Paul Dini

Gwen Wetzler

A banished Beast Man sees his chance to get back into Skeletor's good graces by kidnapping King Randor! At the same time, Prince Adam contemplates giving up his lazy ways and revealing his secret identity, in order to prove his worth to his father.

Orko, Man-at-Arms, Prince Adam (He-Man), King Randor, Cringer, Sorceress

Trap Jaw, Evil-Lyn, Beast Man, Skeletor, Tri-Klops, Mer-Man

Skeletor's robot minions, shadow beasts, bushtail

Attak Traks, Battle Rams, sky sled, Basher

Before the assembled council of bad guys in the throne room of Snake Mountain, Skeletor strips a pleading Beast Man of his whip and his council seat and banishes him from the place, sealing the deal by dropping him through a trap door. Tri-Klops explains to a curious Mer-Man (who seems to spend more time out at the Crystal Sea than in the serpentine fortress) that Beast Man didn't really do anything wrong, and is just bearing the brunt of Skeletor's ire at repeated defeats from He-Man.

At the palace, Adam, Man-at-Arms, and Orko are making sure the fleet of vehicles are all in tip-top shape in preparation for the king's royal tour of Eternia. The trio discuss which brave warrior Randor will choose as his honor guard on the tour, Adam feeling quite sure it will be him. A clumsy Orko manages to lock himself in an Attak Trak and send it careering about the courtyard, wildly firing its weapons, and Adam is forced to turn into He-Man to save the Trollan. Randor wanders outside in time to witness the rescue and expresses his gratitude. Perhaps with this event in mind, Randor calls Duncan and Adam to the throne room to announce his selection of escort: He-Man! Adam is thoroughly non-plussed, and his mood is not helped any by Randor's explanation that he wanted someone more responsible than his son to accompany him.

A troubled prince visits Grayskull and reveals to the Sorceress that he's considering revealing his secret to his father, and dropping the act of being a clumsy, heedless boy. The Sorceress reminds him that his secret is meant to protect him and his loved ones, but that it's his call to make. In the interim, Randor apparently changes his mind, as it's the king, Duncan, and Prince Adam (not He-Man!) riding through "this forest" in the Attak Trak, on their way to the first tour stop of Drisdos City. They are spied by a lamenting Beast Man, who has been telling his woes to a pack of sympathetic shadow beasts, and vowing to prove himself to Skeletor. The king's appearance gives him the perfect idea for a redemption scheme. Beast Man sets the shadow beasts on the Trak, forces it to crash, and extracts the king. Instead of turning into He-Man, Adam tries to rescue his father as himself; but Beast Man grabs the boy and stops him. Leaving Adam and Duncan immobilized by the freeze ray Adam tried to use, old Fur Face requests a huge ransom be brought to Snake Mountain and heads off with his valuable captive.

At Snake Mountain, Beast Man shows off his prize to Mer-Man, the only minion left minding the store while the others are on a side mission out in space. In a classic case of counting their chickens, the pair toss Randor in a cell and celebrate Beast Man's successful return with some legs of mystery meat. Meanwhile, a defrosted Duncan gives Adam a hard talk about his responsibilities as He-Man, and how he shouldn't be using - or withholding - his powers for selfish reasons. A wiser Adam transforms to He-Man and sets off alone for Snake Mountain, tasking Man-at-Arms with repairing the Trak. He-Man avoids the intruder alarm near the front entrance, but sets off the prisoner alarm when he frees his father; in response, Beast Man and Mer-Man deploy an army of Skeletor's robot soldiers, which Randor and He-Man cheerfully smash into a pile of scrap metal. Randor is reminded of his brawl-filled youth and boasts of his still-fearsome left hook, and confesses to He-Man how much he cares for his son but how little he is able to express his love. (Little does the king know how appropriate and useful this information is to his muscly protector.)

Mer-Man and Beast Man then show up in the Basher in a last-ditch attempt to save the situation, but needless to say, He-Man makes quick work of them. Left amongst the ruined remains of robots, Mer-Man predicts future punishment from Skeletor. Beast Man embarrassingly spews a long tirade of insults about his bony boss, unaware that the returned lord of destruction is standing right behind him. For all his failures, he gets off surprisingly easy at least in the short-term, with the duty of cleaning up the broken robots, and it seems Beast Man's short banishment is cancelled. He is happily returned to the "loving" embrace of Skeletor. Out in the forest, Adam, Duncan, and Randor are free to continue the royal tour in a freshly repaired Attak Trak.

End with a Joke: Adam suggests that he learned a lot from He-Man; when Randor asks him what he means, Adam backs down, saying he would never argue with someone with "a good left hook." Randor stammers in surprise, seeming to consider for a moment the implications behind his son knowing this information; then rejects the obvious conclusion.

• Beast Man: I'll show you all the true power of Beast Man. You haven't seen the last of meeeeee! (falls down trap door)
• Adam: You know, as Adam, I may act like a goof now and then, but - well, that's only to keep my secret.
• Randor (to Adam): But you've never shown any interest in state affairs. Sorry, son - I'm afraid on this trip I'll need someone a bit more experienced - and reliable.
• Sorceress (to Adam): If Skeletor or any of He-Man's other enemies learned your secret, they would not rest until they had destroyed you or the ones you love.
• Randor: I still think He-Man would have been a better choice for this trip. ... Just remember, Adam: we're on an important journey. We'll have no time for your antics on this trip.
• Man-at-Arms: Look, son. You were given He-Man's power for a reason: to help others. No one ever said you could use that power to make yourself happy.
• Randor: I never told Adam or Man-at-Arms, but I used to be quite a rowdy in my youth . . . Wouldn't Adam be surprised if he could see me now! / He-Man: Yes he would.
• Randor: It's hard for a father to say "I love you" to his son. / He-Man: Sometimes, it's hard for Adam to say that, too.
• Skeletor (to Beast Man): You furry, flea-bitten fool! I'll cover my throne with your hide!

• Beast Man runs away from the viewer: After freezing Adam and Duncan
• He-Man runs away from the viewer: When heading towards Randor's cell
• He-Man punches the viewer: While smashing up robots
• He-Man swings sword overhand: Multiple times, while smashing up robots and while fighting Mer-Man
• He-Man juggles his sword: Before taking on Mer-Man

Two partial (both missing Cringer/Battle Cat sequence)

Brought to you by Orko
Even though your parents never tell you, or show any evidence of the fact, or even pay any attention to you, you can be sure that they totally love you. Besides, have you ever expressed your love to them? Hmmmmm?

Dealing with Adam's secret and his connection to the power of Grayskull
Landmark Episode: Because of its being the first instance of the previous category, and because of the fun Beast Man content.

• We've had call to wonder in previous episodes whether the individual Eternian vehicles we see are part of larger fleets, but we've never seen more than one Wind Raider or Talon Fighter. In this episode, we clearly see a huge number of Attak Traks, Battle Rams, and sky sleds. I'm not sure how well this hangs together with previous episodes, unless we're to believe Duncan has very recently been having them mass produced. (We will see definite evidence of multiple Wind Raiders in MU047.)
• The panning shot in the palace showing Cringer sleeping under a table and then a doorway leading to a balcony recalls the scene at the beginning of MU007, except that in that scene Duncan and Randor were tenderly embracing by the balcony. (I may be slightly exaggerating the level of PDA.)
• Trust Paul Dini to give us another juicy episode of lore and character development. This story explores Adam's struggles keeping his secret even though his "antics" sometimes disappoint his father. According to this episode, Adam's bumbling and irresponsible behavior are largely an act that he puts on.
• Our friends the shadow beasts have returned! We saw one last as part of Beast Man's duplicitous sideshow in MU015. These shadow beasts act and sound more like they did the first time we saw them, when Teela tangled with a bunch on the Crystal Sea in MU006 (also a Paul Dini episode). In this episode, they are hilarious: a sort of howling chorus providing alternating sympathy and derision for a down-in-the-dumps Beast Man.
• When Beast Man is out in the forest bemoaning his lot, he tries to use his power over animals to get a bushtail (a sort of pink, mohawked squirrel) to throw him a piece of fruit. The bushtail rudely pelts him in the face. Beast Man comments: "Let's face it; without the power of Snake Mountain behind me, I'm nothing." The suggestion seems to be that he has lost some portion of his powers as part of his banishment. At least he still has all his shadow beast buddies!
• If you haven't seen it, stop what you're doing right now and search up the absolutely amazing music video of Adam singing the 4 Non Blondes's "What's Up." (I believe the creator was slackcircus and its title is "Fabulous Secret Powers," but it's often called "What's Going On" or "Heyeayeayea" from the refrain in the song.) It appears in various forms all over the internet, in versions of widely varying length, and even some spoof versions in live action; but the original is about four minutes long and cuts together various sequences from the classic Filmation series. A good chunk of them starting at around the 2-minute mark, with Beast Man struggling with Adam and the shadow beasts infiltrating the Attak Trak, are taken from this episode.
• The animation of the shadow beast peeling back the roof of the Attak Trak is suspiciously similar to the earlier animation of He-Man peeling back the roof of the rogue Attak Trak to save Orko.
• On the oft-recurring theme of home invasion: in the recent MU026, we saw Teela and Orko easily gain entry to Snake Mountain, causing me to harken back to MU015, when there was clearly an intruder alarm in place and doing its job. Here we see the alarm has returned, though in a more concrete form (we never saw how the alarm in MU015 was triggered): a beam laid at ankle-height across the entrance hallway, when broken, sets off a flashing light and siren. It's a great idea, but He-Man immediately and easily circumvents it by simply hopping over the unconcealed beam. The alarm triggered by He-Man tearing off a cell door is subtler - and more effective!
• When Beast Man shows up at Snake Mountain, Skeletor and most of the minions from the opening scene are not there; Mer-Man tantalizingly explains that they are "on a destruction mission out in space." I have questions...
• We are treated to a cool little sequence when He-Man lets a collapsed sky sled out the back of the Attak Trak and it expands to full size, with different projecting bits sliding out and into position.
• We learn that Randor used to be "quite a rowdy" when he was younger, and has a mean left hook.
• Randor plucks a handy mace off the wall of Snake Mountain to aid in smashing up robots. It looks a lot like Evil-Lyn's scepter.

• Beast Man gets no respect from anyone: Despite not appearing in the preceding six (!) episodes, Beast Man gets banished for failing too often. As Tri-Klops explains to Mer-Man: "Skeletor's had one too many defeats from He-Man and is taking it out on poor Fuzz Face. Just be thankful that's not you down there." Skeletor's anger could have fallen on anyone, so naturally it fell on our hairy little scapegoat.
• We've heard Attak Trak carry on snide conversations with our heroes, so it's more than a little off-putting to hear one refusing to recognize Orko when he traps himself inside. Maybe there's only one really "smart" Trak that the heroes regularly use, and the others, like the one from Orko's destructive joyride, are dumb machines.
• Duncan and Adam seem to show an inappropriate lack of concern as the Trak swerves around the palace grounds, firing lasers indiscriminately at everything in sight and almost hitting the king. Adam just thinks it's funny, and just after Randor has to duck to avoid being murdered, Duncan calmy replies, "We're having some trouble with the Attak Trak, sire." I'd say so...
• Given that Orko is essentially a child (or is at least sometimes treated as one), I think he should be punished for muttering what sounds like some Trollan profanities while he's being forced to repair the Trak he busted up.
• See my commentary in MU003 for a discourse on why I think it's just plain silly for Adam to be keeping his identity as He-Man a secret. Though the Sorceress does her best to justify it in this episode, I still think her argument stands on shaky ground.
• I would also argue that this episode treats the Adam/He-Man dichotomy in a manner that is not consistent with what we've seen in other episodes. I've noted several instances previously suggesting He-Man is a different person from Adam (see for instance the lore sections of MU021 and MU023, or in particular MU010). In this story the implication is that He-Man is just Adam's super hero identity, in the same way that Peter Parker puts on a suit and calls himself Spider-Man. (Peter Parker, by the way, would greatly sympathize with Adam's difficulties in this episode!)
• Randor seems to solidly decide that He-Man is the one he wants on his journey with him; so it's odd that when they actually get into the Attak Trak, it's Adam sitting in the back seat. There's no scene explaining this, but since Randor asks Duncan to get into contact with He-Man, and Duncan knows how important this trip is to Adam, we can imagine Duncan just apologetically telling the king that he really tried, but He-Man wasn't answering his phone...
• In the Attak Trak, King Randor takes a split second to look at a very dubious map. No doubt the animators didn't intend for anyone to consult it very closely. It includes references to "Bad Mountains," "Emerald City," and "Evil Area," in addition to the more reasonable "Drisdos City." The funniest part: Duncan tells Randor that "The city of Drisdos lies on the other side of this forest," no doubt simply meaning "this forest that we're driving through right now." However, whoever drew the map seems to have taken this line very much to heart, since they labeled an area just south of Drisdos "THIS FOREST."
• In the scene where Beast Man grabs Adam from behind, his eyes are drawn as cat-like slits, rather than the normal round dots.
• I think it's charming that, while Skeletor would kidnap the king with the end goal of drawing out He-Man or worming his way into Castle Grayskull, Beast Man just wants to ransom Randor for all the gold he can get. Beast Man does an amazingly good job of capturing the king and disabling Adam and Duncan; I admit that as I was watching this particular scene during my preparations for adding this episode to the database, I told Beast Man: "I'm so fucking proud of you, man!"
• Continuity error: Though at the entrance to Snake Mountain the only restraints on Randor are ropes binding his wrists, when Beast Man brings the king inside he is being led on a thick black chain that is wound around his waist.
• It's so nice how Mer-Man and Beast Man have their little celebration of Beast Man's return! A rare case of minions being supportive instead of carping or arguing. But I think Mer-Man was exaggerating just a tad when he referred to Beast Man as the "craftiest" of Skeletor's minions. And (again keeping in mind that Beast Man did not appear in the previous six episodes) Beast Man is highly delusional when he claims that Skeletor "couldn't make a move" without him.
• We see the questing limb of a tentacled beast that's lurking in a cell of Snake Mountain's dungeon. Could it be the dreaded Octo-Beast from MU015??
• I wouldn't have thought, before this episode, that you could fly the Basher around the corridors of Snake Mountain! But somehow Beast Man manages it.
• Beast Man demonstrates some signs of being in an abusive relationship: after receiving a tongue-lashing from Skeletor and being forced to clean up the wreckage of his failed plan, and even getting some insults from his so-recently-friendly compatriot Mer-Man, Beast Man just smiles and says, "It's kind of nice to be... home." You've just gotta love the big lug.