Happy Anniversary She-Ra!

[Jan]

Don't really know where this thread would belong but since it's JMS-related I'll put it here.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/TV/10/06/she.ra.anniversary/index.html?hpt=Sbin

I've never seen much of this show. Anybody familiar with it? I'd be interested to see some of the episodes that JMS wrote. The article says that it's now out on DVD, iTunes and Hulu so maybe I should check it out.

Jan

[OmahaStar]

Hmmm A few months ago, I noticed both He-Man and She-Ra were available on dvd, so I Netflixed the first disc of each. I remember having liked them both as a kid.

Now? Um ...

He-Man does not hold up at all. It reminds me of a review I read somewhere that said the toy company had created action figures and wanted a cartoon character to match the design. And thus, He-Man. She-Ra was a little better, but even then, I don't think I made it through the whole disc before giving up and sending them back.

[Jan]

If I recall correctly, wasn't it toy company interference that caused JMS to leave?

Jan

[JoeD80]

The reason Joe left She-Ra was because Filmation refused to give him and Larry DiTillio credit as Story Editors even though that's what they were doing. Captain Power is the show Joe left when the toy company was interfering too much.

[Doom Shepherd]

I may be a little Derp here, but wasn't the purpose of most of those shows (He-Man, She-Ra, Captain Power, Transformers, etc.)... to sell toys?

[Dan Dassow]

I may be a little Derp here, but wasn't the purpose of most of those shows (He-Man, She-Ra, Captain Power, Transformers, etc.)... to sell toys?

The short answer is yes. These were in effect 30 minute commercials.

[JoeD80]

I'm sure that's how the toy companies wanted it, and I'm not sure how the other writers dealt with it, but Joe always focused on the story first. He didn't want to put in new characters just because a toy came out if it didn't make sense in the story. When he was in charge of the writing on The Real Ghostbusters in the first seasons, he just ignored the toy company's requests.

[vakie]

Yes, the purpose of the show from Mattel's perspective was no doubt to sell the toys, but for the writers it was something different. They were writers trying to get into animation/TV, like Larry DiTillio, Paul Dini, Bob Forward and JMS, so what they were selling was themselves as TV writers. Thus they tried to write the best stories they could within the constraints they had to prove their worth, not to make toy commercials. If that's all they were, they wouldn't be so fondly remembered after all these years, and spawning various amounts of sequels and remakes.

[JoeD80]

There is a great section in Joe's writing book that mentions how most forms of writing have restrictions on them, but this shouldn't limit creativity. Some poetry has specific forms; television scripts must be structured around commercials; and children's cartoons include the toys. Good writers can work within the restrictions. Just remember Joe's priority list which he has posted once or twice starting with the most important:

Story
Self
Audience
Studio/Sponsor

If the sponsor's demands don't compromise the other three, there shouldn't be a problem working it in to the script.