Michael Reaves

Gwen Wetzler

Eternia is thrown into chaos as dragon eggs are spread everywhere, with full-grown dragons hatching out of them to wreak havoc! The culprit, to no one's surprise, is Skeletor, and his distraction gives him the chance to actually occupy Castle Grayskull. With the Sorceress trapped in the Dragon Pearl, how can our heroes ever win out? Perhaps through the power of teamwork...

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

Skeletor, Beast Man, Trap Jaw, Evil-Lyn, Jitsu, Panthor

Dragons (mother and babies)

egg transporter, Wind Raider, sky sleds, Battle Ram

Skeletor and Beast Man are collecting a lot of dragon eggs and putting them into a vehicle, while Skeletor boasts to Beast Man of how he conned Mer-Man out of the Dragon Pearl he's holding with a paltry amount of silver. The Mother Dragon shows up so the bad guys knock her into a gorge and head out. At the palace, our heroes are having a meal where Orko has the idea (short-sightedly given to him by Randor) to duplicate himself, and Adam gives a short lesson on teamwork. Then a dragon egg lands just outside and immediately grows into a full-size problem, which Adam (changed to He-Man) and his friends must solve. After Duncan freezes the dragon with his new "stasis ray," the heroes discuss and decide Beast Man and Skeletor are behind the goings-on.

We learn from Skeletor that he is employing a growth serum to accelerate the maturation of the dragons, and also that he has even more evil planned with the Dragon Pearl. The heroes are busy discovering that their dragon problem is not contained only to the palace: dragon eggs are falling all over Eternia! This allows Skeletor and his crew to easily move in on Grayskull. It turns out that the Dragon Pearl's power has nothing to do with dragons at all, but is instead a focusing point that greatly increases magic power. The Sorceress quickly finds that she needs help withstanding the beams Lyn shoots at her through the pearl, and telepathically calls to He-Man just before being sucked inside it. The pearl is then used to gain entry into the castle. Skeletor puts a shield around the fortress so the good guys, rushing to Sorceress's aid, cannot enter. The pearl is sent back to Snake Mountain so the Sorceress is separated from the source of her power; the jewel will slowly suck away her magic. Skeletor has won!

Fortunately, Orko remembers Adam's lesson about teamwork, and even more fortunately, Beast Man was not invited to the Grayskull invasion party. He-Man and Teela break into Snake Mountain to get hold of old Fur Face; once he's been zapped with the stasis ray, the dragons (which he's apparently been controlling very thoroughly this whole time, so good on him for that) become docile and the heroes use them in a "teamwork" move to break down Skeletor's force field around the castle. After a very short skirmish Skeletor gives up and portals back to Snake Mountain, only to find He-Man ready and waiting. Skeletor snatches up the pearl and runs for it; he is able to absorb the Sorceress's power and become huge! His seeming advantage is very short-lived however, because He-Man flips him off the ledge where they're fighting. Skeletor, having been saved from a deadly fall by He-Man, fumbles the pearl when spooked by the mother dragon (who He-Man found during an off-screen moment) and flies off on his sky sled. The helpful dragon retrieves the dropped pearl and breaks it open, releasing the Sorceress.

End with a Joke: Back at Grayskull, the heroes are sending the dragons back home by portal, and we learn the other bad guys also got away via their own portal. Orko comments that a baby dragon might have made a nice pet, but balks when one comes back through the portal to crush him in an embrace - to He-Man's (and everyone else's) amusement.

• Beast Man: What makes you think you can always order me around? / Skeletor (brandishing his havoc staff): This!
• Adam: When things look bad, teamwork's the answer.
• Skeletor (watching a dragon on his desktop orb): Hee-hee, I'm so powerful I even impress myself!
• Beast Man (in a very ill-judged and delusional aside, complaining about his boss): You don't impress me; some day I'll show you what power really is!
• Ram Man (having run into a wall instead of the dragon he was aiming for): Duh, that's the hardest dragon I ever rammed!
• Skeletor: At last, Castle Grayskull and all its secrets are mine!

• Skeletor laughs, head back: At Beast Man's cowardice
• He-Man rolls along the ground: A small portion of the animation is used as he fights with the first dragon
• Sorceress spreads/unspreads her wings: In the window of Grayskull
• Beast Man picks up and throws a rock: Following the usual loop of He-Man throwing a rock
• He-Man laughs, head back: For the ending joke

One full
Variation: The beginning of Adam's transformation is shown by his shadow cast against a wall; he is buried in stones after saying the magic words but, thankfully, having turned into He-Man, can easily unbury himself. The animation then proceeds as usual.

Brought to you by Orko
Orko, apparently speaking from inside Grayskull where he was at the end of the regular episode, reminds us that animals, especially house pets (such as dragons), should receive our care and respect. He also assures us that our pets love us back, a contestable point. To forestall any arguments, he quickly announces it is time to go and vanishes.

Skeletor manages to get into Grayskull
Landmark Episode: Because this is one of Skeletor's most successful penetrations into Grayskull, and because it is Jitsu's only appearance.

• Beast Man finally gets a chance to display his control over beasts - which he fails to do, because the Mother Dragon won't listen to him. "A lot of good you are, Beast Brain!" comments Skeletor.
• To transport the dragon eggs, the bad guys use an air ship similar in design to the Basher, but seemingly a one-man vehicle with a big space in the back for the eggs.
• Orko demonstrates a horrifyingly disturbing ability to duplicate himself ("wow, that never worked before!"), and to remove all the meat off a leg of fowl in a split second, like some kind of Trollan pirhana.
• In the opening scene in which he duplicates himself, Orko appears to be serving dinner to the royal family - so in addition to being the court magician, he may also be the butler? (He will later serve drinks in the opening of MU048.)
• Beast Man returns in this episode, having last been seen back in MU003, in which he was captured in a porta-prison and Duncan spoke of taking him off to work in the mines. Presumably he was released, only to contribute to Eternia's systemic recidivism.
• Having already used his power sword to deflect magical rays in previous episodes, in this one He-Man uses it to "deflect" (or possibly just absorb) dragon fire. "You missed," he scoffs at the first attacking dragon.
• In addition to Man-at-Arms's stasis rays ("It's a good thing my father made more than one!"), Teela wields an unfamiliar-looking laser gun which definitely was not included with any action figures. The stasis ray model will appear again, reincarnated as a "freeze ray," in MU049.
• In several establishing shots in this episode, including the opening one and a couple of Snake Mountain, we again hear the wolf howl first heard in MU003.
• Stratos for the first time mentions his home kingdom of Avion.
• The first (and only) appearance of Jitsu, before the action figure was even released (as part of wave 3 in 1984)! The toy would have a shiny metallic hand, but the animated Jitsu just has an oversized flesh-colored one. He even gets a line of dialogue.
• The bad guys use what Skeletor calls "The Space Portal" to quickly travel to Grayskull. The other end of the portal is conveniently located in his throne room in Snake Mountain.
• Unlike in MU001 and MU008, this time Skeletor's plan involves invading and conquering Grayskull; "Our new home!" he calls it.
• The first appearance of Battle Ram, looking fairly similar to the toy version; Duncan rides it as the heroes get Sorceress's psychic SOS. The vehicle does not appear to be sentient and has no lines of dialogue.
• Big success for Skeletor in this episode, as he manages to get totally inside Grayskull. He also gets to recreate his scene from the show's opening, with his ghostly head laughing as it is superimposed on Grayskull's exterior. It will be a long time before he gets this close to achieving his dreams again (see MU030).
• We get an interesting and tantalizing look into a bit more of the inside of Grayskull - a panning shot shows some floating planets and mysterious organic-looking columns, in addition to Sorceress's throne. However, see my note in the Commentary section about inconsistency.
• Skeletor pulls his characteristic portal run, without helping any of his minions: "Too bad about the others, but at least I escaped!" However, in a rare move, this time He-Man is on the other end waiting for him! At the end of the episode we learn that Evil-Lyn made another space portal to get everyone else back - no thanks to their boss.
• The ending fight between Skeletor and He-Man takes place on a very cool looking rock bridge under Snake Mountain's magenta waterfall, a part of the fortress we haven't seen before.
• Skeletor reveals that pushing the little circle in the center of his chest armor calls up a sky sled for his easy escape. If there's one thing he's good at, it's escaping!
• I think it's cool and logical that when Sorceress is released from the Dragon Pearl, she immediately transforms into Zoar (because she is far from Grayskull).
• Marlena, Trap Jaw, and Panthor appear in this episode but have no lines of dialogue (or, in Panthor's case, growls).

• In one of Skeletor's boasting scenes, the crossed bones in the center of his chest armor are missing one of their ending knobs.
• In another case in the series of not providing for everyone's transportation (see Duncan ditching Adam in the beginning of MU002), it appears that Skeletor will have to go home on foot or by portal after Beast Man flies away in the one-man egg transporter.
• More great Skeletor voicework in this episode from Alan Oppenheimer. I particularly enjoyed him boasting to Beast Man in the beginning about how he got the Dragon Pearl.
• Those watching or reading closely will realize that the only thing connecting the "Dragon Pearl" to this episode's theme is its name. There are clearly two different ideas at work here (the pearl and the dragons) which have been tacked together.
• Interesting note, the insulting names in the He-Man series seem to have a set pattern of "[noun] Face." For instance Beast Man is "Fur Face" and He-Man jeeringly calls the dragon he is fighting "flame face." In MU008 Skeletor was called "Ghost Face."
• I think there's a continuity error here, or at least an architectural inconsistency inside Grayskull - in other episodes showing the throne, it appears to be at the end of a long tunnel which is reached by a descending staircase. In the panning shot when Skeletor gets inside, the throne seems to be on the same level as the Jawbridge. Perhaps the mystical nature of the castle means that its interior can change shape, a la Hogwarts. (And yes, I realize that I'm just rationalizing some heedless and disconnected background paintings; that's what we do around here!)
• Here's another moment where I stop to editorialize, this time about home invasion. In this episode the heroes decide they need Beast Man, who is back at Snake Mountain. So they just walk in. Why is it so easy to get into Skeletor's evil lair? If they know where he lives, and it's no problem getting in, why haven't they just cleared all the bad guys out of there years ago? In fact, throughout the series both sides seem to have an incredibly easy time getting into each other's homes; a security system company would clean up on Eternia. (However see MU015!)
• Beast Man gets no respect from anyone: I feel so bad for Beast Man. I have a soft spot for this underdog of a character, who gets no respect - though he admittedly deserves none. Having failed to control the mother dragon earlier in the episode, he does not appear at Skeletor's status meeting in Snake Mountain and is not invited to the raid on Grayskull (presumably because he has dragon duties); in the end he becomes the key to the heroes' eventual victory.
• Animation error: In a short few frames when the heroes are about to break back into Grayskull, Duncan's eyebrows are the same brown as his mustache, instead of the more usual black color.
• When Teela and He-Man are in Snake Mountain, there is a clear shot of them in the same room as the Dragon Pearl; but apparently they don't realize what it is or its importance, or are too busy looking for Beast Man. It seems like it would have been useful for them to pick it up while they were there!
• Skeletor gets everything he wants in this episode, more than once, and in every case manages to fumble it utterly and immediately. He gives up his hold on Grayskull as soon as the good guys pour in; then, having absorbed the power of the Dragon Pearl/Sorceress and become seemingly invincible, he's immediately defeated by a simple trip move by He-Man. After he drops the pearl and flies off, you have to wonder where he's headed, given that he's fleeing his own home base. We'll see Skeletor forced to this extremity on several other occasions over the course of the series.
• The animation of the Sorceress just as she is sucked into the pearl and just as she comes out of it is cool - she's falling at an angle with her arms raised, looking desperate.