Robert Lamb

Gwen Wetzler

He-Man and Ram Man take young blind boy Loos on an adventure to check out some singing crystals - and, in the kind of irony that only happens on television, become blinded themselves. Then it's literally the blind leading the blind!

Prince Adam (He-Man), Ram Man, Man-at-Arms

N/A

Eternian citizens, peddler, storyteller, children, caregiver woman (voice only), Loos

Attak Trak

That goody-goody Prince Adam is in the Eternian marketplace looking to buy a gift for his mother the queen - not because it's her birthday or anything, but just because he loves her (and since she knows his secret, he probably feels obliged to periodically bribe her to keep her from blabbing - right?). We never get to find out what gift he gets, however, because the prince is distracted by the piercing sound of shrieking children. A storyteller is corralling the children, and when he gets his noisy audience to settle down, he finishes telling them a story about He-Man defeating some rock monsters. The prince shows up near the end and gets introduced to the kids as a very close friend of He-Man. The children proceed to ask him some pointed questions about why this whole Skeletor problem hasn't been settled yet. Adam verbally dodges and weaves until the children are called away - all except Loos, a young blind boy who mentions that he's always wanted to meet He-Man. Adam invites the kid to go on an adventure with He-Man, and naturally Loos accepts at once - as long as his mom says it's OK.

Mother having apparently given her approval, we find Loos at the palace's hangar bay, where Adam introduces him to Ram Man. While Loos is asking Ram Man some hard-hitting questions about where he keeps his neck, Adam wanders off to do "something" and He-Man comes on back. Having already established that he "sees" by touching people, Loos gets to check one of He-Man's biceps, just to confirm that it's all real. The trio then hop into the Attak Trak on a journey to visit some famous singing crystals.

It's a fiddly trek to the crystal cave, and not all of it can be made by vehicle. The three have to climb out of the Trak and go a ways on foot. They travel through a rocky tunnel, across a rickety old footbridge, and past other landmarks before getting to the home of the crystals. Along the way we see Loos using his walking stick and his other senses to navigate the trail and handle himself. He insists on his ability to get along like sighted people, without assistance from He-Man. Reaching the cave, Loos is invited to touch a crystal and the heroes get to hear the legendary singing they've come all this way to experience (it's actually quite lovely - I wonder who they got to do that singing?). But Loos hears something else - a cracking noise. It's a stalactite above their heads - and it's about to come down! Thanks to Loos's warning, He-Man can pull the boy aside at the last moment; but when the crystalline spike hits the ground, it shatters in a great flash of light. The two Heroic Warriors quickly discover that the flash has left them totally blind!

He-Man decides that if the blinded heroes can just make their way back to the Attak Trak, it can drive them to the palace, where Man-at-Arms's medical expertise may be able to cure them. Loos takes on the job of leading the group and retracing their path, taking his cue from remembered signposts such as buzzing beehives and sweet-smelling flowers. All does not go smoothly, however, as the worn-out bridge they spanned on the way to the cave finally gives way when they are only halfway across! Our trio are left dangling off one half of the collapsed bridge, whose slats are too loose for Loos to safely climb. Luckily the boy remembers a tree that was growing just by the side of the cliff on the bridge's homeward side, and He-Man (by trial and error) is able to hook onto the tree with a rope and bit of wood. He scales his way up and, once safely on land, tows in the entire bridge remnant, along with its hangers-on.

Finally reaching the tunnel that leads to the Trak's parking spot, our friends hit a snag once again when Loos cannot find the exit. Lots of dust in the air and pebbles on the ground, combined with the weird feel of the far wall, lead He-Man to conclude that a cave-in has blocked their way out! As he searches for a solution, Ram Man prompts a monologue from the boy about how he wishes people would treat him just like everyone else, a human with feelings and needs, and not act weird with him just because he's blind. Loos then saves the day again by detecting a spot of warm sunlight on his hand. He-Man is able to trace back the open, weak spot in the stone and give it a few well-placed punches, opening their way to Attak Trak and home.

Back at the palace, He-Man is hooked into one of Duncan's optometrist machines (you know, all those ones he has) and found to be back to normal - he should just stay away from bright lights for a while. (Presumably the same is true of Ram Man, though we don't see him getting checked out.) Meanwhile, Loos is back at the story circle trying to convince all the other storyteller's children that he really did help rescue He-Man on his magical adventure, and they are all understandably calling BS. In a happy coincidence, He-Man appears on the scene to thank Loos for saving Ram Man and him, and gives the boy a big old chunk of singing crystal as a souvenir.

End with a Joke: As He-Man walks off, he overhears Loos trying to settle down all his screaming fans, and promising that everyone there can be his friend. The hero smiles indulgently to himself.

• Random child (to other child): I told ya. If you were powerful enough, you could get away with anything. / Adam: Well, not really. The punishment is just delayed, that's all. You see, the more evil Skeletor does, the worse his punishment will be. And each day, we come closer to taking care of Skeletor once and for all.
• Loos: I'm blind, but that doesn't mean I'm helpless.
• Loos: Gee, Ram Man, where's your neck? / Ram Man: Duh, I don't know. I think it's under my collar somewhere. / Loos: How do you turn your head? / Ram Man (after much stammering): I manage.
• Ram Man: Hey Loos, what's the worst part about being blind? ... / Loos: The worst part for me is when people treat me as if I don't belong with other people. I just wish they would understand that I'm just like them - with the same feelings and needs. / Ram Man: I understand. You know, some people treat me differently because they think I'm stupid, but I'm not. ... But I am kinda slow. / Loos (laughing): And a bit clumsy. / Ram Man: No, no, that's not true either. I'm very clumsy.

• He-Man punches the viewer: Twice, to clear away a cave-in. The animation is as usual except that He-Man's eyes are colored white (due to his blindness)

One partial (missing Cringer/Battle Cat sequence) - the transformation is also missing the "I have the power!" line

Brought to you by Adam, the storyteller, and the children
In a surreally meta moment, we return to Prince Adam sitting by the storyteller, and the prince asks the children what they learned from the story - suggesting that the entire episode was just a tale he was spinning. So... He-Man isn't real?!?! The lesson, it appears, is that Loos is just like the rest of us, even though he's blind. By extension, other people with disabilities should be treated with respect and equality, because they are human and have feelings. Adam turns to the camera to suggest that we might be able to "learn as much from them as they do from you."

Skeletor-less episodes in Season 2

• During my writing of the entry for this episode, the Wikipedia article I use to get my episode codes, "List of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe episodes," did not list the episode code for this episode, instead leaving that field marked as "TBA." This made me a little shaky as to the correct code for this one; but the article has since been updated to give it the obvious and logical one I've used here.
• The introductory aerial pan of the Eternian market is identical to one used in the opening of MU098's "Search for the Past." In the background of a later shot you can also see the same collection of robots for sale in one market stall. Just next to the robot stall is the shop where Duncan found Miro's bracelet in MU098; it continues to appear in background shots during scenes with the storyteller and children.
• There are a lot of unnamed characters in this story, including "the storyteller," a person Adam implies that he already knows well (perhaps from his own childhood? though it seems the adult Adam has been feeding He-Man stories to the old man), and all of the children listening to the storyteller (apart from Loos). Loos also has a mother, who is mentioned but who we never meet; and there is another unnamed female character who calls the children away from the storyteller in the beginning of the episode, who we can assume is some sort of caregiver or possibly a teacher. She is also never seen, as her only line is spoken off-camera.
• Even in a spoken story, our cartoon is at pains to point out that He-Man is no sadist. As the storyteller says of his tale's rock monsters: "the monsters were just big rocks, so He-Man had no fear about hurting them."
• You might be wondering whether the story the storyteller is relating at the beginning of the episode correlates recognizably to a previous He-Man episode. All we get is that He-Man smashes a bunch of rock monsters and then "takes his friends to safety." The closest thing I could find to this is when He-Man smashed some rock monsters that Beast Man was sub-contracting to threaten the Widgets, in the beginning of MU083's "Into the Abyss." Interestingly, this is just a throwaway situation that doesn't directly connect to the main plot of that episode - but the episode itself was written by Robert Lamb, who also wrote the story for this episode.
• When He-Man brings up the singing crystal, Ram Man replies, "Duh, I thought that was just a legend;" thus happily putting this episode in my "only a legend" sub-category.
• The voice of Loos is provided by executive producer Lou Scheimer's daughter, Erika Scheimer, who has provided the voices for many side characters in the series (per Wiki Grayskull). It's... very irritating, being simultaneously high-pitched and grating. No offense to Erika, who was only a child at the time, but that voice is one of the major downsides of this episode.
• This story follows a common 80s TV series plot trope: "main character is temporarily blind." I remember seeing several other shows of the period do this (for instance the popular MacGyver). It goes right along with one of the other common tropes, "main character has temporary amnesia." Don't worry, He-Man has covered that latter trope as well - twice. (See MU019 and MU031, both members of my custom category "Amnesiac He-Man.")
• The animated loop of He-Man pulling a rope hand over hand, which was just used in MU100 and has been seen in earlier episodes, appears again here as he tows a bridge out of a gorge.
• The storyteller will return! We will see the character playing a similar bookended role in MU117's "Beauty and the Beast."

• One of the children hanging around with the storyteller asks Adam a question I've asked multiple times in this database (see for instance the commentary for MU009 or MU075): "How come He-Man doesn't just go to Snake Mountain and smash Skeletor into little bones?" Adam answers the question like a true politician, skirting the real issue and going for the low-hanging fruit. His excuse is that "He-Man never tries to hurt any living thing - evil or not." Well, that's not the point, your highness. When pressed on the issue of just punishing Skeletor - perhaps by legal means - for his crimes, Adam promises that Skeletor will definitely be caught and ultimately get what's coming to him at some point in the future; "the punishment is just delayed." He sounds like a philosopher desperately and unconvincingly trying to explain why good things happen to bad people. The logical part of the question he never quite addresses is: why doesn't He-Man just walk into Snake Mountain and capture his archenemy? Our hero has shown multiple times that he's perfectly capable of breaching the evil fortress's defenses (search this database for "home invasion"), and also that Skeletor is not much of a match for him in a one-on-one fight (even their most impressive and closely matched duel, in MU081's "The Arena," ended with He-Man the clear winner). The answer Adam should really be giving the children is, "Because there are still 30 episodes left in this season."
• Another of the storyteller's audience members, before running along elsewhere, cries "I have the power!" Obviously he's mimicking the secret words from Adam's transformation - words that would be logical for any young fan of the cartoon to go around yelling. They're NOT logical for random children in Eternia to be spreading around, however. Have these kids been stalking Adam and hiding in the bushes nearby when he pulls out his sword?
• On the theme of children asking important questions we should have all been wondering about, Loos asks Ram Man just where his neck is and how he's able to turn his head. The fact that he asks - and Ram Man's confused and uncomfortable answers - are very amusing.
• During the first bit of dialogue the vehicle has, the staff at Filmation seem to have forgotten how they do Attak Trak's voice, as it sounds odd and unfamiliar. Trak's later line, spoken when the heroes are reunited with it, sounds much more typical.
• He-Man misses an opportunity at an epic dad joke when a grief-stricken Loos moans that he feels responsible for blinding the heroes because it was his fault the stalactite fell and flashed into their eyes. He-Man, attempting to assuage the kid's guilt, says, "The stalactite was loosened from years of vibrations." Really, He-Man? Would you say it was... Loos-ened? Ha. Ha ha. HA HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
• This episode has an important message about treating people fairly and equally, and to get it across the writer tells a surprisingly grounded and realistic story. Aside from the supernatural singing crystals, there's very little fantasy or magic to be seen, no Skeletor, no crazy monsters - not even any Orko. Even with all the typical MOTU escapism extracted, we still get a solid story with some good lines that proves our Filmation staff have their hearts in the right place. Is it lesson-heavy and didactic - a quality I've complained about in previous episodes? Well, yes. But if the message is important maybe it's okay to be a little heavy-handed with it. (I had a similar reaction to MU042's "Double Edged Sword.")
• It's worth mentioning again, as I pointed out in the lore, that this episode's writer, Robert Lamb, gave us one previous script for the show - MU083's "Into the Abyss." It was another realistically grounded and heartfelt story about an injured character in a dangerous position trying to get themselves out of trouble. We'll get a couple more stories from Lamb before the end of the series, though neither will perhaps be so grounded or so entertaining as these first two (see MU126 and MU127).
• Recall the earlier scene I mentioned with the kids revealing their knowledge of Adam's secret words, something only viewers of the show should really know. We get more of this sort of meta behavior in the PSA, where (as I've mentioned in the PSA section above) Adam behaves as if the episode we've just watched was a story he told the Eternian children. It's really almost as if the character is speaking to the viewing audience, and asking them what they've learned from watching. Also think about the invasive questions being asked by children throughout this episode - Why haven't you caught Skeletor yet? Where is Ram Man's neck? It all adds up to a very self-aware story that seems to be trying to crawl out of its cartoon box and get a good look at itself in the mirror. It makes me wonder whether Filmation was getting a lot of questions and comments in fan mail which they were trying to answer with this episode.