Larry DiTillio

Lou Kachivas

He-Man and Man-at-Arms happen upon a crashed spaceship and rescue and repair its only occupant: Roboto! Unfortunately the villain Modulok catches wind of their discovery and aims to steal the robotic hero - to turn him to evil!

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

Modulok

crab monster, robot sentry, bat servant, Eternian guards, scientists

Wind Raider, drilling machine

Fresh off a friendly visit to the kingdom of Targa, Prince Adam and Man-at-Arms are flying the Wind Raider over a desert (my money's on its being the Sands of Time) when the vehicle's instruments pick up a mysterious signal. Never ones to shirk from an adventure, the pair land and home in on an unremarkable patch of sand. When Adam clears off a bit of the dune, he finds a large metallic object hiding underneath. Rather than spend long hours sweeping away sand as a boring old royal heir, Adam quickly transforms into He-Man and blows all the sand off, revealing a gigantic and long-crashed space vessel. The heroes have barely had a moment to examine their find when they're suddenly attacked - by a giant crab monster!

The creature is riled and ready to pinch, but He-Man is able to lift it bodily and toss it onto its back, leaving it embarrassed enough that it gives up and slinks away. Man-at-Arms concludes that He-Man's blowing must have inadvertently disturbed the sleeping den of the creature, but they don't spend any time worrying about their abuse of wildlife and instead just enter the spaceship. Inside, they find only one occupant: the apparent pilot, a deactivated and severely damaged robot. Man-at-Arms thinks if he can get the fellow back to his lab, he might be able to repair him, so they immediately put this plan into action.

Back at the lab, Man-at-Arms works his techno-magic and restores the robot as much as possible, but can't seem to bring him to life again. The mechanical stranger receives some unlikely help in this resurrective endeavor from Orko, who barges past an uncooperative sentry robot and collides with the humanoid doorstop. Before Duncan can deliver too many recriminations, they all discover that Orko's jostling has flipped some kind of "on" switch on their new robot friend. Now awake and sentient, he introduces himself to them all as Roboto, an explorer from the planet Robotica. (The planet, we discover, is populated by other robot people like himself.) Roboto is very curious to meet all the organ-filled Eternians and spends some time scanning them. They then bring Roboto to the throne room to meet the king, who happily welcomes the new hero to his realm. Adam and Man-at-Arms decide an inquiring mind like Roboto's deserves a full tour of Eternia while his spaceship is being repaired; but it's too late in the day to start one now, so the pair offer Roboto a bunk in Duncan's lab for the night.

It is to be a fateful evening, however, for unbeknownst to our friends, their interactions have been eavesdropped by the villainous Modulok - and he has plans for this robotic newcomer! Waiting until Adam and Man-at-Arms have departed and Roboto is just settling in for the evening with a nice cup of warm oil, Modulok busts through the outer wall of the lab and zaps the unsuspecting robot, incapacitating him. The Evil Warrior totes his prize back to his evil lab, performing some evil experiments that turn Roboto ... evil! (Gasp!)

In the morning, with their sleep completely undisturbed by any sound of walls collapsing, Adam and Duncan return to the lab eager to begin Roboto's tour - only to find the robot gone, and a very large but ragged new window installed. The heroes aren't sure what's happened here, but they know their robot man is missing, and they're anxious to find him; so Man-at-Arms tinkers with the Wind Raider, adding a very useful Roboto-detector, and they head off to follow the signal. The chase leads them north to one of Eternia's research laboratories (you know - that network of important research labs you've never heard about till now), Station Zeta. There are no guards stationed at the front door, which has been beaten down. Sensing something fishy is afoot, Adam makes his transformation. We know the situation is due to Modulok having set his evil-ized slave Roboto on both guards and door, then rounded up the scientists inside; but all our poor ignorant heroes see when they sneak into the lab is Modulok hanging about some of the station's larger inventions.

He-Man and Duncan confront the crimson mad scientist, and he responds by sending a remote-controlled drilling machine at them. No problem: He-Man simply lifts the thing and tosses it away, smashing it to tiny bits. He then flings a well-aimed power sword into the cable of a suspended bell jar, which lands directly over Modulok. That seems to take care of things, right? And - oh look! - here's Roboto. The heroes greet and take hold of their seeming friend, only to be literally shocked when the robot zaps them both, electrifying them into unconsciousness.

When they awake, He-Man has been put into an inescapable energy-shielded cage, and Man-at-Arms is strapped to a chair. A monstrously malevolent Modulok smugly describes his plan: he is going to use a thought transference device to suck Duncan's valuable brain out of his head and stick it into a spare, mechanical head lying on a workbench. Horrified, He-Man turns to the brainwashed Roboto, pleading with the fellow to remember how Man-at-Arms brought him back to life. Wake up, Roboto, and save your savior! After a tortured inward struggle, Roboto's good side wins out, and he smashes Modulok's dastardly device. Enraged, Modulok turns his hand zapper on his treacherous slave. Roboto, terribly injured and barely functional, just manages to reach one hand out and disrupt the energy field restraining He-Man. The hero steps free and smashes a chunk of floor, tipping up the opposite corner and flinging Modulok into a vat of green liquid which seems to have the effect of cooking his goose (as it were).

The day is saved - but poor Roboto! The heroes take the crippled robot back to Duncan's lab, where Man-at-Arms again holes himself away to effect repairs. A group of Heroic Warriors, including the royal couple, Cringer, Orko, Teela, and Adam, gather mournfully in the throne room to wait. Suddenly - oh joy! - Roboto is there, and back to his old self. Everyone is elated, and the king declares that it's time for a celebration. His wife suggests that, as celebrations go, today could be considered Roboto's "birthday," since it's as if he was born again. The heroes must explain to a confused Roboto what birthdays are, since he is a constructed, not biological, entity.

End with a Joke: Since they are talking about it being Roboto's birthday, Orko opines that that makes Man-at-Arms Roboto's father. Teela and Duncan are astounded at the idea, but Orko argues that "there is a family resemblance." Randor, amused, agrees, and everyone laughs - even Roboto!

• Man-at-Arms (of Roboto): Now our only problem is getting him running. I've tried everything I can think of, but nothing seems to work. / Prince Adam: Well, maybe we can just kick him! That always gets father's sky chariot started. (Duncan raises an eyebrow) Just kidding, Duncan.
• Robot Sentry: Orko identified as "pest." Entry not allowed. Sorry.
• Roboto (after having scanned Orko): Astounding; I can make no sense of this being. / Man-at-Arms: Uh, nobody can, it's the way he is. / Orko (insulted): Funny! Very funny!
• Roboto (having been left for the night in Duncan's lab by Adam and Duncan)(muttering): I think I'll get myself a nice cup of hot oil.
• Roboto (to Modulok): Hello, are you a friend of Man-at-Arms? / Modulok: No; I am his sworn enemy, as you will be when I am through with you.
• Roboto: Man-at-Arms is a genius: I feel better than on the day I was first constructed. / King Randor: This calls for a celebration. / Queen Marlena: Why not make it a birthday celebration? After all, this is a kind of second birthday for Roboto.

• A look through widespread legs: He-Man lands from a leap toward a crab monster
• He-Man swings sword overhand: Without the sword; he swings his fist at the floor

Two partial (missing Cringer/Battle Cat sequence)
The second transformation is greatly abbreviated and just shows Adam raising his sword and saying the first line of his magic words, with just a little burst of energy coming off the weapon before the scene cuts.

Brought to you by Teela
In an abbreviated little PSA, Teela wisely tells us that sometimes people think it's just too much trouble to help someone else; but that, if you're ever faced with the choice of whether or not to help someone, you shouldn't hesitate to do so. The good you do will eventually come back to you! Though she doesn't explicitly tie her advice back to the events of the episode, while she talks we see clips of He-Man and Duncan rescuing Roboto, followed by the scene where Roboto rescues He-Man. To top it off, Teela tips us a friendly Filmation wink.

Skeletor-less episodes in Season 2

• The expositional dialogue between Man-at-Arms and Adam at the very beginning of the episode reveals that they have just been to visit Garn in Targa. This is a very surprising blast from the past! Garn was a burly arena fighter who was eventually crowned ruler of Targa at the end of MU031's "A Tale of Two Cities," and at that time He-Man made a promise to return there some day. I assumed he was just lying and this was never going to happen, but Mr. DiTillio (this episode's writer) proved me wrong!
• Larry was not even the same writer who brought us MU031, which may account for the seemingly odd circumstances of this return visit to Targa. For one, when our hero visited the city the first time, it was in the form of He-Man, not Prince Adam. (We could explain away this inconsistency by assuming that the prince made his visit as He-Man but changed back to Adam for the return journey - though if so, one wonders why?) For another, his only companion on the journey was Battle Cat, not Man-at-Arms - the only way Duncan would know about the whole story of Garn's ascension would be if Adam/He-Man related it to him. It's therefore hard to see what interest he would have in checking out the kingdom, or why Adam would refer to Garn as "our friend."
• We catch sight of a section of the Wind Raider's dashboard instruments just as the heroic pair detect something in the dunes of the desert below them. We've seen the dash of the Raider before, in slightly varying configurations, centering on the steering wheel. This view looks nothing like anything we've seen before.
• The satellite dish device Duncan uses to track down the source of the weird signal they've picked up is very similar to the "beam ray" he invented and let Adam try out for sculpting purposes at the beginning of MU054. We saw the device again being wielded by archaeologist Melaktha in the opening of MU066. This version of it is missing the control wand of earlier iterations, and also clearly does not have the same function.
• He-Man uses his super breath to clear away some sand. The last time he used this ability was probably to help Crackers the Clown in the infamous MU100.
• Our friends get some excitement almost right away, when they make the sickening discovery that they've got crabs! He-Man must tangle with a giant crab monster after (as Duncan theorizes) the hero's super breath disturbs the creature's den. Since I went to the trouble to look this up, I feel obliged to tell you that there is a kaiju crab monster; his name is Ganimes, and he appears to be one of the only kaiju created by Godzilla's movie studio, Toho, who didn't appear in a feature film next to the more famous lizard monster.
• The title may have already clued you into the fact that this episode is the debut of another Mattel figure: 1985's release Roboto, a late good-guy parallel to the customizable-arm and hinged-mouth owning evil figure, Trap Jaw. Interestingly, when the heroes first discover the injured Roboto, his body is opaque and spewing wires; it's only once Duncan repairs him that we see Roboto's action-figure-accurate transparent torso with interlocking gears. Though Roboto clearly has one hand with fingers and one that is just a pair of pincers, we never see him change out the pincers for anything else.
• Adam mentions his father's "sky chariot" as an example of devices that can be made to work again with a swift kick. Adam crashed his father's "zoom chariot" to provide an ending zinger for the pilot episode, MU004. Maybe they're the same thing?
• The robot sentry makes sound effects when it talks that sound a lot like the spider in the Atari game Centipede - just like the sand-choked Attak Trak was doing in the last episode (MU122).
• When you consider other episodes in which Orko caused disaster in Duncan's lab, it's really no surprise that the man-at-arms has decided to post a sentry outside, with strict orders not to admit the Trollan. Recall Orko's destruction of a delicate communication device at the beginning of MU088's "Three on a Dare," or his stubborn refusal to learn the lesson of not messing with Duncan's chemicals at the beginning of MU096's "Battlecat." You could even cast your mind way back to MU017's "Daimar the Demon," where a bored Orko's intrusion into the deserted lab results in his summoning of the title monster. Or, even further back, to MU006, when Orko used bomb parts from Duncan's lab while trying to build a musical box. Really, you have to wonder why Duncan didn't do this sooner!
• By the way, Orko argues with the sentry that he is "on a mission from the king," but we never get to learn what that mission was, since it never comes up again. Possibly the little trickster was just lying to try to get past the bouncer, or the mission was something entirely trivial that Orko was trying to make sound important (like Randor wanted to know what time it was, or whether there was any bologna left in the pantry).
• Some background paintings of Duncan's lab are those used for his computer room in MU068's "Day of the Machines," and have become familiar staples on the show. Other backgrounds are the more standard images of the lab that have been used since the beginnings of the series. Later, we see backgrounds of what was originally labeled Eternos's "radio room" (see MU047), again being co-opted for the lab. Crazily enough, when the radio room background shows up, Duncan's dialogue refers back to the ancient ruins and the Zakton robots featured in the very episode that introduced the room (MU047).
• When Roboto finally comes back to life, he introduces himself as "an explorer from the planet Robotica." He later describes his home planet as containing "over 5,000 of my brothers and sisters," who we can only assume are also all robots like him (though apparently they have genders - let's not look too far into that, shall we?). His voice actor (according to Wiki Grayskull, that honor went to Alan Oppenheimer) sprinkles the character's speech with a lot of mechanical clicking noises that are clearly produced through the rubbing of the tongue against the roof of the mouth.
• Man-at-Arms is flattered when Roboto announces that his full-body scan of the inventor has detected "a high degree of intelligence." Way to go, Duncan! Gee, it sure would be nice to have that level of intelligence in my own head... or, possibly, a spare head which I also own...
• Duncan alludes to a team of "technos" who are going to help repair Roboto's spaceship. Who are these faceless assistants? We've never seen anyone aiding the man-at-arms before, unless you count Adam (and, rarely, Teela - see MU013).
• I was thrilled to see our little friend, the bat servant, returning in this episode! He's drawn with a slightly less adorable face than he had in his first appearance, MU123, but it's still clearly him, and he's welcome. Too bad he only gets one little scene.
• The return of the bat servant means that, yes, his master Modulok is back! Depending on how you choose to sequence the episodes, technically this one might be considered Modulok's first appearance. Based on both episode codes and air dates, this is the case. But plot-wise, that doesn't jibe with MU123 being Modulok's origin story. In this story, the Evil Warrior (originally named Galen Nycroft) has clearly already transformed to his red, many-limbed monster form, a transformation we saw take place in MU123. Anyway, the way I've chosen to order these episodes is how my DVD set sequenced them.
• Modulok is first seen here in his basement lab, spying on the heroes with his big-screen TV, both featured in MU123's "Mistaken Identity." In this case, we're to infer that Modulok is getting the images on his TV directly from the eyes of his closed-circuit bat servant.
• As I've noted in the commentary, in this episode Modulok evinces a strange ability to instantly transform his hands into other useful tools. This oddly mimics the Roboto toy's customizable hand, and is somewhat adjacent to Modulok's action figure's swappable body parts; but the toy definitely couldn't change out its hands for non-hand items. It's unclear why the writers/animators chose to go this route, thus ignoring the toy's real (and very cool) body-morphing features. There is one brief attempt in the story to incorporate the toy's extra body parts, in the creepy concluding brain transference experiment; but the spare head the villain has prepared appears to be mechanical, and it's hard to see how he would have made use of it if his plans hadn't been so quickly foiled (there's no room on his shoulders for another head!).
• In the scene where Man-at-Arms is souping up the Wind Raider so it can detect Roboto's frequency, a discarded tool lying on the ground nearby looks exactly like an old-fashioned hearing trumpet - the kind of thing nearly deaf people would stick in their ears in olden days to try to amplify their poor hearing. Probably I'm just making the wrong association and it's meant to represent a funnel for pouring oil or some other fluid into the vehicle.
• Station Zeta, which Modulok dubs "Eternia's foremost research laboratory," is in a fort-like building identical to the village of Palonia which was supposedly the victim of giant attacks in MU057's "Castle of Heroes." (It's interesting that even with its superlative reputation in Modulok's eyes, Prince Adam has never heard of the place and needs Duncan to tell him about it.)
• The Eternian guardsmen posted at the doors of Station Zeta prove themselves about as useful as their kind ever is: after trying a few futile blasts from their trident-like staffs on the impervious Roboto, they drop their weapons and run for it. Well done, men! Bravery medals for everyone. (Recall the similarly cowardly guards we met when Skeletor invaded the palace in MU092.)
• The drilling vehicle that Modulok finds at Station Zeta looks very similar to other drilling machines we've seen used by both Evil and Heroic Warriors in past episodes. We saw Skeletor using one during his race to obtain the Starseed in MU036's classic "The Search." We also saw the heroes using a nearly identical one, under the guise of a new invention Man-at-Arms trademarked the "Roto-Rocket," in MU067's "The Energy Beast." Today's version gets instantly smashed by He-Man, who shows no qualms at the destruction of the valuable invention.
• Apparently too tired to paint new backgrounds of science-y looking rooms, the animators reuse Duncan's computer room for one of the interior shots of Station Zeta.
• "Roboto! Are we glad to see you," says He-Man; but as far as even the non-brainwashed Roboto knows, he's never met He-Man. Any way you shape it, it's an awkward meeting!
• Modulok has a "force field cage" which is capable of holding He-Man. That's impressive! Why do you need to steal other people's inventions, Modulok?
• The ending scene of the episode tacks on a bunch of bonus hero cameos, adding Queen Marlena, Cringer, and Teela to today's cast. They all act as if they've already met and fallen in love with Roboto, even though we haven't seen them until now.
• In case you were wondering, this is yet another episode featuring the variant ending credits with the flat-painted Jawbridge.

• Duncan and the prince find something metal hidden under some sand, so with barely a moment's consideration and simply in order to clear the dirt, Adam makes his magical transformation. He-Man is a crutch, Adam!! Go get a shovel!
• You have to wonder just how long Roboto's spaceship has been lying in the deserts of Eternia. It certainly looks the worse for wear. It's odd that Roboto never tries to figure this out, or ask the Eternians what year it is - though since the two civilizations have to use different dating systems, I suppose any answer would have been meaningless to him. And how long do robot people usually "live"? Should Roboto be concerned at all over the welfare of his "brothers and sisters," while he's been chilling in the desert for untold centuries? (See some of my other robot-based pondering later in this section.)
• Duncan, we find, has installed a floating, glass-domed robot to guard the entrance to his lab, and it won't let Orko through, citing him as a "pest." In the lore section I considered the fictional, Eternia-based reasons why this sentry might have been posted; here I'd like to consider the real-world, plot-based reasons. One reason for this mechanical fellow's appearance is likely to add another robot to the episode's robotic plotline; but he also serves as a method of getting a dig in at our favorite Trollan reprobate. I think the fact that this happens in a Larry DiTillio script is no accident, as I've long detected a subtle distaste for Orko on the part of old Larry. Of the previous 11 scripts on which he receives sole writing credit, a full 5 of them do not feature Orko in the episode proper (one has him appearing in the PSA) - a shockingly high percentage when you consider that the Trollan has featured in some capacity in 91% of the series' episodes so far (112 out of 123)! Even in the DiTillio episodes where Orko does appear, you sometimes get the feeling the writer has it out for the little guy - viz., MU079's "Disappearing Dragons," in which the magician ends the episode being tortured by some monster inside of a magic jug, to He-Man's great amusement. Here, even after his contretemps with the sentry robot, Orko gets snubbed again when Roboto tries to scan him and can't get any meaningful results.
• Animation error: As Orko's magic spell causes the sentry's circuitry to malfunction, we get a close-up of the robot and find that we can see through part of its torso to the wall behind it.
• So you're a humanoid robot from a planet named "Robotica," which is presumably entirely populated by robot people, and your name is... Roboto? Even for Mattel/Filmation, this labeling is just a little too on the nose. I love it! I'm imagining it's very confusing on Robotica, with every third person having been named Roboto or some very similar-sounding name, like Robota, Robo-ba, Robolina, Robonny, or Roberto.
• Animation error: while Roboto is scanning Man-at-Arms, there is a blue glow around him, just translucent enough to show that no one is standing next to him, even though in the preceding shot it was clear that he was right beside Prince Adam.
• I don't know if anyone else has this problem when they watch the Pixar movie, Cars, but I find it very difficult to pay attention to the film's story because of all the questions that pop into my head while trying to imagine a civilization entirely run by gas-powered vehicles. How do they build themselves? If they run out of fuel, are they basically dead? Did the Western powers fight World War II against German Nazi cars? How do you invent cameras when you have no thumbs? All that kind of thing. I found myself having many similar questions about the customs, history, and infrastructure of Roboto's people and planet. As a purely mechanical being, how can you have "brothers and sisters"? Do robot people really sleep? Do robots dream of electric sheep? Does Roboto cry at a good film? Does he worship the All-Spark?
• I love the image we're given of Roboto dispensing a cup of oil for himself out of what looks like a high-tech water cooler.
• Home invasion time! To steal the prize robot man he's seen on television, Modulok smashes into Duncan's lab (which, we must conclude, is situated against at least one exterior wall of the palace complex) using mallet hands. Yes, it turns out that Modulok has the ability to change his hands into giant mallets (???). In fact, it seems he can instantly swap out his hands for just about anything, as in the shot just following his break-in we see one mallet exchanged for a ray gun. Modulok's intrusion and kidnapping are accomplished with impunity, with no alarms going off and no one even being aware of the raid until the following day. Where was your robot sentry then, Duncan? Hmmmmmm??
• Having been interrupted in his nightly routine by an intruder who smashed through the wall of his bedroom, Roboto asks, "Are you a friend of Man-at-Arms?" LOL. Does he look like a friend, bro? Surprisingly, Modulok fails to take advantage of the poor sap's naivety by answering the question in the affirmative, instead announcing that he's Duncan's "sworn enemy." Why not play along? "Yeah, we're best buds; I always break into his office this way, it's a joke we play on each other."
• There are a couple of instances in this episode of Man-at-Arms making references to earlier MOTU plots (his mentioning Garn at the very beginning of the show, and his later passing reference to the Zaktons), showing the writer's awareness of the series' growing history and lore, a useful reservoir from which to draw ideas. It's really fun when stories can connect to other stories this way, ideally without creating logical inconsistencies.
• How can Station Zeta be the planet's foremost laboratory? Shouldn't that title go to Duncan's lab - which, incidentally, Modulok already broke into the night before he visits Station Zeta? I'm sure there were plenty of other cool inventions to steal out of there, if he'd paused to look around.
• Modulok is really impressed at Roboto's ability to break through what looks to be a wooden door - even though he acquired his robot friend by himself smashing through a very thick brick wall. I also have to wonder just how Modulok and Roboto - who have no vehicle in evidence - managed to make their way out to Station Zeta, when Adam and Duncan had to use their Wind Raider to get there. I'd like to think Roboto ran really fast, carrying Modulok on his shoulders - that, at least, would have been useful!
• Modulok comes off as a creepier and much more impressive villain in this episode than he ever has before. In his origin story, MU123, he was so "wimpy" that Skeletor refused to extend an invitation for the scientist to join his gang. (Modulok also thought it would be a good idea to build a rocket chair that ran on rails - pffft.) In what I'd consider his second appearance, MU116, all he rated was a no-dialogue cameo in an ensemble shot, just to boost the numbers of villains in Skeletor's Eternia-conquering plot. In this episode, he's the sole villain; he succeeds in infiltrating the royal palace, corrupting a Heroic Warrior, and imprisoning He-Man; and almost succeeds in sucking Duncan's brain out and sticking it into a spare monster head. Shudder! Not bad, dude! Well, I mean, actually that was very bad. You did bad things, Modulok! Shame on you! (But also it was pretty cool.)
• I love that, even when Modulok is putting a little tin dome over Man-at-Arms's head to suck his brains out, it never occurs to the villain that he should remove Duncan's helmet first. Perish the thought! (However, we have seen Duncan without his hat on! Prepare yourself for a shock, and see MU046.)
• By the way, this has just occurred to me and I don't know where else to mention it, so I'll just put it here: I suspect that Man-at-Arms with his impressive mustache and angular jaw was intentionally drawn to look like the hot contemporary actor Tom Selleck, at the time the big star of the series Magnum, P.I. In 1984, when this episode aired, Selleck's hit series was in its fifth season.
• At the episode's exciting conclusion, He-Man defeats our impressive villain by flipping him into a vat of unidentified green liquid. Modulok emerges from the slimy stuff, apparently howling in pain, and we never see him again. Um, just what happened there? Is it acid? Is he about to melt? (Admittedly, He-Man made an offhand comment earlier about Modulok ending up in the "king's dungeon," so we should probably assume that this is the tamer, less-gruesome end for our villain.)
• This is a great story. Not only does it give us a nasty villainous plot, it also provides a fantastic introduction for the friendly Roboto. The character's ultimately successful struggle to shake off his evil brainwashing makes for a thrilling ending sequence, and his emotional sacrifice and miraculous recovery are reminiscent of Straczynski's memorable introduction (or re-introduction, depending on how you look at it) of Stridor in the landmark MU073. DiTillio has graced us with another winner - thanks Larry!