5/31/10

SHE-RA returns to DVD print with SHE-RA: PRINCESS OF POWER ~THE COMPLETE SERIES~ & more!!

From TVonDVD.com:

Where darkness rules, fights the champion of light! Armed with the Sword of Protection atop her winged unicorn, Swift Wind, She-Ra, twin sister of He-Man, is the defender of Crystal Castle. Together with the members of the Great Rebellion, She-Ra stands ready against Hordak and the Evil Horde, fighting to bring peace to Etheria. "For the honor of Grayskull...I am She-Ra!"
In 2004 the Filmation library of television shows was purchased by a British company, Entertainment Rights ("ER"), who licensed the North American home video rights for He-Man and the Masters of the Universe to BCI Eclipse. BCI did a great job releasing He-Man on DVD in 2005-06, so ER also dealt them the DVD rights to other Filmation shows, including She-Ra: Princess of Power. Following She-ra's equally terrific DVD releases in 2006-07, BCI bagan to fall on hard times as the beginnings of the late-2000s economic recession began to be felt. By the end of 2008, parent company Navarre had shut down BCI, and quite a few of the properties whose home video rights were contracted to them had been left in limbo. Many of those properties ended up at Mill Creek Entertainment, but the various Filmation library titles have never been among them.

Since ER currently owns Classic Media, the studio which produces DVD releases of such animated classics as Rocky & Bullwinkle, Casper the Friendly Ghost, Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, Underdog and others, it made sense to us all along that the Filmation properties would probably land over at Classic at some point. Today we've learned that this is now happening! Classic Media and distributor Vivendi Entertainment have begun solicating to retailers a September 7th DVD release of She-Ra: Princess of Power - The Complete Series. It's described as a 10-disc set with 93 episodes running approx. 2000 minutes (33+ hours) long. These will be presented in the original full-frame video and English mono audio of the television broadcasts. It is NOT known whether or not The He-Man & She-Ra Christmas Special is included as part of this package (it's not mentioned, and the 93-episode count wouldn't seem to include it). Nor is there any reference to the "film edit" version of the original 5 episodes, "The Secret of the Sword". On the other hand, we do know that there will be some "swag" included inside of the packaging: Classic/Vivendi's solicitation to retailers mentions that bonus material found inside the box will include "T-shirt iron on, mini comic and more!" All of this will be enclosed by "eye-catching" collectible packaging with an elaborate o-ring outer card. This is all timed to tie-in with the 25th Anniversary of She-Ra, and even though the new DVD releases aren't happening until the near-fall time of year, Mattel is promoting the She-ra character with a new action figure at their Comic-Con booth in June, so visitors to that event in the coming weeks can probably expect to find out more about Classic Media's DVDs while there.

Package art images and pricing for She-Ra: Princess of Power - The Complete Series was not available in the information we saw, but Classic/Vivendi is keeping in mind that not everybody can afford an elaborate 10-DVD set right now. So they are also planning a lower-end 2-DVD package with the show's first 20 episodes, titled She-Ra: Princess of Power - Season 1, Volume 1. Keep in mind that BCI's now-discontinued releases had included a six-disc set of the exact same title, with thirty-three episodes on those discs. However, Classic Media's new release isn't following the same blueprint, so don't expect it to be the same: it has fewer discs and episodes, to ring up a lower price at the cash register. It will be available on the same date as The Complete Series collection: September 7th. On-disc extras and in-box bonus items, if any, weren't mentioned for this title in the info provided to retailers. Nor do we have specific pricing or package art for it yet, either. Also, there has not yet been any word about new DVD releases of the original 1983 Filmation He-Man series. Stay tuned, however, and we'll update you as soon as we find out anything further!


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