The Anxious Apprentice, Zoo Story, Into the Dark Dimension Review

Hello, this is Optimus Solo, and welcome to the

59th chapter in our Powers of Greyskull series.

With me for this journey into the Masters of

the Universe franchise is once again, as always,

TFG1Mike. Hello. Hello. You sound excited. Yes,

I am. I'm just in the middle of other things

on my mind than everything else, so yeah, yay.

So you're clicking away. Yay, more cheer. Oh,

shut up. Are you ready for more Mists of Etherea?

Uh... I think so. Okay. I don't know. Well in

this episode of Mists of Etheria, we'll be giving

you our thoughts on episode 37, The Anxious Apprentice,

episode 38, Zoo Story, and episode 39, Into the

Dark Dimension. So we hope you're ready because

it's time to go back to Etheria. Can we just

review Zootopia instead? No. Nice work, Ariel.

Nice? I'd say pretty impressive. I spent a lot

of time practicing that trick. Well, I'd say

it was time well spent. Ariel has been my apprentice

for a while now, and she's a good student. Custis

Bella, can I talk to you? Of course, Ariel. What's

on your mind? I've been working extra hard lately,

and, well, I think I should get a chance to,

well, to... Who's the Book of Spells? Ariel?

The Book of Spells? Yes, it's one of Mystical's

most important treasures. The Book of Spells

is a very big responsibility, and I don't think

you're ready yet. Not ready? Well, I know twice

as many spells as any other apprentice. I think

castamines, it's not the number of spells you

know, but the wisdom to know when or when not

to use them. Exactly. To give someone too much

power before they're ready could be dangerous.

Be patient, Ariel. One day, you'll be a fine

magician. One day? I'm a fine magician now. I'll

prove it. Oh, why are the young always in such

a hurry? Oh, were you any different? Well, I

guess not. We start today with episode 37, The

Anxious Apprentice, which aired Monday, October

28th, 1985. It's how we started our week. Writer

was Carole Baxter, and the plot goes something

like Cast a Spell as Young Apprentice Ariel takes

the Book of Spells away and Scorpia gets a hold

of it and madness ensues. So we have Scorpia

and Scorpia's servant. We have She -ra. Castaspella

and Swiftwind with Ariel and then some random

Mysticor people. So what did you think about

the whole idea that Castaspella has an apprentice

and that there's this book of spells that we

have to kind of play catch with between the different

groups? Meh. I mean, haven't we already seen

one or two other books of spells? Hasn't Shadow

Weaver had one of these things already? I feel

like - Or is this supposedly the same book that

- I feel like through the Powers of Grayskull

series so far we've seen multiple books appear

show up that have some type of power, spell,

or importance. We don't always get a lot of apprentices

though to our main characters or to our supporting

cast, so that's somewhat of a new thing. It's

not just some family member visiting or this

that and the other. Apparently, even though we've

never heard about it, Castospella has apprentices

from time to time. Yeah, the only other person

I can think of that had an apprentice was is

it Mendor or who was the? The scientist dude.

Oh, I know what you're talking about. Um from

him in Yeah It's not Mendor Mendor is the doctor

but who the hell's damn scientist guy a couple

different times Yeah, I mean he had an apprentice

that showed up with him several times Isn't it?

Isn't it Uncle Montork? Doesn't he have, not

the pet that he has, but doesn't he have some

other little thing? I was going to say that there

seems to be some in the world of Tralla. Yeah.

When it comes to Orko and his bunch, there seems

to be somewhat of an apprentice type relationship

here and there. So I mean, that's not necessarily

overdone, but we've seen little bits and pieces.

So I don't necessarily have a problem with it,

but it does do anything to excite me. Okay, so

you know I don't want to get too far into this

because it's gonna go straight into the fright

zone for me But here's the thing as I'm watching

this episode about five minutes in I'm thinking

oh great another kid episode That basically the

kid doesn't listen to the adult We've seen this

for how many episodes between both seer like

It had nothing to do with the fact that she was

an apprentice to cast a spell had nothing to

do with the fact that cast a spell it has apprentices

uh... and that we know that cast a spell it just

in general from what we've seen over that she

is the queen of mystic or that she is supposedly

a powerful magician wizard whatever right so

i would only assume that she would have you know

you know little squires around and stuff like

that little warts and all that stuff all she's

ahead of the list an archimedes so they don't

have a very similar reaction though soon as we

can start getting into this episode that is just

going to be another one of those where You have

somebody that's not a main character getting

advice from a main character, not listening to

it or going to go on their own and prove themselves,

et cetera, et cetera. We seem to get that every

five or six episodes. So what was it? What was

it entails? It was, um, the kid with the jewel.

The kid that was like, oh, no one's going to

respect me unless I have this jewel. And the

jewel ended up turning out to be the mother's

egg or something. So it had to be in the village

no matter what or else the big bad dinosaur bird

thing would come down. Anyway, it's those types.

It's it's that's what this is. It's that type

of episode where the kid like I said, doesn't

listen to what the adults are saying, has to

prove themselves. on their own and go about business

their own way so I mean I get it whatever I guess

it's a decent lesson but this is like 367th time

we've heard it so far out of all these episodes

so I'm kind of over it so it would have to be

a fantastic episode to really do a lot for me

because I'm not excited about the premise. So

alright let's make our way to Whispering Woods

for the first time today to see if there's anything

good to say about this episode. Little things,

you need more water than that for a bath. Now

let's see. That's it. I can make a dam from those

rocks and that will make the perfect bird bath.

Now's my chance to use the book. Boulders high,

boulders low, start to roll or in a row. Alright,

we do find ourselves in the Whispering Woods,

even if it's momentarily. To talk about anything

good about this anxious apprentice, I'll start

because it's not going to take me very long.

Two things for me. Number one, I do like the

idea of apprentices. I like that as a storyline.

It's been done a little bit here and there, but

not to death yet. So I mean, I can get that and

I kind of like it in this world because we especially

haven't seen it too much in the Etheria. And

I do think this episode provides for some good

character moments and maybe even a little character

development for Scorpia. So we get to focus on

her a little bit. I do have some other things

about that that we'll bring up later. But as

far as just getting to see her more and getting

to see more about what she is and how she works,

et cetera, I do appreciate the episode for that

and that alone. What about you? Anything in whispering?

You know how you set out? OK, so two things here,

all right? Anyone that's ever been through Kentucky,

anyone that's ever been here whatsoever, whether

you've been to Louisville or Lexington or wherever,

Mammoth Cave, it doesn't matter. From Louisville

to Lexington, in the middle is the capital, Frankfurt,

for the most part. You drive through Frankfurt,

you blink, and you miss the town, essentially.

And that's really what Whispering Woods was to

me for this one, because I basically have nothing.

The other thing I'll compare it to is, have you

ever sat down in front of your typewriter or

your computer or whatever? Nobody has typewriters

anymore. Some people might but you know what

I mean? Like have you ever just sat down and

just opened a blank document? And you want to

get writing like you want to be like Chevy chase

from from funny heart funny farm writing then

the next great American novel and you just can't

think of anything to write you just sit there

staring at a blank screen with a blinking black

thing never done that's essentially what I was

for the Whispering Woods moments really nobody

stood out There were no awesome moments from

Shira Really? I mean, there was no really cool

swordplay or anything like that. Castespella,

she's essentially useless. Um... So you're a

big fan of this episode? No, not at all. Alright

then, let's make our way to Fright Zone, because

I feel like you're gonna have more to say. Yeah,

huh. What do you got for us? Okay, so Fright

Zones, and we already mentioned this in the plot,

Gack, another no -listening kid episode, Gack.

Gack like Nickelodeon? Yeah, something like that

wait, that's a good thing Okay, so we've talked

about this for four to five years now, so you're

gonna be able to pick up on this I Know cuz I've

gone camping I've done outdoorsy stuff in the

past when I was a kid when I was stupid young

and foolish I know for a fact Back when you were

young what and foolish as if stupid and foolish

this is back when i was young stupid and so you're

not stupid and foolish now no okay i thought

i was hearing things okay um so i know for a

fact if you create friction on anything it will

watch for the most part create fire okay and

we've talked about this for years now about how

these shows the filmation shows move water move

fire create fire create water all that stuff

i'm sorry one giant rock No matter how much friction,

one giant rock slamming into another giant rock

is not going to create fire. I'm sorry, it's

just not. Continue. Uh, Scorpia. What the hell

is wrong with her? Like, we haven't seen Scorpia

enough. I didn't even remember her voice. Her

voice here sounds like, you know, a low drag

queen lounge singer. I mean, seriously, what

the fuck is wrong with her voice? Tug of war

to pull the ground back together, really? Come

on now. And then... I forget who said it. Someone

said at the end of the episode, oh no, I was

wrong. You think? Of course you were wrong! Oh,

no, I know what it was. It was the kid. Castaspello

was saying that she was wrong and the kid was...

Oh, no, I was... Yeah, of course you were wrong.

Duh, you dumbass. You like the phrase on, don't

you? Yeah. All right. Well, in the... effort

to show the scariness i guess of uh mike and

i doing this for so long i'm just gonna read

off just gonna read off my right zone moments

word for word for what i have on a sheet of paper

here uh patient storyline tired and old this

i just worded it different but then you know

the the person trying to prove themselves on

their own second line so that rock caused a fire

question mark All right, third line. When did

Scorpio become retarded sounding? Question mark.

Because I never remember her sounding like this

ever. Maybe it's been a while since we've seen

her on an episode. I honestly don't even remember

the last, like, individual... She was on a lot

in the first, like, 10 to 12, and then she kind

of disappeared, but I still think I would remember

hearing that. I don't see... Okay, we both agree

that we set aside Secret of the Sword. the first

five we both agree that but it's one of those

things where i remember more of catra than anybody

else i don't remember is what there was that

episode with uh... i believe it was yes scorpion

bow when they have a very weird Oh, okay. Yeah,

she was around for like two or three episodes

in a row like right then I do not remember her

sounding like this So, I don't know if this is

something new that they did or if I'm gonna have

to go back and listen to her in an earlier episode

But oh just wait, it's it's gonna change. It

seems like something This podcast it will it's

not gonna sound like it sounded like in this

episode weird oh yeah it's very weird i have

one added thing that you didn't have here and

i did not screen cap it because i felt too awkward

but scorpia holding on to shira in the fashion

that she did that was awkward as you know what

because That tail was gonna go somewhere. It

should never go. She literally needed to hold

on to She -Ra and then she drops to her knees

and grabs She -Ra so her head is right in She

-Ra's crotch and then her tail wraps around She

-Ra and it's some weird stuff going on there.

I'm just gonna say that. My next note was so

magic is just undone by sheer physical force

in this episode because we have spells being

put and magic being unleashed from this book,

which She -Ra is able to combat just physical

with physical force. I don't understand that.

And then that has to be the most bizarre nature

earth bending move I've ever seen in my life

with the lacing of the cavernous whatever you

want to call them. Okay, so I didn't write this

down, but I do know it's probably gonna be in

one of the clips. Before this happens, she says

it earlier, sword to rope. She uses the rope

for, I forget what the hell she used the rope

for, but she used it. She laced all those rocks

together. Okay, yeah. And then she pulled them

and they - This point in the episode where she

flies quite literally Through can we please talk

about that animation on this because her and

Swift win are basically flying right through

the flames like I get it It's a background and

it's a moving background, but Jesus Christ. It

looks like they are flying Through fought like

quit literally. It looks like they should be

on fire like the whole point of when when when

she and Scorpia got lifted. Oh, I know what it

was Swift when used the rope to get them to see

yeah, that's what it was earlier, so As he's

flying away with them basically just dangling

he's essentially the damn Batcopter and Batman

and Robin are just Breezing away in the wind

on fire. Just so the animation like I get it.

It's 30 something years old It's not gonna matter

now really but it's just one of those things

that bugged the crap out of me that it basically

looked like every time they're flying through

this place that they're on fire Okay, so She

she then gets off Swift when she goes, you know

sword to Lots and lots and lots of rope. Hmm.

I'm like You have got to be fucking kidding me.

Then you just pull it and then all the world

comes back together The PSA was practice makes

perfect which I guess the apprentice was trying

to practice in order to be perfect at making

the spells but aren't we Isn't the episode that's

not necessarily saying that she should have been

practicing on her own and without guidance? It's

it's it's not even I don't want to say it's a

I Was gonna say it's a double entendre, but it's

not it's a it's a double negative is what it

is there It's a yeah, it's basically mixed messages

Yeah, I mean I get practice makes perfect is

a is a theme and there is a lesson to be learned

I guess but it doesn't seem like this episode

is teaching that it's teaching it to pay attention

to your teacher and listen to your you know the

people that are giving you guidance not to go

on your own you know what i wonder you know what

i really want to wonder i want to ask every sickness

i know i don't know who wrote the psas i don't

know if it was lou schimer himself may the man

rest in peace i don't know if it was erika schimer

i don't know if it was his wife jay schi i don't

know who it was i don't know if it was some other

producer or if it was the actual writer of each

episode that came up with the PSA, but I want

to ask any writer that is still alive that ever

worked on She -Ra, Larry DiTillio, Bob Forward,

David Wise, whomever. What would, if we had this

exact same episode today, if we had this in modern

animation, modern whatever, would the PSA go

in line with what the thing was, or would it

just be a random lesson for kids? Because we've

talked about, you and I have talked about this

for years now, both on Mask, on He -Man, on,

sometimes on Transformers, I mean, G .I. Joe,

like, the PSAs... sometimes have nothing to do

with the episode. Now, wouldn't you think if

these cartoons are going to teach children lessons

in the cartoons that the PSAs would match that,

not go completely opposite of that? Yeah. I know.

I'm in agreement with you 100%. So, not good

all the way around. Let's take a quick break

and be back to see if there's any hardware to

hand out for this episode. All right our first

chance to open up the trophy case and see if

there's anything worth taking out of it What

about you any horde bats or protection swords

for the anxious apprentice? Horde bats to everything

everything in the episode the writer the characters

the the the lack of a plot Just hard bats all

around for me. I'll give them all out right now.

All right I will put down everything. All right.

Yes, since you're giving out everything I will

give out nothing because to me nothing stood

out either way. Yes episode Yes, it's bad for

a lot of different reasons, but I don't know

who's the blame I don't know if it's the writers

fault the directors fault the People calling

the shots behind the scenes. It's a bad episode

but I can't pin it on anybody so I don't have

anything to give out. What about a rating for

you? Zero. Flat zero. Zero? Yep. All the way

at the bottom. Nothing redeemable. This is an

episode I will never... ever watch. Well I would

never watch this one again either. I'm gonna

be slightly higher I guess than you. I'll give

it a one and that's just because I do like the

fact that we do get to see a little bit more

of Scorpion even if she sounds weird. I did like

getting to see more of that character so I barely

give it a one. The other reason why I'm giving

it a zero and I just thought of this. Okay so

the chick, the apprentice chick. Ariel. Whatever.

Ariel. Whatever her name. Yeah a little mermaid.

Thank God. She doesn't have a tail and sing to

fish and make it better Well, I would make it

better. Yeah So here's the other thing Again,

I don't know if this is the writer or what the

deal so she goes out into the forest of Forbiddenness

or wherever the hell freedom for us. No, that's

a different whatever the hell she's supposed

to be But she's out in the Forbidden Zone, too.

She goes out in the Forbidden Zone, which is

basically nothing but sand, no ocean, but it's

basically like the Sands of Time, essentially.

And she sits there and makes a sandcastle out

of magic. She then takes the sandcastle she made

out of magic and turns it into a golden thing.

It wasn't big enough, though. Of whatever, OK?

So she does that. Scorpion comes up behind her

is like I'm gonna get you my pretty She shrinks

the whore or she she douses the say it the the

sand people she douses the horde troopers in

sand she shrinks scorpia Both of these magic

spells the you know putting the horde troopers

neck deep in sand and shrinking scorpia wear

off Yet the golden castle shit doesn't wear off

because they show it again and it's still golden

after Scorpia is shrunk and right after she gets

large again, it's Just I'm sorry. How do you

feel? Okay, all right good to go on that one

then let's get away from the anxious apprentice

as fast as possible Take a quick break and we'll

find ourselves surrounded by animals Hmm. A bugs

life or a fern gully? Let's go to the zoo. It

kind of takes your breath away. It is beautiful.

It's nothing but a bunch of bug -infested trees.

Cowell, you're such a complainer. Don't you like

anything? Yes. The roof over my head. Something

to eat and most of all, good music. Well now,

would you like me to play for you? I said, good

music. Cut it out, you two. Don't forget we're

here for a reason. We have to find out why the

animals are disappearing from here. I don't blame

them. I would too, if I could. This is serious,

Cowl. Animals don't just vanish. Not vanish,

Adora. Disappear. There is a difference. When

something vanishes, it's gone forever. But when

it disappears, it has to reappear somewhere else.

We just have to figure out where. And the cards?

Look under your wing, Cowl. Can't resist showing

off, can you, Bo? What's the matter, Cowl? Didn't

you like my card trick? Oh, it wasn't bad, but

I'll just keep these cards so I won't have to

see it again. Look! A Crimson Scracklebird! So?

They're very rare. People used to hunt them for

the feathers. Now there aren't many left. I know

how the poor bird feels. There are also very

few of my kind left. I'm sorry to hear that,

Cowell. Not to worry. One of me is quite enough.

Next up today is episode 38, Zoo Story. Airdate

of Tuesday, October 29, 1985, written by Michael

Chain. Adora and Bo investigate the disappearance

of various animals from the Forest of Freedom,

and find out they're being taken to Hordak's

Zoo. Kao meets a female of his species, Kaola,

but both are captured by Voltak, Hordak's zookeeper.

So we have Voltak, Mantena, Grizzlor, the Horde

troopers, and then on the good side we have Sheera,

Bo, Kao, Kaola, Swiftwind what did you think

about the zoo in the what do you think about

the horde having a zoo well I'll tell you this

it ain't no beastly sideshow cuz that was ten

times better than this I do like the appearance.

Finally, we get the appearance of Valtak. We

finally get a somewhat new Horde member that

isn't Catra or Scorpia or Leech or Mantan. I

mean, Mantan is in this, and Grizzlo is in this

too, but at least we are now meeting one of the

other Horde members or one of the other Princess

of Power characters that we have been wanting

to meet. But he just basically looks like they

took Modulok. gave him the sorceress's wings

and gave him hordak's chest plate like it just

He's like a mishmash. I swear those are the sorceress's

wings, right or something is I I remember seeing

those wings somewhere in this series and I know

I know the sorceress's wings are a little different

but it just I don't know I like the idea of seeing

a new horde member. I did it's weird to me like

Zoo maybe on Eternia But in on a theory when

we have this rebellion and all these like it's

not there's not like cities. There's not There

you don't get the feeling in a theory as you

do with Eternia that you do have a palace and

you do have the king and the queen and you do

have an evil area, you know, obviously Snake

Mountain, etc. But you get the feeling in Eternia

that it's a little bit more of like a civilized

and structured realm where you have towns and

you have cities and you have different groups

of people in different places and, you know,

it's almost like, you know, you could have storylines

of, you know, the royal palace. Like I said last

time in episode 58, they've tried. They've tried

to introduce new, they tried with the troll people,

they tried... Yeah, but even with that, I'm not

talking about just having groups of people, but

I'm saying that in Eternia, you feel like those

groups of people are advanced culture. Even if

they're still more like Little House on the Prairie

type people, they have a structure to it. And

I get the feel in Etheria, based on how it's

presented, that you're in much more of... Okay,

take it like this. Maybe this analogy will be

better. Look in the Star Wars universe, all right?

In the Star Wars universe, I think of Eternia

as you would think of... Oh, geez, what's a good

example? The main planet that they... My mind's

going blank right now, but like the... Alderaan.

Alderaan or... No. Coruscant. Yeah, Coruscant,

Alderaan, one of those types of places. I think

of Etheria more like Tatooine or Dagobah or something

like that, where you don't have that structure.

You don't have that civilized. You have a rebellion

that is scattered throughout a forest. or a whispering

wood, so to speak. You have a fright zone, like

an area of the planet that you know you don't

go to, but you don't get the feeling like outside

of those two places there's towns and cities

and it's more like it's just this wilderness,

like there's mountains, there's nature, but there's

not like a structure. So to me, when you have

these types of plots, it's evident that the writer

doesn't know the world if they're creating something

like a school or a zoo or things like that. Those

are types of things that I would buy in Eternia

but I don't buy in Etheria because it just seems

like a different type of environment. It would

be more like I would buy something in Etheria

if it was like some type of like traveling salesman

or you know a wanderer's you know Migrant worker

or something like that, but a zoo does not belong

in Etheria to me So I have a problem with a story

being centered on a zoo in Etheria I guess the

only place I could see it like a well not a zoo

but the only place I would really say that anything

like that like a zoo or a school or Police station

or whatever you want to call it whatever normal

earth thing we have that could It'd be believable

that it would be there would be the village of

thaymore because they've talked about the village

of thaymore throughout the entire series It's

right on the edge of bright moon. It's right

near the castle It's like I could see something

like that there but a zoo in general and like

and I mean I guess we got we have places like

you said Brightmore mystic or and we have these

different outposts and whatnot But I still feel

like it's not a structured to the point where

you'd have a zoo Like there's not that big palace

like you have any turn to see if it is circus

episode yeah it's really sort this or different

things like that or whatever but it's like that's

a kind of a problem with the premise to begin

with but if it's a vehicle to give us a new character

and at least and treat enough to give it a shot

so let's take a break and we'll see where we

come down on this one if it's a positive or negative

experience force delivering them to whoever is

taking the animals we need to find out who that

is and i know just who to ask All right, Mantana,

talk. Who's grabbing the animals and where are

they being taken? Tell us or you'll be sorry.

I won't tell you. You rebels are too soft -hearted

to do anything to me. Mantana, have you ever

heard of the Trolls of Spikeheart? Trolls? Oh,

She -Ra, you wouldn't. They hate hordesmen. Yes,

they do. But they like us. And if we were to

ask them to get some information from Mantana...

Oh, I don't even like to guess what they might

do to him. Oh, it would be awful. But he says

he won't tell us anything. Wait a minute. All

I know is we were to deliver those cages to Outpost

6. Outpost 6. I know where that is. Looks like

that's our next stop. But what do we do with

Mantena and Grizzler and the troopers? That's

no problem. You can't... Alright, once again

we find ourselves in the Whispering Woods, not

actually in the zoo or at the zoo, but in the

Whispering Woods to talk about the zoo. So we

visited the zoo, we're back in the Whispering

Woods, we're going to recollect and see how our

experiences were. I don't know if we're going

to come down on the same side of the fence on

this one or not, so I'll let you go first. What

kind of Whispering Woods moments do you have

for a zoo story? You are a toy a child's play

good moments good wrong wrong wrong wrong cartoon

wrong cartoon Mantana and grizzlers back and

forth. I love that. That's hilarious. I thought

that was great Mantana in the mud in the whole

scene with with her him and bow and shira. That

was awesome Kaula Oh, okay then. Thanks for trying

to come up with an interesting name for the female

bird. Like, you got Orko and Driel. You got Madame

Raz and whatever her old griff or whatever his

name was. Kaola? Seriously? Kaola is the female

of the species? It could have been Kaolette,

but then it would have sounded too much like

Towelette. Oh, god. Well tech is hordex zookeeper.

Okay, apparently that was the only job left in

the horde when Voltaic joined up the cook Zootrons

remind me of the shredders robots for maybe obviously

it came after but it's like I know Skeletor has

the skullbots that he uses and they kind of look

like a mini floating version of r2 and all that

but like these zootron things just really because

they have the the wiggly arms and all that really

remind me of the robots that were used in the

team in t -series later in in the years i can

see that i like how in the beginning i'll just

keep these cards so i don't have to see your

stupid trick again but that was a great moment

i thought this episode was going to go an entire

different route than it ended up doing it. And

I thought we were going to get an episode that

was kind of tackling the whole endangered species

thing, because they talk about how there's not

a lot of cow's kind left. And so I thought, man,

that's a cow's a great character, a great vehicle

to kind of delve into the whole endangered species

and give a lesson on kids, like how not to, you

know, take things for granted or this, that and

the other or whatever. I thought that's what

the route it was going. So I kind of liked that

even though it didn't do that. Just like you,

I like the mud bath. It was very reminiscent

of the early He -Man episodes, when Mantenna

and the Horde troopers ended up in the mud, just

like we saw in early Eternian episodes. The Freedom

Forest, okay, I guess we learned a little bit

more about the environment we're around. There's

a cool still shot of the Horde in a cage that

I liked. I kind of see all of them, well not

all of them, but the ones in this episode all

kind of caged up, but I thought it was cool.

I like Voltak a lot. Alright. But, and I guess

this is somewhat going into Fright Zone, but

not... I have a Whispering Woods because I like

him as a character. But why waste him as a zookeeper?

Yeah, that was... And damn it. I wish we could

have seen a Voltak Stratos episode. Yeah, that

would have been awesome. I mean, I know Stratos

had, you know, different episodes where he went

against certain people and groups and stuff like

that, but a Voltaic and Stratos showdown, I would

be all on board for. And I did think this episode

did a great job of putting the commercial break

at a certain spot because I thought it was a

good cliffhanger. I will say this now, and it's

not really a spoiler because you're not really

reading it, but when you get to it, it's the

Eternity War comic series from DC Comics that

they did. as that war progresses, Valtak and

Stratos do show up. Nice. So it is pretty awesome.

Yeah, because that would be an epic fight. So,

alright. About fright zones, sir. I only have

three, so I'll go first. Horde has speed regulations

for their transports. Tell me we didn't write

that into that episode. See, I thought that was

kind of funny because, again, it goes into the

whole Grizzlor versus Mantana thing that I was

talking about. It does, but I was just like,

what? There's no regulations that the word would

have. And, uh, all right. Bo, I'm going to stop

that convoy and ask them some questions. Even

Adora tells you that's foolish. Like, what were

you gonna do? You see an enemy? You're a rebellion.

This isn't like... This isn't like it's just

some random citizen that you're going to stop

in the street. You're a minority in this world.

You're a small rebellion, which usually rebellions

are somewhat trying to keep covert. They're trying

to not be seen, not be heard. He's going to stroll

out and stop a convoy and ask them questions.

In this episode, he isn't really befitting that

that old term for certain rebellion members of

you know scruffy looking nerf herder because

oh my god is bo just dumb yeah and then lastly

going back to the fact that i did like the mud

bath and that you know we got mantan in the horde

trooper in the mud but they do that and then

they go to some other action about you know three

four minutes worth of other action and then we

go back and he's still sitting in the mud he

couldn't get up What is going on? What about

you? What about fright zone moments for you?

Shira is the dr. Doolittle dr. Doolittle of the

80s. Okay, so here hear me out on this because

we know that she has the healing power We know

that she has the power to communicate with animals,

but the whole alligator scene just Felt like

it was like I wish the alligators had vocals

or like noises or something like you can't can

you grab Frank welcome Jim Cummings on that one

something because it was just one of those things

where She's talking to them and all as you see

them do is nod their heads and all I can think

of is oh my god Where's Will Smith when you really

you know men in black nod your heads. Oh god

But yeah, apparently she's the doctor do a little

of the 80s. I like it anything else Alright,

final thought was, appreciate freedom, I guess,

and stop to smell the roses. That's what I got

out of that. So, appreciate your freedom of the...

Roses, sunsets, and... Appreciate your freedom,

otherwise you'll end up in a zoo that more resembles

a jail. Yeah. Alright, we're gonna take a quick

break and see where we come down as far as awards

and rankings for the zoo story. Zootopia's better.

I think there's a zoo animal in your background

there. Hello? Who's that? Why, I mean, where

did you come from? You look just like me. You

look just like me. I didn't think there were

many of us left. I didn't either and I was sure

there weren't any pretty ones. You're very sweet,

but I'm afraid I have to be going. Wait, I've

just met you. All right, it's time for some awards

for the zoo story any horde bats for you Mmm,

nah. Any protection swords for ya? Nah. Alright,

well I'll take my share then. I'm gonna give

a horde back to Hordak for wasting Voltak as

your zookeeper. Find a good spot for this man.

He seems like a good warrior. You're wasting

him. He's better than half of your other hordes,

so get somebody with some gusto out there on

your front lines. Bad decision. Hordak, protection

sword for Voltak. I like him. and protection

sword for Kyle, not just for kind of the bad

mouthing of Bo in the beginning, but I think

Kyle from the whole episode does a lot of stuff

good and kind of shows that he's a worthy member

of the Rebellion. So, yeah. All right. I have

a feeling we're going to be different on this,

but what is your episode rating for a zoo story?

Two and a half. Two and a half. Right in the

middle. Much better. It was compared to. Apprentice,

it was much better. I mean, the only way that

Apprentice episode could have been better is

if Donald Trump showed up in the boardroom. Oh

my. We're going there. I thought it was supposed

to be Arnold Schwarzenegger now. Anyway, I will

be much higher than you on this one. I'm gonna

give it a four out of five. I enjoyed this episode

quite a bit. I thought Kyle was good. I thought

the back and forth, like you said, between Mantena

and Grizzler was good. I thought Voltaic was

a cool new character. The only problem that keeps

me from rating this higher is it still makes

no sense that there's a zoo in ethereal whatsoever

so i can only give it a four that's very true

all right let's take a quick break and we'll

be back for the final episode today to see if

we enjoy a trip into the dark dimension this

I can take so what if we're outnumbered chew

on these tin heads the sound of retreating hordesman

it's music to my ears Yours? It's the last thing

they'd expect, you said. You'd have to be crazy

to try something like this, you said. Well, I

was right, wasn't I? All right, final episode

up today is episode 39 into the Dark Dimension,

airdate of Wednesday, October 30th, 1985, written

by J. Michael Straczynski. She -Ra and Hordak

are pulled into a dark dimension thanks to Catra

and Shadow Weaver's combined bumbling. There,

the Dark One challenges them to find a way out.

But to do so, the sworn enemies may have to work

together. The classic enemy -hero -work -together

episode. We have Hordak, Catra, Shadow Weaver,

Scorpia, and some Horde troopers. We have She

-Ra, Bo, Madame Raz, and Kaol. And then, of course,

the Dark One and some weird monkey thing. So

what did you think about this episode that basically

isolates She -Ra and Hordak from the rest of

the group and their adventure to try to get back

to Etheria? Did you say the dark one is some

weird monkey thing the dark one and some weird

monkey that showed up oh Okay, and so okay. Yeah,

cuz I for a second there I thought you said the

dark one was some weird monkey thing and I thought

All I could think of is King Louie. I don't want

to be anybody but you Think it was the jungle

book on the mind. That's right Let's see I dug

this one. I thought this one was pretty interesting

because it's not often, if ever, that we will

get an episode where, like, in He -Man, there

were always episodes where it was just He -Man

and Skeletor. Like, there was several episodes

where they went into various dimensions and fought

each other, and this is, like, the first time

that we've had that with She -Ra. The only problem

I have with the... the... the... not really the

execution, but the way the plot goes is... They

basically say, okay, Shira's a Democrat, Hordak's

a Republican because he hates everything, you

know, whatever. It's like, she's on one extreme

and he's on the other. And it's just like, seriously,

they're going to considerably beat us over the

head with that message of, oh my, you know, honestly.

First the Trump room for reference. Now we're

talking about Democrats and Republicans. You've

been watching a little bit too much Fox News,

I think. No, not really. Are you kidding me?

I don't watch Fox News. I get my news from the

internet, the other good source. But no, I mean,

it's just one of those things where you have

one extreme or the other, and they basically

say that Shira's extreme is good. Don't get me

wrong, her methods and her ways of doing things

are correct compared to Hordak's, but I don't

know, it just seemed like they were... Basically

just trying to make him more of a villain than

we already know him to be yeah, I don't I like

the premise though I like like you said I like

the idea of an isolated episode where we just

get to see hordak and she or kind of pit against

each other talk Discuss fight argue whatever

might be so I'm on board based on the premise

it's just one of those it's gonna come down to

is it executed in a way that makes it different

or entertaining or not because I am on board

based on the premise alone So alright, let's

take a quick break and see how many whispering

woods or fright zone moments we can muster in

the dark dimension time today. Talk about good

things that we found along the way in the Dark

Dimension. First of all, direct attack on the

Fright Zone. That's an interesting move. Maybe

not the best idea by Vo, but it's still interesting

to see the Rebellion actually attacking the Fright

Zone. Hey, you're reading off my paper. Hey,

we got a mention of Frosta. She doesn't appear.

She doesn't speak. They don't show her. But apparently

she was part of that attack or something because

both says glimmer and frost us So we'll we'll

give them a half a point for that Interesting

to see hordak and shira isolated together again.

I like that There's a lot of the banter back

and forth There was one part where she was stating

off facts and that was kind of funny the bickering

back and forth is funny it's also a good little

juxtaposition because Basically, they're confronted

with someone who is in a way trying to do the

same type of stuff that Hordak does. So he's

complaining about it and she was like, that's

what you do all the time. I also like that it

presented us with an opportunity to have some

kind of like Indiana Jones puzzle solving going

on. I could have dealt with even more of it than

just what they gave us, but you know, the find

the key, find the door, find this or that, you

know, look through the artifacts and try to solve

this thing. There was a little hint of that,

which I liked. And I thought the dark one was

depicted as a pretty cool adversary for these

guys. He seemed like he could hold his own, obviously,

against these guys, even if She -Ra does kind

of neutralize it to an extent, but I liked that

it was someone that they just couldn't best right

away and... Almost reminded me of Granamir in

a way So I like the dark one. He was bad and

he did want to intentionally Potentially enslave

them, but he did have a moral code. So I kind

of like that. What about you? I mean he He kind

of reminds me of all the old guys get off my

lawn because that's essentially what did what

his Premise like his premise has nothing to really

the beginning is nothing really to do with He's

lonely in the one of them. They basically showed

up in a dimension and he's like, dude, I want

I kind of don't blame the guy but I get it I

You know, like I said before, you know, why are

you looking at my paper over here? It's like

even though it was a even though it was Bose

bone -headed idea I gotta say I really love actually

seeing the aetherian war, you know They're fighting

for control. Yeah, I don't remember. I wrote.

Hey look. It's shadow weaver. I haven't seen

her in a while I don't remember the last episode

shadow. We were was in. Oh, we saw her last week

Did we okay? Here's old and forgetful. Oh She

was in the spider episode briefly. Yeah, but

yeah the When they get hit by the bickering shadow

weaver and catra and they get sent into the dark

dimension The fall through, the sky, the fall

through, that animation, the whole aerial thing,

even though obviously what I'm gonna reference

happened just a few years ago versus 30 -something

years ago, that was almost as good or if not

better than the Iron Man 3 air battle or air

rescue thing. That's what that reminded me of,

of her and Shira and Hordak going around and

around in the sky. I thought that was awesome.

Anything else? No, all right for fright zone.

I just have one but it's a big one at one point

through their little maze that they're trying

to solve I Mentioned that there was a monkey

character and the monkey character wants some

berries that are hanging above his head that

he cannot reach and Shira says well I can't reach

her reach them my sword cannot reach them. So

Hordak has to turn his arm into a Garden shear

and cut them so they fall for the monkey. Wait

a second So now you can't turn your sword into

anything? I know, right? You do it every episode

to our chagrin, and now when it's finally actually

something that legitimately needs you to turn

it into one of a thousand things that could get

these berries down, you need Hordak. Yeah. She

could have done the boomerang thrill, the one

you hate all the time. She could have done anything,

rope, anything. Yup. Like... Sword into the garden

sheer that's what the Hordak did so stop with

the nonsense know your character Don't be a J.

Michael Strazinski should know this because She

ra has done this in episodes that he has written

before so you know She ra has the ability to

turn her sword into just about anything she wants

including the handcuffs and a tennis racket so

I Think the thing here is though that they wanted

to show us There was a need for Hordak, but you

got to do that in a way that makes sense You

know do that in a way that doesn't Obviously

she's standing right there with her sword and

you give her a line that says my sword can't

reach that Which draws attention to the fact

that we know her sword can be turned into something

else. So that was my big one anything for you

Honestly, no, okay. I mean I like this episode

but I'm sorry, episode 37 just really killed

all my negativity for anything else. I like this

one. It's not the best episode, but it's very

interesting and intriguing. Well, for the PSA,

this is what we're going to deal with. We have

expressed our opinions and our thoughts on the

PSA's numerous times now, especially in recent

episodes, so we're not going to comment. On the

PSA at all. You're not allowed to react. You're

not allowed to comment All I'm gonna do is say

listen to everything we just talked about about

this episode and the PSA was about drugs Okay,

so moving on Nothing to do with the episode audio

break is scheduled now So we're gonna take a

quick break and for the last time come back and

see if there's any last second Trophies that

we want to hand out before we close this episode.

Yeah, I didn't even I didn't even watch the PSA

for this one. I just stopped it as soon as the

episode was over. It literally is talking about

people trying to talk you into doing drugs. Well,

at least we didn't have another drug episode

like we did in He -Man. With Cal Marzo. Oh, damn,

Lukey. Imp. Tell me what you have done with Horak.

Us? What have you done with She -Ra? Now, here

they are! But, what are all of you still doing

here? Still? But Great Horak, you're only missing

for a few minutes. A few minutes? I guess time

must work very differently where the Dark One

lives. Now! Beware! Wait! Now's our chance if

we take advantage of it. No, Bo. Even Hordak,

it would seem, has a sense of honor however twisted.

We must honor that. I still don't understand

it. Why did she do it? She could have left me

there and she didn't. Why? Why? Besides, who

knows? If he dwells on it long enough, maybe

he'll figure it out. Maybe he'll understand.

And then, Bo... We'll have won the greatest battle

of them all. Now, come on, let's go home. All

right, last chance, Mike. What do you got? A

Horde bat or a protection sword for the Dark

Dimension? Nothing. I give Hordak and Sheera

a protection sword. I like their banter back

and forth. There was one point where she was

going on and on and on and on and on and he did

one of those double takes. Like, hey, what did

you say? Nothing, Hordak. Nothing. Sorry. Yeah.

So that was pretty cool. So I'll give the Meech

a production sword, but other than that, nah.

I'm with Jan Shira. I like her in this episode.

She has a lot of good moments, a lot of good

jabs, a lot of good dialogue to kind of combat

Hordak. She really kind of shows. that she's

superior in a lot of different ways to him. Well,

they had to show a way of her being able to fight

him without actually fighting him because they

couldn't, because the whole point of the episode

is they not fight, they have to team up. So they

had to, you know, have verbal altercations instead

of physical ones. And of course, like the dark

one says, there's multiple chances that she has

and she takes the high ground, the moral ground,

every time. So, um, and then I gotta give a horde

bat to Shadow Weaver because you clearly see

Catra... Shooting Shira and stunning her and

doing whatever that thing was gonna do, I don't

know what the point of that thing was gonna do,

it was gonna do something. But I get that you

wanted to try your thing too, but if you clearly

see that you have the one person that you're

after in the middle of some type of stun ray

or whatever, you shooting your thing off is retarded.

I hate to say this, I'm sure he's a nice guy

and all that stuff, but I blame J. Michael Truszynski

on the writing for that because they set that

up like I knew that was coming. Yeah, we knew

it was coming, but it was just the execution

of it was not that they did it at the same time.

If he would have said surprise or whatever, and

then she was going to do her thing and maybe

it didn't quite work, so he says it again, so

then Shadow Weaver is like, oh, well, it must

be me, and then she does it and they do it at

the same time, that would have been perfect.

but it wasn't like that the one clearly shoots

and has shira and then the other one does it

even though she acknowledges that the other one

has already done it so it was just bad execution

on that part as far as radiance go what do you

give this one out of five Compared to the other

two episodes, I give it a three and a half. All

right. I am on board with you. I give it a four

out of five. I'm a little bit higher. Again,

my biggest problem is first, some just minor

things that we're overlooking in the writing

of what's going on here, especially with She

-Ra not being able to turn her sword into something

else, a couple things like that. So I will stick

with a four. So not a bad rating here to close

out the episode. We're going to take a quick

break and let you know what our thoughts are

on the myths so far. Do you like retro cartoons?

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Saturday morning rewind was voted best podcast

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be good because the world needs another movie

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hosted by Amanda, Kevin. Each week we dive headfirst

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podcasts you need to experience the cinema geeks.

You can find us on iTunes, Blog .Radio, or GeekCastRadio

.com We brought the entire convention center

to the brink of an inter -genre geek war. 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 Quillacronym, or Pauka for short. What

do you think? I think if we're not careful, Candice

is gonna bust us. You can find Palka on the GeekCast,

Radio Network, iTunes, Blog Talk Radio, and all

of the other methods you find podcasts. So we're

almost up to episode 40 out of 93. Next time

around, we'll have episodes 41 to 42. What are

we thinking after watching these three, sir?

Well, I mean, honestly, it started with a bad

taste in my mouth with the anxious apprentice

or whatever, but... Honestly, I had the second

two episodes I gave for us on I like the ball

tech especially being able to see what we've

been asking for with another character, etc.

But yeah, I mean It's still kind of teetering

on that give me something or Do something so

I don't feel like you're just recycling stuff

over and over again that we've seen and you know

I get it that maybe not everybody that they're

trying to target in this day and time when they

were airing these episodes had seen all of the

human episodes but for someone who has just recently

watched all the human episodes any time you're

playing on a theme that we saw two, three, four,

five times in He -Man makes it even expounded

that much worse here. So I need some differences.

I need something to step out and show something.

I need to see freaking Frosta and Flutterina

or whatever, Butterfly Arena and Pika Blue and

all these other damn toys that I know existed.

Like, give me something, please, for the love

of God. Here's the thing for me at this point

where like I said next week is we'll be we'll

do be doing episode 40 of the cartoon, but it's

one of those things where we're almost 40 episodes

into this show and Other than the overtly Negative

sexual connotations towards men versus towards

women like trying to do the whole girl power

like women are better than men this show I see

nothing in this that's empowering for girls Absolutely,

not even even the the sorcerer's apprentice or

the anxious or whatever that like they could

have written that episode to be very Empowering

towards young girls in the 80s. I see none of

that like hell Every episode of gem is more empowering

than that one episode And it's just one of those

things where it's like the whole point of this

series was to create something for an action

show for girls And I see zero like the action

stuff It's pretty much for guys as far as I can

see and maybe I'm reading too much into this

Hopefully someone can comment and let me know

if I'm over analyzing this but Jesus Christ is

like Where's the stuff for girls in this because

this doesn't seem like a really girly show to

me at all I guess I'm not a good person to answer

that, because I don't know what it would mean

to be empowering for a girl or how I would recognize

that. I mean, I think She -Ra as just a general

character is empowering in a way, but I don't

know if you're talking about... She is. I'm saying

the plots aren't. Yeah, and that's why I'm not

sure what kind of plot would be, so I don't know

how to answer that. I just need more characters.

More characters, more backstories, more...same

stuff I've been harping on for 150 episodes.

I think we'll be harping on that until... the

very final episode of this part of Power is a

Great Skull series. We'll see. I mean, we're

nearing the halfway point of the actual She -Ra

series, so we'll have to see. I mean, there was

more toys to introduce at some point, I'm sure.

Yup. Thank you for listening to the Myths of

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

us, leave feedback for the show. There are several

ways to do so. Visit the website, geekcastradio

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Weisman Line, 502 -526 -5821, please tell us

the show you're leaving the notice for and your

name. We hope you enjoyed the mist today, and

don't forget to join us for our next adventure

when we will take a look at the next three episodes

of She -Ra, which are Treasures of the First

Ones, Glimmer's Story, and Enemy with My Face.

Any faces? So, uh, Enemy with My Face, um, hmm.

Let's see, we can get Will Smith, uh, Nicolas

Cage, John Travolta, Gene Hackman. There you

go, so you got Enemy of the State. versus face

-off right there. That is a terrible reference.

I know right? Anyways, for now I have TF2 and

Mike with the non -referencing Optimus Solo.

By the power and for the honor of Grayskull,

you all have the power.