Antoni Zalewski

Steve Clark

Lord Todd, a suave, chess-playing visitor from a far-off realm (farther than you think!), invites Teela to a romantic vacation at his desert villa. What could go wrong? Oh and also there's a destructive, burrowing monster headed straight for the palace! And the Sorceress is calling! He-Man has plenty of work to do today.

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

N/A

Eternian guards, Lord Todd, Moak, Todd's robot minions

Talon Fighter (Lord Todd's)

Adam and Teela are jogging across the royal throne room, Cringer and Orko at their heels. The King is in danger! He needs their help! It may be too late! Cringer gets so worked up from Teela and Adam's threatening nonsense that he's ready to turn around and run the other way; but it turns out that Randor is just in the middle of a chess game with a visiting nobleman by the name of Lord Todd. Our heroes find the pair considering the board in what appears to be the palace's game room, with Man-at-Arms already spectating. Randor, usually a chess master, is in a bad way; Todd actually suggests that the King concede. Luckily for Randor, Orko decides to give some advice and ends up levitating all the pieces, bringing the game to an abrupt halt. Randor is annoyed, but Todd seems indifferent, even graciously offering an apple to the Trollan (which the gamesman conjures from behind his flowing cape). A curious Cringer, who managed to bravely find his way into the room, is given a steak which Todd appears to pluck from behind the cat's ear. The rewarded pair happily trot off to enjoy their food elsewhere; meanwhile, Todd offers a third gift: a lovely pendant for Captain Teela. As a return for his generosity, he requests that the captain of the guard come back to his home for a visit. Teela is hesitant at first, citing her many duties about the palace; but a breezy King Randor basically commands her to take some time off and go with the strange lord.

Outside, Duncan and Adam warn Teela to be on her guard, as (it seems) they have just met Lord Todd and know very little about him; but Teela assures them she can take care of herself. She hops in the back of Todd's airship (which looks exactly like the Talon Fighter), and the duo fly off. Elsewhere in Eternos, the duo of Cringer and Orko have retired to a nearby abandoned castle to enjoy their apple/steak picnic; but they are interrupted by what appears to be an earthquake. The ground is breaking open beneath them! From the safe haven of a tree, the Trollan and tiger watch as a giant mole-like creature, the cause of the tremors, emerges from the broken earth. It has destroyed the castle, and to add insult to injury, the creature pauses to pick up and eat Cringer's abandoned steak! Having stolen food from a poor tiger's mouth, the creature resumes its journey - on a straight path for the royal palace!

Back at the palace, Adam and Duncan are distracted from their concern for Teela by a psychic call from the Sorceress, who desires their presence at once. But it's just then that Orko and Cringer show up with a tale of approaching destruction. Duncan, the responsible adult on the scene, decides that Adam can deal with the danger to the palace as He-Man, while the man-at-arms goes to see what the Sorceress is on about. Having made his transformation, He-Man jumps on Battle Cat and Orko leads them outside, where they quickly encounter the disturbed ground marking the trail of the mole monster. He-Man stops the creature's progress with a well-thrown iron gate. When the gate-muzzled thing bemusedly emerges into the open air, our heroes discover that it communicates by telepathy. Conversation reveals the creature is named Moak; that it is well-meaning and peaceful, but lonely since its appearance tends to frighten; and very clumsy due to being incredibly nearsighted. He-Man kindly removes the gate from its face and directs Moak in a direction away from the royal palace.

But what of the lovely Teela and her be-turbaned lothario, Lord Todd? The pair have flown out to the desert, where Todd's residence Castle Starg lies. He tells Teela that he built the castle using the powers of his mysterious Stargate, of which he promises she will learn more in the near future. He takes her through a series of hallways, a customizable labyrinth whose path can be changed by lowering different sets of doors, to the center of the castle, where there floats a sparkling pink wavy rift, which Todd identifies as the Stargate. Continuing to show off his cool possessions, Todd whips out a tiny black rectangle which expands into a life-size chess board, complete with a nearly full set of life-size pieces. Nearly: missing is the queen, and here is where things start to get really hinky, because Todd reveals that he wants Teela to complete his set, and come with him through the Stargate to another dimension. It's a slow gate, but it will be open soon and ready to accept interstellar gamesmen and their queens. Teela naturally has no interest in this come-on, and attempts to leave; but Todd locks her in with his automatic doors, which he brags are made of eternium - the strongest metal in the universe. Teela tries to physically subdue her unpleasant suitor, but it turns out he has an army of robot soldiers determined to protect his game.

At Castle Grayskull, Man-at-Arms learns from the Sorceress that a dangerous evil power has occupied Castle Starg; Duncan knows who that must be, and rushes off to save his daughter, leaving the Sorceress to fill in He-Man. At Castle Starg, Duncan tries his best, but he triggers the security system, falling prey to the labyrinth and Todd's army of robots. Enjoying the show via closed-circuit screen, to Todd and Teela it looks like Man-at-Arms is done for. Teela promises to go with Todd if the lord will just let her father go. Todd agrees to the terms, then immediately welches on them, in the process revealing that he is a weird-looking alien in a human suit: a self-identified "spirit from another dimension."

It's at this crux of events that He-Man shows up. He wrecks the robot army with the greatest of ease, freeing Duncan. To penetrate the central room and rescue Teela, they will have to get past Todd's impervious eternium doors. It is with immense serendipity, therefore, that Moak chooses this moment to accidentally blunder through the floor of the castle. He-Man tells an alarmed Duncan to put his wrist blaster away, and explains how useful the giant critter can be. Indeed, Moak happily assists by burrowing his way up into Todd's Stargate room, reuniting our heroes with Teela. You'd think that things are about to get all wrapped up; but the wicked Lord Todd aims his laser pistol at He-Man, and to save him Teela swoops in to kick her abductor. He-Man is safe; but the Stargate was in the path of Teela's jump, it has fully opened, and it sucks her inside! A gleeful Lord Todd, certain he has won, leaps through after her.

With barely time left before the Stargate closes again forever, He-Man and Duncan leap through and the champion of Grayskull must struggle against the very forces of nature to hold the portal open while Teela wrestles free from the alien and she and her father race back to their world. Whew! Having escaped just in time, the heroes leave Castle Starg and the Sorceress's giant floating head appears to explain that all of Todd's works are undone: the castle vanishes, and Teela's pendant crumbles to nothing.

End with a Joke: At a ceremony in the palace throne room, Moak (who somehow found a way to cram himself inside the building, hopefully without breaking down any walls) is knighted by King Randor. When the creature turns his head to grin at the camera, we find that he has been given an even more useful gift: a pair of glasses! No more bumping into things for this hero!

• Prince Adam: We know nothing about Lord Todd. / Man-at-Arms: He comes from a far-off land and we've never seen him before. / Teela: Hey, fellas - I can look after myself.
• Cringer (clutching onto his friend in fright): Adam, this big monster ate my dinner - it was awful!
• Moak: Most people's minds are blinded by fear, because of the way I look.
• Battle Cat: I'm still mad. Moak ate my dinner, and he still looks ugly and evil. / He-Man: Moak can't help the way he looks, but he has a great heart. There are some who might think you're pretty frightening yourself. / Battle Cat (turns to screen): Who, me?
• Teela (of Todd's maze): A person could get lost in here and never find a way out. / Lord Todd (triumphant): Exactly!
• Man-at-Arms (to Todd): You broke your word - what kind of a man are you? / Lord Todd (his voice changing): I - am not a man at all! (whips off his human mask, revealing oversized alien head)
• Lord Todd: There is no return from ... my dimension. (evil laugh)
• Lord Todd: Ah, the legendary He-Man will make a wonderful pawn for my game.
• Lord Todd (in a claim that sounds really impressive but proves entirely erroneous): Not even He-Man can overcome the natural laws of the universe. You have all fallen into my trap.

• Teela, hands on hips, laughs with her head thrown back: Just the beginning of the loop, without the laugh, is used as Teela remonstrates with her father and Adam
• He-Man jumps on the back of Battle Cat: Just after transforming
• He-Man in battle stance on Battle Cat: As the ground breaks open underneath them
• He-Man rolls along the ground: To get away from the opening fissures
• He-Man juggles his sword: Just the sword-unsheathing part of the loop, as he prepares to face the burrowing monster
• A look through widespread legs: He-Man must hop to avoid a heedless tail swing from Moak

One full

Brought to you by He-Man and Teela
Can you guess what today's message is? Yes, it's that tired old chestnut about "not judging a book by its cover," this time connected to the parallel stories of Lord Todd and Moak, neither of whom turned out to be what they seemed, though in markedly different ways. It's what's inside that counts, kids, so don't judge people by the way they look. If fans of He-Man haven't learned this lesson by now, there's really very little hope for them!

Games and gladiators: The episode title being what it is, you just know we have to tag this category; though the Gamesman's use of games against our heroes is rather paltry and seems to come down to trapping them in a maze and using lots of game-related one-liners.
Teela does something dangerous by herself: I was iffy about tagging this episode to this category, because Teela herself initially argues against going with Lord Todd, and Randor basically commands her to go. But the later scene where Adam and Duncan try to explain the danger and she brushes off their warnings seals the deal.
Skeletor-less episodes in Season 2

• As in MU068, the opening pan settles on the vaguely cylindrical arena-like building in Eternos, which this time is implied as housing the throne room and other connected chambers.
• Orko comments that the chess game Randor is playing with the title character is similar to one they have on Trolla, as if he's never seen it played on Eternia before; but in fact, he played exactly the same game himself, with Man-at-Arms, at the beginning of MU014. It also showed up in MU026; and though that time Adam and Duncan were the competitors, Orko witnessed them playing.
• Lord Todd, our "gamesman" who turns out to not be what he seems, is dressed and looks identical to the unnamed "Keeper" of MU065.
• The palace room to which our heroes run to find Randor and Lord Todd at chess is an unfamiliar one, which I don't think we've seen before. It features a raised platform in the background, on which a domed table is sitting, and some TV screens set up in corners. I guess it's like their billiard room. The room will make a surprise reappearance in MU111's "Double Trouble" and in the later MU119.
• According to Randor, "Never give up" is the royal motto.
• When Lord Todd is buttering up Captain Teela, we get a quick reaction shot of Prince Adam: his mouth closes and his eyebrows move down slightly. We must infer from this that he is, possibly, maybe, a tad jealous? Something similar happened in reverse, to Teela, when Adam was wandering about with the lovely Celice in MU022's "Song of Celice." After Randor has given Teela permission to go traipsing off with the stranger, the camera cuts back to Adam, seemingly in hopes of catching an angry glare or at least some mild shock: but Adam just gives us an emotionless look, and a slow blink. Holding it all inside, are you, big boy?
• Randor indulgently comments that Teela has "been working hard keeping an eye on Adam," reminding us that part of her duties are as the Prince's bodyguard.
• To privately consume the foods Todd has conjured for them, Orko and Cringer adjourn to a lonely castle just outside the city, that we've never seen before. And apparently we'll never see it again!
• The scene where a frightened Cringer clings onto Adam's face and shoulders is very similar to his embarrassing actions in front of Baron Grod in MU063.
• This episode features a pretty rare case of He-Man not immediately rushing to Grayskull when the Sorceress summons him. Duncan instead advises the hero to stop the destructive monster heading for the palace, giving our man-at-arms a chance to have some alone-time with his bird lady. He-Man exhibited some similar dilatoriness in visiting Grayskull during the events of MU014's "Colossor Awakes."
• "Your name is famous all over Eternia," says Moak of He-Man. Not everybody knows of He-Man, but if you come across someone who doesn't, I suppose you can't ask them if they've been "living underground"! Moak, due to his incredibly poor eyesight, initially mistakes the voice of Orko as that of He-Man, ironically similar to the mistake made by the Ice Lord in MU044's "The Region of Ice."
• Note that even Lord Todd, who turns out to be... not from Eternia, has heard of He-Man. He refers to him as "legendary," which perhaps means this episode hits the "only a legend" sub-category.
• When Lord Todd shows off his Stargate and says that it leads to another dimension, Teela comments, "Only the Sorceress has anything like that."
• Lord Todd makes a passing reference to "the seven universes," an interesting comment which seems to imply the scope of existence as Todd knows it.
• Todd's doors, he claims, are made of eternium: "the hardest substance in this universe." We've encountered eternium before, in MU042's "Double Edged Sword," and it was most definitely not described in this superlative way then. In that story, eternium was the substance powering all of Eternia, and even the tiniest fragment was almost impossible to find. Certainly no one had any door-sized chunks lying around. It also wasn't all that hard, since Trap Jaw was able to eat it! It seems that the writers have possibly confused eternium with photanium, introduced back in MU005 as the strongest metal in the universe - though nevertheless, it could not stand up to the might of He-Man, something that Todd's "eternium" can do.
• Lord Todd's robot minions are identical to the ones employed by Skeletor. Maybe both villains bought them wholesale from the same place!
• Facing off against the robot minions gives Duncan a chance to whip out his light saber, a weapon we last saw used (and to almost as little effect) in MU044. Quickly disarmed, Duncan switches to some wrist lasers - which frankly you'd have thought he'd try first.
• Lord Todd describes himself as a "spirit from another dimension," an interesting choice of words.
• He-Man engages in his tilted-forward, full-out run during the ending sequence, a run we've seen him use many times before, most recently in MU065.
• Okay, so the writers seem to have lacked consistency in their use of eternium, but the animators were at least consistent in their depiction of the "void between universes." The realm the heroes enter through the Stargate looks identical to the one He-Man and Teela traversed in MU030's "The Taking of Grayskull." The moment in this story where Duncan manages to clumsily fall off the narrow walkway and Teela has to pull him up re-enacts a similar moment from MU030, where He-Man had to pull Teela up from the same ledge.
• Again suggesting that he will hand out knighthoods to anyone (recall the knighting of Orko in MU048), Randor gives one to Moak.

• You'd think Orko in particular would recognize or at least associate Lord Todd with the guy who imprisoned him (MU065's Keeper)! It's fun to imagine our gamesman spotting the Keeper at some point before He-Man defeated and shamed him, and choosing that look as his disguise - though why you'd ever want to duplicate the Keeper's get-up is a mystery to me.
• Before Teela flies off with the smarmy lord that Randor himself essentially decreed she should have a one-on-one vacation with, Adam and Duncan point out that they barely know the guy and it could be dangerous to go off alone with him. Okay... then why did you let him play chess with the KING!?!?!?! And are Adam and Duncan undermining the King's authority here? Trying to get Teela to back out on royally decreed personal time? Tsk, tsk...
• Lord Todd's vehicle is, with literally no repaints or adjustments, just a clone of the Talon Fighter. Wow. That's pretty dang lazy, animators! We're reminded of Webstor's barely customized Wind Raider in MU066. I suppose it's possible that Todd caught a space taxi or something to get here, and the Talon Fighter was given to him on loan by the King...?
• Animation error: When He-Man first plucks up the iron gate and throws it, the spikes along the bottom seem fairly stubby. When the gate comes back out of the ground again, attached to Moak's face, the spikes appear to have gotten much longer.
• "It's called telepathy," He-Man he-mansplains to Orko, when they find they can both hear Moak talking in their heads. Is this another episode of Science Hunks featuring lecturer He-Man? It is perhaps uncharitable of me to point out that Moak's telepathic abilities seem entirely unnecessary to the story, but made things much easier for the animators, who didn't have to draw the creature's lips moving.
• Moak is completely adorable and absolutely charming. I love the character and can't help grinning like a fool in vicarious pleasure when he's so pleased at his glasses at the end of the episode. We will see his character design co-opted as a "holepher" in MU115's "Time Doesn't Fly."
• Battle Cat is surprisingly crabby and unforgiving of Moak, probably so the writers can emphasize the episode's message of acceptance. To be fair, Moak did eat his dinner, and he's a hungry tiger; but the cat didn't have to call the mole "ugly and evil."
• Lord Todd made his castle using the powers of the Stargate, so naturally he named it "Castle Starg." Pfffft. Or possibly "Castle Star;" I get varying spellings of the name from my sources and the DVD captions. I prefer Starg, however, because it's sillier and it reminds me of the Castle of Aaaarrrrrg from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
• Animation error (possibly): Todd seems very much to be swooping in for a landing at his castle, with the Talon Fighter making a loop and heading straight for an obvious white circle which looks to be a landing pad. However the Fighter sails right past it and off the screen.
• Lord Todd's Stargate is a ruffly, pink, organic-looking vertical seam. I don't want to be accused of having a dirty mind, but: what do you think that looks like?
• Todd has decided that, after searching a thousand star systems, Captain Teela is the most suitable queen for his life-size chess set. But he's a weird-looking alien; why does he find Teela subjectively beautiful and deserving of this "honor"?
• I like that, as often happens in situations where Teela is kidnapped or trapped, she shows herself not entirely helpless by physically restraining Todd and threatening to smash his chess set. She also manages to save He-Man from being zapped near the end of the story (though it causes further problems and necessitates yet another rescuing).
• Gotta say, Lord Todd's intruder alert system seems better than anything Skeletor has ever demonstrated in Snake Mountain. Old Bonehead should give our man a call!
• There is no way Lord Todd's over-tall, bulbous head would fit inside that human mask he was wearing!
• He-Man doesn't even try punching down Todd's eternium doors, and claims it would take the power sword "too long" to break through them. But just a few seconds earlier he very easily smashed through one of the walls, so it seems like he could have worked through those and avoided the doors altogether. We also have seen him tunnel under things to get around pesky doors (see for instance MU066). So I think there were several possible solutions to the door problem. Still, nice that Moak showed up!
• At the end of the episode, Teela's amulet gift from Todd crumbles to rusty bits, and his entire castle vanishes. So you have to wonder: what happened to the steak and apple he conjured for Cringer and Orko? Orko drops the apple before managing to take a bite, which may be just as well! Hopefully Moak has already passed that steak...
• This episode is quite goofy but I enjoyed the interstellar plotline and the game-themed castle. And who couldn't love Moak?