J. Michael Straczynski

Marsh Lamore

The return of the stubbornly persistent (and heretofore uknown) enemy of Eternia, Morgoth the Terrible, puts He-Man and the Sorceress on a stakeout at Dark Mountain - and prompts the Sorceress to reveal the secret story of her beginnings!

Cringer (Battle Cat), Orko, Prince Adam (He-Man), Man-at-Arms, Sorceress (Teela Na, Zoar)

N/A

Morgoth the Terrible, Noella villagers (including elderly man and young man), Horde soldiers, Kodak Ungor

Stridor, Horde ships

Cringer and Prince Adam are reclining in the palace courtyard while a twitchy Orko paces (or floats back and forth in what passes for pacing in Trollans), impatiently wondering what Man-at-Arms has been busy inventing in his workshop. Fortunately the audience has arrived just in time, because Duncan has finished: he arrives in the courtyard with his "new" invention, Stridor the robot horse (which we have to pretend like we've never seen before, even though Adam was showing off a version a few episodes ago). Stridor has a chance to show off his kicking skills when the heroes are abruptly attacked by a flaming wheel in the sky, which flings rocks at them! Adam transforms himself and Cringer and the whole team get their chance to deflect or magic away a meteor or two. After the danger has passed, they all wonder what was up with that. The Sorceress conveniently sends a psychic message to He-Man, asking him to come over to her place so she can explain. She has something really secret to tell him, so he needs to come alone. He-Man decides that robot horses don't count, so he rides Stridor over.

At Grayskull, the Sorceress reveals that the fire wheel was the harbinger of Morgoth the Terrible, an evil sorcerer from the ancient days of Eternia. His meddling with dark magic turned him into a giant problem - literally - and the Ancients had to banish him. The Sorceress has faced him before and knows his ways, even where he will break back through to Eternia. This is one problem she needs to deal with in person, and outside of Grayskull; so the Sorceress makes use of the Crystal of Allenar to keep her human form in the outdoors, and she, He-Man, and Stridor head for the ruins of a city atop Dark Mountain to wait out the dawn - the time when she knows Morgoth will make his play.

The Sorceress mentions to He-Man that when she last faced Morgoth, she had just gotten her powers. He-Man is surprised to learn that she was not always the Sorceress; so his favorite bird lady decides to pass the time by telling the story of how she became the magical keeper of Grayskull that she is today. At some undisclosed time in Eternia's past, she was named Teela Na, a simple citizen of the village of Noella. Thanks to the meddling of Morgoth, an advance troop of soldiers from an evil army then conquering the galaxy had been called to Eternia and were terrorizing her village. Their firepower and technology gave the few attackers a huge advantage over the peaceful, simple villagers, and there seemed little recourse. A desperate Teela Na was willing to do anything to save her people and the planet; even give credence to the tale told by an old man, of a legendary castle in the Wasteland that will offer help in time of need.

Making her escape from the conquered village in the dead of night, Teela Na wanders the Wasteland into the scorching day, seemingly on a fool's mission; but just as she begins to lose hope, the castle materializes, and a strange voice bids her enter. Inside, she meets an old woman in a crazy bird suit who offers her a deal: Teela Na can save her people, but she will have to take over the old woman's job as keeper of the Castle of Grayskull. In addition to fighting a constant battle against the forces of evil, long hours, no vacation, and the loss of her mortal form, as Sorceress Teela Na will also have to protect a pair of power swords that are hanging on the wall. When our heroine accepts, the old woman, whose name is Kodak Ungor, sends her successor into a pool of power, where the younger woman is changed into the falcon Zoar. She learns to convert back to human form, now wearing the guise of the Sorceress that we've come to know so well. Kodak Ungor sends the new Sorceress off to protect her people, and is never seen again (hopefully there is a mystical pension or retirement plan for Sorceresses, but we didn't hear about that in the orientation).

The now-magical Sorceress shows up at Noella, where the invading soldiers are bullying her old man friend. She zaps them back into their ship, wrecks their radio, and sends the ship through a portal to somewhere very far away. This will keep them from alerting the main part of their army for a long time. She then handily banishes Morgoth before he can work up any powerful spells to destroy her. Ever since that time, our Sorceress has been the protector of Grayskull.

Back in the present, He-Man marvels at the Sorceress's story of sacrifice and bravery; but not for long, as Morgoth shows up! His first mysterious act on partially emerging from the circular portal he has opened in the air is to drop a giant crystal on the ground. The Sorceress identifies this rock as Morgoth's link to Eternia: if it is broken, he will again be banished. But the crystal has its own force field, which Morgoth boasts cannot be penetrated by any living creature. He-Man gives it his best shot while the Sorceress fends off Morgoth's magical attacks, but sure enough our hero is unable to break through. However: Stridor, we realize, is not a living creature! He forces his way through the dome, and even though he is struck multiple times by magical bolts from the increasingly desperate Morgoth, the robot horse manages with his last bit of strength to kick the gem out of the force field. He-Man promptly smashes it, and a furious but impotent Morgoth is expelled from Eternia once again.

He-Man is heartbroken over the collapsed and inoperative Stridor, who has proven himself a true hero and sacrificed himself to save the planet. Our tired but loyal hero, realizing the horse is now unable to walk, opts to carry the robot all the way back to the palace from Dark Mountain so that Man-at-Arms can repair him as quickly as possible. At the lab, Man-at-Arms hooks the now-healthy horse up to his electro-thought monitor, where Duncan and He-Man learn Stridor is imagining beautiful forests and streams - he is dreaming of freedom. Realizing what was once a robot has now become a thinking and feeling creature, Man-at-Arms knows he can no longer keep it as a beast of burden and allows it to leave the palace. He-Man theorizes that Stridor will return should they ever again have need of him. The episode concludes with some further heartfelt words from Duncan and He-Man praising the Sorceress, who has made her own special sacrifice to keep Eternia safe.

End with a Joke: N/A

• Sorceress (of Morgoth the Terrible): He sought to rule Eternia and the universe itself. He sought more power than any mortal should. He became a giant, immortal, with terrible powers. Just in time, the Ancients cast him into a prison zone - a dimension from which there would be no return.
• Sorceress (of her first battle with Morgoth): The last time we fought, I was still new to the secrets of Grayskull - still learning. This time, he will find me a more experienced adversary. / He-Man: You mean you weren't always the Sorceress?
• Sorceress (beginning her origin story): My name then was Teela Na... He betrayed our planet to an invading army then terrorizing hundreds of worlds.
• Teela Na: Tell me of the castle. / Elderly Noellan man: Well, no one has been inside, but it is said that when the evil times come, and a fighter for good is needed, the Castle of Grayskull will open its great Jawbridge.
• Mysterious voice: You who seek help, enter. But know you this: if you enter the walls of Castle Grayskull, you may never again be the same as you are now.
• Kodak Ungor (to Teela Na): I have been keeper of Castle Grayskull for a long time. My time here is nearly through; but I cannot leave without first finding someone to take my place. I offer that position to you. It will not be an easy task, Teela Na. You will fight many battles - see great sadness and great joy. As keeper of Castle Grayskull, you must fight a constant war against evil, and comfort those in need. And you will never be mortal again. Finally, you must preserve and protect the Swords of Power, until the day comes when they may be claimed. ... I know that you are worthy, but the decision is yours. ... Enter the pool of power. Only the purest and the gentlest may have the power of Castle Grayskull. If the castle accepts you, you will emerge changed.
• He-Man: That's it, Morgoth. Everything has its fracture point, and I've just reached mine.
• Man-at-Arms: It's wrong to keep anything that longs to walk free.
• He-Man: Before you go, Sorceress, I want to thank you for all that you've done; not just today, but for all those years you've patiently waited, protecting Castle Grayskull. / Sorceress: It has been the highest honor, He-Man. And it has been - and always will be - a joy for me to call you my friend.

• Sorceress spreads/unspreads her wings: Multiple times, as she transforms from Zoar into human form and vice versa
• He-Man swings sword overhand: Without the sword, to show He-Man smashing Morgoth's gem
• He-Man smiles close-up, looking at the viewer: For the PSA

One full

Brought to you by He-Man
He-Man shows us how this episode taught the lesson of caring for our fellow man. We should help out friends or acquaintances who are in trouble, in the same way that Teela Na sacrificed her entire life and turned into a bird to save her village. Go on - turn into a bird.

Main character flashbacks
Skeletor-less episodes in Season 2
Dealing with Adam's secret and his connection to the power of Grayskull: Perhaps a bit of a stretch but the scene with the power swords is a very important one for Adam's development!
Landmark Episode: This episode is basically the definition of a Landmark Episode. Not only does it give us fascinating background into the Sorceress and Castle Grayskull, it also introduces crucial topics and plot devices that would be more fully developed in the She-Ra: Princess of Power spin-off series.

• The first He-Man script from the great J. Michael Straczynski. I knew him first as the creative force behind the sci-fi series Bablyon 5, but he has an incredibly impressive and storied writing career, and I've also encountered his name on impactful comic book series such as Superman: Earth One. He will contribute 9 scripts to the second season of He-Man.
• We've come to associate major character development and flashback episodes like this one almost exclusively with the pen of Paul Dini; but it looks like Straczynski is hoping to take over that post. Dini is, sadly, almost done with his He-Man run by this point in the series; we will see his last script in the upcoming MU075's "To Save Skeletor."
• The animators/writers have either forgotten or are hoping we have forgotten the appearance of a robot horse named Stridor back in MU061, where it was simply a clone of other robot horses seen in previous episodes, starting as far back as MU010. This version of the vehicle is much more like the Mattel toy, and is introduced as a new invention of Man-at-Arms's, just as Adam described its previous incarnation in MU061.
• There seem to be more reverb effects than usual on people's voices in this episode. Adam's voice has one when he speaks the magic words beginning his transformation, and the Sorceress has it when speaking with He-Man in Grayskull.
• Straczynski is not even trying to hide the Tolkien references here, as he dubs the villain of the episode "Morgoth," the exact name of the big bad in Tolkien's extended universe (Morgoth was the boss or teacher of The Lord of the Rings's Sauron - probably I'm misrepresenting that somewhat, and will leave it to those more versed in Tolkien lore to correct me!).
• Sorceress gives He-Man the low-down on Morgoth using her all-purpose viewing window.
• Note that Morgoth is shown using the same scepter as Evil-Lyn sometimes has.
• In the past, the writers have played fast and loose with the some-time rule that the Sorceress cannot remain in her human form outside of Grayskull (see for instance MU043, MU048, or way back in MU002). It's quite pleasing to see someone actually trying in this episode, and giving the Sorceress the device of the Crystal of Allenar to explain away the retention of her human form. (Although, if she can just use the gem to stay human outside, why doesn't she do that all the time?)
• The ruins that He-Man and Sorceress go to visit, which apparently are on "Dark Mountain," are eerily similar to the ruins where Skeletor awakened Colossor in MU014's "Colossor Awakes." Some of the buildings have changed, but at the very beginning of the scene's panning shot, and in several subsequent scenes during the final battle, you can see the giant throne where Colossor was sitting while Skeletor charged him up. These ruins were also repurposed to represent a ruined Eternos in a brief shot from MU017.
• We again hear about "the Ancients" of Eternia, a powerful elder race of beings who have previously been used in exclamations (see Randor's "What in the name of the Ancients?" in MU051, or He-Man's "By the ancients!" in MU066), or more directly, as in the Eternian Ancients who are described as having imprisoned the Energy Beast in MU067. And let's not forget the Sword of the Ancients from MU011.
• "You mean you weren't always the Sorceress?" He-Man asks. A telling question, since it indicates that He-Man (at least in this iteration) has not always been around, and the Sorceress hasn't told him about her past before. It also naturally means that she has been around a lot longer than Prince Adam.
• Morgoth's "prison zone" recalls the "Phantom Zone" of Superman's universe - and I don't think this is coincidental. Straczynski was a heavy contributor to comic books in the 2000s and was to write groundbreaking Superman stories in the 2010s. His own autobiography was called Becoming Superman.
• The Sorceress's original and very suggestive name, Teela Na, is surely meant to harken back to the secret revelations of MU006.
• Our first look at soldiers bearing the mark of the Evil Horde. The invading army remains unnamed in this episode, but it's clearly what would become the Evil Horde in She-Ra. Straczynski, in a tactic he would employ to perfection as head writer on Babylon 5, is playing the long game here and introducing a slowburn storyline that will take a whole other series to come to fruition. Because of the tantalizing hints seen here, this episode actually makes for a great prequel story to enjoy before viewing the She-Ra movie Secret of the Sword.
• According to my DVD captions, the previous Sorceress and keeper of Grayskull is named Kodak Ungor. According to Wiki Grayskull her name is Kuduk Ungol. Who knows? Her bird headdress is actually slightly different than Teela Na's will be, with only the top half of the beak showing and some blue accent feathers along the sides.
• Note that in the present time of the show, Castle Grayskull lies in the midst of the Evergreen Forest, but in Teela Na's time it appears in the middle of the Wasteland, and seemingly with no bottomless pit surrounding it. Just how much time is supposed to have passed between the events in the Sorceress's story and the time of the series? Also recall the heroes visiting the site where Grayskull stands in an even more ancient period of Eternia's history - and with just as few bottomless pits - in MU008's "The Time Corridor."
• We learn that the Sorceress of Grayskull is an inherited position, once belonging to someone else.
• In the flashback, a newly created Sorceress shows off some interesting abilities: she can change to human form outside of Grayskull and zaps the invaders and their ship with beams from her falcon eyes and from her human fingers. She also creates a portal to send the invaders "far away" and banishes Morgoth back to his prison zone.
• Man-at-Arms has invented an "electro-thought monitor" that can read Stridor's mind.
• Backgrounds in the palace which are supposed to be Duncan's workshop are alternately the radio room seen in many other episodes, and the computer room shown in MU068's "Day of the Machines." The radio room is seen briefly when Duncan first reveals Stridor, indicating that it is reached directly off the palace courtyard. This seems to contradict the impression we were given in the room's introductory episode, MU047, that it is located somewhere "up" high in the palace.
• No ending joke on this one, as the ending of the episode is a very heartfelt and moving tribute to the Sorceress.
• The show's beginning sequence never changes in the slightest across the 130 episodes of the series; but the ending credits do! This episode is the first of many in Season 2 that for some reason show a slightly different image in the background of the credits. It's still the usual one of Grayskull, viewed front-on from bug-height, with the Jawbridge open; but for some reason the lowered Jawbridge is not the usual detailed background-painting version, but the simpler flat-colored one used in animations.

• Duncan advertises Stridor as "the perfect companion for He-Man," a comment which should give Cringer/Battle Cat every right to be mightily affronted. Why does he need another creature to ride on, pray tell? And then He-Man chooses Stridor to carry him to Grayskull, without a word of explanation to his tiger. Trading your cat in for a younger model, He-Man? Shame, shame!
• The Sorceress claims that Morgoth was "cast into" a prison zone by "the Ancients," but in the flashback that simultaneously plays, Morgoth appears to be voluntarily walking into the prison. Was he tricked into it? (By the way, the very distant and wide vista of Eternia shown in this scene is identical to the view we got of the giant iceball sailing across the sky near the end of MU025's "Evilseed.")
• By Season 2 here, Mattel had developed several fun vehicles for He-Man figures, which were perfectly exciting and natural when used as toys; but as we begin to see in this episode, they end up looking just a tad ridiculous when converted to animated form. He-Man just looks strange when he hops onto Stridor and shoves his entire legs into the hole under the horse's neck, instead of straddling the thing like you would a normal horse. For more absurdity, see the even more ridiculous and hilarious use of the Dragon Walker by Man-at-Arms (MU082).
• In a gut-grippingly thrilling scene, as Kodak Ungor goes over Teela Na's responsibilities as Sorceress, she walks over to a wall where two swords are hanging. "You must preserve and protect the Swords of Power," she explains, "until the day comes when they may be claimed." Oh @#$% people! Let's discuss. First of all, one of the swords is recognizable as the one that Prince Adam uses in the present day to become He-Man. The second will eventually be given to Adora, the inheritor of the power of She-Ra - but we don't know that yet. But think about the implications behind the old Sorceress's words here: "until the day comes when they may be claimed." The apparent suggestion is that He-Man as a champion does not yet exist. The sword will be claimed by Adam at some point in the future. But does this mean that He-Man never existed before Adam came along? I'd like to think not. (For evidence that He-Man existed before the birth of Prince Adam, see my deductions in the commentary for MU047.) Since the swords were already created and are hanging there, and Kodak Ungor is aware of their purpose, I think it's fair to conjecture that in certain eras in Eternia's past, a champion has been needed, and at those times a person or persons has arrived to claim and use the sword(s). Kodak Ungor has just been drifting along in a golden era of prosperity, a hiatus during which a champion or wielder of the power sword has not been necessary. The appearance of the Horde means that era is about to come to an end.
• Kodak seems pleasantly surprised and amused when her successor arises from the pool of power in the form of a falcon (Zoar). Her reaction suggests that a falcon is a new and original avatar for the Sorceress to take, from which we have to conclude that her own headdress is that of some other bird - though it looks plenty falcon-like.
• In the course of ejecting the invaders, the Sorceress clearly reveals to everyone nearby that she can take the form of a falcon - something she was incredibly keen should remain an absolute secret in MU046's "Eternal Darkness." Perhaps this was something she learned to keep secret as her career progressed? In fact, if we really want to rationalize this situation, we can read this as the Sorceress's first big mistake, and that revealing her form-changing ability somehow left her vulnerable to attack when the invading army (i.e., the Evil Horde) eventually returned to Eternia.
• A bit of an animation/continuity error: When the attackers first strafe Noella, they clearly have a fleet of three ships. However when the Sorceress sends them packing, there is only one ship. I don't think she blew up the other ones!
• It's never explicitly stated but it seems possible that the ruins on Dark Mountain are actually the remains of Teela Na's village, Noella. If so, it must be a depressing homecoming for the Sorceress!
• For having just introduced Stridor - and having had the creature unfairly and controversially supplant Battle Cat - Straczynski manages to write quite an emotional scene for the robotic horse, as it gives its all to save Eternia and He-Man feelingly carries it all the way back to the palace to be repaired. It then gets a sort of Pinocchio denouement, having somehow learned to be a real, living horse!
• Straczynski has given us a guns-blazing, all-out triumph of an episode for his debut. I love all the lore we get here, the filling in of the Sorceress's character, the hints at future storylines, the high fantasy plot, and the actually touching use of a robot horse toy. We can look forward to more good things from this guy!