Portrait of Doom and Hordak’s Power Play

I think it's time for She -Ra. Hello, this is

Optimus Solo, and welcome to the 78th chapter

in our Powers of Grayskull series. Take two.

With me for this journey into the masters of

the universe franchise is... TFG2Mike? I hate

my life. Explain yourself to the folks. Okay.

So, some people know, some people don't know.

I don't know how much I've mentioned it on this

podcast. I've mentioned it everywhere else that

I could think of. For some reason between the

Windows 10 anniversary update Skype and Pamela

Pro or Pamela call recorder or whatever you want

to call it Skype and Pamela basically broke up

from each other and you cannot use Pamela recorders

for anything on Skype anymore without it being

a Distorted friggin mess. So I've been going

through audio issues for the past two and a half

three and a half months now thankfully to our

Talking in circles cinema geeks cohort movie

revolt Dan I found mp3 Skype call recorder that

has been working up until about a week and a

half ago It works But I found out a weird weird

loophole to make sure it doesn't work, which

is stupid as hell We as I said This is episode

78, take 2. We already did this, folks. You just

don't know we did it. We spent an hour and a

half on episodes 78 and 79 in total, and it didn't

record it. And the reason why it didn't record

it was because apparently you cannot have the

destination folder open so you can see that it's

recording. You cannot have that open before the

Skype call starts. Because the whole point of

MP3 Skype recorder is that As soon as you answer

your Skype or as soon as you call somebody on

Skype, if you have the recorder set to automatically

record, it records everything. As soon as the

call is connected. Well, apparently, hmm, not

if you have the folder open, it doesn't, beforehand.

So yeah, episode 78, take two. We'll try to give

you guys as fresh of a take on these episodes.

We didn't necessarily do this immediately, so

we haven't let some time go. So hopefully it'll

feel like we haven't just talked about this.

The funny thing is that in that first session...

We had some really, really awesome outtakes,

like the fact one of your cats scratched the

shit out of your arm. Oh, I forgot that was lost

forever. It was a genuine reaction there. I still

have the scar on my arm right now. So, yeah,

it was a bad cut. That cat. The first cat is

the deepest. Yeah, and it was apparently wanted

to make an appearance in this show, so... But

yeah, we'll try to give you guys a fresh take

on this. I don't even remember what I said about

these episodes last time, other than the notes

I have written down. So hopefully I won't contradict

myself. But in this episode... It doesn't matter

if you contradict yourself. No one can ever hear

you. For my own good. For my own good. So in

this episode of Mists of a Theory, we'll be giving

you our thoughts on episode 88, Portrait of Doom,

and episode 89, Hordak's Power Play. So we hope

you're ready, because it's time to go back to

Aetheria. What chance do I have with rebels and

rebel spies everywhere? For once, I agree with

you. We must get rid of the rebels one at a time.

It's easy for you to say. Don't be so hasty,

Katra. Listen to what Shadow Weaver has to say.

I know a way to get one of the rebels to help

us get rid of She -Ra. And all... Alright, first

up today is episode 88, Portrait of Doom. Airdate

of Saturday, December 6th, 1986. One of those

ones that went apparently back in time. J. Larry

Carroll is the writer. A mysterious woman gives

her magic paint and tells Spartina to paint pictures

of all her rebel friends. But each time she does,

the subject of the painting mysteriously disappears.

We have Hordak, Shadow Weaver, and then for the

rebellion we have She -Ra, Natasa, Glimmer, Madame

Raz, Bo, Spartina, Sprint, Queen Angela, Cowl,

Spirit, and Broom. And then we also have some

random rebels and... bright moon bowman's all

kinds of other guys but uh... basically the the

story line is that we get these magic paints

and we're gonna make people disappear and one

by one of the members of the rebellion are becoming

captured a shadow weavers magic thanks to spartina's

painting what do you think about the problems

i like this i think it's interesting uh... i

think the The magic of it all is interesting

as far as the overall plot with spurtina and

her not thinking she has That's a plot that has

been That that's older than time itself. I mean

We've seen this plot before but the way that

it was executed the way it was carried out with

them getting trapped into The paintings I thought

that was interesting. I'm not sure why it's such

a common strategy that that when you're doing

Because we see this a lot of times too when it's

like a character centered episode Which I'm not

necessarily saying this is this isn't focusing

on Spartina that much It's not like it's her

backstory or this that and the other but but

whenever it seems like people want to do like

a specific episode on a certain character a lot

of times they go with something like this where

the person feels not loved or not included or

slighted in some way, and then that's their excuse

or their reason for them focusing on that character

more is because they're causing some type of

mischief or they're making something happen because

of the fact that they feel like someone has slighted

them or said they're not good enough or not giving

them enough attention. And I get that that's

a thing that kids probably deal with a lot, but

it just seems like it's one of the more repeated

storylines in especially in cartoons yeah especially

cartoons of this era right you know I mean we

how many times have we seen it just in He -Man

or She -Ra right and then you take any other

cartoon any other 80s action cartoon whether

it be Jim whether it be masked whether it be

Transformers Transformers not so much which by

the way apparently all 80s action cartoons are

garbage I learned that this last one Really?

Are we really gonna drag the top 100 animated

characters into this? Really, seriously? I'm

just saying, I had a lot of love for 80s action

characters from one individual. That's just one

guy that had this really weird, strange childhood

that none of the rest of us can relate to. Anybody

who says these cartoons are unwatchable... Look,

we're on episode 88. We've watched them all.

Go watch mask, all right? All right, but yeah,

I mean, it's a plot that's been done many, many,

many, many, many, many times. But like you said,

the magic in this one, it's a little interesting.

There's a little unique aspect. I do like the

idea that, I guess the part of this plot that

I like the most is that it's kind of this one

-at -a -time thing where Rebels are disappearing

here and there. And then it's kind of the idea

of, you know, how is that gonna stop and is she

gonna disappear as well or you know there's a

little mystery I guess behind it and it makes

it fun because obviously when you have you know

only so many characters if some of them are disappearing

it starts lessening the chances for you know

you're down to only a couple people and you're

like okay well how are these couple people or

how is this one person gonna solve this we've

seen this before even in this franchise as well

where the only person left that's going to save

the day is Orko, or the only person left, you

know what I mean, that could save the day is

this one individual character. So it kind of

lends to that type of story, which can sometimes

be done interestingly. Absolutely, so I mean

I don't have a problem with the plot although

It's it has been done a lot because there's different

ways to kind of twist it and turn it a little

bit and make it more interesting It just comes

down to how do they execute it and I know I'm

a broken record when I say that but it It really

does in this episode come down to how are they

gonna execute that same old storyline? All right,

well, let's make our way over to Whistering Woods

and find if they executed it well or not I only

have three items. I don't know how many you have

but For this one, Natasa, we do get a reoccurring

appearance from Natasa. Now, you mentioned a

while back that when we first saw Natasa and

Spinnerella that you were only interested in

seeing them again, but only if they were both

together. Now, this time we only get one of them,

so how did you feel about that? It's like Spinnerella

got kicked off of, you know, a theory as next

top model or something. It's like somebody sent

her home and doesn't give a crap about her anymore.

Which is interesting because you almost think

she has the more marketable power. She has the

better gimmick as far as what kids might find

interesting or whatnot. I don't know if it was

just more of a diversity type thing where they

decided to keep showing Natasha and not Spinnerella.

And Spinnerella maybe is too much like, I don't

know, Glimmer, Peek -A -Bloo, Perfuma, and all

those other girls. Yeah, I don't know. All I

can think of at this point is just. put an eyepatch

on her and she'll blow me down. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

The main other thing that I have for Whispering

Woods Moments is kind of what I've already said.

It is at least a unique take on the same old

storyline. And I did like the idea of each disappearing

and that they were being captured in the pictures.

It almost gives you that kind of like magical

fantasy fairy tale, almost like a game of the

toro type thing where they're all being captured

into this. Picture frame so I did kind of like

that aspect of it But I don't have a lot of things

that in this episode that really just jumped

out and grabbed me Yeah, other than what you

just said about the whole interesting fart, you

know fact of Painting each one and and then they

each disappear, you know and even in the very

beginning Madame Raz was not with broom. So broom

posed for a painting before without Madame Raz

even like, because at one point during the episode

she's looking around for him and broom broom,

where are you, you know, where'd he go? You do

a pretty good one there. No, that's horrible.

Moonlighting as Madame Raz, I like it. I don't

think so. We could do a whole thing with this,

we could do a bit. no we're not doing no bit

anything else uh... yeah uh... the one thing

i did i mean most of what i just said is off

of memory from take one but the one thing i do

have written down in my notes because i just

sort of watching these episodes i mean i i i

do often take notes and stuff but if nothing

super amazing jumps out at me that i just don't

write anything down but this one for the final

whispering woods and i put it in whispering woods

because i find it hilarious and ironic She didn't

even say sword to whatever the hell this time

She just takes the sword out it flashes and it

turns into the friggin rope It's a hey, it's

episode 80 something 88. Mm -hmm. I guess they've

just given up at this point. Yeah, they don't

care anymore They're just like yeah, we've done

sword to something 387 times so far or we're

too tired of it We can't even write the dialogue

anymore. Yeah, the writing's on the wall along

with the rest of her Anything else whispering

wood glass Nope. All right, my fright zone moments.

I'm going to go on a little rant, I guess, about

the episode, because like I did say, it is about

the execution, and I just feel like this was

a wasted opportunity. I did like aspects of it,

but I just felt like the execution was too simple.

And I think it's for two or three reasons why

I say that. Number one, OK, she's painting, but

she's not really painting. She's just like...

It's it's like you just slapped paint. It's like

one of those magic things where the pictures

already drawn on your page Yeah, and you're just

highlighting it. Yeah, like those were even when

I had those as a kid And yeah, that's great and

fine and Danny because I can't draw where the

shit anyways So it's gonna be much more helpful

for me if the pictures already there I guess

but Like it just defeats the like you don't do

you feel accomplished when all you're doing is

rubbing a magic marker over something and it's

just appearing Like, there's stuff with magic

markers that's cool. Like, there was activity

books with magic markers that had cool things

to do. But, I don't want to just rub my marker

over this page and see a pre -drawn picture.

Okay, so... I feel like you have something to

say on that. Oh, absolutely. I'm sure everybody

listening to the sound of my voice right now

has seen the almost, next year it'll be its 20th

anniversary since its release. I'm sure everyone

has seen the Kevin Smith film Chasing Amy, correct?

Most people. Have you? A long -ass time ago.

You remember Jason Lee's character Banky? I know

some of the characters, but I don't remember

shit about that movie. Okay, well, you had Ben

Affleck, future Batman, as Holden McNeil. You

had Jason Lee as Banky Edwards. Holden was the

person who drew the comic who whatever else and

then Banky went ahead and added depth and shading

and whatever else the joke in the movie is I

Don't want your autograph you fucking tracer

You like draw this or something I ink it, and

I'm also the colorist. The guy next to me draws

it, but we both came up with the characters.

Next. Does that mean you ink it? Well, it means

that Holden draws the pictures in pencil, and

then he gives it to me to go over and ink it.

Next. So basically, you just trace? It's, uh...

It's not tracing, all right? I have depth and

shading to give the image more definition. Only

then does the drawing truly take shape. No, no,

no, no. You go over what he draws with a pen,

all right? That's Tracy. Not really. Next. Hey,

man. Let me ask you something. Somebody draws

something and then draw the exact same thing,

like right on top of it, without going outside

the original designated art. What do you call

it? I don't know, man. Tracing? See? You want

your book signed or what? Don't get all testy

with him just because you got a problem with

your station in life. Oh, I'm secure with what

I do. Then just say it. You're a tracer. How

should I sign this? I don't want you to sign

it, man. I want the guy that draws, blonde man.

I don't like to sign it. You're just a tracer.

Tell him. He'll shave her. Who do I sign it to?

You're fucking with us too, you fucking tracer!

I'll trace a chalk line around your dead fucking

body, you fuck! You fucking tracer! Your mother's

a tracer! It's exactly what Spertina is. She's

a fucking tracer. Yeah, basically. I mean, it's

like if you have a sketch and you're turning

the knobs and it's just drawing the picture for

you without going the directions you're telling

it to. Okay, so that's just a nitpick. Like,

that really had nothing to do with the story.

But the reason I said it was too simple of an

execution more so is because, number one, they

missed an opportunity with... They could have

had so many characters in this episode. They

could have, yeah. this could have been a who's

who return of everybody. You know, throw Pika

Blue in there, throw Perfuma in there, throw

Frosta, Mermista, everybody. Just throw them

all in there. Like, you can have them all be

disappearing. Number two, it was like we only

have so many minutes, so she's got these pains.

And she's going to just draw every single one

of them in rapid fire, like, one right after

the other. Like, come in, get your picture taken,

go. Come in, get your picture taken, go. Come

in, get your picture taken, go. And for me, that

method made all the mystery, all the, you know,

not tension necessarily, but the suspense, I

guess, was just, like, let out of the bag. Like,

I would have rather she gets the paints, she

tests out one or two people. Like, she's like,

I need to practice for this, you know, this Festival

or whatever. So let me draw you and you All right,

they disappear or whatever happens to them and

I would have liked there to be some mystery about

it and then it could have like Escalated to the

fact that she was gonna draw Shira or adora at

the actual festival so it could have been like

here they're like two or three or four people

missing here and there and then We get to the

point where she's gonna draw Shira at the festival.

She's gonna go missing Or get trapped in the

picture and now what are we going to do type

thing? But they just kind of just did like four

or five characters in a row and they're all gone

and then that was it like I just wish they could

have like made that a little bit more complex

and a little bit more suspenseful maybe So that

it was a big deal instead of just I don't know.

I didn't like the execution. What about you for

Fred's own? I think they should have taken like

you said one or two Well, I know you said you

wanted more characters taken but I think they

should have only taken one or two characters

like take glimmer Take Glimmer, Queen Angella,

Broom, Cowl, like if you took those four instead

of the four they took, and I'm fine with the

toss of being in here, it doesn't matter to me,

but... Well, wait, wait, so if you take Glimmer,

Angella, Broom, and Cowl, you still have Madame,

Beau, Adora, slash Shira, and if the last person

she takes... even though she doesn't realize

she's taking people. The last person she takes

is Shira, because that was the other thing about

this episode. Adora kept almost getting caught.

It's kind of like she pulled a get smart. Missed

it by that much. I mean, she kept almost getting

caught. And I almost wish she would have gotten

caught, because that way, the other rebels like

Bo and whoever else, like you said, Rasta. Wanted

them to save her because she was always saving

the fucking day. I get it. That's the point That's

the name of the show she were princess of power,

but as we've seen in one or two other episodes

They've had to learn not to always rely on she

was saving the day. They have to you know work

for themselves, you know You know what I mean?

There could have been other ways to do it, too.

Instead of her having to draw everything, what

if it was just like she got these cool paints

that everybody wanted to use. So she tested it

out on a couple of people, and they're gone.

And then she goes about her business, and somebody

else comes in and is like, oh, these things are

so cool. So then they're drawing each other,

and they get captured. or you could have had

a couple times where somebody's almost drawn

or draws part of somebody and then something

happens like it could have been more of a thing

where it didn't have to be spurtina doing it

every time too so i don't know i just i don't

know i think there was multiple ways where this

could have been done where it didn't seem so

freaking almost manufactured or fake where we're

just like boom boom boom boom and that's all

that's gonna happen yeah so i don't know anything

else fright zone for you um let's see what was

the one thing i had here making art be evil is

just wrong it's just i think i think it's right

no hey i'm about to marry an artist next year

you knock it off i was never a big fan of i will

i will i will have her draw you in a very unflattering

light instead of instead of instead of hans solo

and macgyver you'll get uh wheelie and gumby

I like it. The PSA was about don't waste time

wishing you were like somebody else, basically.

Nobody gives a crap about PSAs at this point.

Micah's given up on the world of PSAs. What about

hardware for you for this episode? What kind

of horde -bad protection swords do you have left

in your trophy case? None. None? You're saving

them for a future date. I may not give anything

out over the next four episodes. I don't know.

I do. Well, I'm sure you do, but this particular

episode, I mean, nothing... If something had

pissed me off, and folks, we've been doing this

for four and a half, five years, you all know,

anyone that's listening, like you, Tim Silvers,

and whoever else is listening, I think... What

was his name on... Walter Grayskull on iTunes,

and I think Jawa something? I'm sorry, Jawa,

if I'm screwing that up. But anyway, if you guys

have been listening to the show since the beginning,

you'll know if... I hate something or I love

something, I write a lot of stuff down so I can

go through it bit by bit. If I only have one

does not rate very high on my radar of cool things

in the Masters of the Universe here. Yeah, I

mean, this episode just doesn't have anything

that stands out to you one way or the other.

I mean, there's really no one for me that I was

going to give either thing, because there's nobody

that was extra cool. There's nobody that was

extra stupid. There was nobody that just did

anything. It's a very average episode. And when

you have a very average episode, you don't get

a lot of hardware handed out. So what about radians

for you? What do you get for this one in Crystal

Castle? Two and a half. Two and a half. I did

enjoy this one more than it probably sounded

like because it was fun and all. I just do feel

like it was a waste of opportunity, but I'm not

necessarily gonna just crush it because of that.

So I mean, I'll be at a three. I think it's just

slightly above average. It's just the finite,

the most fine detail above average, barely. Very

middle of the road for both of us. So it starts

there. I guess it's not bad. It's not good. Let's

see if episode 89 will be better or if it'll

be worse when Hordak starts playing hockey. Hell

hath no fury like a woman scorned for Sega. Sega!

new machine. Is he supposed to be super strong?

Absolutely. And if Hordak got his hands on one...

He won't. Bo and I will take the Butterflyer

and go to Flax. I've got to fix the ship. Somehow.

But I'd better be careful. This planet is ruled

by the Horde. I met her at the dance last Saturday

night. She was the prettiest thing I've ever

seen, I can tell you. Next up today, our final

episode that we'll be talking about here in this

episode, episode 89, Hordak's Power Play. Going

for the hat trick, Airdate Saturday, November

14th, 1987. near the end of the production run,

writing done by two people, Brooks Wachtel and

Tom Beggin. Hordak has his Batmech shoot down

an Argonian spaceship to steal its power cell.

The pilot, eight -foot -tall Larg, convinced

that all Aetherians are also Hordesmen, forces

villagers of Flax to help repair his ship. So

we have Hordak, Shadow Weaver, Catra, and some

Horde troopers. We only have She -Ra and Bo in

this one as far as Rebellion members, which is

very rare that we only have one or two characters.

And then, of course, we have Larg, somebody named

Dr. Blankford, and this village of Flax, and

their villagers. So what do you think of this

random spaceship flying through, Hordex shoots

it down, and then we deal with this guy named

Larg? I like this episode. I think it's interesting.

I think that someone coming to Etheria, or someone,

well, not necessarily coming to Etheria, Hordak

shot the guy down, but someone passing through

Etheria that kind of shows, and we've seen this

before in this entire series between Eternia

and Etheria, that there are other people, other

beings out there in the Masters of the Universe

world, in other planets, and even in He -Man

we went to several other planets and things like

that, but with She -Ra I think it's interesting

because you, you know, the guy pretty much knows

even though he rushes to judgment, that, you

know, mainly, Etheria is a world run by evil

people. And of course, not all of the people

on the planet are evil. I mean, you know, just

because the annoying orange ended up as president

doesn't mean I'm gonna go out and start killing

people. Is that a period foot maybe you do? No.

Mean, it's interesting. I guess if there's a

passerby or whatnot, but it's out of the plot

for this one feels even It's not just like a

plot of the week. It's not just like a guest

character of the week It just comes off as so

generic like we've how many times have we seen?

one of these types of things where there's a

new person that's crash -landed or flying by

or Whatever the case may be and then we interact

with them This one though just like if I was

to hey if I was to list all of those episodes

that we've seen just in He -Man or She -Ra And

if then I asked you to like without naming the

actual characters. I just told you what the episode

was and kind of the plot without naming the actual

individual, and then I asked you to name me the

individuals you remember from that episode, those

episodes. I think Larg would be one of the last

ones you came up with. He's just so, it's so

generic to me. We've seen, okay, think back of

the one from He -Man that the bounty hunter type

guy, or not the bounty hunter, the police. Kind

of like police type person, you know what I mean?

And they and it came back trying to like find

these criminals that had landed or you know I

mean, there's been these different characters

that have come through that are way more interesting

Than Larg is to me. That's my problem And again,

this is episode 89 out of 93 for both, you know

for the whole series They're at the 89th episode

and they've got two people writing this thing

Like I could see if it was like a husband -and

-wife team or something like that. I you know,

whatever I don't know but Where's where's Larry

to tell you? Where's Bob forward? Where's Roby?

Where's where the hell is Roby London? What the

hell happened to him because he wrote all kinds

of cool stuff on he man, you know They're just

scraping the bottle bottom of the barrel here

I think the coolest part about this is hordak

and I'll talk about that when we get to whispering

woods But I really think that hordak it because

it's the episode is named after him It's pretty

much the only good thing about this episode Yeah,

I mean, it's it's not like it's the episode doesn't

necessarily do anything to really piss me off

But just from a plot standpoint, it's like I

don't know if this is interesting enough, like,

okay, Hordeck shot this person down, and they're

confused on who's good and who's bad. Okay, but

like, where's the twist? Where's the... Where's

the something special that's gonna draw me into

this? You know what I mean? Like, tell me Larg's

related to somebody that's already there, or

tell me that he's gonna have something to do

with something other than I'm just a big ol'

alien guy that's confused on who's good and who's

bad, like... I don't know. I'd rather, like,

She -Ra get knocked out and have a concussion

and not know who's good and who's bad and have

her try to figure something out instead of this

alien guy. So, I don't know. Let's get to Whispering

Woods because I feel like I'm being too negative.

But what did you like about this episode? I liked

the beginning of Space Battle because we don't

see that enough in She -Ra. I mean, we used to

see it every now and then in He -Man and stuff,

but I liked that. And Hordak's comedy stylings

get better and better. That's about it. I don't

know if this is a product of we're getting towards

the end of production run of She -Ra, and there

was still toys being produced and catalogs out

there, and I don't know if they're trying to

fit a few more into the TV series. That may have

been the reason, or it may have nothing to do

with it, or maybe they thought they were gonna

be doing more episodes and they were introducing

things. I don't know, but they did squeeze in

that butterfly vehicle in this one. which I specifically

remember seeing as a kid, whether it was in something

that I own or my sister owned or something I

saw in a department store or something like that.

But I did think it was cool that I recognized

that. And I did think that the actual design

of Larg was cool. It's cool that he's this eight

-foot guy, because we don't get a lot of super

tall or super small or whatever types. It seems

like most of them are standard. So I did kind

of like the look of him. But like I said, he

leaves a little to be desired, I guess. Yeah,

and She -Ra has a funny line when she eventually

comes before Lard notices her and does his whole,

oh, you must be horde people and blah. It's when

she first walks up and sees him and she's like,

eight foot tall, huh? She just has this kind

of cocky aspect to her voice, like. most powerful

in the universe i can throw this guy clear the

moon well it did it did provide though you remind

me that it did provide something that was actually

decent in the episode which is uh... when we

have sheer or like when we have humans square

off against someone who's just about as powerful

as they are uh... that's always good when we

have that in large is definitely uh... taller

than you know big larger than life type of character

that can do many of the things that she were

does so that is an interesting aspect they don't

they do it enough in the series but they don't

necessarily overdo it You know what I mean? Like

you might get like three or four characters over

the whole run of the series that are of the same

strength of Shiro or Hime. So I think that's

a decent thing to do. But I do have a few Fright

Zone moments that I do need to go through. I

only have one and then you can get on your soapbox.

What is yours? Okay, so part of the plot that

we did not mention, the reason why... Hordak

shoots this Argonian ship down is because he

wants its Power cell. Yes, so he can create these

force field things and he wants to put a force

field around the freight zone So the so the rebellion

can't get in So as they're first of all first

of all time out time out what because there's

a problem with that whole thing I know In the

rebellion is trying to get into the freight zone

Like, it's them trying to keep you out. So if

you're putting a forest field around yourself,

good. Stay in your little forest field land.

Don't bother us in our whispering woods. That's

right, yeah. I know there's a problem with the

light. And again, it goes back to the frigging

writers. You got two writers on here. Names I've

never even heard or seen in this series before.

sense to my knowledge and but the one thing that

really pissed me off here is that at the end

of it when she's going to get rid of the power

cell she says sword to sword to the sword to

rope I didn't say whatever the hell this time

because I know as I wanted to make a point of

this she does sword to rope And then she lasso's

she Wonder Woman lasso's the the power cell with

the rope she then you know Hercules strong arm

Cesaro swings the damn thing and she lets it

go like it's gonna fly off into space She lets

the motherfucking rope go. That's her fucking

sword. How the series is essentially over at

the end of this episode because she let the fucking

rope go. That's her fucking sword. Are you kidding

me? You're seriously telling me that she would

friggin do that knowing that that's what her

sword... It's gotta be one of one of Hordak's

worst plots ever though like you're creating

a force field around yourself to keep the people

out that aren't trying to get in. I don't understand

that but number two And that's the worst part

actually that's that's worse than the ones I'm

gonna bring up But why did the villagers just

start talking like caveman when cavemen when

lark is there? They're like lark big lark eight

foot tall lark blah blah blah. I'm like What

he must have had that effect on them. I don't

know that was just weird as hell And alright,

let's get on a little soapbox though for standard

cartoon proposition here because when we're due

cartoons, especially in the 80s, 90s, et cetera,

et cetera. We get it, all right? We're in the

US. We have to Disney -fy everything. We can't

be realistic. We can't kill characters off, especially

our main villains, et cetera. I mean, yes, it's

done here or there, but for the most part, especially

in television cartoons, it's not done. Maybe

a couple movies here and there. Bambi's Mom,

Mufasa, Optimus Prime. Can't wait wait wait did

you say Bambi or Bambi Bambi Bambi's mom Mufasa

Optimus Prime. Those are the three that come

to my mind the most but I get it. You can't kill

Skeletor You're not gonna kill Hime. You're not

gonna kill Hordeck. You're not gonna kill She

-Ra I get all that it would make it much more

cool, but you're not gonna do that Okay, so I

get that you're not she has done as many times

where she had Hordeck and then she gives him

up, you know, she Yes. She gives up. She allows

him to go back to the Pride Zone. She, you know,

whatever. I get all that. Like, you're not going

to inflict harm. But he has trapped himself inside

his own little force field. How is it bad for

her? How is it unhonorable or unethical or whatever

to just leave him in that force field for the

rest of time? Good question. Like I don't understand

why that couldn't have been a thing like this

is you're fighting a rebellion How are you fighting

a rebellion if you're never even willing to do

anything to make your opponent? Basically lose

Like you're never taking a single advantage of

anything and like I you're the worst rebellion

leader of all time if you won't kill him, won't

imprison him, won't let him imprison himself,

like you're literally asking for him to continue

to torment you. So I have a problem with that.

So my PSA final thought is treat people or from

Loki is treat people how you would want to be

treated. I think we've had that 365 times over

the 365 days that we've been recording this just

recently. Yes, before we get out of the fright

zone here, I have to bring up the writers because

oh my god, holy crap Tom Baggin the second half

of the writing team has four credit now I don't

know if this man is deceased IMDB does not say

whether he was he's no longer with us or not

but his four credits include one episode of the

old star ski and hutch TV series from 77 a TV

series named switch from 77 Filmation Ghostbusters,

one episode. Princess of Power, one episode.

Okay, so that's Tom Baggan. Now, Brooks Wachtel

started out writing on Ghostbusters, Filmation

Ghostbusters, for one episode. He wrote three

episodes of Dino Saucers, this one episode of

She -Ra. Other things he's done is he wrote one

episode of Duck Tales. He wrote two episodes

of The New Super Mario World. Legend of Prince

Valiant, Wildcats, Covert Action Teams, The Mask

from 1996 animated series. He wrote four episodes

of X -Men the animated series from the 90s. Let's

see, more recently, as of 15 years ago, he wrote

the Action Man TV series, one episode. Let's

see, what else has he done here? Clifford the

Big Red Dog from 2002 to 2003. He wrote a total

of... Five episodes on that. Last thing he ever

did was two years ago, Silver Tsunami. It's a

documentary short. He was a co -writer on that.

So, yeah. Okay then. Not allowed there. Can we

have some real writers back, please? Come on

now. Larry DiTilio, Bob Forward, anybody? Anybody?

Nobody, apparently. Apparently not. Yeah, I don't

know it's just It'd be nice to have some of those

writers But I'm not saying that I'm gonna just

discount something because they're a new writer

like they could come up with something You know

positive as well, but I just think it's a bad

thing when you Do something that doesn't make

sense to the series overall, which is what they

did with this whole force field This is not something

Hordeck would have ever done, so it makes no

sense to the overall lore of the series. So let's

go to Hordebats and protection swords. We didn't

give out any, so I'm sure we have a plethora

of things to give out in this episode. What do

you got? Hordebat for Shira for throwing the

damn sword. The series would have been over,

no more show, no more nothing. She doesn't have

her power anymore, and then she's stuck as Shira

with no power to transform back into Adora. Right.

A protection sword to Hordak for his hilariousness.

Like I said before, Hordak's comedy stylings

are just going superbly. He's becoming a joke

dictator at this point. Yeah, that's for sure.

For me, I'm gonna agree with you 100%. I'm gonna

give a horde bat to a combination of She -Ra

and the writers. Number one, because I don't

know who to blame the most. Either She -Ra or

the writers for throwing the rope. Either She

-Ra or the writers for... uh... letting work

out of this force field or even presenting the

fact that he's captured in it and then you have

something you can explain out of so somewhere

along the line that both against you get half

of a of a or that protection sort for me though

also this year so i'll give her both or better

and a protection sort because i do think she

has some good moments with lard and some cocky

moments and said like you were mentioning so

i do think she's good at times in this episode

and then uh... i guess other protections sword

to lard Not because he's that great of a character

just because of the design and the fact that

he can kind of mimic She -Ra's power in a way,

but I just think he could have had a little bit

more, I don't know, pizazz or something to make

him more memorable. But enough to just barely

get a protection sword. You leave the misfits

out of my She -Ra. Okay. What about Crystal Castles

for you? Last time you were at a two and a half

for the first episode, what do you go to on this

one? Zero. Zero? I rewatched this episode, I

rewatched both these episodes before we recorded

this and the first time around when we first

did this and the first take no one will hear,

I remember being a little bit more positive about

this but looking at this again, and looking at

how bad the writing is and just how awful that

sword to rope and throwing the zero. Well, okay,

so he went from a two to a zero just in the process

of the record being lost in forever land So that's

interesting. I will stick at my score. I'm not

gonna not gonna go back on it I could go down

on a little bit, but I think two and a half is

fine I do think there's just as much good as

there is bad. So it's literally a Absolutely

right in the middle for me like the bad writing

parts the bad little aspects But then there's

some good dialogue and some good humor etc So

they completely balance each other out to make

it a two and a half Which is right in line with

Mike's original, too No, there is no original

two because the original recording got lost.

Okay. I still have it down on my paper Well,

it's a zero You better change that to a zero.

I'll think about it. Alright, so I have a layover

in Chicago on Friday you asshole We'll take a

quick break when we come back we'll give you

our final thoughts on these two episodes as we

wind ourselves down a little bit closer to the

end of the Shiva series. 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,

chops our size. Nancy Cartwright and many more.

Eat my shorts. So grab a bowl of Lucky Charms.

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. we're back here in the service area episode

seventy eight and uh... i have zero expectations

for the rest of the series at this point i have

no good but you don't want to have good ones

i've got some good ones but after these two episodes

oh my god these are all horrible it's not a real

good you don't want these two episodes to be

kind of the patients left in your mouth when

you leave this series of open for the final four

episodes to give us a little bit more something

to write home about a little bit something more

to remember like at least let's end on a positive

is that too much to ask? apparently so thank

you for listening to Midsummer Etherea if you'd

like to get in contact with us to leave feedback

for the show visit the website geekcastradio

.com send us email feedback at geekcastradio

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and whatever episode number you want to leave

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