Larry DiTillio

Tom Tataranowicz

She-Ra gets accidentally yanked along with Orko into the land of Trolla, making her conveniently available to aid Orko and his Uncle Montork in attempting to recover the vanished Trollan governing body, the Crimson Council.

Bow, Kowl, Broom, Orko, Madame Razz, Princess Adora (She-Ra)

N/A

Twiggets (Sprag, Sprocker), various rebels, Uncle Montork, Dree Elle, unfortress guardian, High Muck-Muck Blim, Muckess Foosabella, turtle robot, Doctor Zoog, Big Uggo, electroids, Warden Umpty, various Trollan convicts, Trollan guard, members of the Crimson Council (including Lazam)

wagon, toy space train, rowboat, Zoog's ship, Zoog's floating orb

....Ha ha ha! Ahhh, we'll always remember the great time Orko had visiting Madame Razz and the other rebels in the Whispering Woods (won't we?), but it's time for Eternia's royal court magician to get back to his job. With Princess Adora as his escort, Orko waves goodbye to the Twiggets, random unidentified rebels, Bow, Kowl, Broom, and his witchy partner in magic, and heads off through the woods. The princess and the Trollan are no doubt on the way to their normal portal-opening spot; but before they can get there, Adora spots another strange swirling portal in the sky, headed straight for them. Having ascertained that this aerial phenomenon was not spawned (accidentally or intentionally) by her friend, Adora quickly makes her change into She-Ra, so she can be prepared for whatever the portal is going to throw at her.

However, the target of this magical opening is not herself, but Orko. It chases after the Trollan and begins sucking him in. She-Ra grabs hold of her friend and tries to keep him from getting swallowed, but instead ends up getting drawn in with him! Landing on the other side, She-Ra and Orko quickly find that the force behind their abduction was not nearly as malevolent as it seemed: it was just Orko's favorite uncle, Montork, pulling his nephew back to their home world of Trolla to help with a magical problem. Montork didn't intend to recruit any big, strapping blondes to his cause, but when She-Ra hears that help is needed, she quickly offers her assistance - to Orko's delight.

The Trollan's grateful embrace of his female friend draws an angry response from the until now unheard-from fourth member of the party, Orko's long-distance girlfriend, Dree Elle. The hopeless Orko makes no attempt to assuage his love's jealousy, hardening Dree Elle's determination to accompany them all on their quest. And what is that quest, you may ask? Well, it seems that Trolla's Crimson Council - a trio of white-bearded fellows who maintain the magic that runs the planet - have mysteriously disappeared! Montork declares that their first stop in getting to the bottom of this problem will be the Unfortress of the High Muck-Muck, there to report to the High Muck-Muck Blim himself. Or rather, Blim's consort, Muckess Foosabella (since, as we very quickly discover, the Muck-Muck is well-meaning but oblivious and blunderingly incompetent).

Montork and the Muckess have barely had time to exchange a few words - and the Muckess has just given a once-over through the lenses of her lorgnette to the tall, blonde drink of water who's joined the party - before the unfortress alarm goes off! A robotic "turtle" with spines over its back and weapons festooning its spindly arms has popped out of the ground, to the great distress of the building's living entryway (which looks like the giant head of a Trollan). Since the spiny machine seems immune to the magical attacks of Orko and Montork, She-Ra leaps out the window to ply her muscles against the turtle. They prove, as always, effective, and the gadget soon lies on the ground, inverted and smoking. Examining the device afterwards, Orko comments that it seems like the work of the evil Doctor Zoog, a Trollan who hates magic and relies entirely on technology; but Uncle Montork says that villain has been cooling his heels at Flotsam Prison for a few months now. Still... it wouldn't hurt to go check on the criminal. So Orko, Dree Elle, and She-Ra head off on a rowboat into the Sing-Song Sea, where the island prison lies, draped in an anti-magic shield.

Our heroes can tell something fishy is going on at Flotsam Prison almost before they go inside, since the front doors swing open without Orko having to even ring the doorbell. As soon as they've entered, the doors slam shut behind them, and they're blown down a trapdoor and attacked by the very un-incarcerated Doctor Zoog and a pair of his robotic electroids! (Zoog has been secretly spying on the heroes since the turtle fight, and was well-prepared for their approach.) She-Ra deflects the lasers of the robots onto the doctor, sending Zoog bouncing away down the hall. She uses a chunk from a pillar to turn his sentries into so much metallic trash. Before the villain can return, the heroes rush off to see if they can locate that Crimson Council. They eventually discover Warden Umpty - apparently the only guard on duty on the entire island, which says something about the quality of the penal system on Trolla - locked into a cell. After Orko has magically freed him, the warden points them to Zoog's spaceship, embedded in the ceiling at the top of the building. Unfortunately, when they get there, the heroes are faced by the regrouped Zoog, backed up by all the worst convicts in the prison, whom he's broken out of their cells and armed (mostly with toilet plungers, but still).

She-Ra wraps up all the armed prisoners with one thrown doorway arch, but Zoog takes advantage of her and her friends being occupied to make his escape in the ship. Even worse, he takes not only the Crimson Council, but a bonus hostage - Dree Elle - with him! It's a very distraught Orko who returns to the unfortress with the others, pacing the floor (well, floating in circles, anyway) and waiting for news of a sighting of Zoog's craft. Guess what, Orko? Zoog is here! His ship arrives just above the unfortress, and he announces himself to the Muckess with a terrible threat, delivered by video call. He'll zap the building and its occupants to another dimension, using a laser that's powered by the drained magic of the Crimson Council, unless she surrenders her post to him immediately. The Muckess refuses his terms without hesitation, but now they have a rather large problem: Zoog's rocket is protected by a counter-magic shield, and he's already training his laser on them.

There's only one thing to do, She-Ra determines, and that's to move the entire unfortress out of the path of the laser. (That's what you were thinking too, right?) Putting her back into it and gathering all her considerable strength, the golden-haired heroine does the deed: by the time Zoog hits the fire button, his target is no longer under the crosshairs. But it turns out that She-Ra's solution was perhaps not particularly future-proof: for now she's utterly exhausted, and Zoog can just re-aim. Luckily, it's at this point that Uncle Montork remembers an important fact: magicians can sometimes make a psychic connection over a distance with a special loved one. With Unc's coaching, Orko is able to send a message to Dree Elle, who's chained up in the control room of Zoog's rocket. He casts a spell through her that undoes her chains, leaving her free to conk Zoog on the noggin and lower the ship's shields. Montork then teleports himself, Orko, and She-Ra onto the rocket for the final battle.

In said final battle, Montork and Orko use their magic to restrain Zoog in his own chair, while She-Ra acrobatically tricks the electroids into shooting each other to a smoking heap. The evil doctor is once again bound for prison - which, we'll have to hope, will be better suited to keep him imprisoned than last time. Afterwards, the four heroes return to the unfortress, where they're all awarded with the prestigious Ooklump Cluster. We discover that Orko is just as bad at highlighting his good qualities for his girlfriend as he was at allaying her jealousy; because Uncle Montork and She-Ra are the ones who have to tell Dree Elle that it was Orko's love magic that helped free her earlier. Overjoyed by this news, Dree Elle embraces the klutzy Trollan, apparently attempting a kiss through their scarves; and the episode - and the first season - ends with a heart-shaped fade-out.

• Dree Elle (frostily pointing): Who is that? / Orko: Tha-that's She-Ra. / Dree Elle: You never hug me like that. / Orko (stammering, instantly digging his hole deeper): I-I gotta go, I guess we'll talk about this later.
• She-Ra: Orko, what is this Crimson Council? / Orko: It's a group of the most powerful wizards on Trolla. They keep all of Trolla's magic running smoothly. Trolla works entirely on magic - you get used to it!
• She-Ra (having been introduced to the Trollan Muckess): Your Highness. / Muckess Foosabella (peering at She-Ra through a lorgnette): You're quite tall, aren't you? Oh, and I see you don't float. Odd.
• Montork: She-Ra's right: love was the key, and that's the greatest magic of all. No one can stop love.

• She-Ra rolls along the ground: Dodging the attacks of the spiky machine

One partial (missing Spirit/Swift Wind sequence)

1:21 - Loo-Kee chooses the get-it-over-with option today, appearing in the very first shot after the title screens. (It's pretty much the only option he has unless the elf wants to imply he can teleport to Trolla, since we'll be spending almost the entire episode in that wacky dimension.) He's on the far right, hanging down by his tail from a tree branch and looking off to the left. He's appeared this quickly about four times now, and the last time he did so was very recently (67062).
Did I spot him? YES!

Loo-Kee's PSA focuses on a subject he's covered before: household pets. I'm not sure what this has to do with today's story; it made more sense when he discussed it at the end of 67049's "For Want of a Horse." This time, Loo-Kee posits that we haven't yet acquired a pet and might be in the market for one. After warning his audience that pets require a lot of care, he advises us that any questions about them can be directed to our local humane society. Do you think "Loo-Kee said we could get one" is a good enough reason to beg a puppy off your parents?

MOTU crossover
Hordak-less episodes in Season 1
Love is in the air: The love of a Trollan magician for his sweetie pie.
Landmark Episode: Because of the abundance of Trollan lore, and the fact that this is both the season finale and the last script by Larry DiTillio.

• Folks, today is a very bittersweet day, because this script marks not only the final one in POP's first season, but the last that will be given to us by She-Ra co-creator and most prolific of all MOTU/POP writers, Larry DiTillio. He gave us 17 and 18 stories for MOTU and POP, respectively, and in addition to his world-building in the land of Etheria, he invented classic recurring characters such as Granamyr the dragon. Fortunately Larry would be brought back to add his particular magic to He-Man during the short-lived reboot of the MOTU series in 2002; but we won't be seeing his talents put to use at all during She-Ra's second season.
• We discover right away today that we're in for a MOTU crossover story, since Orko is visiting! Though Orko has technically appeared in a couple of recent episodes, it was either as a conjured vision (67061) or in a special PSA-only appearance (67018). The last time he actually had a part in a main episode was 67055's "Loo-Kee Lends a Hand." Today we'll see Orko interacting with more of his friends in Etheria, including Madame Razz; something he hasn't done since another previous DiTillio script, the underwhelming 67033's "A Talent for Trouble."
• The swirly rainbow portal that sucks in Orko and She-Ra is identical to portals we've seen in other episodes (for instance 67039).
• We're far from done listing our cast of Trollans today, because - talk about a blast from the past - here comes Uncle Montork! Orko's favorite uncle appeared in three episodes of MOTU (and played an incidental part in a fourth, though entirely off-screen), and I have to admit I didn't think we'd ever see him again.
• This story resurrects a piece of Trollan lore and governance that we've heard about previously: the Crimson Council, who played a central if fleeting part in the storyline of MU077's "Trouble in Trolla" (not surprisingly also a DiTillio script). In that previous episode, the trio of white-haired fellows judged a magic contest. Here, we find they have disappeared!
• In shock at the divulgence of this disturbing information about the council, Orko gives us the Trollan exclamation "Hoppin' hoovies!" Later, Trolla's Muckess provides "Galloping ganzales!"
• To add to the Trollan cavalcade, today's story also features Orko's girlfriend and possible fiance, Dree Elle. She appeared in four episodes of MOTU, and Orko has been mooning over her since her debut (MU020's "Dawn of Dragoon"). Driven into an instant fit of jealousy on their meeting, Dree Elle sarcastically refers to her beau by the nickname introduced in that old episode: "Orko the Great."
• Montork introduces himself to the strangely alive entrance to the unfortress as the "Head of the Trollan Academy of Magic." His toppling from that post was the subject of the "Trouble in Trolla" in MU077.
• This episode affords us the opportunity to learn more about the actual job of the Crimson Council, outside of judging magic contests; see memorable lines. It turns out they really are pretty important.
• A new level of Trollan government is also introduced, with the High Muck-Muck Blim and his wife the Muckess. It's almost immediately clear why no one has ever visited the Muck-Muck before: Blim is a chaotic mess, seemingly less competent than even Orko. The real power behind the throne is Muckess Foosabella, who sends her husband off to "make a law or two" while she gets down to business with the heroes.
• The spiky robot, called a "turtle," which attacks the unfortress looks like Spiny from Super Mario Bros. She-Ra describes it as having "more arms than Multi-Bot," giving us our only reference to the Horde that we'll get today.
• So much Trolla lore! The enemy of Trollan magic and an evil inventor, Doctor Zoog, will be our villain for today. (Clearly in the oft-mentioned Horde argument over science vs. sorcery, most Trollans would choose the latter; so Zoog's opposing stance makes him a pariah and an iconoclast.) It turns out our Trollan friends have a penal system, because Montork believes Zoog to be imprisoned in their "Flotsam Prison," located on the "Sing-Song Sea."
• The flunky who is often seen standing next to Zoog is named "Big Uggo" in the Wiki Grayskull entry for this episode. Even though that name is never used in the episode, for lack of anything better I've decided to use it in my character list.
• There was a brief moment, during the events of MU053's "Dree Elle's Return," when it seemed that Orko's habit of wearing his first initial on his shirt was catching on back in Trolla; but fashion is fickle, and we've never seen Trollans copying Orko's style since then. Today is no exception.
• In Flotsam Prison our heroes find themselves confronted by what Orko calls "electroids." We met an electroid named Aremesh in the Orko-themed MU048's "Return of Evil," but Aremesh didn't look much like these floating robots; he had legs, for one thing. Another so-called electroid, looking even less like any of these other models, was conjured by Shadow Weaver to battle both She-Ra and He-Man in 67035's "Gateway to Trouble."
• Surprisingly, these electroids do seem to have been intended as the same type of creature as Aremesh, because Orko warns She-Ra that if she catches them, "they'll drain all your strength." This is what happened to He-Man when he grabbed Aremesh in MU048. This is some pretty incredible internal consistency, especially considering the long gap between these two stories - and the fact they were written by different people (MU048 was the work of Richard Pardee)!
• Montork explains to Orko that a Trollan magician in love can connect to their loved one psychically. But Orko already pulled this trick once - with He-Man! He sent a telepathic message to our burly hero during the events of MU070's "Fisto's Forest." This puts a whole new angle on their relationship; maybe Dree Elle's jealousy of She-Ra is being directed at the wrong twin!
• When the electroids turn, they make a sound effect heard before in MOTU and POP, that sounds very much like the creepy-crawling spider from Atari's Centipede.
• At the conclusion of the episode, our heroes are all awarded a Trollan decoration for bravery, named the "Ooklump Cluster." Those lucky stiffs. We are also given the name of one of the members of the Crimson Council, which I've chosen to transcribe as "Lazam."
• This is one of only two episodes in the first season (the previous being the very recent 67064's "Wild Child") to feature no members of the Horde. Also never seen is Adora's/She-Ra's horse.
• Note that based on original air dates from my Wikipedia source, after this episode the next time we 80s children would see She-Ra would not be the beginning of Season 2, but the amazing He-Man & She-Ra: A Christmas Special, aired in December of 1985. Clicking "next" in the top corner of this screen will take you to my entry for that movie. Season 2 would not begin airing until nearly the following fall, in mid-September of 1986.
• Some trivia for you: this episode, as noted in the plot summary, ends with a heart-shaped wipe and fade-out. Perhaps signaling a greater focus on romance in She-Ra's second season, two additional upcoming episodes will end the same way: 67079's "Romeo and Glimmer" and the hilarious 67085's "Sweet Bee's Home." All three of these were directed by Tom Tataranowicz.

• Note that this episode begins with the ending of some kind of magical collaboration between Razz and Orko, which resulted in Orko's doubtful pronouncement that the two "make a great team." I'll believe that when I see it! But it seems that we never will see it; DiTillio teased a meeting between this pair in 67033's "A Talent for Trouble," and at the time had me looking forward to some calamitous hijinks and amusingly mis-cast spells. But all we ended up seeing was the instant capturing of the witch and the Trollan by the Horde. Here again, we're told that the two have spent time together, but left bereft of any details. Hmf.
• It's amazingly ironic that this Orko-focused script proves to be DiTillio's last effort in his classic run on Filmation's MOTU/POP series. I had posited in the past, based on the lack of Orko in the majority of his early MOTU scripts, that DiTillio hated Eternia's royal magician. Even when Larry included Orko, the writer's abusive treatment of the character seemed to highlight that dislike (see for instance MU079 and especially the commentary of MU113). But the fact that DiTillio's final bow is an Orko story seems to contradict my theory. Perhaps over his years working for Filmation, Larry learned to appreciate the little pest. I can sympathize with that.
• Trolla's High Muck-Muck feels like at least a little bit of a retcon here; surely this distinguished leader would have gotten involved in some way during the attacks of Dragoon in MU020, had he been extant. Maybe we're to believe he was one of the prisoners in Dragoon's fortress? Speaking of that episode, it's the only story of all the ones set on Trolla which addresses the idea of everything being backwards there compared to on worlds like Eternia. As MU020 tells it, on Trolla fire is water, fish fly through the air, and Prince Adam even has to figure out how to say his magic words backwards so he can turn into He-Man. We've come a long way, baby...
• In a rare case of actual spell-casting, Orko speaks some rhyming nonsense to remove the door from Warden Umpty's prison cell. But there was a magic screen around the entire prison, making it necessary for our heroes to approach by rowboat. Why is magic allowed inside the prison? Surely we don't want the convicts casting spells. And if it is allowed, what was keeping the warden from using some himself? Apparently even though Trolla runs on magic, not everyone on the planet is a magician; but you'd think the prison wardens would be!
• I like that Zoog's rounded-up gang of violent prisoners are armed with toilet plungers and boots on the end of fishing rods. The latter reminds me of one of the gadgets in the old classic Rube Goldberg inspired game, Mouse Trap.
• Zoog is convinced he needs a hostage to cover his escape from Flotsam, which is why he nabs Dree Elle. But he already has three much more valuable hostages in the Crimson Council. Why spring for an extra? (Because the plot demands it, is the answer.)
• She-Ra claims there's "only one thing" they can do to keep Zoog from zapping the unfortress: move the entire building. That's the only thing you can do, eh? Are you sure? There isn't maybe something smaller and easier to move nearby? (Looks pointedly between unfortress and Zoog's ship, floating just overhead)
• Also, how many times has She-Ra stopped a ray or laser or magic bolt by simply deflecting it with her sword, or the shield form of her sword? I have to think that the strange magical air of Trolla has impaired our heroine's faculties today. (From a real-world standpoint, I suppose She-Ra resorted to moving a building because Mr. DiTillio wanted to have our title character perform an impressive feat of strength, but also leave the door open for Orko's saving love magic.)
• This was a fairly silly story, but it was fun enough, giving us many colorful and exciting locations, characters, and lore from the land of Trolla. It was an interesting choice to wrap up She-Ra's first season with an episode almost completely devoted to Orko and his people, characters from the MOTU series. We're still seeing a writers' tug-of-war over whether to cut the He-Man umbilical cord (that's a really gross metaphor, and I apologize) and show our heroine as entirely independent of her roots in Eternia, or whether to continue to acknowledge the important role that the parent series plays. The upcoming Christmas Special will lean even more heavily towards the Eternia/He-Man side of things (to be fair, it's not a She-Ra episode, but a full collaboration between the twins, their worlds, and their respective toy lines, so it probably shouldn't weigh in the balance). On the other side of the scales, we had Light Hope usurping the Sorceress's spot in the sword of protection's gem in the recent 67061. We'll have to see how this conflict continues to play out in the much shorter second season.
• Now that the Ooklump Clusters have been distributed, I'd like to take a brief moment as well to salute the real hero of this episode, Larry DiTillio. It would be hard to overstate the influence and contributions of this writer on the Filmation series; he wrote my favorite He-Man story (MU034's "The Dragon's Gift"), and he basically invented POP. I was greatly saddened to learn that this titan of the franchise had passed in 2019. He gave a lot of joy and great memories to more than one generation of kids, including this particular forever-child. Thanks, Larry.