Lessons, Siren Song, and The Ties That Bind

This is Man at Arms and you are listening to

the Masters of Grayskull. Thank you Mr. Gary

Chalk as Man at Arms from the 2002 He -Man and

the Masters of the Universe cartoon series for

giving us that promo. I'm of course TFG and Mike

joining me is Optimus Solo. Hello sir. Hello.

We just want to put this at the beginning of

every episode for... Masters of Grayskull we

dedicate every single episode of this to the

memory of Dean Stefan Dean who is the writer

storyboard art and not storyboard story editor

all that kind of stuff on the 2002 He -Man series

passed away May 15th of 2018 and Not only are

we doing this because we're finishing our powers

of Grayskull series podcast We're also I feel

at this point doing this in the memory of him

because the stories that he helped Create and

build for this series It revitalized the motu

franchise in my personal opinion. Yeah, absolutely

It's unfortunate that we didn't have a chance

to ever talk to him before the show, but we can

at least remember him as we move forward Absolutely,

and now on with the show. I am Adam Prince of

Eternia Defender of the secrets of Castle Grayskull.

This is Cringer my fearless friend fabulous Hello,

this is Optimus Solo, and welcome to the 110th

chapter in our Powers of Greyskull series. With

me for this journey into the Masters of the Universe

franchise is... the loud and obnoxious TFG -1

Mike. How am I being loud and obnoxious? Just

kidding. Are you ready to return to Eternia,

sir? Of course. Alright, well in this episode

of Masters of Greyskull, we will be giving you

our thoughts on the next three episodes of the

series. That would be episode seven lessons,

episode eight... The siren song and episode 9

the ties that bind so what you're saying is seven

eight nine ba -dum -bum So we hope you're ready

because it's time to go back to Eternia All right,

first up today is episode seven lessons air date

of October 11th 2002 written by Larry de Tillio

synopsis embarrassed by his mixed up magical

spells a dejected orco strays from the royal

palace meanwhile Skeletor orders evil in to steal

a powerful artifact known only as the Ramstone

I should have known this was Larry Ramstein Mike

what did you think of? Laird Attilio's first

episode here in Masters of Grayskull. I loved

it. I thought it was great. There's a few things

with Orko that I could do without, but that's

just because I don't like this Orko. It has nothing

to do with Larry. This is the most backstory

Evelyn has ever gotten. Yeah, in the series for

sure. It's interesting because you mentioned

it's definitely and I agree with you. It's a

definitely different orco different take on him.

I mean, yeah, he's still the jester Yeah, he's

still the comedic relief. Yes. He's still the

sidekick, etc Just a little bit different as

far as the look and the sound etc but we do get

a very similar story here to something we got

in the filmation series with An episode not saying

beat for beat or anything like that But an episode

where we're kind of looking a little bit more

at orco and his magic and how it does or doesn't

work And and what his worth is etc. Yeah, so

I a little bit rehashed what's in a different

series in 20 years later So, I mean we can forgive

it for that and it's somewhat necessary. I believe

Anything that stood out that you really liked

about it? Like I said, Evelyn's continued her

character development, her growth, the little

teasing of the fact that, you know, we actually

see her have a family kind of thing. I thought

that was cool. Anything Skeletor and He -Man

do is always awesome. I wish, like, the Sorceress

would have gotten the spell ready and we got

some sort of window into Trala. i thought that

would have been a nice little added notes uh...

but you know it is what it is i think the thing

with this series overall is especially with this

episode is nothing it's the subtlety of it all

because it's so subtle with the certain things

like you know When Evelyn says something about

oh I have to get it from a family member or something

or other or whatever I have to whatever whatever

whatever it is that she says You know and then

Orko's dejection of being on attorney and it's

like hey I want to go back to trial up, but it's

all done in a subtle way. It's not just you know

It's not forced. It's not forced and it's not

orco Just like because we know trawler and every

other world is a different dimension kind of

thing I guess in this universe It's not just

orco flying off into space because he got upset

because nobody likes him or his magic doesn't

work Right or whatever. It's not just him, you

know throwing a nine -year -old hissy fit, right,

right I do like what they did at the beginning

too. They had some cool flashbacks with orco.

We got to see 11 year old Prince Adam That nature

yeah, so that was very cool Skeletor continues

to have some great lines. I highlighted two of

them in my notes One of them was you show me

your magic and I'll show you mine And then the

other one that I really really loved He's like,

oh darkness. I'm so scared Like they were trying

to like freak him out by basically making all

the lights go out So that was funny Interesting

even though we've seen an orcocentric episode

I don't know if we ever saw an episode that isolated

basically an orgo and Skeletor showdown and that

Find it intriguing because you have a comedic

relief sidekick character against the biggest

baddest bad guy But they both have magic so it

was very cool to see those two kind of go back

and forth for a little while I thought that was

something that was unique that I'd never seen

before and then like you mentioned I just put

my notes. Whoa bombshell Faceless one is Eva

Lynn's father. So that was I remember Remember

that being a thing, but I think it is one of

the things that I had somewhat lost track of

So when I saw it again, I was like, oh, yeah

And it just adds so many more elements to evil

in and we're gonna see that I think going forward

that this series wants to delve into that character

a lot. They give us a lot of levels, a lot of

layers, a lot of emotional heft with Eva Lin

going throughout. So I think that's pretty cool.

Really the only thing that Kind of nitpicked

about was there's a situation where basically

that I think the sorceress is talking to he man

or Adam at this point I believe it's he man and

he says or she says, you know, gray skull is

in great danger and So is orko and that was the

thing that got he man's attention like oh orko's

in trouble. Let me hurry It just came across

very weird how that sequence like played out.

I mean they you know, they are friends. I mean

or orko to us as the viewer is just the court

jester he's you know at least in my mind he's

not a character that whatever but it's one of

those things where i think that not only is castle

grayskull in danger or the sorceress being in

danger of man and i i i you could insert any

name in there it doesn't matter if it's orc or

not with the way that he man is in the series

with adam is in the series that there to distinct

personalities but they have the same values i

think he would have gone after it immediately

anyway, no matter what masters name or site you

have. I think that it's fine that he's concerned

about Orko. I just was worried as to why he wasn't

concerned about Castle Grayskull. They both should

have been equal reasons to be like... It's just

an old, crumbling building. It's all right. Yeah.

Some quick trivia for this episode. The Faceless

One was released as an action figure in 2011

as part of Mattel's Masters of the Universe Classics

toy line, so you can go own this somewhat side

character or guest character in this episode.

And then also, and I love these... and either

the last episode or the one before. I do like

the fact that they keep giving these nods to

the original series. The flashback in which Orko

arrives on Eternia and saves young Adam and Cringer

from a swamp is a retelling of the same material

from creatures from the Tar Swamp from 1983.

So that was an interesting thing that we got

to see there. And there's also some characters

that appeared in the Disappearing Act in 1983

that showed up here. Thought that was very cool.

What kind of rating are you giving this one?

I'll give it a four. I gave power swords to He

-Man, Evelyn, Skeletor, and Orko only because

of what he eventually realizes, but I also gave

Orko a Havoc Staff because I'm sorry, his voice

is just like nails on a chalkboard. I don't think

we're gonna get any interviews with Gabe Cuth

anytime soon. No, sadly not. I'm also giving

this one a four so we're in lock on this first

episode. I'm starting to worry about humanity

and I also gave Orko a power sword just for kind

of doing what he was able to do in this episode

and being important and some what's not maybe

not as bad as he has been in other episodes,

but I still don't like him but Nonetheless, I'll

give him his one power sword. He's gonna get

this series unless something shocks me. So a

good start to today double fours Take a break,

we'll come back and we'll listen to the siren.

So what is it about Grayskull, man -at -arms?

Why does Skeletor want it so bad? I suppose it's

time you all knew the truth. As you all know,

years ago Skeletor and his evil warriors were

driven to the dark hemisphere. And now for the

part you don't know. The great and wise Council

of Elders knew that Skeletor's evil forces would

one day return, so they transformed themselves

into one. Pure goodness. Pure power. A power

that has remained hidden inside Grayskull ever

since. Still looks like a pile of stones to me.

Yeah, well, it's a whole lot more. Don't you

even listen? I say we all take an oath of loyalty

right now to protect the secret of Castle Grayskull.

Especially the new guy. I've already proven my

loyalty. I don't have to recite some dumb - An

oath isn't necessary. Everyone here is loyal.

It won't be long before Skeletor attempts another

attack. I suggest we return to the kingdom and

you all grab some well -deserved rest while you

can. Next up today is episode eight. It's called

siren song October 18th 2002 written by somebody

named William Forrest clavarius If I said that

right after suffering yet another defeat at the

hands of the Masters the evil warriors retreat

back to Snake Mountain where Eva Lynn suggests

turning the heroes against one another so we're

gonna have an episode basically where we're trying

to kind of pit the the heroes against each other

and have some dissent and some traitorous actions.

What did you think of this episode? I didn't

think about it until now, but it's essentially

Evelyn in a better version of when she starred

in the 87 film. Because she's disguised and she's

trying to trick people like she did in the 87

film with Julie and oh I'm your mother dearie.

No, I'm really not I'm you know, so right using

the siren song I honestly thought it was a nice

nod to Homer and the Iliad. I thought that was

really cool It's a Ramman spotlighted episode,

but it makes it look like it's a really bad Ramman

spotlight episode I can see that for sure. Yeah,

I like that. They did a job of Rogan revealing

to the masters of the great skulls power So we've

already had Skeletor kind of come to terms with

the fact that, and figure out that Grey Skull

is powerful. Now they kind of have a meetup where

they kind of, they don't give away everything,

but they tell some things to the Masters as far

as how the power all came from the Council of

Elders. It was all combined and it's stored here

in the castle. They just leave the He -Man part

out, obviously. There was somewhat of a little

forced line there from Red Man, I thought, where

he's like, all right, we need to take an oath

to protect Grey Skull. I'm like, well. I get

that that's a thing and that's cool that you

need to do that But it was just like so immediate

that I don't know it felt a little forced But

I do like the idea that they know that the powers

there and that they're kind of bonded to protect

it One thing About this storyline. Obviously

we've seen this many times as far as any cartoon

especially like boys action cartoons where there

is a group or a team of Good characters where

they're going to try to turn one on each other

You know where they're gonna hatch some type

of plot to frame somebody or to do something

like that Like we're gonna see it quite a bit

when we start talking about some other tunes

here in the not -too -distant future and I don't

mind that when it happens like they did in this

episode because in this series these masters

some of them are just Becoming acquainted with

each other. Yeah, so some of them are just learning

about each other just meeting them, etc, etc

So I think it works in that setting because they're

still feeling each other out They are still trying

to figure out if they can if they like each other

if they trust each other, etc, etc Right. I mean

because the series is art it did at this point

at the point of episode 8 the series has already

showed us that buzz off and the andrenids were

not as well as Stratos and the Avians Stratos

may have already been there but buzz off and

the Andrenans were not in the alliance with the

palace with the king with the other masters So

buzz off is just coming in new and ram man's

been there. I guess since the beginning I don't

know but it's one of those things where Buzz

off is the odd man out even though ram hands

being a jerk because he's being mind -controlled

Yeah, well, I think it does I guess it also does

a good job of suddenly having this kind of underlying

I don't know C story or B story or whatever where

They are they did have their original group.

You know I mean you had the people that are at

the palace as far as for all intents and purposes

we kind of Deduced that that is Tila and man

-at -arms. It's a ram man. It's Mechaneck and

many faces for the most part we have those guys

established and Stratos kind of coming in and

out when needed So we get introduced to buzz

off But and then also does this thing where we'll

see today where they're where they're trying

to kind of like start In the background, they're

not making a focus of the episode but in the

background they are reaching out to other groups

of people on Eternia they are trying to build

this alliance and to you kind of Build the numbers

up. Yep. So I like that This was the episode

where it was the immobilizer, right? This one

has the they're just the mind control, right?

Thought it was the immobilizer to or is that

I might be I don't pay too much attention to

the names of the Basically Yeah, cuz man -at

-arms had made the it's not that it's not the

Skeletor belt. That's the ties that bind But

they had made this this machine To immobilize

things and you had to activate it and they couldn't

add the the evil warriors couldn't activate it

and then man -in -arms finally did and everybody

got frozen at close to the end of the episode.

I'm like, hey, where's Wheeljack when you really

need him? Because I mean, you know, the Transformers

came up with the immobilizer first. Not that

it's a bad thing or anything. I'm like, hey,

wait a second. I know where I've seen this before.

Yeah, for sure. Last thing that I liked about

this episode, not last thing, but the last thing

I wrote down was basically that I like that Evil

Lynn has been capable of tricking everybody,

including Skeletor at times. Again, it really

shows her power. So I gave a power sword to Evil

Lynn based on that. I thought she did some in

this episode to elevate her status, elevate her

kind of her clout. Amongst the evil warriors,

but overall I maybe not quite as high on this

episode as I was the last one Last one just did

a little bit more as far as the big reveal with

evil and father and some of the flashbacks Etc

and some of the nods to the film ation episodes

this one kind of a standard episode But well

executed so I'm at a three and a half Get out

of my head. I gave Power Swords to Ramman, He

-Man, and Evelyn. I'll always give a Power Sword

to He -Man, most likely. And three and a half.

It wasn't as good as episode seven, but it was

not a bad episode either. Again, this series

is showing us little things subtly throughout.

Again, this is a somewhat, not a poor writing

thing, but it makes Ramman look... as if he's

in a bad light episode kind of thing it's still

spotlighting him as a character and showing that

sadly he can be fooled fairly easily um... kind

of a thing and yes i know you're gonna see you

were audience are all but it's the siren song

well yeah it is the siren song too but it's one

of those things where anybody can be fooled with

the siren song i mean it almost worked on he

-man in this episode in this very episode but

the point is sadly ram -man because He has his

helmet. He's not all the way there upstairs He's

a great loyal friend, but And they do a good

job through the voice acting of conveying that

yeah, so All right, so double three and a half

here, so just down a little bit from the first

one We'll see where we go on the last episode

We're gonna take a break and we're gonna come

back and see what this tie is and what it's binding

Mm -hmm, or you could call it Tila's quest Alright.

My last up for today's episode is episode 9,

The Tie the Bines, airdate of October 25th, 2002,

written by Dean Stefan. This is also of note

that this is kind of his first time back in the

writer's chair since he did the original pilot.

He's been involved, he's been editing, he's been

doing stuff and kind of coordinating things,

but he kind of had let some other people kind

of take over. Basically, they were working on

it as he was doing the pilot. So now he's back

ready to do another episode This is the first

of those Injured during a battle with the evil

warriors and unconscious Tila is taken to Castle

Grayskull by man -at -arms and receives a blood

transfusion From the sorceress that has some

interesting effects Mike, what do you think about

Tila's quest? Yeah Unlike filmation Tila and

how annoying she is this Tila is a little annoying

but I guarantee you like we have we had a bet

going on seven years ago or whatever it was when

we first started this podcast like who would

be the one person that would get the most havoc

staffs and Obviously for me in the formation

series that ended up being Tila. I believe yeah

Orko is way like this Tila. I actually like I

like what they're doing with her Every now and

then I kind of get miffed at her for constantly

berating Adam, but she doesn't do it so often

that it's... Annoying, like the original one

did. Giving her this storyline, I think, is great,

because once again, because of this cartoon series,

this storyline kind of crossed over into the

DC Comics stuff. There was an issue of one of

the... I think it was... It was one of the He

-Man comics recently in the last four or five

years that DC did. Adas Baron and I did a bunch

of reviews on the pullback for the series. Where

we actually flashed to the future where it's

King He -Man. It's King He -Man and Queen Tila.

So, and Tila has her, you know, what we don't

see it here yet, but what she'll eventually get

because she is who she is. the Sorceress's daughter

and all of that. But this is kind of where it

starts. And again, the subtlety of it all. The

Sorceress saying, hey, we can't tell her everything

right now. We will tell her, but if we burden

her with too much, it's going to be pretty hard

to bear. Yeah, so obviously as Mike alludes to,

we get two big bombshells in today's episode

number one. We got who Evelyn's father was and

then now we get who Tila's mother is. So it is

revealing that Tila is the Sorcerer's daughter,

has no mention of who her father is. Obviously

it is not Man in Arms, so I guess we do learn

that as well, that Man in Arms is just kind of

more of the adopted almost father in this situation

and I think it just adds a lot of emotional stakes

for the character because now we're going to

get the fact that she doesn't know something.

But we do and certain characters in the series

know they can't tell her there's a destiny mentioned

There's you know, another purpose mentioned.

When will this be revealed? We have lots of questions

now and it adds just a lot of emotional weight

to her kind of feeling like she doesn't know

something she doesn't know what it is, but she

has a Figure of something because in this episode

she gets to become Deanna Troy She becomes a

you know able to read minds and Yeah, and so

she's she's hearing what some of the masters

are saying which obviously adds a wrinkle because

we got to keep P man or Adam away from her So

she can't figure out that they're the same person

But in the meantime, she can read some of man

-at -arms and sorceresses thoughts and stuff

But they kind of are able to shield it a little

bit. So it adds some crazy aspects to this episode

And it's good, and again I will say that... This

room reminds me of my great sickbed scene in

the Countess of Eternia. Countess of what? What

are you? She needs rest. How is she? Okay. More

than okay. I think she... Character spotlight

each week or each episode or each whatever when

this was running on Cartoon Network I'll take

a character spotlight episode and if you're gonna

tell me a decent story or if you're gonna start

especially here You're gonna start this story

that I know will continue Because I know we get

we do get it an episode later with the sorceress

Revealing like in a flashback of how everything

happened so I love this. I love that Skeletor

basically tries everything other than throwing

the kitchen sink at Grayskull to get into it.

Yeah, for sure. I mean, that whole scene was

like, wow. All right, Mike, how do you rate this

one? How did it shake out? Power Swords all around.

Thank God Orca wouldn't get one here because

he doesn't get one, but Teela, He -Man, and Skeletor

for Power Swords and gets a five. It was great.

I loved it. I loved every bit of it. All right.

I'm at a four a little up from last episode.

I don't quite think it's the perfect episode

yet I'm reserving right to have something that's

a better than it. I guess I liked it a lot. I

mean it does have the crazy Historical aspects

of who Tila's mother is etc a little slow at

points and I don't know if I'm huge on watching

her Hem and ha about what's going on and who's

this and all this other stuff, but Like I said,

it does add the emotional weight, so that's why

I'm at a four. I think if it was somebody, a

different character besides Tila, then maybe

it would have got me to a five. Not that a different

character would be Sorceress's daughter, that's

not really possible. Right, but the thing of

it is, I understand what you're saying, but because

it is who it is and because we have had such

a, or I have had such a anti -relationship with

the character, giving her this and honestly,

if you didn't know who your family was, let's

say mother, father, whatever, let's say you were

adopted or whatever and you didn't know your

real family, you would have all those questions.

Oh yeah, oh yeah. So it wasn't like as annoying?

No, I'm not saying it's not like that you shouldn't

have them, I just... Not what I'm looking for

in my He -Man episode, maybe, is to deal with

a girl that's worried about who her mom and dad

are. Not that she is, because she doesn't know

that that's the thing yet, but... And I don't

know, like, for Sorceress, it does change her

character a bit. Because up to this point, you

know, she's this mythical, powerful being that

we're not really sure what her origin is, where

she came from, you know, if she's really... Eternian

or human, you know necessarily or something else

So it does kind of maybe take away a little bit

of the mystique with her that we know that she

had a daughter And has a connection which means

also if you're a good villain that she has a

weakness Because if you were to go after Tila

she's going to maybe not act as logically as

and a little bit more emotionally Like, again,

we saw her come to the aid in this episode. So

maybe puts a little bit of a chink in her armor,

even if it makes it maybe a more interesting

character for a lot of people. I don't know.

So a four and a five, not a bad way to end out.

We didn't get anywhere below a three and a half

today, so that's good. We're going to take a

quick break and then we'll get you out of here.

It's bad enough having to deal with that wretch

He -Man. Yet when it's all said and done, he

is just one. But those cursed masters, they're

like burrow rats, always popping up! Then why

not find a way to exterminate them? Yeah! Uh,

how? by turning them against each other when

they discover a traitor in the ranks. Someone

whom they'd never suspect. Someone unquestionably

loyal. Someone like Ram -Man. Ah, I know. By

convincing them there is a traitor in the ranks,

the Master's defenses will be weakened, and Castle

Grayskull will be mine! Oh, Skeletor. How ever

do you come up with your ideas? It's a gift,

dear Evelyn. Now enact my plan! It's Showtime

Synergy! The latest review podcast from the Geekcast

Radio Network is here! So join TFG One Mike,

Nicole Hailstorm, and myself, Lady Rek, as we

will be reviewing all 65 episodes of Joe and

the Holograms in a 25 episode long podcast. You

can find Showtime Synergy on iTunes and geekcastradio

.com. We are the truly outrageous podcast that

you want to be listening to. I know what we're

doing today. Okay, Michael, if we're going to

tackle this podcast thing, we've got to do something

really special. It has to be cool. daily in audio

form and undetectable by radar, something that

screams summer. I know, let's do a Phineas and

Ferb review podcast. We'll call it the Podcast

Organization Without a Quill acronym or Pauka

for short. What do you think? I think if we're

not careful, Candice is going to bust us. You

can find Pauka on the Geekcast, Radio Network,

iTunes, Blog Talk Radio and all of the other

methods you find podcasts. Okay then, carry on.

Because the world needs another movie podcast.

The Geekcast Radio Network presents for your

listening pleasure, the Cinemagique. Hosted by

Amanda, Kevin, Matt, and Dan. Each week we dive

headfirst in the landscape of movies as we discuss

movie news. play movie games, go in -depth on

reviews, and even have a top 10 countdown or

two. Also, don't miss our director retrospective

series, where we review noted director's movies,

film by film. Bottom line is, if you love movies

and you love podcasts, you need to experience

the Cinema Geeks. You can find us on iTunes,

Blog .Radio, or GeekCastRadio .com. But it was

no defeat either. Man -at -arms precious daughter

is out of commission. Thus weakened, they shan't

be prepared for another attack so soon. More

masters will fall, Grayskull and its secrets

will finally be... Evil Lin, do I bore you? All

right, that's gonna do it for us. Thank you for

listening to us here as we are the masters of

Grayskull. If you'd like to get in contact with

us, we'll leave feedback for the show. There

are several ways to do so. Visit the website

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ass off on getting that online and everything

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Please do this. I gotta check that for next episode.

Follow us on Twitter at geekcastradio. Network

Twitter, the show is at pow of Grayskull, I am

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Become a fan on Facebook, go to facebook .com

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the Grayskull goodness today and don't forget

to join us in our next adventure when we will

take a look at the next three episodes of He

-Man and the Masters of the Universe, which are

Dragon's Brood, Turnabout, and Mechanex Lament.

I'm not even supposed to be here today. For now,

I am TFU and Mike with... Optimus Solo! By the

power and for the honor of Grayskull, we have

the power. Not even supposed to be here today!