J. Brynne Stephens

Hal Sutherland

Orko's boredom could spell doom for Eternia, as he accidentally summons an evil demon named Daimar from the Dark Dimension! If Daimar submits to his destiny, he will bring an army from the other dimension to destroy everything! If Skeletor has his way, Daimar will add to his own evil power. Can He-Man turn things to good?

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

Skeletor, Evil-Lyn

Daimar, tiny dinosaur critter

Basher

In his lab, Duncan explains to the royal family that a combination of Sorceress's magic book and his equations have led to the discovery of a nearby universe, the Dark Dimension, which maintains the delicate balance of science and sorcery on Eternia. Somehow or other they seem to have a video screen that shows what's happening in this other universe, because the King catches a glimpse of a flying demon before everyone goes to lunch. A bored Orko wanders into the lab and summons a cute little critter named Daimar out of the magic book; the pair wander off to have fun together. Meanwhile, weird things start happening at lunch, and Duncan suspects Orko is to blame. Returning to his lab, he and Adam find that Daimar's picture has disappeared from the book, and Adam conveniently spots Orko and Baby Daimar on the video screen, running off to hide. Duncan learns from the book that Baby Daimar will metamorphose into a giant demon which will lead hordes of Dark Dimension critters through a gateway to conquer Eternia! Clearly it's the perfect time for Adam to say those special words.

Off in the forest, Orko and Daimar fly past an exercising Teela (guess she was not invited to lunch), who meets and joins up with He-Man on the way to Grayskull. At the same time, Skeletor's magic-detecting devices show him something is up at Randor's palace, so he calls Evil-Lyn to investigate. The pair are overcome by the same weird magic junk that ruined lunch at the palace. At Grayskull, Sorceress is just about to finish a "spell of liquid light" when she gets hit with the same magical disruption, and psychically calls to He-Man for help. Evil-Lyn, off on her mission, zaps into Duncan's lab, incapacitates everyone there, nabs the critical magic book, and leaves again.

Orko and Daimar are on their way to Grayskull, but Daimar gets sleepy and jumps into a cocoon. Orko, unconcerned at this development, leans against the cocoon for his own nap. On their own way to Grayskull, He-Man and Teela are slowed down by magically overgrown vines. Meanwhile, Evil-Lyn does some magical research in the Sorceress's book and decides she's ready to defeat Skeletor; but he gets the truth about Daimar out of her. Duncan discovers that the nearby city of Eternos is in ruins because of the magical disruptions, just to add some urgency to the plot.

Finally at the doorstep of Grayskull, Teela and He-Man are spooked by a tiny dinosaur critter and then have trouble at the Jawbridge. While He-Man props open the gate, Teela and Battle Cat have to run inside to help the Sorceress, whose power is being drained. Their ride has taken so darn long that Daimar has emerged from his cocoon while Orko wasn't looking, leaving behind some ominous footprints. When He-Man gets inside to talk to the Sorceress, she cryptically sends him back outside, where he finds a full-grown Daimar about to knock on the door.

Daimar traps He-Man and Teela behind a barrier and starts opening his gateway; but then Skeletor and Evil-Lyn show up and try to subdue the demon. The battle wages back and forth, with no one able to make much headway against Daimar. Eventually Orko shows up to try to reason with his playmate, and He-Man realizes this is a good idea. He-Man's speech is so convincing that eventually Daimar decides he wants to be a good guy, and He-Man is able to toss Skeletor's Basher (with Skeletor and Evil-Lyn inside it) away. Daimar shares a friendly hug with Orko before returning to his own dimension, restoring everything back to normal, and even adding a rainbow.

End with a Joke: N/A

• King Randor (disturbed by a glimpse of Daimar that he got from Duncan's video monitor): That thing looked hungry! / Prince Adam: I know just how it feels - let's eat!
• Prince Adam (in reaction to floating food): Since when is this place haunted?
• Skeletor: Evil-Lyn, I am not amused.
• Daimar (to He-Man): We do what our destinies demand.
• He-Man (to the audience): Anybody want to buy a used bolo?
• Skeletor: Now you've got me mad, He-Man.
• He-Man (to Orko): Today you found something very precious. / Orko: I did? What? / He-Man: A friend.

• Skeletor shakes his fists, three-quarter view: While holding the magic book and his staff
• He-Man swings sword overhand: To break Daimar's energy field
• He-Man rolls along the ground
• A look through widespread legs: He-Man lands on the ground, having jumped from the top of Grayskull
• He-Man smiles close-up, looking at the viewer: To tell Orko he found a friend

One full
Variation - Cringer complains "Never a moment's rest" just before his transformation

Brought to you by Prince Adam
If you get into big trouble that you can't handle, like Orko, Adam suggests you should talk to "people who care about you." He's somewhat vague on who those people might be.

Everybody deserves a second chance: Since Daimar is convinced to be a good guy.
Evil-Lyn power punches the glass ceiling: Since we see Lyn operating against Skeletor here, trying to use the knowledge in the spell book for herself.

• As she first hinted in MU014, Evil-Lyn is a young go-getter out to get power - and overthrow Skeletor. When he asks her to find out the source of the magical disruptions, she mutters that she will - "but not for you." A little later in the episode they even rehearse the same exchange from MU014, where Skeletor asks her what she wants, and Evil-Lyn replies, "Your power, Skeletor!" (Not surprisingly, this episode and MU014 were both written by J. Brynne Stephens.)
• There's an interesting bit of lore here, which Duncan glosses over in a single sentence: that is, the idea that this Dark Dimension in conjunction with Eternia's dimension forms a balance between science and sorcery. Is the Dark Dimension the source of the magic that flows around Eternia? We don't get to know for sure, since it never comes up again. Interestingly, though, the Dark Dimension will come up again - in She-Ra! I'm doubtful that the reference there is to the same place Duncan has discovered here; but see 67039's "Into the Dark Dimension."
• Duncan's lab is shown to be equipped with a really sweet giant-screen TV. We will see this screen used again in many other episodes.
• The first reference to "the city of Eternos," which we assume is the capital city where the palace resides. Though I find it necessary to use this name a lot in my entries, the show writers seem oddly averse to doing so, and we'll hardly ever hear a character utter it in the course of the series. The shot the heroes see of Eternos in ruins is a recycling of the background used for the resting place of Colossor in MU014's "Colossor Awakes." We will see this background used again in MU073.
• The second time that we get to see He-Man commanding the Jawbridge of Grayskull to open (this happened previously in the pilot, MU004). He will do it next in MU020.
• We get a nice interior shot of Grayskull. We also get to see He-Man climbing around on top of the castle, an unusual occurrence.
• One of those rare episodes that doesn't really end with a joke, just a sappy little exchange between He-Man and Orko (which I've quoted in the Memorable lines section).
• It's worth pointing out that He-Man defeats today's monster not by beating it up (though he gives that the old college try first!), but by making it his friend. Choosing persuasion and compromise over violence is something the show will (sometimes) try to emphasize.

• Duncan's discovery of the "Dark Dimension" is a rip-off from Marvel Comics. This is where Dr. Strange's enemy Dormammu comes from.
• Odd fact: Baby Daimar sounds - and even kind of looks - like Squinch of the Widgets.
• Skeletor's "instruments" for detecting weird power sources look like an angry face with a pig nose - which is awesome.
• Returning to the theme of home invasion discussed in MU009 and MU015, in this episode Evil-Lyn teleports directly into Duncan's lab with the greatest of ease and freezes Man-at-Arms and the king and queen. Though she fails to take much advantage of it, for those few seconds the kingdom of Eternia appears to be at her mercy. Maybe instead of doing equations, Duncan should be working on a teleport blocker, hmmmmmm?
• After Skeletor has consulted the Sorceress's book of magic, he shuts it, revealing the cover is the wrong color: plain white, where before it was pink.
• He-Man has a bolas, which he (not very wisely) thinks he can use to contain Daimar. But he calls it a "bolo." According to the internet a bolo is a single-edged Phillipine knife, or possibly a type of string tie. Maybe in Eternia they use different words for these things...
• He-Man gets a hold of Skeletor's Basher with a grappling hook and is trying to reel it in. He desperately asks for help from Teela, and what does she do? She wanders off and picks up the Sorceress's book of magic, and is absolutely no help. What the heck, Teela?
• Orko summoned a demon from another dimension and caused all the problems in this episode, but receives absolutely no come-uppance. This is not the first and will certainly not be the last time that he pulls this kind of stunt; are the other heroes already too inured to his nonsense to bother punishing him?
• Daimar is a cool-looking character who, in a rare occurrence, we get to see in different stages of development: as both a cute baby and an impressively large mature demon.