Shetty (Royal Pains), Vella Lovell (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend), and, in a guest spot, Sandra Oh (Killing Eve), is as diverse as the characters they play. Aimee Carrero, who was born in the Dominican Republic and grew up in Miami in a predominantly Latino neighborhood, is the voice of the show’s very Nordic-looking lead.
“I’ll never be a blonde,” she said, “but I get to be a blonde as She-Ra.” For the reboot, the animation team created vivid backgrounds and sci-fi landscapes reminiscent of Moebius (Heavy Metal) and Roger Dean (those iconic “Yes” album covers). There’s the eco-friendly ethos of Miyazaki and stylistic nods to contemporary anime. (Adora’s eyes become giant and shimmering when she sees a horse for the first time.)
“I wore out the pages in my Kill La Kill/Sushio artbook,” said Keiko Murayama, who helped create the character designs for She-Ra/Adora, Bow, Glimmer and Catra. The artists imagined She-Ra as a slim, fit teen, with white bike shorts and a high-collared top. They replaced her high heels with boots (granted, ones with a stylish white, blue and gold colorway). “The one thing we spent time on was She-Ra’s boots,” Murayama said.
Even so, the new look drew the ire of a small but vocal group of online fanboys who slammed the new She-Ra for not being sexy enough.
In response, hordes of fans went online to defend the new look and to question why seemingly grown men were so emotionally invested in an animated teen girl’s body.
Scores of women and girls created and modeled their own elaborate She-Ra cosplay costumes.
Still others — including professional artists from animation companies around town — created hundreds of pieces of fan art, many of which Stevenson posted on her Twitter account.
Inside the DreamWorks recording studio, Stevenson took a break from her showrunner duties to provide the voice of Spinnerella, one of She-Ra’s princess pals, alongside Carrero, Merit Leighton (Alexa & Katie) and Krystal Joy Brown (who played Diana Ross in the Broadway musical Motown). Spurred along by the voice director Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, the four women battle Evil Horde forces and play a spirited game of iceball, all capped off by a hearty “For the Honour of Grayskull!” from Carrero.
“They always save those for the end of the day, because they know that after that, my voice is totally done for a few hours,” Carrero said.
Not counting one lone guy, everyone inside and outside of the studio was female. The show has one male actor on the regular voice cast (Marcus Scribner, from black-ish) and an all-female writers’ room (a first for all concerned). “Animation is still very male oriented, so this is the first time I’ve worked with so many women,” said Josie Campbell, the story editor who wrote the episode Princess Prom. “It’s been such a treat. Every one of our writers is so strong, and we’re all a bunch of geeks.”
Don’t miss it!
She-Ra and the Princess of Power streams on Netflix from November 13.