Larry DiTillio

Marsh Lamore

It's a race to an ancient treasure today, as She-Ra and Sea Hawk try to beat Hordak and new villain Octavia to the magical Mystic Isle. But of just what does this "treasure of the First Ones" consist?

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

Shadow Weaver, Hordak, Imp, Octavia

Horde soldiers, pirates (including Swen), aquatic Hordesmen, finned creatures

Horde flyers, Solar Sailor, Hordak-faced ship, Horde dreadnought, catamaran

Good news, everyone! Well, good news for Hordak, anyway; because Shadow Weaver has been checking her arcane symbols and has discovered that tomorrow is the day that the fabled Mystic Isle will rise from the sea. It's the perfect time to teleport over and inform her master Hordak, because he's just now sitting in his throne room with Imp, wondering what evil things he should get up to. When the ignorant Imp asks what the Mystic Isle is, Hordak explains: it's a stashing place for ancient treasures of the First Ones, Etheria's super-wise and powerful ancestors. The island has been submerged for ages, but tomorrow - for one day only - it and its treasures will be above the waves and ripe for the plucking!

But the Horde won't be the only people learning of this special occasion: cut to the Whispering Woods and Spirit, enjoying some hand-curated fruit from his companion, Princess Adora. The idyllic scene is interrupted by the colorful magical summons of Light Hope, who requests the presence of She-Ra. Losing not a moment, Adora raises her magic sword aloft. She-Ra and Swift Wind make it to the Crystal Castle with only a brief interregnum to smash some Horde flyers that spotted her and had the foolish idea of trying to take her down. Light Hope delivers a lecture on the Mystic Isle to the heroic pair, asserting that the treasure of the First Ones must be protected from Horde plundering at all costs! Light Hope warns them that Hordak is already on the trail of the treasure, and has a giant dreadnought stationed in the Sea of Sigh, ready to begin. Deciding she needs assistance on this adventure, She-Ra heads straight to the one seafaring rascal she knows: Captain Sea Hawk.

Receiving She-Ra on his sailing/flying ship, Sea Hawk is disappointed not to see his sweetheart, Adora, with her, but pleased at the prospect of busting some Horde heads. With She-Ra leaning at the rail and Swift Wind nosing at a nice crate of hay, the Solar Sailor takes to the skies and approaches the Horde base at Octopus Cove. Hiding themselves through the use of a nifty cloud-cover device, our heroes stealthily tail the dreadnought as it heads out to sea. Unfortunately, Sea Hawk stole his cloud-cover machine from the people he's trying to fool! Hordak and his lieutenant, the octopus woman Octavia, get the report of a cloud on their radar and get suspicious. Time to activate the dreadnought's plasma cannon! Before Captain Hawk can manage any evasive maneuvers, he finds his vessel's hull stove in by the cannon blast - the explosive ship and its helpless crew plummeting to their doom!

She-Ra quickly devises a desperate plan: telling the pirate to steer towards a nearby island, she takes off on Swift Wind and lands at the targeted crash site ahead of the ship - and just in time to catch it in her muscular arms. Everyone is saved! But it will take hours to repair the Solar Sailor. She-Ra decides to fly onto the site of the Mystic Isle alone; but a determined Sea Hawk insists on coming along, to pay Hordak back for wrecking his vehicle.

By the time they arrive on the scene, the island has already proven the prophecies true by rising from the waves, and the heroes must play catch-up. When She-Ra and Sea Hawk land and confront their enemies, Hordak opts to rocket on ahead to the temple at the summit of the island, leaving Octavia and her men to slow down the pesky rebels. Their battle against Octavia proves a difficult one. A brazen charge from Swift Wind (designated "Maneuver 36") knocks the Horde soldiers into a short-circuited heap; but the octopus lady zaps the flying horse with some freeze beams, turning him into a giant ice cube. A vengeful She-Ra smashes the freeze wands with a well-aimed toss of her sword; but what about her beloved steed? While our heroine works to break Swifty out of the ice and defrost him with her healing powers, Sea Hawk opts to take on Octavia alone.

The pirate confidently boasts he's the greatest swordsman on the planet, but perhaps he was only measuring himself against other two-armed people wielding one sword each. Octavia has four swords - one for each tentacle - and makes for a wily adversary. Hawk holds his own for a while, but eventually ends up disarmed and restrained by sucker-filled arms. Luckily, by this time Swift Wind has been restored to fighting trim and She-Ra is available to step in. One swipe of her sword of protection shatters Octavia's blades. To counteract those grabby tentacles, our heroine performs one of her patented high-speed twirls: Octavia is reeled in, spun about, and flung off into the ocean, where she's met by some unidentified but threatening-looking dorsal fins that pursue her back to the dreadnought.

Now, about that treasure! She-Ra and Sea Hawk mount Swifty and speed over to the entrance of the island's main temple, where they can hear Hordak moaning and groaning within. It turns out this fabled treasure of the First Ones doesn't consist of weapons, technology, magic spells, or secret knowledge: it's just art. She-Ra tries to lecture the archvillain on the value of beautiful objects such as these, but Hordak's not having it. To him, all the statues and paintings and pottery filling the temple are worthless; but rather than leave the rebels with something they value, Hordak determines to destroy it. He flies off to his dreadnought to once again put the plasma cannon to use.

A horrified She-Ra, determined to accomplish her mission and protect the art, attempts to land Swift Wind on the ship's deck to smash the cannon; but she and her horse run up against a force barrier. Because She-Ra is well-versed in the ways of dreadnoughts, plasma cannons, and force barriers, she knows that Hordak will need to drop the shield to fire the weapon; so her counterattack will need to be timed just right. Flying over to a nearby islet, She-Ra slices the top off a mountain and, at the crucial moment, hucks it into the sea. It plunges in the water just next to the vulnerable dreadnought, swamping the huge ship and leaving it totally capsized, inverted and balanced atop a point of rock.

Thank goodness the art of the First Ones will be preserved! Sea Hawk feels that they can simply wait for the day to end and the island to sink back into the sea, where the treasure will continue to be secure; but She-Ra argues that art was made to be appreciated and enjoyed, and makes plans to ship all the artifacts to the Whispering Woods. It's a great place for a museum!

• Imp: What evil plan are you cookin' up for today, Boss? / Hordak: I haven't decided yet. There's so much bad to be done.
• Swen: Roll me on the beach and call me Sandy. It's She-Ra!
• Swen: Well, dip me in batter and fry me for a fritter - it worked!
• Swen: Stuff me with seaweed; she's done it! / Sea Hawk: Stuff us both. What a woman!
• Hordak (spoiler alert here!): No! No! This can't be all there is! ... Paintings, statues, pots! Useless! Where is the magic? The weapons? These cannot be the greatest treasures of the First Ones! / She-Ra: That's where you're wrong, Hordak. These things show love, beauty, freedom, and truth. They're the very spirit of the First Ones. And they have a value a cheap villain like you could never understand.
• Octavia: What happened? / Hordak: She-Ra happened, you fool! I don't know how, but she's beaten me again. Now get off me! (struggles with Octavia's tentacles)
• She-Ra (of the treasures): They say a lot more about why we fight Hordak than any flowery speech.

• She-Ra mounts Swift Wind and flies off: Used in the usual spot, just after she's transformed; and the taking-off part is used at the end of the episode
• She-Ra spin kicks the viewer: To free Swift Wind from his ice cube

One full

3:52 - With relative scaling that makes him appear unusually tiny, we see Loo-Kee propped casually up in the branch of a tree, one hand resting against the trunk and the other sassily on his hip. He's in the upper left corner of the screen, facing away from us, looking on as a freshly transformed She-Ra rushes to mount Swift Wind.
Did I spot him? YES!

Loo-Kee is right on target with today's lesson, reiterating She-Ra's sentiments about the value of art, both on our world and Etheria. He advises us to see what he means by visiting our local art museum. The only odd thing about this PSA is that it begins with the elf saying, "Hi! I'm Loo-Kee!" as though we've never met him before. We see you every day, Loo-Kee!

Sea Hawk episode

• Chalk up another for our most prolific of Filmation writers, Larry DiTillio. Totaling up the numbers across MOTU and POP, this makes Larry's thirtieth script credit! He is a machine!
• To open the episode, we return (for a brief moment, at least) to Shadow Weaver's private quarters, seen previously in 67027's "The Eldritch Mist" and 67022's "The Crystal Castle." This visit gives us another look at Weaver's creepy throne, which debuted in 67022.
• Looks like it's going to be another "only a legend" story! Today's true legend is of the Mystic Isle. I'll let Hordak explain: "According to old stories, it is a store house for the greatest treasure of the founders of Etheria. They were called 'the First Ones.' They sank Mystic Isle below the sea to protect the treasures ... The stories say the Isle will rise again for a single day."
• A few things to unpack in the preceding explanation; firstly the First Ones, who we've heard about before (see 67021 and 67022, the latter of which was also a DiTillio script). These are Etheria's answer to Eternia's "Ancients," the wise people who lived before the present times and apparently managed to be smarter and more technologically advanced. (Unfortunately the First Ones concept seems to have been an idea cherished only by our Larry, which basically doesn't come up again after this episode.)
• The Mystic Isle itself is reminiscent of Irish and Celtic folktales, as depicted in popular reincarnations such as Brigadoon (for those of you whose interests don't span both 80s cartoons and old showtunes, this was a 1947 musical, eventually turned into a movie, about a Scottish town that only appears once every 100 years). I've also heard tell (from a paranormal podcast) of an island off the coast of Ireland that's said to appear and disappear seemingly at random. Looking more specifically at MOTU, this story reminds me of He-Man's adventures on the lost island of Avathar (MU127), though Aquatica (MU051) also comes to mind. Surprisingly, POP will produce a script even more closely connected to the Brigadoon story in the second season, with 67076's "Brigis."
• "It's about time she did something right," the mischievous Imp comments of Shadow Weaver's discovery about the Mysic Isle. We've seen evidence in pretty much every previous episode where these two have interacted - particularly 67017's "A Loss for Words" but also 67023's "The Crown of Knowledge" - that Weaver and Imp are very much at odds. Fighting for Hordak's favor, perhaps?
• For the first time, Light Hope contacts Adora magically and over a long distance, while the princess is standing in the Whispering Woods. This is a Sorceress-type move that I know hasn't happened before because, in 67036, I theorized that Light Hope was incapable of it. Oops! We'll see more and further evidence of Light Hope encroaching on Sorceress-established territory as the series progresses - see for instance 67061 or 67078.
• Incidentally, 67036's "The Unicorn King" also happens to be the last time we saw Light Hope.
• Since Light Hope pulls Adora from the woods very early on in this episode, we won't be seeing any of the other regular rebels today: no Bow, Razz, Kowl, and nary a Twigget.
• Just as occurred in 67015, Loo-Kee is hanging around close by right after Adora has transformed, seemingly confirming that - perhaps unbeknownst to her - the tricksy little elf knows our princess's secret. (However, this will prove untrue, as shown by the events of 67055.)
• Today we see again the mosquito-like vehicle design of the "Horde flyer," using that name today, though it's sometimes also called a "fighter" or "batmek." In this episode we find the vehicles are not just robotic fighters (as suggested in 67032, for instance), but manned air ships (more like what we saw back in their first appearance, 67002). This is not to be confused with the "Horde flyer" named in 67031, which is a completely different vehicle - and see my complaints about the annoying and confusing complexity of Horde vehicles in the commentary for 67038.
• Swiss army sword: "Sword to grapple and line!" cries She-Ra, creating a sword-shaped pile of rope which we assume ends in a grappling hook (though the way the scene is animated, it's very difficult to tell). The tool proves very effective for smashing up the pair of flyers chasing her. She-Ra has used a similar grappling line before, in 67025's "Small Problems" and (with a chain in place of the rope) in 67028's "Bow's Farewell."
• Some new named Etherian locations today, the first of which is the Sea of Sigh. Sounds sad! Hordak later meets his dreadnought in Octopus Cove. The reason for the cove's name quickly becomes obvious.
• As noted in the Connected Episodes, this will be the third appearance of the suave Sea Hawk, Adora's special someone. To remind us of his romantic preference, established in his last appearance (67016), the captain asks after the missing Adora when She-Ra shows up. (It's worth noting that every Sea Hawk episode thus far has featured writing from Larry DiTillio.)
• For no particularly good reason, Swen serves his captain a refreshing glass of Etherian "coco-fruit juice," which I like to think is basically a pina colada.
• Lots of vehicles today! After the appearance of the Horde flyers and Sea Hawk's familiar vessel, we see Hordak tooling around in his Hordak-faced ship, which we last saw Catra piloting in 67031. Soon after that, we're introduced to the new Horde dreadnought, an impressive aircraft-carrier-type ship which, like Hordak's flyer, is also graced with a replica of the Horde leader's handsome head.
• It's not just new vehicles showing up; this episode also marks the debut of a new Horde soldier in Octavia. You won't be surprised to hear that she's an octopus woman, who surely owes not a little of her character design to Spidey villain Doc Ock. Her speech is even more choked with mucus than fellow fishy villain Mer-Man; actually, her constant shlucking noises make her sound a lot more like Leech. This character was never released as part of the original POP toyline, but did eventually see a toy produced for the MOTU Classics line (in I believe 2013).
• Interestingly, Octavia has her own special brand of Horde soldiers, a scuba-geared crew that I've identified in my character listing as "aquatic Hordesmen."
• We find the Solar Sailor has been equipped with some new and helpful gadgets: a cloud cover machine and an "aeroscope" for seeing outside of the cloud cover. (The aeroscope, when in operation, makes a noise very much like the crawling spider in Centipede, a sound effect I've heard used before in the series.)
• Swen is just full of seaworthy idioms today (see the memorable lines). Previously we heard Sea Hawk getting colorful with expressions such as "Broil me in butter and call me a flounder" (67007).
• It's a hard day for the Solar Sailor! The ship goes down and it's only thanks to She-Ra's capable hands that it is saved from complete destruction. The reboot She-Ra series made a joke of how often their Captain Sea Hawk destroyed his vessel(s), but this is the first time we've seen OG Sea Hawk in such straits.
• The final vehicle in our list today is what I've identified as a "catamaran." It's a small Horde vehicle seen beached on the shore of the Isle, resting on a pair of parallel cylindrical legs or hulls. Presumably it acted as a sort of ferry to transport some or all of the Horde invaders to land. We never see it in action.
• Swiss army sword: In the second sword change today, She-Ra does the old "sword to shield" maneuver to block some lasers. Unlike her "sword to rope" command, which the blade interprets in various ways, the shield only seems to have one form: the graceful winged shape with center gem.
• Hordak transformations: He goes for his old-fashioned full-body rocket form (twice) today, a transformation first seen way back in 67005.
• As in 67033 (also a DiTillio script, though definitely not his best), She-Ra again indicates that she and Swift Wind have developed a series of numbered flight patterns, as she commands him to perform "Maneuver 36" (which involves plowing into a crowd of firing Horde soldiers - dangerous!). 67033 saw the use of Maneuver 19. Like the First Ones, this maneuver concept seems to be one kept alive only by DiTillio, and though we'll see it come up again (67052), it won't see use in scripts after Larry's departure.
• Our heroine seems to be relying more and more on the boomerang qualities of her sword of protection. We saw her use these in three of the past few episodes, including the most recent one (67039); today the somersaulting sword breaks Octavia's ice beam wands before returning to its wielder.
• She-Ra uses her healing powers again, this time to warm up a chilly Swift Wind. The pose used to animate this scene is identical to the one used when she first discovered her healing powers in 67005 - in the process bringing Swift Wind back from the brink of death.
• Sea Hawk does surprisingly well in his sword battle against the many-armed Octavia, looking like Obi-Wan facing off against General Grievous; but - as with every single other time he's drawn his laser sword - he is ultimately disarmed.
• Clearly Octavia's power set does not involve communicating with the creatures of the sea, a la Aquaman and (less consistently) Mer-Man. When She-Ra twirls the tentacled villain into the sea, Octavia is alarmed to find herself surrounded by some unidentified finned creatures, and swims away.

• I love Larry, but he seems to be contradicting himself somewhat here. In 67022, he had Queen Angella claim that the Crystal Castle, home of Light Hope, contained "all the secrets from the days of the First Ones." So what could be left to stash away on this Mystic Isle? Is this like the storage shed where one of the First Ones' moms forced him to put all his old toys from when he was a kid, so they wouldn't be cluttering up the castle?
• The animators give us a great little visual gag in Sea Hawk's introduction scene, showing a very large pirate carrying a very small box, followed by a very small pirate bent under the weight of an incredibly huge box. Heh. Heh heh.
• I understand how the heroes get to Mystic Isle: they just follow the dreadnought. But how does Hordak know how to get there? Is this another helpful piece of information magically gleaned by Shadow Weaver? Unclear. You'd think if the First Ones wanted to protect their sunken treasures, they could manage to keep the location a secret. After all, the ancestors have done a pretty good job of hiding the Crystal Castle from everybody except troll kings!
• Sea Hawk gives us some wise words today: "Hitting land is worse than hitting water." Indeed! Actually the whole scene with the crash of the Solar Sailor identifies some weak points in the ship's design. For one, Sea Hawk explains that there is no point in having his men abandon the plummeting ship, since when it hits the water its "solar batteries will explode; the sea will be boiling hot." Sooo... this is what would happen no matter what if the ship falls out of the sky? No escape pods, no lifeboats, no flotation devices, just "we're screwed"? Also, as the ship continues to drop, we see Hawk and Swen fighting to turn the old-fashioned spoked wheel of the vessel. If it was in the water, the ship's wheel would naturally control the rudder; but what good is that when you're sailing in the air? Does the wheel perform a different function depending on the medium through which the ship is traveling? Should I really be questioning these things? (Note that in Hawk's next appearance, 67059, he has smartened up and added some lifeboats - AKA "grav boats" - to his ship.)
• Animation error: A slight one; but just before Swift Wind begins his dive for the Mystic Isle, the background painting of sky and clouds abruptly jumps to a completely different configuration.
• I love the background paintings for the Mystic Isle, featuring lush foliage and lots of stone heads, like an ancient Hindu or Buddhist temple. The eventual title "treasures" are also very pretty.
• Octavia gets a great scene when she faces off against Sea Hawk, the self-proclaimed "greatest swordsman on all Etheria." The title doesn't mean much when your opponent can hold four swords at once! (The animation of Octavia smiling and then charging forwards, the four swords gripped in her tentacles, is so nice the animators used it three times today!)
• Continuity error: Having been somewhat cued for this to happen, since I noticed the same thing in 67016, I quickly spotted a case of Sea Hawk's disappearing/reappearing sword. He has it knocked from his hand by Octavia's gigantic throwing star, and it tumbles noisily away down a flight of stairs (the metallic clattering sound it makes, by the way, doesn't make much sense, since the blade is apparently made of laser). But when Octavia subsequently grabs hold of the pirate, the hilt of his sword is once again visibly sticking out of its sheath at his belt.
• Poor Swifty is taking a pounding today! Fresh off of being defrosted from Octavia's ice cube prison, the unfortunate horse power dives straight into the Horde dreadnought's force barrier. I don't care what dimension you're from - that's gotta hurt.
• Continuity error: Hordak's plasma cannon emerges onto the deck of the dreadnought in preparation for firing and destroying the temple on Mystic Isle; but when She-Ra swamps the ship with a big wave, the tossing vessel is shown with a completely clear deck, the cannon vanished.
• When She-Ra tossed that mountaintop at the dreadnought, I have to admit I was looking forward to watching the ship's cannon - maybe even the entire ship - get good and smashed. It was a bit disappointing that the rock just made a big wave.
• A great sea chase and adventure tale today. We haven't gotten a lot of "freedom fighting" episodes from Mr. DiTillio lately - that seems to be more JMS's department - but he does know how to spin a good yarn. And I always love an episode that brings us new characters and vehicles, as this one does!
• Even though neither She-Ra nor Hordak have any idea what the First Ones' treasure is, they're still willing to risk a lot to be the ones who end up with it. So if you think about it, they're really just like two bidders in a magical episode of Storage Wars. Right? Right??