Mistaken Identity, The Toymaker, Bargain with Evil

It's Showtime Synergy! The latest review podcast

from the GeekCast Radio Network is here! So join

TFG One Mike, Nicole Hailstorm, and myself, Lady

Rek, as we will be reviewing all 65 episodes

of Joe and the Holograms in a 25 episode long

podcast. You can find Showtime Synergy on iTunes

and geekcastradio .com. We are the truly outrageous

podcast that you want to be listening to. I am

Adam, Prince of Eternia and defender of the secrets

of Castle Grayskull. This is Cringer, my fearless

friend. Fabulous secret powers were revealed

to me the day I held aloft my magic sword and

said... By the power of Grayskull! And I became

He -Man, the most powerful man in the universe.

Only three others share this secret. Our friends,

the Sorceress, Planet Arms, and Orko. Together

we defend Castle Grayskull from the evil forces

of Skeletor. Hello, this is Optimus Solo and

welcome to the 42nd chapter in Tales of Eternia.

With me for this journey into the Masters of

the Universe franchise, as usual, is TFG1 Mike.

Hello. Hello. 42 there there's only a couple

episodes left before we switch streams I Didn't

say cross streams. I said switch the streams.

You're not supposed to cross the streams and

actually there's actually only two podcasts left

where we actually do reviews for he man and the

Masters universe from filmation right this one

and two more so Yeah, whining on down after today.

We'll have five episodes remaining And ladies

and gentlemen, I want to apologize for last I

don't In fact, no, I'm just kidding. There's

no filter here, guys, on the Masters of the Universe.

So are you ready for more Powers of Grayskull,

sir? I assume so. I'm kind of scared now. All

right. So in this episode of Tales of Eternia,

we'll be giving you our thoughts on episode 123,

Mistaken Identity, episode 124, The Toymaker,

and episode 125, Bargain with Evil. So we hope

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

Eternia. Just like you're always talking about

He -Man. Well, of course. Isn't that natural?

Oh, I wish I knew more about him. Where he's

from, what does he do when he's not helping people.

You know, no one ever sees him when there's not

an emergency. Why, he could disguise himself

and walk among us. He could be here right now

and we'd never know it. Yeah, sure, whoopee.

Oh, why, Baron, you're jealous. No, I'm not.

But wouldn't you like me better if I was He -Man?

That settles it. You're jealous, all right? Not

to mention silly. Now go and get us some water

from the river. Maybe it'll just cool you off.

And stop comparing yourself to He -Man. You can't

hope to compete with him. I know. That's the

problem. Come on, army. All right, we start today

with episode 123 The mistaken identity here and

just to re -reference what we talked about last

week. You made the request a couple weeks ago.

Yeah, I want stable Writers and they have listened

to you full force like they are abiding by your

wishes We had James said the sad thing is they

all suck. I'm gonna disagree with that We had

Roby going last week and j. Michael straczynski.

We're getting j. Michael straczynski and another

Notable writer here coming up in a little bit

And they're also appeasing some of the my stuff

here with this first episode which we're gonna

get to Very shortly here, but this one's written

by J. Michael Straczynski airdate of Thursday,

November 29th 1984 young Farron pretends to be

he man's secret identity to impress his girlfriend

Kareel But all his boasting leads him to be captured

by self -made villain module lock who wants to

join Skeletor's gang So with the evil warriors

we have Skeletor and module lock slash whatever

you want to call him And then the masters we

have the regulars and the PSA is all about lies

that will catch up to you And you just need to

be yourself and be honest, etc So something we've

never seen before in the series so far somebody

pretending to be the secret identity of He -Man

What did you think about that plot line as well

as the origin plot line of Magilac? I really

thought that Modulok used to be a badass and

now he just has this weak -ass origin, like seriously.

I don't know, I just remember him being more

than what he is. What's wrong with the evil scientist

thing? It's been done to death. I mean you don't

this is this is essentially Lex Luthor without

a battle suit is what this is hmm This is like

Lex Luthor transforming into something else it

just I Don't know about all that his other episodes

were better his other episode. Yeah Okay, I like

the idea of getting an origin of one of the evil

warriors That's why I've been asking for so not

only do they appease you with the more stable

writers But they appease me with giving an origin

story of either a master of the universe or an

evil warrior evil warrior this time I also appreciate

the plot here as far as a person deciding to

Impersonate humans or steal human secret identity

and claim to be human I don't know how that hasn't

been done yet in a hundred and twenty three episodes

But I really think that it was a clever, clever

spot line for this one. I don't care if you agree

or disagree. I mean, why hasn't someone tried

to take the claim for all the things He -Man's

done so far? No, no, no, no. I don't have a...

Well, I probably do have problems with that,

but I more so have a problem with and kind of

teaching us the lesson of the episode pretty

much. I pretty much wrote down... my own version

of a He -Man PSA once I saw what that part of

the plotline was gonna be, but let me just give

the listeners, and again, yes, I will be reading

from something on the internet, people, just

go with me here, from he -man .wikia .com regarding

Modulok in the He -Man series. Shortly after

his figure was released, Modulok appears in the

toy lines accompanying cartoon series He -Man

and the Masters of the Universe by Filmation.

Although the evil horde are used as the main

villains of the spinoff series She -Ra rather

than He -Man, Modulok is given the unique honor

of making his debut in He -Man instead. Several

adjustments were made to Modulok's character

by Filmation's writers and animators. Given Filmation's

limited budget, Modulok would be a serious challenge

for them to animate given that his constant shape

-changing would require the production of exorbitant

amounts of cell sheets for the animation. I'm

trying to see here if they did... Oh, okay. Introduced

in this episode here, Mistaken Identity, Modulok's

character is also adjusted from Mattel's concept.

His personality in the mini -comics and that

of his is a rather generic villain, so Filmation

expanded his character by making him a mad scientist

hell -bent on proving his scientific genius.

So how is he a scientific genius that just wants

to join Skeletor's crew? And honestly, seriously,

I thought Modulok was a part of the evil horde,

not just this one - He wants to join the Skeletor's

crew because that'll give him leverage, it'll

give him access to things, it'll give him more

opportunities. Instead of just being like the

lone wolf out there. He'll have some type of

protection You know he has his warriors, and

he can use that too I mean I think it's any reason

if you're a bad guy you want to be involved with

the better the most bad gang that is out there

You don't want to be the lone wolf running around

I have my question here would be you say you

don't like this origin story, but did you like

tarantulas and Beast Wars? Well, no because tarantulas

is creepy and he rapes cheetor well regardless

of whatever that's coming from I never saw that

episode, but uh I do it's the same thing. It's

the same type of thing where there's this you

know very clever you know Evil scientist type

character that you know has a beast like body

and is both independent, but also does Have you

know some similar? Connections to an evil warrior

group Right, but this isn't friggin silverhawks.

We don't need a miniature version of a mad scientist

turning into a bigger villain here We don't need

a disagree a We don't really have an evil scientist

character in this series so to speak we have

wizards and magical people But we don't have

like a scientist scientist guy, and you know

he's a he's locked up in this maximum you know

Protection jail type I guess would be their version

of like whatever maximum security is with all

these other known and iconic villains according

to the people of Eternia and He's the one that's

the the evilest and the smartest to find a way

to break out I mean, I think that that's not

a terrible origin story. Is that jail right in

the palace? I know I couldn't quite tell I If

it is that's the dumbest placement for a jail.

No keep some close Keep your enemies close. Uh

huh. So I don't know, I don't have as big a problem

with Majolak's origin story. I think it's better,

you know, than the standard. He got, you know,

some, some chemical spilled on him or he got

injected with this or, you know, like we have

with every superhero person ever. Just think

the last episode that we had seen him in or the

first episode we had seen him in He was much

more of a villain than he is here. That's because

by that point see he's failed He hasn't gotten

into Skeletor's gang so now he is kind of more

of is a solo person He's had time to set up camp.

He's built his little lair And he is on his own

being a badass so I mean I think this is just

a character This is like a character development

piece that he at first decides You know I should

go and find Skeletor and become part of that

Skeletor Basically thwarts that idea and it creates

a more badass modulat character who now is out

for his own and I think it adds something to

his character See, I think this this episode

takes away from all that because we have already

seen well Yeah, but it's supposed to be device

first. Obviously. This is the difference between

watching it in production order versus watching

it in airdate order So technically this should

have been the first time we saw him and then

and then if by then yeah on his own Yeah, if

we had seen this one first, I would have been

fine, but we saw them in the other order, so

it's like this just lessens his character for

me. I think you're mistaken with that. But regardless,

I think it's a good plot. I think the secret

identity aspect and the modulock backstory gives

us two different things to look for for this

episode, so I have no problem with the plot.

Let's figure out how it was executed as we make

it to Castle Grayskull for the first time today.

The warning glass oughta distract it. Well, this

should be far enough. By the power of Grayskull!

CastleGreySkullMoments, what do you got, sir,

for mistaken identity? They put Gringer on his

own adventure. That was hilarious. Yeah, that

was a lot of fun. Him chasing the butterfly and

making the really, really low, weird tiger sound.

It's like he can't do a proper roar. And of course...

Adam says no time to look for Cringer ha Cringer

so planned that When not dumb I do enjoy the

whole Them exploring the fact that he man must

be somebody else I just don't and I'll expand

on this when we get to sing down I just don't

like the whole fact of The jealous boyfriend

and blabity blah blah blah. It's like watching

an episode It's like what if he man met Jerry

Springer. It's really what this episode is like

for me sometimes What about you? Um, I got more

net. Um, I think the army character is cool and

a little pet guy thought that was neat Reminded

me of something we would see coming up in She

-Ra And again, what a unique Idea to have someone

posing as he man why hasn't this been done before

so I know I kind of mentioned that already But

I just think it's it's a very clever and I'm

surprised that it took them this long to get

to an angle like that for a story, but It just

added a bunch of different elements to this story

not only the guy pretending to do that But apparently

Kirill is smarter than anyone in the series so

far as far as connecting dots and saying hey

You go here and he man does this you disappear

here and he man does this like if if career if

Tila was as smart as Creel She would have figured

this whole thing out already Well, it's funny

you mentioned that because Tila does say that

stuff She has said that in the past, but she

has never either Orko or Cringer or battle cat

or somebody has all or man -at -arms has always

kind of deterred her from saying But I have heard

Tila say this right, but I'm saying she's not

as smart as Creel to follow that and to actually

like put the dots together. Obviously Kirill

gets it wrong because someone's trying to trick

her, but I thought it was refreshing that someone

in the series is realizing that, you know, that

there's a connection between when one character

leaves and when He -Man comes in. So I like that.

I like the jail cells with all the criminals.

It's always cool to kind of see a hall of villains,

I guess you want to call it. Again, Origin of

Majolak, I found it interesting. I found it unique

compared to what I get with a lot of other villain

origins. And I also found the gang scene hilarious

with Modulac wanting to join Skeletor's gang

and Skeletor being like, you're just a puny scientist.

How do I not know? You're just going to be a

puny villain like all my other villains in my

evil warrior horde. So I mean, I found a lot

to enjoy about this episode, both with the Modulac

Skeletor angle, both with the guy trying to pose

as He -Man and with Kareel. I like this episode.

A lot of good moments for me. We will agree to

disagree probably, but let's see what exactly

is your beef as we make our way to snake mountain

All right, we find ourselves a snake mountain

for the first time today where Mike has to explain

what was wrong with this episode So go for it

The the kid Thrine or threen or whatever the

fuck his name is says oh It's gonna be a good

idea that I lie and pretend that I'm he man That

is the worst idea ever do not try to be someone

you aren't and don't lie to people especially

the ones that you love about who you really are

that's just God, just get another stupid kid

character in this series. And again, you know,

you say that Creel or Creole or whatever the

hell her name is, she's smart to figure out that

He -Man and He -Man must have a secret identity.

That's great. Her execution makes her stupid

as hell, because how dumb can she be? He -Man

and her friend... Uh, whatever his name is. They

have two completely different, like, I know that's

kind of the point of the episode where it's,

she's under the assumption that he's somebody

else, but, like, there's no way in hell that

guy is gonna eat some spinach and then pop out

to look like Popeye He -Man counterpart or some,

oh god. Talk about giving blondes a bad name.

Um, and you've got to be kidding me, Modulok

believes that the kid is He -Man, seriously?

And Modulock even says, oh, I'm a scientist.

I'm super smart. There's no way you could trick

me. Yeah, don't hold your breath, Modulock. This

might be the dumbest episode of season two. You

are so wrong. I thought Modulok was supposed

to be this awesome villain here. He's more dumb

than Beast Man. No, he's not. He overhears someone

legitimately trying to pretend to be someone

else. He has no reason to think that he is lying.

He has no reason to think this kid is lying to

his girlfriend and pretending to be He -Man.

He's just got out of jail. He's been in jail

for how long. He has no idea what's going on

out there and what's what's what. So he overhears

and he thinks you know, nobody knows about it,

which nobody does. He overhears this character

pretending to be He -Man. He has no reason not

to believe that's true. Nobody on Eternia knows

the identity of He -Man, so if you hear someone

claiming to be He -Man, which hasn't happened

in 122 episodes, you're going to believe it,

no matter how dumb or smart you are. It works

for her, it works for Modulok, as it's supposed

to. Nobody is going to assume that someone has

this ridiculous idea of pretending to be He -Man

when he knows he can't prove it. Um, so I cannot

fault her or modulock like you are I I fault

straczynski. This might be his worst. Oh my god.

You're an idiot No, i'm not. Oh my god direct

He hate mail to tfg1 mike and go to the episode

post to master tim i'm talking to you count mars

i'm talking to you Let him know how wrong he

is about this episode. This is not j. Michael

straczynski's worst episode It might be his best

Episode no might be as best I like I like his

comedic angle with Skeletor and all that part

of it But the rest of it this might be the one

idea of someone posing as as he meant secret

identity the origin story of modular Yeah, the

all good. The idea is great except the execution

is what I don't see what part of the execution

She just assumes that her friend is he may seem

like three different times where Where he's disappeared

and he man has appeared because this guy is trying

to pull a boy when you're trying to be conned

You don't usually see through it the person's

putting a lot of effort to try to con you When

it's your boyfriend someone you trusted you're

not gonna you're not gonna just That kid did

not put a lot of effort into trying Yeah, he

went through the whole thing lured Heman in there

found a different exit so that human would come

out He made sure she was in the right place I

mean he's not like a con artist, but he's trying

to pull a count on her and they're trusted friends

She's not gonna think he's lying. He's lying

about it When you get kind you can't fault yourself

for being I mean yeah, if it's obvious You know

maybe like oh, I was a fool, but come on now

We can't fault modulak or her for buying into

this guy who's trying to trick them Unless he

was terrible at it which he isn't You're wrong

well the only bad part about this was the fact

that everybody was having a picnic in the same

area today for some reason I don't understand

why As my only thing I wrote down on lowlights

for the entire episode was why is everyone having

a picnic in this one little area All right, all

right, let's get to awards and rankings because

I'm about to beat you over the head with something

Hey, what's the hurry? There's word of a Dragasaur

hiding in the Crystal Caves. I have to tell the

King! Hmm, no time to look for Cringer. Alright,

it's awards and rankings time. For the first

time today, I'm going to let you go first, sir,

because I'm trying to cool myself down. What

kind of Power Swords or Havoc staffs would you

like to hand out? okay before we get to that

you say that whatever is like you say her boyfriend

is a smart person and whatever else the way he's

going about tricking her is is smart and she's

not gonna be able to hold on hold on don't put

it in my mouth i'm not saying he's he's i'm not

saying he's smart Alright, I'm saying he has

an idea and he's doing his best to get through

it So he is trying to pull a con on these people.

Is he a person to do it? No, but he's still doing

it effectively Right and when he gets captured

by Modulock Modulock hears him say but I'm not

he man and then Modulock doesn't believe him

when he's caught he's gonna lie Maybe try to

be like no, I'm just kidding. Let me go. Anybody

would do that. No, I'm just I'm not he man. Really.

Let me go. Come on What would you do in that

situation? I'm gonna give a havoc stuff to both

kids and I'm gonna give a havoc stuff sister

Zinski. I don't think they were kids Whatever.

They're like adults No, they were not adults.

I mean they're they were maybe 13 14 years old

maybe 15 16 if that they're kids I found them

like 18 19 20 somewhere in there I don't think

so all right. Well. You're an idiot I'm going

to give out since you gave out three. I'll give

out three you gave Out to both of the kids as

you call them and the writer. I'm giving a power

sword to cringer I thought he was funny in this

episode I mean yeah He was on his own adventure

and kind of caused some some havoc with the shrieker

where he shouldn't have been But he had some

comedic moments towards the end as well. I'm

gonna give a power sword to Skeletor For having

some standards now and not just let into his

evil warrior clan If he has some standards he

needs to get rid of whiplash Right, I mean well

he has since we haven't seen him again But I

mean you know he he made the mistake early on

of letting people like beastman whiplash and

all these people in here So now he's got some

standards. He's learned his lesson, so I enjoyed

that and for my third Award I will be giving

a Havoc staff out, and I don't think this has

ever been done before I'm gonna give a Havoc

staff to you my friend No, you're not. Yeah,

I'm gonna have X after T of you and Mike For

being so wrong about an episode. I don't know

when the last time we were you were this wrong

about an episode the last time That we disagreed

this much was this is episode 123 Right now the

last time we disagreed this much was back in

episode 102 The greatest show on Eternia, which

I gave a one and you gave a four That's probably

the last the only other time in season two. We've

disagreed We've not had the exact same rating,

but we haven't been more than three points off

of each other It's for episode 102 and episode

123 which we're talking about right now, and

I just don't get it I think it's a clever plot.

I like the idea of posing as he man I like the

con job that he's pulling over and fooling people

so that we all are thinking the wrong thing.

And I like the modulac origin story. So you are

wrong and everyone is going to comment on the

episode post to tell you how bad you are. So

what is your ridiculous rating for this episode?

One out of five orcos. No, I'm not. Don't know

if we've ever disagreed more than that one. Let

me guess was yours a five. I am I'm giving this

one a five out of five Are you serious the five

out of five battle cats? I Said back when we

talked about greatest show on earth. That was

a four to one ratio. I don't believe we've had

anything that has been this dramatic of a difference

here as far as Episodes I'm trying to go back

here real quick to season one we had pawns of

the game master I gave a four and a half and

you gave a one two and Orcos missing magic you

gave a four two and I gave a one two or deal

in the darkness I gave a four and a half so we

disagreed a lot more in in season one looks like

three or four times, but nothing as Different

as what we have here a five and I don't even

remember what you said for this one in one one

You're crazy. This is not a five. This is If

I actually had enjoyed like the like the actual

execution from these kids and module lock, you

know set aside Gringer and Skeletor. Yes, I love

those parts That's great. But the main focus

of the story if I had actually enjoyed it It

would probably have been a two maybe but since

I didn't enjoy it It's not god -awful like I

hit against the hits hit my head against the

desk It gets one point out of five just for Cringer

and Skeleton. What did you not enjoy about this

episode? I don't understand I don't Anyway, you're

you're Insanity is has gone rampant apparently

towards the end of this run here with Masters

of the universe Mike has lost his marbles. Let's

see if he can regain them. I am not. I'm afraid

to go on here. Let's let's let's see what kind

of chaos lies ahead in the Toymaker coming. Forgive

us, Master Skeletor, but I've traveled far to

offer you my services. I'm called Toy Maker,

creator of fine and unusual toys. Now what am

I going to do with a Toy Maker, hmm? Take over

Eternia with an army of toy bears? Yes, if that

is your desire, Skeletor. These are not ordinary

toys. Why, my toys could bring a kingdom or a

galaxy to its name. Now all I seek is a master

and a place where I can create undisturbed. I'll

give you your chance with a little test. Here

is Man -at -arms, the subject of your test. With

his knowledge, I could overthrow Castle Grayskull.

I want him here. Up next episode 124 the toy

maker written by Karen Wilson and Chris Weber

air date Friday November 30th 1984 Chris Weber

writing some human episodes back in the 80s apparently

before he became a basketball star I don't think

it's the same guy 1984 when the toy maker offers

his services to Skeletor he is tasked to kidnap

man -at -arms in pursuit Heroic warriors must

cross the treacherous valley of echoes We have

beast man screech making his final filmation

appearance Skeletor trapjaw whiplash making his

final filmation appearance in a cameo I guess

and then the Masters including Ram man who hasn't

been around for a long time, and this is apparently

his final speaking role Yeah, the PSA is king

uh... randor talking about strangers trying to

give people presence and don't take any from

strangers apparently uh... so what do you think

of the idea of this toy maker and uh... deal

that he makes with skeletor and and what's the

what's your plot thoughts on this one i like

this one i think this one's interesting i think

that uh... let's face it as we all know and as

most of us do hate it when people reference this

this was a cartoon series to sell toys vice versa

the toys were to promote the cartoon and it's

interesting that they bring in an actual toy

maker into a toy centric cartoon series I kind

of like this yeah I mean it's it's I guess it's

an interesting idea to bring a toy maker in here

and have the toys that he's given Orko and that

they're gonna cause havoc and whatnot I mean

I don't have a huge issue with the plot it's

not something that gets me excited at all that's

for sure Um, but something that overall, um,

it's not going to make or break the episode.

It's again, an example of something where it's

going to have to come down to the execution.

We do have a lot of people involved, whiplash

and Ramman and some other people that we don't

get to see a lot. So I wasn't going to judge

this one too, uh, harshly based on the premise.

Um, but then we had to watch the episodes. So

I had to see where that goes. Uh, any thoughts

about not taking candy from strangers? Yeah,

you should never do that. Yeah, don't do that.

All right. Let's figure out what good things

you loved about the toy maker Well, how goes

the test Duncan I think we can give it a trial

run before lunch and this time we'll run at full

power Now let's sir. Let's melt that hill Hey,

it's Screech, Skeletor's robot bird. And I can't

stop the machine. The static from Screech's screams

are jamming the radio controls. I can block out

the screams. Watch this. Wheel of life spin round

and round. Block out Screech's awful sound. Okay,

what are you doing? Let's go Cringer. We're needed

All right, it's Castle Greyskull time for episode

124 I'll go first to get this out of the way

That was funny where they had the quote there

from the toy mask toy maker all I seek is a master

Said no one ever He's seeking a master I guess

whatevs I do like the skeletor if comes up with

the way that tests the toy maker He's not just

gonna again. He's not just gonna let him in he's

like Coming up with a task to test him first

good line about someone trying to get you to

keep things from those you love I think that's

a an interesting story to give the kids at that

point that if someone's trying to Tell you something

and says you can't tell anybody it's usually

not a good thing even if you're kind of being

Smitten by them or if you're you know kind of

in awe of them if as soon as they say you know

You can't tell this to someone usually something's

up I do like the idea that the toy maker is a

known identity at least King randor recognized

him So it's not just a someone that we're not

acknowledging. What do you buy you? What did

you like about this episode? There's only two

things I didn't like when we get to those later,

but it's one of those things where This episode

is You know like you felt with the last episode

it was an idea that was Refreshing it was something

we hadn't had in all the other episodes that

we've watched already Couldn't we wait till after

lunch? I love Granger Toys capturing someone

who is based on a toy that's funny uh... the

echoes of the defeat of the man they did some

pretty good animation on on the shadows in the

echos in the smoke and when skeletor's face appeared

in all that i really did think that uh... hey

look or goes messed up magic actually works it

really does help this time and then i love the

man's line to the should be on a on a toy package

somewhere it takes more than More than toys and

echoes to defeat the power of greyskull. Yeah,

that's funny. Enjoyed that. That's it. Yep. Alright,

well let's get to Snake Mountain and see what

was wrong with the Toymaker. I thought a little

rain would spoil your party, Screech. Hope you

didn't get rusty. I'm just a little out of practice.

Watch, I'll do it right this time. i don't think

that will be necessary screech is gone now but

maybe you should go alert the palace guard to

watch out for alright time for the lowlights

think about moments of the toy maker uh... what

he got there I only have two things. Didn't Skeletor

already kidnap Man in Arms in this series for

the exact same purpose that he was trying? He

wants his intelligence, he wants his knowledge,

and this, that, and the other thing. And the

Toymaker has an appointment with the authorities.

What authorities? Isn't He -Man the authority

around here? Come on now, He -Man. What the hell?

I just have one simple problem with this episode.

It's a little slow in the first half And then

overall it's just pretty boring You could not

be more wrong. Yeah, I just didn't nothing about

this episode really spoke to me You know yeah,

we got the toy maker and got these toys that

he's given them I didn't find any of the toys

being that interesting You know the toy maker

as a character is okay? I like that. He's trying

to do a task for Skeletor. I guess but there's

really nothing to like Hang on to there's no

entertaining action moments. There's no Clever

plot story devices like I said based on the plot

and who's involved I was willing to give it a

shot, but after the episode I was just kind of

like yeah, that was kind of a waste of 20 minutes,

so Yeah, just didn't didn't get what the appeal

for this episode would be all right then so let's

get to another divisive awards and rankings section

I Didn't expect to meet a famous wizard Famous?

Really? You know who I am? Know you? Why, of

course I know you. Magic like yours is a rare

gift. Much more important than making or fixing

machines. I wish my friends understood that.

Only another wizard can understand the problem

of magic. Your wizard too? Well, I'm not as powerful

as you, but I do have a small spark of magic

Let me show you something that'll impress your

friends All right, I will continue my thoughts

from the last segment in here power swords and

having staffs I don't know was anybody in this

episode. I don't have anything to give out. There's

nothing There's there's this episode was just

and there was nothing there, so I can't give

anything to anybody Wow, you're crazy, um I'm

actually gonna give a power sword to cringer

again Just cuz it's cringer and every time he

has a really funny line. I have to give him one

I gotta give one to orko because his magic actually

did help out I mean, I know that's happened a

few more times recently But I really do enjoy

when it what he is able to help out with his

magic instead of just pouring a bucket of water

on Duncan's head Yeah, so power sword for Cringer

and orko for me. All right. What do you rank

it? I'm only gonna do one thing here because

I because I I've seen Skeletor do this before

with man -at -arms I got to take a point off

because it's a reuse plot, but I'm gonna give

it four out of five. I Really enjoyed it Alright,

our brains work in strikingly different ways

apparently So, you know, there was nothing in

this episode that made me angry and there was

nothing that like pissed me off or that was just

awful There wasn't like a bunch of mistakes or

flubs or characters acting like retarded people

There wasn't like god -awful writing in it and

whatnot. So I can't like Completely annihilate

this one, but I can do the next best thing which

is give this one a two It's it's below average

You know a lot of times with these types of episodes

I give them a three because it's just like kind

of not good not bad But this one to me was a

little it was not good not bad and boring, so

I'm giving it a two So not quite as big of a

disagreement between this son and the last episode,

but still in a disagreement We'll see if we can

line up a little bit better for the last episode

today, which is episode 125 bargain with evil

coming up next Sky above, earth below, fire water

to me show, the land beyond Eternia's plains,

the realm where all that's evil reigns. Who dares

summon Angar, king of the realm of evil? I am

Arvela, daughter of the magician Landros. Landros?

You mean that pitiful magician who dared enter

my kingdom? My father did not mean to enter your

world. The spell he cast went wrong. Please,

return him to me. You ask your father's return,

yet you offer nothing. I will make any bargain

you wish. Then listen well. On your world is

a child known as the Star Child. Bring her here

so that I may look upon her and I will send your

father back to you I I don't know you said any

bargain the child will not be harmed I wish only

to see Nothing more and you promised to return

my father to me. Have I not said it? I I accept

the bargain Then use your fever of magic to find

the star child and when you have her Summon me

again All right time for the last one here for

today, which is bargain with evil episode 125

again You got your wish written by Larry DiTillio

air date Monday December 3rd 1984 it's our first

December episode of 1984 lady Ariella strikes

a bargain with Angass, excuse me for all these

names, King of the Realm of Evil, to free her

father from Angass's grip. In order to do so,

she kidnaps the Star Child, who is visiting the

Royal Palace. He -Man goes after her with Star

Child's guardian, Bowina, as well as Orko, who

is disguised as one of Bowina's arrows. No evil

warriors, but we get all of the regular masters

of the universe, including the King and the Queen,

and the PSA is about He -Man, and the ends don't

justify the means, find honest solutions to your

problems, and all that kind of stuff. Couple

fun facts there. The Wind Raider type thing that

the tree people are using is called a tree topper.

That's the name according to the DVD. And once

again we see Adam reaching for his sword behind

the bookcase in his room. So we apparently were

on to where he keeps his sword. This episode

also offered a commentary track on the DVDs from

Erica and Lou Shimer as well as Larry Dottilio.

So a couple interesting tidbits from there I

don't know if I'd mentioned this before but what

would happen in the audio recording as far as

the voiceover work for this series is John Irwin

and Alan Oppenheimer and Linda Geary would record

all theirs together in a session And then Erica

and Lou Shimer would record there separately

after the fact they would add all their voices

in And interesting to note Coming from Lou Shimer

himself John Irwin did not want to do this series

originally Apparently when he was approached

with the idea from Lou Shimer John Irwin and

was skeptical He said he didn't really want to

do the series because he did not think he had

the voice to fit this character for he -man but

Lou Shimer disagreed and and convinced him that

he did have the voice for it and Obviously the

rest is history. So some interesting tidbits

from the commentary What do you think about the

plot or any of those other notes, sir? I like

the plot. I think it's interesting It's kind

of nice to see the star child again, even though

she didn't age at all. She's a star child bitch

Okay, so What would you say she was in her first

appearance maybe be somewhere between seven and

nine no five six Okay, so she was five or six

in that shouldn't she be somewhere between seven

star child ages I think that's why she's called

the star child It's just like one of those things

they're doing that's just her permanent age I

like the plot. I thought it was interesting and

like I said, it's nice to see her again. It's

nice to see that It's her trying to you know

Help the world instead of what we saw in her

origin where it's two people fighting over her

and which that was fine for that episode But

No, I enjoyed the plot. I thought it was really

good. Yeah, I enjoy the plot. There's a lot of

layers to it A lot of different elements, a little

more complex than the normal plot we get. You

know, there's some different facets going here

with something I'll get to in my Castle Grayskull

moment, so I'll leave it until then. But I like

the different layers to this episode. A lot of

different characters introduced, some returning

characters. So overall, a fun adventure story.

And again, that usually tends to be a type of

story I like. So unless you screw it up, I'm

usually going to rank an episode that's pretty

high, but we'll have to see. Maybe they did screw

it up. Maybe they didn't. Let's start the process

of finding out how or why by going to Castle

Grayskull. the star child but we can't stay long

all right last time today we are at castle gray

skull i will start because i have a bunch here

um so i'll let you listen collect your thoughts

as i go through this uh myriad of things um i

like the star child continuity i also like that

it's not just a character that we've seen recently

it's a character that we saw all the way back

um it seems like forever ago i don't remember

if it was the beginning of uh Season one, but

it was sometime in season one. Let me find the

exact Was the episode entitled the star child

of that one I think so yeah the star child episode

39, so We've almost come a hundred episodes.

You know 80 day between 80 90 episodes later

that we see a return So I kind of like that the

continuity is not just with a character that

we've recently seen but with someone We saw all

the way back in episode 39 So I think that's

cool Also, thought it was cool to see orco disguise

like an arrow I don't think that's something

we've really seen too much before we've seen

him do magic We've seen this that and the other

but we haven't seen him Actually take a form

of something else a lot and then stick with it

for a little bit So I thought it was cool that

he was in the arrow going through in Boina's

quiver there You know I think the idea of the

council of evil and the council of good is some

interesting backstory to Eternia not something

we've seen any set up for so it's kind of out

of nowhere, but It's an interesting idea. And

Larry DiTilio in the commentary kind of refers

to this place that they go to to see the Council

of Evil as kind of being his version of hell.

So it's like he man, you know, visiting the depths

of the devil there. I don't know if you notice

this or not, but in the scene when they're at

the place with the Council of Evil, they had

some very cool musical variations on the theme

song. Oh, yeah. Very cool. If you listen to that

scene, you'll pick up on it. But something I

haven't heard before in this series. So that

again, 125 episodes in and I'm hearing something

that they haven't done before. So that's cool.

Never feels slow. So it's got a good adventure

story pace going to it. A lot of backstory between

the different groups. And I like that we do have

different groups. It's not just like He -Man

and the Masters and then like this one random,

you know, group of people that they're helping

out like it a lot of times is. You have He -Man

and his people. You have Starchild and her protector

Bowena, and then you have the girl and her father

You know what I mean? So it's it's like you got

three at least three different groups here that

are all trying to work together Against you know

this council of evil so I thought that was kind

of a neat thing that we don't usually get it's

usually just a Very you know two person or two

group centric episodes It's odd that we get a

third party in here, so I like that Orko's magic

in use in a place where it can be effective,

so we get to see some things that he has up his

sleeve when he doesn't have to worry about his

magic not working. And then there's some decent

humor and gags in this. Nothing like ridiculously

special, like it's not like an all -star clip

of Skeletor's funny moments or Cringer's funny

moments or Urko's funny moments, but there's

enough gags and humor in here that do make it

somewhat funny. The best one probably being with

Cringer's shadow puppets. So you got a little

humor you got a bunch of adventure and some backstory

and some different group for introduced as well

as the continuity with the star child So to me,

there's a lot to chew on in this episode. What

do you think? No, I really did dig this one.

I thought it was really good. I Love Cringer's

line seems like a lot of work just for a visit

like Cringer's ready to go to bed Cringer doesn't

want to go turn into he -man to go say goodnight

to the star child Yipe! Yipe! I thought that

was hilarious. When Orko is the arrow, he starts

talking, and Bowen is like, Yipe! What the hell?

Um... Scare him off, Battle Cat! Ha! That was

awesome. That was hilarious. That's one thing

that this series doesn't do enough, is doesn't

give enough action to Battle Cat. Like, he's

done a lot of action things, but he doesn't,

he hasn't done a lot, like, he hasn't done enough.

uh... and i know they have praised oracle in

the past but i wrote down well they finally praise

oracle on his good magic so well i i guess because

it's so rare that when it actually does work

uh... so the gate and i know this is just a design

thing is just something that reminded me from

living in massachusetts so the gate is like jumping

into a cranberry bog Because it was all maroonish

color kind of thing And as you already said cringe

your shadow puppets that that was awesome. Hell.

Yeah Yeah, good stuff. All right. Well, let's

see if there's anything bad I do have one particular

problem, but not a big one. So let's see what

it is get snake mountain I'll say this there's

more comedy in this episode than that last J.

Michael's or this key one Neither do I be brave

little star We'll find a way out of this. Arvela!

Father! Oh, Father, it's so good to see you again.

But how did you get here? I made a bargain with

Angast. A bargain which he broke. Foolish woman.

Did you really think that one as evil as I would

keep his word? I'm beginning to understand how

all this happened. Well, I wish you'd explain

it to me. I don't even know where we are. It's

the realm of evil, Orko. According to history,

this is where the Council of Evil was sent when

they lost their struggle with the Council of

Good. These beings you see here must be their

descendants. Enough of this talk. Bring the star

child to me. No! Alright, we are at Snake Mountain

for the last time today. Sir, what problems were

there with Bargain with Evil? Um... We're what,

125 episodes out of 130 in, right? That is correct.

We're at the 125th episode of this series. How

many times has Man -at -Arms or He -Man or Tila

sat there and had to explain to Orko there's

a reason why we're asking you to do this? Don't

get me wrong, I'm glad Orko didn't listen and

went as the little arrow anyway, but he is being

such a fool. So Man -at -Arms, the king and queen,

whoever else is at the palace, doesn't know where

any of them are. doesn't know anything at all

because orco decided to not follow orders seriously

really come on orco you fool um the realm of

evil it doesn't look that evil at all whatsoever

and the council of evil give me a freaking break

there's one guy and then the rest of it it just

looks like a bunch of soldiers it it uh whatever

um my only issue with this one really is, um,

Bowiena. Um, that is a weird Robin Hood knockoff

outfit, and her voice was kind of disturbing,

so if anything, I will fault Bowiena. She was

not my favorite character, but otherwise, I really

didn't have anything. There's nothing to dislike,

really, about this episode, so just Bowiena a

little bit could have been adjusted. Her voice

could have been different. She could have had

a different outfit, and I probably would have

liked it a little bit better. I don't like her

name, her name is stupid. Her voice acting sounds

like an 80s version of Jane Lynch from... from

Wreck -It Ralph, honestly. Her video game character

from Wreck -It Ralph is what it sounds like,

but yeah, I agree. I mean, this episode overall

didn't suck. It was actually pretty good. I think

we might somewhat agree on this one, but I'm

not gonna hold my breath yet, so let's get to

awards and rankings for episode 125. See, it's

just like I told you, He -Man. Who are you, and

where is the Star Child? That's He -Man, Felina,

and the Star Child's been stolen by magic. No!

Did you see who did it, Arko? Well, I, uh, well,

I think so, but... By the ancients, tell us!

It... it looked like Lady Orvela. The daughter

of Landros, the magician? Are you sure? Pretty

sure. Landros and his daughter have always been

good people. This isn't like them. The Star Child's

power has caused good people to turn bad before,

and we're wasting time! Alright, we'll go to

Castle Landros and check it out. Orko, you tell

the King what happened. But I want to go too!

If there's magic involved... You'll be of more

help by telling the others where we've gone.

Come on, Bowena. Aw, they can't leave me behind.

Ring -a -dee -rock, rock -a -rise! Magic give

me a good disguise! All right, it's time for

awards and rankings for episode 125 bargain with

evil first off I will give one thing out and

that is a power sword to orko For being clever

enough to turn himself into an arrow for helping

out all the way through the whole process And

to see in some of his magic actually working

so power sword orko. What about you? What no

Cringer power sword really come on the shadow

puppets were awesome Cringer definitely gets

a power sword You are a Cringer fanboy, so I

will write you down for Cringer Power Sword.

Hey, at least Tila's not doing anything to get

so many Havoc staffs this season. That's true,

he's not really been involved. What about rankings

for you? Where are you going with this one? 5

out of 5 Orcos. This is a 5, and mistaken identity

is a 1. That's right. You're such an idiot. I'm

not. No, the best episode today was Mistaken

Identity. Bargain with Evil is a close second,

though. I will give Larry DiTilio and his more

complex storyline a four and a half out of five.

There was nothing, like, special as far as, like,

really giving me any type of, like, backstory

as far as our regular characters or something

that I could just really hold onto as, like,

a special moment in the episode. Otherwise, it

is just about a perfect episode, so it's getting

a four and a half out of five for me. So we're

in somewhat agreement on bargain with evil. All

right Well, we're gonna take a quick break then

and we will be back to give our overall thoughts

as we wind this thing down only five episodes

remain a Farron learned a valuable lesson about

the difference between Pretending and lying everyone

likes to pretend but when you start pretending

like Farron did that's lying and Sooner or later

lies have a way of catching up with you Eventually,

no one will believe you even though you're telling

the truth. So remember, tell the truth and be

yourself. Oh, good! Does that mean I don't have

to be Battle Cat anymore? No, Cringe, sorry.

See you next time! Shut up. Beyond the Night

is the GCRN's latest review podcast. We are covering

everything in the Knight Rider television universe.

From the classic 80s TV series to the 1991 reunion

film, Team Knight Rider, and the 2008 relaunched

series as well. So join TF2 and Mike and Dion

the Music Man as they go in depth in Beyond the

Night only on GeekCast Radio Network. You can

find Beyond the Night in iTunes and on www .geekcastradio

.com Yes, Michael. Just keep driving. We all

like to give and receive presents. But if a stranger

tries to give you gifts, say no thanks and tell

your parents. Gifts and toys from strangers are

nothing to play around with. You've learned an

important lesson, Orko. There's one more thing

I won't forget. What's that, Orko? Next time

someone asks me to keep a secret from He -Man

and my friends, I'll know something's wrong.

You're right. Friends don't have to keep secrets

from each other. Till next time. So let's say

you're looking for a podcast of your favorite

80s comic books, G .I. Joe, Transformers, Ninja

Turtles, He -Man, etc. Where are you going to

go to find us? Welcome to Star Joe's Podcast.

I'm your host Ryan. And I'm Chuck. That's right

everybody, we're the Star Joe's. We host a podcast

called Star Joe's Podcast. where we talk about

your favorite comic books, your favorite toys

of all the 80s properties. Star Wars, G .I. Joe,

Transformers, Mask, Thundercats, Voltron, you

name it, we cover it. If it's in the 80s, we

will cover it at some point. Yes, so what you

want to do to find us, you can go to iTunes,

you can go to www .starjoes .com. And remember,

the Force will be with you. Because knowing us

is half the battle. In today's adventure story,

our bellow is so anxious to help her father that

she didn't care how she went about it. But she

found out that doing something wrong really doesn't

help solve anything. You know, from time to time

we all have problems, but the way we try to solve

them can make the difference between getting

rid of them or making them even bigger. I hope

you remember today's story so that the next time

something goes wrong for you, you'll work out

the problem the right way. The honest way. Bye

for now. Alright, thanks for sticking with us

time to give our overall thoughts on the series

now first of all a couple weeks ago We asked

for stuff, and we've been given it We've been

given our standard writers j. Michael straszinski

a couple times where we gone once later to tell

you once I asked for more backstory We got an

origin story between for moduloc We did get some

returns of some characters that we've seen a

long time ago, like the star child, etc. So,

I mean, we're getting a lot of what we want.

Outside of the Toymaker, again, this has been

a really solid episode, a great episode of Mistaken

Identity, really close to being a great episode

of Bargain with Evil. So, I'm happy with where

we're going. I've been ranking stuff pretty high

outside of one or two here in season, second

half of season two. You've kind of fallen off

the wagon a little bit here in the last... Last

ten episodes you've given out a zero a one a

two three a three and a half three fours and

one five Much lower than what I've been given

out. I don't know if you're just burned out in

the series Which is seems like from all your

comments. I'm not I'm fine with it. I'm not dread

I'm not dreading the last five episodes. I'm

not there's so okay not be over Not counting

the last five episodes so far since we've been

doing You know getting to these last 11 or last

12 or last 10 or whatever it is that we've said

in the last couple of episodes of the podcast

There has been no merman. There's no There's

hardly any beastman company anymore. There's

no there's no trap job. There's no there's just

Where's web store web store has been in the series

what twice the entire time? I mean, you know,

we haven't seen enough of Cobra Khan The other

snake men yeah, but what so we were going into

the second half of season two asking for more

characters Asking for more back and we and we

and I have not we've got that we got Cobra Khan

We got Roboto. We got module lock twice. We got

web store. We got too bad. We got spike or Yeah,

but spike or barely showed up. I'm just saying

we have seen people here in this other in the

second half here, right but One of your favorite

characters from this series. We haven't seen

him since God knows when in merman. Yeah Wait,

where the hell is panther? We haven't seen panther

It's the biggest fault. The biggest fault for

this and I was fine not seeing any more Trap

jaw or beast man, like I've seen them to death.

I don't need to see too much of them The biggest

fault with season 2 is the lack of Stratos and

the lack of merman and probably the the lack

of ramman for the most part because those are

people i would like to see some more of i don't

need to see beastman or trap jaw anymore or and

i don't need to see uh you know man -at -arms

or tila But yeah, I could have done with a little

more Merman, a little more Stratos, Zodak would

have been cool to see in season two. But I can't

complain that we haven't gotten at least some

of what we've asked for. We've gotten quite a

few characters in the second half of season two

that I was hoping would show up. And we got five

more episodes, so never know what's going to

happen in the final five. But I'm excited for

it. I'm not dreading this or wishing it was over

as much as you are. I think, yeah, am I excited

to go on to something different and introduce

to new characters like She -Ra and all those?

Yeah, but I'm not upset that we have five more

episodes to go and dreading watching them. I

think for me it's because and I'm not faulting

you here at all I'm not trying to call you out

or throw you under the bus I think for me since

I am doing all the production on the show and

I have no problem with it whatsoever and I'm

not trying to let me doing all the work affect

how I you know rate the episodes and stuff I'm

just to the point now where I want to do something

I'm ready to be done and put a period on this

series you know it's not like I thought it I

thought the stories got better as season two

went along and some of them have been really

great I really have but like I really thought

we were gonna get a whole team up of all the

Masters versus all the evil warriors were you

know you know just a whole out war and whatever

else and we haven't gotten that it's been and

I know it's the 80s 80s storytelling is completely

different from storytelling that of today's cartoons

80 storytelling was episode by episode and I

get that but it's just like this series to me

needs to end on something where all the masters

and all the evil warriors have a war with each

other and I know it's not going to without without

even seeing the final five episodes I pretty

much can say it probably will never happen yeah

I don't know I just I think we're at two different

mindsets as far as uh Our opinions of the series

as it has progressed I still it still has not

been ruined for me like mask was it's still That's

a whole other ball like you know we need Me it's

still what I'm saying is it still holds up. There's

still stories that you can get entertained by

there's still stuff that you can enjoy Yeah,

is it 80s and some people won't get into it because

of the format that 80s had and they'll say it

doesn't hold up for that reason or this that

and the other but if you're just taking them

from a story by story standpoint there's still

stories that are good and there's still characters

to enjoy so it's not like it's definitely hasn't

wasn't as repetitive as mask was No, so well

nothing can be as repetitive as mask was yeah

Hopefully not. I'm sure we could find it. Yeah,

all right go bots, maybe Kmart version of Transformers

is exactly what that show is now Anything else

sir? Looking forward to the final five Thank

you for listening to tales of attorney if you'd

like to get in touch contact with us to leave

feedback for the show There are several ways

to do so visit the website geek cast radio .com

where you can comment on this and all of our

other posts Send email to feedback at geek cast

radio .com put in the subject line pugs tales

of attorney episode 42 I'll leave the show's

feedback in iTunes. Please do this. We only have

four iTunes reviews We've been doing the show

for almost three and a half, you know, two and

a half three years folks Come on. Now. We know

there's a bunch of silent Huh? It's cuz you asked

so nicely. Well, I mean, you know If you want

guys leave us iTunes anyway, yeah, yeah, yeah,

you post that's what you use No, you wait a second.

What you're the one with the superiority complex

not me Follow us on Twitter at geekcastradio

is the main network Twitter. You can also follow

at pow of greyskull Minus TFG and Mike. What

is your Twitter at optimus solo? Tell me how

much I'm right and how much he's wrong You're

wrong all the time. Become a fan on Facebook.

Go to Facebook .com slash GeekCast or Radio Network.

Call the voicemail on and tell us the show you're

leaving the message for and your name. 502 -526

-5821. There is a five minute time limit. We

hope you enjoyed the tales today and don't forget

to join us on our next adventure when we'll continue

season two discussing episodes 126, 127, and

128. Those being Capture the Comet Keeper, The

Ancient Mirror of Avatar. Wow. Huh. I wonder

if there's blue people in that. And then we are

both going to be playing the games. For now,

I am TFG1Mike with... The Right One, Optimus

Solo. The Power of Grayskull. You all have the

power. The right stuff.