Larry DiTillio

Ernie Schmidt

The great Granamyr once again calls for He-Man's help, this time because dragons are mysteriously disappearing. When our hero rounds up friends to solve the mystery, it's not surprising they find some of Skeletor's goons at the bottom of things; but a mishap with a transport ray sends villains and heroes alike to another dimension, and puts He-Man into a gladiatorial battle that maybe even he will need help to win!

Cringer, Orko, Prince Adam (He-Man), Zoar (Sorceress), Mekaneck, Buzz-Off

Kobra Khan, Webstor

Eternian guards, the creature in the bottle, Granamyr, Dragons, the Darmi (Verdor, Kara, Bylon), Bellatron

royal taxi (?), Wind Raider, floating discs, tank vehicle

Just outside the royal throne room, Adam and Orko are enjoying a friendly strategy game while Cringer lays at their feet (or possibly just Adam's feet, since it's unclear what Orko has under that skirt). Adam wins the game (with some help from Cringer, who gives poor advice to Orko) just in time, as Zoar flies by and lets him know that the dragon Granamyr desires the presence of He-Man. Hearing the news, Cringer decides he doesn't want to be in the remainder of this episode, so it's only He-Man and Orko who take the Wind Raider over to Granamyr's home of Darksmoke. Orko has never met the touchy, grouchy dragon before, and he starts off his visit on just the right foot (another suggestion that Orko has feet, even though he might not!) by messing with a jug lying in the dragon's treasure room. A wicked claw on the end of a monstrous arm shoots out of the jug's opening and yanks Orko inside. He just manages to escape before Granamyr shows up. But the Trollan still causes offense during his introductions by claiming that he and Granamyr are on a par as magic users, and then calling the dragon "lizard breath."

He-Man tactfully changes the subject, asking why Granamyr wanted his help, and the great dragon explains that his less intelligent brethren have been mysteriously disappearing from their aptly-named home of Dragon Mountain. Based on Granamyr's two previous encounters with the Eternian beefcake, the great dragon has determined that the "wise" He-Man is the one to solve the case. He-Man takes on the job, and a satisfied Granamyr promises to appear and give assistance if his name is called. The blonde wonder then rounds up his buddies Mekaneck and Buzz-Off to help him stake out Dragon Mountain. The pair of Heroic Warriors, aided by Mekaneck's extensive neck, espy the Evil Warriors Kobra Khan and Webstor lurking near their draconic quarry, manning a shady-looking ray gun. A two-on-two battle commences, in which the heroes manage to distract the villains long enough for the targeted dragon to fly off unharmed; but the bad guys get the upper hand when Khan uses his sleep gas. He-Man joins the fray and it seems the tables are about to turn; but then Orko decides to "help." The Trollan attempts a spell to eliminate the ray gun, but instead causes it to fire off wildly in all directions, then explode. Orko dodges the beam, but everyone else is zapped away!

The ray gun, it appears, was a transporter ray, and the heroes find themselves in an unfamiliar land. While He-Man tends to Mekaneck and Buzz-Off, who are still shaking off the effects of the sleep gas attack, Khan and Webstor (who clearly know where they are) sneak off to the nearby town. When the heroes eventually follow, they discover a series of prison cells built into the rock, where all the vanished dragons have been locked away. A trio of humanoid characters wearing togas and riding floating discs appear to ask the heroic trio just what they think they're doing. When He-Man announces their intention of freeing the dragons, the new acquaintances get militant and trap the heroes in a bubble. The prisoners are taken to the "gallery," an arena that looks as if it has seen better days.

The three strangers (a woman and two men), arranged in the best seats in the house, provide some back story. They are the Darmi, and their names are Verdor, Kara, and Bylon. This is the world of Mero, a planet devastated by a war so terrible that the three are the only survivors. Having seemingly learned very little from their own tragic tale, all the Darmi want to do is see more fighting and bet money on the outcome. They have hired Kobra Khan and Webstor (who are lurking in the stands behind their business partners) to gather the dragons as gladiators to fight for their pleasure. In return, the Darmi have promised the villains help in conquering Eternia.

With explanations out of the way, He-Man agrees to fight the Darmi's champion in a bid to win freedom for himself and his friends. It turns out the champion is Bellatron, a huge robot with all kinds of bells and whistles on his body. He can shoot binding ropes, fire lasers from his eyes, launch rockets from his hands, fly, has spinning blades, and (amazingly) seems impervious to all of He-Man's attacks. The hero tries his best, but after pummeling the robot for a while without effect, Bellatron strikes him with a ray that drains his strength. With the lucky timing that always occurs in television, it is at this moment that Granamyr rides to the rescue along with Orko. The Trollan had been trying to repair the transporter ray without success, and when threatened by a curious dragon, he mentioned Granamyr's name aloud, thus unintentionally summoning the guy. On defusing the situation and hearing Orko's tale, Granamyr instantly repaired the ray and here they are!

Granamyr breathes some fire into the arena to separate the combatants, giving He-Man just enough time to find his second wind and really wallop that pesky Bellatron, finally putting it down for the count. An enraged Granamyr exacts vengeance on the Darmi who captured his dragons by turning them to stone (or metal, or something). Khan and Webstor, who see which way the wind is blowing, decide to make a run for it, hopping into a tank-like vehicle they find nearby. Granamyr frees Mekaneck and Buzz-Off from their bubble, and with the rescued pair's help He-Man tracks down the villains and throws a rock into their tank. With only rock visible through his windshield, a blinded Webstor drives into a gorge, and the dazed enemies get tied up.

Back at the arena, He-Man finds Granamyr ready to take an eye for an eye by forcing the horrified and pitiful Darmi to fight for Granamyr's amusement. But He-Man preaches his typical sermon on forgiveness. With some temerity, he points out to the gigantic, near-omnipotent entity that if Granamyr forces the Darmi to battle each other, he will be no better than they are. Granamyr, rather than be miffed, sees our hero's point and decides to let the Darmi go; but their arena is not so lucky. At Granamyr's command the released dragons spray fire over the structure, reducing it to rubble. He-Man suggests to the bereft (but alive) Darmi that they give up destruction and try rebuilding their world instead. They seem amenable to the idea, so the heroes all head home.

End with a Joke: Back at Darksmoke, Granamyr is thanking He-Man for all his help, and Orko obnoxiously butts in to demand his own reward. Granamyr smoothly gifts the Trollan - with the jug the magician fooled with when they first showed up. It promptly grabs Orko and yanks him inside. He-Man calmly says he could "use something like that," and Granamyr offers to let him borrow the jug whenever he wants. As the vessel bounces around the treasure room with Orko trapped inside it, He-Man laughs.

• Webstor: How many more dragons do we need, Snake Puss? / Kobra Khan: The name issss Kobra Khan, Web Head; resssspect it or I'll teach you a lesson you'll never forget.
• Kara: Our world is called Mero. Once, it was a world of great power and glory. / Bylon: But then a great war was fought. Our world - our people - both were devastated. We alone remain. / He-Man: Wars have a way of doing that. That's why it's better to avoid them.
• Orko (shocked at Granamyr's abilities): Wow - you did it! You just waved your hand and did it! / Granamyr: It was not difficult - for a real magic worker.
• He-Man (to the Darmi): Your games are over for good. I suggest you stop living just for fun, and use your intelligence and powers for something constructive. ... You said Mero was once a world of glory and beauty. It can be again - if you work at it.

• He-Man from above, runs to mid-screen and pauses, battle-ready: Used to show him running and getting caught in Bellatron's beams
• He-Man punches the viewer: Punching Bellatron
• He-Man picks up and throws a rock: In this case, just the throwing part, as he hurls a rock at the villains' vehicle
• He-Man smiles close-up, looking at the viewer: Talking to the Darmi about changing their ways; and again during the PSA
• He-Man laughs, head back: At the ending joke

Zero (!)

Brought to you by He-Man
He-Man advises us not to be cruel to animals, like the Darmi were with the dragons. He also reminds us that dragons aren't real - which is very disappointing. A similar animal/pet-based message, again related to dragons, was given to us by Orko at the end of MU009.

Granamyr episodes
Games and gladiators: A classic example of this theme.
Everybody deserves a second chance: Even those stuck-up Darmi, whom He-Man saves from Granamyr's wrath
Skeletor-less episodes in Season 2

• We open with a now-familiar shot of what is most likely the exterior of the palace throne room, flanked by royal guards. We saw a similar intro in MU069.
• Adam and Orko are playing a chess-like game in the beginning, but it's not the chess-like game we've seen played several times before in He-Man (most recently in MU069's "The Gamesman"). This one features a simulated grassy terrain instead of a checkerboard surface, and has knight, wizard, and dragon figurines, sort of like a tabletop RPG. Oddly enough, it seems to work more like traditional chess, with the figures being moved by hand, and victory won by capturing the wizard.
• As the camera pans over during the opening game, you can catch a split-second glimpse of a very strange little vehicle over Orko's shoulder. It's a very narrow thing, just wide enough to fit one driver seat, either on treads or floating. I've called it a "royal taxi" in the list of vehicles, because of its colorful detailing; but it actually harkens back to some of the carnival vehicles Beast Man was toting around with him in MU015. We will see this background again on the memorable occasion when an army of mini-Skeletors invades the palace, in MU116.
• In an unusual choice, Adam changes to He-Man off-screen to go visit Granamyr - avoiding the use of the transformation sequence and also leaving Cringer/Battle Cat out of it (Cringer having just claimed that Granamyr "gives [him] the shakes").
• In addition to Battle Cat, this episode is missing Teela, Man-at-Arms, the royal couple, and Skeletor.
• This is the third episode of the series to feature my favorite giant ancient dragon, Granamyr; but it's the first episode in which Granamyr and Orko meet (our writer and Granamyr's creator, Larry DiTillio, having proven himself quite averse to using Orko in previous scripts). Based on what we know of Granamyr from past episodes, and how Orko acts when the two first meet, it's a miracle the little Trollan doesn't get turned into toast in the first few seconds - He-Man assists by quickly changing the subject of their conversation.
• A couple of first appearances in this episode, both of them Wave 3 Mattel figures: we get the snaky Evil Warrior, Kobra Khan, and the necky Heroic Warrior, Mekaneck. Buzz-Off the bee guy and Webstor also make their second appearances in the series. Kobra Khan shows off his "sleep gas," which is expelled from an expanding cobra-like hood on his head, and some very stretchy arms. Mekaneck of course has his extendable neck, and also some goggles that give him enhanced vision along the lines of Tri-Klops (he also proves disturbingly fond of puns).
• There's a linguistically vague but visually large distinction made between "great" dragons such as Granamyr (and, if you saw MU060, little Torm) and more typical dragons like the ones that are being disappeared in this episode. These green, inarticulate dragons are identical in design to the bunch we saw Beast Man controlling in MU009's "The Dragon Invasion." Oddly enough, they also look very much like Granamyr's archenemy from MU060, Shadow Wing, who seemingly does qualify as a "great" dragon and therefore muddies the waters of our dragon classification system.
• Buzz-Off is shown wielding a lengthy barb-tipped lance or "stinger," not at all like his action figure's accessory (which was a little axe).
• MOTU shows a growing habit of having its newcomers boss around the veteran characters. Back when Clawful first appeared in MU053, we saw him barking commands at the old-timer, Trap Jaw. In Kobra Khan's first showing here, he starts right in by telling Webstor what to do.
• The plot we see being used here of the three last representatives of a war-torn world (in togas, no less) making imprisoned creatures fight for their pleasure sounds ripped directly out of the original series of Star Trek. I did a little googling and it appears the episode I was thinking of was "The Gamesters of Triskelion," though I feel like it's a well-mined concept that probably showed up more than once in Star Trek. For another very Trek-ish MOTU script, see MU081. (I'll note this in the commentary as well, but it seems pertinent to bring up here.)
• He-Man does his oft-used full-out run during his battle with Bellatron.
• The tank-like vehicle that Kobra Khan and Webstor hop into in their attempted escape, though it is probably not meant to be recognized as such, is identical to Skeletor's unnamed invention which he used against He-Man at the end of MU052. Didn't think we'd see that again!
• This is only the second episode in the series to feature no He-Man transformation sequence. The other one was MU016's "Reign of the Monster," a story in which He-Man was already transformed at the episode's beginning and Prince Adam was never seen. MU081 and MU109 will also feature stories in which Adam does his changing off-screen.

• Interesting that when the Sorceress flies by to request He-Man's presence, she doesn't say to Adam, "Granamyr wants to see you, as He-Man," she says "Granamyr wants to see He-Man." That slight suggestion which I've noted in previous episodes (though it has been a while), implying that Adam and He-Man are slightly different people.
• Animation/continuity error: In the wide shot of He-Man riding the Wind Raider, he is pictured seated on the left side of the vehicle. In the immediately ensuing close-up, he is seated on the right.
• I love the cool shot we see of Mekaneck's vision, where he is able to pinpoint the villains and their weapon in green-backed line drawings.
• Another in a long line of catastrophic Orko screw-ups, as his spell goes wrong and causes the ray to transport all the heroes and villains of the story to another dimension. You have to wonder why He-Man still lets the luckless little reprobate come along on his adventures!
• Kara and Bylon describe to He-Man the history of their apocalyptic war, and He-Man replies that "Wars have a way of doing that. That's why it's better to avoid them." Oh, well thank you very much, Professor! I'm sure they had no idea. (Though honestly, the snooty trio of Darmi seem staunchly uninterested in learning any pacifist lessons from their planet's dark history.)
• Verdor's voice is hilarious; imagine a stereotypical snooty rich guy and you've probably got the idea.
• Interesting that the worst name Buzz-Off can think up to call the Darmi is "bats," presumably because bats eat insects, and he's an insect man.
• This may not have come through yet from my writings in other parts of the database, but I am a big fan of robots, particularly giant bad-ass looking ones, and Bellatron fits the bill here. He's a great character design with tons of fun weapons and abilities, and we also get to see his cool targeting vision (similar to our view through Mekaneck's eyes earlier in the episode). Though, knowing what I do about the competitors, I definitely would not have bet a sack of gems that he would win against He-Man. Again, this marks another moment where Mattel missed a trick, as it seems to me that Bellatron would have made a fantastic toy... perhaps too expensive to produce, however, as they certainly couldn't have used any of their existing molds on it!
• "Granamyr doesn't fool around!" comments Orko when the great dragon zaps the three Darmi (who, I might remind you, are the only remaining members of their race) and turns them into a horribly tortured looking sculpture of stone or metal. Um, yeah... are they... dead? Turns out they're not; but Granamyr later reveals his intention of making them fight for his amusement - again demonstrating the character has a cruel streak in him that doesn't exactly scream "good guy."
• In this episode I realized that we have never yet seen Granamyr and Skeletor directly tangle with each other, but I would pay good Darmi money to see that fight. (Both characters appeared in Granamyr's introductory episode, but never met.) I would think that one of the reasons we never do see that fight is Skeletor would not stand a chance in heck against the dragon. If He-Man were to ever request Granamyr's assistance in fighting the bony villain, the series would be over in two seconds.
• Granamyr repeatedly refers to He-Man using the adjective "wise," which I would argue is not accurate, except that it's Granamyr saying it, and you really shouldn't ever disagree with that guy.
• I don't think I'm reading too much into the ending of the episode by seeing in it DiTillio's continuing dislike of Orko. The troublesome Trollan is rewarded for his meddling by being trapped inside a jug, and He-Man simply laughs at him. Rather than make any attempt at rescue, he even snarkily comments that he could use a jug like that. We also see in it evidence of Granamyr's omniscience, since until that point we thought perhaps Orko had not been noticed messing with the jug earlier in the episode.
• I'm very tempted to mark this as another Landmark Episode, since it features Granamyr and has a couple of first character appearances in it, in addition to the rarity of no transformation sequence. Two things are keeping me from doing it: 1) I've already tagged too many episodes as Landmark, and 2) the story is a tad derivative. We've already seen He-Man fighting in arenas plenty of times in the series (just have a look at the Games and Gladiators category!), and as I noted already, this particular story is essentially copied from a Star Trek script (with dragons tacked on). However, if you really want to see He-Man rip off Trek, check out MU081!