Welcome Back Kowl, The Rock People, Huntara

And soon it will be too late for you. You sound

so sure of yourself. Sword to Boomerang. Boomerang

to Sword. That was close. She's got more tricks

than my brother's friend Orko. Hello, this is

optimus solo and welcome to the sixty first chapter

in our powers of grace call series With me for

this journey into the masters of the universe

franchise is of course the one and only atfg1

Mike hello Hello professionalism at its finest.

Are you kidding me? I've been doing this for

almost eight years now fresh listen went out

the window That is clear Are you ready for more

miss of a theory sir? Uh -huh? Yep. You sound

excited. So in this episode of Mists of Etherea,

we'll be giving you our thoughts on episode 43,

Welcome Back Cowl, episode 44, The Rock People,

and episode 45, Huntara. So we hope you're ready,

because it's time to go back to Etherea. For

a second there, I thought you were going to say,

Welcome Back Cotter. You already made that joke

last episode. No, I didn't. Did I? I don't even

remember anymore. And then I dropped a gushfruit

on Imp. Well, old friend, I wish I could have

been there with you. Looks like they're going

to that mill. I'll zip there ahead of... I need

a place to hide. I know! We're gonna take care

of those machines before they can get anywhere

near the village. demonstration will explain

it best. Oh, dear me my, let me see. Nizzle,

nazzle, nizzle, oh, no. Power soften, ground

to groove. Oh, no, madam. Oh, yeah, I think I

got it. Try nizzle, nazzle, nazzle, no. Nizzle,

nazzle. in the village to sound a warning, just

in case any of the machines get past us. We thought

Cowell would get some rest if he had a nice place

to sleep. All right, first up today is episode

43, Welcome Back Cowell. Aired date of Tuesday,

November 5th, 1985, written by Philip Castle,

Hordak captures Madame Raz and some rebels accuse

Cowell of being guilty for Madame Raz's capture.

We have Hordak, Shadow Weaver, Tongue -Lasher,

and Imp. And then we have She -Ra, Swift Wind,

Bo, Madame Raz, Kaol, and the Twiggets. What

do you think of this betrayal? Who's guilty?

Welcome back Kaol episode. First of all, Kaol

will never left. It's not like he went to the

Valley of the Lost or something. It's not like

he, you know... He didn't pull an orco. Because

there is, and we know this, we've been doing

this for four or five years now. In He -Man,

whenever Orko got down or whatever, whenever

someone accused him of something, his best...

Choice of options was to run away and just leave

all his friends and everything else cowl didn't

necessarily do that here. So the whole Welcome

back cowl thing. It's like seriously really he

didn't go anywhere. He's been in the whole episode

the entire time I could see if the Horde captured

him or I think it was more so like a figurative

Welcome back the one we can trust and you're

back in the fold I don't mind the whole idea

that we're having an episode where one of the

members of the good party, so to speak, is called

into question. It's always interesting when they

kind of flip things on their head and good characters

are questioning good characters or arguing with

them or fighting with them, etc. I mean, we've

seen it a couple of times here and there. It's

not like it's totally never been done before.

So it's not 100 % unique. But it's not overdone.

It's not like we get it every three episodes.

So yeah, the problem isn't so much that it's

done. It's the reaction to like the extreme reaction

to it both ways, whether it's negative or positive.

That's and I'll talk about that later, but that's

really where where I come down on this episode

where it's like, yeah, you can do that. You can

explore. Oh my God, what if cowl betrayed the

rebellion or whatever? And that's fine. But just

the And that's been a problem of this show, the

extreme reactions of characters, the extreme

negative reactions of characters. What was it,

a few episodes, a few podcasts ago where we had

an episode where was it Sprague and Sprocker

and whoever the hell from the Twiggets, they

hated something or somebody or what was it? The

trolls. Yeah, it was the troll episode. Yeah,

that's right. That's the problem I'm having with

this show now when they broach topics like this

or when they do something like the troll episode

where the reactions of the characters or it's

like maybe it is because I haven't seen all of

these episodes in 30 something years, you know

like seriously like we've said the whole time

we've been doing this and we're gonna say it

until this part of the powers of grayskull series

ends Neither one of us really remember a lot

of these episodes. So this is us first This is

this is my first reaction to this and I just

don't I Don't even think I'm romanticizing the

characters at all really like I remember certain

things but there are a lot of things I don't

and I am sorry some of these characters should

not have that much of an evisceral negative reaction

to Essentially what boils down to cowl being

set up, right? I think the problem that we get

I'm not trying to forgive the episode for it

necessarily, but I think the problem that we

get with a situation like this is if the premise

is that one of them is going to be accused of

betraying or, you know, like we had in the troll

episode, the trust of a different species or

whatever it is, it's... they're going to these

extreme reactions and these kind of cartoon -like...

no pun intended but like emotional pull that

we're getting from these characters and I don't

know if it's a product of the fact that we only

have 25 minutes to develop it you know what I

mean like if it would be better if it was like

a two -parter and the first part was kind of

the the setup of why they don't trust them and

then the second part is the execution of how

they figure out the real aspect of what's going

on but I don't know if it's just because they

feel like they have to rush it but I agree that

the reactions are very intense and they're I

would like to think if you got this rebellion

and you're fighting the horde and you've had

a number of weeks months and or years Where you're

doing this and where you're fighting alongside

these people and it's very clear who the good

and the bad are There might be great characters

out there that are not as defined but it's very

clear that Shira, Bo, Glimmer, the Queen, you

know Swift Wind, Metamoraz, etc. are all good

Yeah, so you would think that if something came

up and it was like hey so -and -so found out

about our plans or whatever, that the first reaction

wouldn't be, you're a traitor, it was him, it

was her, start pointing fingers at each other,

you've been through this fight together, you

know it's not you guys, so the first reaction

should be, there's a spy out there, or you know,

who's listening to our conversations, or who's

being a blabbermouth, that type of stuff, so

I'm gonna, go ahead. We've already re - we started

the series off with exploring a bad character

going good and now they're trying to shoehorn

in a potential, even though this isn't what happened,

but they're trying - in this episode what I -

what I felt after I watched it was they're trying

to force us to believe that Cowell, who is a

very good character, he's always been a very

good character and he always will be, sure he

has a lot of negative, um, you know... nagging

opinions about certain things and certain people

especially Boa I mean let's face it Kyle's not

without fault I'm just saying in this specific

episode the way it's written in the way his character

is done is just completely god -awful because

it just doesn't it just doesn't seem like his

character like I said in the very to set up the

whole series we started off with Adora being

evil right and she went good and now and but

they had like you said they had five episodes

right to go through that whole transformate like

you know so either either you have to have multiple

episodes or two -parters or three -parters to

develop that or a string of things If you're

going to try to do it in one episode, you can't

choose a character that is true and tested part

of the good team. You either have to use a side

character, someone that we don't see very often,

an introduction maybe to a character that we

aren't 100 % sure of, or... Last episode we did

the... I'm sorry, I didn't interrupt you again,

but the last episode we did, when we talked about

the, what was it, the speck or the spleen or

whatever the hell, the mud character. Oh, okay.

where Shadowweaver turned the thing evil and

then she wrote a talk, you know what I mean?

Use a character like that or something. Right,

or even like one of the ones that is not used

very often. Like if you used a, I don't know,

like a... not cast a spell, we've seen her a

little bit too much, but you know, someone that's

more on the side. If you're gonna use somebody

that has been in a majority of the episodes,

then you really have to set it up. There should

have been like... Three or four different things

where we would call into question Like like if

broom was going at it with cowl or the twig its

were Having the tiff with him and he was being

put down and he was being cast aside or he was

being you know Made to feel like he was not worth

it. Etc. Etc And then you have something that

develops into well, maybe it's possible that

You could see his character Making a mistake

in that moment or something like that, but they

don't do either of those things So it's just

very hard to believe what they try to execute

here. Yeah, it really is We'll get more into

that. I'm sure as we get into specific whispering

woods and fright zone moments So let's make our

way there Alright, we've made our way over to

the Whispering Woods for the first time in this

episode. And, Mike, I'll let you go first. We've

talked about some things that might lead to potential

issues with the episode, but were there anything

about the episode that you liked? This is the

first time, to my knowledge, that we've had a

direct, quote -unquote, battle between cowl and

imp. The whole fruit thing. Now, to steal a line

from Slappy Squirrel, now that's comedy. But

what I liked about it was how they kept cutting,

the camera kept cutting back and forth, where

Imp is saying all these bad things about Kyle,

and then it'll cut to Kyle saying, I don't think

he really means that. You know, whatever he said,

but I just absolutely love that. Other than that,

what do you got? Oh man. This is gonna explain

my eventual rating of the episode later on Because

we've already talked about one of the major things

that's wrong with it But there are actually a

lot of things I do like about this episode. So

I think there's some continuation of good comedic

moments between imp and hordak first The first

time that imp gets doused with the sticky fruit

or whatever the hell it was Goose fruit or gas

fruit or something or a hordak gives him an order

and then it And Imp, clean yourself up first.

It was just kind of funny that he was like, you're

dirty, you need to clean yourself up. A lot of

Imp moments, I like when he became the ladder

rung. That was something I haven't seen him become

before. And like you said, the Imp and Kyle storyline,

why haven't they done this before? Yeah, really?

Because these two characters perfectly play off

of each other. Oh, absolutely. And it's just

a great punch and counterpunch, whether it's...

Action whether it's comedy whether it's dialogue.

They work really well together, so I'd like to

see more of that This is not going to be the

first time I reference a certain franchise that

rules the world right now, but Star Wars. Was

that an AT -AT walker or their version of? Yeah,

that was an AT -AT. Those look like, it's like

tanks, but they looked a lot more like walkers.

The only time I really recognized it as an AT

-AT walker was when she roped the legs around

it. Yeah. It's really the only time, like, I'm

like, hey, where's Luke in the X -Way? Well,

and then it gets, you could even go a little

step further because then we see Tongue -Lashore

with a jetpack that reminded me of Boba Fett.

Yeah, also later in this episode when we talk

about another episode of the here in the podcast

we'll have more another which no I know but I

Need to be able to make the joke that I want

to make for that so later But I didn't think

about tongue lash or as Boba Fett until us Just

now until I was talking about the AT AT Walker

because my next note was him flying around with

that jetpack on and I thought that was kind of

a cool touch Like I said, I do like the unique

ability to give us a story about the possibility

of a good person being bad or betraying them.

Not saying it's... It's just the wrong character.

Wrong character, wrong execution, but I do like

the idea. Not that it's, like I said, it's not

something we've never seen, but it's used seldomly

enough that it would work if it was executed

right. I like the reference that She -Ra makes

or Adora makes to force Captain Adora. and kind

of her knowledge of that time. And hey, they

brought the welcome back cowl in as an actual

line at the end of the episode. So I guess that

works. But how about your phrase? So when before

we get to the phrase, I'm normally when I do

the audit and getting the audio clips, if I can

get the title into the plot clip, the clip everyone

just heard before we started talking about. the

plot and all that stuff after the introduction

of the podcast. So if it's in the very beginning,

I'll grab it and I'll just leave it at the like,

you know, welcome back, Kyle. And then it'll

cut to us doing our doing our thing because it

came so late and I already grabbed the clips.

I'm like, I'm not going back and doing that.

It just came too damn late. Um, what was the

other thing? Uh, the, um, okay. So getting into

the freight zone at first, I thought, 87 Motu

ripped this off, but apparently it wasn't because

I misunderstood it okay, so you get Kyle and

the whole thing of him going to sleep and whatever

else and then this Mystical half face of Madame

Raj shows up and calls him to come seer now at

first I thought it was gonna be shadow Weaver

because I thought it was gonna be shadow Weaver

in disguise the whole time, but apparently Madame

has some self self -confidence issues because

she always makes mistakes. Now, we're 40 something,

or is it 43, 42, I don't know. We're 43 something.

That's 43. Okay, so we're 43 episodes into this

series out of 93, so we got 50 episodes of the

left of the show, but we're just now realizing

that Madame has... Issues with the fact that

she constantly makes a mistake I mean they've

joked about it broom has joked about it and is

always correct or everything else But they've

never really explored her emotional Take away

from always having mistakes, and I just think

it was really heavy -handed a very heavy -handed

way of trying to get cowl out of the place where

imp is gonna What just seemed like it came out

of nowhere? Yeah, I just like That's why I initially

thought it was like Shadow Weaver in disguise.

Imp sets up cowl. I haven't brought this up in

a while, but... Gotta talk about that transformation

scene, because Bo was right friggin' there. They

show Bo saying he'll show one of the machines,

he'll slow one of the machines down. And then

they immediately show, and almost right next

to him, a Dora transforming. What the hell? Yeah,

I understand they were trying to say that he

was already off, but it was way too quick. So

I almost wrote that down too. He was still right

there. Ended up, you know... our friend is our

enemy type of episode and I just I started getting

boring and then I got really mad I know okay

so But in all caps I know you I know how you

hate it when she throws the sword itself as a

boomerang and it boomerangs back But now we have

started to boomerang. Are you friggin kidding

me? That's fine if they would have done that

every time but since she's done that before without

turning it into a boomerang it makes it kind

of pointless Yeah, let's just story you go. I

actually only have one thing and Like I said,

it's gonna play into my rating a little bit.

It is a major thing, but it's only one, and that

is just this betrayal is not executed. It's just

not executed well. It's very quick, it's very

forced, the whole ruse by Madame Rance to get

Cowell out of there, how quickly Broom and the

Twiggets turn on Cowell and believe it. It's

just... it was weird. I even rewound and watched

part of it again to make sure I hadn't just like...

spaced out and missed something, and I hadn't.

I was like, I don't get it. I don't get the progression

here. I know it's only 20 -some minutes, but

if you can't execute it, ask for a two -parter

or something. I don't know if that's a possibility

or not, but that was my biggest thing. And the

PSA was about, it's better to try and fail than

to not try at all. Yoda said it better do or

do not there is no try exactly. I'll give you

that one Yoda over Lukey. All right We're gonna

take a quick break in episode 2 over Lukey We're

gonna take a quick break. We'll be right back

to hand out our first set of hardware for the

today's episode Going away. Going away? I just

think my usefulness is well over with here. That's

ridiculous! How can I be of any help to the Rebellion

when I always manage to get my magic all twisted

around? Madam, can't you see it isn't what you

do for us? We want you with us for what you are.

At least ask some of the others what they think

before you go. No, no! And I want you to pr -

I promise that you won't tell anyone that we

talked about this. All right, I promise. All

right, it's time to hit people with things. So

any hornbats for you, Mike? To Philip Castle,

Kessel, whatever his name is, for the dramatic

character changes, both ways in Broom, Broom

specifically, on the whole judgment thing. Because,

like, seriously, that was too damn dramatic.

So, hordebat to the writer. What about you on

hordebats? I'm giving one out to Broom and the

Twiggets for... See, I can't give it to them

directly because it's not their fault! Hey, that's

who did it in the episode. They acted like jerks.

They turned on their friend with a blink of an

eye. I don't want them on my team, so... Twiggets

and hordebats, what about protection swords for

you? Cowl versus Imp was great. Cowl and Imp

both get protection swords. I can almost get

on board with that, but I didn't write that down.

I did write Cowl down as one of them just because

I do like how he just kind of stays true and

doesn't freak out and just kind of... I mean...

He holds his course and becomes the veteran person

for everything. I also have one for Adora, too,

because she was the only one that didn't believe

it at first. She was like, ah, guys, I don't

think so. So it was the only voice of reason,

so I will give her one as well. All right, we

have a rating system that we have to go over.

How many Crystal Castles are you giving this,

uh... If it wasn't for the imp... cowl back and

forth. This would get a zero, but I'm going to

give it a one and a half because of that. I had

you down for a one. You're a half point off.

One and a half. Because like we already said,

the execution and the way this was written and

just the way it came across is just so bad. Yeah.

I think I'm being somewhat nice, but I'd like

to say that If it wasn't for the fact that the

execution of the betrayal was bad if it wasn't

if this was a two -part episode Where they actually

developed and gave reason for cowell to be the

betrayer or they chose a different character

I think this everything else about this episode

has the potential to be a really great episode

I love the imp and hordak dialogue. I love the

imp and cowell back and forth. I love the Star

Wars references, of course. There's references

to past episodes with Force Captain Adora, so

there's some continuity there. So, I mean, I

think it had everything if it would have done

the main part of the story better, but I'm gonna

take two points off for messing up the main part,

so I'm gonna land on a three. So, I'll give this

one a three out of five. Alright, so time to

take a quick break and we'll be back to meet

the Rock People. Alright, next up today is episode

44, The Rock People, Airdate of Wednesday, November

6, 1985. Written by Larry DiTilio, the Horde

and the Rebels investigate three mysterious meteors

that have landed in the Valley of the Lost. The

Rocks turn out to be living beings from the planet

Geolon, who are looking for a new home as their

own is about to be destroyed. We have, get ready

for this, Hordak, Catra, Scorpia, Shadow Weaver,

Imp, Mantena, Grizzler, Leech, and some Horde

Troopers. And then we have She -Ra -Bo -Madam

-Rez -Kal -Swif -Win -Broom. We have a recurring

appearance from King Ago. And then, of course,

we get Stonedar, Grenida, and Rakan, or Rokan,

however they call him. No, it's Rakan, I think.

The rock people. So, what do you think about

the introduction of this new race, the new species,

and kind of the fight to control them? I don't

necessarily think it was a fight to control them.

Well, it was a fight to possess whatever they

were going... On Hordak's part, yes, but She

-Ra and the Rebellion didn't, you know, they

just wanted them to be able to live in peace.

I mean, it wasn't like they weren't out, like,

yeah, Hordak is evil, he wants to obviously control

them. No, but it was more to get there first

so that Hordak can't control them type thing.

Kind of reminds me of, uh... Was it not desertion

of the dino bots, but one of the episodes where

they? Had to guard a meteor or something so basically

what this episode is is is Superman's home planet

of Krypton is going to explode and he needs to

leave is essentially what this episode is In

a way, there's a lot of things that I see in

this episode, but what do you what do you think

about the introduction of the rock people? I

like it. I don't know if they're going to show

up again. Do you want me to spoil it? No, not

yet. I mean, I think they're cool. I think they're

cool characters. I'm going to wonder and see

if we have, you know, if we see them more again

because that's essentially the problem with this

show. They'll introduce characters and we'll

never see them again. To a point. Okay, well,

I'm sure I'm saying characters that they've introduced

before this yeah I mean we do have King I go

showing up for the third time this episode. Well,

yeah, but Like you wrote down in here King Liz

who the hell is King Liz it was listed on IMDb

as being in this episode But I didn't see unless

that oh that was the character. No, it was the

it was the big dinosaur. Oh Okay, that must have

been it. Okay Should've just wrote it in their

big dinosaur. That's what they apparently has

a name, King Liz. She does refer to him as the

lizard. I was very much looking forward to this

episode when I did the script for it because

I actually had one of the Rock People action

figures back when I was a kid. Oh really? Yeah,

back when I was a kid. I had one of them and

then either my sister or one of my friends had

the other. Was trying to look up before the episode

which one I had and I'm not a hundred percent

sure which one I had I looked at pictures of

both of them and They both look semi -familiar,

but I haven't seen those figures in a long time

I thought I had one that was neither stoned our

or rock on I thought I had like a third one that

was never in the show But I'd have to look back

and see how many they actually made but They

were cool figures. I liked the ability to fold

them up into a rock meteor. I think they just

had a cool look to them, so I was very much looking

forward to this because I didn't realize that

they ever actually did show up in either of the

series. Again, I had watched mainly He -Man as

a kid, so they never showed up there, yet I had

him as a toy, and I don't even know if maybe

he was packaged with He -Man characters. I'm

not sure if he was packaged as a He -Man line

or a She -Ra line, but... Um, I didn't realize

that they actually did appear in She -Ra. So

when I saw that they were gonna be here I was

very excited. So I was looking forward to this

episode a lot so I'm all about the introduction

of the rock people it did give me a very much

a feel of the original stasis pods, I guess the

original They all I could think of was Beast

Wars when we have the stasis pods falling and

then the Maximals and the Predacons both racing

to try to get them. I got a lot of that. So,

but yeah. All right. Let's take a quick break

and we'll get into the little details, the finer

points of the rock people. What is it? Catra

and her force squad came through Pinetown in

a scavenger. They were on their way to the Valley

of the Lost. No one goes there. They must be

after something big. They said something about

rocks from outer space. I think we should look

into it. The Valley of the Lost is awfully dangerous.

I know. That's why I'm going to give the job

to She -Ra. She -Ra? Well, listen, Adora. Don't

you think she'll need some help? Brob and I had

better go, too. She -Ra might need some magical

help. Now, hold it. I thought She -Ra and I would

be alone together. I'm sure She -Ra will be grateful

for all your help. Why don't you go on ahead?

I'll have her meet you at the entrance to the

valley. Come on, dearie. We'll be there in no

time. Oh, no. Not that. All right, it's time

for our second trip to the Whispering Woods Did

you like anything about the rock people in the

episode that they are featured in Mike? First

thing I thought it was. Oh, no, it's the Rock

Lords First thing I thought of yeah, I did All

else I can think of is the Muppet show, but instead

I wrote down mysterious traveling rocks in space

Even though we didn't like him last episode broom

kind of redeemed himself. You're old enough to

take care of several people It's nice to see

all of the horde now I originally only wrote

down Grizzler leech Scorpia and and Catra, but

then we then see Mantana as well. I absolutely

love that. We get new settlers on Etherea, so

that's nice, and hopefully we eventually see

them again. What about you? Finally, the rock

people. The original stasis pods, like I talked

about. Bo looking for one -on -one time with

She -Ra. I mean, that's... You put that in your...

Wait, you put that in your whispering words.

I did, because I think it's a legit... It's a

realistic... It's a realistic thing that you

would see out of a guy in this environment. Like,

they would be trying to find one -on -one time

with Adora or She -Ra or whatever, so I thought

it was realistic. Even if it's Bo being stupid,

I can still see him wanting to try to find time

to spend with She -Ra. Wow, all the horde for

once. Yes, I'm echoing what you said there. I

like to see them all together. They had a good

moment for a commercial break when the rock people

showed up before they it's basically right when

they turn into a talking speaking humanoid type

character they go to commercial break I thought

that was cool that they have a flying tank in

this episode they call it the scavenger that

was interesting and I thought it was interesting

that they leave most of the horde behind when

the catcher tries to basically fly off without

him and they with leeches help they get stuck

back to the scavenger to fly off apparently the

weapon of choice for the rock people is stiff

arms because apparently all they do is stick

their hands out and people go flying so i don't

know that was i don't know if i necessarily loved

that but it was an interesting choice that they

don't i mean they are peaceful people and they

don't like to fight so apparently they don't

have any weapons um but i thought that was interesting

but my favorite part about this episode was the

fact that the rock people unlike like 95%, maybe

even 99 % of both He -Man and She -Ra episodes

is usually were introduced into somebody from

another planet, or a traveler or whatever, and

by the end of the episode, they go back to their

planet. By the end of the episode, they leave.

And here, they stay on Etheria. So I like the

fact, even if they never came up again, I would

like the fact that I am left thinking that they

are living on Etheria somewhere, and that they

didn't just return to a new planet or go find

somewhere else. So I am very hopeful to see them

again, and I like that it leads up to that possibility.

What about things you didn't like in the Fright

Zone? Oh boy, the fright zone. So most of this

has nothing to do with the plot. Most of this

has nothing to do with the rock people at all.

So Bo wants to be alone with Shira. Am I the

only one who finds his disappointment creepy?

I'm sorry. Bo's just... But again, when they

head off to the Valley of the Lost, Madam tells

him to come on, and he says, Oh, no, not that.

Oh, no, not what? She didn't do anything to him,

you nimi. Come on, you idiot. Did you just call

him a nimi? Yes, I did. I wish you wouldn't do

that. You are not her boyfriend, you idiot. Stop

it. Please stop. OK, so the only other problem

I have with this episode. The Horde dug them

out and that left the crater there. Uh, don't

things that normally crash into planets leave

their own marks, you know, because of the science

of it all? Yeah. Yeah. That it? That's it. Okay.

Um, I have a couple things. They, they mentioned

that they got some information from, like, the

best I could make out is the character's name

was Rigolo. Uh, who is Rigolo? And... Why are

we referring to someone we've never met before

as far as giving information or? Helping us out

like that was weird to me though who mentions

this it's near the beginning of the Near the

beginning of the episode Is it the evil horde

that mentions this, though? No, it's Adora, or

She -ra. I think it's Adora. And I just didn't

understand what character she was referring to

when she pulled out that name. Maybe I heard

it wrong, but I rewound that and listened to

it twice, and I could... Sounds like a rigolo.

Bow. Pulls out a bow, and then immediately goes

in for close combat. Yeah. What was the point

of pulling out your bow? What are you gonna do,

hit them over the head with it? Apparently. And

then I didn't like the fact that Hordak calls

the Horde troopers robots in this episode again.

He does that a lot. Yeah, but I mean for a long

time we've kind of had the idea that they're

more like stormtroopers, they're more like people

underneath the stuff, and when you call them

robots it doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

So the PSA was about taking more courage not

to fight and to find peaceful resolutions. Yes,

one we've heard many many times before Really

quickly before we get to the awards. I'm looking

on the He -Man wikia Meteorbs a Japanese toy

line from Bandai called the Tamagoras were released

in the Masters of the Universe toy line as Meteorbs

and were depicted as animals of the rock people

So apparently the rock people have pets like

but I did send you a link so you could see I'm

still not sure which one I had I think I had

rock on but It might have been Stonedar. There's

parts of both of them that look super familiar,

so I am lost. I do remember the little thing

that they hold that could stick in their chest

or in their hand. It almost reminds me of a little

satellite -type thing, like a satellite dish

that they're holding. Yeah, in this show, in

the animation design for Rock On and Stonedar,

they're... Character styles and designs are two

very different things yet the action figures

almost look similar in specifically colors not

necessarily how they're designed because let's

face it all those toys back then were very very

impish, but Just the colors and the toys like

which one is which like if I didn't have the

names of them together, you know Wait a minute.

I don't I don't get this so yeah All right, so

we're gonna take a break and then we'll be back

for more awards Alright, another chance to hand

out some hardware. I don't have any horde bats,

so what about you? Always Bo. I'm sorry, he's

such an idiot in this episode. We need to have

a crossover special, the Bo and Tila show. You

know what they need to do? They need to just

marry each other because they're the perfect

couple for each other in this franchise. What

about protection swords for you? I think it's

obvious. I'll give some protection swords out

to the rock people. For those magnificent stiff

arms. Being peaceful and being cool and finally

showing up. What about you? Give one to Shira.

Like I said, you know her whole agreement of

being able to you know respect their opinions

and all that stuff Madame Raz and broom again.

I know we didn't like broom in the previous episode

of the podcast today, but The way they banter

back. It's like an old married couple. I just

absolutely love them. And of course the rock

people They were pretty cool. I'm sure you would

like them or not. Yeah. No, I liked them I'm

trying to think. Don't hurt yourself. Stonedar's

voice. I'm sure it's not Shimer. It's probably

John Irwin. It's somebody we've heard before,

but I really like his voice on that. I thought

Stonedar's voice was really, really cool. All

right. Well, let's see if my prediction is correct.

How many crystal castles do you give the rock

people? Three and a half. It was really... What

did you think of four? I had three down for you.

Stonedar was George DeCenzo, by the way. Outside

of Beau's stalking of She -Ra, I can't not fault

this episode for that. Well, I can. I'm taking

two and a half points off for it. There'd be

one and a half for those that can do math. It's

bad, it sucks. You know, so it's just one of

those things where, yeah, the rock people were

cool, it was an interesting plot, it was a fairly

well -executed episode. If you'd have put Glimmer

there instead of Boat, it would have been better.

Yeah, I agree. There's just a couple things making

me not give this one a perfect score, so I'm

going to be at a four out of five. So you're

at a three and a half, and I'm at a four. So

pretty similar rankings for the rock people.

So a good introduction to these guys. Hopefully

we see them again. So we'll take a quick break

and we'll be back with the final episode of the

day. It's not Thundercats, but it is Huntara.

Well, it's also in a galaxy far, far away. True.

to save yourselves what not one among you has

an excuse I'd be glad to help you silence poured

science and magic turned you into the greatest

force squad ever to destroy a planet the greatest

and yet All of you together can't beat a single

woman! Yeah, a single woman! You're all fools!

Fools! Don'ts! Don'ts! Why can't you all be more

like Imp here? He knows how to get a job done!

Be more like Imp! What a depressing thought!

Now, where was I? I believe you were talking

about... Horde prime is displeased and I don't

like it when the ruler of Horde world is displeased

It's time to bring in someone more competent.

That's why I've contacted the planet of Silax

No, in fact, they don't really know much about

us, but I know about them Silax Last up today

is episode 45. Huntara, Airdate of Thursday,

November 7, 1985. Also like The Rock People written

by Larry DiTillio, Hordak convinces Huntara,

a strong warrioress, is that even a word, that

She -Ra is evil and that he wants her to hunt

her down because apparently this race of people

will hunt down evil people. That's the best kind

of explanation I get for that. For Hord members

we have Hordak, Cantra, Shadow Weaver, Scorpia,

Imp, Leech, and Grizzlor. Again, a big variety

of Horde members. Members of the Rebellion, we

have She -Ra, Bo -Glimmer, Kaol, and Swiftwind,

and then we get a Garv, the innkeeper we meet,

and Huntara, which I believe they said she was

from the planet of Silax. So she's a Silaxian

or something like that. So what do you think

about Hordak enlisting help from a warrior planet

and bringing a Huntara into the picture? First

of all, this should have been called Hordak's

Master Plan, not Hantara, because as soon as

I saw this, and as soon as I saw Hordak fumbling

around with footage of She -Ra, I'm like, oh

my god, it's just like Starscream with an Optimus

Prime costume on from Megatron's Master Plan.

Interesting, I did not pick up on that reference.

Yeah, a little bit. I like the idea, I like the

idea, again, where... He doesn't say how far

away the Salaxian planet is or anything like

that, because the way that it's been described

to us is that Etheria and Eternia are in two

very different dimensions. When we were doing

He -Man, we went to various planets and different

things and everything else. I'm curious now to

see if we're going to be exploring more of the

surround... I mean, I know obviously the whole

thing is, you know, based on the War of Etherea

and all that stuff, but like, I would love to

see She -Ra and the Rebellion have to go help

somebody else on another one of Etherea's neighboring

planets. As far as this episode goes, I thought

it was great. I thought that the introduction

of Hantaro was really, really cool. I don't know

if you ever, did you ever watch Batman Beyond?

No. Okay. In Batman Beyond, there is a assassin

named Kurare. She is essentially a part of the

futuristic version of Ra's Al Ghul's League of

Assassins. Okay. It's essentially that, that's

what, she's a member of some sort of assassins

club, whatever. And she has, like, when I first

saw Hantara, I'm like, oh, hey. I know where

I've seen that style before. It's Kirari, because

she has the mask, the hood thing over her face

at first, and then she takes it off, so I thought

that was pretty cool. The overall plot was nice.

I don't know. The plot was nice. The execution

was good, but I'm not so sure if someone... As

badass as Hantara is, could be fooled that easily,

but I mean, Hordak didn't do a very good job

of lying. He just showed her funny footage. Hey,

we got some footage. We got actual Cena for your

eyes. That'll convince just about anybody. Like,

she sees She -Ra. Like, burning shit down. I

think... I think... I mean, I'm not saying the

editing job was great by Hordak. It seemed like

he never actually caught her in the act or anything

like that, but... I think Hordak has been visiting

the Onion recently. I like the idea that Hordak

has finally realized that his horde troopers

are useless and that I wouldn't say that though

I don't think I don't feel like they are played

up as dumb as what we get a lot of times with

the Eternian with the evil warriors you get a

lot of the feel that Beastman is a bumbling idiot

and that, uh, you know, trap -jaw and triclops.

I mean, they all have their good qualities, but

they never seem to get anything done. And you

definitely get that here again. I mean, they

play these guys off the same way. Catcher and

Scorpio are, you know, too busy tripping over

each other's feet and tails and whatnot. And,

uh, outside of Imp, you have, we haven't really

seen much as far as Grizzler do anything good,

bad or indifferent. So. I like the idea that

he's realizing, hey, She -Ra is otherworldly

power and we need to get somebody from another

world to combat that. So I'd like the idea that

he picks this one. He just probably should have

picked a race that dislikes good people instead

of dislikes evil people. Because if I am finding

a race that is known to be or a planet that is

known to be this almost like almost like Spartan

type Warriors where they're just this is what

they're good at. They're good at fighting. They're

good at hunting They're good at survival. And

if I know that they don't like evil people I

don't think I'm bringing them onto my planet

when I am the evil person on that planet So I

understand the desire to go get somebody else

but probably not the best selection so see if

if they had done something like Like you're saying,

instead of making Hantara this person that believes

so easily that She -Ra is an evil person regardless

of the false evidence against She -Ra... Wish

Hordak like I wish they would have introduced

her as Hordak saying oh I'm going to reach out

to the baddest of badass bounty hunters I can

or you know that kind of thing instead of doing

what they did Yeah, but that's just a minor thing

as far as I mean he is a he is a evil warrior

leader So he is gonna make dumb mistakes and

dumb selections and do stuff that makes it so

he doesn't win So I will forgive him a hundred

percent for that, but if I'm in his place I'm

not bringing someone onto my planet that dislikes

evil people so That's my quip on that. So we're

going to take a quick break. We're going to see

what good and bad we can find from Hantara. Now

we will see if what they say about these Psylaxians

is true. I am Hantara, warrior of Psylex. Which

of you is Hordak? I am Hordak. Welcome to Aetheria,

Hon -Tara. It is a great honor to... I am not

here for pretty speeches. You have asked for

help. I am here to give you that help. But first

you must prove to me that this She -Ra is as

evil as you say. She -Ra? Evil? I thought we

were the evil ones. Oh, she's evil, all right.

And I've got the proof. If you'll just allow

my troopers to escort you to my throne room,

I'll show it to you. Very well. Let us go. How

can you convince her that She -Ra is as evil

as you say? I've had some false holovid pictures

made. They make She -Ra look totally evil. All

right, it's time for our last journey into the

Whispering Woods today and because I'm a gracious

Host with the most here. I'm gonna let you go

first Also, I'm gonna let you go first because

I have 13 things for Whispering Woods. Geez.

I have three I Didn't dislike this episode. I

have three good things and I have one bad thing.

So it's not I just I'll say this now. This episode

just ended up being more watchable than having

to write stuff. The whole point of us doing this

and the whole point of us doing all of this that

we've been doing for all these years now is that

we take apart the series we like, we find the

things we like, we find the things we don't.

Because otherwise, well let's face it. Want to

watch all these episodes. I wanted to watch all

the he -man episodes again all the sheer episodes

again. I don't really want to watch But I am

curious enough that I will watch it and I have

I mean I've watched all of the 2002 X yeah that

version I'm game for watching again because it's

that good and spoiler alert on my opinions of

that series, but the main about this was if I

just was sitting down and gonna watch all these

eventually I probably would stop or I'd lose

interest or I would get bored or sidetracked

or whatever and by doing this it's giving me

a solid reason to actually watch all of them

and to be someone that is gonna be picking out

the good the bad the recurring themes the things

about the series and the writing that we like

we don't like so I mean that's part of the whole

But there are times where, and this is what I'm

saying about this specific episode, there are

times where we're just going to sit and watch

it because... There are times where I forget

and I look up and I'm like, oh shit, I haven't

written anything down. First of all, Hantara

is a badass. Rizzler and Leech on commentary

needs to happen every single episode. That was

awesome. Hey, look lightsabers Mickey Mouse is

gonna sue somebody. Yeah, this is our next Star

Wars reference for today so we already had the

Boba Fett and the 80 80s and We even had Lukey

given Yoda like advice. So now we have actual

lightsabers The whole horde together again and

not just that they're together but it's like

they're getting a debrief at the beginning of

the episode where Hordak's going over like, you

guys have sucked lately. And I thought that was

funny. I like the name of the planet as well

as the idea that there's this warrior planet,

Silex. It almost sounds maybe not as warrior

-like and more like sci -fi. Sounds like something

that would be on like Battlestar Galactica or

something. I think Silex is a word on that series,

if I'm not mistaken. But anyways, I like the

fact that we're reaching out to a different planet.

I like that he threatens the Horde with cleaning

out garbage bins with very tiny brushes. I thought

that was an interesting touch, not just like

cleaning out garbage bins or not doing peeling

potatoes, but cleaning out garbage bins and then

he has to add with very tiny brushes. So basically,

if the Horde members don't succeed, Hordak's

going to turn them into cooks and the maid staff.

Basically in that place it looks filthy from

the outside They had some cool animation in on

the fire and shadows when they were dealing with

the rebellion There was some cool effects on

whether adora or shiro was facing the fire not

facing the fire and kind of how they made that

shadow and and all that kind of flicker I did

not expect that voice from hantara I'll talk

about that later. I did not expect that voice,

but I actually liked it because it was so unexpected

and because I'm so sick of hearing the typical

voices that we hear from Erica Shimer and Either

Linda Gary or Melody Britt, so I liked that there

was a difference there Think Erica Shimer did

a good job with that voice So I know it wouldn't

be for everybody because it does sound very manly

But why can't she channel that manliness when

she's doing actual men voices is or or or little

boy? Yeah, that's I don't get um Propaganda in

a kid's episode here with the with the incorrect

hollow images. It's this is how you use war images

to I guess further your cause. Hordak is just

using different things to promote what he wants.

I thought that was an interesting take on that.

I'm just waiting, and I think we already had

this with a foot, yeah, we already had an episode

with a foot where they put a force field around

the whispering woods, but I'm just waiting for

Hordak to build a wall between the Fright Zone

and the whispering woods. That way we can make

a Donald Trump reference. There we go. Scorpia

actually had a funny moment here. As much as

I don't like to agree with you, Katra, I agree

with you. It was just like the timing that she

delivered that line was really good. First time

that we've seen whatever interesting butterfly

vehicle Glimmer is piloting. At first I thought

she was inside Flood Arena. Yeah, I mean they

have some like vehicles in the She -Ra toy line

that I don't know if ever appeared in the show,

but this reminded me of those. And I like the

idea that Scorpion and Katra are actually teaming

up because usually they don't necessarily see

eye to eye. And I thought it was funny that Scorpio's

like, I don't like Catra as Force Captain, but

I won't like that other Hantara lady either.

And it is a reference to Catra as being a superior.

So that's very much so been solidified in the

series that Catra is kind of like the number

two in command that she took Adora's spot. How

about the line, she's got more tricks than my

brother's friend Orko? Yeah Thought that was

interesting that the till you'll put that in

there I don't know how Shira would necessarily

know too much about orco, but Are you kidding?

She's met orco, but I mean that's to the point

where you'd know that much about him, but I thought

that was a good line. I like that. I think the

reason why the lines in there is because I think

they communicate more than we see on the screen.

You know what I mean? I just thought it was cool.

It was cool to add that. Absolutely. I absolutely

loved it. And I actually, even though they are

a complete ripoff of lightsabers, I did like

the stun swords and how they were done. And there's

also a very cool kind of landscape shot at the

end. The final shot in the animation looked really

cool as they kind of pan from like a panoramic

view of the landscape. So a lot of stuff to like

what about? What the one thing you didn't like

I'm gonna let you go to fright zone on your own

because I don't have anything Okay, like I said,

and it's not really gonna take away from my overall

grade or anything like that But you mentioned

earlier about Hunter's voice It sounds like a

deeper voiced version of grito Han shot first

It's just like like as soon as I heard it I'm

like Oh my god, why doesn't she have a snout

and sunglasses on a green face here? It's like

when we see Huntara come out of that ship with

the black mask on and then she takes that off

and you're left with this very tall, like this

thing is all legs, very imposing, you know, with

the haircut and the brand or this tattoo or whatever

you want to call on her head and all this different

stuff. You're like, okay, this is a badass looking

chick. She is and but before she talks I almost

hey when you think about it you're like who is

gonna voice this like what voice is gonna come

out of this character because It can't sound

like anything else like she clearly looks like

her own thing and like way more of a badass almost

reminds me of Like Gamora from Guardians of the

Galaxy or someone like that like imposing the

the the other one I thought of was the the bounty

hunter before Boba Fett in Attack of the Clones.

What's her name? The one that tried to kill Padme.

Her voice, yeah. So I'm glad it wasn't just another

typical female voice. I'm glad they did something

different with it. Yeah, absolutely. I assume

you've seen Dude Where's My Car, right? When

it came out and Never Again. Okay, well, you

remember that about... on one of the robots ended

up being a version of the 50 foot woman. Oh,

yeah. Several angles of Hantara reminded me of

that. She seemed like she could be pretty tall.

Yeah. So that was your only moment, right? Yeah,

so the PSA was about lies not working and that

the truth always always comes out in the end

So you might as well tell the truth and save

yourself the trouble. So I'm in good lessons

And obviously Hordak was lying in this episode.

So there's a loose connection to the episode.

So Whatever. It's a PSA So, all right, we're

gonna take a quick break. We'll be right back

with our last offering of protection swords and

Horbats The bait I have chosen for my trap leaves

her nest. Now to catch her. My tail beamers will

bring her down. That was not one of my better

landings. Now all that's left is to deliver my

challenge to She -Ra. The next horde tax collector

should come through here. We better start planning.

Adora! Adora! A woman came into the inn and demanded

I bring you this. Demanded? Yes. She said it's

for She -Ra. And if she doesn't get it, Glimmer

will be in great danger. Who was this woman?

I've never seen her before, but I will tell you

this. She made my blood run cold. Oh, thanks,

Gar. We'll get this to She -Ra. I think we'd

better take a look at this message. But if it's

for She -Ra? If Glimmer's in danger, I don't

think She -Ra will object. I am Hundara. Listen

well, She -Ra. I have your friend, Glimmer. This

device you see is a dimensional transporter.

If you do not meet me in battle by the time the

sun is at its highest, I will use it to send

Glimmer to a place... from which she will never

return. We will meet at Tomb Rock in the Crimson

Waste. You must come alone. If you bring help

or fail to come, Glimmer will pay the price.

Defeat me, and I promise she will go free. Until

we cross swords, farewell, evil one. All right,

last chance today to hand out Horde bats and

protection swords. I am gonna... Refrain from

hitting anybody with a horde bat. I'm gonna stick

those back in the trophy case and save those

for a rainy day But do you have any more bets?

I'm sorry Hordak it just Like I can see that

I can see that The only it is wrong Yeah, he

is wrong. Obviously. He's wrong all the time,

but it isn't even because he's lying it's Because

he's lying and at the same time he wants to impress

Hunter like he ends up running after Always,

I was really waiting for what he runs after her.

I was waiting for the animators to put little

hearts above his head or something. Right, I

could have seen that happen. Yeah. So that's

the Horde man for Hordak? Yeah. Any protection

swords? Shira and Huntara. Huntara just for being

a badass, regardless of whether she was tricked

into, you know, fighting Shira or not, but just

the whole battle, everything with the two of

them, absolutely awesome. I will echo the Hunter

apart. I'm going to give her a protection sword.

Like you said, she's a badass and I'm going to

say it now so that maybe it'll make me do it.

But when we're done with the, uh, the filmation

aspect of this franchise, I have to put a blog

together where I rank the top 10 villains that

are not part of the hoard or the evil warriors.

Yeah. And Hunter is going to be near the top.

so far. Yeah, that's up, yeah. So I mean, we've

seen a couple cool ones that I wish we would

have saw more of, and Huntara is one of those

that I wish we would see again, even though I'm

99 .9 % sure we're never gonna see her again.

So. Yeah. Alright, as far as Crystal Castle's

go, what do you have? Uh, I'm gonna give it a

3 out of 5 because, yeah, it's not that it's

a middle ground episode, it's just only because

of the way Hordak was, and just... all that stuff

with hordak just like hordak come on disappointed

in your score giving me a three and i actually

gave it a five so there you go five out of five

for me i enjoyed this episode maybe i don't know

maybe it was because i'm on a high because like

we started with uh we started with Welcome back

Kyle, which was whatever I gave it, you know

three it was a forgettable episode, but then

we had the rock people So I was ready to go.

I gave that one a four on Tara I'm giving a five

like I enjoyed today's episodes for the most

part with the minor exception at the beginning.

So Five out of five. I couldn't find anything.

I had no friends on moments. I couldn't find

anything I mean, I guess Hordak chose bad to

pick someone that hates evil But that's what

bad guys do is they have a flaw in their plan

So I can I'm not gonna fault it for that. So

Alright, we'll take a quick break and Michael

be back with some final thoughts Do you like

retro cartoons then Saturday morning rewind is

the podcast for you? Join them each month as

they talk about classic cartoons and interview

legendary voice actors like Jim Cummings Corey

Burton Rob Paulson How are we gonna find chaps

our size? Nancy Cartwright and many more. Eat

my shorts. So grab a bowl of Lucky Charms. They're

magically delicious. Put on your hammer pants.

Go to SaturdayMorningRewind .com. And be prepared

to feel like a kid again. Once again, that's

SaturdayMorningRewind .com. Saturday Morning

Rewind was voted best podcast ever by its host

Tim Nydel. So it's gotta be good. Alright folks,

we are back here on Myths of Etherea and before

we close out the show I want to bring up something

that I noticed. Since our inception way back

when, technically we've been doing reviews for

four years but the episode zero actually released

in 2011 so technically we've been doing the show

overall five years. But in the four years, what

I noticed on iTunes is that we get essentially

one new iTunes review a year. We got one? Yeah,

it was about, well... I don't have iTunes anymore,

so I can't view it. It was months and months

ago. It was back in March, because by the time

this episode airs, it'll be close to August.

So we're a little behind on this. And the only

reason why we're not releasing episodes until

we do is so we can line it up with the Christmas

special to close out and do the finale for the

Shira series. So I do want to... Give a shout

out to all of the six iTunes reviews that we

do have. Super Tim 25 left us a review back in

2012. So did Cas 2323. 2013 was Jedi JP. All

of these are good reviews. So Cosmic Psycho is

another great fan of ours as well. Waltor 3 loves

this as well. The new review. by mega gear max

was left on march 6th 2016 gcrn has the power

five star review i love the thoughtful analysis

of these at fifth thoughtful analysis that these

guys give for the old formation stuff formation

mo to is nostalgic but like them i now view it

with older eyes rather than be blinded by its

nostalgia. One of my biggest criticisms about

Filmation Motu, which the GCR and crew address

at times, is the lack of appearances of other

toyline characters, their backstories, their

development, as well as continuity. However,

the cartoon had heart And the reviewers provide

new insights that suggest Filmation MOTU might

not be as corny as it is stereotypically seen.

Characters that I was once initially dismissive

towards are now seen with a new light. Keep it

up, I can't wait till you guys get to new adventures

and especially 2000X. Thank you so much to Mega

Gear Max. Yeah, we're both at this point dreading

new adventures. I'm not dreading it. Because

I'm it's it's here's a situation with that. I'm

I view it as this Okay It's not like you're going

to see a movie that you think it's gonna be good

and it's gonna end up being bad You're going

and expecting it to be awful. So it's like mystery

science theater 3000 type stuff Like I'm just

expecting to have some fun and to get violently

aggressive with my rants and That's a fun time

ladies and gentlemen optimist solo of the geek

cast radio network just compared the awesomeness

that is Mystery Science 3. The movies they're

reviewing. The awfulness that is New Adventures

of He -Man. Not the actual show in the banter,

but it's like I know I'm going to be watching

a terrible movie while doing something else.

Anything we want to bring up before I close that?

Any final, any predictions or anything you want

to bring up for the next few episodes? I don't

have predictions based on the titles coming up,

but I do say that I like that we saw the Rock

people. I'm hoping that we get to see them again.

I was expecting nothing out of Hantara. I had

no clue what it would be, and I loved that episode.

So I'm hoping this high rating continue into

the future as we make our way into the, we're

right about at the halfway point. Yep, pretty

much. Well, I mean we're almost that we're two

-thirds of the way through first season But halfway

through the entire series about yeah, cuz we

had episode 43 and there was only 93 episodes.

So Next episode will be the halfway point Thank

you for listening to Myths of Etherea. If you'd

like to get in contact with us, we'll leave feedback

before the show. There are several ways to do

so. Visit the website geekcastradio .com where

you can comment on this and all of our other

episode posts. Email us at feedback at geekcastradio

.com. we just see that in itunes please do this

we do pay attention at least i think that's the

itunes reviews uh... because i just can't help

myself uh... follows on twitter at the cash radios

network where you can fall at pal grace goal

for all the uh... podcast updates as well minus

t if you and mike what is your twitter at optimus

solo Become a fan on Facebook go to Facebook

comm slash key cast or a radio network We hope

you enjoyed the myths today, and don't forget

to join us for our next episode when we take

a look at the next three episodes of the show

Micah of bright moon the price of power Didn't

we already watch that one? No The oh the price

of freedom that's what it was and finally birds

of a feather flock together For now I am TF Joe

and Mike with to miss Solo. By the power and

for the honor of Grayskull, you all have the

power.