INTERVIEW WITH LARRY DiTILLIO
With help from the legendary Busta Toons, I've managed to get to Larry Ditillio, one of the main writers of She-Ra and He-Man! Me and quite a few others came up with a huge amount of questions, but it had to be narrowed down to the minnimal amount so we didn't annoy him too much! Anyway, he turned out to be a wonderful guy and was kind enough to answer...
THE TOP 4 QUESTIONS REGARDING SHADOW WEAVER!
Note: Questions in white, responses in light blue (this is a very rainbowy page :))
1. Where did the idea for this shadowy character come from?
Me. I created Shadow Weaver. I wanted a female villain who wielded something other than brute force but wouldn't be another Evil-Lyn. I also wanted one whose origins were a mystery we could explore throughout the series. Also one who was very powerful and had an agenda of her own. She's also dark, creepy and yet seductive in her way.
2. Were there going to be anymore developments in her character? If so, could you please tell us what they were? We know so far that she was a sorceress training for white magic, along with Castaspella, under the guidance of Norwyn. This was until she was bribed onto the Horde with a power-gem in exchange for Etherian secrets, and now Hordak owns her because he has the authority to destroy her (*sniffle!* :)).
Of course. You don't create a continuing character to leave her standing in place. But here is where the qualifier comes in. No way I can tell you every development planned for a single character I did over 20 years ago! Most fans have seen the episodes more recently than I have (though I do have a collection of my own episodes and some others, I haven't looked at them in a long time.) BUT I will give you a general what-if scenario: Let's start with the fact that this is just the kind of character I like. She wields magic making her virtually a god-like figure. She's evil and sneaky and mysterious. She made possible the two-parter "House of Shokoti" which is one of my favorites. IF She-Ra had a life past the Mattel Toy line (and you have to remember Suz, Toy-driven shows have short lives. Toy companies think of them as commercials and once they are finished making the product they pull the show. )
Anyway I digress. Had the show continued I think you very well might have seen a lot more about Shadow Weaver's past and eventually I think she might have been instrumental in the downfall of Hordak, only to become an even greater enemy to She-Ra. After which she might have switched sides yet again and maybe even become a card-carrying good guy for awhile. The thing about Weaver is she was so flexible. You could take her in all sorts of directions. I attribute this mostly to the fact that she was one of the few characters not based on an action figure. She was a very "real" character.
3. What roles would she play in other She-Ra eps that were in the making?
See Above. The answer to this is the same. See once a show ends you don't sit around figuring out what might happen next. You are off to another show and thinking about that show, not the one you just finished. There were no other She-Ra shows in the making, we did a full season (65 episodes) and that was it. I went off to Fat Albert and left Filmation later to do Jayce and The Wheeled Warriors.
4. What are your personal opinions of Shadow Weaver?
One of my best characters. My only regret was they didn't make her voice sexier and more quietly menacing. I was sick of cackling villains after HeMan, but Filmation loved the cackling witch voice and they went that way. Had the same problem on another show years later that was much the same. I envisioned a kind of sophisticated character, the voice characterization made it more a typical kiddy show character. Still if you give a good actress good material, she can play it well and that she did for Shadow Weaver. Glad she has some fans.
Well, that wraps it up! Gee, wouldn't it have been wonderful to see some more of those background eps if the series had gone on, huh? The speculation continues! Oh, and by the way, the infamous Ep Review Site has a whole heap of inteviews up on their page regarding both series' if you're hankering for some more! Check 'em out in the links section!
