Story - Philip Kassel, Teleplay - Philip Kassel, Robert Lamb

Marsh Lamore

On the celebratory commemoration of the freeing of Mystacor from an evil power, Adora relates to a mysteriously ignorant Kowl the magical tale of how it all came to be. There will be sorceresses, knights, dungeons, decks of cards, moaning old ladies, and plenty of magic!

Kowl, Flutterina, Frosta, Queen Angella, Glimmer, Princess Adora (She-Ra), Bow, Peekablue, Castaspella (old woman), Broom, Madame Razz, Spirit (Swift Wind)

Rattlor, Tung Lash (Tung Lashor)

various villagers, Twiggets (including Sprag, Sprocker, Spritina), Arrow, knights and their horses, Mortella, snakes

Horde tank

Kowl flaps his way to the magical kingdom of Mystacor, home of ruler Castaspella (as we will know if we've watched Episode 10, "The Laughing Dragon"). Within the castle, the complete set of action figures - er, I mean, rebel heroes (some of whom we haven't seen in animated form before now) - are arranged around a bunch of tables along with many villagers, having a huge feast at the behest of Casta herself. The ignorant Kowl, who perhaps spent a gap year backpacking through Etheria and missed a few important plot points, wonders what the big deal is. Adora, sitting next to Kowl's perch in the banquet hall, explains that the celebration commemorates the freeing of Mystacor from an "evil power." That sounds like it would make for an interesting, approximately eighteen-minute-long story - don't you think?

Not so long ago (considering that this story involves Adora, and in the story she has already switched sides to the rebels), our princess was riding Spirit down a country road and heard the beautiful music of her good friend Bow, happily strumming to a gathering of villagers. But what Bow doesn't notice is that his tune has been heard by some unfriendly ears: Rattlor and Tung Lash, who are aware the rebels have a music-maker among their ranks, and are plotting to capture him to please their master, Hordak. Spotting this brewing trouble, Adora decides to put a stop to it in her inimitable fashion, as She-Ra. Making a quick transformation down a blind courtyard, our heroine nabs a Snake Man in each hand and carries them via Swift Wind to a high and lonesome mountain peak, where she leaves them to think about what they've done (or planned to do). For good measure, she also strands their tank on a nearby pinnacle. Hopefully one of them remembered to bring their phone, so they can catch a Lyft back to safety!

She-Ra makes way for Adora, and the princess catches Bow's attention just as he's finishing his busking set. The happily-met pair decide to travel together through the Dark Forest, a spooky place which lies along their route to the Whispering Woods. (Bow, unaware that he's just had his ass saved by the woman he's talking to, assures her she'll be happy to have his protection on the dangerous road.) On the way, they overhear cries of distress and spy an old woman who seems to have fallen down the steep slope of a roadside gully. Having towed the geriatric female back up the cliff, the rebels modestly receive her thanks - and a mysterious warning about the path ahead - before moving on. Sure enough, in the Dark Forest they're set upon by a trio of mysterious armored knights, whose laser lances startle both their mounts. Unhorsed, Bow and Adora are quickly bound and captured - for what purpose, they know not.

The knights take their prisoners to a mysterious castle within the forest, which neither hero has seen before. Inside, the furniture and interior decorations are crumbling and tattered, and a gloomy green fire flickers in a wide pit before the throne. Upon the throne sits a wicked-looking woman, who introduces herself as the sorceress, Mortella. She declares that Bow and Adora are to become her slaves, forced to tend the greenish fire and ensure that it never, ever goes out. But since the fire is doing just fine right now, it's time to stow them away in a dungeon cell! Mortella takes the pair to a dark, rocky cavern, then teleports them into their cell, which lies on the other side of a bottomless pit. It seems there is no escape for our friends!

As Adora peers hopelessly out of the cell's single, tiny, barred window, she spots a visitor approaching along the castle drawbridge: it's the old woman they saved earlier! Adora calls to the woman, briefly catching her attention as she enters the castle. We watch as the old woman conducts some business with Mortella, selling her magic potions. Clearly the two women know each other from some previous interaction, and Mortella seems to have the elder woman in her thrall. But once the women trade passive-aggressive goodbyes, the old lady sneaks off to the dungeon and to Bow and Adora. It's hard to imagine how the seemingly defenseless female could offer any assistance, but our heroes look on in amazement as the magical woman waves her arm and transports herself across the abyss. She easily dissolves their prison door, then enlarges Bow's pack of playing cards to fashion a bridge across the pit.

Freed and feeling spunky, the rebels head up to the throne room to grab their weapons out of the chest where the knights stuffed them earlier. Ducking behind the throne with her friend and her rescuer, Adora cannily suggests that she and Bow split up to draw the approaching Mortella and her knights away from the old woman. Adora runs off with her sword so she can make her second transformation of the day; then She-Ra and Bow spend some time battling it out with Mortella's armored soldiers. We soon discover that the knights are not living things, but magical guardians created by the castle's mistress. Mortella's power lies entirely in her fire; if it can just be put out, all her spells will be broken. The old lady tries to do just that, waging a magical duel against her nemesis; but it doesn't go all that well, as she gets herself tangled in snakes. Their battle finally gives She-Ra a free moment to grab Bow and enact a plan. She kicks down the castle drawbridge, then gets Bow's help to swing down and out and snag the slab of wood. Throwing the gate into the watery moat with incredible and unlikely force, and at just the right angle, She-Ra kicks up a huge wave of water that floods its way into the castle and straight into the throne room, dousing the magical flames and undoing Mortella's magic - and, possibly, her existence (since the evil lady poofs to smoke in the wake of the flood).

It turns out one of Mortella's now-cancelled spells was cast on that old lady: for the woman now glows and shimmers and changes, into - Castaspella! Bet you didn't see that coming! Casta introduces herself to her saviors as the true queen of Mystacor, and thanks them for helping her take care of that pesky witch. She then restores the castle of Mystacor (because, yes, that's where they've been all this time) to the glory we've come to know.

Back in the present, Adora wraps up the tale which she's been telling to a rapt Kowl. At this point, it looks like everyone else has pretty much left the banquet hall; except Bow, that is. He shows up to say that it's getting warm in here, and he wants to take a walk with Adora to get some water. Kowl, apparently aware that the castle itself can magically grant requests (just like Alexa!), asks the air for some water - but since he forgets to ask for a glass to go with it, Bow ends up drenched in a bucket-ful, just like Mortella's fire. Oh, what a world, what a world!

• Bow (to Adora, obliviously putting his foot in it): You'll be better off to have a man with you.
• Bow (having witnessed a pair of fallen knights vanish into nothing): Wow! Those knights aren't real. Magic - evil magic!
• Mortella: As the fire grows higher, my power increases. / Old Woman: No, Mortella. Your evil reign cannot continue. I'll stop you once and for all. / Mortella: You dare to challenge me? (laughs) (sweet-ass sorceress battle commences)

• She-Ra mounts Swift Wind and flies off: Just after transforming, though since she doesn't actually fly off, the loop gets cut before that happens
• Knight runs away from the viewer: In search of the escaped prisoners
• A look through widespread legs: Bow lands after a jump
• She-Ra runs at the viewer, bug-height: About to kick down a drawbridge

One full, one partial (missing Spirit/Swift Wind sequence)

7:27 - Loo-Kee is perched up in a stumpy tree in the top-left corner of the screen, gazing away from us into the distance at this episode's title castle.
Did I spot him? YES!

Loo-Kee reminds us of today's instance of a kind act, when Bow and Adora rescued the old woman. Technically, good acts are their own reward, and our heroes shouldn't have expected to get anything in return; but it was awfully nice when the old lady later came back to help them, wasn't it? So Loo-Kee's rather mercenary, transactional lesson is that "kindness is repaid with kindness" - a phrase that Loo-Kee claims Adora already used, though I can't remember having heard her say that.

Hordak-less episodes in Season 1: The Horde dictator gets his name dropped, but does not appear in this story
Tell us a story: The main body of this episode is a flashback to an earlier time, recounted by a character in the present; a plot format which will recur.

• This story's main writer, Philip Kassel, has already brought us 67009's "The Missing Ax." Assisting on the teleplay is Robert Lamb, a veteran of both MOTU and POP (he most recently showed up on 67017's "A Loss for Words").
• What a pile of characters we get thrown at us in this episode's opening! It's the first official appearance of Flutterina, the butterfly lady, and Peekablue, the peacock lady; the second only appearance of Frosta, who we haven't seen since 67006; the third apperance of Castaspella; and Queen Angella, who hasn't appeared in a story since 67008's "The Red Knight." I really thought we'd be seeing Glimmer on a more regular basis as well: her last appearance was 67015, where she contributed very little to the story. If you're fighting with the Twiggets for screen time, you have to start worrying about your rank in the Great Rebellion! (Also, just to add some context, apart from Castaspella none of these characters I've mentioned are seen again after our initial glimpse of them in the opening shot. In fact, this episode will prove the only Season 1 appearance for both Flutterina and Peekablue!)
• The background paintings for the "country road" Adora and Spirit are riding along at the beginning of the flashback story are identical to those used for the town of Green Thatch, where Bow came to grief in 67009's "The Missing Ax."
• In addition to the teeming host of heroes in this episode, we also get treated to a couple of Snake Men, both of whom have some very confusing allegiances. Rattlor was last seen in his POP debut, 67012's "The Prisoners of Beast Island;" but I remembered him from the Christmas Special, where he's one of four pilots of Skeletor's giant-size Collector (i.e., not a member of the Horde). Likewise, the reappearance of Tung Lash (or is it Lashor?) is confusing, since we just saw him in 67035's "Gateway to Trouble," where he was hanging out with old Bonehead in Snake Mountain. (Ironically or coincidentally, that episode featured Modulok's defection from Skeletor to Hordak.) We don't learn how Tung made it to Etheria, but we do learn that both these serpentine minions hate music!
• Rattlor and Tung Lash's tank is the other, non-destructo tank model, which has a white face painted on the front, seemingly in honor of Hordak.
• The crowd of people applauding Bow's performance are almost entirely composed of reused MOTU character designs; I see Evil-Lyn's old lady disguise from MU021, Mallek from MU024, Palos the Cave Dweller from MU033, and Yarrow from MU070.
• The leader of the knights who waylay Adora and Bow has a laser-firing lance, much like that of 67008's "The Red Knight." The jungle/swamp-type background in which the knights are encountered is very similar to the place where the heroes first met the Red Knight, as well. The character design for these knights will be reused in 67081's "Just the Way You Are."
• This episode's evil enchantress, Mortella, sports a skull-clasping head covering that recalls that of the evil queen from Disney's Snow White. The comparison is apt, since this is a very fairy-tale-esque story.
• While we're on the subject of fairy tales, let's consider some of the other elements here that are very common tropes from those stories. The titular "Enchanted Castle" is one, as is the evil queen who's punishing another woman. More specifically, Adora and Bow choosing to help an old woman in distress recalls the beginning of the story of "Beauty and the Beast," except that our heroes were compassionate enough not to fall into the selfish trap that spawned the Beast. Of course, it's worth noting that He-Man has already addressed this story in his own episode, MU117's "Beauty and the Beast," which featured a very muddy and confused retelling of the original lesson about true beauty coming from within.
• We've heard Bow claim that he does magic before (in story writer Philip Kassel's other episode, 67009's "The Missing Ax;" and to prove the claim, he produced a dove!). Here we find that he has a deck of cards in a pocket of his cape, for doing magic tricks. We also know that he's a musician - and an archer - basically a real renaissance man.
• This episode features another instance in what appears to be a growing trend, of Spirit getting ditched. Both Adora and Bow's mounts are left in the Dark Forest when the heroes are abducted by the knights, and we never see them again. You'd think at least Spirit - who, as shown in this episode (among others), is sentient and capable of human speech even in his un-transformed state - would try to sniff out the trail of the knights, to help his mistress!
• She-Ra uses her sword of protection as a boomerang, in order to cut down a shred of tapestry onto Mortella's head. We've seen He-Man pull this trick with his power sword a few times as well - usually for the purpose of cutting down spider webs (see MU110, MU114, MU122).
• Bow uses the expression "easy as bibble pie," no doubt referencing an Etherian delicacy as exquisite as Trollan roast gooble. We'll actually hear of bibbles again - and even see one, albeit an Imp version - in 67032's "Friends Are Where You Find Them."
• I've mentioned the fairy tales that seem to have inspired this story, but the fact that Mortella's power is put out with a good dousing of water is certainly reminiscent of Dorothy melting the Wicked Witch in The Wizard of Oz.
• Note that Bow invites Adora for a walk at the end of the episode, mirroring the smooth moves of Sea Hawk at the end of 67016. I have to wonder once again: does Bow know that Adora has a side-pirate?

• So Castaspella welcomes everyone to her party and tells them to eat what they like. She hopefully provided enough food, but she clearly didn't provide enough seats for everyone - there are a ton of villagers left standing around the edge of the room! Meanwhile, our honored rebel leaders get to sit at tables. I guess some are more equal than others, even in the Great Rebellion!
• I like how Kowl gets his own little perch at the Mystacor dinner party. But you have to wonder how he's managed to have never heard the story of the freeing of Mystacor before now. We know that it must have happened after Adora joined the rebellion, and Kowl was certainly around before that happened. Did the Sorceress accidentally put an amnesia spell on him?
• In fact, this story must necessarily have taken place some point after 67005, when Adora was first fully inducted into the Great Rebellion, and at some point before 67010, by which time Castaspella had already been freed from her geriatric enchantment. So clearly our friends are having bonus adventures that are falling between the chronological cracks of our episodes.
• The disembodied female moaning that Bow and Adora overhear is... quite disturbingly reminiscent of Meg Ryan's famous scene in When Harry Met Sally. Once you see that it's coming from an old lady who's fallen down a gorge, however, you'll be less likely to say "I'll have what she's having."
• I find it very amusing that Mortella stuffs Bow and Adora in a rocky cell in what appears to be a deep, dank dungeon, next to a bottomless pit; but the cell has a window that looks out at ground level. In fact, based on the angles shown of the old woman, it actually seems that the cell's window looks down on the castle drawbridge. Guess it wasn't that deep after all!
• Incidentally, I love the evil music that plays in the background when Adora and Bow are put in the cell. Very ominous and rock-opera-ish!
• There's a bit of a secret identity problem with Adora's story today. She's ostensibly telling it to Kowl, who as we've been repeatedly told is well aware of Adora's other identity; but she's telling the story in the middle of a crowded dinner party, full of people who don't know her secret - particularly Bow, who's sitting right next to her. How does she get around the bits where Adora "safely" disappears and She-Ra shows up out of nowhere? The issue isn't addressed. In fact, even the Bow in the flashback doesn't ask where Adora has gotten to, when She-Ra shows up in the enchanted castle.
• Mortella's power source - a big pit of flame that must be kept burning at all times - is a huuuuuuge liability. The idea that she would entrust the retention of her evil magic to enforced slave labor also seems like a really terrible idea. What if you get lazy slaves? All they have to do is fall asleep during the night shift and - poof! - you're screwed. It also must make her very anxious about leaving the castle on long trips - imagine the notes to the housesitter: "VERY IMPORTANT! Keep fire stoked, or will torture you mercilessly on return!"
• It's not particularly gallant of Bow to make Adora be the first to cross the narrow bridge of playing cards spanning the bottomless pit.
• Continuity error: The long shot of Mortella's throne and dais, shown just before Bow and Adora retrieve their weapons, is missing the chest at the foot of the throne where the weapons are hidden. A subsequent shot showing Bow and Adora hiding behind the throne also omits the chest - and depicts the throne very differently than it appears in other shots.
• I love how the enchanted castle features a completely pointless nook in the wall that's exactly one Adora wide, allowing her to hide from a passing knight.
• The physics of She-Ra driving an entire moat-full of water deep into the castle with one flimsy fragment of drawbridge are... questionable at best. But nice to see her dabbling in He-Man's chosen field of hydraulic engineering! We've seen He-Man use water to solve many of his problems - almost too many times to count, in fact (but feel free to do a search in the firsts/lore and commentary sections of the database for "hydraulic engineering" if you'd like to find some examples).
• You have to wonder, though, whether She-Ra didn't just commit murder. After that splash of water, the seriously distraught Mortella (with delightfully over-the-top voicework from the unmatched Linda Gary), mourning the loss of her lovely power, dissolves into smoke, seemingly never to return. We had it spelled out for us that those knights weren't actually living things - but what about Mortella?
• I've got to say - I got a huge kick out of this episode. I've been telling myself that it's really cool how She-Ra's show is more sophisticated and mature than MOTU, since it boasts dark, grounded tales of governmental oppression and brazen freedom fighters. But when this story instead lowered itself to He-Man-level absurdities of fantasy and magic, I realized how much I was missing all that stuff. So much fun! It was great to get a sort-of origin story for Castaspella as well, which I was not expecting.
• By the way, I feel sorry for anyone who didn't immediately realize that the old woman character was going to turn out to be Casta - if for no other reason than both characters use that same distinctive Katharine Hepburn voice! More subtly, both versions of the sorceress are dressed in the same color scheme of blue and yellow.