Richard Pardee

Marsh Lamore

He-Man is attacked by an enemy that does more damage than almost any other foe he's faced: it's a falling tree! He winds up as an amnesiac gladiator in the cruel city of Targa, the enemy of Operon, and must fight his way back to his identity - and then save Operon's kidnapped Princess Rhea.

Cringer (Battle Cat), Prince Adam (He-Man)

N/A

Princess Rhea, Gargons, Garn, Draca, Queen Balina, King Thales

Flying discs, robot horses

A chance meeting in the jungles of Eternia: a lazing Prince Adam, relaxing with Cringer, witnesses a girl running from pursuing bird guys on flying discs. He and Cringer transform to save the young lady, who introduces herself as Princess Rhea of Operon, daughter of King Thales. Her would-be kidnappers are Gargons from the opposing city of Targa, hired by the evil Queen Balina. It would have been great if He-Man could have retained all this important information and not lost it to a head injury, but in a sudden storm that arises as he escorts the princess home, He-Man gets knocked out by a falling tree and drifts downriver. Rhea and Battle Cat witness the unconscious He-Man being picked up by Gargons and follow secretly, but Battle Cat manages to get himself trapped in a pit, and a distressed Rhea, looking on, gets nabbed again by Gargons.

In the dungeon of Targa, He-Man wakes with no memory of who he is, and is treated to even more exposition from his cellmate Garn, the strongest fighter in Balina's arena. Garn explains that he fights for Balina's entertainment, but believes she will one day reward him with freedom. He-Man is interrogated by Balina's suspicious and very unfriendly wizard, Draca, then Balina herself, neither of whom have much trust in his story of amnesia, since the Gargons saw him rescuing Rhea. They send him into the arena to fight Garn, where a lucky blow to the head reverses He-Man's memory loss. Even with Draca cheating by magicking some extra strength into Garn, He-Man wins the fight and reveals his identity to his opponent. He commands that Garn be released, a request that Balina is happy to grant since she's now found an even stronger boy toy.

During Balina's post-fight audience with He-Man, she learns from a whispering Draca that Rhea has been recaptured, so she decides the best thing to do with He-Man will be to just set him free (which even He-Man realizes is kind of fishy). He-Man and Garn are dumped outside the castle gates in the morning; having just decided to team up, they overhear the trapped Battle Cat. The kitty is pulled out of the pit and they learn of Rhea's fate. Back at the castle, they watch in secret as King Thales is led inside, having agreed to a literal king's ransom to get his daughter back. A disguised He-Man sneaks into the dungeon to let the king know he plans to help, then proceeds to sneak into the throne room (I guess the guards are instructed to let mysterious cloaked figures inside?) and reveal himself just as the deal is going down.

Now aware that they are facing the legendary He-Man (who has also let Garn and Battle Cat into the throne room), Draca and Balina nearly poop themselves. Draca's attempt to magically solve the problem with an earthquake is ill-planned and overdone, causing the lake that sits above them to burst free of its bounds and flood the city. Though Garn believes letting the citizens of Targa get drowned would be a just punishment for their wickedness, He-Man schools him in compassion and justice, and they join forces to solve the problem. In reward for his lake-stopping services, Garn is crowned as the new ruler of Targa by King Thales (the Operonian ruler having tidily effected a coup during the flood, it seems). Garn promises to rule using the lessons He-Man has taught him.

From the look of things, He-Man could probably hang around and get in real good with Thales's daughter, but instead announces his decision to get home, vowing to return someday (surprisingly enough, he will eventually make good on this promise).

End with a Joke: N/A

• Garn: All strangers are spies.
• Queen Balina: The stranger seems to be as clever with the gladiators as he is with the sorcerers.
• He-Man (to Garn): He-Man cannot decide your fate. That is for you to decide; you alone. / Garn: You are... He-Man? I thought you were only a legend!
• He-Man: I am your payment, Draca! That is, if you can collect.
• He-Man: It's not our job to punish those who are evil. That's what the law and the courts of Eternia are for.
• Garn: Thank you, He-Man; you've shown me that along with great strength goes great responsibility.

• He-Man from above, runs to mid-screen and pauses, battle-ready
• He-Man runs at the viewer, bug-height
• Garn runs at the viewer, bug-height
• He-Man jumps on the back of Battle Cat: As he prepares to leave

One full
Variation - Cringer turns to the audience to announce "Here we go again!" before he is transformed.

Brought to you by He-Man
He-Man tries to convince his TV-obsessed young audience that they should maybe turn it off and try to read a book or something. But definitely tune in again tomorrow!

Amnesiac He-Man
Skeletor-less episodes in Season 1
Games and gladiators: This is the first episode to go in this category, since He-Man is forced by the Targans to fight in a gladiator arena with Garn.

• We've had plenty of cases of characters thinking that some relic or artifact or other was "only a legend" (see MU002, MU007, MU011). But I never thought someone would say that about He-Man! This episode proved me wrong.
• Draca, Queen Balina, and Garn of Targa are the first brown-skinned characters to appear in the series. Unfortunately two-thirds of them are evil. Rather than trying for African accents, the voice actors lean into Eastern European vibes.
• This is a rare episode in that Battle Cat gets separated from He-Man. It doesn't go well for him: smelling traces of his old friend causes the cat to run off heedlessly and get himself trapped. One remembers other occasions where He-Man has had to calm down his wild pet with phrases such as "Easy, great cat."
• It's pretty rare that He-Man goes around in disguise, as he does (albeit briefly) in this episode. The last time I can remember it happening was way back in MU005. It does seem a bit out-of-character for him to deceive in any way at all. On that topic, however, see the very next episode (MU032) for a real corker of a disguise, this one worn by Prince Adam!
• Richard Pardee, who wrote this episode and has Garn say almost exactly the same thing, is lucky that Stan Lee wasn't able to trademark his line from Spider-Man about how "with great power comes great responsibility."
• Given that we have so many new characters and places to absorb in this episode (and so few voice actors to go around), it's perhaps not surprising that it is entirely missing any of the other regular heroes aside from He-Man and his cat. This episode has the lowest count of heroic warriors so far in the series. He-Man even handles the PSA by himself, ensuring that no side characters get a look in.
• Perhaps it's the fact that Orko is not around that leaves us without our usual ending joke for this story.
• As I noted at the end of the plot summary, He-Man will eventually return to Targa - though we don't actually get to see it happen. Adam and Duncan reveal they are returning from a visit there in the opening scene of MU113.

• I love the character design of the Gargons. They are grayish birdmen, much more bird-faced than Stratos's people, and they get cool horned helmets reminiscent of Galactus.
• He-Man just loves throwing guys into mud puddles. In this episode it's the Gargons on the receiving end, but in a recent episode a guard fell out a window and plummeted into mud, thanks to He-Man; and certainly Beast Man and other of Skeletor's minions have been treated to mud baths in the past. I should probably have been keeping track of that!
• As proof that she's royalty, Princess Rhea points to her "father's crest" - which is just a blue oval on her crown. Not particularly distinctive!
• This episode features a couple of interesting establishing shots with a rotating camera - somewhat unusual and fun.
• It's unclear why this episode even featured an amnesia storyline. He-Man's memory loss doesn't last long and doesn't really put him at a major disadvantage. I suppose, given his legendary status, that if he'd been able to reveal his identity to Queen Balina at the outset, things would have gone differently.
• By the way, given that Adam is just hanging out in the jungle, presumably near his own home, and Princess Rhea also was just hanging out in the jungle, it seems reasonable to assume that Eternos, Operon, and Targa are all pretty close to each other. So it's weird that He-Man is considered a legend in a couple of those cities. Presumably Operon and Targa are both pretty insular places that don't get a lot of visitors!
• Queen Balina does not run a very tight ship. She allows a cloaked He-Man, who (let's face it) is really not very skilled at disguise, infiltrate not only her dungeon but her actual throne room, along with a very conspicuous green tiger (not to mention the easily identifiable master of her arena). Admittedly the tiger doesn't sneak into the throne room - he waits just outside until He-Man calls him, then strolls inside without hindrance.
• It's pretty rich of He-Man to claim that it's not his "job to punish those who are evil." Um, come again, bro? Are you still woozy from that tree, and somehow forgot all the evil-punishing you've been doing in the previous thirty episodes?
• Though it's true that he's evinced no romantic feelings towards her, it's hard not to feel that He-Man is being disgracefully untrue to his girl Teela by letting himself get fussed over and kissed by Princess Rhea. I guess what happens in Operon (or Targa) stays in Operon (or Targa)...