Christmas comes to Eternia in He-Man and She-Ra: A Christmas Special, which is a planet that, as far as I know based on the limited information about religious leanings over there, isn't overflowing with Christians, but most people who celebrate the holiday here on Earth aren't Christian either, so we should allow Eternia to partake in the seasonal values, given their constant hardships from terrorist attacks by arch-enemy Skeletor who manages to have a skull for a head and a weightlifter's body.
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe was an animated children's adventure-fantasy TV-series in the mid-80s. It's about this prince named Adam, who isn't the type of stuck-up royalty that sends commoners to war. Prince Adam becomes the mighty He-Man when he stands in front of Castle Greyskull with the Sword of Power and shouts "I have the power!" Nobody knows Prince Adam and He-Man are the same person because their clothes are different and He-Man has a sword. Also, He-Man doesn't have the same unfounded reputation on Eternia of being a spoiled sissy. As He-Man, Adam fights Skeletor and other monstrous evils against Dr. Seussian backdrops. The men are buff. The women are curvaceous. It was basically Heavy Metal for kids too young for shrooms.
The Christmas special aired at the end of 1985, when Masters of the Universe had just completed its run. Its sister show, She-Ra: Princess of Power was still airing new episodes. She-Ra was introduced into the He-Man universe in the theatrical release The Secret of the Sword, and the Christmas special gave them another chance to crossover audiences and fight evil together.
(It wasn't just a demographic gender divide that separated the two series. He-Man's theme music is classic rock, while She-Ra's is faster and appealed to children who grew up to like punk and ska.)
There are a couple reasons why this special is noteworthy. One is that there's a sparsity of Christmas-related films set in space. Santa Claus Conquers the Martians didn't have the budget to let viewers look at the stars, and The Star Wars Holiday Special is just hard to look at. There's also the Canadian animated special A Cosmic Christmas from 1977, but basically it ends here. If this collision of genres isn't exactly successful in practice, it's still intriguing in theory.
The other reason is that the moments where Skeletor becomes infected with Christmas spirit have goofy charm. It's unfortunate it takes too long to get there, and the story goes through too many loops to say so little.
Having never heard of Christmas, He-Man and his friend Man-At-Arms are busy building the Sky Spy satellite so they can spy on Skeletor inside his home from space. Even though this special is twenty-eight years old, it's still topical. Incompetent-wizard-creature Orko enters the Sky Spy and misapplies a landing spell, crashing it on Earth where he meets the human children (and potential future pop stars) Miguel and Alisha.
There's a nice attention to how kids can be jerks by acting astonished when a peer is ignorant to something they would have no way of knowing. The kids mock poor Orko for asking about Christmas, with which everybody is familiar. Later they teach him "Jingle Bells," though it strikes me that the snippet heard from this rendition is incorrect, consisting of the title sung three times in succession, which should never happen.
Nevertheless, even Skeletor warms up to these saccharine Earth children with their visions of sugarplums. Holding them captive, during a trek across a field of snow, Skeletor assures that the kids have winter coats, carrying their pre-WaffleBot robo-dog Relay in his arms. His feelings overtake him. These emotions are new and strange, and Skeletor, an untouchable master of his art, is for once uncertain and full of love.
In the most startling exchange in '80s TV/action figure commercial animation, Skeletor asks the big questions.
"Tell me more about this Christmas?"
"Well, it's a wonderful time of the year. Everyone has lots of fun."
"You mean they get in fights!?"
"No! No! They have fun."
"Fights are fun. I like fights!"
"And you give each other presents."
"And when you open them they explode, right!?"
Skeletor begins to doubt his very existence in the face of Christmas merriment.
"I am not nice!" he insists, but it's a weak, desperate attempt to convince himself. He-Man and She-Ra: A Christmas Special is a very odd take on the Ebenezer Scrooge arc, as Skeletor's change is almost out of his control entirely, allowing The Mystical Forces of Christmas Spirit to do their bidding. Once Skeletor's finally gathered with the heroes, having faith, being merry, She-Ra assures him that Christmas comes but once a year. Everybody laughs because it means he'll be trying to kill them again soon.
He-Man and She-Ra: A Christmas Special and The Meaning of Christmas
The Masters of the Universe always ends with He-Man telling viewers the moral of the story. This often consisted of things like "don't accept gifts from strangers," and "don't find shortcuts to becoming a millionaire." This time He-Man tells Orko that the spirit of Christmas is within us all, even those who don't celebrate. Orko jokes that he likes presents, and He-Man rolls his eyes. But there were Masters of the Universe toys to be sold. It wasn't really a laughing matter.
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