Larry DiTillio

Lou Kachivas

In order to save their new friend He-Man, the rebels of Etheria must venture to the terrifying Horde base on Beast Island! Meanwhile, Force Captain Adora discovers that the "Evil" Horde is actually... evil!

Kowl, Broom, Glimmer, Bow, Madame Razz, Battle Cat, He-Man, Spirit

Force Captain Adora, Shadow Weaver, Hordak, Grizzlor

Twiggets, Beast Island monster, Horde soldiers, Etherian citizens (including Jason and his father), "Whitey" the horse

rebel air ship, Hordak-faced ship, destructo tank, Horde flyer, Horde ships

In the Whispering Woods, the rebels gather around Madame Razz and the Twiggets, who cast a spell to discover the whereabouts of their kidnapped comrade He-Man. The conjured vision shows the horrifying Beast Island! This place has one bad reputation, as even the rebels can't believe that the Horde would send someone there; but, as Battle Cat argues, if He-Man is there, that's where they have to go. With the help of some shaky magic from Madame Razz, the rebels head off to the island on a sailboat that can fly through the air; but they have the bad luck to arrive just as Hordak and Shadow Weaver are swooping in to visit the prisoner and Force Captain Adora. Hordak blasts the rebel ship out of the sky, and seeing it float down in flames to the island below, doesn't bother to follow up on any survivors.

In the prison, He-Man is manacled to a stone table with energized chains from which even he is unable to escape. Adora is curious about the stranger and the sword, and has interrogated him. She was shocked to discover that He-Man believed her to be evil and fighting for the side of evil, as she has led a sheltered life training in the Fright Zone, and has always been told that the Horde are the rightful rulers of Etheria, while the rebels are traitors. Struck by He-Man's suggestion that she go out and explore the kingdom to see what the Horde has really wrought, Adora tells the arriving Hordak that she needs to do something back home. Taking the power sword with her and wearing a concealing cloak, she ventures out among the people and discovers things to be much as He-Man implied: the Horde are rounding up villagers as slaves, mistreating old thirsty men, stealing horses, and razing the houses of anyone who dares speak out against their evil dictator. Adora is horrified.

While all this is happening, the rebels have not been idle. Glimmer used a shielding ability to save everyone in the crash, in the process temporarily using up all her magic. The party then takes off on foot through the jungles of the island, eventually meeting up with one very large beast, apparently the sole inspiration for the island's name. It takes the combined efforts of several members of the party - mostly Battle Cat - to defeat the beast, especially after Madame Razz's magical attempt to assist goes wrong; but they chase it off, and with the help of Glimmer's recharged powers, sneak their way inside the prison base. Grizzlor, a particularly hairy member of the Horde who has been monitoring the rebels by video camera, activates several parts of the base's defense system to try to stop the rebels' progress; but the metal doors and lasers barely slow them down. A party of Horde troopers is likewise defeated when Madame Razz turns them into sheep.

Unfortunately by the time our friends finally make their way to the room where He-Man lies bound, Grizzlor has alerted Hordak and Shadow Weaver, and they show up to paralyze everyone. Everyone, that is, except Kowl, who prudently hides during Hordak's ambush. He pops out after everyone else has gone, and finds the right button on the control panel to free He-Man. The blonde oaf then leads his large-eared savior to the prison cell where the rebels have been stuffed, and smashes the door in. It's then a race to the roof of the structure, where the rebels steal a flyer while He-Man fights off a tank (energized chains aside, the Horde is just not prepared for this well-muscled stud!). Feeling a little vengeful after his imprisonment, our hero takes an extra moment to shove over a main tower of the prison before hopping into the stolen flying vehicle and making his escape.

Adora, meanwhile, confronts her parental figures, Hordak and Shadow Weaver, with the upsetting discoveries she's made about the company she works for. The Horde doesn't like whistleblowers, however, and Shadow Weaver suspects that the new sword Adora is waving around has some ability to break through the spells of obfuscation that have been keeping the young blonde pliant and oblivious all these years. The sorceress slides up to put Adora to sleep and snatches the sword away.

• Hordak (of Adora, to Shadow Weaver): She is loyal. My training and your spells of control guarantee that. / Shadow Weaver: I wonder...
• Hordak: First this "He-Man" arrives, and now Adora turns against me! / Shadow Weaver: Well, remember who she really is. / Hordak (considering): Yes... yes!

• He-Man punches the viewer: To take out a Horde tank

Zero
As in the previous episode, Adora has not yet discovered her abilities, so there are no She-Ra transformations. Almost uniquely, there are no He-Man transformations either, because the story begins with He-Man and Battle Cat already changed, and they stay that way through almost the entire episode.

N/A
In the first five episodes comprising the Secret of the Sword movie, Loo-Kee does not appear.

N/A
There are no PSA segments for the first five episodes.

MOTU crossover

• This is an abbreviated entry since the beginning of the series was already featured as part of the movie, Secret of the Sword. For a full analysis of the first five episodes of She-Ra, see my entry for the movie. What I will mainly be focusing on here will be the differences between this episode and the corresponding section of the movie ("Act II"), and connections to later episodes of the series.
• The episode begins with an opening identical to the one featured in 67001, with a narrator setting the scene for rebels vs. Horde. After the opening, a different-sounding narrator gives a recap of the previous episode, leading into the typical title screen with writer/director credits.
• In the SOTS movie, right after Battle Cat urges the rebels to get going to Beast Island, the scene ends. In this episode, there is an added section where Glimmer tells him to calm down because they don't know how they're going to get there. Madame Razz then spends some time clumsily conjuring the air ship.
• The added scene just mentioned, and the opening of this episode, include the first instances in a recurring sub-category I call "Madame's Magic," detailing Razz's wacky mishaps in spell-casting. This sub-category is in fine form throughout the episode.
• In the scene where Adora confronts a chained He-Man, there is some added dialogue where the pair discuss their differing views of the rebels and the Horde. Adora claims that most Etherians are happy under Horde rule, and He-Man counters that they don't make trouble because they are afraid.
• When Hordak spots the rebel air ship, there's an added exchange between him and Shadow Weaver. The sorceress offers to stop the rebels with a spell, with Hordak countering: "And spoil my fun?"
• When Beast Island's single beast appears, there's a longer exchange between Madame Razz, Broom, and Kowl, as they all confirm their dislike of the creature (in the movie all we got was Madame Razz's typical exclamation, "Deary my!"). The creature's appearance also triggers a fade-out, clearly prefacing a commercial break.
• The backgrounds of the Beast Island hallways appear to have been intentionally darkened compared to their appearance in the movie, perhaps to give the prison interior a grimmer look.
• As Adora wanders about Etheria discovering how evil the Horde is, there's an entirely added sequence with Horde troopers taking a horse from a boy and his father. The father looks very similar to Yarrow, Rayna's father in MU070's "Fisto's Forest."
• Another added scene immediately follows the horse theft, with the rebels in the prison being attacked by Horde soldiers and Madame Razz working a spell that turns them into sheep instead of sending them to sleep (more of Madame's Magic).
• The voice actors' performances seem to be identical to those on the movie, but there continue to be variations in the backing soundtrack, as noted in my entry for episode 1 (67001).
• Contrary to my breaking up of "Act II" in the entry for the movie, episode 2 ends before the scene in the Whispering Woods with Adam deciding to trek his way alone into the Fright Zone.
• As with 67001, we find here the last scene ending with a "to be continued" message, followed by some sneak previews of the next episode (67003). The narrator continues to call the multi-part story "The Sword of She-Ra."
• You might think that He-Man's destructive act in the closing minutes of the story spell the end for Beast Island, but it will actually prove a recurring setting in the series. In addition to several verbal references to the place, our rebel heroes will return to Beast Island to free another prisoner in 67012's "The Prisoners of Beast Island," and we'll see them there again in 67014's "Friendship." Adora herself will wind up imprisoned there in the best forgotten 67057's "Jungle Fever."

• This episode has more added material than 67001 and 67003 compared to its corresponding section in SOTS. 67004 may be the winner in terms of added footage though!
• There's nothing particularly critical in any of the added scenes, just the general sense of "more of the same." We get one more scene of Adora witnessing cruel Horde activities, and one more scene of the rebels fighting their way into the prison. The added dialogue between Adora and He-Man and between Shadow Weaver and Hordak in the earlier parts of the story doesn't really give us anything new, though it's nice added flavoring.
• It is nice seeing where the air ship came from, as I recall thinking in the movie that it was odd the rebels seemed so well-funded as to own such a large vessel. Madame's initial creation of a "frying" ship is also amusing. We see that her spells are often ruined by incorrect words that rhyme with the ones she actually meant to say, in the same way that Orko is often "misheard" by whatever force he speaks to when he casts spells.
• This episode features the first instance in the series of a sub-category which I've detected, and which I hope will have many recurrences, if only to justify my going to the trouble of labeling it. I'm calling it "Kowl avoids capture," and it says what it is: Kowl has a very handy habit of never getting captured or even noticed in situations where the rest of his friends meet a nasty fate. In this case his moment comes during Hordak's ambush of the rebel rescue party; Kowl's evasion leaves him free to loose He-Man from his bonds.
• One scene that struck me this time, though it was also in the movie and I didn't say anything about it there, comes near the end of this episode, where Shadow Weaver and Hordak are complaining about He-Man. Shadow Weaver offers to attack the hero with her magic, but Hordak decides the time is not yet ripe. Certain he'll encounter the beefy troublemaker again, Hordak flies off, giving his enemy carte blanche to knock over a tower of the Horde prison. This just feels very nonsensical on Hordak's part, unless we're to interpret him as being afraid of He-Man or unsure that Shadow Weaver has the power to defeat the guy (neither of which seems likely based on Hordak's tone, which comes off as calculating and smug). I suppose you can argue that Hordak wants more time to study his enemy and find his weaknesses, but to me the decision reeks of contrivance and expediency - the writers have given their hero plot armor and delayed the big confrontation of Horde vs. Rebellion for reasons of their own.