Kathryn M. Drennan

Marsh Lamore

Swift Wind, She-Ra's winged unicorn, gets a bad feeling - a feeling born of his own empathic connection to an entire secret island full of unicorns! Our Swifty and his tiara-topped passenger will have to fight off Hordak's attempts to enslave this island of pretty ponies - but first they'll have to earn the trust of its cynical, human-hating ruler.

Spirit (Swift Wind), Princess Adora (She-Ra), Light Hope

Mantenna, Hordak

unicorns (including the Unicorn King, Bright Wing), capture bots

Sea Fright, Mantenna's air ship

Not content with just ruling the surface of Etheria, Hordak has determined that the Horde must rule its waves as well! In pursuance of this goal, he has built a nifty submarine, the Sea Fright, and is testing his new vehicle by tooling around the Growling Sea with faithful sidekick and doormat, Mantenna. As they're looking about them with their periscope, the pair spy an uncharted island; as they watch, a winged and one-horned horse flies past. The delighted Hordak fairly trembles with excitement: surely they have discovered the legendary Unicorn Island! The Horde leader can hardly wait to begin enslaving the island's mythical populace, and improvises a plan involving Mantenna and an army of capture bots.

Elsewhere on Etheria, in the tranquil Whispering Woods, Princess Adora and Spirit are enjoying another lovely day. They decide to go for a flight, so Adora raises her sword and does the transformation thing. As soon as Spirit is changed to his unicorn form, however, he becomes disturbed and tells She-Ra that he senses some indefinable wrongness. To get to the bottom of this mystical disturbance, the pair head for the Crystal Castle and Light Hope, who - as it happens - knows why they've come. Light Hope informs them of Hordak's accidental discovery of Unicorn Island, a place full of Swift Wind's people, which was meant to be hidden from the Horde. The unicorns are in danger and will need She-Ra's help - but Light Hope warns that their proffered aid will be a hard sell, since the Unicorn King is mistrustful of humans.

At the island, we see that the unicorns really could use a little help, because even Mantenna has managed to round up quite a few of the beasts using the capture bots. The flying horses get in a few good kicks against their attackers, but a herd of them are being held under the beams of the bat-like robots. Mantenna is already looking forward to a rare pat on the head from his boss when She-Ra shows up and ruins everything. She breaks the beams of the capture bots and commences smashing them to bits. A defeated Mantenna is forced to retreat to the Sea Fright, where Hordak is infuriated that his lackey has only managed to save three of his army of bots. It's the trapdoor for Mantenna! (Yes, even Hordak's submarines have trapdoors installed for occasions such as these.)

The trouble temporarily averted, She-Ra and Swift Wind land to converse with the island's inhabitants. They're approached by the Unicorn King, who proves just as mistrustful of humans as Light Hope advertised. He scolds Swift Wind for allowing himself to be ridden by a human, and scoffs when Swifty claims a freely chosen partnership with She-Ra. To illustrate to his visitors the depravity of humans, the King calls over Bright Wing, a fellow unicorn with withered, drooping wings. The King explains that Bright Wing was captured by a human magician who crippled the unicorn to keep him from escaping. Though eventually rescued, the unfortunate Bright Wing has forever lost the power of flight.

She-Ra protests her own good intentions, and urges the Unicorn King to join her in resisting the Horde; but the King has already made up his mind to gather his people and avoid further conflict and slavery by fleeing their home. He doesn't want a battle, and he doesn't want any help from humans. Our heroine agrees to obey the King's wishes and leave, but first requests the chance to help Bright Wing. The chary King leaves the choice to his subject, who is willing to try anything once - and is overjoyed when She-Ra's healing powers fully restore him. Hearing that She-Ra desires nothing in return for this miracle cure - merely the chance to help in freeing the unicorns from the Horde - the King is finally convinced to accept her aid and stay to fight.

The Horde forces, meanwhile, have not been idle. Back in the Sea Fright, Hordak has cooked up another plan to deal with She-Ra and these rambunctious unicorns. He sends Mantenna back out in his air ship to draw She-Ra and Swift Wind away from the island. While they're distracted chasing the stalk-eyed miscreant, Hordak drives his tank-treaded vehicle up on land and releases a hovering force field projector. From high in the air, it drops a pink dome down over the entire island, trapping the unicorns within - and She-Ra without. She-Ra wheedles the details of the ploy out of a miserable Mantenna after grabbing hold of his ship, but is a moment too late to get inside the force field before it comes down. If she can't go through the shield, perhaps she can go under! Leaving Swift Wind outside to keep watch on Mantenna (who has already pretty much put himself out of action by totaling his ship against the shell of the force field), She-Ra dives into the water and drills herself into the seabed, tunneling under the island.

She pops up inside the force field, and right next to Hordak, who has come out of his Sea Fright to meet and greet his new crop of unicorn slaves. The appearance of She-Ra chases Hordak back into his submarine, but he vows reprisals. Our heroine really has to find some way to take out that force field generator. But how can she reach it, with her flying partner stationed on the outside? Simple: the Unicorn King, fully swayed by She-Ra's selfless heroism, agrees to make the sacrifice he thought he would never make, and allow a human to ride on his back. With the King's horsepower, She-Ra takes flight towards the generator. As it turns out, however, Hordak's gadget has its own defense systems: a blowing whirlwind, zapping lasers, and spinning blades, which push the flying pair back and keep them at bay. She-Ra asks the King to fly above the winds, then pulls a risky move, leaping off the unicorn to smash through the generator, and trusting her inexperienced mount to catch her before she splats on the ground. The Unicorn King is panicked by her actions, but still manages the rescue - afterwards sternly demanding the young lady never try anything like that again.

The force field is down! All that's left to do now is ensure the Horde don't pull any further tricks with their nasty submarine. She-Ra handles this task by sawing a big hole in the side of the vessel and tossing it back into the sea. The waters come rushing in, and Hordak - along with Mantenna, whom Swift Wind delivered to the vehicle - have no choice but to abandon ship, taking to a liferaft. This is where She-Ra spots them, bobbing on the waves, after having bid farewell to her new allies the unicorns. She bids a second and cheekier goodbye to her enemies as she flies off on Swift Wind. The enraged Hordak ends the episode by taking out his anger on Mantenna. It seems even Hordak's liferafts have trapdoors built into them - but Hordak quickly discovers what a bad idea this is when he activates the trapdoor on Mantenna. The raft sinks, and the Horde leader must change himself into a torpedo to continue punishing his fleeing, protesting, and thoroughly waterlogged minion.

• Hordak (explaining what he'll do with Unicorn Island): We'll capture it and make it a Horde base, and we'll make slaves of the unicorns.
• Unicorn King: Why have you brought this human to our island, Swift Wind?
• Unicorn King: Bright Wing was the last unicorn to trust a human - and see how that trust was repaid!
• Mantenna (bemoaning his mission to lure She-Ra into pursuing him): Why do I get into things like this? I know why: because I am terrified of Hordak!
• She-Ra (having deflected Hordak's freeze ray): I think you need this freeze ray more than I do - you're so full of hot air! (Laughs loudly, having found her own humor inordinately funny)
• Unicorn King: I never thought I'd say this to a human, She-Ra; but I'd be honored if you'd accept a ride from me. / She-Ra (excited): The honor's mine. I think we'll make a great team.
• Unicorn King (sounding like She-Ra's mom, after she asked him to catch her in mid-air): Never do that again; what made you so sure I could catch you? / She-Ra: Let's just say, it was a matter of trust.

• She-Ra mounts Swift Wind and flies off: Just the mounting part of the loop is used, immediately after the She-Ra transformation; and the full loop is used as She-Ra prepares to follow Mantenna in his air ship

One full

3:27 - Loo-Kee is peeking out from behind a bluish bush on the far left of the screen, in the establishing shot taking us to a less exclusive Etherian locale than Unicorn Island.
Did I spot him? YES!

Loo-Kee lectures us on the value of "cooperation," just like the cooperation between She-Ra and the Unicorn King which saved the day in today's episode. In the context of us 80s children, who lack super powers or unicorn friends, this concept would take a more prosaic form, like helping with household chores. But, heck: you can pretend you're riding a winged horse while you're dusting the knick-knacks.

Changing hearts and minds: The unicorns of Unicorn Island don't exactly end this episode as recruited members of the Great Rebellion, but I'll take the Unicorn King's closing offer, "If you ever need my help, just ask," as sufficient proof that he's become a loyal ally.

• This will be Kathryn M. Drennan's only script for POP, but she has an interesting connection to J. Michael Straczynski, co-creator of the series: at the time of the show's airing, she was his wife. (According to Wikipedia, they divorced in the early 2000s.) Drennan wrote for a few other shows, including several episodes of the Real Ghostbusters cartoon and one episode of the Straczynski-helmed Bablyon 5. Based on her Wikipedia page, she also seems to be quite a fan of Star Trek.
• It's another in the long line of MOTU/POP fables that turn out to be true - in other words, a little sub-category I like to call "only a legend." Today's true legend is Unicorn Island: "I always thought it was just a story," Hordak excitedly proclaims, "but it's real!" (By the way, I absolutely loved George DiCenzo's reading of this line.)
• Hordak transformations: He changes one hand into a mallet to threaten the hapless Mantenna. Later, in an attempt to fight off She-Ra, he changes an arm into its cannon form, which this time is called a "freeze ray." Keep reading for one additional transformation.
• Unicorn Island, it seems, lies in the "Growling Sea." Believe it or not, we've heard of this location before; it was one of the place names mentioned by Bow during his tales of King Jared, told at the beginning of 67023's "The Crown of Knowledge."
• We get more Adora in this episode than we did in the previous one (67058), which omitted her entirely; but not much more. The princess changes to her alter ego seconds after we meet her, and is never seen again.
• She-Ra consults Light Hope for the first time since 67031 - this time at the suggestion of Swift Wind. As is typical of the annoyingly omniscient light beam, they already know why our heroine and her horse have come before the pair even show up.
• Another Etherian race mistrustful of humans, whose trust She-Ra must win: the unicorns and their king are just like the Spikeheart trolls of 67022, or that ugly tree wizard in 67031.
• The "capture bots" that Hordak has Mantenna using on the unicorns are the same bat-like balls named "attack bots" in 67013's "King Miro's Journey." Their new name reminds me of the short-lived "Captron" robot, seen in the beginning of 67009.
• While overseeing the unicorn capturing, Mantenna flies about in a ship whose front end suspiciously mimics his own stalked eyes and pouty lips. Its angled wings also suggest his big floppy ears. Scorpiamobile, eat your heart out!
• Trapdoor time! Even on a submarine, Hordak brings "all the comforts of the Fright Zone," as he puts it, and is able to somehow drop Mantenna through the deck and into some water - which we have to hope is not the Growling Sea, as that would be unfortunate for Mantenna in addition to being contrary to the laws of physics. (Keep reading and you'll see how prophetic this comment turned out to be!) Throwing Mantenna (and others) down trapdoors really is one of Hordak's favorite pasttimes - the last time he got his fix was 67032.
• She-Ra uses her healing powers to important effect today when she wins the trust of the unicorns by healing the crippled Bright Wing. This is the second episode in a row (after 67058) to feature She-Ra's use of this special ability.
• Swiss army sword: To grab hold of Mantenna's ship, She-Ra pulls a "sword to lasso;" but this time, her command produces a bunch of rope ending in a large rake-like claw. Don't know how the sword knew to do that! Later, to deflect Hordak's freeze ray, she changes the sword into its wing-like shield form, last seen in 67033.
• Hordak's impressive Sea Fright, which in its first shot was seen to have treads on the bottom, is eventually proven to be an amphibious submarine. What I'm trying to say is, it can drive on land, too! That's pretty sweet.
• It's true what they say about there being nothing new under the sun - or under the ground. She-Ra's digging move, where she spins herself drill-like into the earth, was already demonstrated by He-Man. In fact, he did it in the very last MOTU episode, MU130.
• You could consider that Mantenna gets a second dose of trapdoor near the end of the episode, when he's let into the Sea Fright by being dropped through a pair of sliding doors on the top of its hull. If so, it wouldn't be the first time he's had a two-fer; that happened back in 67013. However, Mantenna's trapdoor adventures are not yet over...
• Our animators are careful to show us that Hordak and Mantenna survive the sinking of the Sea Fright, popping out of the doomed vessel in a cute little floating bubble of an escape pod. The bubble later sheds itself, leaving a simple inflatable raft. Hopefully it's equipped with rations and a radio, as it seems unlikely to have the ability to steer or propel itself.
• Whether the raft had the necessary survival supplies turns out to be immaterial, as we find that it has been equipped (very short-sightedly, though hilariously) with its own trapdoor! Hordak drops Mantenna down and the water rushes up, alerting our Horde leader to a slight design flaw and giving us our first triple trapdoor day. I would argue, however, that today does not hold the record for most trapdoor-ings in a single episode, even of Mantenna; that honor belongs to 67049's "For Want of a Horse."
• Hordak transformations: One more today, since Hordak finds it necessary to change his body into a torpedo after sinking his own liferaft and deciding to blame all his troubles on the luckless Mantenna.

• It's amusing that Hordak's aesthetic seems to be even more bone-based than Skeletor's: the chairs in the Sea Fright look to be made of rib cages with hip bones for the headrests.
• I thought (per the Power of Grayskull documentary) that She-Ra was not allowed to punch anybody, but today she punches one of the capture bots. I guess it's OK for her to sock inanimate objects!
• The subject of this episode, an island full of winged horses, seems intentionally calculated to mesmerize young female viewers, perhaps drawing in fans of the competing Hasbro toy line of the time, My Little Pony (born from the original My Pretty Pony). The animated field in this regard was wide open, since the My Little Pony cartoon, according to Wikipedia, would not begin airing until late 1986. I suppose this story might also have helped to sell Mattel's Wave One Princess of Power vehicle toys, which, with little regard to the lore of the series or the logic of their ostensible owners, were virtually all winged horses - even Bow's Arrow and Catra's "Storm" (the latter incongruous mount never even appearing in animated form).
• An interesting point about Light Hope: the entity never seems to want to fetch She-Ra to their castle the way the Sorceress was constantly doing with He-Man. When She-Ra shows up, Light Hope is always smugly waiting, having already expected her arrival; but they never expose their neediness via telepathic SOS. Perhaps they're incapable of sending out for visitors, which is why they so pointedly requested that She-Ra visit them every once in a while, back in 67022. (Every once in a very, very long while - like, once every thousand years - my comments are proven inaccurate; and this is one of those times. See 67040.)
• Check out She-Ra's skill as a diver: when she drops off of Swift Wind's back and into the Growling Sea, there's hardly a splash in the water! I give it a 10.
• She-Ra's solution for counteracting the defensive whirlwind of the force field generator is to ask the Unicorn King to "fly over it." Wouldn't that mean... flying above the force field? And therefore breaking through the force field? If you can do that, why do you have to turn the thing off? It also seems as if a viable alternative to this whole situation would have been for She-Ra to go back through her tunnel and just get Swift Wind to smash the force field generator from the outside - or even widen her access tunnel so that her steed could travel through it with her. But I suppose that would have robbed us of the chance to see our heroine two-timing Swifty with the Unicorn King.
• Speaking of which, how did Swift Wind feel about She-Ra riding around on another horse? It would have been interesting to insert some dialogue on this subject between our heroine and her beloved steed. She-Ra: I hope you know, Swifty, the Unicorn King meant nothing to me. It was just a one-time thing! Swift Wind (snorting and neighing): Sure it was. I saw the way he caught you in the air. That weed-munching tramp!
• The fact that we only ever see Hordak and Mantenna inside the Sea Fright seems to imply that it has no other crew - that presumably one or the other of the pair has been driving/maintaining the submarine this whole time. The aternative is that there was an unseen company of robotic Horde "sailors" who all went down with the ship - along the same lines as the robotic crew of the sunken Horde prison ship at the end of 67016's "Return of the Sea Hawk." I like to think all these downed Horde sailors have been properly waterproofed for their journeys on Etheria's waves, and that they are all still operational at the bottom of the sea, perhaps busily developing their own culture and constructing an undersea kingdom to rival Eternia's Aquatica.
• Some silliness in our story today, but for me it was just the right level of silliness. I thought the Mantenna/Hordak dynamic was hilarious, particularly the ending zinger with its liferaft trapdoor. I like these episodes that fall into the "changing hearts and minds" category, as they suggest a larger story arc of She-Ra recruiting more and more aid for the rebellion, with the idea of one day mustering a huge united force to defeat Hordak. Indications of the rebellion actually doing any freedom fighting are thin on the ground, as I've suggested previously (see 67007, 67010); so we have to take what we can get!
• By the way, a question: is Mantenna the most miserable minion to be employed by either Skeletor or Hordak? It's possible! The ending scene with Hordak unfairly blaming Mantenna for his own failings, and Mantenna actually apologizing as he's pursued, is hilarious but also quite pathetic. It's interesting to consider that, however incompetent Skeletor's lackeys were (I love you, Beast Man, but I'm thinking of you), they still had the audacity and spunk to periodically mutter about one day superseding their boss. Indeed, Evil-Lyn's ambitions along these lines produced enough plots for a whole MOTU episode category (see my connected episodes theme "Evil-Lyn power punches the glass ceiling"). The browbeaten Mantenna only managed one act of defiance, when he secretly got his own trapdoor revenge on Hordak in 67017; but that hardly qualifies as a planned coup d'etat. We haven't yet encountered any Hordak employee - even the most impressive one, Shadow Weaver - who's even considered such levels of impertinence. (However, see 67056 or 67051!)