Michael Utvich

Richard Trueblood

The mischievous Imp decides to steal from Adora a precious magical locket gifted her by briny beau Sea Hawk. The rebels' journey to recover the jewelry will pull in not only the handsome pirate, but Sorrowful the dragon and his little blonde human friend, Deena.

Kowl, Bow, Princess Adora (She-Ra), Broom, Madame Razz, Glimmer, Captain Sea Hawk

Imp, Shadow Weaver, Catra, Rattlor, Hordak, Mantenna, Leech

various villagers, Sorrowful, Deena, Horde soldiers, Deena's horse, Swen

sea harp, Horde tanks, Solar Sailor (?), wagon, Horde "sneaker", rocket flyers, Hordak-faced ship

In the pleasant square of a pleasant little Etherian village, it's story time. A group of villagers and rebels that includes among it Kowl, Bow, Princess Adora, Broom, and Madame Razz are coaxing Sorrowful the dragon into furnishing them with a tale. This bashful, modest dragon has been the subject of two previous She-Ra adventures (see 67010 and 67012), and the story he's convinced to tell now makes yet a third. In it, She-Ra and Sorrowful join forces to rescue Glimmer and Bow from the Horde prison camp on Beast Island. Sorrowful's fire-breathing abilities are a big help in fending off a force of Horde tanks and soldiers while She-Ra and her friends make a watery getaway on their sea harp.

Yay!! Everyone applauds the story, and as Sorrowful blushes with pleasurable embarrassment, his particular friend - a young blonde girl named Deena - runs up to give him a hug. While this is happening, no one notices the entrance of the sneaky spy, Imp. The Horde agent disguises himself as a rock to listen in on the rebels' conversation. He overhears as Sorrowful introduces Deena to Adora, and the girl asks the princess for a story. Adora tells the story of a golden locket she's currently wearing. She was wrapping up a visit with her special pirate friend, Captain Sea Hawk, aboard his flying ship the Solar Sailor. As a going-away present, the Hawk presented her with one half of a two-piece amulet, each half on its own chain: the lovers will each take one half. Hawk explained that the locket was given to him by a friendly witch, and has a magic power: should Adora ever be in danger, the pirate's half of the locket will glow, so he can come to her aid. Charmed, Deena asks to hold the treasure, and Adora happily grants the girl's request.

Imp, hearing that the locket is magic, decides that it might be valuable to the Horde - or at least will cause trouble among his enemies if it's taken. To cause a distraction, he transforms himself into a flea and hops onto Sorrowful, "tickling" the huge dragon. Sorrowful's mirthful spasms smash benches and generally wreak havoc in the little village square, sending everyone running in all directions. In the commotion, Imp easily snatches the locket from the disoriented Deena, then zips off, bumping into Bow and Kowl on his way out. The rebels spot the spy and realize what has happened. Adora immediately announces her intention to chase after Imp and retrieve her locket, and her friends are keen to assist. So is Deena - but the other rebels, including Sorrowful, think the adventure will be too dangerous for the young girl, and enjoin her to stay behind. As soon as they set off through the air, however (Kowl using ear-power, Adora and Bow riding on Sorrowful's back, and Razz going by Broom as usual), Deena hops onto her horse and follows by land.

The heroes are headed for the closest Horde base just near the borders of Mystacor, the most likely destination for their winged thief. They know how to get there; but Deena doesn't, and she soon gets lost riding her horse through the gloomy forest. Nevertheless, she's very near the base and within sight of her airborne friends when she's ambushed and captured by Rattlor and a squadron of robot soldiers. (Deena's friends have just finished fighting off an attack from those same enemies with the help of Bow's surprisingly useful umbrella arrow.) The dismayed Sorrowful, seeing his friend in peril, is anxious to help, and comes in for a landing to let Adora off his back so she can rush into the woods in aid of Deena. As soon as Adora thinks she's alone, she raises her sword aloft to make a transformation; but the sword of protection is shot from her hand by a Horde laser! She, too, is surrounded by soldiers and captured. Both Deena and Adora are led into the Horde base, where they meet Shadow Weaver. The sorceress was with Catra in the base when Imp came and delivered the locket, and she wants to get to the bottom of its supposed magical powers.

Meanwhile, this predicament Adora is in has triggered Sea Hawk's half of the locket. It begins glowing just as the pirate is getting to the good part of a story he's telling to fellow pirate Swen, as they both stand upon the deck of his flying ship. The Hawk immediately directs Swen to steer the vessel to his love, using the locket as a sort of homing beacon for navigating. He and Swen (our animators were too tired to draw any other crew members today) arrive at the Horde base and climb down to investigate, with Hawk telling his friend to stay outside while he scopes out the cave-like structure.

Well, I guess you can give him credit for trying, but it doesn't make for much of a rescue: the creeping Sea Hawk is immediately detected by Shadow Weaver and added to what is becoming a large number of captives. As he's nabbed, the pirate calls out to Swen hiding in the bushes to go fetch help. Hawk sheepishly greets his girlfriend as he's teleported deeper into the base, wrapped in shadowy chains that match those on the two other prisoners. Hawk's sorceress captor spots the jewelry dangling by its chain from one of his hands and snatches it. Now possessing both halves of the locket, Weaver demands that her prisoners explain its magic powers. Adora and Bow defiantly proclaim that the magic of the locket works only for them; and sure enough, when Weaver attempts to join the two glowing halves, the locket gives her a shock. The thwarted witch orders her unhelpful prisoners be shipped to the Fright Zone.

You might be wondering at this point what the heck ever became of Bow, Sorrowful, Kowl, Razz, and Broom, who presumably have been standing slack-jawed in the middle of the woods ever since Adora climbed off the dragon's back. We find them still wool-gathering there as Swen runs up to inform them of his captain's capturing. The rebel party finally springs into action, with Sorrowful vowing to head to the Fright Zone to rescue all his friends, and everyone else heartily agreeing. Swen runs off on his own mission, to get the Solar Sailor.

The first party with Sorrowful try to approach the Fright Zone by stealth; but our heroes all seem to fail at being sneaky today. Their presence is immediately rumbled and they find themselves facing a line of tanks, led by Catra and Leech. Fortunately Sorrowful is there to breathe fire at the bottoms of all the tanks, melting their treads and sending the Horde retreating in confusion. While this is happening, the three prisoners are presented to a cheerful Hordak, who has Mantenna take Adora and Sea Hawk's swords away and hang them on his throne room wall. Adora decides the time has come to make a break for it; she kicks over a soldier onto Mantenna and dashes away. Hordak flies over and grabs hold of Deena with a clamp hand, running off with her. Adora determines that she and her beau need weapons to do any good, and gets the swords off the wall, tossing one to Hawk. He leads a soldier over Hordak's trapdoor for Adora to drop through the floor. Hawk decides to lead off other soldiers while Adora works to free Deena - this coincidentally gives our heroine the perfect opportunity to finally transform into She-Ra.

She-Ra meets up with Sea Hawk to get him out of a predicament with those Horde soldiers. Hawk and the heroine then arrive together at the Fright Zone's hangar bay, where they find their friends Sorrowful and company pinned down behind a jetcopter by a line of Horde soldiers, commanded by the resilient Catra (back already from her earlier retreat). The attack is bolstered on the Horde side by Hordak, who arrives with Shadow Weaver in his Hordak-faced ship, accompanied by a wing of soldiers on rocket flyers. Fortunately the rebels now get their own help when Swen arrives in the Solar Sailor. She-Ra, having handled the ground forces by kicking them into a sparking ball, is free to join Hawk in climbing onto the ship and leading an aerial attack. When Sorrowful learns that Hordak is holding Deena prisoner on board the air ship, he angrily takes to the skies. Stopping to pick up She-Ra on his back, the dragon flies straight for Hordak and his men, spewing fire. The flyers scatter and She-Ra punches a hole in the front of Hordak's ship. Sorrowful snakes his head through Hordak's busted windshield and stares the Horde dictator down. Sheepishly, Hordak agrees to let go of his prisoner, and She-Ra boards the vessel just long enough to snatch the locket from Shadow Weaver - it belongs to a "friend."

Having safely returned to Deena's village and met up with the mysteriously unharmed Adora, the rebels and their rescued friend provide a moralistic epilogue in which Deena apologizes for going off on her horse when everyone told her not to. Sorrowful assures the girl that he'll always be her friend, no matter how many silly things she might do, and Sea Hawk decides it's time for him to sail off in his pirate ship. Adora watches her dreamboat with loving eyes as he recedes into the distance, grateful to have such a hot - I mean, good - friend.

• Captain Sea Hawk: This locket was given to me by a kindly sea witch. It has a special magic: if you're ever in trouble, my locket will glow, and let me know.
• She-Ra: Hordak - you're a monster. / Hordak: Thank you, She-Ra.
• She-Ra (to Shadow Weaver): You have a locket that belongs to a friend of mine. / Shadow Weaver (contemptuously, pulling it out): You mean this so-called magic locket? It's not magic at all. / She-Ra (scoffing): Its magic is more powerful than any of your spells, Horde witch.
• Deena (of her actions in today's episode): Well I was just thinking about myself, and how much fun it would be to go along. / Sea Hawk: But what you want isn't the only thing that matters, right? / Deena: Right!
• Madame Razz: What are you thinking, Adora? / Adora: Oh, just that I'm lucky to have a friend like Sea Hawk. / Razz: Well, deary my - Sea Hawk is lucky too!

• She-Ra spin kicks the viewer: Knocking out some Horde soldiers in classic style

One aborted, one partial (missing Spirit/Swift Wind sequence)
Variation - In the aborted transformation, Adora tries to help Deena at the Horde outpost by raising her sword aloft, but before she gets any farther than "For the," the blade is shot out of her hand by a Hordesman.

8:23 - Just when I was beginning to get nervous that I hadn't seen the little fellow, he gave us a slow pitch today: Loo-Kee can be seen on the upper left side of the screen, facing away from us and standing on a dark vine or tree branch, as the lost Deena wanders by. The surrounding foliage is very dark and gloomy, nothing like Loo-Kee's bright and happy coloring, making him very noticeable.
Did I spot him? YES!

Loo-Kee recapitulates the lesson that Deena and Sea Hawk just went over, about how Deena was being selfish when she rashly rode off after her friends. She should have been considerate and listened to her elders' advice - just like YOU, children, should be considerate of your parents, and let them know where you're going before you wander off somewhere. Remember to yell "Mom, Dad - I'm going to the unsupervised construction site to play - bye!" before you leave home.

Sea Hawk episode
Love is in the air: With Sea Hawk and Adora sharing the screen, you know there's some romance involved - however chaste it might be this time around! If their completely passionless interactions are not enough for you, you can speculate over just how close the relationship is between Sorrowful and Deena...
Wayward child learns a valuable lesson: Well, either Deena is old enough to have a romantic relationship with a dragon, or she's immature enough to be considered a wayward child. She can't be both! Still, we were obviously meant to take a moral from Deena's rash actions today, so I'm going to tag this category. I'm also tempted to tag this episode under the "Tell us a story" category, because of the multiple flashback stories in the opening; but I think I'll reserve that one for episodes mainly composed of flashbacks.

• This is the fourth - and what will prove the last - POP script by Michael Utvich. Fun facts: three of his four scripts have addressed the theme of finding courage, and three of his scripts (including this one) also happen to be the only three POP episodes to feature the character of Sorrowful the cowardly dragon.
• In Sorrowful's opening tale we meet a new "vehicle" which was also a Mattel toy: the sea harp. It's a boat with the head of a seahorse and some harp-like decorations, which the rebels use to make an aquatic getaway. It's a toss-up whether you'd consider this thing a character, since it seems to be a living creature; but given that its name implies it's a musical instrument, and it doesn't seem to talk, I'm putting it in the vehicles category.
• I'm not sure if Sorrowful is just telling a fish story or what, but he seems much braver in his recounting of the heroic escape from Beast Island than we've seen him in his previous two appearances (67010, 67012). I had complained in 67012 that the dragon seemed to have to learn all over again how to be brave, so it's refreshing to see this time that the lesson seems to have finally stuck.
• Note that Beast Island, one of the Horde's favorite prison camps, makes a cameo in this episode. Many of the same heroes we see today (along with Castaspella) had to rescue our dragon friend from that place in his second appearance, 67012's "The Prisoners of Beast Island." The Beast Island tale that Sorrowful tells today is from a different, previously unseen adventure.
• Imp, that mischievous little spy, returns; he had a slow start this season but has been popping up in a few episodes lately, most recently in 67079's "Romeo and Glimmer." He shows off his transforming powers right away by turning into a rock; but honestly, he's done better jobs at disguising himself. This "rock" not only still wears Imp's face, but has a noticeable pair of hooves at the base and two rocky outcroppings that look suspiciously like Imp's stubby arms. He soon shifts to the shape of a "flea" - a much more suitable disguise for this little pest.
• Also returning, for the first time this season, is that salty love interest for Adora, Captain Sea Hawk. The last time we saw him was in the series's only two-part story, "Anchors Aloft" (67059, 67060). It's unclear whether Adora's story featuring the pirate is told before or after that adventure, which means we can't be sure whether the ship they're on is his original Solar Sailor or the amazingly similar-looking replacement from his dad, the Solar Clipper. It actually seems as if our writers have entirely forgotten the ship swap, however, because in the present-day storyline both Swen and Hawk refer to the vessel as the Solar Sailor. Maybe they just slipped up out of habit?
• Sorrowful's belief that Kowl is tickling him calls back to the pair's first meeting in 67010's "The Laughing Dragon." The part in that episode where Kowl accidentally tickled Sorrowful was, in fact, the only scene that day where this "Laughing Dragon" actually laughed.
• It's rare that any of the "in the know" characters directly reveal their knowledge of Adora's secret, as Razz does today by asking the princess (rather pointlessly) which of her identities she'll be using to solve the problem of the stolen locket. The scene seems to have been manufactured to hint that we won't be getting much of She-Ra today; though she appeared in Sorrowful's flashback story, we won't be seeing the present-day heroine until late in the adventure.
• Mystacor gets a name drop as Razz is describing where the heroes will need to go. I've noted our writer seems to be a creature of habit, and one of his habits (after discussing cowardice and using Sorrowful) is to set his episodes in or around Castaspella's magical kingdom.
• A new named character appearing in this story is Deena, a young blonde girl who has become friends with Sorrowful. Their affectionate bond made me recall the relationship between a dragon and woman depicted in the very open-minded MU060's "The Return of Granamyr" (though I doubt Sorrowful is going to want to imitate that story's dragon, Torm, by settling down and marrying!). I can't quite place the accent our voice actor (Melendy Britt) is trying to do with Deena; the girl talks in an oddly slurred manner from time to time. Is she supposed to be... Asian? No idea.
• Hey look! It's Rattlor! We haven't seen this Snake Man in a while. He was in the Christmas Special, along with everyone else, but his last She-Ra episode was 67057's "Jungle Fever" (it annoys me every time I have to bring up that awful episode!).
• You may wonder, as Adora does, how Bow's new "umbrella arrow" could possibly work. As it turns out, it works improbably well, opening in midflight and expertly reflecting the laser blasts of several Horde troopers directly back at them.
• Swen uses the same cheeky pirate expression ("Roll me on the beach and call me Sandy") that he used in 67040's "Treasure of the First Ones."
• Hordak transformations: To chase after his escaping prisoners, Hordak changes his lower body into the thruster of a rocket - something we've seen him do before (67035). But he also changes his hand into a large metal claw, which I think is a new one.
• The spot where Mantenna hangs up Hawk and Adora's confiscated weapons has a few other interesting specimens already in place: what looks like a submachine gun, a pump-action harpoon/axe gun, and a tiny pistol with spikes coming out the end of its muzzle, which I presume fires tiny burrs.
• Hordak doesn't get any trapdoor jollies today; but Adora does! She uses the Horde commander's throne controls to drop a Horde soldier through the throne room floor. Hordak last exercised his self-given trapdoor rights in a big way in 67078's "When Whispering Woods Last Bloomed."
• Immediately following a completely Horde-less episode (67081), we get the highest Horde count we've had in quite a while - featuring a full seven different members of the Etherian oppressors! Though we've hit higher numbers in the past (see for instance 67044), it's still a rarity to have this many bad guys sharing the villainy.
• The landing pad where the jetcopter (which I, by custom, continue to name in the vehicles section as a "sneaker") is parked looks to be the same spot where the famed Huntara came in for a landing in her self-titled episode (67045).
• A rare case of She-Ra landing a punch today, when she uses her fist to break through Hordak's windshield. She uses a "punches the viewer" animation that was a hallmark of He-Man's stock of clips. We also saw She-Ra punch an inanimate object in the recent 67079.
• In an unusual PSA circumstance, when Loo-Kee reveals his hiding place and begins delivering his lesson, we see Deena riding by on her horse behind him. It's very rare in these spots that we see other people moving around in the same shot as Loo-Kee.
• Ending credits variation: Still the alternate background painting in the credits, going strong for sixteen episodes.

• Animation error: In a scene where Kowl is flapping his ears, the colored stripes on the insides of his left ear flip between different colors. In a later scene showing another Kowl flap cycle, the white ruff on his neck occasionally flips to the pinky-orange of the rest of his coat.
• Note that no one seems to question the advisability of chasing Imp to a Horde base just for the purpose of getting back Adora's personal property. A more symbolically and literally valuable piece of jewelry - Queen Angella's crown - was the subject of a rescue mission that earned both Kowl and Adora's derision in 67066's "One to Count on." Can anyone say "double standard"? No that's fine; I see, Adora. So when the jewelry is important to you, then it's okay to chase after it.
• Animation error: In one of the close-ups of Deena, the wrong background painting is used, making it look as if the girl is in the middle of the rebel camp in the Whispering Woods, when she should be in her own village.
• Sea Hawk's mate's name is definitely "Swen," and I could swear that in previous episodes everyone used to pronounce it the way it's spelled; but today, everyone seems to have decided it's "Sven" instead.
• Animation error: In one of the scenes showing Deena, Adora, and Sea Hawk imprisoned by Shadow Weaver, Deena's lips have not been colored in red and are just the same pink flesh color as the rest of her face.
• Animation error: Lots of color issues today, it seems like. In a scene where Madame Razz is talking, she briefly looks up and her eyes suddenly change from their usual yellow to white.
• Something doesn't add up with the chronology in today's story - either that, or certain people are moving much more slowly than others. Sorrowful, Adora, and party set off for the Horde base, going by air in what we presume would be a straight line ("as the crow flies," you might say). Deena, leaving after them and traveling by horse over land, has no idea where she's going and gets lost - but still manages to arrive in the vicinity and get captured at around the same time as the rest of her friends get there. Then Adora tries to help Deena and gets captured. At this point, Sorrowful, Bow, Kowl, Razz, and Broom are on hand to try to mount a rescue operation immediately; nevertheless, they somehow completely fail to act until after Sea Hawk has gotten the signal on his locket, traveled all the way to the Horde base from wherever he was, sneaked inside, and gotten himself captured. In fact, Sorrowful and company tarry so long sorting out their reaction to all these capturings that, when they finally move, they have to travel all the way to the Fright Zone - the prisoners all having been shipped there while they were scratching their butts.
• Continuity error? I've already noted in the lore the Sea-Hawk-related mistake of referring to his ship by the wrong name; we also see Hawk's photon cutlass (or is it his old laser rapier?) being presented incorrectly, as a metal-bladed sword, when Mantenna hangs it up on Hordak's throne room wall. Previously the Hawk's weapon has always operated like a light saber, with no blade until he extends the laser part out of the hilt.
• We've had Horde robots show an inordinate amount of confidence or just plain stupidity when going up against She-Ra in the past (I particularly remember the way a single prison guard stood up to her - and was immediately trounced - in 67076's "Brigis"), but when our muscular heroine strides up today, the pair of soldiers holding Sea Hawk get smart and just leave. Ha!
• In Sea Hawk's last story, our writer (the great Bob Forward) cleverly worked into the plot the logical idea that Hawk would be concerned in dangerous situations where She-Ra was present but his love interest, Adora, suddenly vanished. Today there's a big failure on that score. She-Ra shows up to help the rebels out of their predicament in the Fright Zone, with Adora necessarily disappearing; but Hawk doesn't seem worried at all by his girlfriend's absence, and doesn't bother asking after her. In fact, no one in the entire and rather large rescue party has a word to say about the missing Adora, until She-Ra herself claims that the princess is going to somehow meet Deena back at the village.
• This was a fun adventure, though I wish the storytelling - and the animation - had been a little more thoughtful and considered. Nice to see Sorrowful really proving himself as an asset to the Great Rebellion.