Story - Tom Ruegger, Teleplay - Tom Ruegger, Larry DiTillio

Steve Clark

Skeletor and company take control of the evil Cosmic Comet, and He-Man must seek the advice and aid of Zagraz the comet keeper to prevent disaster.

Prince Adam (He-Man), Cringer (Battle Cat), Man-at-Arms, Sorceress, King Randor, Queen Marlena, Teela, Orko

Evil-Lyn, Beast Man, Skeletor

Zagraz, comet creatures ("unliving monsters")

Attak Trak, Basher

Evil-Lyn and Beast Man are at Castle Grayskull. The position of the stars means the Cosmic Comet is near and Lyn declares that now is the time to open the gates. Her eyes glow for a moment and the Jawbridge comes right down - revealing Man-at-Arms and He-Man on Battle Cat. A very short altercation ends with both bad guys covered in mud. The Sorceress then sends He-Man to talk to Zagraz, who apparently has his own mountain named after him and is an expert on comets. Duncan and Adam explain their mission to Randor, who decides Teela should accompany them; he even sends along Orko, after realizing that the alternative is having to endure a magic practice session.

Meanwhile back on Snake Mountain, Skeletor, Evil-Lyn, and Beast Man join hands and send out a globe of magic which collides with the Comet and puts it under their evil influence. At Zagraz Mountain, Zagraz gives our heroes the back story for the Cosmic Comet, which was made lonely and evil when he cast a spell that accidentally destroyed its partner; it doesn't listen to him like other comets do. Skeletor, who is apparently already fully informed, commands the comet to send creatures to capture the wizard. Both Duncan and Teela are knocked out by the creatures, giving Adam a convenient moment to turn into He-Man and smash them to bits. A very demoralized Zagraz is toted off to Grayskull, and Orko vacuums the comet bits into his sleeve.

While Sorceress and Orko tend to Zagraz, He-Man, Teela, and Man-at-Arms head for a confrontation at Snake Mountain. Skeletor sends Beast Man to hold them up while he and Evil-Lyn command the Cosmic Comet to give them its power. With the comet's magic, the evil power couple easily zap all the good guys unconscious - they must be saved by a handy teleport from the Sorceress. Reassembled at Grayskull, our heroes have a conference where Zagraz proposes they create a new comet imbued with the power of good - fortunately Orko has those comet bits ready for just such a scheme. Skeletor commands the evil comet to come down on Grayskull; the Sorceress makes a big rock, and Zagraz instructs all the good guys to touch it and make it good (by thinking about good things). While He-Man holds off the evil comet, Zagraz successfully commands the new, good comet to "fly away!" The comets meet in the air, have a successful reunion, and both thank the heroes, then fly off - just in time to buzz Skeletor and company in their Basher.

End with a Joke: In the palace, Zagraz is teaching Adam that with concentration he can make magic orbs float in a circle around his head, a la Luke floating rocks. When Adam loses his focus, the balls fly off to terrorize Orko, much to everyone else's delight.

• Evil-Lyn (covered in mud): We'll be back, He-Man! / He-Man: Make sure you wash up first.
• Attak Trak: Any special instructions? / Cringer: Yeah, t-turn back!
• Skeletor: Welcome, He-Man; are you here to pledge your loyalty to the new ruler of Eternia?
• He-Man: That's the last time I try to wrestle a comet!

• Beast Man runs at the viewer, bug-height: In opening fight at Grayskull
• Skeletor shakes his fists, three-quarter view: Celebrating his control over the comet
• Teela runs away from the viewer; runs at the viewer, bug-height: Coming back to assist a fallen Adam
• Teela rolls along the ground
• He-Man jumps on the back of Battle Cat
• He-Man punches the viewer: In fight with comet creature
• He-Man spins comet creature in a circle
• The same pose of Teela lying half reclined is used both when she assists a tripped Adam and a collapsed Zagraz.

One full
Variation - includes an inserted clip of Cringer emerging from a cave where he's been hiding

Brought to you by Man-at-Arms
Duncan reminds us that Zagraz lost his confidence because he failed with the Cosmic Comets. If we don't succeed, we should try again.

Landmark Episode: Since this is MU001, I am tagging it as a Landmark Episode.
Appearance of Zagraz and mystical comets: Zagraz will return! We see his comet antics again in MU126, "Capture the Comet Keeper."

• Depending on how you choose to consider the sequence of episodes, this one is a strong candidate for "first." I prefer "Diamond Ray" however, as it is a better introduction to the characters.
• The Sorceress does not appear as Zoar in this episode, but does talk to He-Man in the beginning as a floating projected head in the doorway of Grayskull.
• It's unusual for Duncan to ask Randor for approval to go off on a mission for the Sorceress as he does here, and it won't be repeated in other episodes.
• We get our first chance to see bad guys standing in the mouth of Snake Mountain's snake head.
• This episode features the first appearance of Attak Trak, which (it's worth noting) bears very little resemblance to the toy of the same name. The toy was an open, red vehicle with floppily rotating caterpillar treads, with room for exactly one action figure. The animated version is a blue, enclosed box with room for several humanoids, a Trollan, and a green tiger; it does have the same floppy treads, though. (We later see, in MU025, an attempt to retcon in a more toylike version of the Trak.) From its very first appearance, Trak is able to talk. While it sounds very robotic, it has a lot of personality, among other things referring to Skeletor as "bone head."
• While we're on the subject of vehicles - this episode also debuts the "Basher," a flying vehicle that Beast Man uses to slow down the heroes on their way to Snake Mountain, and that later carries all three of the evil warriors in this episode. Given that Beast Man crashed it just a few minutes earlier, they either have a fleet of the things or are very good at magical repairs. (Skeletor does indeed have multiple Bashers, but we won't be able to confirm that until MU088.)
• Skeletor is shown with his usual ram's-head or "havoc" staff in this episode. He uses the back of its rounded top to spy on He-Man, similar to the crystal ball atop his axe in MU004.
• Teela uses her wrist "freeze ray" on the comet monsters - to very little effect. We will see the freeze ray again in many other episodes (for instance, MU013), and the wrist weapon will show that it's capable of other functions besides just freezing.
• When He-Man has fought off the comet creatures and Teela awakes, she asks, "Where's Prince Adam?" He-Man replies, "Don't worry, he's safe," which is about all the explanation he ever bothers to give for where Prince Adam goes when he's around - and all that anyone ever seems to require.
• Orko's vacuuming of the comet pieces into his sleeve is the first time we see him using his body as a storage bin. This will become a repeating sub-category in the database, which I've titled "Things that Come Out of Orko" (though in this case they first go in - a rarer occurrence).
• Immediately negating the rules laid down in the pilot, in this episode Sorceress (in human form, and outside of Grayskull) is able to give He-Man "a lift," using her magic powers to shoot him and a lot of sparkles up into the air. He looks great doing it!

• Several scenes in the opening sequence, with He-Man appearing behind the Jawbridge, grabbing Beast Man and hurling his enemies into the mud, are very similar to scenes in the ending part of the pilot episode (MU004).
• In the scene where Lyn, Beast Man, and Skeletor have joined hands, the animation very crudely simulates a rotating camera pan. In the foreground the backs of the characters scroll past, while in the background the fronts of the others scroll past in the opposite direction. There is no attempt at showing the characters from other angles, but the simple trick is nevertheless pretty effective.
• The fact that Beast Man is included in the hand-holding session to "bring together our mystic powers" seems to suggest that he has some amount of magic to bring to the table, which is somewhat surprising.
• Zagraz, with his long hair, flowing brown robe and red sweatband, appears to be some kind of aged hippie (very aged, since his dialogue indicates he's been alive for centuries). He sprinkles his dialogue with a lot of cheerful chuckles but is generally miserable and very down on himself. He has a very goofy high-pitched voice which, according to the wiki at He-man.fandom.com, is provided by John Erwin, who also voices He-Man and Adam! Filmation definitely saved money on voice actors.
• Zagraz explains that the creatures Skeletor sends from the comet are "unliving monsters - more like robots," probably so that it's totally okay for Duncan to shoot at them with a laser rifle.
• The scene with Skeletor and Evil-Lyn romantically holding hands to command the comet is charming and quite memorable. To add to the moment, Skeletor comments, "Do you feel it, Evil-Lyn?"
• Beast Man, ever the doormat of the series, gets thrown into mud twice in this one episode - the second time being when a blast from Attak Trak crashes his Basher. "More mud," he remarks dourly.
• When the Sorceress teleports the unconscious heroes away from Skeletor and Evil-Lyn, Attak Trak is left behind at the foot of Snake Mountain. How does it get back home? Hopefully it can drive itself... (It can! See for instance MU052, when the vehicle responds to He-Man's whistle.)
• Skeletor's plan at the end of the episode is unusual in that he wants to destroy Grayskull rather than conquer it and gain its secrets. We'll see him try this ploy again, for instance in MU008.
• It's upsetting to discover that the new comet is immediately sentient and can speak. The idea of two comets swirling around in a balanced harmony is either a reference to Chinese ideas of yin and yang - or plain old-fashioned whacked-out story writing.
• In these early episodes, the bad guys get much closer to achieving their ultimate ends than they will in later stories. If you've been paying attention, you'll see they have already had Grayskull opened twice and knocked out He-Man with one comet-powered zap.