He-Man and She-Ra: A Christmas Special
Tags: good versus evil

Plot synopsis:
While everybody else is preparing for Adam's and Adora's birthday, Adam is helping Man-At-Arms finish up the Sky Spy, a space shuttle intended to spy on Skeletor. The moment they head back to the palace, though, Orko gets inside the ship and messes around with the controls, causing the ship to blast off into the sky with him in it. Skeletor catches sight of the aircraft and, despite not knowing what it is or who is flying it, he gives chase after it in the Collector. Before he can take it down, He-Man and She-Ra, who are also unaware that Orko is in the Sky Spy, show up and punch a hole in the Collector, throwing it off course.
Orko, meanwhile, tries to get the Sky Spy to land by way of a magic spell, which causes the shuttle to disappear from Eternia's atmosphere and crash-land somewhere on Earth. Immediately following this, he meets two children named Miguel and Alisha, who had gone out to get their family's Christmas tree and become lost in doing so. Orko brings them into the crashed Sky Spy, where they explain Christmas to him.
Back on Eternia, everyone discovers that Orko is missing when they find his magic spellbook, which he supposedly is never without. Man-At-Arms manages to pull up the coordinates for the Sky Spy's location, which Queen Marlena recognizes as Earth's coordinates. Unfortunately, Man-At-Arms' Transport Beam needs a Carium Water Crystal, of which there are none on Eternia, in order to gain enough power to bring Orko back. Adora suggests that there might be one on Etheria, and, after secretly transforming into She-Ra, rides off on Swift Wind.
Once on Etheria, She-Ra enlists the help of Mermista to attain the crystal, which is guarded by a fierce creature known as the Beast Monster. They manage to secure the crystal in their possession, but just as She-Ra and Swift Wind prepare to leave, they are halted by a group of huge android menaces who trap them in a plastic bubble. She-Ra recognizes these robots as the Monstroids, having been told about them by some friends of hers known as the Manchines. The Monstroids then leave for their headquarters, leaving She-Ra and Swift Wind to escape.
Upon Adora's return with the crystal, Man-At-Arms gets the Transport Beam working, and sure enough, Orko and the Sky Spy are transported back in, but Orko has brought Miguel, Alisha and their Christmas tree with them. After explanations of where they came from, the children are told that it may take a few days for the crystal to recharge before they can return to Earth, and they are quite distressed that they might miss Christmas. Queen Marlena, sympathizing with these children from her own planet, decides to combine Adam and Adora's birthday party into a Christmas party. Meanwhile, Skeletor and Hordak are summoned by their supreme master, Horde Prime, who believes that the Christmas spirit that is now being brought to Eternia is the only thing that could stop his rise to power. He orders them to go capture the two Earth children, saying that whoever brings them to him will be well-rewarded.
Soon, just as Bow finishes writing a song he wrote about Christmas, Hordak shows up and uses a tractor beam to capture Miguel and Alisha, taking Orko with them. He and his minions do not get far, though, before their ship is brought down by the Monstroids, who take the children hostage themselves, they plan on dealing with Horde Prime themselves when he comes for the children, and force Hordak and his men to retreat. Luckily, the Manchines show up to rescue Orko and the children. The Monstroids try to stop them from escaping, but He-Man and She-Ra, having been told of the children's location by Peekablue, show up just in time to handle them, with help from the other Manchines. But while that's going on, Skeletor comes in and captures Miguel and Alisha, taking with them a Manchine puppy named Relay.
But then Hordak reappears and shoots down Skeletor's sky-scooter, crash-landing him in some snowy mountains; because of this, Skeletor is now forced to bring his prisoners to Horde Prime on foot. During the trek, he finds a sudden urge of kindness that results in him fitting the children with winter jackets to protect them from the cold, bringing Relay along so he doesn't freeze to death, and even protecting the children from a snowbeast. He also inquires the children about Christmas, all the while trying to reassure them, and himself, that he is still a bad guy. Just as Horde Prime arrives in his ship, He-Man and She-Ra finally catch up, but Hordak arrives as well; he knocks Skeletor out by deflecting a laser blast and distracts He-Man and She-Ra by sending out numerous Horde Troopers. But just in the nick of time, Relay licks Skeletor's face; he wakes up and saves his would-be captives by shooting down Horde Prime's ship. Obviously angry at this, Horde Prime attempts to shoot Skeletor, but He-Man and She-Ra lift his ship up and throw it into space before he has a chance to. The children thank Skeletor for saving them, a fact that He-Man is surprised at, which he reluctantly admits is true, and Skeletor is relieved to learn that he will only be overtaken by Christmas spirit once a year.
Back at the palace, as the good guys celebrate their Christmas party, Adam, dressed as Santa Claus, gives the children flying belts. Man-At-Arms then uses the Transporter to send Miguel and Alisha back to their home on Earth, where they are welcomed back by their parents.
At the end of the special, Prince Adam and Orko give us a very special Christmas moral. Adam states that "Though we celebrate it and get presents, Christmas is about caring, sharing and goodwill and its spirit is within all of us". And in fun fashion, Orko states that what make him happy on Christmas is...presents.

Review: Perfect fun for 80's kids..
He-Man and She-Ra join forces to stop their respective galleries of rogues, as well as Transformer rip-off villain Horde Prime.
After a convoluted way of joining our world with Eternia (not as bad as the live- action movie) a pair of Earth Children are lost over the Christmas season.
If they spread the message and joy of Christmas it could ruin Horde Prime's plans.
The twins bounce between heroes and villains, before ending up with Skeletor, but surely such an evil villain as he will be immune to the warmth and happiness of Christmas.
It's a lot of daft fun that brings in weirdos such as the Manchines.
With the mixture of fantasy fairies, sci-fi soldiers, monsters, medieval knights, and giant robots, it's certainly trying to cover all of its toy potential bases.
The message really is in the right place, acknowledging that presents can be fun but are not everything, and that not everybody celebrates Christmas.
It's the importance of its message that we should focus on.
If you're an 80's child, you'll really want to see this..
He-Man and She-Ra is at it again!.
This is very good little animated movie of My favorite animated heroes!Though there isn't a ton of Skeletor and Hordak's henchmen but the two big time villains show their stuff quite well!Its really a different He-Man and She-Ra story but if you like them then is a good one to watch!.
Just because you CAN make a He Man Christmas Special doesn't mean you SHOULD!.
It is just my opinion but I believe that He-Man and the Masters of the Universe was television's first infomercial.
It was, you have to admit, a day-in day-out 22 minute commercial for crappy plastic dolls.
The animation, used over and over again, makes up about three feet of film and the scripts are best suited to lining the bottom of the birdcage.
So what other explanation could there be?The show was five colors of stupidity thanks to the unremarkable minds of the once powerful company known as The Third Rei .
I mean Filmmation.
To us students of animation, Filmmation did for cartoons what the federal government has done for education, cutting costs until there was nothing left.
The studio cut costs by recycling the same cels over and over again.
The effect is that characters repeatedly move and talk in the same patterns in every episode and rarely moved or spoke outside a designated set of eight specific body movements.
For a similar effect, check out CSPAN.The show wasn't exactly Shakespeare.
I imagine that the scripts weren't discussed in a board room so much as they were conceived in the elevator on the way to the second floor.
The stories revolved around He-Man's attempt to thwart the latest evil plan by Skeletor, a muscle-bound mench with a skull-face who none-the-less had expressions.
Skeletor's plans ranged from kidnapping to fist fights to book burning (that's not a joke) and they usually got snuffed out by some lame dialogue and a sword fight.
The last two minutes of the show were toddled out with some lesson extracted from the day's events.
Sometimes when the show presented little more than 22 minutes of fighting, the lesson was given to the old standby - Say No to Drugs?Even with all this feux ingenuity flapping about at Filmmation the show never-the-less became an enormous hit, lasting three years and selling millions of crappy plastic dolls.In 1985, in the midst of this popularity came an idea so staggeringly stupid and unbelievable it still stuns me even today - the studio turned out a Christmas special.
Not just a Christmas special, but an Hour LONG Christmas special complete with dumpy cute kids, a puppy, a phallic-shaped spy cam and He-Man dressed as Santa Claus.
But wait it gets worse.The story begins when He Man's comic relief sidekick Orko accidentally gets beamed to Earth during a test of Skeletor's new spy satellite.
Orko manages to get back Planet Eternia, but brings along two Earth children, Alisha and Manuel.
Now, Alisha and Manuel fit right in on Eternia because neither have anything interesting to say, both perspire cuteness and we the viewers just want to strangle the sugary sweetness right outta both of them.
Oh, and they brought their cute lil 'ol puppy along with them and he's godda widdiw swedder on!
Awwwww, *hack* *cough* *gag*It was probably not by accident that the two are brought to the planet Eternia just at the same time that Earth is gearing up for the commerce assault known as Christmas time.
People of Eternia have no concept of Christmas and why should they even worry about it, they don't even have a mall?Now, as goofball as this may sound, Horak and Skeletor don't like this Christmastime nonsense and so Hordak orders Skeletor to kidnap the kids so he can do away with them.
Alisha and Manuel are so nauseating that my heart welled up a wan hope that Horak would succeed (Hey!
Leave me to dream).
If he had then I would have been spared a this jaw dropping exchange:Manuel: `Christmas is lots of fun.
We get presents and we do a lot of fun things.'Skeletor: `You mean you get in FIGHTS!'Alisha: `No we do FUN things.'Skeletor: `But fights are FUN.'Pick your jaw up, you're going to ruin the carpet.Into this chaos comes a whole batch of new characters, my favorite of which are the Monstroids, knee-high little cyber-cuties that look like mech-rejects from Rainbow Bright.
They have blue faces and they fight pretty well (as well as they can with only five cels of animation) and it doesn't take a genius to figure out that Filmmation was using them to parade their new toy line.Skeletor's heart (pause) melts just a bit when he begins to carry that puppy and and dog licks his face.
From this bit of germ-spreading exchange, he learns the true meaning of Christmas so much so that he wants to send the kids back home instead of sending them to Hoard Prime.
Hordak attempts to grab the kids and pull them onto his spaceship but Skeletor zaps the ship with his staff (the one in his hand) and sends the ship hurtling into the cosmos.
The kids go home with all kinds of new toys from Eternia and promply send their parents into a catatonic shock.
I know the feeling, I'm still feeling the effects myself..
One of the worst holiday specials of all time..
*Sigh* Why was this nonsensical episode made?!
It had a stupid story, annoying songs, and it this episode lacks the masculinity of the great show (The Masters of the Universe).
Also, where the hell is the action?!
The children are bland annoying and they make me vomit.
We also have the "black mage from Final Fantasy"...err...I mean Orko who keeps annoying us.
Skeletor used to be so evil, but in here, he's a wuss.
Sure, it may not be as bad as the Star Wars Holiday Special, but I still urge you to stay away from this atrocity!
Final Verdict: Another one of those wretched Holiday Specials.
If you're looking for a good He-man episode, then watch the first episodes instead!.
Nostalgia's a helluva drug.
How do you bring Christmas to Eternia?
Orko, naturally.
Plus some kids that need to get back home; the plot's as trivial as you'd expect from a MOTU holiday special, but it has its moments.
I've always been an Orko fan myself, and he fares the best of the impish '80s cartoon sidekicks.
Then again, this is also just another excuse to hear Skeletor complain a lot, especially with his beef with Hordak.I have no memory of this as a kid, but it's cheesy fun as an adult.
It received a whining appraisal by my 9 year-old too, so that's another plus..
Campy He-Man Christmas fun for everyone.
Two Children become lost when they go to find their family's Christmas tree, befriended by Orko they set about to bring the goodwill of Christmas to Eternia.In 1985, in the hight of this popularity came this hour shy Christmas special.
Filmmation's offering works just like the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and its spin-off She-Ra episodes.
Even though a commercial for the twist waist & power punch action toys it also had some great stories and morals to share, this is more of the same.
Naturally there's the recycling of the same cells but there's plenty of new footage including cute children, a puppy and Adam dressed as Santa Claus.
When Alisha and Manuel visit Eternia their goodwill attracts the unwelcome attention of Horde Prime and Skeletor.
The tale switches between planets and this special has a mix of fantasy elements synonymous with both shows - fairies, soldiers, monsters and (also thrown in are Transformer-like) robots.
Amongst the action set-ups there's some nice writing from Don Heckman and Bob Forward with plenty of sugary cuteness and animated visual treats.
Look for Orko's nod to Ghostbusters.
For fan's it bridges Earth to Queen Marlina, there's the on screen mix of Eterniain and Etheria characters and Skeletor's transition from super villain to reluctant nice guy.
After Hordak orders Skeletor to kidnap the kids there's a great scene where they explain Christmas to Skeletor:Skeletor: Tell me more about this "Christmas."Miguel: Well, it's a wonderful time of the year.
Everyone has lots of fun.Skeletor: You mean they get in fights?Miguel: No, no - they have fun!Skeletor: Fights are fun.
I like fights!Miguel: And you give each other presents.Skeletor: And when you open them, they explode, right?Miguel: No!
They're nice gifts.Skeletor: Nice?
Doesn't sound like much fun to me!Priceless.
Today, 30 years later directors Bill Reed and Ernie Schmidt offering may have trouble keeping up with the pace and style of contemporary cartoons but it's a heart warming story, fitting for the seasonal period, complete with some catchy songs and all the regular character favourites (voices from legend Alan Oppenheimer, John Erwin and Linda Gary to name a few).While possibly not the best Christmas cartoon, that prize is up for debate, it's still has great nostalgic value and is great viewing for children..
The Vidiot Reviews....
He-Man and She-Ra: A Christmas SpecialHanging with 1980s cartoon characters is really awkward since they're always trying to sell you their old action figures or one-hour holiday specials.Therefore, it's no wonder that the children in this animated movie are ill at ease spending their first Christmas with He-Man.When the wizard Orko magically transports a spy-ship from Eternia to Earth, he meets two small humans who got lost while looking for a Christmas tree.When Orko later returns to Eternia, he brings them and their Christmas spirit along, which intrigues Orko's friends: He-Man and She-Ra.However, Horde Prime fears good cheer, so he orders his underlings Hordak and Skeletor to kidnap the earthlings.With both He-Man and She-Ra's supporting cast present, as well as a lighthearted Skeletor, A Very Special Christmas is a holiday feast for fans of all ages.Unfortunately, on Eternia, the only meat served during Christmas dinner is My Little Pony.
(Green Light).
So so bad that it's GREAT!.
Okay, if you actually watch this seriously you'll think it's rubbish.BUT if you watch it for all the unintended(?) jokes and campiness, you'll probably laugh til you cry like I did!No, it doesn't really deserve 10/10 when you take an analytical look at it, but for overall fun and light-heartedness I'll give the movie its dues.
Besides, it's generally harmless...
well, maybe.
View for yourself and judge.
Like many of the B-grade cartoon movies, it's made for ridicule (and shameless promotion of the tie-in toys), and I'd say it hits the mark on both these counts very well.So if you want to watch a hilariously bad movie with friends for all-round enjoyment, don't go past this one..
A cheese-tastic but charming classic.
It is an annual tradition for me to watch this every Christmas.
Granted, I was only a year old when it came out, but since I have it on tape, I can watch it again and again.
Yes, it is a little cheesy and would probably best appeal to a 10-year-old, but it still tickles my fancy to see this.***SPOILERS*** Although it is HE-MAN'S and SHE-RA'S Christmas special (and even combines the two shows and its respective characters), it basically surrounds Orko, He-Man's annoying creature sidekick, and as per usual, Orko somehow manages to screw things up, in this case, by hopping aboard a rocket ship that was built to keep an eye on Skeletor.
After the ship is accidentally launched and crash lands on Earth, he meets two young siblings who've lost their way home, Miguel and Alicia, who in turn, give him a crash course in Christmas, something people on his planet knew nothing about.
After returning back to kingdom Greyskull with them, Lord Prime tells Skeletor and Hordack (She-Ra's enemy) to kidnap the children and bring them back to him so one of them will be handsomely rewarded.
The children get acquainted to the friends and family of the superheros, but are soon under attack again.
Both villains try to rise to task (amid some bickering and sabotages), but Skeletor, in a real out-of-character role here, actually grows fond of the children while in possession of them and saves them both from his rival and his boss.
The children gets home safely and the holiday (as well as the superhero twins' birthday days prior) is celebrated without incident.While I probably can never rank this holiday special up there with the likes of the Charlie Brown Christmas or Frosty the Snowman (which can be enjoyed at practically any age), I certainly would never count this one out, and while it is a bit maudlin and perhaps even overdone, it is still a favorite of mine and will always remain dear to my heart and a bright spot and cherished memory of my childhood..
It's worth watching the first 30 minutes of stupidity just to see Skeletor's actions at the end..
A friend, recently, gave me a tape with this flick, and while he gave it to me he also gave me a look that said "Be afraid!
Be very, very afraid!" And he has a point!
Stupidity is in fact a word that can describe the first 30 minutes of this film.
But then again, this is He-Man we're talking about, and THIS IS a Christmas special.
Two sh*ts not a gold make, but another sh*t.
But - the main thing about this cartoon that you shouldn't miss at all is somewhere at the end, when Skeletor fights the Christmass spirit and tries to remain good, and eventually he saves the day, which makes him say the immortal line " I'm glad that Christmass comes only once in a year." (or did She-Ra said that?).
Trust me, if you're a true He-Man fan, and especially Skeletor fan, you should watch this cartoon just for that one scene.
Overall, it's got a basic dose of stupidity for a Christmass cartoon but it still have that old He-Man charm that will make your Christmass great.(well, if you're in that kind of stuff)