Rowby Goren

Marsh Lamore

We'll always remember the first annual He-Man Day as the day an earthquake uncovered an ancient temple within Mount Eternia, and danger-magnet Orko freed a deadly energy beast from its tiny glass prison!

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

Skeletor, Beast Man

Energy Beast, raven spy, Spirit of the Ancients

Road Ripper, Roto-Rocket

It's a new day in Eternos and Orko is bored - a situation that always spells trouble for the citizens of that fair city. While the Trollan is poking around among Man-at-Arms's latest creations downstairs, King Randor is upstairs in the throne room reading out his proclamation for the first annual He-Man Day, in celebration of He-Man's many heroic achievements. Adam is quite bemused at the prospect, but unable to form an opinion before Orko blows into the room on Duncan's out-of-control Road Ripper. He totals the vehicle, and while being distracted by a berating Man-at-Arms, hovers his way through the middle of the proclamation scroll, ruining it. The abashed Orko seems rather jealous of He-Man's fame in rating his own Eternian holiday, but has barely managed to process his feelings when an earthquake strikes! The tremor shakes open a hidden chamber in the middle of Mount Eternia, which the heroes can see from the throne room window. Teela, Adam, Orko, and Cringer decide to investigate.

At the temple they find inside the opening, Teela is able to translate an inscription promising that great power and magical secrets lay within. The cautious heroes decide to delay further explorations until a full translation can be made, but Orko is very intrigued. He returns later by himself, tempted by the promise of fame and power, and is sucked inside the seemingly sealed doors. A beckoning voice leads him to a tiny bell jar on a pedestal, where a little humanoid-shaped blob of energy promises the Trollan all the celebrity he wants, if Orko will just free the creature. The gullible magician lifts the jar. He has second thoughts, but before he can act on them, the evil Energy Beast is free!

The loosed Beast swells in size and causes further rock falls at the mountain, which brings He-Man and Battle Cat on the run. He-Man forces his way inside the temple and finds Orko and the creature. He is able to deflect the Beast's many energy beam attacks, so the creature pauses to provide a quick biography and proclaim its decision to head to another dimension for a short recharge, after which it will return to take over all Eternia. Looking for more information, He-Man, Teela, and Man-at-Arms visit Grayskull, where the Sorceress explains that the Energy Beast has been around for almost as long as the planet itself. The creature harried the ancient Eternians, who finally managed to trap the thing where Orko found it. How they managed this has unfortunately been lost to time; but the Sorceress feels certain that if the heroes dig around in Mount Eternia, they will come across a Gold Chamber that will give them the knowledge necessary to stop the Energy Beast.

Unfortunately (but unsurprisingly), Skeletor has been spying and knows about the Energy Beast. (He even tried earlier, though without success, to break into the temple where the Beast was imprisoned.) His plan is to make a deal with the Beast to share dominion over the planet, and this secret magical treasure within the mountain (which he learns about from a rhyming raven that he sent to Grayskull) sounds like just the bargaining chip he needs. Adam, Teela, Cringer, and Orko, all unaware of these sinister intentions, hop into the Roto-Rocket, Duncan's experimental drilling vehicle, to penetrate the depths of Mount Eternia. On the way, the drill breaks, necessitating Adam's quick and discreet transformation into He-Man to make repairs; but he switches back to Adam again when the drill reaches a big open chamber, seemingly the place they're looking for.

In the chamber, a dried-up old ghost zombie identifying itself as the Spirit of the Ancients offers the heroes the Eternian Crystal, which will give them the power to stop the Energy Beast. But this is when Skeletor expertly swoops in, appearing out of nowhere, stealing the crystal, and vanishing again. The Spirit is unperturbed: this is a problem for the living people of the present, and his ass is of the past. He fades away with a cryptic piece of advice, to give the Energy Beast exactly what it desires. Another bout of falling rocks seals Teela in a little cave, giving Adam the excuse he needs to change back into He-Man and get them all the heck out of there.

Back out on the surface, the Beast has returned and is threatening Eternos. Skeletor stands on a rock and waves his stolen crystal around, hoping to get its attention; but all he gets is He-Man, who tosses him into some water. Orko steals the crystal back and Teela freezes the villain, neatly tying off that subplot. Now, about that Beast! The heroes climb to the summit of Mount Eternia, where He-Man slices off the top of the mountain and shoves it aside, revealing a hollow that leads all the way down to the center of the planet (so the mountain is like your standard chocolate Easter bunny). Right on time, the Energy Beast approaches, hungering for the Eternian Crystal; so He-Man nonchalantly flings the rock down the hole. When the Beast dives inside after it, He-Man puts the lid back on the mountain: that's that! If the Energy Beast ever breaks its way out of there, it will surely be a problem for some future He-Person to deal with.

With that disaster averted, it's time to return to affairs of state: in the throne room, Randor reads to the assembled heroes He-Man's written response to He-Man Day: he humbly suggests that the day be devoted instead to all the other Heroic Warriors who keep Eternia safe (a list of names which just happens to begin with "Orko").

End with a Joke: Having heard He-Man's response, Orko wants everyone to know what he thinks about it. Seemingly irritated, Orko instead breaks into a joyous celebration of He-Man, complete with a pair of cheerleading pom poms.

• King Randor: And therefore, in recognition of He-Man's many heroic achievements, I hereby proclaim the first annual He-Man Day throughout the kingdom.
• Teela (reading inscription on temple): Beware - those who pass through these portals shall witness absolute power.
• Skeletor: Who knows what evil lurks behind these doors?
• Energy Beast: He who releases me from my chamber shall see his greatest dreams come truuuuuue. / Orko (evincing an impressive level of stupidity): Hey, that sounds like a pretty good deal!
• Energy Beast (conveniently detailing his plans to He-Man): I go now to another dimension. There, I shall multiply my energy; and when I return, beware all Eternia!
• Sorceress (making with the back story): The Energy Beast was created when our planet was formed. For millions of years it was imprisoned in its molten center. It escaped to the surface during the prehistoric volcanic eruption which formed Mount Eternia. It terrorized our ancestors until they discovered the secret of how to control its terrible powers.
• Cringer (reacting to the fact that the vehicle he is in is still in the experimental stage): Experimental?! Oh boy, why didn't I take the bus? / Adam: Pull yourself together, Cringer - the survival of our planet depends on us!

• He-Man in battle stance on Battle Cat: Arriving outside the crumbling temple, and again near the end of the episode when he pauses to let Teela up

Two full, one partial
The partial sequence is when Adam finds he needs He-Man power to fix the drive shaft of the Roto-Rocket. He lifts the sword and says "By the power of Grayskull!" but we don't even see his own transformation, just the initial burst of energy around the sword.

Brought to you by Teela and Orko
Apparently the lesson we are to learn from this episode is patience. Orko should have waited to enter the unearthed temple, and he will also have to wait until tomorrow to see the big parade that Teela mentions. It seems to me that we should be talking about Orko's unwarranted meddling with the Road Ripper, or perhaps his incredibly poor judgment and selfishness in lifting the bell jar imprisoning the Energy Beast; or, hey, what about his heedless hovering through Randor's proclamation? No?

Historians, archaeologists, and digging up old cities: Though the uncovering is done without the aid of human hands, I still think this episode can qualify in this category. It doesn't qualify as a "Skeletor summons a monster" episode, no matter how much I'd like it to, since it's Orko who does the summoning.

• The episode opens with an unusual and impressive bird's-eye view, a rotating pan over the city of Eternos. It's so nice they used it twice - at the end of the episode as well.
• The first appearance of a Wave 3 Mattel vehicle, the Road Ripper, described as one of Man-at-Arms's inventions (and left unnamed in the episode itself). Unlike some other animated He-Man vehicles, this one is faithful to its toy version. Thanks to an over-curious Orko, the vehicle celebrates its maiden appearance by being very quickly smashed to bits!
• It's hard to know the relative position of any of the rooms in the palace, but thanks to the fact that Orko clearly drives upstairs from Man-at-Arms's workshop, we know that the workshop is at least one floor below the throne room.
• Mark this day: this episode proclaims the first annual He-Man Day! We don't know the Eternian date, but we could just use the original air date of the episode taken from Wikipedia, which would make He-Man Day September 12 - in case you're looking for an excuse to call out sick from work. If you ever watched the show, you'll be honoring your culture! (Of course, if you watch the episode to its end, you'll find that we never really get an official He-Man Day; but let's just forget about that part.)
• Orko loses the "O" off his robe as a result of his crack-up. This de-lettering happened to him before in MU054.
• This episode marks the first reference to "Mount Eternia," a mountain you'd think we would have heard about before now, as it apparently lies a short walk from the royal palace. Though the mountain will figure most centrally in this episode's plot, it will also be referenced briefly in MU097 and MU100, the latter (and most embarrassing) of which was also written by this script's writer, Rowby Goren.
• Teela has "always been interested in ancient Eternian languages," which means she is able to translate the writings on the temple cornice. She was also the one running the "lango-computer" back in MU047, which jibes nicely with her interest.
• This episode is the first written by Rowby Goren, who will contribute several scripts to He-Man's second season. Oddly enough, his career started as a comedy writer for the 70s skit show, Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In; but much of his other writing work was devoted to children's cartoons of the 80s and 90s, including Alvin and the Chipmunks, Ghostbusters (the weird one with the gorilla, not the "real" one based on the movie), BraveStarr, The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
• Skeletor is manning his desktop dome again in this episode, allowing him to learn of the magic treasures in the temple. Not content with his usual toys, Skeletor also employs a talking (and rhyming!) raven to spy on the Sorceress, which he must summon with a sing-song spell. This is cooler than the robot bird spy he used back in MU011; but neither of them are yet the Mattel toy character Screeech, even though the toy was released in the previous year's second wave of Mattel MOTU products (1983), as an evil counterpart to Zoar. (For the first animated appearance of Screeech, see MU084.)
• The Energy Beast claims that he once "ruled all Eternia." The Sorceress later elaborates, giving the Energy Beast an origin story beginning with the formation of Eternia, and stating that the creature terrorized their ancient Eternian ancestors. We tend to hear a lot about "the ancients," if only in the sometimes used exclamation "by the ancients!"
• When Skeletor hears the skinny from his magic raven spy, he is chuffed to get a hold of the "legendary lost secrets" of the ancient Eternians - making this episode a fair candidate for the sub-category I like to call "only a legend."
• This episode also marks the appearance of another "new" vehicle, this one not tied to a Mattel toy. It's the "Roto-Rocket," a driveable drill that looks suspiciously similar to the one Skeletor used in MU036's "The Search" (featuring the Starseed, which I reference in the Commentary section). We will see this drill again, put to dastardly purposes by one Modulok, in MU113's "Happy Birthday Roboto."
• Surely one of the worst jobs ever at protecting a secret identity: Adam goes into the "fusion room" of the stalled Roto-Rocket to see what's wrong, disappears, and then He-Man appears outside the now-repaired drill to help smash rocks. Um... what happened to Adam, He-Man? Is he.... safe? Fortunately no one asks, and He-Man vanishes, to be replaced by Adam a few seconds later. Then Adam has to transform into He-Man again to free Teela from a rock fall: here he does get a chance to tell a rescued Teela that Adam and Cringer are "safe."
• Teela uses a wrist communicator like ones we've seen at other moments in the show (she had one back in MU010, for instance).
• For the first time in memory, things get so bad in Eternos that Duncan has to get on the PA and tell the citizens of the city to evacuate.
• Teela stops Skeletor at last by freezing him... with a pistol. What happened to the freeze ray on her wrist, which she used in just the last episode (MU066)? Hmm.

• When King Randor asks his wife what she thinks of his He-Man Day proclamation, Queen Marlena expresses her approbation, then adds: "I think it's about time we recognized He-Man. Don't you agree?" She appears to be pointedly asking this question of her son, Prince Adam, who replies with an uncomfortable stammer. Remember this suggestive moment when we get to MU085's "The Rainbow Warrior"....
• When Orko accidentally flies through the He-Man Day proclamation, he leaves an Orko-shaped hole in the parchment; but where did the paper go that fills the Orko hole? It has simply been deleted. Maybe Trollans dissolve paper on contact!
• The He-Man Day poster, seen on a wall of the palace in a short scene with Orko and Adam, spells our hero's name as "HE MAN," without the hyphen. How embarrassing!
• Sometimes Skeletor just seems to have a crazier day than usual, and this is one of them. His laughs seem particularly maniacal in this episode, just on the edge of hysteria. The last time I remember thinking him close to the edge was during MU030's "The Taking of Grayskull."
• He-Man does an absurd amount of bolt-deflecting with his power sword in this episode, as the Energy Beast gets very trigger happy.
• If the Energy Beast was imprisoned in the center of Eternia around when the planet was formed, then it should have been sitting awfully near the all-powerful Starseed of MU036. The Energy Beast is so evil and power-hungry that it surely would have made use of the Starseed if it could - so what's up with that? I guess they were in different caves.
• The Sorceress says that the ancient Eternians had a secret to controlling the Energy Beast's powers which has unfortunately been lost. However, she then immediately tells our heroes that the Gold Chamber of the Ancient probably has the magic that can control the beast. OK - so maybe the secret isn't all that lost, is it?
• It's He-Man who joins Teela and Man-at-Arms for the conference with the Sorceress; but it's Prince Adam and Cringer who hop into the Roto-Rocket with Orko and Teela to find the secret chamber in Mount Eternia. Seems like an odd choice! Why not stay as He-Man for the search? It doesn't work out well either, since Adam quickly finds he needs He-Man to repair the drill. Surely the main reason Adam insists on hanging around is so that the animators could use up lots of episode runtime with extra transformation sequences.
• Wow, check out the voice work on the Spirit of the Ancients character. It's... terrible. Ha. According to Wiki Grayskull the voice was provided by young Erika Scheimer. Sorry, Erika.
• Sure, He-Man sealed the Energy Beast back up in the center of Eternia. But it's sitting in there with the Eternian Crystal, which apparently gives it access to some pretty awesome magical powers from the dawn of time. Shouldn't we be concerned?