Larry DiTillio & Bob Forward

Ed Friedman, Lou Kachivas, Marsh Lamore, Bill Reed, Gwen Wetzler

Prince Adam - and He-Man - are sent by the Sorceress through a portal into another world, to deliver a magic sword that looks remarkably like Adam's power sword. Our hero's adventure will reveal hidden secrets of his past and family - and prompt the creation of a new hero for the people of Etheria, thus kickstarting the greatest 80s spinoff series! For the honor of Grayskull!

Sorceress, Adora (She-Ra), Man-at-Arms, Cringer (Battle Cat), Prince Adam (He-Man), Bow, Kowl, Glimmer, Madame Razz, Broom, Spirit (Swift Wind), Queen Marlena, King Randor, Queen Angella, Teela

Hordak, Catra, Leech, Scorpia, Mantenna, Shadow Weaver, Grizzlor, Imp, Skeletor (Chef Alan), Hunga the Harpy, Webstor, Kobra Khan, Beast Man, Tri-Klops, Trap Jaw

slow tow, Etherian citizens (including innkeeper, harpist), Horde soldiers ("Hordesmen," including Marg), Horde informer, Arrow (Bow's horse), Sprag the Twigget, various rebels, other Twiggets, Beast Island monster, random brown horse, harpy solider, Eternian guards, assorted Etherian forest animals (including bear)

carriage, Horde ships, Horde slave transport, rebel air ship, Hordak-faced ships, destructo tanks, Horde flyer, battle wagon, Horde tank (early model), Collector, Wind Raider (mentioned only), batmeks

Act I (Into Etheria)
In bed at Castle Grayskull, the Sorceress is awoken from a nightmare memory of an evil-looking fellow kidnapping a baby away from herself and a younger, cleanshaven Man-at-Arms to find a glowing sword hovering over her. The sword, which looks exactly like Adam's power sword except that it has a gem set in the base of the blade, floats off, leading the Sorceress to a spider-topped doorway which opens onto a glowing portal.

Off at the royal palace, Prince Adam is stirring a bowl which contains the dough for his famous spice bread, while a hungry Cringer looks hopefully on. Adam receives a telepathic summons from the Sorceress and drags his cat off to Grayskull to hear what's up. It obtains that his favorite bird lady wants to send him on a mission through the portal, to track down the true owner of the magic sword and hand it over. When Adam attempts some follow-up questions, the Sorceress demurs, assuring him that all will be answered if he just does what she heckin' told him to do. But the stakes are high: the very fate of the universe rests on the success of his task!

With this urgency goading him on, Adam sheathes his bonus sword (I guess his sheath is a double-wide?) and steps through the portal, followed by his more ambivalent pet. They find themselves in a lush landscape just near a small village. Since Cringer is still hungry and the village boasts a cozy tavern (the Laughing Swan Inn), the pair step inside. The strangers cause a bit of a commotion, since it seems green pet tigers who speak English are a rarity in this town. Nevertheless, they are served a lovely meal, and Cringer is fortunately able to consume a whole fish before they're distracted by a trio of armored soldiers, who rudely bust into the joint, steal a table, and smash the harp of a musicmaker. Adam wades in to stop the soldiers (called "Hordesmen") from roughing up the harpist, and an altercation ensues, in which a hooded stranger swipes off his cloak and reveals himself as the prince's ally. The stranger is accompanied by a pink owl creature with giant flappy ears, who is not nearly as helpful since he spends the battle hiding under the same table as Cringer. With the help of the human stranger, who sports a mustache on his lip and a red heart on his midriff-baring chest armor, Adam makes quick work of the three Horde soldiers. Introductions are then traded: like the weapon he carries, Adam's new friend is named Bow, and his animal friend is Kowl. They describe themselves as members of the "Great Rebellion," and offer to lead the prince and his tiger back to their secret base in the Whispering Woods.

Cut to a much darker, nastier location: a pollutant-clouded wasteland, built over with black factory-like structures of spidery steel (which, as we will learn, is called the Fright Zone). Within, a crowd of villains stand at the foot of a raised throne, upon which sits that very guy the Sorceress was dreaming about earlier. He is Hordak, leader of the Evil Horde, holding an audience with minions Catra, Leech, Scorpia, Mantenna, and Shadow Weaver. As they listen, a Horde informer describes the fight at the Laughing Swan, which took place in the village of Thaymor within the kingdom of Bright Moon. Hordak's sorceress, Shadow Weaver, relates to her boss a magical warning of an intruder from another world, who spells trouble for the Horde's dominion over the planet Etheria. Catra suggests the intruder, initially detected in Bright Moon, is likely the troublemaker at Thaymor, and Hordak calls for his favorite, Force Captain Adora, who will help execute a plan of retribution against the rebels and the otherworldly stranger.

Speaking of that stranger: Prince Adam, unaware of the dark forces gathering against him, shares Bow's horse on a ride into the Whispering Woods, home of the Great Rebellion. Arriving at the secret base, the Eternians find the rebellion is not as "great" as they've been led to believe: it's a rag-tag group of humanoids and forest-dwelling Twiggets, living out of a small circle of tents and huts, and equipped with the crudest of weapons. Adam is taken into the main tent to meet the rebellion's leader, one pink-haired female named Glimmer. Glimmer has barely had time to check out the handsome stranger before a messenger - the clumsy, bumbling witch, Madame Razz - arrives with news that the entire town of Thaymor has been arrested by the Horde. Sheepishly realizing what the fun battle at the inn has wrought, Bow offers to give himself up to free the hostages; but the prince suggests they find another way to foil the Horde, and speaks of a "friend" he knows who could assist in the effort. The heartened rebels decide it might finally be time to fight back against their oppressors.

The soldiers of the rebellion (possibly all of them) venture out to Thaymor, where they witness the villagers being lined up and teleported inside a Horde slave transport. Time to do some good! The attack begins, but the rebels are quickly hindered by the combined counterattack of Mantenna, Catra, Scorpia, and Leech. The fight on the Horde side is coordinated by Force Captain Adora, a blonde human woman who, unlike her inferiors, is strangely lacking in physical deformities or animalistic characteristics. With his friends engrossed in the battle, Adam finds a private moment to change himself and his tiger into He-Man and Battle Cat, and the pair join the fray. They make some fine headway towards wiping the floor with the Horde minions, until Mantenna's eye rays take away He-Man's sense of balance. It takes some assistance from the Twigget Sprag to put him back in the fight, after which he disarms Adora of her shocker rifle by flinging his power sword at her (Battle Cat helpfully catches the weapon in his mouth). He-Man chases the force captain into a building, where she swipes a sword off a weapons rack. In need of a defensive weapon, our hero draws the other power sword from the sheath on his back. He shatters Adora's sword with it, but is then distracted when the magical blade begins to glow, showing him an image of Adora's face in the depths of its gem. As he is amazedly concluding that the Horde force captain is the person the Sorceress has sent him to find, a Horde soldier sneaks up behind him and knocks him out with a zap from his stun weapon. He-Man - and his fateful sword - have been captured!

Act II (Beast Island)
Reassembled back in the Whispering Woods, the rebels gather around Madame Razz and the Twiggets, who cast a spell to discover the whereabouts of their kidnapped comrade. The conjured vision shows the horrifying Beast Island! This place has one bad reputation, as even the rebels can't believe that the Horde would send someone there; but, as Battle Cat argues, if He-Man is there, that's where they have to go. The rebels head off to the island on a sailboat that can magically fly through the air, but they have the bad luck to arrive just as Hordak and Shadow Weaver are swooping in to visit the prisoner and Force Captain Adora. Hordak blasts the rebel ship out of the sky, and seeing it float down in flames to the island below, doesn't bother to follow up on any survivors.

In the prison, He-Man is manacled to a stone table with energized chains from which even he is unable to escape. Adora is curious about the stranger and the sword, and has interrogated him. She was shocked to discover that He-Man believed her to be evil and fighting for the side of evil, as she has led a sheltered life training in the Fright Zone, and has always been told that the Horde are the rightful rulers of Etheria, while the rebels are traitors. Struck by He-Man's suggestion that she go out and explore the kingdom to see what the Horde has really wrought, Adora tells the arriving Hordak that she needs to do something back home. Taking the power sword with her and wearing a concealing cloak, she ventures out among the people and discovers things to be much as He-Man implied: the Horde are rounding up villagers as slaves, mistreating old thirsty men, and razing the houses of anyone who dares speak out against their evil dictator. Adora is horrified.

While all this is happening, the rebels have not been idle. Glimmer used a shielding ability to save everyone in the crash, in the process temporarily using up all her magic. The party then takes off on foot through the jungles of the island, eventually meeting up with one very large beast, apparently the sole inspiration for the island's name. It takes the combined efforts of several members of the party - mostly Battle Cat - to defeat the beast, especially after Madame Razz's magical attempt to assist goes wrong; but they chase it off, and with the help of Glimmer's recharged powers, sneak their way inside the prison base. Grizzlor, a particularly hairy member of the Horde who has been monitoring the rebels by video camera, activates several parts of the base's defense system to try to stop the rebels' progress; but the metal doors and lasers barely slow them down.

Unfortunately by the time our friends finally make their way to the room where He-Man lies bound, Grizzlor has alerted Hordak and Shadow Weaver, and they show up to paralyze everyone. Everyone, that is, except Kowl, who prudently hides during Hordak's ambush. He pops out after everyone else has gone, and finds the right button on the control panel to free He-Man. The blonde oaf then leads his large-eared savior to the prison cell where the rebels have been stuffed, and smashes the door in. It's then a race to the roof of the structure, where the rebels steal a flyer while He-Man fights off a tank (energized chains aside, the Horde is just not prepared for this well-muscled stud!). Feeling a little vengeful after his imprisonment, our hero takes an extra moment to shove over a main tower of the prison before hopping into the stolen flying vehicle and making his escape.

Back in the Whispering Woods, He-Man quietly sneaks off and is replaced by Prince Adam, who explains to his fellow rebels that he needs to wander off into Etheria and... take care of something. Bidding an awkward farewell to his new friends, and leaving Cringer there, Adam trudges off into the forest and towards the Fright Zone, hoping to meet whatever destiny awaits him with the mysterious force captain. Adora, meanwhile, has confronted her parental figures, Hordak and Shadow Weaver, with the upsetting discoveries she's made about the company she works for. The Horde doesn't like whistleblowers, however, and Shadow Weaver suspects that the new sword Adora is waving around has some ability to break through the spells of obfuscation that have been keeping the young blonde pliant and oblivious all these years. The sorceress slides up to put Adora to sleep and snatches the sword away.

Act III (She-Ra Unchained)
Hordak gathers a few of his current favorite lackeys (Adora, Shadow Weaver, Mantenna, and - for the first time on screen - his tiniest minion, Imp) on a rooftop of the Fright Zone to show off his latest invention: the Magnabeam Transporter. As the snorting villain demonstrates on a wrecked and useless battle wagon, the ray of this weapon is capable of transporting anything it zaps to the Valley of the Lost, from whence nothing can return. Hordak explains that his big plan now is to finally get rid of those pesky rebels by zapping away the entire Whispering Woods - which he knows is where they are hiding. The only thing holding him back is that this beam needs a lot of juice. He teleports his audience down to the Plunder Room, the place where (rather nonsensically) he keeps the power source for the beam. It's a chamber that sucks the willpower out of people! A feisty rebel is clapped into the chamber while they watch, but a full drain of the bald man's energy barely lights up the power meter on the beam - and Hordak will need it completely filled to banish the rebels. Better line up all the prisoners in the dungeons!

While this is going on, our friend Adam has been stealthily approaching the Fright Zone, hoping to infiltrate the evil base and thus touch base with Force Captain Adora. Realizing that his pink vest and cheerful demeanor sort of stand out, the prince changes into He-Man and grabs an unsuspecting Horde soldier, knocking him out and stealing his armor as a disguise. You'd think He-Man would have no trouble marching right into the place in this outfit; but he's seen through almost at once. Hordak has drained the willpower of every rebel prisoner, and still has a lot of energy to go before he can fire his ray. Asking Shadow Weaver to magically look in on the latest troop of guards returning to the Fright Zone, Hordak is dismayed to see that they have zero prisoners in tow - but what's this? Why does the last soldier in line have some blonde locks peeking out from under the rim of his domed helmet? Obviously it's that muscular rebel fighter again - and now they're ready for him! Hordak wants to just kill the guy, but Shadow Weaver realizes the beefy blonde could make a tasty power reservoir for the Magnabeam, so they decide to lay an ambush.

He-Man, unaware that he's already been rumbled, lurks in a shadowy niche somewhere inside the base and accosts a passing Adora. He questions her quietly, hoping that his words to her at their previous meeting have helped open her eyes to the true evil of the Horde; but in addition to not realizing he's been spotted, he also doesn't know that Shadow Weaver has re-upped her spells on the girl since they last spoke. Adora eventually whips out a blaster and holds He-Man at gunpoint, just as Hordak, Shadow Weaver, and a troop of Hordesmen show up. She even uses the blaster on He-Man, knocking him unconscious. But just when we might be thinking Adora has gone fully evil, she balks at Hordak's command that the blonde oaf be shoved into the Magnabeam chamber and sucked dry. It takes another squirt of mystifying mist from the hands of Shadow Weaver to quiet her objections.

Hordak gets an idea of just how much power He-Man has in him once the hunk is inside the energy chamber; the villain realizes he's going to have to be careful not to overload his cherished Magnabeam, and that the extraction process is going to take all night. Come the morning, however, he can safely zap away all his rebel troubles; so he's entirely unconcerned when Shadow Weaver, on the other side of the Plunder Room, expresses anxiety over her inability to learn more about the two power swords which have been placed there. The pair walk off, visions of world conquest dancing in their heads. Meanwhile, Adora is passing a troubled night, her dreams plagued with worries of evil and the voice of a strange woman who calls to her. Ultimately awakened, she decides to just pop down to the Plunder Room and check on the strange, bedazzled sword that seems made just for her, and the muscular rebel who seemed so determined to change her mind.

Adora finds He-Man almost entirely drained, and the Magnabeam's power meter nearly full. She's distracted from trying to process her uncertain feelings over this development by the strange voice from her dreams, which is now coming from the sword. Within the gem is a bird-hatted lady, who urges Adora to take up the sword and help the rebel. He-Man, she claims, is an incredibly important force for good; and not only that, but he's also Adora's twin brother! She must save him and defeat the Horde - for the honor of Grayskull. Repeating this last phrase, Adora takes up the sword, and an amazing transformation takes place. "I am She-Ra!" the woman's alter ego cries, leaving no doubt as to the name of her new, more powerful identity. She rushes over to help her brother, smashing the chamber open; but unfortunately the power meter is now full, and Hordak and his soldiers, somehow alerted to the unexpected events within, are pounding on the Plunder Room door. A greatly weakened He-Man calls for his sword, which She-Ra fetches for him, and he's just able to zap himself back to full power as the Horde busts through the door.

A pacific He-Man is prepared to find a way out of this situation without a fight, but has to change his mind when he learns about the Magnabeam. He sends She-Ra off to warn the rebels while he stays to attempt to fight off the soldiers and prevent catastrophe. She-Ra leaps out the window and down to the stables, where she mounts her horse Spirit - and is then amazed to find the power of Grayskull transforms the regular horse into a talking, winged unicorn, who introduces himself as Swift Wind. She flies off, but sees that He-Man, delayed by the Hordesmen, has not managed to destroy the Magnabeam. She-Ra lands quickly to grab a big boulder and toss it in the path of the ray, saving the Whispering Woods. He-Man, who has smashed his way up to the roof and the Magnabeam, solves his problem in the usual way, by punching it. The energy stored in the now busted ray disperses back to its owners, and the will-filled rebels break free of the prison. A furious but impotent Hordak can only watch as his plans are shattered to bits, and She-Ra swoops back to pick up her brother and fly him away to the Whispering Woods.

Act IV (Reunions)
Landed safely in the Whispering Woods, He-Man and She-Ra realize it's time for a conference. She-Ra says she's learned she is He-Man's brother from "the woman in the sword," leading our oaf to realize she must mean the Sorceress, so he rings her up on the sword gem. The Sorceress has them settle in and gives them both a history lesson: many years ago, a pair of twins were born to King Randor and Queen Marlena. It was them! Adam and Adora - so the beefy heroes now know each other's secret identities, as well. Unfortunately, it was maybe not the best time to be starting a new family, as Eternia was then at war against the invading forces of none other than the Evil Horde! Led by a younger Hordak, the soldiers and weapons of this army were still no match for Man-at-Arms's guards (who must have been braver back then!) and the magic of Castle Grayskull. A desperate Hordak, aware that some special destiny was in store for the royal children, crept into the palace to steal them both - accompanied by his brightest pupil, Skeletor. He only managed to grab Adora before his intrusion was detected, however, and Skeletor was overpowered and made a prisoner in the ensuing battle, while Hordak fled with the child. Old Bonehead was convinced to give up the location of the Horde's base on Eternia, and the Sorceress and Duncan rushed there to stop Hordak and retrieve Adora; but Hordak escaped to another dimension with the baby before they could manage it. Unable to pinpoint the dimension to which Hordak had gone with his priceless hostage, the Sorceress resorted to casting a spell of mass amnesia on the people of Eternia: no one apart from herself, the royal couple, and Man-at-Arms has any memory of the lost child and the war with the Horde. Adam has grown to maturity with no notion of the dark pall of loss hanging over his little family.

Now fully informed of these secrets, She-Ra is dying to return to her lost home and reunite with her true parents; but she can't bring herself to leave the rebels of Etheria in the lurch, to fight alone against the Evil Horde. Assuring the siblings that they can choose to return whenever they feel ready by ringing her again, the Sorceress fades away, and Adam and Adora return to the camp of the Great Rebellion. Adam has to explain to the very accepting rebels that the righthand soldier of their evil dictator is their friend now, and they quickly welcome Adora to their councils. It seems that Glimmer's mother, Queen Angella of Bright Moon, long thought lost (yes, it's another one of those), has been discovered imprisoned in Talon Mountain, the fortress of the wicked Hunga the Harpy. Adam and Adora immediately suggest that a rescue party should be organized, which (to the surprise of no one in the viewing audience) turns out to consist of He-Man and She-Ra, riding atop Swift Wind. In a suspiciously rushed sequence, the heroic pair break into the harpy dungeons, quickly bounce back from having been deceived by the shrieky Hunga (who had disguised herself as Angella), defeat the harpy leader, and find the real Angella. Once He-Man has cut her bonds and taken off her imprisoning metal collar, Angella spreads her wings and regains her full power, and the heroes return triumphant to the Whispering Woods.

Well! Now that that's out of the way, and an Etherian mother and daughter safely reunited, it should be fine (and very thematically appropriate) to go see the folks back on Eternia! Adam just quickly advises his sister that she should not reveal her husky alter ego even to her parents, just as he has not told them he's He-Man. With that stricture imparted, Adam and Adora head off with their separate pet mounts to a quiet spot in the woods to open the dimensional portal; but unfortunately they're spotted by a pair of Horde soldiers, who send word back to Hordak. He arrives in his shuttle just as the twins are vanishing through the doorway. Determined that he should not lose his precious Adora, Hordak transforms himself into a full-body rocket and zooms through the portal just before it closes. Since time seems to move slightly differently on the other side of the door in Castle Grayskull, Adam and Adora are able to have a conversation with the Sorceress and slowly walk out of the chamber before rocket-Hordak bursts through (conveniently, after everyone else has left). Uninterested in the mystical castle he has crashed just outside of, Hordak departs on an errand of his own.

At the throne room of the royal palace of Eternos, Prince Adam has his parents, Man-at-Arms, and Teela cover their eyes with the promise of giving them a surprise. When they are allowed to look, the party see Adora standing before them, and all (except Teela, who has never heard the story and doesn't remember) immediately recognize the long lost princess and break into tears. It's a lovely homecoming, and Randor (unwisely) vows that the family shall never be separated again.

Off at Snake Mountain, Hordak is working on a plan that will put that vow in jeopardy. He sneaks in on Skeletor's throne room, but finds his old pupil waiting for him. They have a short battle in which they get out twenty years of held grudges over Hordak's departure and Skeletor's betrayal, and in which Old Bonehead shows himself to have learned a trick or two (and Hordak shows that he can turn into a drill); but ultimately reaching a bit of a stalemate. Hordak reveals why he has shown up again after all these years. He is willing to partner with his old friend to get Adora back, and Skeletor is happy to sow chaos in his adopted home of Eternia. Shaking hands (metaphorically at least), they share an evil cackle at the prospect of what their alliance will achieve.

Act V (Battle for Bright Moon)
In the palace complex at Eternos, the Evil Warriors Webstor and Kobra Khan abruptly drop from the ceiling of a hallway, surprising a pair of Eternian guardsmen. Khan knocks them out with his sleeping gas, leaving the way clear for a striding Skeletor and a skulking Beast Man, who is wheeling a gigantic cake. To complete the illusion, Skeletor disguises himself as the royal chef, Alan, and his minions as assistant chefs. In these disguises, they walk in on the royal family as the foursome (Randor, Marlena, Adam, and Adora - with Cringer for good measure) are enjoying their first meal together, the king reminiscing over past exploits for his newly found daughter. They're surprised by the arrival of the huge cake, which seems too big for four people; maybe that's because it's actually HORDAK! The villains reveal themselves, and Hordak's cannon arm stuns the four Eternians. Cringer evades the beam and dashes away, calling for help, so Hordak must hurriedly grab his prize, Adora. Tri-Klops, hovering outside the palace in the Collector, zaps a hole in the side of the building, through which the evil crew rush out and away. Man-at-Arms and Teela come running, but arrive too late to stop the kidnapping.

Afterwards, a weeping Marlena droops in her throne while a grim Randor speaks of leveling Snake Mountain to get back his daughter. Man-at-Arms counsels subtlety, arguing that a small attack team will have better success; and He-Man arrives with Battle Cat to offer his services and promise Adora's safe return. Heartened, Duncan rushes off to Snake Mountain with the blonde hero, an eager Teela following at their heels.

At the evil fortress, Hordak is preparing to pass through the portal that Skeletor has opened to return to Etheria; he just needs the minions to hand over Adora. But Skeletor refuses, explaining with devious glee that there has been a change of plans. Once again betraying his old mentor, Old Bonehead has his minions shove Hordak through the portal without his prize - Skeletor has decided the royal princess is too valuable a bargaining chip to give up. A very distressed Adora appears to faint, and Skeletor assigns Beast Man the task of carrying her seemingly unconscious form to a dungeon cell while he makes the ransom call to Randor. We quickly learn, however, that Adora was feigning her faint (it was a bit of a feint, you might say), and she slips out of her chosen cell just in time to lock poor Fur Face inside of it.

With amazing luck, the escaped Adora immediately happens upon Tri-Klops and Trap Jaw, who are walking off to take her power sword to a lab for further study. She nabs the sword without being detected and makes her transformation into She-Ra, then heads down to Skeletor's den, where he's having trouble getting the king of Eternia on the horn. She brazenly tells the villain not to bother, as Adora has already been rescued. A few other people who didn't really have to bother have also entered Snake Mountain: He-Man, Battle Cat, Man-at-Arms, and Teela. They are just heading for the fortress's throne room when they have to dodge the flying bodies of Skeletor and his minions, who have all been defeated by She-Ra. Introductions are made between the heroes, and He-Man helps She-Ra to assure anyone who might be wondering about the missing Adora that she is "safe." Presented with what he classifies as a "female He-Man," Skeletor declares this the worst day of his life. Man-at-Arms and Teela laugh at him. (This is the closest thing to an ending joke that we're going to get, so laugh it up!)

It's been real; but Adora realizes that her true home, the home she grew up on, is Etheria, and she can't abandon it to Hordak's tender mercies. Bidding a tearful farewell to her parents and brother, and with many promises to return, she heads back to Castle Grayskull to catch a portal home. It seems that this is goodbye to everyone; but after stepping through the door into her own world, she finds that Adam and Cringer have followed her, keen to help out in the impending battle against the Horde. Seeing Horde ships flying overhead, the siblings decide their alter egos are needed, and so treat us to a complete and inspiring double transformation sequence. The powerful twins arrive in the base in the Whispering Woods just as Glimmer and Bow are discussing their attack plan to rescue the castle of Bright Moon and put Glimmer's mother, Angella, back on the throne. Seeing that they have two blonde demi-gods on their side, they realize the time has come to just charge the place. But first, a bunch of frightened animals come charging out of the woods, including a bear who seems intent on attacking the humans. This gives She-Ra the opportunity to discover that she has the power to communicate with animals - and it turns out the forest creatures just want to help in the battle. Okay then.

In the big concluding fight, the rebels storm Bright Moon Castle, contending with destructo tanks, batmeks, Hordesmen armed with stunner beams, and a very ornery Hordak and Shadow Weaver (the other Horde captains having inconveniently all decided to take a personal day that day - that's the last time we let Grizzlor manage the work schedules!). It takes the help of He-Man, She-Ra, the Twiggets, Bow, Glimmer, Angella, the animals, and the rebel army (it's possible that Madame Razz helped a little but I saw no evidence of it) to make it past the weapons of the Horde and into the castle. At the battle's lowest moment, She-Ra's trusty steed Swift Wind is struck by the bolt of an eagle-eyed Horde gunner, and seems about to die; but She-Ra discovers another new power - that of healing - as at her touch, the horse is restored to full life.

Once the rebels have broken inside the castle, a foiled Hordak cries that they have simply won a battle, not the war, then changes to his rocket form and zooms away, leaving a frightened Shadow Weaver to find her own magical method of escape. Bright Moon has been retaken! The rebels begin a celebration, the details of which few of them will likely remember come the morning; but a more somber She-Ra watches the party from a distance, her brother at her side. He-Man realizes she has no intention of returning to Eternia, and She-Ra agrees: what Hordak said was true. There is a long, two-season fight left to fight here on Etheria, and she has to stay and see it to the end. Promising to aid each other whenever they are called for, the siblings bid a fond farewell, and She-Ra flies off into the sky, confident that her associated toys are about to fly off the shelves.

• Prince Adam: Why, except for this jewel, this sword looks exactly like mine! / Sorceress: And like yours, it is meant for someone with a very special destiny. / Adam: But, how - / Sorceress (getting emotional): Adam, please! Ask no questions. Until you find this one, I can say nothing. The very fate of the universe may depend on your success. / Adam: Well, ready for an adventure, Cringe? / Cringer: An adventure?! I haven't even had lunch yet!
• Bow (to Adam): From now on, my friend, you are part of the Great Rebellion!
• Shadow Weaver: My dark magics tell me that a stranger from another world has come to Etheria, and he brings with him the seed of great trouble for the Horde.
• Adora (to an unconscious He-Man): You are mine now, stranger. You and this curious sword.
• Hordak (of Adora, to Shadow Weaver): She is loyal. My training and your spells of control guarantee that. / Shadow Weaver: I wonder...
• Hordak: First this "He-Man" arrives, and now Adora turns against me! / Shadow Weaver: Well, remember who she really is. / Hordak (considering): Yes... yes!
• Bow: You are a brave man, Adam; I salute you. Good fortune speed you on your mission. / Adam (clearly ill-equipped to respond to this): Uh... er... well thanks.
• Shadow Weaver: Something strange about these swords. They are not of this world. They have a strange power that I cannot control.
• Hordak: Tomorrow the dawning of a new day shall herald the final end of the rebellion! (Snorts and laughs alternately)
• Adora (to herself): The strong rebel grows weaker; soon he will be just another slave. But it is for the good of the Horde! It must be done - yet - why do I feel so unsure?
• Sorceress: He is He-Man, hero and champion on the side of goodness. But to you, Adora, he is also something more. Adora, the Horde stole you from your parents when you were a tiny baby, so you never knew your mother, and you never knew your father. But you also had a - twin brother. / Adora: (gasps) / Sorceress: This man is your brother Adora - and Adora - he needs your help! For the honor of Grayskull Adora!
• Hordak: Well rebel - you smashed my Magnabeam and saved your worthless friends. / He-Man: So I did; pretty good, huh?
• Sorceress: To have two such fine children brought great joy to the king and queen; but that joy was soon to turn to sorrow. And the cause of that sorrow was a force from another dimension; a force known as the Horde. ... (of Hordak) He knew you were both destined for something special, though he did not know exactly what. So he crept into the palace, determined to steal you both away. With him went his favorite pupil: Skeletor.
• King Randor (overjoyed at the return of Adora, and making it an even more special day by actually showing some pride in Adam): Son, I want you to know that today you've made me the happiest man on all Eternia. The royal family of Eternia is whole once more; and by the Ancients, I swear that nothing shall ever separate us again.
• Hordak (to Skeletor): I came after a traitor to the Horde. And it looks like I found one!
• Hordak: The Horde has no interest in this world anymore. I'm only here to capture the traitor I told you about. / Skeletor: This traitor - who is he? / Hordak: It isn't a "he;" it's a "she." It is the baby I took from Randor: Princess Adora. / Skeletor: What?!
• Hordak: You know Skeletor, your evil is almost a match for my own. Together we'll make life miserable for those Eternian fools. Why, it will be just like the old days! (Laughs with much snorting) / Skeletor (agreeing, but seemingly with reservations): Yes - yes - just like the old days.
• Teela: Where's Princess Adora? / She-Ra: Uh... she's, uh... / He-Man: Oh she's safe. / She-Ra: Right! Right. Safe. / Skeletor: A female He-Man? Oh, oh! This is the worst day of my life! / Teela and Man-at-Arms: (Laugh)
• Adora: Oh, Mother; I know how hard this is for you and Father. But now that I know of you, I can come back when my world is free. / Randor: And how long will that take? How many more years will we be without our daughter? / Adora: I don't know, Father. But if it was Eternia under the boot of the Horde, could you leave the fight before it was over? / Randor (embracing her): I wish you could stay - but I understand. And I'm very, very proud of you.
• Hordak: No! It's not true! (zaps control console) The Horde cannot be beaten like this! / He-Man: That's where you're mistaken, Jarhead.
• She-Ra (after Hordak and Shadow Weaver have run away): They'll be back. And I'll be waiting.
• He-Man: You are not returning to Eternia with me, are you? / She-Ra: I can't. Hordak was right: One battle doesn't win a war. And it's a war Etheria's fighting. I'm needed here, He-Man; at least for now.
• He-Man (holding up his sword): Farewell She-Ra, Princess of Power! / She-Ra: Farewell He-Man, dear brother!

• He-Man in battle stance on Battle Cat: Wielding his sword, in his impressive introduction to the Evil Horde
• He-man spins Scorpia in a circle: To get rid of her, in his opening battle
• He-Man juggles his sword: Actually Adora's sword, which he unsheathes as he prepares to duel against Adora; and later, the unsheathing animation is used while He-Man is wearing the armor of a Horde soldier
• He-Man punches the viewer: To take out a Horde tank; later, to smash the Magnabeam Transporter; to break into Talon Mountain; and again, to take out another Horde tank
• He-Man swings sword overhand: Only the first frame of the animation is used as He-Man addresses Queen Angella, about to cut her bonds
• He-Man jumps on the back of Battle Cat: Just after his third and final transformation; and again, part of the animation is used as he prepares to smash some robots
• He-Man smiles close-up, looking at the viewer: In his final conversation with She-Ra

Two full, one partial (missing Cringer/Battle Cat sequence)

He-Man's first full transformation comes near the end of Act I, as he prepares to rush in and help the rebels in their attempt to rescue the villagers of Thaymor. His second (partial) transformation occurs in Act III, as he prepares to take out a Horde trooper and steal his armor.

He-Man technically repeats part of the sequence when he recharges himself near the end of Act III, but this does not count as a "transformation." This comes just after the very first She-Ra transformation sequence (later augmented by the first transformation of Spirit into Swift Wind). In Act IV, Adam and Adora become their alter egos off-screen before heading off to rescue Angella; similarly in the beginning of Act V, Adam becomes He-Man (and changes Cringer to Battle Cat) off-screen, so there is no transformation to be seen. Adora, on the other hand, gets a partial (without Swift Wind) transformation in the Eternia-based portion of the final act, bringing her total to two.

Variation - in the concluding sequence on Etheria, He-Man and She-Ra get a special entwined double transformation, bringing both of their totals to three. He-Man's transformation is the full one, but it is separated by cut-in scenes of She-Ra, and a side comment from Cringer ("This l-looks like d-d-double trouble!") before he is transformed. She-Ra's transformation is her first totally full sequence, with her zapping Spirit into Swift Wind in the way that would become standard to the series.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your opinion), given that this version of She-Ra's origin story was edited into a full-length movie, it is missing that mainstay of both the MOTU and POP series: the ending moral. Kids, you'll just have to come to your own conclusions about what lesson can be gleaned from this exciting story. It's probably something like, "Ask your parents to buy you more toys."

N/A: Though there are definitely some themes in this movie that could be traced back to popular plotlines in MOTU (for instance, apart from its being pretty thoroughly a collection of "Landmark Episodes," we could go with "Main character flashbacks" and "Dealing with Adam's secret and his connection to the power of Grayskull," and even "Beast Man in disguise"), it seems wrong to attach this movie to those categories, as it conceptually stands outside the usual scheme of things. There are of course many individual episodes of MOTU which came to mind as I watched this, and those are referenced below.

• Act I - As Wikipedia notes, this movie, the first MOTU project to be theatrically released, is actually the first five episodes of the She-Ra: Princess of Power series edited together into one long story. One easy way to tell? It has five credited directors. Ha! I have chosen to break up the plot summary, lore, and commentary sections at the estimated spots where those separate episodes would end and begin, and have named these "Acts" using the titles of the eventual aired episodes (which, may it be noted, aired after this movie). To see individual entries for the separate She-Ra episodes, simply hit the "next" button at the top of this page or click here.
• On the subject of writing credits: important to note that, based on the information given for the individual episodes, the only part of this entire movie that was NOT written by Larry DiTillio was Act III ("She-Ra Unchained"), which is credited to Bob Forward. So we largely have our favorite MOTU writer Larry to thank for the launch of this spinoff! (Let's not dismiss Bob Forward entirely, however; he is responsible for two of the most memorable MOTU episodes, MU085's "The Rainbow Warrior" and MU110's "The Problem with Power," and will contribute many scripts to the POP series.) This is also a good time to mention that, though he's not credited as the writer on these introductory stories, J. Michael Straczynski is always mentioned as a co-creator of the series with partner Mr. DiTillio.
• I did some searching back through the database and believe I'm correct in saying this is the first time we've ever caught the Sorceress in bed. Her bedroom is one of the rooms we've visited before in the castle - except that now it has her bed in it (which features some predictably avian decorations). She's wearing a fetching pink nightgown - another first, since apart from in some flashbacks, we've only ever seen her in her standard bird lady getup.
• The sword that the Sorceress sees floating above her bed is one we've actually seen before: it was hanging on the wall of a room in Castle Grayskull when the previous Sorceress, Kodak Ungor, was showing the present Sorceress (then named Teela Na) around the place, in MU073's "Origin of the Sorceress." That episode also introduced us to a party of invaders who were almost certainly members of the Evil Horde - so it's a good aperitif for this movie!
• We discover for the first time, it having never come up during any of the regular episodes of the series, that Prince Adam is a baker and makes "famous" spice bread. The question is, is it famous throughout Eternos, or only in his own mind?
• Once the movie actually begins, it plays very much like any regular episode of He-Man. The animation, voice work, backgrounds - even the incidental music are all very familiar. The one marked difference is the scene transitions, which have now changed to use She-Ra's twirling power sword and backgrounds from the new series.
• "As you know," the Sorceress tells Adam, as an excuse for not going through her newly found portal, "I have no power outside this castle." As we know, this is falcon poop of the highest order. The show writers have thrown this rule - also spelled out in MU036 - out the window on various occasions, some of the most blatant being in MU043 and MU048. She also used her powers in human form outside the castle when she was a newly minted Sorceress, in MU073; and gave He-Man a lift into the air in human form outside the castle way back in MU001.
• In the first village Adam enters in Etheria, we catch sight of a familiar beast of burden: the slow tow, first seen in MU012's "Evil-Lyn's Plot." Are we to believe that this creature independently evolved on both planets? Outrageous! And up until now, He-Man seemed so logical and sensible...
• The proprietor of Etheria's tavern, the Laughing Swan Inn, evinces great surprise at the fact that Adam's pet tiger can speak, thus suggesting that talking animals are uncommon on that world - even though Kowl, the talking owl creature, is already a regular in the Swan. (In the context of this movie only, it will seem as if Adora's pet horse Spirit can't talk until the power of Grayskull has transformed it; though later episodes of the series show an untransformed Spirit talking, thus confusing the issue.)
• Cringer again displays his extreme preference for fish, something he did several times in DiTillio-penned episodes of the regular series (see MU034, MU040, MU051). In this episode, he exhibits his preference through a disturbing ability to vacuum all the flesh off a fish in one inhalation.
• Showing that Etheria is not all that different than Eternia, some of the bar patrons who get tossed out of the way so the Hordesmen can have a table use very familiar character designs that we've seen on Eternian peasants.
• We have every right to be shocked at the sight of Prince Adam getting violent in his altercation with the Horde troopers, and using a Judo throw we've seen employed much more often by He-Man (see MU043, MU122, MU126). "Good thing Teela taught me that move!" Adam comments afterward. So when Teela taught Adam, was she also teaching He-Man? Or did the blonde oaf learn it independently, through the power of Grayskull? It's a valid question.
• Bow's bow, it seems, is tough enough to not only block a sword swipe from a Horde soldier, but to break the sword's blade as well! So either that's a really good bow, or a really crappy sword!
• In our first real introduction to She-Ra's archvillain, Hordak, we find that his right arm is capable of transforming into other tools (such as a laser cannon). Or is it his left arm? Actually, as we eventually discover in Act III, both of his arms can transform into cannons. (There are some other odd issues with Hordak's arms; see Act III.) And as we discover in Act IV, his entire body is capable of some rather absurd transformations.
• In the subsequent battle of Thaymor between the rebels and Horde, we get an introduction to the powers of the other villains and heroes. Glimmer has magical beams that shoot out of her hands and can grip things from a distance, rather like telekinesis; she can also teleport. Mantenna has stun beams and a "balance distorter ray" that shoot out of his bugged-out eyes. Catra can transform into a panther-like cat when she lowers her visor over her eyes (but will revert to human form if the visor is knocked off). Leech... well, his character hardly requires an explanation, in the same way that Bow's name and weapon rather speak for themselves. Similarly, after hearing her name, it will be fairly obvious what Scorpia is capable of. The interesting thing about Scorpia is that she seems to have a Brooklyn accent!
• I just want to add one note about Mantenna, since I owned his action figure. In the cartoon he has four legs, and you might wonder how the toy would handle this feature, given the difficulty of incorporating two more legs into the standard squat He-Man mold. Mattel devised a workaround by sculpting two legs for Mantenna, each one meant to look as if it was a pair of legs. The illusion didn't really work, but it was worth a shot!
• Bow demonstrates that Etherian insults follow the same "[noun] face" construction as Eternian insults tend to, when he dubs Leech "sucker face."
• Act II - It's rare that any villain manages to find something that can actually restrain He-Man. It seems that the Horde has the technology, as we see when our hero is chained to a stone table, unable to escape. Modulok got He-Man into a force field chamber from which he was unable to escape in MU113, and let us not forget that Negator successfully trapped him in MU054.
• I wonder if we are seeing the Trollan-hating influence of main writer Larry DiTillio in the fact that our oft-used friend Orko is completely absent from this story? In his place, we get Madame Razz, a similarly bungling magic-user with the annoying habit of interjecting "Deary my!" into all of her pronouncements. Is this really an improvement?
• Their attempt to free He-Man having failed, and the rebels having been thrown into a prison cell, a wallowing Bow remarks: "Some rescue!" This is the same phrase used by a sarcastic Princess Leia to criticize her would-be rescuers in Star Wars.
• Shadow Weaver establishes that she represents a twisted "mother" figure for Adora, as she recasts her spell of illusion on the heroine. Also, though the other minions have complained that Force Captain Adora is Hordak's "favorite," it seems that in reality Shadow Weaver is the Horde leader's righthand woman. They spend a lot of time traveling and plotting together!
• In the realm of secret identities: the rebels seem completely unconcerned with the sudden appearances and disappearances of Prince Adam and He-Man. No one ever questions where the one goes while the other one is around. Looks like our blonde stud will have it easy over here in Etheria!
• Act III - In this section of the story, we finally meet Hordak's irritating little pet, Imp, who for some reason has remained off-screen until now, and only appears for one short sequence. (Perhaps he was the creation of Bob Forward, who wrote this one episode out of the five featured in the film.) The pig-nosed, bat-eared and -winged, hoof-footed little critter likes to hang around his boss's shoulder and make snide remarks.
• Also in this act/episode, we begin to see some inconsistencies in Hordak's character design. Previously he has had two blue arms, identically designed, one of which could occasionally transform into a cannon. Now we (sometimes) see Hordak's right arm sheathed in metal with a three-fingered metal claw on the end, as though it's been bionically enhanced or has been replaced with a prosthetic, a la Trap Jaw. Perhaps this metal claw is just another possible transformation of his arm, but it seems weird that it should randomly appear and disappear, and show up at times where a metal claw doesn't seem any more useful than a normal hand.
• Another newly introduced concept in this act: the Valley of the Lost, which I think of as the Etherian counterpart to MU124's and Eternia's Valley of Echoes. The valley, like the Horde prison site of Beast Island, will prove a recurring location in the POP series.
• Shadow Weaver is capable of summoning a little pink orb that allows her to spy on other parts of Etheria - a practice which we recall was also a treasured obsession of Skeletor's.
• We get a panning shot that gives us an interesting look at Adora's bedroom. She has a huge turret-style laser cannon set up in the window of her room (charming!), a bulky mirror with a demonic frame, and her bed is in the shape of a dragon. It seems a childhood spent with the Horde affected her decorating sense, as well!
• Well, it's spoiler time, people. No hold on a minute, that's a tad too subtle, isn't it? SPOILER ALERT!!!! There we go. As the Sorceress - who actually has quite a few familial secrets up her feathery sleeve (see MU006) - reveals, He-Man and Adora are actually twin siblings. We'll have more detailed flashbacks to support this in the future, but for now we can just log this very important fact away. I will also just note the incredible similarity of this secret relationship of Adam and Adora with the secret relationship between Luke and Leia (who also have names beginning with the same letter) revealed in 1983's Return of the Jedi. The funny thing is, both connections were clearly invented late in their respective franchises and awkwardly retconned into the lore. (Let's not forget that a "rebellion" also exists in both franchises, and that Hordak's glib pronouncement about the next day seeing the end of the rebellion mimics Darth Vader's misplaced confidence before the Battle of Yavin.) For the purposes of He-Man, we are only asked to believe that Randor and Marlena somehow managed to keep the tragedy of a kidnapped baby from their son for twenty-odd years; in the Star Wars universe, we are forever forced to remember that one scene in Empire where Leia makes out with her brother. (Shudder)
• This act brings us the introduction of Swift Wind, since I guess She-Ra needs a talking animal friend and mount, also. She-Ra gets her sentient, winged unicorn horse much faster than He-Man got his talking, armored tiger; if you'll recall from the flashbacks in MU096's "Battlecat" (no, I'm not going to let Filmation live down the fact that they put a typo in the episode title named after a major repeating character), Adam was turning into He-Man for a while before he accidentally pointed his sword at Cringer and instigated the creation of Battle Cat. She-Ra has been She-Ra for mere seconds before she leaps onto her non-talking horse Spirit and, without using her sword at all, turns the animal into a more useful pet.
• Act IV - I should probably leave the full details of the Sorceress's revelation to the plot summary, to avoid redundancy in this entry. But there are several things she mentions which are pretty important for the purposes of lore. One is that Eternia was under direct attack by the Horde back when Adam and Adora were infants. The other is that Skeletor was Hordak's pupil, and originally a member of the Horde. A third is that Hordak was already informed that Randor's children both had a special destiny, which was part of why he attempted to kidnap them. It seems logical to extrapolate that this information came from Shadow Weaver, who has already shown herself talented at detecting those sorts of things.
• It's interesting to note that in the flashback sequences of the war with the Horde, almost everyone pictured has been drawn slightly differently than in the present time. Hordak is wearing the armor of a Horde trooper (as he was in the Sorceress's opening dream), rather than his more snazzy blue, bony get-up. The troopers themselves have different helmets, with rounder, black eye holes without glowing eyes inside. Randor and Man-at-Arms are cleanshaven (Duncan looking much as he did in the flashbacks in MU064's "The Remedy", and young Randor much as he did in MU085's "The Rainbow Warrior"), and Marlena is sporting a not-very-becoming bob. The Eternian guardsmen look the same as ever, however, as do Skeletor and the Sorceress.
• Hordak and Skeletor's sneaky entrance to the nursery of the royal palace must be the chronologically first instance in a long chain of home invasions by the Evil Warriors - soon to be followed by a reciprocal inaugural home invasion by the Heroic Warriors, though it's unclear whether Duncan and the Sorceress actually get inside of the Eternian Horde base. The villainous invasion is quickly detected and repulsed by Duncan and Marlena - but is not without some pretty substantial tragic consequences.
• Note that the Sorceress handily patches the huge retcon of a past Eternian war against the Horde and a missing royal twin sister by claiming that she wiped the memories of almost everyone on Eternia. Her excuse: "to spare Adam the pain of your loss." Alrighty then!
• As is suggested in the flashback story and eventually confirmed by Hordak's dialogue, the old Horde secret base on Eternia was none other than Snake Mountain! It seems to have been missing its giant snake head at the time, however.
• The story of Man-at-Arms and the Sorceress working together to save a female infant has a strong resemblance to the story of their pairing up to save the infant Teela in MU006. Given that Teela and Adam are similar in age, the two events must have occurred very close upon each other - at least Teela's story ended well!
• It's a very familiar sound effect used for the shrieking of Hunga and her harpies - a monster scream we've heard many times in the MOTU series, notably from the cute little minions of Sh'Gora in MU075's "To Save Skeletor" (an episode which, oddly, I'll be referencing again very soon).
• To defeat Hunga, He-Man suggests to She-Ra that they cross their power swords. It's a special move that seems to add oomph to their deflection of Hunga's magic bolt.
• Queen Angella's voice is provided by Erika Scheimer, who (rather ironically given that she plays the mother here) was the daughter of executive producer Lou Scheimer - and, frankly, not a particularly talented voice actor. We've heard her filling in various female and juvenile character voices in the MOTU series. (To give credit where it's due, however, it's Erika taking the female half of the duet in the wonderful theme song!)
• The room of doors in which Adam and Adora find themselves after returning to Eternia is a chamber in Castle Grayskull that should look familiar to careful viewers of MU075's "To Save Skeletor." It's the same room Skeletor snuck off to when he was trying to find the secrets of the castle. In fact, the door that Adam, Adora, and Hordak all pop out of looks to be the all-important "inner chamber" door introduced in MU027's "Orko's Favorite Uncle," and also seen in MU075 and one or two other episodes of MOTU. This raises some rather confusing questions as to just what the secret knowledge of Castle Grayskull really is.
• Expanding on his weapon-based metamorphoses of earlier parts of the story, Hordak shows himself capable of fully changing his body into a rocket, so that he can quickly propel himself through the Sorceress's portal. Later, he transforms into a drill to escape from Skeletor's ceiling attack.
• We get a few interesting interjections in short succession from various characters in Act IV. Hordak, realizing he has returned to the site of his failed conquest, exclaims: "By Horde World!" This is an intriguing thing to say, as it implies there is a planet other than Etheria which he calls home. When Adam unveils Adora to his family, both Man-at-Arms and Randor use the familiar expression "by the Ancients!" which we've heard peppered throughout MOTU.
• When Hordak enters Snake Mountain (and by the way, just to cover the home invasion aspect, it's only fair to say that he gets in very easily and seemingly without tripping any alarms), he quickly finds himself in the throne room, where for some reason Skeletor's conference table with desktop spy dome has been removed. A similar situation obtained for a brief moment in MU121. Interestingly, Hordak refers to the location as "my old throne room."
• The usual animation of Skeletor shot from below in a hallway of Snake Mountain is reused with Hordak in Bonehead's place.
• The sequence where Hordak tells Skeletor that he's looking for the grown version of the baby he stole from Randor - and Skeletor's resulting confused exclamation ("What?!") - have been repurposed into a funny YouTube video which edits in many additional scenes before Skeletor's exclamation, to make him appear much slower on the uptake. I've tried to look this up so I could link to it, but was unable to find the right keywords. Maybe it's been taken down for some reason!
• Act V - An unexpected and very welcome side character makes his return here, albeit only as an imposter - the great Chef Alan! Though it's nice to think of him acting behind the scenes during MOTU's run, providing all the meals for the inhabitants of the royal palace, he only actually appeared in one episode: MU030, where we witnessed him preparing a lovely surprise birthday cake in honor of Orko. You could make a case for his having made a very brief cameo in the opening of MU129, but I think in that instance he was simply meant to be a generic baker. Here, Skeletor disguises himself as the chef, and while speaking for the faux baker Alan Oppenheimer appears to be doing his best impersonation of actor Vincent Price.
• The minions Kobra Khan, Webstor, and Beast Man also don what are perhaps their best disguises ever, when Skeletor magically transforms them into assistant chefs.
• Just as the villainous dessert course arrives, we overhear Randor relating to Adora the circumstances behind Marlena's arrival on Eternia (as seen in MU006 and MU085).
• Skeletor's chosen getaway driver is none other than Tri-Klops, who we haven't seen since way back in MU088! Hi, Tri-Klops!
• The writers are really jerking on your emotions in this story - with Randor having so recently stated his promise to never break apart his family again, it's no wonder we find Marlena collapsed in tears on her throne after Adora's capture. But it's not a sight we see very often!
• Also unusual is Randor's intention to "level Snake Mountain, if need be." Finally, someone brings it up! I've long wondered (as long ago as MU009) at the failure of the heroes to just take care of Skeletor's fortress once and for all - given that He-Man has broken in countless times, there's really nothing holding them back but a hefty set of plot armor.
• There are some unusual interiors of Snake Mountain to be seen during She-Ra's attack on the villains, including some odd machinery behind Skeletor just after he tries a tele-beam call to Randor, and an interesting stairway and door behind She-Ra.
• In classic secret identity covering style, when Teela asks after the whereabouts of Princess Adora, He-Man covers for a stammering She-Ra with his typical answer to the "Where's Prince Adam?" question: "She's safe."
• The ending sequence on Etheria introduces some new powers given to She-Ra, which make her more versatile and (dare I say it?) impressive than her brother. The first is her ability to communicate with animals, Aquaman style.
• In classic MOTU style, She-Ra informs a curious He-Man that the batmeks are "robot" vehicles that "have no pilots," thus clarifying that no lives will be snuffed out if they are all gleefully smashed to bits. We also see some deliberate shots of unharmed Horde troopers climbing out of the destructo tanks that He-Man punches into oblivion. No animals were harmed!
• She-Ra's second new ability is that of healing, which she discovers accidentally and in dramatic style when she's touching a dying Swift Wind. Remember in Star Wars Episode IX, when they decided to add healing powers to force users? Yeah. This makes more sense than that.
• Again in classic MOTU style, Hordak and Shadow Weaver run away in the movie's final moments, to live to fight another day. Hordak has a bit of an advantage over Skeletor in his escape methods, however, since he can turn himself into a rocket! Shadow Weaver opts for an Evil-Lyn-like fiery evaporation.

• Act I - It gave me a special thrill to see a Filmation He-Man show begin with a film-like flourish of titles and actual actor credits. I guess it's really nice to see a different opening sequence after watching the same one 130 times!
• The theme song opening the movie is 80s power pop of the highest cheesiness, which I absolutely adore. "For the honor of love," indeed. If the opening credits don't give you enough of this song, stick around for the closing credits! You'll hear it again there.
• Note that the Sorceress even sleeps with her bird headdress on - is it a part of her? This seems unlikely, since Teela was able to go into the Sorceress's closet and find a spare headdress to wear as a disguise in MU108's "Teela's Triumph." I guess if you wear anything for long enough, you just get used to it...
• Having taken the second power sword, Adam puts it away in the sheath on his back. Okay; so where is he keeping his own power sword? And while we're talking about this: where does the sword go once he's stuck it down his back? It's completely invisible in a subsequent scene where we see Adam from behind. Does the sword have magic self-concealing powers? If so, you'd think it wouldn't need to be hidden in a nook in his bedroom (see MU043, MU092, MU125), and Adam wouldn't have had it taken from him so many times (see MU003, MU056, MU061).
• In our first good look at She-Ra's only male hero, Bow, it's hard not to think of one of my cherished MOTU sub-categories, "Homoerotic Undertones." In documentaries about the series, I've seen Erika Scheimer discuss rather jokingly the open question of Bow's orientation: "Is he or isn't he?" She herself came out as homosexual and, having just looked her up on Wikipedia, I find that she once declared Filmation "one of the gayest places in town."
• Animation error: When Cringer is clinging to a high tree branch in fright, the scleras of his eyes are white instead of the usual yellow. They change back to yellow just before he falls off the branch.
• Glimmer seems immediately taken with the beefy pink stranger, Prince Adam. Sorry young lady, this royal heir is already taken! He and Bow just shared a very intimate horse ride on the way over...
• More continuity errors with the power swords: to change into He-Man, Adam plucks his own power sword from the invisible sheath on his back. As He-Man's first battle with the Horde goes on, we see several scenes in which it's clear that he has no other sword on his person (because his sheath is empty); but in a later scene where he tosses his power sword at Adora, we see the other power sword suddenly visible again on his back.
• For young viewers, or indeed anyone viewing this story for the first time, I can only imagine how dizzying it would be to be introduced to the huge roster of characters and place names thrown at them in the first fifteen minutes. Filmation is tossing a fully-grown universe - and range of toys - at us!
• Act II - I love how Adora believes that her whole life she has been serving the forces of good, even though she grew up in a place called "the Fright Zone" working for a group of people who regularly describe themselves as "the Evil Horde" (presumably only adding the adjective when she's not listening?).
• Much of my analysis of MOTU Season 2 involved complaints about the omission or sidelining of Battle Cat; but I have no grounds for those complaints here. He kicks ass in this movie! The tiger definitely has a central role, and is a huge help to the rebels on Beast Island as they work to rescue He-Man.
• In the perilous escape from Beast Island, He-Man faces off against a bad-ass horde tank with a vulture-shaped face, which will be identified - very late in the movie - as a "destructo" tank. As with the MOTU series, we see again a great example of a very toyetic vehicle design which was never picked up by Mattel. Actually, looking over the She-Ra toy line, I see that the only real "vehicles" were four-legged mounts, and the action figures were all very much in the stereotypical girl toy vein (with very pink packaging, frilly lettering, and many fashion-based accessories). The manly villain characters classified as the Evil Horde (Hordak, Leech, Grizzlor, Mantenna, and the misfit Modulok, who began his animated life as an Eternian villain), by all rights the enemies of She-Ra, were all released under the MOTU toy line, not the Princess of Power line.
• As a final act before his escape, He-Man shoves over a tower on Beast Island, which based on the characters' dialogue is meant to represent the entire prison. It's cool that you hate prisons, He-Man; but did you check first to make sure there weren't any other prisoners in there before you collapsed the place? This could have been MU110 all over again!
• In Act II we see that Glimmer has transferred her dreamy stares and gooey compliments from the beefy Prince Adam to his beefy alter ego. It's still a no-go, Glimmer; Teela is willing to fight for the honor of loving this beefcake!
• By the way, does anyone else think "Beast Island" is rather poorly named? The heroes blundering around the place only come upon one admittedly large, but ultimately underwhelming, beast. I expected more, Filmation animators!
• Act III - Based on their near inseparability in the previous two acts, it seems odd that Shadow Weaver has no clue that Hordak has developed the Magnabeam Transporter, and has to ask him what it is. I guess they have their alone time, too! She goes to her she-shed to work on her spells, and he goes to his lab to work on his little magnabeams...
• With typical use of superlatives, Hordak dubs the Magnabeam Transporter "the most fearsome weapon in the Horde arsenal;" but all it does is move something from where it is to somewhere else. It's not really a weapon at all - it's pretty much the transporter beam from Star Trek. Don't get me wrong - that still makes it incredibly useful - but it's more of an infrastructure and transportation improvement than anything else. On that same score, it seems like the Valley of the Lost would be a wonderful place to put a landfill.
• Hordak lets off his first really good evil cackle in the beginning of this episode - it's a corker!
• I've noted the tendency of George DiCenzo, the new Filmation voice actor who brings us the lovely voice stylings of Hordak, to really relish pronouncing the names of things. He deliberately lingers over phrases like "plunder room" and "magnabeam." It's highly entertaining. Actually I think DiCenzo (who also voices Bow) is a fabulous addition to the voice cast, as is She-Ra's Melendy Britt.
• Continuity error: As noted above, I think we have to consider Hordak's randomly changing arm an error by the animators, as it disappears and reappears for no logical reason. Another continuity error seems to be the Magnabeam's power meter, which should have gained a few ticks after the villain finishes draining the willpower of all the prisoners in the dungeons, but still appears completely empty in the glimpse we get of it over Hordak's shoulder.
• You know, I really thought He-Man did a great job disguising himself as a Horde trooper, so I was amazed at how easily Shadow Weaver and Hordak recognized him - apparently on the basis of a few strands of blonde hair peeking out from beneath his helmet.
• The mystery of where He-Man keeps his sword continues. Close observers will remember that near the end of Act I, He-Man threw away his own power sword to disarm Adora, and it ended up in the mouth of Battle Cat. We were never shown a scene where Battle Cat gave the sword back to his friend, so we'll just have to assume that happened at some point after the jail break, making it possible for He-Man to turn back to Adam - and then turn back to He-Man again, when he decides to disguise himself to get into the Fright Zone. But how the heck did he manage to pull it out from his back while dressed in the armor of a Hordesman? Did it come out of the neck hole of his armor??
• I question Hordak's organization of his headquarters. Why is the Magnabeam charger in the Plunder Room? Seems to me it would be better suited in a utility room, or maybe in the basement next to the circuit breaker. It's like installing your furnace in the game room.
• The process of transcribing it for my memorable lines section helped emphasize for me just how many times the Sorceress uses Adora's name in her revelatory speech to the force captain. In the few sentences I've quoted, she manages to say "Adora" five times! Okay, okay - we get it.
• Not to be a faultfinder, but why exactly did the Sorceress wait so long to show up in the sword and give Adora this very important information about her connection to He-Man? Couldn't she have done this when the two first met, perhaps? Or - since that was admittedly a distracting moment - how about when He-Man was chained to the table earlier? Or perhaps at some point during Adora's lengthy eye-opening travels through Etheria? Did she have to wait until Eternia's protector was almost completely drained of willpower? I guess that's why they called her Teela "too little, too late" Na! That's a terrible nickname... Actually, I'm (rather oddly, perhaps) reminded of a scene in the movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, where the title animated rabbit reveals that he was capable of slipping out of a pair of ostensibly imprisoning handcuffs, but "only when it was funny." Clearly the Sorceress was only capable of revealing her secret when the situation was at its most climactic - it certainly makes for a thrilling moment!
• It's interesting that circumstances make it necessary for the Sorceress to tell Adora that He-Man is her twin brother, and not Adam. Embedded in this admission is the ultimate revelation of He-Man's secret identity. I suppose that if you're twins, you might as well learn everything about each other! After all, even Orko was allowed to know Adam's secret.
• Also, again on the subject of twins - I have to say I've lost quite a bit of respect for Randor and Marlena for having named their twins alliteratively. That is just... so tacky. Speaking as a twin myself (honest!), I'm very grateful to my parents for not doing that to my brother and me.
• It's interesting to imagine some fleshing out of the story hinted at in the Sorceress's origin story of MU073, linking it to this flashback story of the Sorceress's - that the advance party of Horde soldiers whom the newly minted Sorceress sent packing eventually got back to their world and informed Hordak of their defeat, resulting in the war on Eternia that ended in the capture of the baby Adora.
• As suggested a bit earlier, it truly is a majorly satisfying sequence when, more than halfway through the movie, we finally get to see Adora transform into her heroic alter ego for the first time. I'm a bit embarrassed to admit it, but I did more than a little fist pumping when she got her new dress and tiara.
• Hordak (and, thus, his pupil Skeletor) already knew that Adam and Adora were special. It therefore doesn't seem like such a huge leap for either villain to connect some dots and realize that the royal twins might possibly have more powerful alternate identities. Especially considering that She-Ra appeared on the scene just when Adora changed sides; and Shadow Weaver even connects this to the presence of the power sword. It would take an amazing amount of willful ignorance and intentional blindness on the part of the villains to not realize what was going on here. Right? I mean really.
• Hordak and his soldiers show up at the plunder room, apparently drawn by the sound of She-Ra smashing the Magnabeam charging chamber; but they can't open the door. Why, exactly? There's no indication that Adora locked it when she came in, and no reason for her to have done so. Does it automatically lock whenever someone goes inside it?
• In the flashback, we see Marlena take out Skeletor with an over-the-shoulder throw. Nice moves, Lieutenant Glenn!
• "He-Man - catch!" says She-Ra to her desperately weakened brother, and throws his power sword at him. Given his current state, it's not too big of a stretch to imagine him missing that catch and taking a sword to the chest. That would make for a grisly family reunion!
• Oddly, the flashback sequence with Hordak firing at Man-at-Arms and the Sorceress and running through the portal with baby Adora is animated differently than it was in the Sorceress's dream, seen at the very beginning of Act I.
• The whole reason Adora turned into She-Ra was to save her brother; but then she instantly ditches him when a recharged He-Man is faced with a row of Horde troopers and a fully juiced Magnabeam. What's the dilly, lady?
• Animation error: In a close-up shot of She-Ra and He-Man's conversation, which should be taking place in the Whispering Woods, the background painting instead shows a rooftop in the Fright Zone.
• For a show meant to draw in the female viewers, it's an odd choice to depict every single power-drained rebel in the dungeon as male. Where the lady rebels at? Or are we to understand they were all smart enough not to get caught?
• Adora shows up in the rebel camp, tells them she's a good guy now, and immediately all is forgiven. But you have to wonder just what terrible things the evil version of the force captain has been up to all these years. What does she have to atone for? If you were a rebel, wouldn't it be hard to just change your mind and like someone who's been your mortal enemy all this time? After all - she could just as easily be pretending, secretly a Horde spy.
• Act IV - Given the lore the Sorceress imparts, we're to believe that the royal family suffered under the dark shadow of having a kidnapped child for all these years, without having any luck finding her or giving any indication they were looking (though the Sorceress claims they looked very hard). Also recall that Randor's father, Miro, was lost and thought dead by most people until the events of MU098; Randor being one of the very few that never gave up hope that his father was still alive. And yet he also never seems to have gone looking for the old man, until the bracelet with his father's crest showed up in the marketplace of Eternos. What we have here, I think, is a lack of motivation and ambition on the part of the Eternians! Also a lot of major family tragedies which you'd think would have made the royal couple taciturn and grim, but somehow never seem to have gotten them down.
• As I noted in the plot summary, the sequence where He-Man and She-Ra rescue Angella feels very shoehorned into the story, a quick plot bridge to get us to a point where we can return to Eternia. It feels weird to suddenly be pummeled with even more names and concepts (Angella, Hunga, Talon Mountain, harpies, Glimmer has a mom who was the queen of Bright Moon) and have them just as quickly done away with. Not having watched the full episodic versions of these story acts, I'm left wondering whether the individually broadcast story had more to offer in this section. (Spoiler: it did! See 67004.)
• Oddly, the fact that He-Man is also Adam goes by unremarked and hardly mentioned during the Sorceress's back story recitation. She-Ra just has to kind of infer our blonde hero's alter ego. It's only when they're about to return to Eternia that Adam just casually slides in the rule that Adora shouldn't mention her (or Adam's) alternate identity to anyone; and the woman just takes it in stride, without question. I've questioned the necessity of this secret identity before (see MU003, for instance), and I still don't think a convincing reason for it has ever been put forward.
• Am I just imagining some homoerotic undertones in She-Ra's comment about the restored Queen Angella ("She's magnificent!")? We have to find these things somewhere; note that there is zero suggestion of the lesbian relationship between Adora and Catra devised for the rebooted Netflix version of the show.
• You have to hope that He-Man and She-Ra were already aware that Queen Angella had wings and could fly; otherwise, they didn't plan an exit strategy, as I doubt Swift Wind could have carried three!
• Throughout this part of the story, Hordak evinces a mystifying and frankly disappointing lack of interest in the treasures of Eternia. Think about it: when he first arrives, he finds himself deep within the most sacred precincts of Castle Grayskull, having (apparently) entered through its most secret inner chamber. This is the place Skeletor was trying to get into for 130 episodes. Within must lie some incredibly powerful but unspecified knowledge, power, and magic, with which he could presumably become master of the universe. And what does he do with this incredible advantage? Absolutely nothing. He just leaves! The writers, perhaps realizing they were putting the archvillain in a very advantageous position, opt to have his unreliable rocket form zoom him right out the window, to make it a little less obvious that he almost had the keys to the universe. Later, when he meets with Skeletor and they discuss their varying desires and motivations, Hordak baldly states that he no longer has any ambitions for conquering Eternia. (In Act V, he comes right out and says that he "hate[s] this place.") Um... why? What changed his mind about this? Clearly it was valuable enough to set his entire army on it twenty years or so ago. Was it being defeated that made him lose his taste for the planet? It's unclear. Perhaps this lack of interest in Eternia is tied to his obsession with Adora, which I'll discuss in just a little bit.
• Part of me hates myself for ruining what was actually a very affecting moment in the movie; but logic demands that I point out the fact that there's almost no way Randor and Marlena could instantly recognize their grown daughter, given that the last time they saw her was in infancy. I suppose she'd show some family resemblance, but I just don't know if that would be enough to make it clear for them. Speaking from my own experience, I've had people tell me that my kids look just like me, but I've always found that difficult to detect, perhaps from being too close to the situation. You could argue the same difficulty would arise at the end of Disney's Tangled, when the (very similar-looking to Randor and Marlena) parents of Rapunzel are reunited with her. Their problem was compounded even further by the fact that Rapunzel had changed from blonde to brunette!
• This part of the movie is well named - "Reunions." First we have Glimmer hastily reunited with her mother; then Adora with her parents; and then Hordak with his pupil. Nice thematic concurrence!
• Hordak's obsession with Adora is intriguing. His drive to recapture her seems to take precedence over every other ambition - even his rule over Etheria and hatred for the rebellion. (Also note how George DiCenzo pauses and lovingly drawls out "Adoooora" whenever it comes up in Hordak's dialogue.) Seeing her about to slip through his fingers in the Whispering Woods, he abandons everything to follow her through the dimensional portal. He makes a deal with his old pupil Skeletor, clearly stating his only goal as the retrieval of Adora. It's hard not to see a little fatherly attachment driving his actions here. Or is it just his sense of hurt at having been betrayed so thoroughly by her?
• Act V - Some modern-day home invasions occur in this episode, as the villains once again easily infiltrate the royal palace. In fact, once in the royal dining room, with one blast of his cannon arm, Hordak knocks out the entire royal family. That's right: in one fell swoop, the head of the government of the planet (probably of the whole planet, though that's been put in question before) has been chopped off! But do the villains take any advantage of this situation? Hell no! All Hordak wants is Adora, so that's all he takes, and Skeletor just goes along with it. Sigh... you had them by the balls, Skeletor! (If you want to rationalize away this nonsense, you can argue that Cringer had escaped the ambush and gone to alert the rest of the palace, so the bad guys had no time to otherwise capitalize on their success - but you'd only be deluding yourself.)
• Slight animation error: As Skeletor leaves through the hole in the side of the royal palace, he is layered incorrectly on top of the outer wall, making it look as if he stays inside the building as he disappears off the edge of the screen.
• Even though the cells of Skeletor's dungeon have never looked like this before, leading to issues of consistency, I got a kick out of the bony lattice door and skull-shaped door control on Adora's cell. Also: poor Beast Man! Duped again!
• As often happens with home invasions, the heroes return the favor by breaking into Snake Mountain shortly after the royal palace break-in. We find Man-at-Arms confidently directing the other warriors to Skeletor's throne room - though honestly, by now they should all be very familiar with the layout!
• I found myself missing Evil-Lyn in the Eternia part of the story. Especially considering the show's female focus, her absence is strange and noticeable. It's possible this had something to do with Lyn voice actor Linda Gary being otherwise overloaded with characters in this movie.
• She-Ra thoroughly defeats all the villains in Snake Mountain, leaving Skeletor at the heroes' mercy. But do they take any advantage of this situation? Hell no! As far as we know, Skeletor and company are left unrestrained on the floor of their fortress, with no further come-uppance than having had a bad day.
• There's something we can assume about Marlena that gives this whole story a little added dimension, and that's that she knows Adam is He-Man. This was very strongly suggested in the conclusion of MU085's "The Rainbow Warrior," when she hinted as much to Adam. It's hard to imagine how she manages to not call He-Man "Adam" by mistake when, distraught over the second kidnapping of her daughter, she sees the blonde hero show up in the throne room and promise to go get Adora back for her. It's also no great leap for her to come to the obvious conclusion that Adora is secretly She-Ra; a fact which, if she does discover it, she again fails to reveal to her husband, just as she's failed to tell Randor about Adam.
• Though she arrived in Eternia by using the special "inner chamber" door with paired skull decorations on the outside, Adora leaves by a much more prosaic doorway in Castle Grayskull, with simple cross-bar decorations like capital "I"s. Hmm.
• I think we can logically explain this away through the presence of the power sword, which provides a sort of beacon to home in on, but just pointing out that the Sorceress by her own admission searched in vain for "many years" to find the dimension Adora was taken to, but now promises that she can get Adora back and forth from the place whenever the girl calls.
• An amusing little continuity error: When Glimmer gives her last inspiring speech to fire up the rebels, we see a bunch of hats being tossed up in the foreground, to indicate the excitement of her soldiers. But in all the shots we've seen of Etherian villagers, almost none of them have ever been wearing hats.
• At the story's conclusion, we see that the writers have set up circumstances very similar to the tried-and-true MOTU milieu. We have a royal family in a castle with a range of action-figure-worthy allies (with many more princesses to come on that score), a bad guy in his own evil fortress with his own toy-based minions, and a princess with a super-powered alter ego and talking pet. Check, check, check. The interesting difference is that - due to the family relations they created to link this to He-Man - our title princess is not a member of Etheria's royal family. In fact, she's a recently turned villain! This makes her much more of an outsider than Prince Adam ever was, which leaves the possibility for some unique character interactions. As I've noted in the lore section, the writers have also given She-Ra a couple more abilities than He-Man ever had, to go along with her super strength; and even though I love Battle Cat, you have to admit that having a flying mount is sort of an improvement over a land-locked tiger.
• Though at this moment I could tell you none of the plots, I know that I watched many episodes of She-Ra when I was a kid (after all, since MOTU stopped airing just when POP started, where else was I to get my He-Man fix?). Ironically, the one recurring feature I firmly remember from the show is an element that's entirely missing from this introductory movie: Loo-Kee, the fantastical being who hid himself in the background of one scene in each episode, finally revealing where he'd been holed up at the episode's conclusion. I don't know that I ever once managed to find Loo-Kee, but I definitely remember that moment at the end where you got to find out where he was. There was something compelling about this differentiating feature of the show, perhaps simply its originality, which stuck with me.