Don Heckman

Marsh Lamore

A famine in Etheria's Sand Valley sends She-Ra out to battle the greedy dictator Baron Condor - and leads to an unexpected metamorphosis for a young female servant who attempts to help our heroine. We'll learn that finding your true path can turn you into a beautiful butterfly - literally!

Glimmer, Snout Spout, Princess Adora (She-Ra), Bow, Spirit (Swift Wind), Small One (Flutterina), Light Hope

N/A

various rebels, Sand Valley villagers, Baron Condor's men, Baron Condor, Sand Valley neighbors (including Prince Norb)

wagons, sky speeders, sun ray (sun beamer), sand wheelers

Glimmer is so angry! Her beautiful flower garden in Castle Bright Moon is crawling with grody worms. Friendly Snout Spout, standing nearby, offers to help by spraying the flowers down with his nose cannon, but a drenching in nostril water somehow makes things even worse. Before Glimmer can throw up her hands in despair, Princess Adora shows up to counsel patience. If those "worms" are just left to their own devices, Adora promises that all will be well.

Further lectures on gardening are cut short by the arrival of some ragged visitors. A mother, father, and child in tattered clothes enter the garden, begging for aid. It seems one Baron Condor has been stealing the food of the people of Sand Valley, in Etheria's lowlands, and many are starving. Princess Adora immediately promises help, and sends Bow off to gather a shipment of food. Meanwhile, the princess runs to a private corner where her horse Spirit is waiting, and makes a transformation. She-Ra and Swift Wind are then ready to haul a roped-together wagon train of food off to Sand Valley.

The wicked Baron Condor, however, has heard news of She-Ra's approach, and has a sneaky plan to entrap her. He has his men dress in rags and look depressed, and they wave a white flag over the baron's parapets, literally flagging our heroine down and begging for her help. Never one to pass over those asking for assistance, She-Ra lands on the castle roof; but she's immediately made suspicious by the presence of several well-fed guards leaning against the castle walls, who clearly didn't get Baron Condor's memo about acting starved. She-Ra declares her intention to investigate the castle before handing over any supplies, and the baron, watching from a hidden spot nearby, decides the jig is up. He and a couple of his men charge her, swords drawn.

For a while She-Ra easily fends off the attack using random foodstuffs flung from her wagons; but the baron then whips out his sun ray. It's a giant wheeled contraption topped with an oversized lens, which projects a solar-powered ray that freezes our heroine in place. Trapped, She-Ra calls out to Swift Wind, commanding him to fly away with the wagon train so the food doesn't fall into the wrong hands; but Condor's men cut the ropes on the wagons before Swifty can take off. The horse flies free, but the baron has the supplies - and She-Ra!

Our immobilized heroine is shifted to a dungeon under the continuing blast of the sun ray (somehow). There she meets a servant girl who's busy mopping the hallway just outside She-Ra's cell. The girl is called Small One, and she explains that Baron Condor is keeping food from everyone in the area except his soldiers. His well-fed men will soon be able to easily conquer the neighboring kingdoms, made weak by famine. She-Ra is determined to stop the baron's aggression, and request's Small One's help to do it. Thrilled at the prospect of helping the legendary Princess of Power, Small One happily jams her mop through the cell door window and into the path of the sun ray's beam; but - perhaps rather predictably - the ray then travels along the mop and strikes her, leaving the poor girl lying stunned and lifeless upon the ground. Her scream at being struck brings an inquisitive prison guard; but Small One's sacrifice was not in vain, for the beam's contact with She-Ra has been broken. The heroine easily breaks free of the shackles that were binding her and scares off the guard.

Her plans to stop the baron temporarily on hold, She-Ra is determined to save the injured Small One. She whistles up Swift Wind (who was hovering around nearby for just such a signal) and, busting open the outer wall of the prison, flies the girl right over to Light Hope for a magical medical diagnosis. Light Hope tells She-Ra she's arrived at just the right time, because Small One is about to find a new direction in her life. When She-Ra lays the comatose girl down on a stone slab in the Crystal Castle, Small One becomes encased in a sparkly cocoon. Within seconds - and after some pretentious urging from Light Hope and a few flashes of lightning - the cocoon reopens, and from it emerges - Flutterina!

(For those of us watching the series in order, I know this doesn't make any sense; we actually just saw Flutterina helping to hang decorations in Eternia for Adam and Adora's birthday. Just nod and smile, and pretend what you're experiencing now is happening before that.)

The happy Flutterina, admiring her new pair of butterfly wings, heartily thanks Light Hope for her new form and powers, and immediately promises to use her abilities only for good. As it happens, those powers (flapping?) are needed right away, to help the people of Sand Valley and foil that mean Baron Condor. As we soon discover, the baron has responded to She-Ra's prison break by rushing his plans into action. His soldiers, riding sand wheelers and sky speeders, have started an attack on a neighboring town under the rule of Prince Norb. Fortunately the Great Rebellion has somehow gotten wind of the attack and sent Bow to assist. The archer's cleverly hidden pit trap takes care of the sand wheelers; and by the time the sky speeders swoop in, She-Ra and Flutterina have arrived! The pair make a good team, with She-Ra relieving the soldiers of their speeders, and Flutterina catching the falling men and bringing them to the ground, where they can be taken prisoner.

Seeing his attack failing, Condor decides it's time to wheel out the big guns: his sun beamer! (It was called a sun ray before, but now it's a sun beamer. Maybe Condor received an attorney's letter representing a company that owned a similar trademark to sun ray!) Trained on the walls of Prince Norb's fortress, it easily begins melting holes through the stone; and She-Ra doesn't even want to approach the weapon because of what it did to her before. Fortunately, Flutterina has an idea: the beamer seems to be powered by the sun, so why not cut it off from its power source? She and She-Ra fly up to a particularly dark cloud, and the combined flapping of Flutterina and Swift Wind's wings (see? flapping!) sends the cloud in front of the sun, promptly deactivating the beamer. Our beefy heroine can then easily rope the weapon and pull it down into shattered heap.

Condor's plans are defeated! But She-Ra isn't done; she wants to solve world hunger as well. Putting Swifty right back into action (who really must be pretty tired by now, considering he carried an entire wagon train into the desert, then flapped a huge storm cloud in front of the sun), She-Ra flies over to the nearby Green River and digs an irrigation channel, sending the precious water closer to Norb and Condor's people. (You'd think they maybe would have thought to found their cities closer to a source of fresh water, but whatever.) Since it will now be easier to grow crops and feed their people, the baron should have no more need to struggle against his neighbors - right? Right?? Thus, She-Ra dictates an enforced peace treaty between the kingdoms, and everything is right with the world.

There's just one more lesson to impart to someone, and for that, She-Ra must return to Castle Bright Moon. There, with Flutterina at her side, she meets Glimmer in the flower garden. Glimmer is all ready to start complaining again about her worm problem; but - hey presto! - all the caterpillars have now been replaced with lovely butterflies. It's just like how Small One found her true path and evolved into Flutterina, isn't it? She-Ra urges Glimmer to respect all living things, even the ugly ones, because they might end up turning pretty some day. (That's not exactly what she said, but I think it captures the spirit of the thing.)

• She-Ra: No one is unimportant, Small One. But everyone has a different path in life. Who knows what yours is?
• Prison Guard (in incredibly deep, menacing voice): What's going on here? / She-Ra (breaking free of her chains): I'll show you. / Guard (stammering, in a much less imposing voice): N-never mind, I don't want to know.
• Flutterina: I have wings! Thank you, Light Hope; I promise that I will use my new-found powers for good, and never for evil.
• Flutterina: And my special gratitude to you, She-Ra, for seeing something within me that I didn't even know was there!
• She-Ra: Even those little caterpillars have a special path in life - just like Flutterina. So have respect for all of nature's creatures. Sometimes, real beauty is found where we least expect it.

N/A

One full

4:36 - A couple of unique points to Loo-Kee's method of hiding today: first, he's not in a tree or near any kind of foliage, as is his typical wont, but instead peeks out from behind the wheel of the last wagon in She-Ra's supply train. Second, he actually moves! Usually Loo-Kee remains completely static while hiding, but today we can catch him blinking.
Did I spot him? YES!

Taking the story of Glimmer's caterpillars turning into butterflies as inspiration, Loo-Kee reminds us that "people who are physically disabled" are "just as special and beautiful as you are." On the inside. Like caterpillars? I'm not sure that's such a respectful comparison, Loo-Kee. I guess it's the thought that counts.

Hordak-less episodes in Season 2

• This is the sixth POP script by Don Heckman, who also wrote a few MOTU episodes. Though I've grown to dislike this writer's work, he's a fairly big contributor to the series and I'm willing to believe he's capable of an enjoyable episode. Sometimes.
• It's the return of Snout Spout! Our elephantine hero first appeared in 67025's "Small Problems," where he was called "Hose Nose" - not the name of his matching action figure. Today he remains unnamed in the episode, so I'll go by Mattel's "official" designation. He also appeared in the recent Christmas Special (along with just about everyone else!). This is the first time we hear him actually speak some dialogue - he has a high, nasally voice usually reserved for villainous or comical characters.
• The mother of the ragged family who arrive at Glimmer's garden "from the lowlands of Sand Valley" has a very familiar character design that has probably shown up in both MOTU and POP; but what she reminded me of most was the human form of the Melog, as seen at the end of 67042's "Enemy With My Face."
• Our villain for today is a new one: Baron Condor (or Condore, per Wiki Grayskull, but I've chosen to use the version supplied by my DVD's captions). He doesn't make a very imposing first impression: he's just a bald guy who's stealing food from peasants.
• Surprisingly, the Baron's men ride around on what are clearly sky sleds, as seen often in MOTU. These versions are gray and missing the falcon head design usually stuck onto the front, but otherwise are identical to the Eternian model. The Baron eventually refers to them as "sky speeders."
• Condor's sun ray is a rare example of a weapon that's capable of stopping our golden-haired heroine in her tracks. He should sell that technology to Hordak!
• Speaking of Hordak - it seems this will be another episode entirely missing not only the Horde commander, but the Horde as a whole. We had the only two prior examples of that occur recently, in the ending episodes of Season 1 (67064, 67065).
• Light Hope appears for the first time this season. The last time we saw She-Ra's mentor was in 67063's "Flowers for Hordak," where they advised She-Ra to do nothing. Here, She-Ra's inaction in solving her immediate problem is again recommended.
• Say hello to Flutterina! I hope I'm not spoiling anything by pointing out that the human servant Small One turns into this familiar butterfly character, giving us an action figure origin story. For my consideration of this metamorphosis, see the commentary section.
• The transformation of Small One will probably remind other MOTU scholars like me of MU055's "Eye of the Beholder," in which Garth the insect person falls into some magical water and undergoes a similar change. In his case, however, it made a little more sense!
• Baron Condor may have unoriginal sky ships, but his land crafts, called "sand wheelers," are a new design and look pretty darn cool.
• When introduced to Flutterina, Bow says absolutely nothing in greeting: all we get is a shot of him looking dazedly happy, the wings of his mustaches flapping perkily. I guess he likes her? In the later post-battle panning shots, Bow very much seems to be hitting on the butterfly lady. Forgotten all about She-Ra - and the hunky Prince Adam - have you, buddy? Note however that none of Bow's moves are expressed with dialogue, but entirely through animation, so our writer may not have even been intending this sneaky little romance angle.
• Swiss army sword: After pulling her sword literally out of her hair (!), She-Ra changes it into a rope with a loop tied at the end - without having to say a word. Usually she has to command her sword aloud; as she does a minute or so later, to change it into a "digger" in order to do some hydraulic engineering.
• Though Flutterina was certainly introduced to us by name on our first meeting today, Filmation slips into their old bad habits by failing to let us know until very late in the story that the leader of the "neighbors" Condor is attacking is named Prince Norb. Well - probably. (See "dialogue error" in the commentary.)
• Ending credits variation: just as in the previous episode (67067), the background painting for the ending credits is Castle Bright Moon instead of the Crystal Castle.

• In the latest in a long line of scenes where Glimmer gets talked down to, Adora comes along to tell the pink-haired princess how to maintain her own garden. And I have to say I don't agree with Adora's stance that Glimmer should just be patient about the thick infestation of worms eating up her flowers. I'm sure those worms are going to turn into lovely butterflies by the end of the episode, but if Eric Carle has taught the world anything, it's that a butterfly's caterpillar stage is very hungry! Left unchecked, they will do plenty of damage.
• Animation error: The wagons that Swift Wind lifts are roped together in such a way that each one should rise into the sky in turn as Swifty flies higher; but in some of the shots of the wagons you can see the next wagon in line, which hasn't been lifted yet, already displaying a pair of ropes pointing straight up into the air.
• I understand that the sun ray incapacitated She-Ra when she was on the roof of the baron's castle; and I see how the ray could come through a dungeon window and continue to keep her in place once she's imprisoned. What I don't understand is how She-Ra was transferred from the roof to the dungeon without at some point losing contact with the ray. Did they knock her out before dragging her into the cell? Or perhaps they built the cell around her after the fact?
• Baron Condor seems entirely unaffiliated with the Horde, which begs the question: how and why has the Horde allowed this tinpot dictator to continue to function, even out in the sandy, famine-prone lowlands of Etheria? Wouldn't Hordak want to shut this guy down? Recall also Hordak's unlikely boast from just the previous episode (67067) that he had conquered all of Etheria except Bright Moon. Um, you missed a spot, bub.
• I'm a little disappointed in Swift Wind's reaction to She-Ra's capture. True, he doesn't just run away, since he shows up immediately when she later whistles for him from her cell; but he doesn't make any attempt to save her or fight off her attackers, either. Battle Cat would have charged those sons of guns!
• She-Ra seems to be very easily distracted in this episode. She came to Sand Valley to help starving people, but when Small One gets hurt, She-Ra seems perfectly happy to ditch the stolen supplies and her rescue mission just to help one girl. As the solution to a moralistic trolley problem, it really doesn't seem like the best weighing of priorities.
• So Small One gets hit by a sun ray, collapses, goes into a cocoon, and comes out as Flutterina. I have many questions. First of all... why? Small One starts out as a normal human, with no discernible insectile characteristics. Does she have some exoskeletal, six-limbed ancestor lurking high in the branches of her family tree? Light Hope prefaces the metamorphosis scene by telling She-Ra that she has "come at the right moment," as though Light Hope and the heroine have nothing to do with the change, and it's all happening within Small One. Alternately - since Flutterina directly thanks Light Hope for her transformation afterwards - is the form of her healed body entirely a result of the whims of our capricious light beam? Like, Light Hope was just hovering in their empty castle thinking to themselves, "Man, I really want to turn someone into a butterfly today" when the gravely injured Small One came along? If Light Hope had the power to heal the girl, why not just heal her? Why add wings? As a satisfying and logical origin story for our fluttery action figure, it leaves a bit to be desired.
• What really bothers me about this whole seemingly purposeless transformation, however, is the chronology. We already met a metamorphosed Flutterina back in the first season of this show: she appeared among a company of rebels in Mystacor in the opening scene of 67019's "Enchanted Castle." She could also be seen helping the other heroes decorate Eternia's royal palace for the holiday in the beginning of the Christmas Special. So why is she just being born here? We're forced to conclude that the events of this story for some reason are happening before those other two appearances. This would be much easier to swallow if this story shared the "Tell us a story" format of 67019, with a bookended frame set in the present where a character recalls a story from the past. A parallel example from the MOTU series is MU043's "The Mystery of Man-E-Faces," which had Prince Adam telling an ignorant Man-at-Arms the flashback origin story of Man-E. In fact, Glimmer's opening scene in the garden seems like one that could easily make Adora recall Small One's experiences, and prompt the telling of that story as a flashback. It's unclear why that wasn't done here.
• Animation error? I've had moments before, particularly in the early episodes of this series (see for instance 67003, or better yet my analysis of the SOTS movie), where I've wondered just how He-Man pulls his power sword seemingly out of thin air. Today, we watch as She-Ra pulls her sword of protection out from among the streaming locks of her own golden tresses. It's... magic?
• During the ending battle, several animation sequences are blatantly repeated. She-Ra grabs the same sky speeder out from under the same soldier twice; Baron Condor's sun ray (whose name has now mysteriously changed to "sun beamer") zaps a hole in the same section of the fortress twice; and Bow makes the same goo-goo-eyed expression at Flutterina both before and after he's introduced to her. After the battle, we get two chances to see the same panning shot showing Condor and Norb's men, Flutterina and Bow, and the baron and prince themselves talking to She-Ra - both before and after the heroine solves their irrigation problem.
• Dialogue error: I've never before used this label to categorize a mistake in the show; but it seems undeniably apt. Just after having correctly named a character "Prince Norb," She-Ra clearly misidentifies him as "Prince Baron," mixing up the titles of the two men standing in front of her. A diplomatic faux pas if there ever was one! (Keep in mind this isn't the only name change in the episode; I just noted in passing the transformation of the "sun ray" into the "sun beamer.")
• Baron Condor has been starving his countrypeople, attacking other kingdoms, and trying to imprison She-Ra. His sun beamer nearly killed Small One. Yet at the end of the story, does She-Ra throw him in the mud? Take him to jail? Force him to break bricks in a prison mine, or labor rebuilding the castle he smashed up? Slap him gently on the wrist? None of those things, viewers. Not only does she fail to punish him in any way; she allows him to remain in power, and has him make a co-equal truce with Prince Norb. What. The. Bibble!! This man is a war criminal! Lock him the eff up!!!
• So I can't say I'm particularly surprised at having gotten to the end of another Don Heckman-penned episode feeling frustrated and unfulfilled. I usually like character back stories, but Flutterina's origin story, as noted, is oddly out-of-place and ends up explaining very little; today's villain had some cool gear but was largely unimpressive as a character and received zero comeuppance; the frame story involved Adora and She-Ra patronizing Glimmer in turns, a trend which always annoys me; and on top of that, there are several issues of sloppy execution in the animation and the soundtrack.
• I wish I had more positive to say about this one. It actually wasn't a terrible story - there were just things in it that rubbed me the wrong way. Having watched it one additional time to confirm the accuracy of my plot summary, and separated some of the plot points from my disappointments, I can add a few bright notes: first, that Small One's transformation when read as a metaphor of personal empowerment and finding your true place in the world is a very positive and inspiring one. Secondly, the peace that She-Ra brokers at the end makes for an optimistic and hopeful moment. Her line about the kingdoms living together in peace "for as long as the river runs with water" is charmingly poetic.