Princess Adora, whose secret identity is She-Ra, and her friends must free Etheria from Hordak and his Evil Horde, after realizing her true destiny through the help of her twin brother Prince Adam, who is also known as He-Man.
This premise is similar to that of the He-Man cartoon, with the distinction that while He-Man serves King Randor on Eternia, She-Ra is a revolutionary engaged in a rebellion against Hordak, the tyrannical ruler of Etheria, and to a larger extent against the rarely seen Horde Prime, leader of an evil intergalactic empire. Another similarity and distinction is that while both series mix science fiction and sorcery, He-Man's stories tend to lean towards science fiction and technology, while She-Ra's are geared more towards sword and sorcery.
She-Ra, like He-Man, wields a magic sword: the Sword of Protection. Adora transforms into She-Ra by holding it above her head and saying, "For the honor of Grayskull... I am She-Ra!" The Sword of Protection differs from He-Man's Sword of Power in that it has a crystal set into the blade. The crystal is the source of Adora's transformation power, and if cracked, prevents her from changing to She-Ra, as revealed in the episode, "The Stone in the Sword". The crystal is able to emit a beam of light, akin to a laser, capable of cutting through stone and metal. The Sword of Protection is also unique in that it can change into other objects at She-Ra's command; changing into a shield, helmet, parachute, lasso, or flaming blade among other things.
Additionally, She-Ra and her alter ego, Princess Adora look exactly the same, much as He-Man and Prince Adam do. This is due to budget restraints on the animation, and the presumption that youngsters would not be able to follow the stories with a vast distinction in appearance. The only real change that occurs in the transformation is a change in clothes and a deeper, more authoritative voice as well as giving She-Ra longer hair than Adora. Unlike Adam, who pretends to be a lazy, irresponsible playboy to keep people from suspecting he is He-Man, Adora never acts as anything other than her true self: energetic, somewhat tomboyish, strong-willed but with a kind streak.
She-Ra also possesses superhuman strength and stamina, in addition to being very athletic and agile, and like He-Man, She-Ra often outsmarts her opponents rather than simply beating them up. Her personality combines the archetypical female traits of kindness, compassion, and a soft-spoken manner; however, she also displays bravery and perseverance in the face of danger. As well as the super-human strength and stamina shared by He-Man after his transformation, She-Ra has additional skills in her changed form. These include a healing touch and telepathic communication with animals.
She-Ra has allies among the rebels, they include Bow, an archer and bard with an assortment of specialized arrows; Princess Glimmer of Bright Moon, who can manipulate light and is the daughter of Queen Angella; Madame Razz, a somewhat absent-minded Twigget witch and her talking, flying Broom; Kowl, a wise and sharp-witted owl-like bird; Castaspella, the sorceress queen of Mystacor; Mermista, a mermaid princess who can transform her tail fin into legs to walk on land and control waters; and Frosta, ruler of the Kingdom of Snows, who can command snow and ice at will. While He-Man rides a tiger, Adora rides a horse, Spirit. When she transforms into She-Ra she uses the power of her sword to transform him into a winged unicorn, called Swift Wind, similar to how He-Man transforms his pet, Cringer, into Battle Cat. As with Adora, Spirit's personality is not changed during transformation, though initially, he could only speak as Swift Wind, while Cringer can speak in either form. The rebels operate from The Whispering Woods, a dense magical forest inhabited by the Twiggets. In the episodes encompassed by the feature film, the rebels also succeed in re-conquering Castle Bright Moon from the Evil Horde.
Like He-Man, there are also four people on Etheria who know Adora's true identity. Madame Razz, her sidekick Broom, Kowl and most importantly, Light Hope, who in turn appears occasionally as the gatekeeper of The Crystal Castle, a hidden castle on Etheria, which is introduced in an episode of the same name. Unlike Skeletor, who always tries to conquer Castle Grayskull, Hordak never attempts to conquer the Crystal Castle, although he may have heard of it from time to time from Shadow Weaver, who grew up on Etheria. Like the friends of He-Man who know of his secret, Adora's friends know Adam's secret as most of the characters from He-Man appear occasionally throughout the series' run.
Hordak is a leader of the Evile Horde who tried to conquer Eternia at the time of Adora and Adam's birth. After being repelled, Hordak and his favourite pupil Skeletor attemped to kidnap both infants as he knew they had a special destiny, but Hordak only managed to grab Adora before the alarm was raised and Skeletor was captured in the process. Hordak has a supporting cast of villains. These include Shadow Weaver, Hordak's right hand, a dark witch with a whole complement of spells and who was originally a sorceress from Mystacor named Light Spinner; Leech, who can suck the energy out of his unsuspecting victims; Mantenna, a hideous creature with pointy ears and pop-action eyes that emit various energy beams capable of incapacitating his foes, who was played, however, as a stammering, incompetent boob rather than as the capable, erudite threat of the mini-comics; Grizzlor, a hairy bear-like beast; Catra, an anti-She-Ra who can transform into a giant cat through means of a magical mask; Entrapta, the Evil Horde's villainous technician. She appears to be a close sidekick of Catra. Entrapta is a skilled inventor and can mentally control her hair at will. Scorpia is part-human, part-scorpion; instead of hands she possesses scorpion-like claws and has a scorpion's tail as well as legs.
After being kidnapped from Eternia as an infant, Adora was raised as Hordak's protégée and manipulated by Shadow Weaver's magic. Through an encounter with her brother, she breaks free of the manipulation, and is told of her true heritage and join The Great Rebellion.
Hordak is also supported by an entire army of Horde Troopers, recognizable by their heavy armor, dome-shaped helmets and blasters. The Troopers also have a host of different combat vehicles, giving them a technological advantage over the rebels in the war for Etheria. The Horde operates from the Fright Zone and controls much of Etheria. The notorious Beast Island serves as a prison camp.
One interesting feature of the animated series is the presence of a "hidden character", named Loo-Kee, who appears in all episodes. This small pixie-like creature, dressed in a rainbow-colored outfit, is drawn into the background art of one specific scene in an episode; the viewer is challenged to try to find him, much like the Where's Waldo? phenomenon of years later. Loo-Kee is used to deliver the end-of-show "morals" segment, a trademark of most Filmation shows of this era; in He-Man the role is sometimes given to Orko), and it is during this segment that it is revealed exactly where he had been hiding. Loo-Kee is not a character in the She-Ra series per se, and is only directly involved in the story in two episodes, entitled "Look-Kee Lends A Hand" And "Look-Kee's Sweety".
She-Ra makes her début in He-Man and She-Ra: The Secret of the Sword, a full length animated movie that was created by compiling together the first five episodes of the-then forthcoming syndicated series: "Into Etheria", "Beast Island", "She-Ra Unchained", "Reunions" and "Battle For Bright Moon". The series premiered in 1985 and was cancelled in 1986, after 2 seasons and 93 episodes. Reruns aired on USA Network from September 1988 to September 1989.
