Fan of He-Man? Want to own it on DVD? You have options for bringing home the series on DVD, many of which are still in print.
2005 was right in that sweet spot of time where Mill Creek was obtaining the rights to several 80's cartoons, and releasing them to eager fans who longed for home video releases to add to their personal collections. Among this was the original Masters of the Universe Series, its spin-off, She-Ra, Princess of Power, and the 90's sequel, The New Adventures of He-Man.
All of these would be released between 2005 and 2007 in multiple volumes, as well as several offshoot "special" DVD's.
The first disc of mention is the 1985 He-Man / She-Ra Christmas Special. Running just shy of forty-five minutes, this holiday special is a must have not only for 80's cartoon fans, but those who also enjoy light hearted Christmas shows during the holiday season. It's one that I personally have in my rotation during the month of December.
A budget friendly ten episode collection was released this same year, but didn't really make sense in the grand scheme of things as Volume One of Season One was released at the same time.
Volume One, Season One, formally kicked off the series, and contained half of the episodes from season one. Unique to this release was the artwork along the left side of the spine, which when placed side by side with all four sets from Masters of the Universe, all three from She-Ra, Princess of Power, and both sets from The New Adventures of He-Man, created a connected mural.
Both seasons one and two of Masters of the Universe were spread across two DVD sets, and wrapped up in 2006.
Also in 2006, both She-Ra, Princess of Power, and The New Adventures of He-Man saw their first releases. Season one, part one, of She-Ra contained half of the episodes of the season, while Volume one of The New Adventures of He-Man contained the first half of the series.
Both series concluded in 2007. However, there were noticeable differences in both sets for their final volumes. While prior releases had a raised artwork cover, these final two releases (Season Two / Volume Two) had flat covers.
She-Ra also got a "best of" DVD set. However, unlike the He-Man set, this volume contained the full feature film of The Secret of the Sword. While the movie is also the first five episodes of the show, this version contains the original opening, closing, and runs from start to finish without interruption.
The New Adventures of He-Man remain out of print as of this release, with volume two being the most difficult to find.
As noted above, when placed side by side, the spines of the sets create the below mural.
In 2008, BCI Eclipse brought the 2002 series of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe to DVD across three volumes. As an homage to the original Mill Creek series, Best Buy released an exclusive slipcase which continued the mural of the original DVD sets. While this only came with volume one, the case was large enough that the remaining two volumes could be placed in the package as well when they were released / purchased.
However, all the DVD's were mass released, so the only perk to the Best Buy exclusive was the slipcase itself.
With the entire series now out, BCI packaged the set in its entirety under one package, and discontinued the individual volumes.
Sam's Club released an exclusive box set of the complete series. However, in review of it, there isn't anything noticeably different, other than the reversed artwork image on the front.
For those looking for a more budget friendly option, ten episodes were released on a single DVD in 2009, and second volume in 2010.
Mill Creek re-packaged the series in 2011, this time putting all of season one and two on their own single volumes.
Additionally, they released two budget friendly collections which each featured twenty episodes.
She-Ra, Princess of Power, was also repackaged as the full series.
While the set contains the entire run of the original Masters of the Universe series, as well as the 200X sequel, it only contains twenty of The New Adventures of He-Man episodes. With the latter show still out of print, this set could have been a definitive must have for many collectors who missed out the first time.
The set contained additional extras which included documentaries, a CD soundtrack, exclusive power sword toy, and commemorative booklet. All of this came packaged in a 3D printed Castle Grayskull package.
Regardless of the version you want to hunt down, most of them are fairly easy on the bank account. There are some exceptions, such as the noted out of print New Adventures of He-Man, and Best Buy Exclusive 2002 slipcover. However, for the most part, you can get the remaining sets for around ten to thirty dollars each.
This was followed by yet another budget friendly collection, which once again featured twenty episodes.
2012 saw the twenty-fifth anniversary of She-Ra, Princess of Power, and to commemorate this, there was another release of the series on DVD. This time it was in a shiny cardboard booklet style package, with She-Ra printed on a clear background slipcover to fit over it.
An often forgotten, or missed, DVD release, was the 2015 Retro TV Toons, which featured ten episodes from the original series. While there's no new content here, it is a unique one for collectors looking to obtain all the home video releases.
The holiday special was re-released on DVD in 2018 with an all new cover. In addition to the artwork, this release did away with the original cardboard style packaging, in lieu of the traditional black plastic DVD case with artwork slipped inside the clear plastic holder.
Both He-Man and She-Ra have been released in their entirety on single DVD sets as of 2019, and these remain in print as of this writing.
A chase variant, of sorts, was released for the He-Man set, which featured a glow in the dark cover. While once readily available, this version is getting more and more scarce as time goes on.
Regardless of the version you want to hunt down, most of them are fairly easy on the bank account. There are some exceptions, such as the noted out of print New Adventures of He-Man, and Best Buy Exclusive 2002 slipcover. However, for the most part, you can get the remaining sets for around ten to thirty dollars each.
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Wow - that's a lot of cartooning.
ReplyDeleteWell a lot of them "rerelease" prior volumes, compiling them into a single release. But yes, there are a lot of versions available.
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