She-Ra was developed when Mattel came to Scheimer asking for a girl character a year after the debut of He-Man. He developed her as a sister He-Man didn’t know existed. Season 1 of She-Ra has been released on DVD.

DH: My specialty was the girl characters, which I was told had a certain resemblance to my wife. I confess, she was my constant muse.

LS: Nothing wrong with that.

[Lou pulls the models over to get a better look.]

LS: Oh, that’s great yeah. You know, At Comic-Con there was a girl that showed up at the booth dressed as Frosta. She had the blue hair and the whole outfit. She looked great. It’s on the DVD I think.

[Lou continues to flip through some of my other designs for Katra and Scorpia.]

LS: This is great, when you show these things to people they must think you’re kidding,

DH: Especially younger people, who grew up on these shows.

LS: Oh, they must be like, “Oh, my God!! Oh my God!” [Laughs]

[Lou pulls out Flutterina. We both laugh at the names.]

DH: Here we are looking at Flutterina, The names were hilarious.

LS: The names all came from the women over in the girls department at Mattel. I said what the hell am I going to do with a character called Perfuma!! Flutterina… who the hell is going to believe that?!

[We are both laughing.]

LS: I’ve forgotten how nice this stuff was. It was going through so fast and so furiously,

DH: There was such attention to detail by Diane Keener, I think, as department head. She really set the tone for what we were going for.

Scheimer resisted sending He-Man and She-Ra overseas for animation. For him there was no satisfaction in that; it would just be business without a heart.

LS: She was terrific! I remember how concerned she was about everything. Now you worked with Diane and Herb Hazelton right? He passed away you know.

DH: Yes, that was several years ago I think. He was doing layout as well as some character design work on the show. Besides Diane, and many other great artists who came through the department, I worked most with Harry Sabin.

LS: Oh, they were wonderful, have you seen Harry or Diane lately?

DH: I haven’t seen Diane in many years, but I run into Harry now and then. He’s doing great.

Lou, you took some risks, in spite of the fact that you were following a toy line, and you had a lot of constraints from the network. To the toy company, I felt you still had moments there that you were able to make things interesting in the storyline and push the envelope a bit.

LS: In spite of them!

DH: Yes, and that would inspire me too as a designer, I thought, wow, you’re pushing the envelope here a bit so I am going to too.

When we did the Huntara episode, I’m thinking Grace Jones.

LS: Oh, yeah, I remember this. Ya know what, people who never saw the show, complained about its violence. It’s all bullshit!! They didn’t see what the show was, they didn’t see the preparation, the thought that went into it, There was one man, Arthur Nadel, the story editor, he was the unsung hero on the show, he lived and breathed the thing.

DH: Yes, I believe Tom T [Tom Tataranowicz] directed that show.

LS: Yah know, Tom T has turned into a really sweet guy. He’s going to destroy his reputation!!

[We’re laughing.]

DH: Lou, how did you get started out here?

Mattel had problems figuring out how to market the She-Ra doll to girls. In spite of the confusion, the show was a hit, and it turned out girls actually already liked He-Man.

LS: Well, I came out from Pittsburgh and desperately wanted a job. The first job I got was at a little studio that’s not around anymore and as soon as I got the job they went on strike! So I went and found Walter Lantz. He gave me a freelance job doing backgrounds. I really liked it and he paid me enough to pay the bills. I went back to him and I asked him, did you really like my portfolio, is that why you hired me?

He says I didn’t hire you because of your portfolio; I hired you because you looked like my brother Michael! I’m thinking, ah shit!!

[We’re laughing.]

DH: OK, well, when I came out here, I interviewed at Disney like everyone who gets off the boat to be an animator in Hollywood, And, do you know who interviewed me? Donald Duckwall!!! [Lou laughs]. I’m thinking can this guy ever work anywhere else but Disney? [Lou is still laughing.]

LS: Don Duckwall!! That’s right. I had forgotten he was there.

[Lou looks at more designs I brought and is appropriately complimentary.]

LS: We really have to do this again sometime.

DH: I really appreciate your time Lou. It’s been great and I look forward to the DVDs.

LS: It's been great for me, thank you, I hope I gave you something you can use. Hell I don’t know what we talked about but it was fun. Seriously, you really made my day!

Editors note: She-Ra: Princess of Power, Season One, Volume One, was released Nov., 7, 2006, by BCI and Entertainment Rights at a suggested retail price of $49.98. The six-DVD pack includes 32 digitally remastered episodes from the first season of the classic ‘80s animated series. He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, Season Two, Volume Two, the fourth and final release in a set that includes all 130 original episodes of the popular animated saga was released in Sept.

Dale Hendrickson served as character designer for the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and She-Ra: Princess of Power series, as well as the He-Man and She-Ra feature The Secret of the Sword. He started in 1977 at Hanna-Barbera and became a key assistant animator. He went on to design characters for Filmation, Disney TV, Calico, Klasky Csupo and Film Roman. He was character design supervisor on the first seven seasons of The Simpsons. He was an art director at Saban Ent. and helped set up its CGI department, where he pioneered a look for the computer animation that turned 3D models into flat cell-shaded objects. He was CGI producer/art director for Silver Surfer. Hendrickson was a co-founder of S4 Studios in Hollywood. He recently designed characters for the Barnyard theatrical release.