Story - Michael Chase Walker & Teleplay - Larry DiTillio

Tom Tataranowicz

Romance comes riding in with the tide, as Adora seeks help from that suave, rakish pirate, Captain Sea Hawk! Little does Adora know that she's playing into the claws of the dastardly Catra, who has kidnapped an entire town full of sea elves in a bid to ensnare the amorous pair of rebels! How will these star-crossed heroes (and possible boyfriend and girlfriend) slip the jaws of this fiendish feline trap? And will Adora ever be able to express her true feelings for the handsome pirate?

Princess Adora (She-Ra), Madame Razz, Broom, Captain Sea Hawk, Spirit (Swift Wind)

Catra, Grizzlor

sea elves (including Mayor Guppy and Ranger), Horde soldiers, Twiggets (including Sprocker, Sprag, Spritina), pirates (including Swen)

sailboat, Horde prison ship, cart, Solar Sailor

Our little friends the sea elves are just minding their own business in their coastal settlement of Seaworthy, when the sleek form of a Horde prison ship comes gliding into their port. It's Catra, backed up by a troop of Horde soldiers and Grizzlor, and they've come to kidnap the entire town's worth of Seaworthy sea elves! Ranger, a more rambunctious elf than the rest, breaks free of his would-be jailers and runs off; but when Grizzlor aims his zapper at the departing little fellow, Catra cannily (and cattily) interferes. Her aim in capturing the elves is to draw in the troublesome pair, Adora and Sea Hawk. If Ranger helps bring word to her chosen prey, all the better!

Naturally, that's just what the elf pawn does. Adora, it oh-so-coincidentally happens, is in the Whispering Woods, telling stories of Captain Sea Hawk to the Twiggets. Madame Razz and Broom make their usual entrance, and Adora sits down with the pair to confess her romantic difficulties with the Hawk. As we should all recall, the sea bird in question is a pirate and former Horde confederate whom She-Ra helped recruit for the Great Rebellion. In their last meeting, Adora formed an affection for the handsome swashbuckler, who saved her from the Horde; but she's worried that he is less enamored of her than he is of her muscular alter ego. Surely no other superhero has ever faced such a tangled dilemma! Razz is just in the process of prudently advising that Adora simply tell the sailor how she feels, when Ranger the sea elf makes his way into the Whispering Woods. He tells Adora of Catra's wicked plot, and though it is clearly a trap, the princess is determined to save her elfish friends. She sends Razz and Broom off to fetch Sea Hawk and departs for Seaworthy.

It's She-Ra and Swift Wind, however, who come flying in over the sea to break into Catra's prison vessel. Unfortunately their approach is spotted on the ship's scanner, and we discover that the ship is bristling with hidden weapons, which at the command of Catra pop out all over the hull. She-Ra and her horse avoid the missiles, but are shocked unconscious when a clever Catra, having waited for the pair to land, electrifies the deck of the ship. Our heroine is placed in an inescapable energy field, and Swift Wind is tied up; perfect bait to hook Catra's second, more masculine rebel fish!

Yes, it's Sea Hawk; Madame Razz ran into him (literally) as he was sailing the sea in his Solar Sailor, and after hearing the witch's news he quickly changed course to come to the aid of the elves (and his close-friend-but-maybe-something-more, Adora). His ship is in for a surprise attack when it comes within range of the prison ship. The Horde vessel can't fly like his, but it grabs hold of the hovering Sailor with a series of grappling hooks. Undeterred, the suave Sea Hawk simply slides down one of the grappled lines and onto the deck of his enemy, commanding his men to stay back and launch a counterattack. He dupes his way past Horde guards and into the bowels of the ship, where he locates the imprisoned She-Ra - and the waiting Catra. Sea Hawk has a tough battle with the feline foe, but a toppling broadside from his attacking ship gives him the moment he needs to free his friend and her horse. She-Ra then handily stuffs Catra into a barrel (with some help from Swifty). Sea Hawk runs to the prison cells to free the sea elves. When Grizzlor shows up to stop him, She-Ra appears and stomps on a board, sending the poor Horde minion flying through the ceiling and somewhere out into the sea.

Hawk and She-Ra are just finishing hustling all the freed captives onto a platform extended out the side of the Sailor, when the Horde again goes on the attack. Madame Razz works a mis-cast spell which nevertheless throws off many of the encroaching Horde soldiers. Having had just about enough of this nonsense, She-Ra flings herself off the high-flying Swift Wind and drives her body directly through the prison ship, piercing its hull and sending it to the bottom of the sea. We get a shot of Catra's head popping out of the water after the ship has sunk, so we know she didn't drown and will be back for more shenanigans in subsequent episodes.

Later, returned to the shore, Sea Hawk and his men are helping the sea elves back to their town, when Adora shows up. The pirate captain, surprised to see her, wonders where She-Ra got to; which makes a dejected Adora decide that she is not wanted. However, without her even having to say anything, Sea Hawk confesses his true feelings: he likes fighting with She-Ra, but would rather spend time with the Eternian princess. An overjoyed Adora happily accepts when the Hawk invites her on a couple's stroll along the seaside. Just to make things creepy and awkward, First Mate Swen then invites the elderly Madame Razz for a similar romantic stroll. Broom, the odd man out, is advised to go looking for a mop. Is the cradle robbing the grave here? Best not to think about it.

• Grizzlor: You are smart, Catra; really smart!
• Madame Razz: Ah-ha! You think that Sea Hawk likes She-Ra more than he likes Adora. / Princess Adora: And I can't tell him they're both me! / Razz: Well, perhaps Adora should tell him how Adora feels.
• Catra: Let's unsheathe our claws for She-Ra! (Spreads the fingers on one hand, extending her nails)
• Sea Hawk (to Madame Razz, being incredibly rude in their first meeting, even considering the mitigating circumstance that she's sitting on top of him): If you don't mind, uh - you are a little heavy.
• Catra: (Laughs in a horrific shriek of cat-like hilarity) / She-Ra: Laugh while you can, Cat Lady; because once I get out of this, I'm going to trim your whiskers.
• Sea Hawk (who has perhaps been too long at sea): Swen, I could kiss you.
• She-Ra (having caught her enemy in a large storage barrel): Catra in a can; lovely.
• Sea Hawk (to Adora): She-Ra's fun to fight beside, but I'd much rather spend time with you.
• Broom (annoyed that Madame Razz is about to ditch him to take a stroll with Swen): Hey, what about me? / Razz: Well, why don't you just find yourself a nice, friendly mop?

• Sea Hawk swings sword overhand: As he frees an imprisoned Swift Wind

Zero!
Adora does transform into She-Ra in this story, but the sequence happens off-screen.

5:16 - Loo-Kee is right at the top center of the screen, looking down on events from among the branches of a tree in the Whispering Woods.
Did I spot him? YES!

Loo-Kee, embracing the romantic angle of this episode, advises us not to be afraid to tell someone that we "like" them. As with Sea Hawk and Adora, it may turn out to be a case of mutual affection! So are you saying it's all right for six-year-olds to date, Loo-Kee? Shame on you!

Sea Hawk episode
Love is in the air
Hordak-less episodes in Season 1

• This writing team is the same one that brought us the first Sea Hawk episode, 67007.
• If, as the title suggests, we're going to meet Sea Hawk again, we might as well meet the sea elves again! These little Widget-like folk were hanging out at the beginning of 67007 too; though I seem to remember that they had regular-shaped houses and didn't live in Sea Monkey-ish coral reef buildings like these guys do. I thought perhaps we were at some other sea elf town, different from Seaworthy, but it looks like this is meant to be the same bunch of elves, since good old Mayor Guppy is still in charge.
• This episode had some close-ups of Catra that made me realize she has lilac nail polish. Sweet!
• In a scene that definitely does not pass the Bechdel test, Adora has a heart-to-heart with Madame Razz (while Broom looks on) about her feelings for Sea Hawk, and the difficulty of pursuing the piratical hunk when he clearly has shown more affection for her muscular alter ego. It's possibly the first scene in the show to feature a flashback to an earlier episode, giving us a quick refresher on how She-Ra convinced Sea Hawk to join the rebellion in 67007. It's also a rare case of Adora openly discussing her secret identity with someone - though we did see her transform into She-Ra while Razz and Broom looked on, in 67013's "King Miro's Journey."
• One more named character is added to the ranks of the sea elves, with "Ranger," the young fellow whom Catra allows to escape the Horde's clutches in order to bait her fiendish trap.
• Grizzlor brings us the memorable exclamation, "Hopping Horde World!" when he spots She-Ra on the scanner. (We'll hear this expression used again in 67052's "The Wizard," so it was probably invented by Larry DiTillio, who contributed to the writing on both stories.) A few seconds later, Catra uses the phrase "fur face" to refer to Grizzlor. Hey! That's Beast Man's nickname!
• In an unusual turn of events, Adora changes to She-Ra off-screen, so the animators miss their chance to kill time with an easy transformation sequence early in the episode. This is the first episode since the opening SOTS story without an on-screen She-Ra transformation. We also miss any appearance of Spirit until the very end of the story.
• Even though it didn't happen that many times in actual practice, I developed the idea that Skeletor and co.'s main way to defeat He-Man was by blinding him with flashes of light (see, for instance, MU002, MU005, MU010). For She-Ra, one very dependable method seems to be electricity, as we see in this episode! Catra also has a force field that successfully keeps our heroine from escaping.
• Yet another reference to the Horde's favorite prison site, Beast Island, is made by Catra as she is threatening Sea Hawk. Don't they have any other prison islands?
• In a case of deja vu, Sea Hawk has his laser sword shot out of his hand by Catra again, just as happened in their last tussle at the end of 67007. Clearly he's learned at least a little from that battle, as we later find he has a whole spare sword tucked into his boot! (In fact, as Sea Hawk continues to appear in the series, we'll find he has an unfortunate but hilarious propensity for being disarmed in almost every swordfight he has.)
• Sea Hawk reveals his ship has an extendable metal platform on a crane arm that can come out of the side of its hull. It's very handy for rescuing a whole passel of sea elves!
• Madame's magic: She whips up a great big "ball" in place of the "wall" she intended, but the bouncy ball does an amazingly good job of taking out all the Horde soldiers in the area!
• At the end of 67007, Sea Hawk made it pretty clear that he was very interested in hanging out with big, strong She-Ra. I therefore found it somewhat suspect and hypocritical of him to claim, as he does at this episode's ending, that he prefers the company of Adora. I was reminded (oddly enough) of the protestations of Thor in Marvel Studios' Thor: Ragnarok, when in alternate scenes with each respective character, he claims to prefer the Hulk, then Bruce Banner. The Hawk will just take any pretty lady who happens to be nearby, won't he?
• All kidding aside, though, this story seems to be a bit of a landmark in Adora/She-Ra's romantic life, since the show - with surprising definitiveness - pairs Adora with Sea Hawk at the story's end. What about poor Bow? It seemed like he was carrying a torch for the Eternian princess (though, as I attempted to infer, perhaps merely as a beard to hide his true proclivities). Oh, well; as Sea Hawk himself would no doubt say, there are plenty of fish in the sea. Hey! Maybe Adora has a hot... brother?
• Though Hordak is mentioned once, he does not appear, adding this episode to the short list of those in the season thus far that are without him.

• I enjoyed Adora's very delayed reaction at Sprag's confused and jumbled news about an "elf" and "Catra" and "trouble," ending in: "Ya gotta hurry!" She then proceeds to just stand there stock-still for a good second or so before springing into action.
• In an amusing and entirely unverbalized extra touch, during the scene where Catra and Grizzlor discover She-Ra's approach to their prison ship, we catch Catra lapping what I can only assume is milk out of a pink bowl. This is yet another cat-like trait from the Horde soldier to go along with her incessant yowling and mrowing.
• As the last part in a sequence where the Horde prison ship performs a series of transformations to reveal an array of weapons, a giant gun rotates up from under the deck, a Horde soldier seated at its controls. I found this absolutely hilarious, because it meant the poor guy had been hanging upside-down under the deck up until that point. I bet nobody wants to draw the straw for the gunner shift! The efficacy of the mechanism is put under further question later in the episode, when a laser blast from Sea Hawk's ship hits the floor by the gun, causing the circular chunk of deck - along with the gun and its occupant - to rotate wildly.
• Grizzlor is very complimentary of Catra in this episode! He thinks she's "really smart" for allowing Ranger the sea elf to escape; and he later thinks her plan to electrify the deck of their prison ship is a "great idea!" This is a bit odd, since every other conversation I can remember them having has involved Catra dumping on the poor Grizz-man. She denigrated his ability to command Horde soldiers in 67012, and blatantly cut him out of the reward for Sea Hawk in 67007. Even in this episode, as he's busy buttering her up, she throws him the backhanded compliment that he's "not as dumb as everyone thinks."
• Animation error (of a sort): Sea Hawk tricks a pair of Horde soldiers into opening an inner door to the prison ship for him; when he shuts it on the hapless duo, they run smack into the closed door and fall over. Even though they're clearly standing on a flat deck, they somehow manage to fall off the bottom of the screen and crash down onto some lower part of the ship.
• Continuity error: In his confrontation with Catra, Sea Hawk has his first laser sword (which he pulls from the sheath at his belt) shot out of his hand. However, in the subsequent shot where he is getting back on his feet from the ground, we can clearly see the hilt of his sword poking up from the sheath. We then get a shot of Sea Hawk pulling a spare sword from his boot - and see that his belt sheath has magically emptied.
• Animation error: The scale of the barrel or "can" in which Catra is captured varies from shot to shot, sometimes appearing much larger than the villain, other times seeming to barely contain her.
• I really need to give up the idea that the Horde soldiers are biological entities wearing armor, and just admit that they are (very emotional) robots. Otherwise, She-Ra ends this episode by committing mass murder, when she sends the Horde prison ship to the bottom of the sea. Clearly the only person who comes up for air afterwards is Catra, so we have to assume all the Horde soldier "robots" manning the ship are now semi-permanent residents of Davy Jones's locker.
• Are they really suggesting some kind of romantic relationship could blossom between Swen and Madame Razz? If so, Razz makes for one of the weirdest cougars in animated history! (Fortunately, this romance, if romance it is, proves very short-lived, and we see that Madame has a more suitable suitor and old flame in 67030's "Play It Again, Bow.")