Story - Joseph Botsford, Teleplay - Joseph Botsford, J. Michael Straczynski

Ernie Schmidt

Madame Razz's chance encounter with a helpful magical tree sends her and her friends out into the desert in search of a legendary reclusive wizard. Unfortunately the Horde has heard about this wizard tree, too!

Madame Razz, Broom, Kowl, Bow, Princess Adora (She-Ra), Spirit (Swift Wind), Light Hope

Catra, Shadow Weaver, Hordak

squabbit, Horde soldiers, the Wizard of the Tree, Arrow

rocket flyers, wagons, Hordak-faced ship

We join our favorite bumbling witch, already in progress. Madame Razz has clearly been recognized by the Horde through her very poor disguise, and been forced to flee into the desert on Broom-back, pursued by a solitary Horde soldier riding a rocket flyer. As she fumbles for the right spell to shake the soldier off her tail, Razz very nearly collides with a lone, withered tree; but the tree (which has a face etched into its trunk) raises a branch to let her pass! Not only that, it points a twiggy finger at the Horde trooper and zaps his flyer, causing it to crash.

Back with friends Kowl, Bow, and Adora in the Whispering Woods, Razz tells the tale of her lucky escape. She realizes there's an ancient legend that could explain what happened. It tells of an old wizard who locked himself away from the world by creating his own world inside a tree. Adora declares that such a wizard, who has already shown himself to be no friend of the Horde, would be a great asset if won to their cause. She commits Madame (and an unwilling Broom) to leading all of them back to the tree the next day.

In search of more information about this mysterious "Wizard of the Tree," Adora changes herself to She-Ra and hops a Swift Wind flight over to the Crystal Castle to question Light Hope. The mystical entity warns She-Ra that the wizard will not be an easy sell, and that she should tread carefully. The rebels' experience the following day proves Light Hope's prediction true: the reluctant wizard tries many magical methods for dissuading the approaching travelers, including a wide gorge, a wall of flame, entangling roots, projectile cactus spines, and a crystalline cage. When the heroes have bypassed all these obstacles and come up close to the tree, the wizard douses Bow with water and tells them all to get lost. An angry Bow mouths off and wins himself a magical zap from the wizard, teleporting him inside the tree. When his comrades (She-Ra, Razz, and Broom) protest, they too get zapped.

The interior of the tree looks brown and non-descript, but our heroes have no time for questioning the wizard's interior design choices, as they are quickly attacked by an army of mud monsters. Madame holds the creatures off for a bit with a ground-softening spell, but She-Ra decides that fighting is not the answer here: instead, she attempts to smooth things over with the wizard, who is leading the monsters in his tree form. After She-Ra explains the rebels' mission to recruit the magician in the fight against the Horde, assuring him that it's his choice whether to join or not, the landscape abruptly changes to a lush and beautfiul glade, and the tree turns to a wizened old human wizard. He explains that the lush surroundings are still the inside of his tree, where they've been ever since he zapped them. She-Ra admires the view but points out that it must be a lonely place when you're the only one who lives there. The wizard replies that he's perfectly happy by himself, since other people have always disappointed him with snap judgments about him based on his looks. Bow unwisely comments that he can see how such a thing could happen, prompting the wizard to get fed up and eject all the rebels back out into the desert.

Reunited with their horses and a confused Kowl (who remained outside during the preceding scene), She-Ra and her friends must admit a rare defeat. The wizard won't be joining the Great Rebellion today. Before they make it very far on their journey home, however, the Evil Horde make a rumbling entrance on the stage. You see, that crashed trooper who failed to catch Razz returned to Force Captain Catra with an unlikely tale of a magical tree. When Catra forced the soldier to recount his story to Hordak, the Horde leader exploded his "lying" robot into a million pieces; but a listening Shadow Weaver explained that the pile of nuts and bolts just might have been telling the truth. Hearing Weaver's version of the wizard tale, Hordak decided that he couldn't allow a potential competitor like that to remain free on Etheria. So it's Hordak, Catra, and Weaver who are now arriving in the desert, along with a whole fleet of soldiers on rocket flyers, to take care of this legendary wizard.

To Bow's astonishment, She-Ra immediately determines that it's the rebels' duty to protect the wizard from this attack, regardless of how the old man has just acted toward them. The wizard does an OK job of fighting off the rocket flyers with zaps from his fingers, but this was all a distraction so that Weaver could summon a "doom cloud" which enshrouds the tree, sucking away the wizard's magic. Don't worry, wizard! She-Ra's on the case. Our heroine, riding astride Swift Wind, goads Catra (who is piloting Hordak's Hordak-faced ship) into chasing her, luring the villain into firing on her own men. When Hordak attempts to interfere, he ends up flying straight into the bottom of Catra's ship, with his head stuck poking up through the floor. Deciding they've had enough for the day, the pair fly off. Razz dismisses the remaining troopers with the help of an itchy bug spell. Weaver attempts to defeat She-Ra by transferring the doom cloud to her; but our heroine twirls herself into a mini-tornado that sucks in the doom cloud and shrinks it to a harmless puff of green. That's that!

The rescued but unrepentant wizard now supposes that She-Ra expects him to join her cause in return for her assistance; but She-Ra still assures him that the choice is his. The wizard declares that he chooses - to think about it, and vanishes. Our rebels are left without a new member to add to their ranks, but still hopeful that the wizard may someday change his mind. Beginning their journey back home, Bow and She-Ra each express in their own way that the magic tree may have been ugly on the outside, but had some beautiful things inside it.

• Madame Razz: It's a very old legend, older than I am. / Kowl: Nothing is that old! / Razz: (clears throat) [Transcription per my DVD captions, but it sounds to me as if Kowl says, "Oh, Nelly! Is that old!"]
• Hordak (to Horde soldier): This is what happens to anyone who lies to Hordak! (pounds button on his throne; Horde soldier explodes) / Shadow Weaver: That trooper could have been telling the truth. / Hordak: He could have? Sorry. / Shadow Weaver: Among the legends of this planet, there is one that fits the trooper's story. It is the story of a mighty wizard.
• Madame Razz (to the wizard): Oh, deary my; is that why you hide? Because you're afraid of what people think about your looks? / Bow (putting his foot in it): I suppose looking at you, I could understand. Oh no, no, I didn't mean it that way!
• Shadow Weaver: Doom cloud, hover over tree, and steal the strength of my en-e-meee. (Laughs at her own rhymes)
• Swift Wind: I think you made Catra mad. / She-Ra: Getting up in the morning makes Catra mad.
• She-Ra (to the wizard): It's your choice. That's why we fought for you: to give you that choice. All people aren't the same. Not everyone will judge you by your looks; but you have to give them a chance.
• Bow: Well, as long as he's gone, I can say it: that was still the ugliest tree I've ever seen. But there were sure some beautiful things inside. / She-Ra: Bow, it's what's inside that really counts. / Bow: That's what I said! / Kowl: Yes; but She-Ra said it better.

N/A

One full

2:58 - We find Loo-Kee in a very familiar position, clinging near the top of a puffball-tipped tree in the Whispering Woods, in the screen's lower left quadrant. The camera then pans to the right to show a clearing where the rebels have their camp. This same hiding place and panning shot were used in 67020 and 67022. Give us a challenge, Loo-Kee!
Did I spot him? YES!

Remembering the reason for the wizard's crabby, hermit lifestyle (people called him ugly), Loo-Kee tells us one of those old chestnuts which many of the viewers' parents had probably already told them by this point: If you can't say anything nice, it's better not to say anything at all. Naturally, Loo-Kee opts for the "something nice" option, informing his entire audience that he thinks they're wonderful.

Changing hearts and minds: Ideally I'd save this category for stories where Adora/She-Ra convinces a new character to join the Great Rebellion. Technically this story doesn't quite qualify, since it does not feature a bona fide conversion. Nevertheless, the whole aim of the rebels' mission is recruiting the wizard to their cause, so I think this counts.

• Today's story comes from Joseph Botsford, with some help from show co-creator J. Michael Straczynski. Botsford has one MOTU writing credit, for MU108's "Teela's Triumph," which was a fairly good tale (though a bit contradictory in the lore department). This will be his only POP writing credit.
• Our episode opens on a small desert creature, a sort of cross between a rabbit and a squirrel which I've called a squabbit. The creature will prove to be the brunt of a running gag where it is repeatedly buzzed and alarmed by Horde intrusions. A differently colored version of this critter will appear again - this time explicitly identified as a "chibbet" - in 67078's "When Whispering Woods Last Bloomed."
• We encounter yet another variety of Horde vehicle today, in the rocket flyers: one-man flying machines, rather cigar-shaped, which must be ridden in an almost prone position, like the light cycles in Tron. The vehicle is referred to as simply a "flyer;" I've added "rocket" to the front of the name to make it a tad more descriptive - and to avoid confusing it with the entirely different "Horde flyers" encountered in 67002.
• The downed Horde flyer pilot is worried what the "force captain" will say about his failure. He's referring to Catra, as it turns out; which is interesting, as it means our feline foe holds the same rank as Adora once did. We don't hear a lot of titles passed around, so it's unclear how many other of Hordak's minions share this rank - but let's not forget the name-dropped "Force Captain Kacker" from back in 67006.
• It's yet another instance of the "only a legend" sub-category, as our title wizard is the source of a legend even older than Madame Razz.
• In a brief scene, She-Ra returns to Light Hope to seek advice for the first time since 67027's "The Eldritch Mist."
• A short role for Adora today, as the princess transforms to She-Ra quite early in the story and never changes back.
• Catra threatens the Horde soldier with a shift in "the sulfur pits," a seemingly new location - though I wonder if they're anything like the "Mines of Mondor," mentioned in 67042's "Enemy With My Face."
• I thought I was going to get another instance of Hordak using a trapdoor to add to my list; but instead of dropping the Horde trooper who has annoyed him, Hordak opts to detonate the poor guy! Clearly more evidence that the Horde's soldiers are robotic, not living, creatures; but also good to know that they have a Suicide-Squad-level self-destruct system in place! (On the subject of robotic soldiers, however, see the commentary.)
• The mud monsters which the wizard throws at our rebel friends look very similar to the original form of the Melog, seen in 67042 - an episode I've already had call to reference.
• Madame's Magic: Madame has been on a streak of actual competence lately. Both of the spells she cast in 67030 went off without a hitch. True, in today's opening it's her failure to come up with a spell that causes her to nearly collide with a tree; but she doesn't cast one incorrectly. Later, she effectively softens the ground under the feet of a mud monster. Later still, though on shaky ground as to whether "rugs" or "bugs" are involved in a spell, she settles on "bugs" and apparently casts as intended, confounding some Horde troopers (though, oddly and unusually, without saying anything aloud).
• Hordak transformations: Hordak goes small-scale with his morphing today, just turning his feet into little Iron Man-like thrusters.
• In a choice that is becoming a rarity, She-Ra doesn't change her sword into any other tools in this episode. She does, however, twirl herself into a mini-tornado, an act that He-Man was sometimes wont to perform (there are many examples to be found, but see for instance MU025).

• Notice how when Adora asks Razz and Broom whether they're ready "for another long trip," they split their votes, with Broom giving a dissenting reply and Razz responding in the affirmative. But Adora entirely ignores Broom and says they'll be leaving tomorrow. I see how it is! Broom is being repressed over here! Cleaning tools are people too, ya know!
• There's a scene in the first half of the episode played entirely for comedic effect, during the journey into the desert, where everyone else in the party rags on Bow over whether he prefers the company of Adora or She-Ra. It's a rather cruel way to toy with the archer, who has definitely expressed potentially romantic affection for both Adora and her alter ego in the past. You'd think She-Ra at least would be more circumspect when it comes to referencing her secret identity, or at least a little more compassionate when it comes to her male admirers. I'm again forced to wonder just how much Bow is aware of Adora and She-Ra's relations with the suave pirate Sea Hawk (see in particular 67016, which solidly paired the Hawk with Adora). Also note that Bow is the only person in the scene who doesn't know about She-Ra's secret identity.
• Actually Bow seems to be taking it pretty hard from the writers today. Though he does successfully jump the gorge that magically opens before them, She-Ra at first warns him off of trying it, apparently under the assumption that he's too average to make it. He gets tripped up by the wizard's plants, splashed with water, and his verbal haranguing of the wizard leads him to be the first of the party that gets zapped. Once inside the tree, his suggestion to She-Ra that they keep up the fight against numberless mud monsters gets firmly shot down. Then, he thoroughly ruins their attempts to sway the wizard to their cause by suggesting that he finds the guy ugly. Bow is even the focus of the episode-ending zinger joke, in which Kowl skewers him for his inferior way with words. Yeesh! Cut the guy a break already.
• Kowl avoids capture: Everyone on the rebel mission gets zapped inside the wizard's tree; everyone, that is, except Kowl (and the horses). Spared again, birdy boy!
• More contradictory information regarding the humanity of our Horde troopers: though one explodes into its component mechanical parts earlier in the episode, at the end of the story a company of soldiers are made itchy by Madame's conjured bugs. How do robots get bug bites? And why design them with itch receptors?
• It seems a little odd that the wizard who is the subject of today's story is never given a name. Indeed, it seems a little rude that our rebel recruiters don't bother to introduce themselves to the guy, either. If he ever does decide to join the rebellion, it's hard to see how he'll contact any of them again!
• A bit of a continuity error with our villain defeats today: we see Hordak and Catra fly away in disgrace, and we witness the Horde troopers fleeing from their clouds of bugs; but we never get to see what happens to Shadow Weaver. Presumably She-Ra's shrinking of her doom cloud convinced the sorceress it was high time she teleported back to the Fright Zone, but it would have been nice to get a confirming shot of that.
• An OK story with some fun dialogue throughout; I like that She-Ra's attempts to gain another member for the rebellion are, for once, unsuccessful. The door is left open for the wizard to eventually join their ranks; but it's pleasantly realistic to see our heroine not winning outright on this occasion.