MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE WEEK: She-Ra: Princess of Power episode "Book Burning" or oh no don't burn those books!!

A week for Masters of the Universe wouldn't be complete without someone mentioning SHE-RA: PRINCESS OF POWER, so I have hijacked ALEXIS' TREASURES to talk about She-ra!!! 

Season 1 Episode 26 "Book Burning"

General Synopsis:

(This is Corey in the episode helping the Horde)

The episode revolves around a young boy named Corey having to learn that sometimes what we are told about people, like the evil Horde, is not always accurate. When She-ra and Bow come to talk at his school about the Rebellion he is upset and says that the Horde are good people. He believes that they are the bad people. When Rattlor and Tung come to the town Corey gives away that She-ra and Bow have been at the school. As the story begins to unfold Corey keeps helping the evil Horde thinking that they are the good guys, but eventually when they start burning all the books because they only want to have a certain "image" portrayed it becomes apparent to Corey that the Horde may not be who he thinks they are. To find out any more of what happens in the episode you will have to watch the 26th episode of the first season of She-ra for yourself. It is available on Netflix for streaming, if you have this service available to you.

My Feelings:

During the episode, which I watched with Alexis, I found myself talking about the different elements of animation that were utilized. I could tell that some of the characters were reused animation cels from other episodes of either the she-ra series or from Masters of the Universe. If they were not reused animation cels they were at the very least reused character designs, since they did not act the same way in each episode (movements were not similar) I assume it was this. As a child this is something that I would have never caught onto, but as an adult it was a glaring issue for me. If they were reused from She-ra I would not have an issue, but Alexis and I watched an episode of Masters of the Universe directly after and there some of the same kids were. She-ra takes place in Etheria whereas He-Man is in Eternia. These kids are world hopping it appears? It is a kid show though, so I will suspend that part of my disbelief I guess. Onto the review itself.

I feel for a children's show that this is a very important message. Sometimes what our parents tell us is not always accurate, but we should still listen to them. Sometimes we have to recognize we are allowed to formulate our own opinions when presented with information that goes against what we have been taught or believe. When we take the time to assimilate this knowledge we change in great ways and this is the overall message I took from this episode. I think this episode, especially as it relates to people trying to only show one side of things, is very important. To stop the flow of knowledge only happens when a group wants only what they want told to be out there, which can be truly hazardous to a population. While it is a little heavy handed, in my opinion, for children it is still an overall great episode that is handled well due to the content. They never hit you directly in the face and instead let this message be handled simplistically through the character of Corey, which I think was important here. Telling it through the character of a child made the heavy handedness of the story more palatable for the intended audience. 

I appreciated this as a great message for a children's show, but as an adult I have to say lord that was the longest twenty some minutes of my life. I do not have true nostalgia for the series of "She-ra", but instead of an appreciation for the toys, as I had them as a child (they were my sisters but I stole them). The toys have not really stood up to the test of time though, so I do not own any. I, however, hold tight to those fond memories. Those memories did not transfer over to this series though. I would watch other episodes for review purposes, but I do not think I would add this to a must watch list for myself. 

Who Would and Wouldn't Enjoy She-Ra:

I do not think people that enjoyed the toys, but never saw this will enjoy the animated version as much. It doesn't transfer over as well. I think partially this is because if you had the toys you created your own stories for these characters and that is where your memories are attached, whereas this is telling you a story about the characters you used to create for. This may make it a challenge to watch. I also feel that if you are adverse to children's programming that have messages then this will make you rip out your hair because from what I know of the series almost every episode has a message for kids, since they even incorporated a character (Loo-kee) to tell the audience the message and each episode involves finding him in the story. It is very much set in telling a message to kids, so if not your thing then I would back away in a hurry from this show.

If you watched this as a child I believe it would stand the test of time. There are some shows that simply get aged in a way that almost makes them unwatchable, but I think the messages contained within this show stand the test of time, especially this episode. Also if you are an individual that truly loves animated shows you at least have to watch a few episodes of this one as it is considered a classic (along with Masters of the Universe). It is great for nostalgic reasons and I think if you loved masters of the Universe that you will also enjoy this particular show. They are very similar and they both have similar animation styles, so you will not be jarred there. Masters of the Universe fans definitely need to watch this one!