Philip Kassel

Lou Kachivas

Bow just loves playing around with the new wizard's wand he stole from Shadow Weaver. There's no chance his careless showing off could get him into terrible trouble - right?

Glimmer, Princess Adora (She-Ra), Bow, Kowl, Spirit (Swift Wind), Castaspella

Shadow Weaver, Grizzlor, Horde Prime, Hordak

Star Sisters (Starla, Tallstar, Jewelstar), Twiggets (Sprag, Sprocker), various villagers, Horde soldiers

Monstron 2, Horde flyers, wagons, Horde transporter, Horde tanks

Those darn Horde fellows! It's getting so that Glimmer can't even take a simple walk in the woods without getting attacked. Indeed, just as she's considering returning home from an outing, the Bright Moon princess finds herself put upon by both Grizzlor and Shadow Weaver, who are thrilled at the prospect of capturing such a valuable hostage. Glimmer makes an attempt to defend herself, but before she can use her sparkly powers she's zapped by Weaver's wizard's wand (a wand which witches would be worthless without!) and immobilized. Luckily for our pink-haired friend, she has saviors nearby in the form of She-Ra and Bow. Bow fires a lasso arrow which winds a rope about Weaver's wand, allowing the archer to yank it into his own hand. This frees Glimmer from the magical hold; and the mere presence of She-Ra is then enough to convince Grizzlor and the disarmed sorceress to take flight. Bow is left admiring the magical artifact he's won in the conflict.

Up in the starry void beyond Etheria's atmosphere hangs the giant ship of Horde Prime, who testily summons his underling Hordak for a progress report. The servile Hordak assures his boss that Princess Glimmer will be in the Horde's possession any second now, and Prime gives him a new task: he's to capture supplies and the entire population of the village of Glenmar. Horde World needs more slaves! Hordak bows and scrapes and assures the smoke-shrouded overlord that it will be done, before being abruptly teleported back to his throne by Prime's single robotic forefinger. Hordak, disheveled and crabby, looks down from his dais to find Shadow Weaver and Grizzlor standing there - without Glimmer. The miserable pair are also forced to sheepishly explain that Weaver has lost her wand. The enraged Horde commander tells his underlings that Horde Prime is in town, and they have to get right back out there and abuse the citizens of Glenmar.

Back at the rebel camp, unaware of this evil scheming, Bow is having tons of fun with his new wizard's wand. He's displaying its power to float various objects to a trio of young ladies: Starla, Tallstar, and Jewelstar. The Star Sisters seem at best politely interested, but the archer gets carried away and starts levitating a boulder on which the Twiggets Sprag and Sprocker are sitting. Neither of them is prepared for the trip into the air and both loudly express their displeasure. Since Bow is oblivious, it takes Tallstar stretching her elastic body up to the rock to bring the tottering Twiggets back to earth. Finally abashed, Bow apologizes; but he clearly listens very little to the admonishments of Adora, who arrived during the display and is concerned at Bow's heedless behavior. For when Kowl appears to bring news of a Horde presence nearby, Bow excitedly rushes off to help, keen to use his wand against the enemy. Adora, more circumspect, follows with her horse to watch.

At the nearby village (which may or may not be Glenmar), two Horde soldiers have pulled up with a transport truck to take all the grain. Bow arrives and levitates the soldiers back into their truck with his wand, then levitates the entire truck, dumping the stolen grain back into the village silo and allowing the emptied vehicle to smash to the ground. When the dismayed Horde soldiers try to drive away, they find their truck is malfunctioning; the out-of-control transport flies toward the tight-packed group of villagers! Adora, seeing the impending disaster, chooses this moment to change to She-Ra and swoop in on Swift Wind, landing right in the path of the truck. Bearing the brunt of a head-on collision, she takes hold of the front and tosses the vehicle onto its back, rescuing everyone. Bow comes up to argue that he could have easily solved that problem with his wand, and She-Ra lectures him - something about how with great power comes great responsibility. Hey, have we heard that phrase somewhere before? ....Nah.

Grizzlor and Shadow Weaver, grown even more miserable, have to return to Hordak with even more bad news: no grain. The irate Hordak decides that of the two minions, Grizzlor is more to blame, and drops the furry foe through the throne room trapdoor. Hordak is summoned again by the impatient Horde Prime, who - having been somehow informed of the whole wand situation - dictates a new plan. Hordak needs to make sure that word of the Horde's impending attack on Glenmar gets back to the rebels, particularly Bow. As Horde Prime knows, Shadow Weaver has previously explained, and as Bow has been detecting in the weapon's changing sounds and fading light, the wand is slowly running out of magic power. If the overconfident archer trusts the weakening weapon to bring him victory in Glenmar, he'll get a nasty surprise, leaving him an easy target! With Bow in their clutches, the Horde can then lure the rest of the rebels into a trap.

Horde Prime's plan is quickly put into motion, as we learn when Kowl flaps into the rebel camp, interrupting Adora's latest attempt to nag Bow into putting down that dang wand. Kowl informs them there's news all around about the Horde's plan to kidnap the people of Glenmar. Adora is disturbed that such a plan, which would normally be kept secret, has become common knowledge; nevertheless, the rebels feel compelled to act. In fact, Bow - who has learned absolutely nothing - is sure that he can handle this thing without Adora's help, and without even bringing his trusty bow. All he needs is his wand, a couple of Twiggets, and Glimmer. Adora, concerned, slips off and once again raises her sword aloft.

As She-Ra, our heroine flies Swift Wind off to Mystacor to consult Castaspella about the nature of wizard's wands. She learns what we already know: that Bow's wonderful weapon is about to run out of juice and screw him. She-Ra thanks Casta for her quick cameo appearance and rushes off to Glenmar. Just in time; for Bow and his compatriots have traipsed into town and fallen into the Horde trap. With Horde tanks armed (literally) with claw arms, Grizzlor and Hordak surround Bow. As the archer is attempting to stop the attack by levitating a large boulder, his wand finally runs out of power. The rock drops and bounces downhill, plunging into the house of an innocent villager, who collapses in grief at the sight of his disintegrated domicile. The dismayed Bow is then disarmed by a suddenly appearing Shadow Weaver. It looks like our helpless hero is done for!

This is the moment when She-Ra arrives, and she's got something for Bow: his bow and one lasso arrow. She drops the weapon to her friend as she hovers in the air above him on Swift Wind. Bow returns to his tried-and-true fighting method and doesn't disappoint: the arrow loops around Grizzlor and Hordak as they perch above the hatches of their tank, restraining them against each other. Shadow Weaver attempts to use her newly recovered wand, but this time she's beaten to the draw by Glimmer, who strikes the sorceress with chains of light, causing Weaver to fumble the wand. She-Ra, now landed, casually tosses away the (apparently unmanned) second tank. When the bound Hordak commands his tank to do something, the vehicle stupidly backs up, flattening the wand in the process, and grabs its own drivers with its claws, stuffing Grizzlor and Hordak back into the vehicle upside down. The inverted Hordak then has to listen to Horde Prime on the tank's communicator, claiming that the whole failed plan was Hordak's "stupid" idea, and threatening terrible repercussions at their next meeting.

With the Horde forces departed with their tails between their legs, our heroes have a moment to discuss what they've learned from today's adventure. Bow is finally willing to admit that he got carried away with his new toy, and should have used it more responsibly, as She-Ra suggested. Reminded by his sorrowful moanings of the poor villager who had his home crushed by the untrustworthy wand, Bow vows to help the guy rebuild his home - this time without relying on any magic. The other rebels happily pitch in, She-Ra proudly commenting that real power comes from people helping each other.

• Bow: On my way! / Shadow Weaver: On your way to a dungeon, perhaps?
• Princess Adora: Showing off to have fun is one thing; but showing off in a way that can hurt someone - ooh, that's not so good.
• She-Ra (with no concern for the super hero tagline she's appropriating): Bow, now that you have greater power, you should have greater responsibility - not less.
• Horde Prime (of Bow): The wizard's wand has made him an overconfident show-off.
• Bow: Hmm, still no sign of the Horde. Maybe they heard I was going to be here.
• Horde Prime: Hordak! Your stupid plan has failed. / Hordak (stammering): My plan? Uhh, y-yes, your greatness; thank you.
• Bow: I guess I really got us into a lot of trouble this time. (Petulantly, seemingly not having learned as much as he could have from this experience) Why didn't somebody stop me?! / She-Ra (not entirely honestly, since as Adora she was trying to stop him earlier): You had to find out for yourself. / Bow: Well, I did. And you were right: if you've got power, you have more responsibility, not less.
• She-Ra (summing up): After all, when everybody helps each other, that's real power.

• She-Ra mounts Swift Wind and flies off: After transforming
• She-Ra, hands on hips, laughs with her head thrown back: The hands-on-hips part of the loop is used to show She-Ra being annoyed with Bow

Two full

16:47 - It was a high difficulty Loo-Kee pose today, coming late in the episode. We can find just a sliver of the Kon-Seal's reclining profile visible along the edge of a tree trunk, in the right bottom corner of an establishing shot of the village of Glenmar.
Did I spot him? YES!

Loo-Kee points out that Bow was very careless with his newly gained magic powers today; the sprite advises us that should we ever acquire similar power or strength, our best use of it will be in helping others. Honestly kids, if you find a magic wand or maybe a pretty ring that turns you invisible, you should probably just give it to your parents or the nearest bearded wizard.

Horde Prime appears in person

• Though we haven't heard from him for a while (67043's "Welcome Back, Kowl"), writer Philip Kassel has given us three previous POP scripts, the best of which was probably 67019's "Enchanted Castle." Today's will be his fourth and last.
• This story brings us one of those jarring retcon relics along the same line as Randor's scepter (MU121) or Queen Angella's crown (67066). Both of these critically important treasures appeared in only one episode each, and were never heard of again. Today we're to believe that Shadow Weaver - who has always cast all of her spells using her bare hands and spindly fingers - owns a wizard's wand. The amusing thing about the tool is that it appears to have a switch on the shaft, like a flashlight.
• In a time-saving measure that probably speeds Glimmer's rescue (or at least the retreat of the attackers), She-Ra begins this episode already transformed.
• Bow makes use of a "lassooo" arrow, which according to the animators is nothing more than an arrow with a rope tied on the end. Perhaps there's something about the design, undetectable in its outward appearance, which makes the projectile more likely to wrap around things and then detach itself from the rope, as it does.
• It's a special day today, because it brings us an in-person role for Horde Prime. The Horde leader is flying in a large spaceship that looks identical to the pair of sister ships, the Monstron and the Velvet Glove, seen in 67048 and 67018, respectively. Both of those ships were billed in their episodes as the greatest ships in the Horde armada - and both ended up getting destroyed before the end of the episode. Today's ship remains unnamed in the story, so I've come up with my own. It also has the unique distinction of - as far as we know - surviving past the story's conclusion!
• Prime's appearance is a bit different than usual. He's still hidden behind a big cloud of smoke, his voice still creates flickering green lights within the smoke, and he still has his one gigantic robot arm. But in previous episodes we've gotten a glimpse of a huge face somewhere behind the smoke; today we can see nothing but vague machinery. In addition, Prime's voice has changed considerably: it's deep and slow, missing the sly sneering sound of earlier iterations.
• Prime wants Hordak to grab him an entire village worth of people, from the village of "Glenmar." This is a new Etherian location, though the name is reminiscent of the oft-used "Thaymor." The slaves are intended for Horde World, giving us another reference to the Horde's home planet.
• We find Bow trying out his gnarly new wizard's wand in front of an audience of three ladies, all of whom look like they're dressed and ready to be put onto a card backing under a plastic shell and sold in department and toy stores throughout America. However, none of these characters were ever produced as action figures at the time (though Mattel eventually obliged adult collectors in 2011 by releasing them as a package deal under the Classics line). They are the "Star Sisters," Starla (the blonde one), Tallstar (the pink-haired one), and Jewelstar (the white-haired one with the big yellow star in her hat).
• The Star Sisters do all get named in the episode (though I have to admit I cheated on their identification by referring to Wiki Grayskull), and we get an idea of Tallstar's powers when she stretches her body like Mr. Fantastic in order to save some floating Twiggets. What the other two sisters can do remains a mystery.
• There are some familiar faces, as usual, among the crowd of villagers having their grain pilfered by the Horde. They utilize the same reused designs I enumerated in the lore for 67018 (see the note on the "pack of Etherians").
• The previous episode (67083) brought us the standard "Hordak drops Mantenna down a trapdoor" sequence; today it's Grizzlor getting the door.
• We find that Horde Prime is capable of teleporting Hordak in and out of his presence at will - to Hordak's annoyance.
• Our two Twiggets giggle together at the idea that Bow is showing off his wand skills in order to impress Adora - suggesting that Bow has formed a romantic attachment for the Eternian princess. We've certainly seen some vague evidence of this before, but usually it's She-Ra that Bow sets his sights on, not her alter ego. And anyway - shouldn't he have figured out by now that Adora is spoken for? Though I've previously speculated at Bow's ignorance in the matter, everyone (including the archer) was there when Adora told the story of Sea Hawk giving her the sweetheart locket in 67082's "The Locket." Perhaps the Twiggets are just messing around.
• When She-Ra said she needed to go learn more about the wizard's wand, I was sure she was headed for Sky Dancer Mountain and Light Hope. Instead, and after a very long break, we find our heroine visiting Mystacor and its ruler, Castaspella. The last time we saw Casta was all the way back in 67048's "Birds of a Feather." I was actually just wondering whether we'd ever see the character again, so her appearance was a pleasant surprise.
• The backgrounds used in the rebels' approach to Glenmar look identical to those used to represent Thaymor in the beginning of 67023 - ironic considering the earlier noted similarity in the two towns' names.
• Today's village battle brings us souped-up Horde tanks which have had pairs of claw arms added to their sides. Handy! In order for Grizzlor and Hordak to both pop out the top of one tank, we find also that two separate circular hatches have been installed in the roof.
• Glimmer's light powers, when she finally gets a chance to use them late in the episode, take a form we haven't seen before: a sort of reverse form of Shadow Weaver's snaky smoke chains of other episodes. Glimmer's snaky chains are made of bright, fiery light (natch).
• Hordak yells at his tank to "do something" and it surprisingly (and humorously) responds. We've seen the Horde tanks referred to as "robots" in the past, but I'd assumed that was only the ones that weren't manned. It's odd to find that the tank Hordak and Grizzlor were riding in is voice-activated. Hordak was similarly able to voice-control a truck he was riding in, in the recent 67078.
• The character design of the weeping villager whose house Bow accidentally crushes is that of Palos the Cave Dweller, seen back in MU033's "The Starchild." The connection unfortunately made me less sympathetic of the villager's plight - given how annoying Palos was in his episode.
• Ending credits variation: Hardly a variation anymore, is it? But yes, we are still using the same alternate background painting of Castle Bright Moon in the credits.

• Glimmer finds herself in the unenviable but fairly common (for her) position of needing to be rescued by her fellow rebels. At least she doesn't come off as entirely helpless, since we see her putting up her hands in preparation for using her light powers - a preparation interrupted by Shadow Weaver. (Thankfully, we'll find the tables turned in their second encounter!)
• Our introductory shot of Horde Prime's vessel shows it surrounded by a small fleet of what I've chosen to call "Horde flyers," though they might also be considered "batmeks." Disturbingly, as we slowly zoom in on the larger ship, the flyers all remain frozen in place around it - it would have looked nicer if they'd drifted by in front, or something.
• The short appearance of the Star Sisters is bizarre and its purpose hard to fathom. I can see the merchandising benefit in giving new or upcoming action figures a preview on the show, but as I noted in the lore section, 80s-era toys for these characters never came to fruition. I suppose it's possible the dolls were in development but were cancelled in the light of dwindling sales. Even if they were meant to become toys, you'd think the sisters would have gotten a more central role in an episode, or we'd have at least gotten a better idea of who they were and what they were doing in the rebel camp.
• Get a load of She-Ra using Uncle Ben's Spider-Man line on Bow! (See memorable lines.) A very similar line was also used in MU031's "A Tale of Two Cities."
• Kowl avoids capture: Note that while Kowl is happy to perform what has become his most common job of newsie, bringing news of the attack on Glenmar, he doesn't even bother showing up for the rebel rescue mission there. This leaves him well out of danger - that genius bird!
• I suppose that it shouldn't have been that funny, but I really enjoyed Hordak shouting "Surprise!" when he emerges from his tank. It's nice to see the bad guys having a chance to enjoy their work, however briefly.
• Interesting that when She-Ra gives Bow his eponymous weapon back, she only provides him with one single lasso arrow as ammunition. You couldn't maybe carry a full quiver, hmm?
• Shadow Weaver recovers the wizard's wand from the captured Bow, and makes as if to use it on Glimmer; but as we've established, it is drained of power. Does Weaver have some way of reloading it? I suppose if anyone does it would be her; but you'd think she'd at least need a few minutes, and maybe access to an electrical outlet.
• This episode was another in a growing parade of stories dedicated to teaching Bow what amounts to the same old lesson about not carelessly showing off. As such, it's a bit of a tired trope, and we have to begin wondering whether Bow will ever learn. But the way the story was told today was at least a bit fresh and fun, with a good share of amusing villain bits, so I didn't mind it as much as I could have.