Don Heckman

Gwen Wetzler

On the anniversary of King Randor's birth, our heroes get a tour of Eternia's animal sanctuary from the child of its creators - Rikki. What they don't know is that the denizens of the sanctuary have become part of Skeletor's plot to ruin Randor's special day - and the heroes are about to get tangled up in this animal catastrophe!

Teela, Prince Adam (He-Man), Orko, King Randor, Man-at-Arms

Beast Man, Skeletor, Evil-Lyn

Eternian citizens (including chef), Rikki, weird dog, various sanctuary animals (including bigtooth furlons, chimporillas, crawlers, elodons, garks, bees), Rikki's father, Maddok, two dignitaries

Collector

It is the greatest single day on the Eternian calendar: King Randor's birthday! It's basically a planet-wide holiday, peeps. We see the city of Eternos bustling with partygoers, many-tiered cakes, and celebratory decorations. In the midst of this delightful chaos stand Teela, Adam, and Orko, accompanied by a child who we quickly learn is named Rikki. (Rikki's gender is never revealed, so when I absolutely have to use pronouns, I will be resorting to gender-neutral they/thems.) Rikki's parents own and operate Eternia's animal sanctuary, and among the several other events happening today, the kid's parents are slated to receive a special award for their services. Rikki, though, is not enthused at the prospect: they don't enjoy the hard work involved in maintaining the sanctuary, and would rather be partying or watching the scheduled Star Fleet Flyover.

Dirty work, it develops, is afoot down at the animal sanctuary: Beast Man is there, muttering, slavering, skulking about, and installing a bit of machinery for his boss. It turns out to be an "anger beam," the work of one Maddok, a mad scientist whose technology-based animal-controlling powers are on trial with Skeletor. Stationed nearby in the Collector, Skeletor and the scientist are joined by Evil-Lyn, who hopes that the successful outcome of the scheme to ruin Randor's day will mean the replacement and forced retirement of Beast Man (who presumably irks the sorceress by clogging all the Snake Mountain bathroom drains with his red fur).

In the Eternos markeplace, our heroes spot a cantankerous stray "dog" (I put the species in quotes since this canine has antennae) which Rikki grabs and decides they should take back to the sanctuary to feed. At the sanctuary's head office, the heroes are introduced to Rikki's father, who embarrases his child by trying to recount tales of their impressive ways with all types of animals. Though Rikki is anxious to return to the festivities, the group is convinced to head out to the Blue Forest region of the sanctuary to try to locate a missing pack of bigtooth furlons. (What are furlons, you ask? Picture a mountain lion, then put a stubby rhino horn on its forehead, then decorate its back with a nice ridge of spines. Now color it blue. There you go!).

The furlons are located; but as the heroes look on, the animals vanish! This is the work of Maddok, who can not only turn any beast angry with his beam, but also digitize them and store them in his computer for later delivery. Evil-Lyn, watching the sanctuary via one of the villains' ubiquitous spy cameras, realizes Prince Adam and his nosy friends have witnessed the furlons being digitized. If they report the goings-on back at the palace, Randor's terrible birthday surprise could be ruined! What to do? Maddok decides to delay the heroes' departure by turning some nearby chimporillas against them. (Chimporillas, as the name may suggest, are just little monkeys.) Under the influence of the anger beam, the chimporillas get nasty and start throwing rocks at the heroes. Adam goes to "see if there's a safe way out," and soon enough He-Man is on the scene. He notices that the chimporillas' plucking of ammo off the ground has loosened a giant boulder, and it's about to crush one of their party who has gotten his foot stuck. The blonde beefcake smacks the boulder with his sword, then tosses it atop two other rocks, thus simultaneously saving a chimp and giving the animals shelter from the rain. All this assistance seems to have been enough to counteract the effects of the anger beam, and the chimps become friendly again.

Seeing that his first plan hasn't quite done the trick, Maddok makes another play, this time setting some crawlers (read: snakes) on the heroes. Orko, in his own inimitable way, makes the problem worse when his spell meant to banish the creatures instead doubles their number. Rikki remembers that crawlers hate high-pitched sounds, so He-Man uses his power sword as a sort of tuning fork, ramming it into the ground and flicking it, then somehow manipulating the vibrations with his hands. It works, and the crawlers disperse.

At this point our villains seem to tire of trying to foil the heroes at the sanctuary, and instead shift to the execution of their main plan. The pack of vicious furlons is unceremoniously dropped into the midst of Eternos's celebrations, where the animals run wild and generally wreak havoc, sending Eternian citizens running in all directions. Birthday boy Randor, seeing the commotion from up in his palace, is horrified, but rejects any suggestion that the dangerous animals be harmed; after all, they're not to blame. If only He-Man were here! Luckily, He-Man is here, freshly arrived from the animal sanctuary and ready to do some more animal corraling.

Conferring with animal expert Rikki, He-Man develops a plan: he'll incite the furlons to follow him (possibly by insulting their mothers), then use his Grayskull-fueled running power to lead them to the gates of the sanctuary. Once he lures them through, leaping out of the way at the last second, Rikki will shut the door behind them. The plan goes off without a hitch, and the party is saved! There is still something wrong in the sanctuary, however, leading the heroes back in; and the villains still have some tricks up their sleeves. At Skeletor's suggestion, Maddok transports two groups of animals who are natural enemies - elodons and garks - to either side of the heroes, making them the very uncomfortable filling in an animal war sandwich. Rikki's wildlife expertise comes in handy again, since it turns out he's good friends with one of the elodons, and whistles it over so he and Teela can climb on its back. Riding their friend, Rikki successfully leads the whole pack of elodons over to a swamp where the garks have no interest in going (even though they look exactly like crocodiles, so you'd think a swamp would be their jam).

In the meantime, He-Man has volunteered to head off and try to locate the source of whatever is screwing around with all these animals, with the help of a tracking device provided by Man-at-Arms. He receives unexpected assistance in this endeavor from Beast Man, who has realized he can keep his job as villain team animal master if he can just scotch Maddok's on-the-job internship. The minion subtly gives He-Man a hint as to the location of the anger beam, then nonchalantly strolls on back to the Collector to join his fellow Evil Warriors, who can't figure out how the blonde oaf managed to locate their doohickey in the midst of the entire sanctuary.

Maddok, desperate for his one-episode stint as a bad guy to be a success, takes one more shot at ruining the good guys' day, by trying to anger some bees living in the same tree as the anger beam. But He-Man foils this plan as well, using the tree to catapult the beam device right through the hull of the departing Collector. It attracts the angry bees with it, making for a very unpleasant flight home for Skeletor, Evil-Lyn, and the rest.

His heroing done for the day, He-Man joins back up with his friends in the sanctuary. He suggests that there's still time for Rikki to return and catch some of the birthday party; but Rikki has decided that they actually prefer to stay with the animals, who (they now realize) are like family.

End with a Joke: There is a sort of ending joke, but it comes a few minutes before the real ending of the episode. It's the moment when the villains fly off in a bee-filled Collector, and Skeletor vows to Maddok that he's going to show him anger without the use of an anger beam.

• Rikki: Oh, I love parties! / Teela: I bet you're even more excited about the special award King Randor is giving to your parents' animal sanctuary. / Rikki: Not really.
• Skeletor: We must find another way to disrupt King Randor's party. Why should he be having a good time when I'm having a terrible time?
• Orko: Just our luck to get caught in the middle of an animal war. I knew I should've stayed in bed today!
• Beast Man (taking the controls of the Collector to fly the villains away): It's good to feel needed again.
• He-Man: Well, you know Rikki, there's still time to get you back to the party. / Rikki: Nah, I want to see how my friends are - the elodons, the furlons, even the crawlers. I guess they are part of my family. / He-Man: You know something, Rikki? We're all one big family.

• Skeletor shakes his fists, three-quarter view: Anticipating the ruination of King Randor's birthday party; and again, twice more and in anger, when his plans don't seem to be working out
• He-Man swings sword overhand: To crack up a boulder
• He-Man juggles his sword: The unsheathing part is used (in forward and reverse) as He-Man uses his sword to create annoying vibrations
• He-Man smiles close-up, looking at the viewer: To impart a bit of wisdom to Rikki

One partial (missing Cringer/Battle Cat sequence)

Brought to you by He-Man, Orko, Teela, and Rikki
The characters provide us with an epilogue to the main events of the episode, as they have a conversation about the animals of the sanctuary which turns towards the lesson Rikki learned about how hard work can be rewarding and enjoyable. He-Man concludes the talk on a surprisingly down note by pointing out that "growing up isn't easy ... not for anyone."

Wayward child learns a valuable lesson: Though not as wayward as the more typical examples in this category, Rikki does learn a lesson about appreciating the benefits of a difficult job done well.

• We again see the aerial view of Eternos's open marketplace, as seen in MU098, MU101, and MU122.
• Returning for a very brief cameo (though he is probably not meant to represent the same character, just a generic local baker) is the great Chef Alan! We last saw him in the palace making Orko's surprise birthday cake, in MU030. In a call back to that special moment, this episode's chef is wheeling a many-tiered cake in the glimpse we catch of him walking by. Though it made perfect sense for the royal palace to have a full-time chef in place, we have never seen Alan again until now. There was even an episode where Queen Marlena suggested that the royal family, when hungry, just goes to the kitchen and fixes something up themselves (see MU087). We will see Chef Alan used again (albeit as a disguise, and not his true self) in the Secret of the Sword movie.
• The reason for that cake, by the way, is because it's King Randor's birthday! We have experienced the birthday of our Eternian ruler once before; and by the strange chronology of Eternia, it was less than a year ago based on episode air dates (MU087). In the previous story, his celebrations were a private affair involving only the most intimate members of the royal court; in this story, the entire city of Eternos is celebrating.
• Rikki, our main child character for this episode, is a strangely androgynous figure, whose gender seems intentionally unclear (perhaps the better to appeal to the full gamut of the viewing audience). To continue the mystery, the other characters frustratingly avoid the use of pronouns when discussing or referring to Rikki.
• In other related character mysteries, and continuing an annoying trait of the Filmation series, the secondary characters in the episode either remain unnamed or are late in being identified. Rikki's father is apparently named "Dr. Sheveen," but I was only able to get this name from Wiki Grayskull. Similarly, the villain-in-training Maddok is only named by Skeletor a few minutes after he first appears.
• Rikki's father is drawn and voiced to imitate the old Hollywood star and self-effacing, stammering leading man, Jimmy Stewart. It's not particularly clear why; but the other new adult character in this episode, Maddok, seems to have been drawn to imitate the old Hollywood star and weaselly, not-to-be-trusted character actor, Peter Lorre. (Lorre had a very nasal, oily way of speaking, well imitated in Warner Brothers' Looney Tunes cartoons, but not attempted here.) Perhaps the art director in charge of character designs for this episode was a film buff.
• The first animal we meet in the wilds of the animal sanctuary - and the one that will prove most central to the plot - is the "bigtooth furlon," a sort of big cat with a single horn protruding from its forehead. It's the same character design we saw used for one of the many forms of dangerous wildlife in MU032's "Search for the VHO." The creature was reused as a trophy that eventually threatened the huntsman Baron Grod in MU063. At least one of the previous versions was yellow in color - this version is blue.
• When Skeletor started going on about "crawlers" and how they made him feel itchy, I assumed we were talking about some kind of centipede creatures, similar to the identically named "crawler" of MU022 (though perhaps less monumental in scale). But again I was fooled, just as when the "sand crawler" of MU111 gave me arthropodal expectations but turned out to be a red dragon-like thing with floppy arms. Here, the crawlers in question are just snakes - so you'd think they'd call them "slitherers."
• The party-crashing scenes of this episode give us a chance to examine a cross-section of the Eternian citizenry. The great majority of Eternians we've seen in the series have been humanoid and very human in appearance; but every once in a while, we're treated to some more... diverse looks. In the series of shots showing people panicked by the arrival of the furlons, we see dog-faced men, blue robot-like guys in capes, and bulbous-headed green-skinned fellows with pointed ears. The last time I can remember seeing alien-type figures in an Eternian crowd was way back in MU015, when they were waiting to see "A Beastly Sideshow."
• One of the exterior shots of people running in fear shows the oft-used balcony-ringed tower of the palace complex, notable for its involvement in the haywire rocket incident that opened MU068. The people running in the foreground of the shot look very familiar and were likely used as running villagers in MU049's "Return of the Gryphon" (among others).
• There are also a couple of new faces in the royal palace: a pair of action-figure-worthy toughs, perhaps meant to be courtiers or visiting dignitaries, whom Randor consults when the poop starts hitting the fan.
• Late in the episode (but not late enough that we don't have to while away the runtime with another animal conflict), the heroes are presented with warring groups of "elodons" and "garks." The elodons are clearly elephants with curly tusks; the garks are crocodiles that look like they're wearing turtle shells. It's a bit odd to meet an Eternian elephant, considering that we've already met a different variety: Myrtle the myrtlephant, the star attraction of Crackers the Clown's circus in MU100. Myrtle was obviously a slightly different kettle of fish, however, since she had three trunks, and the elodons sport one each.
• The angry bugs that Maddok refers to as simply "insects" are clearly bees. I guess they didn't feel like trying to come up with yet another fake animal name!
• In the beginning of the episode Rikki notes a desire to see the "Star Fleet Flyover," an event which we unfortunately end up missing. Sounds like the spaceships in Randor's armada were going to buzz the royal palace - that would have been something to see, since we didn't really know he had a star fleet!
• Note that this episode will mark the last series appearance of Skeletor, who won't be showing up for the final MOTU story (MU130).
• In a slightly unusual format for the PSA, the segment is treated as an addendum to the main story, with none of the characters talking directly to the viewing audience. Something very similar occurred to conclude MU117.
• That ending credits sequence is still the variant version.

• Beast Man gets no respect from anyone: Poor Beast Man has been forced to go to the animal sanctuary to install the machinery that is intended to replace him! And as we learn from a later scene, Evil-Lyn can hardly wait to kick the furry fellow out of Snake Mountain. He gets no respect, I tell ya; no respect!
• The villains are clearly able to spy on the events happening at the animal sanctuary; naturally, since they'd want to see the place where Maddok is stealing his animals from. Evil-Lyn is able to warn Skeletor when Adam and company witness the furlons disappearing. The villains also see He-Man's rescue and defusing of the chimporilla situation. Yet somehow, once again, the spying sorcerers miss that special moment when Adam performs his transformation. What are the odds?
• Man-at-Arms appears late in the episode to lend his technological expertise. "I made this tracking device for you," he tells He-Man - and holds up something that looks like an ordinary yellow drinking cup. Um... cool, Duncan. (My best guess is that the tracker is actually a wrist bracer that He-Man can wear, but we don't get much of a chance to see it in action, and the initial appearance of the thing is markedly underwhelming!)
• It turns out that the villains' choice to send Beast Man to oversee the equipment intended to replace him was actually a bad idea! Old Fur Face eventually provides the hint He-Man needs to get rid of Maddok's anger beam for good - and he gets away with it, too, since Skeletor never cottons to the betrayal.
• Skeletor seems very ready to dismiss Maddok at the end of this story, but if you look at the track record of his other minions, you kind of have to wonder why. After all, his regulars have been regularly failing him for 130 episodes, and he never fired any of them! The sole exception, of course, is Beast Man, who Skeletor actually did temporarily exile in the beginning of MU029's "Prince Adam No More." As I've already noted: Beast Man gets no respect from anyone. For some other one-timer, disappointing "villains," see the Toy Maker of MU124, or the jittery Glitch of MU087.
• You have to wonder what King Randor thought of the fact that his son never once came to see him on his birthday. Teela, I suppose, can vouch for the fact that the prince was trapped in the animal sanctuary for most of the day (though she didn't seem at all concerned about not seeing him after He-Man showed up); but why doesn't He-Man want to rush away at the end of the story, so he can change back and be with his dad? Tsk, tsk... you're just fueling that paternal disappointment, Adam.
• In a sense, the lesson learning of Rikki proceeds much as we've come to expect from MOTU, with the child effectively convinced of the error of its ways by the time the ending comes along; but Rikki is not your typical wayward child. They're not nearly as annoying as previous MOTU wayward children (think of Adam's horrible cousin Jeremy, who we met way back in MU021; or more recently, the very irritating swamp child Drak in MU099's "Hunt for He-Man"), and actually don't have all that much to learn: Rikki is already a full-on David-Attenborough-level naturalist, an animal whisperer of the highest degree. Seemingly all they have to do to reach their full potential is simply realize they like having this talent. I suppose the closest existing corollary in terms of lessons would be Opie's learning to tolerate his boring lighthouse keeper job in the recent MU127. But in fact, the actual lesson we're to learn here ends up a bit muddier and less clear than the more typical mallet-to-the-head style of moral delivery to which we've become accustomed; as evinced by the PSA, which comes across as a rather rambling and somewhat directionless conversation amongst the heroes, ending with He-Man's vaguely threatening comment about life being tough for everyone.
• Overall an OK episode, though the mousy and unremarkable Maddok leaves a lot to be desired as a villain. It was nice to see all the different animals, and Orko was less irritating than he's been in other S2 stories.