Chris Weber

Marsh Lamore

His head having been filled with Bow's tales of the legendary King Jared and the Crown of Knowledge, brassy Marcus the baker's son kidnaps Kowl to force the rebel to lead him to the magical relic. Dolt! In no time, both She-Ra and Hordak get entangled in this wacky adventure.

Princess Adora (She-Ra), Spirit (Swift Wind), Bow, Kowl

Imp, Shadow Weaver, Hordak

Arrow, various citizens (including baker, boys, apple vendor), Marcus the baker's son, cowatch, the Crown of Knowledge, glow bug

wagons

It's the harvest festival at everyone's favorite village, Thaymor, and the Horde's littlest spy, Imp, believes that boss Hordak will surely be OK with him taking a few hours off from spying to enjoy the sights and sounds. Why, there are... loaves of bread! And... Bow! When Adora and the famed archer approach with their horses and their Kowl, Imp (who has turned himself into a bush) realizes he'll have to be on duty. The rebels follow a baker and his son, the baker's cart filled with fresh bread, along the path into the village, and Imp slinks along after them. Two random children run up to beg a story from Bow, the great storyteller (who knew?), and Bow obliges. He begins to describe the exploits of one King Jared, a ruler of ancient Etheria with many great feats to his name. The story draws Imp as well, who turns himself into a water pump and sets up by a nearby trough to hear the tale. Bow punctuates his tale-telling with demonstrations of magic and archery, the latter involving a trick shot which also affords Spirit a crispy apple to lunch on.

But the climax of Bow's story is his description of King Jared's amazing Crown of Knowledge, a relic that will give its wearer all the wisdom of Etheria. The crown is tucked away in an ancient fortress somewhere, and anyone wanting to win it will have to brave many tests. Nobody knows where the crown is hidden - nobody except Kowl, that is. Bow's avian friend picks up the tale to add that the magical head gear is almost definitely in a castle within the land of Dark Edge. It would be a challenge to venture inside and earn the treasure, but - whoo boy! Wouldn't it be great to have the greatest prize of all - knowledge?

Marcus, the baker's son, sure thinks so, and he decides the only way to do it is to kidnap Kowl and force him to give directions to Dark Edge. In service of this dastardly scheme, Marcus sets loose a penned cowatch, which quickly runs amok, taking the full attention of Bow and She-Ra (who suddenly appears on the scene after Adora leaves). She-Ra's animal-whispering soon calms the enraged beast, but not before Marcus has bagged Kowl (literally) and vanished. Marcus's father notices his son is missing and points out that the boy has always had a thing for Jared's crown, and has talked many times about winning it. Bow remembers that Kowl would have been a perfect guide to the hidden treasure. They put two and two together and decide to all head off to Dark Edge to track down the young kidnapper and shake some sense into him.

Imp, meanwhile, has been privy to all these happenings, and decides that Hordak would love to hear them, so he heads off to the Fright Zone. The Horde leader is indeed thrilled to hear news of the Crown of Knowledge, and calls his sorceress Shadow Weaver to talk it over. He'll be happy to let little Marcus go through the work of obtaining the crown, so long as he can swoop in and steal it once it's found; and he wants Weaver to assist. Marcus does find the castle, moments after having realized that it was pretty cruel of him to be forcing Kowl around on a string. Kowl (being a forgiving bird) not only accepts Marcus's apology for the abduction, but also agrees to help him go after the crown. Kowl encourages Marcus to correctly answer a riddle asked by a voice at the castle gates, and the two make their way inside.

Here's where Shadow Weaver's powers and tricks come into play. She has a mirror (really more like a floating television) that can allow Hordak to see what's happening outside Castle Jared (why does Hordak even need Imp if he can just see everyone, all the time, everywhere?), so the villains know that Marcus got in the door, and they know our rebel heroes reach that same door moments later. To hinder the pursuers, Weaver conjures a sleeping shadow, which sends Swift Wind and Arrow off to Dream Land; but a snoozy She-Ra manages to answer the door's riddle before the humans are overcome, and they make it inside. This is a problem for our villains, particularly because the interior of Castle Jared is one place Weaver's spy-mirror can't look. Instead, the sorceress has to resort to some especially awesome juju that she's been saving for a rainy day, in the form of the Cape of Night and the Gem of Sight. The cape is like the one Doctor Strange has (we've all seen that movie, right?), and will be able to lead Marcus around; and the gem, which is a kind of brooch, will let the villains see what's going on. Weaver shoots the tainted gifts off to Dark Edge and into the castle, where they find Marcus, who happily takes this mysterious candy from an invisible stranger.

Marcus and Kowl must find their way through the castle, aided (unbeknownst to them) by the dark magics of Weaver and Hordak, while Team She-Ra bumbles along behind them, "aided" by the unhelpful clumsiness of Marcus's dad, who manages to spring traps his kid didn't even find (why did they bring this guy?). Nevertheless, She-Ra reaches the crown room not long after the boy, in time for the episode's final showdown. The Crown of Knowledge, which as it turns out is a talkative little thing, wants to know why Marcus wants itself, and realizes the boy is only in it for the power, not for the good wisdom can do. The crown also knows that Hordak is guiding the boy, and it has no interest in surrendering itself to any member of the Horde: for, as it explains, "I am a spririt of freedom for Etheria," and the Horde represents the opposite of that. Also, to win the crown you have to face your greatest fear. For Marcus, that's having to accomplish something through his own effort and hard work. For Hordak, it's defeat. And for She-Ra, that's the fear of failure - because so many people depend on her strength and courage. (Kowl's fear we don't get to learn, as he spends this entire sequence pinned to a wall.)

The crown magically separates Marcus from his villainous, cheating cape and brooch, which Hordak spitefully self-destructs (without managing to injure anyone, and in the process safely taking himself out of the picture). The crown room turns into a bottomless pit, dotted with perilously small platforms, and Marcus just barely saves himself from falling into the abyss. To rescue the stranded boy, She-Ra must make a seemingly impossible leap to his platform. When she makes the jump, the illusion fades, and the pair are back on solid ground again. The crown reveals that She-Ra has passed its test, and earned herself the right to wear it; but She-Ra demurs, declaring that knowledge is a gift for all. (Also, she kind of already has some signature head gear, and it would ruin her branding to change it out now.) Not hurt at all by this rejection, the crown settles for giving our heroine a parting gift: a miniature, non-smartening crown. Oh. How nice.

• Marcus (thinking to himself): Greatest power of all. Bet I could find that crown, if I had that bird (referring to Kowl) to help me. Then I could be someone important: a king! King Marcus! That sure sounds good. Better than Marcus, the baker's son.
• Kowl: You think they'll respect you for stealing the crown, Marcus? Or stealing me? Keeping me tied up?
• Crown of Knowledge (to Marcus): You seek power. Power without responsibility. Strength not won by your effort.
• Hordak (to the crown): I rule Etheria - you are mine! / Crown of Knowledge: I am not for you, Hordak. I am a spirit of freedom for Etheria. The Horde rules now; but freedom will prevail, that I promise you. ... The Horde will go the way of all who try to enslave others.
• Kowl: Well, the only real failure is not to try.

• She-Ra runs at the viewer, bug-height: To get up speed for a big leap

One full

9:59 - Loo-Kee is found in what is fast becoming one of his favorite hiding places, perched in the high branches of a tree. In this case, the tree is on the far left of the screen, just near King Jared's ancient seat of power, and Loo-Kee is in an upper branch in the screen's upper corner, facing away from us.
Did I spot him? YES!

Loo-Kee seems to have really loved today's episode, and waxes rhapsodic. Ah, the search for knowledge! Exciting, isn't it? Well, good news, kids; you can do it, too - by reading! "Searching to learn new things is one of life's greatest adventures." Ugh, Loo-Kee; you tricked us into wanting to read books!

Wayward child learns a valuable lesson: Because Marcus needs to learn not to kidnap people to get what he wants. Frankly, you'd think his father would have already taught him that!
Kowl DOESN'T avoid capture: A category I created to track those exceptional times when our birdy born critic - usually amazingly adept at staying out of trouble - gets himself captured, thus driving the plot of the episode. This story is the first example.

• Today's writer is a POP newbie making his first go with this script; but he helped give us MU124's "Toy Maker." Mr. Weber will contribute one other POP script, in Season 2.
• The episode's opening music unpromisingly mimics the carnival flair of MU100's "The Greatest Show on Eternia."
• The Horde's mischievous spy, Imp, returns today, having last been seen in 67017's "A Loss for Words." Showing off his Hordak-like transformative powers, he immediately turns himself into a bush. Later he becomes a water pump.
• I entirely missed it on my first viewing of this episode, because Adora only mentions it once in a rushed line of dialogue; but it turns out the harvest festival of the story's opening is held at the town of Thaymor, site of Prince Adam's entrance to Etheria back in 67001.
• Bow has his reputation as a true renaissance man bolstered even further in this episode, when he is dubbed a "storyteller" by some excited children. Recall this is already the accomplished archer, magician (as indicated in 67009 and 67019), athletic champion (67008), and musician (67009 and 67019, among others).
• Bow also shows off some magic while telling his story, producing a butterfly from nowhere.
• Our mustached hero's story is ostensibly of an ancient Etherian king named Jared. We also get to hear about some old geographic landmarks: the Singing River, the Growling Sea, the kingdom of Dark Edge. And of course, today's title MacGuffin, the Crown of Knowledge. (Interesting note: both the Singing River and the Growling Sea will make appearances in later episodes; see 67083, 67036, and 67064.)
• Today's episode introduces us to a new Etherian beast of burden, the "cowatch" (according to my DVD captions). It's sort of like a bull, but with the furry ruff of a bison and the tusks of an elephant.
• It's been a while since She-Ra showed off her ability to communicate with animals; the last time was 67014, when she communed with an injured tyrosaur. Her ability has been presented in various ways, from a seeming empathic connection to straight on conversation (67005, 67011, 67013, 67014); today, she touches an enraged cowatch, her hand glows, and this (accompanied with some soothing words) calms the beast.
• This story looks like another entry in the tried-and-true "only a legend" sub-category, where the seeming folk tale of the magic crown of course proves to be true - as all Filmation legends are.
• In the realm of secret identity, She-Ra again shows that she has it incredibly easy compared to her brother. Adora barely has to walk off the scene to make her transformation, and when She-Ra appears, no one even bothers to ask where she came from or where Adora got to. Hmf.
• It's looking like this episode is going to be an exception to my cherished "Kowl avoids capture" series theme, since Kowl emphatically does not avoid being captured by Marcus. In fact, the plot of this episode entirely hinges on Kowl being captured. Shucks! Guess I'll just have to make a whole episode category centering around these exceptions...
• Shadow Weaver makes a snide side comment that reveals her distaste for Hordak's little spy, Imp. We also saw the sorceress and spy do some verbal sparring in 67017's "A Loss for Words." These scenes mark the beginnings of a theme with Imp's character: namely, that he's the spoiled brat and favorite of Hordak that all the other Horde minions love to hate.
• Also in 67017, we saw Hordak watching a giant screen which was electrically projected into the air. In this episode, Hordak has a smaller floating screen with a metallic frame. Weaver refers to it as her own "mirror."
• In what could very easily become another solid sub-category in the series, we see She-Ra and Bow's horses being ditched outside this story's main setting, having become the only victims of Shadow Weaver's sleep spell. Swift Wind has been ditched outside of the Fright Zone (67014, 67015), deep in the Dark Forest (67019), and outside a troll fortress (67022) - though in the latter case She-Ra was ultimately reunited with her steed on-screen. Here, as is more usual, we never see the abandoned horses again.
• With a name like "glow bug," you'd think the bug that Marcus finds (and wallops) in the castle would be like a firefly; but it's just depicted as a constantly glowing ball, and we never get to see any insect-like features. Actually the whole sequence with the glow bug is a rather odd choice. I suppose it's meant to show that Marcus is easily frightened, but it doesn't seem to go anywhere, and it doesn't add anything to the idea of there being supposed "challenges" inside the castle.

• One of the two children who come to ask Bow for a story sounds much older than his tiny stature seems to indicate. Hmm.
• I'm absolutely willing to believe that Bow could have made that amazing arrow shot to stab an apple, bang off some pots, and leave behind a coin as payment before embedding itself in the branch of a tree. What I REFUSE to buy is the apple slipping free past the fletching of the arrow. Those are big feathers!
• Animation error: The sound of Spirit chomping an apple out of a water trough is out of sync with the animation, coming just a bit before the horse actually grabs the thing.
• Once he finds that Marcus has disappeared, Bow quickly deduces exactly what the boy has done and where he's gone, realizing that his own tantalizing story of the crown has lured the child into a dangerous life of crime. Yet it never occurred to him to tell his story with a little more caution, instead only describing how incredibly awesome the crown was without mentioning any of the down sides of trying to obtain it. Way to go, boob!
• This episode is selectively vague and lacking in detail on a couple of its main venues. One is the harvest festival, which we barely get to see. There are some distant, festive-looking tents, but the only part of Thaymor the heroes visit is a road that doesn't even look like it's in the town proper, and the only festival-ish things we experience are a cart of bread and one vendor selling apples out of a tent. Huzzah?
• I don't know if I quite agree with the answer to the crown's first riddle (I assume it's the crown talking, and not the castle, since the crown proves to have the same voice as the one we hear at the gate), about your breath being something that you can "hold but never touch." I would argue that you can, in fact, touch your breath, and very easily, if you just blow on your hand.
• By the way, this whole thing where you have to answer a riddle to get inside a castle reminds me of the irritatingly contradictory claim that this is how people get into Castle Grayskull, made in MU104's "The Secret of Grayskull."
• Shadow Weaver's spell, which simply requests that the powers of darkness "keep our enemy from this quest," is incredibly vague and non-specific. She really seems to be putting a lot of decision making onto those powers of darkness! They went with a "sleeping shadow," but their options were wide open here.
• You have to wonder why She-Ra and Bow let the baker come with them on their dangerous quest to the magic castle. He very quickly proves himself to be something less than helpful, when he gets himself trapped and can't figure out to stand up in shin-deep water without being told. In similar previous situations - for instance, when the magically muted citizens of Gailbreth quite naturally ask to join Adora and Bow on the quest to rescue their own missing voices from the Fright Zone - the regular joes were calmly but firmly left out.
• The other part of the episode that's lacking in detail is the journey through Castle Jared. Once he correctly answers the riddle to get inside, the only test Marcus seems to have to pass is choosing one of two doors. The next thing we know, he's found the crown. Why, exactly, did no one else manage this until now? Was the glow bug too scary?
• Animation error: In the scene where the crown is offering itself to She-Ra, there is a brief coloring error, seemingly a digital artifact on the crown. I don't think you can blame the animators for this one, but rather the DVD manufacturers!
• Wow, talk about a useless present! After turning down Jared's gift's offer of supreme knowledge, the crown instead gives She-Ra the parting gift of - an even tinier crown. It clearly will never fit on her head, even were she to take off her ostentatious, never-to-be-removed, face-framing winged tiara. It's like buying a mini-golf putter for an avid golfer, who's standing there with the full bag of clubs already on their shoulder. "Umm, thanks... I'll... treasure this." (By the way, I was wrong about She-Ra never being able to remove her tiara. We'll see her do just that in 67067's "Return of the General.")
• Useless gifts aside, I thought there were some very clever things in this episode. I do like riddles, even if I object to the logic of some of the ones used here. I liked the final challenge that Marcus, Hordak, and She-Ra faced, of owning up to their own greatest fears. I appreciated the idea that the gift of knowledge would never go to someone who wanted it for their own selfish ends - a similar gimmick was used to protect the powers of Grayskull in MU111's "Double Trouble." And I really enjoyed the crown's defiant speech to Hordak about the dictator's inevitable downfall. You tell that b$%*&, Crowny!