He Man/ She Ra: A Christmas Special

Throughout the years cartoons have provided the source material for some very touching themes. The 1980s (and earlier) were a less politically correct time for society and as such allowed for Christmas to be celebrated by our beloved characters. While perhaps the most famous of these specials is the Charlie Brown's Christmas, He-Man & She-Ra teamed up back in 1985 to offer up 45 minutes of sheer holiday joy.

The plot involves the ever-mischievous Orko stowing onboard Man-At-Arms' spy satellite and accidentally launching it out into space. For reasons never quite explained, he winds up crash landing on the distant planet earth just prior to Christmas. Upon arriving he meets two young children in the process of cutting down a pine for use as their Christmas tree. When beamed back to Eternia, the children follow Orko and end up bringing the holiday spirit along with them in the process.

The hilarity really ensues when Skeletor begins to catch a bit of the Christmas spirit himself. This episode coincides with the era at Filmation where Hordak became the true villain of both shows and Skeletor basically became a really cool looking comedian. Somehow or other, the formula simply works. And unlike the Charlie Brown special mentioned above, the He-Man She-Ra Christmas Special actually has less to do with the holidays themselves and more to do with a kidnaping escapade whereby Hordak and Skeletor start to compete with each other to earn the respect of Horde Prime. Also as mentioned before, the run time for the feature is roughly 45 minutes (approximately that of 2 standard episodes back to back). Don't mistake this for an excuse to overlook this gem as it truly represents an intregal piece to anyone's BCI/ Masters of the Universe collection.