Karen Willson & Chris Weber

Bill Reed

It sure is nice knowing that She-Ra will always come to save you; that way, you can happily run off on any old silly scheme - like winning back Queen Angella's stolen crystal crown from some thieving Horde minions. But what if today is the day She-Ra decides people are becoming too dependent on her?

Princess Adora (She-Ra), Kowl, Bow, Glimmer, Queen Angella (mentioned only), Peekablue, Broom, Madame Razz

Leech, Entrapta, Catra, Clawdeen

jeweler, Sprint the Twigget, Horde soldiers

Horde tanks, wagon

This morning finds a group of our heroes - Princess Adora, Kowl, Bow, Glimmer, and Sprint the Twigget - engaged in an important errand: overseeing the setting of some jewels into a crown at a local jeweler's. This crystal crown is very special, for it belongs to Queen Angella and is an inspiring symbol for the Great Rebellion. Our anxious friends huddle around as the jeweler finishes his work; they need to return the crystal crown to the safety of the Whispering Woods as soon as possible, since it's such a tempting prize for any members of the Horde.

Speaking of which: just outside the shop lurks Leech and a contingent of Horde soldiers, preparing to pounce. They easily nab the rebels' lookout, Sprint, before he can sound the alarm, ensuring their attack catches the heroes completely unawares. After a bit of battling, Adora finds a moment to run into a side room and She-Ra jumps out to join the fray. But stun beams from the soldiers lock Glimmer and the jeweler in blocks of ice, and Leech traps Bow in a magnetic field using a device loaned from the trap-happy Entrapta. By the time She-Ra has smashed the attractive little cube with an anvil to free Bow, Leech and his men have driven away with the crown!

Afterwards, having thawed out and learned of the theft, Glimmer mourns on a bench outside the shop while Bow comforts her. The loss of the crown is a terrible blow - symbolically! Their friend Peekablue, arriving with Kowl and Sprint, is also greatly affected by the theft - and she thinks they should do something about it. Bow heartily agrees: sure, the odds are terrible and the Horde is mighty, but they have She-Ra on their side! She's always showed up before to save them when they've gotten into hot water, so surely they're safe to try any crazy scheme! Against Kowl's one strenuous dissenting vote, the other rebels unite in agreement to retrieve the crown before it reaches the Fright Zone, and set off right away on their perilous mission.

Kowl, meanwhile, rushes back to the rebel camp in the Whispering Woods, where Princess Adora has returned and is chatting with Madame Razz and Broom. The distressed bird rattles off the tale of his reckless comrades and their foolhardy plan. Adora immediately decides the aid of She-Ra will be needed and gets up to follow. But the older (wiser?) Razz points out that Adora's friends have grown dangerously dependent on the muscular heroine. If She-Ra keeps saving them, they'll never learn to help themselves or rely on their own powers and skills. Seeing the witch's point, Adora decides to give her alter ego a rest for a while and tag along as her normal self, perhaps to teach her friends a little prudence.

The princess and Kowl catch up to Bow and the others, but find them still resolute in their intentions, and still certain that She-Ra will arrive to save them if necessary. Just then, Peekablue senses the approach of Catra's evil lion pet, Clawdeen! It would have been nicer if Peekablue's premonitory powers had a little more lead time, because the rebels still find themselves unprepared when the big cat shows up, and Peekablue can only stand at bay and call for help. The others attempt to flee, but find themselves impeded by a series of cage mines planted all over the terrain. Sprint (who, let's face it, is pretty useless as a freedom fighter) gets caught in a cage right away, along with Peekablue, and Bow and Glimmer get chased to the edge of a precipice by Clawdeen and Catra herself.

This really would be a great time for Adora to change into She-Ra and save the day; but Kowl reminds the princess of her earlier determination to avoid such easy solutions. After wrestling a moment (and over a helpful commercial break) with this weighty decision, Adora hits upon a compromise: she turns into She-Ra, but only for the purpose of delivering a lecture to Bow and Glimmer about helping themselves. Then she strides off, ditching them. With no other alternatives, Glimmer and Bow use their powers to fight off the Horde attackers. Glimmer blinds the big cats with a flash of light. A well-shot arrow from Bow imprisons Clawdeen in a cage mine cage, and Catra decides it's time to teleport out of there. Reappearing after her brief but mysterious absence, Adora is able to free Sprint from his cage, and all the rebels except Peekablue regroup.

Bow is well into a very familiar-sounding speech about how all of this is his fault, and they probably shouldn't have tried to do the rash thing they did, when the Horde returns! It's Catra again, and she has a Horde tank with a crane attachment. At the end of the crane, in a hanging cage, is Peekablue. Their friend is a prisoner of the Horde! The gloating Catra, having shown off her prize, drives away, leaving a distraught pack of rebels in her wake. Bow was ready to give up his heedless pursuit of the crystal crown, but they can't very well give up on their captured friend! There's nothing for it but to chase Catra back to her base and mount a rescue.

It turns out Catra is stationed in a cave, where she's been hanging out with Leech, Entrapta, and a bunch of Horde soldiers. When our heroes arrive outside the cave, they spy the robotic troops guarding the entrance and stowing away a shipment of mysterious barrels. The barrels provide the perfect stealthy entrance into the base - once the rebels stuff themselves inside. They're then helpfully carried and deposited in the base by the soldiers. Having unpacked themselves, our heroes spot Peekablue tied up to a giant flower in a greenhouse room - and the three villains in an adjoining room, gathered under a pavillion with the precious crown. Adora distracts Leech, Entrapta, and Catra by walking right up to them and delivering some trash talk. While the trio's focus is on the ex-force captain, Glimmer and Bow each grab a supporting post of the pavillion. On a shouted signal, they pull out the supports, and Sprint leaps in to nab the crown just before the tent top collapses on the villains.

A battle then ensues, with the Horde aided by a grabby host of Entrapta's entrapping mechanical tentacles. Adora decides that, given the circumstances and the fact that her friends have learned their lesson, it's really okay for her to turn into She-Ra now; so she runs into a handy cavern and does so. The golden heroine is then able to fight off some enemies and throw her sword into Entrapta's control panel, shorting out all the traps. Our freed heroes run into the greenhouse. A sneezing powder arrow from Bow slows down their pursuers long enough for She-Ra to shut the greenhouse door and kick the door controls into oblivion, locking the Horde outside.

Now it's just a matter of saving Peekablue; but this proves more difficult than expected, since the feathery rebel is tied to a sleeping violet. Its heady scent causes anyone nearby to fall unconscious - as Glimmer and She-Ra quickly discover. Fortunately Kowl has the bright idea to pop open a panel in the greenhouse's glass roof, letting in some fresh air and blowing away the sleepy cloud. While Peekablue and Glimmer awaken, She-Ra remains asleep; but that's fine, since Bow and co. know they can do things without her sometimes. They use a vine to climb their way out through the ceiling, with Bow toting the title heroine. Kowl assures them that the missing Adora is safe and sound ... somewhere else, so the heroes can cheerily razz the Horde minions and depart before Catra busts down the greenhouse door.

Then it's back to the Whispering Woods, where the party meet up with Adora and Bow and Glimmer have a few spare moments to go over the lessons they've learned about self-reliance. Bow asserts that, even with his new-found trust in himself, it's still nice to have She-Ra around "just in case," and Adora tips us a knowing wink.

• Bow: She-Ra! I knew you'd show up to help us; you always do.
• Madame Razz: If She-Ra saves them, they'll always be looking for the Princess of Power to pull them out of trouble. But - Adora could go along... / Princess Adora: Yes; just to keep them on the right track. They must learn never to depend on someone else to save them, but to rely on themselves. / Razz: Exactly!
• She-Ra (to Bow and Glimmer): The whole rebellion looks up to you two. But you're not using your abilities if you lead others into danger and then wait for someone else to help you; not when you can handle a problem like this on your own. You must believe in yourselves. Farewell, dear friends!
• Entrapta (distraught): No! Ohh, you've destroyed my traps! / She-Ra: You can build new ones - after we leave.
• Princess Adora (ironically putting words into her "independent" friend's mouth): I think that you've learned to trust your own abilities and limits - right, Bow? / Bow: You're right! But no matter how confident I feel, I'm sure glad She-Ra's around, just in case. / Adora: (winks)

• She-Ra spin kicks the viewer: Knocking out some door controls in the Horde base

Three partial (missing Spirit/Swift Wind sequence)
Two of the three transformation sequences today feature the flub where the transformed She-Ra begins moving her sword toward an absent Spirit. It's a toss-up whether this episode tops the previous record holder for most transformations, 67050's "Just Like Me." That one technically had three on-screen She-Ra transformations, and one of them was the full thing; but the other two were severely abbreviated. In this episode, all three sequences are the same partial one, only missing the horse transformation.

13:33 - Loo-Kee was feeling frisky and overconfident today, just like our rebel heroes, because he chose to hide in Entrapta's evil greenhouse! We find him in the upper-left corner of the screen, looking away from us at Peekablue, bound in the center of a giant sleeping violet. Little help, Loo-Kee?
Did I spot him? YES!

Loo-Kee informs us that stealing - like Leech's theft of the crystal crown in today's episode - is bad. If you steal, you'll probably get caught, and even if you don't, you'll be plagued by a guilty conscience. Maybe next time, Loo-Kee can teach us about embezzling.

Hordak-less episodes in Season 2: Yes, our Horde commander starts off the second season with a vacation day.

• Writer Chris Weber previously brought us the POP script for 67023's "The Crown of Knowledge." Today's team-up, Weber and Karen Willson, brought us the MOTU script for MU124's "The Toy Maker."
• It's unclear what village our heroes are visiting at the beginning of today's story, but it's definitely one that includes a Laughing Swan Inn facade, with the bird logo on the front entrance. Previous examples of that were Thaymor (67001), Devlan (67006), Gailbreth (67017 - though here I believe we only saw the matching interior shots of the inn), the unnamed town from 67030's "Play It Again, Bow," or the place named simply Outpost 6 in "Zoo Story" (67038). We'll see that famous swan logo continuing to crop up in other episodes this season - and in some highly unlikely places (see 67076, 67078).
• We find our friends are having some work done on Queen Angella's royal crown. It's worth noting that the queen of Bright Moon has appeared in 11 episodes of the series so far, and in none of those episodes have we ever seen her wearing a crown. The treasure reminds me of King Randor's famous Scepter of Power, which was billed as an incredibly important symbol of Eternian royalty when it suddenly appeared for the first and only time in MU121's "The Magic Falls."
• By the way, though we hear Angella mentioned several times in the episode, and she plays an important off-screen part, we won't be seeing her today. Also missing are Adora's beloved steed, Spirit, and his alter ego.
• This first episode of the second season reminds us that our forest friends, the Twiggets, still exist. They appeared like clockwork in nearly every episode of the first third of Season 1, then experienced a sharp drop in casting. Only six episodes in the second half of the first season (from Episode 34 to the end) featured any Twiggets. But today we get one with Sprint. Sprint first appeared in 67017's "A Loss for Words," where he seemed a tad more blustery than he is today. (He's never named in this episode, but it looks like him, and Wiki Grayskull confirms my identification.)
• The first Horde tank we see today is the wide-bodied model, sporting the revised wheels we first saw being used in 67041's "Glimmer's Story." We'll later see the Hordak-faced tanks being used, one sporting the usual cannon on top, the other with a sort of crane (the better to display caged prisoners).
• Speaking of Glimmer, today's story gives her a rare chance to make thorough use of her light-based powers. To be fair, she did this recently, and in an impressively big way, when she provided a temporary replacement sun in 67063's "Flowers for Hordak." Today she zaps and blinds several members of the Horde.
• The Horde soldiers are seen using both laser pistols and their more usual stun sticks, beams from which encase a couple of our heroes in ice.
• As with MOTU, a new season means new waves of toys, and new toy-based character appearances. The first of those is Peekablue - kind of. We actually saw her once before in Season 1 (67019), but it was a non-speaking cameo. Her first speaking part came in the recent Christmas Special, but today marks her first proper speaking role in a POP episode.
• A concerned Kowl references Beast Island, the Horde prison used or mentioned in several previous episodes, starting back at 67002's "Beast Island" and continuing to as recently as 67057's "Jungle Fever."
• Our next two character debuts are both villains: the devious Entrapta and Catra's somewhat superfluous feline pet, the hot pink Clawdeen. In the hilariously straightforward Mattel method of naming, Entrapta's specialty is self-evident - though in addition to her penchant for mechanical traps, she also rather confusingly seems to have a fondness for plants. Mattel developed Clawdeen as a mount for Catra, along the lines of Panthor or Battle Cat; however, we never see Catra riding the lion in this episode. The villainess instead seems to prefer hunting prey side by side with her pet while in her cat form. Like Peekablue, the toys of Entrapta and Clawdeen were part of Mattel's second wave of POP products, released the same year this episode aired.
• We witness Peekablue's far-seeing powers allowing her to sense the approach of Clawdeen. But when the animal does in fact show up, we realize that Peekablue's abilities don't seem to be much help in combat situations: she just stands there and cries for help.
• This story sees the appearance of "cage mines," pressure-sensitive devices that cause spiky traps to spring out of the ground. Entrapta's handiwork, I presume.
• Today marks another confusing instance of Catra staying in human form even though her cat mask is over her eyes. We saw something similar happen in 67028's "Bow's Farewell." We also find that she's able to teleport herself out of trouble. Though it's not shown on screen, I think we have to assume her teleport also pulls along the caged Clawdeen - otherwise she'd be abandoning her precious kitty. Oddly, we never see Clawdeen again after the teleport, so it's impossible to confirm.
• Adora and Catra briefly discuss the princess's former rank as a Horde force captain. Later, She-Ra comments that she remembers the layout of the base where they're standing, indicating she's visited the place at some point during her former life.
• While we're talking about titles, I might as well mention that Razz earlier referred to She-Ra using the show's subtitle, "Princess of Power" (see memorable lines) - a somewhat rare occurrence.
• Well, it's a magic sword, so I guess we can't start arguing over the impossible physics of She-Ra's sword of protection, which magnetically reverses and flies right back to her after she flings it into Entrapta's control panel.
• Bow makes use of a special arrow with a small sack of sneezing powder tied near its tip, which helps slow down the villains. Bless you! Bow will use sneezing powder again in 67073's "The Time Transformer."
• With her record-breaking or record-tying (depending on how you look at it) number of transformations today, you'd think Adora would struggle maintaining her secret identity; but she continues to appear and reappear with impunity, as has been her wont in most of the preceding episodes. The one real problem she faces is at the conclusion of the episode, where the rebels make their escape with Bow holding an unconscious She-Ra. Glimmer naturally is concerned to learn the whereabouts of the absent Adora. With She-Ra unavailable to think up an excuse, Kowl must step in and cryptically reassure his friend that the missing princess "is in good hands." This is somehow sufficient information for our heroes, who leave without looking into the matter any further.

• Today's story is one of those ones that, if watched in a complete vacuum, is maybe not that problematic; but if you watch it with any knowledge of the preceding series, you'll immediately spot many flaws, inconsistencies, and lapses in logic. The first example of that is of course Angella's crown, which we've never seen before and which has therefore never previously mattered to anyone, but forms the crux of today's plot. A weeping Glimmer tries to convince us that the stolen relic's value is in "what that crown stands for: the freedom of our people," but frankly the loss of a little golden trinket doesn't seem worth crying over. Honestly, you'd think Angella would have hocked it by now to buy supplies for the rebellion.
• Note that Kowl is anxious to return Angella's crown "to the safety of Whispering Woods." You'd think he would have said "Castle Bright Moon," Angella's actual seat of power. Does this statement imply that the castle lies within the Whispering Woods? That actually wouldn't make a lot of sense, given that we've established that the Horde can't enter those woods (see 67011, among many examples), but they've definitely entered the castle - it was a Horde outpost before it was freed at the conclusion of 67005's "Battle for Bright Moon." Maybe the reason we never see Angella wearing her crown is because she hides it in the rebel camp instead of her own house?
• Kowl avoids capture: It's been a while since I've seen fit to apply this sub-category, and even this time it's a bit of a stretch, since I usually reserve it for cases where everyone gets caught except the bird. But if you keep track of the several battles against the Horde today, you'll see that Kowl manages to avoid fighting in, or getting captured during, any of them. In particular see the opening battle in the jeweler's shop: Sprint spends some time in a headlock, Glimmer and the jeweler get frozen, Bow is trapped in a spherical magnetic field, and both Adora and her alter ego are kept busy battling bad guys. But Kowl is nowhere to be seen, only showing up once the Horde have departed in order to criticize Bow's performance.
• Peekablue, incensed over the loss of the sacred treasure, demands "Are we just going to let Hordak get away with this?" to which Kowl's immediate reply is, "You bet we are!" This negativity is not all that surprising coming from our pessimistic bird, but his followup explanation - that the Horde's vast army and fleet of imposing vehicles make a retrieval mission impossible - is absurd and incongruous. What makes the whole situation even crazier is that Madame Razz and Princess Adora seem to share Kowl's illogical concerns. How many episodes of Season 1 involved our rebels breaching the defenses of the Horde's Fright Zone fortress to rescue someone or something? And isn't their sole purpose to battle against "the evil forces of Hordak"? This should not be new territory for them. I'm not saying that chasing after the crown doesn't seem pointless, because it absolutely does; but the Great Rebellion shouldn't shirk at the thought of a little rebelling.
• Another critical theme of the story which in the larger context of the series makes very little sense is Adora and Madame Razz's sudden decision that the other rebels have come to rely too much on the powers of She-Ra. Well, yes, Adora: you've been saving their asses for 63 episodes, without letup. (My count omits the first two episodes of the 65-episode first season, since She-Ra didn't exist yet in those.) It's kind of the whole point of the show. Why try to change the situation now?
• Furthermore, the plan developed for weaning Bow and company off of their She-Ra dependence starts out halfhearted and is soon dispensed with altogether. It seems that Adora means to tag along as her normal self, and not use She-Ra at all; but she immediately changes into She-Ra at the first sign of trouble - for the rather bluntly cruel purpose of telling Bow and Glimmer that they shouldn't expect to be saved by She-Ra. Later, making her record third transformation of the day - all under the guise of trying to avoid the use of She-Ra - our heroine decides that it's OK to show up when her friends really need her. Just what message do you think you're sending here, lady? I don't think it's coming through very clearly.
• Princess Adora - who, I might remind you, is the leader of the Great Rebellion - baldly tells her friends, set on attacking their enemy to win back the crown, that "fighting is hardly ever the right way to handle a problem." Oh really? Then how exactly did you expect to defeat the Horde and win freedom for Etheria? Are peaceful negotiations working for you, hmmmmm? When you step back and think about this scene, it's completely surreal: the leader of the rebellion is telling her rebels that they shouldn't rebel. Just what the heck are we doing today?
• Animation error: When Adora is freeing Sprint from a cage mine cage, her hands are incorrectly colored the same red as her wrist bracers, instead of the usual flesh color.
• Animation error: When Glimmer is pulling out the supporting post from the Horde pavillion, her legs are incorrectly colored as bare flesh, instead of having the usual blue leggings. This coloring error is repeated in the scene where Glimmer is attempting to untie Peekablue.
• Animation error: The first and third of She-Ra's three transformation sequences feature the extra bit at the end where she starts moving her sword towards Spirit, who's not there. Admittedly, you could argue that this motion just shows She-Ra beginning to step away from where she's standing, and perhaps the animators meant it to be interpreted that way - but since we know what it's usually used for, it's hard not to see it as an error.
• When Loo-Kee returns to his hiding place just before delivering the PSA, the components of the foreground and background have been shifted somewhat to give a fuller view of the plant the elf is leaning on. Also missing from the scene are all the characters who were present the first time.
• If you've made any kind of perusal of the commentary section above, you'll already have a pretty good idea how I feel about this episode. Peppered with animation errors, nonsensical character behaviors, and series-contradicting actions, and with its runtime padded out by three transformation sequences, this one is not going to win any awards. It's also a didactic lesson-peddling story, of the kind I dislike. He-Man began its second season with a landmark story, MU066's "The Cat and the Spider," which made a clear statement that the series was still going strong and had fantastic stories to tell; in contrast, this watered-down tale makes for a very inauspicious season premiere. If I had to find some bright sides to this thing, I'd say it's nice to get to see some new characters, and the background paintings, particularly of the greenhouse, were pleasant to look at. Also I always need to call out stories where Glimmer gets some agency and uses her powers, as she does today, since she's so very often overlooked by the writers.