He-Man & She-Ra: A Christmas Special
The gate of Castle Grayskull, closed
left-pointing gray power sword right-pointing gray power sword
a TV screen
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MUXMS

December 25, 1985
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A television, with sections on the right reading from top to bottom: Episode Number, Episode Code, Original Air Date, and Stills.
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Writer
Don Heckman & Bob Forward

Director
Ernie Schmidt, Bill Reed

Snapshot
Just at that special time of the year, a bumbling Orko manages to launch himself through space and all the way to Earth. He brings two Christmas-loving children back with him to Eternia, where they are entangled in a zany adventure involving Skeletor, Hordak, He-Man, She-Ra, and some cute little robot pals. Time to teach a sugary lesson about peace and good will - one that might even change the mind of one bony arch-nemesis!

Heroic Warriors
Queen Marlena, King Randor, Snout Spout, Fisto, Sy-Klone, Glimmer, Flutterina, Cringer, Peekablue, Bow, Castaspella, Stratos, Frosta, Teela, Kowl, Ram Man, Angella, Moss Man, Madame Razz, Broom, Adora (She-Ra), Perfuma, Orko, Prince Adam (He-Man, Santa Claus), Man-at-Arms, Spirit (Swift Wind), Mermista, the Widgets (including Squinch, Lara, Kando), Buzz-Off, Mekaneck, Lizard Man, Zodac, Man-E-Faces, Sea Hawk

Evil Warriors
Skeletor, Two Bad, Webstor, Rattlor, Spikor, Hordak, Multi-Bot, Catra, Imp, Modulok

Other Characters
Twiggets, Miguel, Alisha, the Beast Monster, Monstroids, Horde Prime, Manchines (including Cutter, Zipper, Relay the puppy), snow beast, Horde soldiers, Eternian citizens, Loo-Kee, Dree Elle, mouse, Yukkers, Uncle Montork, Miguel and Alisha's parents

Vehicles
Sky Spy, Collector, Laser Bolt, Horde "sneaker", sky sled (Evil), Hordak-faced ship, Horde Prime's ship, sky sleds (Horde versions)

Plot summary
Tis the season - you know the one! That time when everyone feels a little warmer towards their fellow humans, and a light blanket of snow covers the ground. Yes, that's right - it's almost Adam and Adora's birthday! (It also happens to be Christmas time.) To celebrate, King Randor and Queen Marlena have invited all the twins' friends over to the royal palace in Eternos - even a whole pack of Adora's buddies from the land of Etheria. A crowd of these action-figure-worthy characters are busily decorating the palace complex for the upcoming party. But where are Prince Adam and Man-at-Arms? Those two sillies are out in the snow, putting the final touches on Duncan's "Sky Spy" rocket, which, when operational, should allow our Heroic Warriors to spy constantly on Skeletor (just like he's been doing to them for several years now).

Having finished up some technical tweaks, Duncan and Adam head inside; but they don't realize they've been spied on, by one trouble-prone Trollan. It's Orko the magician, who is called by the siren song of the Sky Spy and decides he just has to try out the cockpit. Leaving the magic book he's been carrying at the base of the launch pad, he floats up and slips into the pilot's seat; but his pretend play triggers an unintentional takeoff! Monitoring the rocket from Duncan's lab, Adam and the man-at-arms see that it has become airborne. Even worse, the ship has been detected by some Evil Warriors, who just happened to be flying by in their Collector! The prince becomes He-Man and rushes off, informing his sister Adora of the problem on his way out.

He-Man takes off on his Laser Bolt and intercepts the Collector just as it's trying to grab the Sky Spy with its pincer arms. Our blonde oaf de-claws the vessel, but he's up against a full villainous Collector crew, in the form of Skeletor, Webstor, Rattlor, Spikor, and Two Bad (that's a lot of "-or"s!). The minions trigger the ship's defenses, and He-Man soon finds himself wrapped up from shoulder to calf in pesky force belts. Luckily, Adam's sister has decided to join the fray: She-Ra shows up on Swift Wind, frees her brother, and together the pair smash the Collector. With the ship controls jammed and the auto-pilot forcing it back to Snake Mountain, Skeletor vindictively ejects his four pilots and gives up on his rocket theft. But the heroes are also having trouble retrieving that Sky Spy. In an attempt to rescue himself, Orko predictably makes things even worse, when his magic spell gives the rocket a hyperspeed boost into space. He-Man and She-Ra are unable to follow and decide to turn for home. One consolation: at least there wasn't anyone in the cockpit! But the heroes soon find they were mistaken about this, as Marlena, Teela, and Adora find Orko's magic book near the launch site, and the sorcerer missing. How will they ever save their little buddy?

It turns out that Man-at-Arms has been very sneakily neglecting to tell anyone that he's built an incredibly useful transport beam that can fetch Orko back from where he's gone. The only problem is, its power source is a carium water crystal which doesn't exist on Eternia. Adora posits that it might be found on her world of Etheria, and volunteers to travel back and check. To do so, she transforms again into She-Ra and, once on Etheria, consults her friend Mermista - who, since she lives in the water, should know about anything that has "water" in its name. Mermista does, in fact, have an idea where a carium water crystal could be found. The only problem is, it's in a pool guarded by the legendary Beast Monster! Not one to be dissuaded by the presence of a poorly named monster, She-Ra volunteers to lure the creature away so that Mermista can obtain the crystal.

The plan works flawlessly, with She-Ra dumping the green Loch Ness-type critter into a ditch and Mermista diving into the pond and coming up with the MacGuffin. The only problem is, all this fiddling around wakes up something buried in the ground nearby: three gigantic robots. She-Ra recognizes the wicked beings as "Monstroids," a name she's gotten from some other, more friendly robots she knows - the "Manchines." Our heroine prepares to battle the aggressive Monstroids, but they almost immediately trap her in a bubble. Rather than continue the contest, the robots choose to depart and gather their forces - but not before "changing into other forms," a practice that greatly offends Swift Wind. After the Monstroids have gone, She-Ra easily extracts herself from the bubble and heads back to Eternia with her crystal - certain that she hasn't seen the last of those pesky form-changing robots.

So what has Orko been up to all this time? Well, his magic-charged rocket got such a boost that it ripped itself a new space hole, and crash landed on a completely different planet. The Trollan was thrown clear of the wrecked craft, and found himself miraculously unharmed in a snowy, mountainous landscape. But the impact of the crashed vessel started an avalanche which Orko saw was about to engulf two young children. Since his magic tends to work when absolutely necessary, Orko's hastily cast spell successfully carries the children, their sled, and their pine tree to safety. The human children and the Trollan magician are then able to have a bit of a powwow. Though no formal introductions are made, we will eventually learn that the children are Miguel and Alisha, older brother and little sister. They got lost in the woods after gathering a Christmas tree. Orko's confusion over the term "Christmas tree" leads to a long explanation from the kids about the holiday - because, of course, our Eternian citizen has landed on planet Earth.

Orko loves the idea of Christmas as explained by the children, since it involves peace, good will to men - and lots of presents. (Some form of organized religion may be at the heart of it as well, but let's not talk about that!) Just as they are rocking out to a classic Christmas carol in the safety and warmth of the Sky Spy's interior, the trio are distracted by a glowing light. It's the ship's transporter beam, which Man-at-Arms has made operational thanks to She-Ra's delivery of the water crystal. With no consideration for the children's wishes or the concerns of their parents, Orko drags Miguel and Alisha into the transporter beam, and they are teleported - ship, pine tree, and all - back to Eternia.

Assembled in the royal throne room with the children and the royal family, Orko relates his adventure, and the king and queen invite the children to hang out in the palace while Duncan's crystal recharges. Marlena suggests that they expand the birthday celebration into a Christmas celebration, and everyone agrees that this is a fine idea. There's someone, however, who doesn't like all this Christmas spirit: Horde Prime! The uber-villain, who's floating along in space in a nasty-looking asteroid, somehow detects the waves of goodness radiating off Eternia due to the arrival of the two scions of American - er, Earth - culture, and decides that this needs to be nipped in the bud. He summons his two greatest servants, Skeletor and Hordak, and pits them against each other in a race to see who can capture the Earth children the fastest.

Meanwhile, to distract the kids from the fact that they miss their home, Bow and Perfuma have taken them out into the woods, where the mustached bard plays his own attempt at a Christmas song, and Perfuma decks the landscape with holiday-themed vegetation. Their festive singing is interrupted by the arrival of Hordak, who easily swipes both children (and Orko, because why not?) and sucks them up into his ship. For a few seconds it seems that Hordak has this contest for Horde Prime's approval sewn up; but his passing vessel is grabbed by the claw of a Monstroid and unceremoniously slammed to earth. The Monstroids, it seems, want the children too (why? who knows?), and are tough enough to scare off Hordak and his goons. The Horde members having skedaddled, the bargain basement transformers stuff the kids and Orko into a prison cell.

Lucky for our hostages, it seems the cute little Manchines have caught wind of this kidnapping, as a rescue plan is immediately set in motion. Cutter the Manchine, who's not named that for nothing, cuts the bars of the cell window and lets the prisoners out; and his wheeled cousin Zipper, who's also not named that for nothing, has them climb on his back in preparation for a zippy ride out of there. But the rescue is rumbled and the Monstroids attack! Things quickly get even messier, because He-Man and She-Ra, having consulted Peekablue, found out where their friends were located and have also arrived to aid in the rescue. The muscle-bound twins smash up some Monstroids while the Manchines attempt to hustle the kids to safety. Thought there were already a lot of characters on the scene? Let's add some more! Because Skeletor is there, too, having stealthily arrived in a custom sky sled with an extra-long bench that has enough seating to comfortably hold two additional hostages - er, passengers. He snatches the children (this time eschewing their Trollan companion) and flies off, trapping Swift Wind to prevent heroic pursuit. But Bonehead is detected by yet another character: Hordak, who's shown up in his Hordak-faced ship. Skeletor zaps Hordak, but before Hordak is forced to retreat he retaliates in kind, hitting the sky sled's engine and causing Skeletor to crash land amid a snowy tundra.

Picking himself up, Skeletor goads the Earth children to their feet, urging them to get moving so he can reach the pre-arranged rendezvous for the handoff to Horde Prime. But the children are shivering in the arctic conditions - and so is Relay, the Manchine puppy they've managed to carry along with them. Skeletor, seeing his prisoners are about to turn to human icicles, grudgingly conjures some heavy coats to keep them warm. But he puts his foot down when it comes to the puppy - no dogs allowed! The creature will just have to stay here in the snow. The villain's resolve lasts for about two seconds, until Relay's pitiful whining prompts the unusually compassionate Skeletor to take the puppy in his arms. It happily licks his bony face. The quartet then begin a long trudge through the snow, with the children regaling Skeletor with tales of Christmas, while the villain complains about the feisty dog, but refuses to hand it over to either of the Earthlings to carry.

Skeletor makes some understandable incorrect assumptions about how Christmas works, because for him, having fun and exchanging presents means getting into fights and giving people boxes that explode. But we suspect his icy villain's heart is beginning to thaw under the heartfelt influence of the children; and our suspicions are bolstered when Skeletor saves the kids from the attack of a vicious snow beast. With the yeti-like creature zapped away, Miguel and Alisha gratefully thank their protector, calling him "nice" and "wonderful;" but Skeletor shakes off the compliments, angrily denying the accuracy of these adjectives and declaring his unwavering intention to deliver his prisoners to Horde Prime.

Finally arrived at the rendezvous, Skeletor and his charges are met by Horde Prime's ship - and literally everyone else. He-Man, She-Ra, Orko, Swift Wind, Hordak, Multi-Bot, and a troop of Horde soldiers all arrive, and a ruckus ensues. Our muscular heroes do their darnedest to fight off the hordes of Hordesmen and rescue the children, but all their efforts are not enough to stop Horde Prime. It seems he's about to snatch up the Earthlings in a great claw arm which lowers from his ship. It's at this point that Skeletor, who can hardly understand what's happening to him (down in Whoville they say that his heart grew three sizes that day!), uses his havoc staff to disintegrate the claw arm and bust the ship's engines, giving He-Man and She-Ra enough time to join forces and hurl the thing back into space and away.

The children are saved! They rush to thank a very confused Skeletor, to the shock of a very surprised He-Man and She-Ra. He-Man realizes that Skeletor must be feeling the Christmas spirit. The dismayed villain groans that he would much rather feel evil, and an amused She-Ra reassures him that "Christmas only comes once a year." Those present then all have a good laugh at the expense of the relieved Skeletor.

Presumably having left old Bonehead to while away the rest of the holiday in peace, the heroes and a host of other friends (including many characters we haven't seen in ages, and some very rare C-listers who didn't even rate their own action figures) all gather again in the royal palace to celebrate a very merry combined Christmas and birthday celebration. A jolly man, apparently Santa Claus, wishes the joy of the season on Miguel and Alisha, and gifts them with a pair of flying belts. Bidding a fond farewell to their new friends, the children are then beamed away through the use of Man-at-Arms's transporter. On Eternia, the heroes are able to watch remotely via a TV screen as the children, finally returned to their house, attempt to tell the truth of their wild adventures to their disbelieving parents, who tell them to go to bed so Santa can come. Miguel and Alisha obey by activating their flying belts and sailing off to their rooms, leaving one flabbergasted set of caregivers in their wake.

All's well that ends well; and the Eternian Santa Claus wishes a merry Christmas to the "young lady" Adora. You can't put one past this princess, however; Adora tugs off Santa's beard, revealing that this gift-giver's secret identity is none other than Prince Adam. Don't worry, Adam; we'll never tell. And so, as tiny Orko observed: Ancients bless us, every one!

Memorable lines

Animation Loops

hemanTransformations
One partial (missing Cringer/Battle Cat sequence)

Adora makes one full transformation so that she can return to Etheria as part of the quest to fetch Orko, but there are actually no other transformation sequences to be seen in this movie. At just past the midpoint of the story, when the children have been kidnapped by Hordak and then stolen by the Monstroids, Adora and Adam transform off-screen to visit Peekablue in their muscular alter egos. They remain in this state until the exciting conclusion, and transform back into their normal selves - again off-screen - for the final celebrations.

PSA
Brought to you by Prince Adam and Orko
Did you think you'd get through this holiday movie without being taught a very special lesson at the very end? Well you were WRONG! Adam appears sitting in a comfortable-looking easy chair, and - in a very meta moment we've seen before in MOTU PSAs - sounding as if he's just finished telling the whole story of the movie to Orko. He grudgingly admits that "not everyone celebrates Christmas, but the spirit of the Christmas season is within us all." Indeed, there are other cultures on Earth than those of the West, but at this point those other cultures have gotten the West all over themselves, and it's not coming off. The pair of animated action figures try to convince us that the season is not all about buying toys, and go on for a bit about caring and happiness or something, managing once again to avoid mentioning Jesus, but showing they're much less cynical than this writer.

Connected episodes
N/A: As with the She-Ra movie, I don't think it's fair to connect this directly to episodes of MOTU, as it really stands alone. Secret of the Sword at least aligned well with several of my episode categories; this one is more difficult to classify.

Firsts/Lore

Commentary