First Three Episodes: Diamond Ray, Teela’s Quest, Colossor

and the Masters of the Universe! 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! Granger became the mighty

battle cat, 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 first chapter

in Tales of Eternia. With me for this journey

into the masters of the universe franchise is

none other than my partner in crime, TFG1 Mike

himself. Are you ready for the powers of Grayskull,

sir? Oh yes, I think everyone has been waiting

and ready for this since we premiered episode

0 last year. I know, uh... buddy of mine on twitter

count mars always like you're going to you guys

are going to make us wait a whole year come on

i do want to say a few things as a disclaimer

i mean we might have mentioned some of it in

episode zero but seeing that you just reminded

everybody that was like a year ago i want to

throw a couple things out there number one hopefully

hopefully this will start to shed a little bit

of the belief out there that we are First, foremost,

and only Transformer fans. Yes, I know your name

is TFG1Mike and my name is Optimus Solo, and

they both have Transformers references. Fine.

Alright. But I think the reason we get that rap

is because the first franchise we decided to

tackle in our first, you know, your first podcast

was Transformers related. That was the first

franchise we tackled. There's a lot of different

series, so it took a long time to cover them

all. But that does not necessarily mean that

we are only Transformers fans. I have just as

much love for Transformers franchise as I do

G .I. Joe franchise, as I do the He -Man franchise,

the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle franchise. So

we're not like transformers fanboys we are fanboys

of all of it yeah so that I even said in in episode

0 I even said that you know I was a he -man fan

way before I was a transformers fan as a kid

and and this is gonna be a cool little thing

I mean we've already ventured off of the transformers

track with our mass mayhem podcast and this is

just the reason I'm a little bit more even excited

for this besides the obvious Talking about mask

versus human here, but uh is because this is

not just a one show thing This is like what we

do the transformers where we really get to not

just delve into this show, but the entire franchise

of shows And it'll be a long drawn -out process.

That should be a enjoyable journey and Well except

for one piece of shit happens how that goes along.

Um There's a couple other things I wanted to

mention. Oh As far I don't know about the way

you're tackling this but the way I'm tackling

this and it's important for the viewers to realize

this listeners or the listeners I always want

to say viewers but the listeners um I thought

of this phrase earlier and I know it's an oxymoron

and people be like that makes no sense but the

way I am viewing these episodes listen carefully

I am viewing these as if I was watching these

episodes for the first time again Now, what I

mean by that is I'm not ignorant to the fact

that I've seen all these episodes at some point

in my childhood or, you know, growing up. And

I know I can't erase completely the fact that

I know of the franchise, that I've seen the various

series, that I know the characters, that I know

what is to come, et cetera, et cetera. But I

am still gonna make my best effort, even though

acknowledging that I've seen it all before and

that it was part of my childhood, that I'm trying

to make my best effort to watch these as if I

was watching them for my for the first time again

and from that Outlook like I'm trying to say

like, you know, I know I'm an adult and I'm not

looking at this through kids eyes But if I if

this was someone who was watching it for the

first time how would things make sense? How would

things not make sense? Because we do delve into

stuff. We do dissect stuff. We are critical.

This is not just a An episode it's not our episode

just reflecting on our thoughts of human. That

was what we did in to cast Right. This is the

purpose of this is to really dissect it so that

if people are watching through these episodes

again They can have more than just the episode

they can watch the episode and they can listen

to us They can be with us and part of the discussion

debating things dissecting. What's good? What's

bad? What's wrong? What's right? And I'm trying

to do that from a standpoint of I have to try

to take myself back to before I knew anything

so I can say would this make sense for someone

watching it for the first time. Right. So that's

why I'm saying it's like it's like watching it

for the first time again. Right and for me I

as I said you know in in in the episode zero

I vaguely like I remember the overall mythos

I remember watching the cartoon but I don't remember

every specific detail I remember certain moments

of the series but I don't remember every single

plotline when I you know I I have all four of

the the volume BCI sets that make up the snake

mountain castle gray skull How's it stupid thing

called mural? You know when you put them side

by side I have all four of the original DVD sets

and It's very rare that I go back and watch episodes

and especially now since Kevin and I had well

Kevin brought the idea to me and we've we've

launched this the series of Masters of the universe

podcasts I did not want to go back before we

even started, you know production on this podcast

to watch them beforehand to watch them so far

in advance that I would be like, you know, if

I had to re -watch this, like, ugh, ugh. So yeah,

I am... I'm coming from two aspects. I'm coming

from the point of nostalgia of certain moments

in the series like the first transformation and

stuff like that. But as far as the rest of it,

I am coming in at it as like I haven't seen it

in years. Yeah. And I mean, I saw it all as a

kid and I've seen it in bits and pieces because

when it came out on DVD, I got the DVD, I probably

watched a handful of episodes, five or six. But

that's been some years ago. I probably watched

some more here and there with friends. But like

you, I've been holding off I mean this idea is

not a new idea this idea has been around how

many years have we had this idea now of doing

this at least Well, at least a year and a half.

We recorded episode zero last October. The idea

for it obviously came before that. So it's been

at least a couple years since I've even watched

an episode because I was like you holding off

because I knew I was going to be watching them

all straight through. So yeah, I just kind of

wanted to put that out there so people can see

where we're coming from. Yeah, exactly. Anything

else before we move on, sir? You know, I agree

with pretty much everything that we've said,

and people that have listened to our review shows

before know what to expect from us. For new listeners,

bear with us. We are going to point out stuff

we love. We are going to also nitpick the hell

out of the shows. Not just He -Man 83, but She

-Ra, that crappy new adventure stuff, and of

course 2002 when we get to that. you know we

would be doing this if we didn't want to do it

if we didn't want to sit down each each week

and if we didn't love this franchise in this

series and exact For anybody that ever comes

up with a comment of you know, stop complaining

It's a cartoon or stop being critical. It was

a cartoon. We will reference you back to this

episode And you will have to listen to this and

then realize that we've already told you that's

what we're gonna do So if you don't like that

too bad also, you know if you have watched the

or I'm gonna keep saying watched and viewed if

you have listened to any of the transformers

review podcast and you have not listened to the

Mass Mayhem podcast. We have changed things a

little bit with how we're doing these couple

things. So you can expect a little bit different

format than what we've used on the Transformers

review shows. Slightly tweaked and adjusted to

fit the Masters of the Universe franchise and

world. So hopefully you will get used to that

because it's a format that I think works pretty

well. So in this episode of Tales of Eternia,

we'll be giving you our thoughts on episode one

and before I even name the episode and have people

go crazy, I remembered the other thing that we

want to throw out there, which is we will be

reviewing these episodes. Like I said, I want

it to be as close as possible to as if you are

watching them live as a kid again. So we are

reviewing them in the episode in which they actually

aired on TV. um that is i believe the order that

they appear and at least one of the versions

of the dvd releases um but it is not the order

that they were made it's not the production order

it is the air date order this is how you would

have seen them if you were watching as a kid

so we are doing it that way on purpose. So, we're

going to give you our thoughts on episode 1,

which for this sake would be Diamondary of Disappearance,

episode 2, which would be T -List Quest, and

episode 3, Colossal Awakes. So, we hope you're

ready, because it's time to travel back to Eternity.

You don't recognize it, do you, Beastman? In

this box lies the lost diamond ray of disappearance.

The diamond ray? But that makes those who see

it. I know what it does, fur face. Now activate

the transport beam. As you wish, Skeletor. and

bring them here to Snake Mountain! I, Skeletor,

command you, my warriors! Furman, O Lord of Water,

master of fish, lakes and streams, return to

Snake Mountain! Evil Liv, sorceress of night!

I will need your gamma vision which can see around

solid objects. Skeletor! Why have you summoned

us here? At last I have the means to conquer

Eternia and crush He -Man once and for all! We've

all heard that before, Skeletor! And He -Man

has stopped us each time! But this time I have

something special! A diamond ray of disappearance!

And just what is so special about this diamond

ray? I'll show you! choice if not a brave one.

Watch what happens to any living being who sees

the diamond rain. And it's gone! The creature

vanished! Yes, exiled into another dimension.

The same fate awaits all who stand in my way,

especially P -Man. Now, here is This is what

we will do! Come on, Battle Cat! We're about

to clean house! No! Wait! Orko! What happened

at the palace? Skeletor's taken over! He made

your parents disappear! Man -at -arms and a sorceress,

too! We have to rescue them. Tell me exactly

what Skeletor did. He shined this light on them,

and they just disappeared. The lost diamond of

disappearance. He must have found it. Right,

starting with episode one, the Diamond Ray of

Disappearance, which aired... According to my

sources, it was September 5, 1983. It could have

been various dates in 1983, but that's the year

it aired, at least. And episode one was written

by one named Robbie London. Now, the reason we're

going to bring up writers for each of these episodes,

for me personally, is I like to see a if there's

trends, if there's certain writers who I end

up liking their episodes more than other writers.

I find way too often that writers of cartoon

shows from our past all get lumped in as these

phenomenal writers or as these nostalgic like

superstars because they wrote for He -Man or

they wrote for Transformers when in essence some

of the writers for these shows suck and some

of the writers are good. So the reason that we're

including it in our plots synopsis for each episode

is so I can try to like keep track of which writers

I think were good and which writers I think were

bad and to see if there was you know trends or

stuff like that. And partially it's catching

up because we forgot to do it in Mass Mayhem.

We did do that. It's a little harder for that

but we will be good because it's very easy since

they list the writers very clearly on all these

episodes. So we're starting with a Robbie London

episode, Diamond Ray of Disappearance. The first

person we see in this franchise and in this series

is Skeletor. He calls for his warriors, well

he gets Skeletor and Beastman I should say. It

shows them both kind of conversing at Snake Mountain

and he calls for his warriors from around the

world to come to him and we are introduced to

his evil warriors which include Evil Lin at this

point, Merman, Triclops and Trapjaw. So he brings

them to the table like they're having a last

supper. and Skeletor reveals the power of this

thing that he has come into possession of, which

is the Diamond Raid of Disappearance. Then we

shift to the palace, and we see the residents

of the palace and Oracle performing a bad magic

trick. So in this situation we're introduced

to Oracle, Man -at -Arms, Teela, Prince Adam,

King Randor, and Queen Marlena, and Cringer.

Then we see Trapjaw attack the castle. the palace,

and Prince Adam and Cringer quickly decide that

it's time to make their transformation, which

is the first time that we see the emergence of

He -Man and Battle Cat. Now, I do have to interrupt

you just briefly here, because I know what they

did to give the backstory of this royal family

and everything else with, you know, Secret of

the Sword and all that stuff, but you would think

that If you're premiering a cartoon, and I know

He -Man was not big on continuity, you would

think that they would give some sort of original

backstory as to how he is, how Prince Adam became

He -Man. Yeah, I have something about that that

I'll bring up later, too, because we'll definitely

touch on that again. Tila and the guards are

going to fight back, obviously, when Trapjaw

is attacking the palace. Yeah. Which we find

out is a diversion. Skeletor kind of reveals

to us that that was a diversion strategy to get

Tila and the guards and everybody away from the

palace so that he could continue with his plan.

He -Man meanwhile is helping Tila and they both

kind of figure out that they've been duped and

so they head back to go to the palace to make

sure it's okay. We also have an appearance then

of the sorceress makes her first appearance of

the series. And it's also somewhat revealed to

us that apparently only Man in Arms and Orko,

and I guess we can assume at that point, He -Man

obviously, are aware that the sorceress is also

the bird. So that's kind of like a little hidden

thing because it's shown that Man in Arms and

Orko are the only ones that recognize the bird

form of the sorceress. Skeletor and the Warriors,

along with some of Hordak's droids, I mean, I'm

sorry, Skeletor's robot knights show up. Skeletor

uses the diamond ray on the people at the palace

and they all disappear. except for Orko who fills

in He -Man on what had just happened. He -Man

travels to Castle Grayskull to speak with the

Sorceress to figure out what he needs to do.

Sorceress tells him that he has to crush the

diamond to restore all those that were basically

vanished by the diamond's ray. Skeletor comes

to Grayskull to take it over. We kind of get

the gist here that the Grayskull is a source

or a goal for Skeletor. It's something that he

wants. There's something about Castle Grey Skull

that he wants to control. His evil warriors can't

open the door until he helps them, and when he

helps them open the door, He -Man is standing

on Battle Cat there waiting for them. Meanwhile,

Tila rejoins us, and this time is alongside Ram

-Man and Stratos, so they make their first appearance

into the series. So she found them out in the

woods. He -Man throws the warriors around like

ragdolls, showing off his strength. Skeletor

tries to shoot He -Man with the Diamond Ray of

Disappearance. He -Man uses his sword to reflect

the ray. Skeletor then drops the diamond, but

he does create a Rockman for He -Man to fight

with to try to distract him. He -Man destroys

that pretty quickly and then goes after the diamond

that has fallen down into a crevice in the ground

there, and he then crushes it, which brings the

people back who had been vanished. So that is

basically how the story ends Skeletor flees and

we have the obviously Very cliche, but normal

strategy where the bad guys flee and will live

to fight another day We've already mentioned

everybody that appeared as far as the bad guys

and the master so a lot of people are introduced

in this episode and I'll let you talk real quick

before we go to the the next point about the

plot in general Or the cast of characters that

we see so far The only plot note I had written

down is, and for you fans, listeners that hopefully

would be listening to Mass Mayhem, I have a feeling

that even Orko's clumsiness, he is more competent

than Scott in T -Bitch. You had to bring that

up, didn't you? Yes, yes I did. He is more competent

than him, but I don't find any of them annoying,

which a lot of people do. As far as the overall

plot like I said before when I interrupted Kevin

I just wish that we had more of a I Understand

this show is not continuity driven. I get that

It's it's one -off episodes or it's you know

mini movies or whatever else, but I just wish

that the first episode was something more of

More character driven to The the royal family

and all that I think in my opinion of it is What

they do, they use this first episode obviously

as introduction of a lot of characters. Right.

So for me the plot of this first episode, the

Diamond Ray of Disappearance is simply a throwaway

tool here that they're going to use to throw

a quick story together but in a way that's going

to allow them to introduce a variety of characters

and you're going to have enough to try to take

in with all the different characters and what's

going on and why it's going on and how it's going

on that I'm glad that the storyline wasn't too

complex because it would have been too much.

for someone to take in as well as learning all

the characters and trying to wrap your mind around

what is going on, what's the premise of this

overall series. Because even though we say, you

know, it's not necessarily continuity based,

there is a loose continuity, there is a universe

that exists, there is things that have to fall

into place and make sense within that universe.

So there is some loose continuity there. I think

what they did, in my opinion, is it's almost

like they didn't have enough time for a backstory.

Yeah, and I guess essentially the the introduction

I think they use the introduction theme song

and the intro as a way to bypass having to do

the origin story Yeah, which I'm with you I think

I prefer origin stories and backstories and I

wish there would have been like one episode before

this I think this is a great episode to introduce

everybody in this world, but it would have been

cool to have one episode focusing on how Prince

Adam Learned about being he man and just I think

one episode where it just would have been he

man Oracle man -at -arms and the sorceress Like

basically those four characters and we really

learn about why those are the only people that

know why He you know, he where he finds the sword

etc How that ties in together just have one episode

with those four and then this would have been

a perfect second episode Because it's like now

that you know that here's all the other characters

and here's the where we stand today Yeah, and

I will say and I'm jumping way ahead here. I

know I am so forgive me here I do remember an

episode Down the line in this series where he

gives the power back and he essentially throws

the sword into the abyss of grayskull so I Mean

since you bring that up though I do have to mention

for those listening to us and those fans and

especially the super fans out there of the franchise

At least for me, please it can I request that

you do not talk about episodes We're not too

yet in the comments on our web page and stuff

like that Don't jump ahead if you're if you're

gonna watch and listen along with us don't say

well That's because you guys aren't taking into

account something that happens ten episodes later

Right. Well, I don't want to know about it. Yeah,

I remember we're watching this as if we haven't

seen those episodes yet A kid would not know

what happens ten episodes from now Yeah, so please

I mean I I Let like I said in the intro to the

podcast I remember certain bits and beats of

the series and that was just one of those ones

that I do remember But you're right. I mean the

overall plot it would have been nice even if

it was just You know even not even a full full

episode, but something you know I mean if you

could go back and do it perfectly right or didn't

do like a reimagining or something the perfect

formula is to have an episode that mainly features

those four first And then you start introducing

the cast of characters that surround these four.

Right. And then, of course, at the end of any

80s cartoon, any 80s cartoon worth its sugar.

you're gonna get your little PSA -style lesson.

So our lesson from Eternia for this episode comes

from He -Man, and it's directly tied to the actual

episode, because they say, you know, as you saw

with so -and -so in this episode, and the idea

is here to work for what you want, and do not

try to cut corners and get things the fast way

like Skeletor did. I will say, even though it's

kind of a generic message, I do like the fact

that it was directly tied to the episode. Yeah,

I mean they do... That's the difference between,

and again we are going to compare these because

both of these podcasts will hopefully be in production

consistently, which they will most likely since...

Anyway, between Mask Mayhem and Tales of Eternia,

over in Mask, their PSAs... have nothing to do

with there and which is how most their episodes

whatsoever where is in in he man almost every

p s a i have seen to this point has something

directly related to in today's episode boys and

girls or go learned eccentric center center or

in today's episode of this is an old beast man

learned except you know i mean they it's the

most important uh... When you do it the other

way, which is the way most cartoons did, is they

just threw something together at the end like

Mast did. Transformers did that most of the time,

and other shows that inserted PSAs from time

to time, GI Joe, et cetera. It's too obvious

to a kid that that's what they're doing. I think

it's much easier to actually get the message

to the kid in disguise doing it this way. Yeah,

as you think it's still kind of part of the episode

and they're just explaining things and then you're

like Oh you buy into that it's not like oh Here's

the moment where they're gonna give me some line

of crap about you know plugging something into

an electric outlet when you're standing in the

shower Right, you know what I mean like it's

I could be wrong about this But I think that

was a mandate that Lou Shimer had that he wanted

to have I mean, okay almost every 80s cartoon

has PSA's but he wanted it to Be meaningful to

teach people a lesson. They did have somebody

on staff that was helping them do that Right,

right exactly. So so I think that does it for

the plot and The way we're gonna break these

down since the first episode I'll give little

disclaimers here, but we're gonna move on to

what a segment we will call our Castle Grayskull

I hope Adam's not gonna do what I think he's

gonna do. Let's go, Cringer. P -Man and Battle

Cat are about to make an appearance. I'm not

really up for an appearance today, Adam. Hurry.

What's the rush? By the power of Grayskull! from

Castle Grayskull would be things that were excellent

from the episode, things we liked, highlights,

our favorite parts, stuff that belongs in the

halls of Castle Grayskull. First one for me,

I have a few on this one, I like, even though

I agree with the whole backstory thing, I do

like how they introduce the characters for the

whole series here. And the reason I'm saying

that is not only do you have Skeletor summoning,

each of the evil warriors, but as he does, it

not only shows where they are, but he describes

why he needs them to come back or what it is

about them that makes them an asset to him. Whether

it be trap jaws, weapons, and his intelligence

or his ability to bring different weapons to

the table, whether it be You know mermans controlling

this, you know, this in the seas and sea creatures,

etc Right Evelyn's magic. So I like how they

did that Yeah, because then you automatically

learn something about the character which is

character development, you know You learn why

they're important to Skeletor and you do learn

that Skeletor is the boss and these people are

coming from different areas outside of Snake

Mountain I guess I didn't remember that Looking

back on this, you know, since I haven't seen

these episodes in a long time I didn't remember

that beast man was there from the beginning at

snake mountain Wasn't summoned. So that was kind

of an interesting tidbit for me. I Love now,

this is just something totally superficial and

cosmetic. I guess I love the way Skeletor walks

I don't know what it is about it. But the way

they did the animation. I love the way Skeletor

moves The way he raises his arms and like cheers

for himself the way he walks it just to me fits

a villain And and I like the way they did that

I thought it was clever that when they go to

the palace at the beginning right after they

have Right after we've seen Skeletor reveal the

diamond ray of disappearance that after orcos

failed Joker magic that man or yeah man -at -arms

says that he would like orco to disappear Thought

that was clever. I thought that was like a you

know little foreshadowing that he wants to oracle

to disappear and they're all about to except

for oracle Yeah, so I thought that was cool.

I like how trap jaw Shows off his different weapons

in this episode, but also shows off his inability

to use all of and attacks them all But then at

the same time eats a sword Yeah, he put a sword

right by his face and he friggin chomps that

thing in half Thought that was trap jaw is essentially

Not not odd job Jaws. Oh, yeah. Oh It's not odd

job is the one with the hat. Oh my god. No, but

I don't know the James Bond. Yeah to me though

It was the thing where not only did we have Skeletor

show where they came from and explain why they

were an asset But then we got to see in trap

does case his you know his assets in action So

you know why why he was there? I like that we

learned that Tila is a good shot in this episode.

Got a little character development on her shooting

ability, I guess. I like my next note because

it just says, He -Man is strong. Immediately

shown that he's not just strong, he's out of

this universe strong. Right from the beginning.

Not only do I like the way Skeletor walks. But

another thing that cracks me up about Skeletor

and makes me like him as a character, he's got

the creepiest almost female -like fingers that

you'll ever see on a villain. He does. I mean

I know he's a skeleton somewhat so they can't

be like meaty or anything like but he has got

some creepy ass like almost like their fingernail

painted black creepy goth fingernails from a

girl. And I like that about it. But probably

my favorite moment of this first episode was

when Orko spun Triclops's eyes around. Yeah.

Triclops's visor or whatever you want to call

it and spins it like the Wheel of Fortune. Yeah.

That was hilarious. What about you? I, you know,

we all know or most of us that grew up in the

eighties should know by now in this day and age

with you know voice acting being everywhere and

going behind the voice actors and all that stuff

and learning about these people it amazes me

that the three -role rule was essentially stretched

to its entirety here because you've got Alan

Oppenheimer playing Skeletor playing man -at

-arms playing i think he's also beastman again

i'm not looking at i'm not looking at his credit

so that was merman merman okay merman merman

but you've got all of these actors that are playing

at least three roles maybe summer maybe even

playing more uh... and i just i love the voice

acting in the series i'd just absolutely love

it uh... it's just just amazing Yeah, I love

the for the ones that go to the characters we've

been revealed so far I mean obviously Linda Gary

is every female we've been reviewed. We've been

shown so far John Irwin is human slash Prince

Adam He's ram man and beast man Yeah, okay. Oppenheimer

is man -at -arms Skeletor and merman that we've

seen so far and the Shimer is orco stratos King

randor trap John and triclops Yes, those are

the ones we've been exposed to at this point.

I love the banter between the evil warriors in

the beginning of the episode. That was just the

bickering that was just, and Skeletor comes in

like, knock it off, it's time to get down to

Bresnaz. And yes, we are, I will freely admit

I have a shitty Skeletor impression and I will

be using it throughout this show. I'm not ashamed

to admit this, and I have no idea why it happened,

but when he man opened the jaw bridge, I teared

up. Maybe it's because I miss my childhood. I

don't know. But when he said the line of, I command

the jaw bridge open, it just made me tear up.

Because I remember seeing that as a kid. And

it was just so awesome. Boiling goes the ram

man. Well, the thing is the weird thing and I

didn't write this down before but the weird thing

is like with the evil warriors We are introduced

to each one of them individually Yeah, and what

their you know strengths are etc with the good

guys We're not given that luxury So then all

of a sudden you see Ramman bouncing in and you're

like what in the flying heck is that? common

sense uh... his name is ram a man who is that

and what is he doing it so it's like that with

a lot of the good characters i mean i know you're

introduced to a couple of them in the in uh...

themes you know the intro urges man -at -arms

in oracle uh... and sorcerers but it's like when's

ram and strados come in you're kinda clueless

at first And my last one was Stratos bagged Evelyn

in her own cape. That was kind of funny. That

was pretty funny. Yeah, that like immediately

endears you to Stratos. Like, this guy's a badass.

Yeah, he is. And I know we're talking about good

moments about the series, and I know that...

a lot of people say oh well it was all stock

animation it was this it was that you know the

the transformation scene was stock and blah blah

blah well that was for them to save money and

time and being able to produce a weekly cartoon

or a daily I think at one point this was running

five days a week at one point I could uh you

know I don't mind the stock animation no I don't

mind it at all I love it I mean it's like some

better than others but yeah yeah I mean, sure,

there are moments where the transition of when

Adam pulls the sword and he says it and it's

him standing in Grayskull and then it's He -Man.

I have noticed in this episode, I don't know

if I'll notice it in future ones, but I did notice

in this episode that it's not a straight fade.

It's a really hard, like you see Adam one second

and the next half a second later is He -Man.

It's not like a fade in, fade out thing. It just...

But some of the stock animation is what made

this series memorable and what made this series

a hit, because kids rely on routine, and they

attach to routine. So when you see that same

transformation sequence over and over, it's something

that kids look forward to. And even though they

see it all the time, they're looking forward

to every part of the episode. When you sit down

for an episode after school on Tuesday or whatever,

you're waiting for that one point where you get

to see Prince Adam turn into He -Man. You know

some of the stock animation is is Like when you

see human running, that's a whole different story.

That's bad stock animation, but as far as his

his Transition and that being used over and when

he punches the television screen When he punches

someone directly at where the viewer is viewing

from I don't mind that stock animation But there

is times where it rubs you the other way, too

And that's kind of a good transition as we travel

away from Castle of Grayskull and go to Snake

Mountain. So now that we've entered Snake Mountain,

it is definitely time to deal with the other

side of things from this episode. not so highlights

um i don't have very many for this episode one

of them we kind of already touched on the animation

on he -man specifically and i'm not talking about

the stock animations so much um some of it might

be but the animation on he -man is is not good

um in my opinion i mentioned how i liked how

skeletor's animation is done and how he walks

and how he moves i don't like how they do it

with he -man because it just looks like he's

moving in an awkward manner They do it with all

of the warriors or not the warriors. They do

it with all of the Well, I guess words. Yeah,

they do it with all of the Masters and all of

the evil warriors I noticed it specifically with

Tila and he man They there's a couple of moments

when like if Tila gets knocked down she gets

up and it's the animation on her getting up is

so straight like it's so weird how she stands

up and then she's running honestly the running

parts with any of the characters whether it's

he man Tila whoever it looks like they're on

fucking exercise machines it looks like they're

on treadmills it looks like they're on fucking

treadmills damn it it just does oh I agree with

you but for some reason Skeletor doesn't bother

me the way they do hymns like Know there's some

times that are gonna come up in this series because

I remember him where he looks absolutely comical

like it's like you like one of those shows like

robot chicken or like You know like one of those

shows that makes fun of other shows Like they

almost have to do nothing with some of the stock

animation you get or some of the scenes you get

with Skeletor because it's so terrible and cheesy,

but I just don't so far in these couple episodes.

I think it fits the way his character is and

the way he moves fits with me And but like you

said with some of the other people, especially

I noticed it with him and it just looks off It

just looks like it doesn't fit his character.

Like you said like he's on a exercise machine

or something weird Yeah, so that was kind of

one of my moments from snake mountain Another

one came at the very end of the episode when

I Didn't quite get it why Prince Adam busts through

the palace wall with the I mean I know the thing

he was driving didn't have its directional thing

on blah blah blah blah but it's not just the

fact that he destroys the wall but that he destroys

the wall And the king and queen are like, oh,

we're going to have to rebuild that. And then

a second later, they're all laughing. Like, whoa,

whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Your child just

destroyed a humongous part of the palace wall.

Yeah. That is not OK. That is not something that

should be laughed about two seconds later. didn't

work or make a joke at the end of the joke and

that's why we forgot that destroy the wall that's

because open or go open his big fucking mouth

yeah but it's like it that shouldn't make you

just you know part of your pals laughter was

so i'm sorry that is as much as i come in the

voice acting in the series that laughter was

so i'm gonna try to do all of it yeah it was

so weird as far as adam crashing stuff in as

far as adam screwing stuff up i will mention

this throughout the podcast is that the way i

see adam and he man is adam has to keep the cover

of that and went the more on the failure of show

that they not only his parents but the people

of attorney i see he man as the heat it's essentially

a clark kent superman aspect where you know down

yeah i mean he kind of does uh... But yeah, the

whole laughing bit, that was, oh god, horrible.

My only other stinking moment for this episode

was also towards the end. He -Man is trying to

recover the diamond because he needs to crush

it to bring back his family and friends. Right.

He has to push the ground away from each other,

which is fine. He's He -Man, he's strong, he

can do that. He pushes the earth away from each

other so that there's a big enough crevice for

him to like duck down into. Right. Okay. He ducks

down into that gets the diamond comes back up

struggles with it smashing it crushing it eventually

demolishing it Mm -hmm. Okay for that entire

sequence When he's moving the earth apart when

he's ducking down to get it when he comes back

up and as he struggles to crush it Every single

character in the area is just watching him Yep

we're talking about not just the good characters

but all the evil characters it's like it was

a show on tv or something and they're all just

glued watching to see what's going to happen

somebody shoot him somebody throw something at

him somebody go try to push him down the crevice

that he has already put himself into like i don't

understand that sequence it doesn't make sense

no bad guy like no please don't do that yeah

The one thing I'll say negative about that scene

and it's just because you actually made me think

of, I didn't initially write it down, but when

I was watching the episode I thought of this,

the entire time He -Man is straining to do all

of this, spread the crevice apart and jump in

the hole and pull the stuff out, it's like...

And the whole time he's grunting and groaning

and moaning and I'm like, it's a horrible 80s

porno. It's really what it is because all of

these, all of the noises that John Irwin is making

is like, it sounds like he's either. Trying to

orgasm and can't or you know, I don't know it

just Well, it's it just it was weird It wasn't

just that like I could see if you're a bad guy

and you see the good guys just yes Like go hit

a button or something and he's running towards

it and there's literally nothing you can do So

you're just watching him do it Because you're

too far away or you don't have any way to stop

him. This man is in a crevice struggling Fighting

his orgasms back as he is smashing this diamond.

There is obvious not it should be like Light

bulbs clicking on every bad guy's brain saying

this is a good time to attack Yeah, and they

don't what about you any other snake mountain

moments for you? No, that's pretty much all right.

We're gonna move into a yet another section This

will be a little bit different than what we've

used in our previous podcasts like mass mayhem

So just have to hang tight and I'll wait and

see what we have for you All right, so now that

we've traveled to Castle Grayskull and took you

a snake mountain It's time for us to enter our

awards section where we occasionally will hand

out awards or rank our shows, etc. This is the

point in every podcast episode that we will not

only give our ranking on the episode, but if

we feel there are awards to hand out, we will

do so. And that happens in one of two ways. If...

Something from or someone from the episode just

like we're amazed by them. We really like them.

They stood out Not just our favorite character

from the episode that's too easy But someone

that just really stood out as someone we really

liked in the episode and we will hand out a power

sword to them on the flip side of that if someone

stunk up the place like stink or we will hand

out a Havoc staff. See, I do know my He -Man

stuff. We will hand out a Havoc staff to them

as being a crappy character for the episode.

And I will start this off by... And sometimes

we won't do this. If there's nobody that stood

out and nobody that stunk up the place... we

won't have any to give out so it'll be kind of

in neither one of us knows what the other one

is doing in these sections we don't know right

rank the episode we don't know if we have any

awards to give out so it's always going to be

a surprise so we will usually ask if you have

one to give out or not I do have a power sword

to give out for this one which is obviously the

good thing here and I'm giving that in this episode

to Skeletor Who is it? Why are you okay? I get

it. I get it. I get it. I get it. Nevermind I'm

giving a power sword to Skeletor I really liked

him in this episode. I Number one like that.

He has shown right from the beginning to be in

charge He is the one summoning the villains He

is the one explaining to us why he needs them.

I like the way he's moving I'm liking the animation

that they're using I like that immediately. We

are shown a couple things about him number one.

He's smart He uses the whole trap jaw as a diversion

thing So that he can get what he wants I like

how he uses his people and you know delegates

things to him And you know he knew when it was

time to get away I like that we see a little

bit of his magical powers. I like the way, you

know, some of his lines, etc. I just thought

Skeletor stood out as a, right from the beginning,

a bad guy. And that's important for a series,

is to have a solid main villain. And for me,

this episode sets him up as a good villain. It's

someone that you realize has some intelligence

has some magic has some power Yeah, he's your

typical villain. So he's got a bunch of you know

bad sides and weaknesses But he's someone that

for me if I was watching this as a kid I would

say that's a legit villain right from the get

-go He's cool Yeah, so I'm giving him a power

sword for this episode. Are you giving any awards

out for this episode? Again, as I said in the

beginning of the podcast as I will continue to

remind people I'm coming from this at two different

angles where fresh on the episodes as far as

watching them for the first time in a long time

but i do remember bits from when i watched it

as a kid i gotta i gotta give power sword back

to he -man because simply because of remembering

the jawbridge scene i mean that that scene to

me makes It makes He -Man's character. It shows

you that he is in command of his power sword.

He is somewhat in command of Grayskull, but he

is also the keeper and protector of Grayskull.

He's like the last line of defense, and it sets

him up very well as you can't count him out.

He will be there. He will defend things, and

he will come through when it's clutch. Exactly,

and that's exactly why I like it. Not only for

the line of I command the jaw bridge open. uh...

you know it just the whole character deal with

him i absolutely love that part and we will keep

track as we go travel throughout uh... you will

kill the attorney i'll keep track yeah who we've

awarded the most things to and center and will

give you some wrap up at the end uh... so that's

the awards as far as the ratings go uh... myself

i will be ranking every episode based on 0 through

5 scale of for me battle cats for some reason

I find that to be in my little badge of honor

here and For this episode. I'm giving this one

for battle cats out of five Four I I can't give

it a five Because it's the first episode of the

series and like you said it does not for me satisfy

my desire for an origin story or a backstory

that's the only thing that keeps me going from

giving it a five there's nothing bad about this

episode that makes me want to take any points

away from it or rank it low at all i enjoy the

episode i enjoy how we're introduced to all the

characters um the action's good at this point

you haven't seen it a million times so it's not

old um so there's nothing bad about this episode

i just think it could have been a notch better

yeah For me, I am going to, and I thought of

this simply because until we get to an episode

focusing on this character, this character is

essentially the joke of the entire cartoon series.

So I will be ranking on zero to five orcos for

Tales of Eternia. And I also have to give this

four out of five orcos. It was good. I loved

a lot of things about it as you just said about

the continuity bits and not really having a flushed

out set up story. It kind of does feel a bit

of, even though you have the introduction of

the evil warriors, even though you have a slight

introduction of Stratos. and Ram Man, it does

feel like a one -off episode a little bit. So

yeah, I give it four out of five orcos. Alright,

so hi, Riggings, for our very first episode of

the series and of the franchise. So that's a

good start, and with that, we can move on to

learn about Tila, I think. Approach the altar.

My name is Tila. I've come. I know why you are

here. You have come seeking your past. A past

that only I can make clear. Behold Teela. Do

you know him? Wait. Yes. It's Man -at -Arms as

a young warrior. Years ago, your adopted father

was making his way through the evergreen forest.

He had received a strange psychic signal, drawing

him urgently through the woods. Then suddenly,

a sound reached his ears. It was the cry of a

falcon. Merman and his subjects had come to capture

Zoar the falcon. They intended to sacrifice the

mystic bird to an evil Sadia. It would have been

easy for the falcon to have flown away. But there

was something in the nest she was protecting.

Something she'd give her very life to defend.

Merman had been defeated, but he swore to someday

get even with the young warrior. The warrior

looked into the nest and saw... Wait, why did

you stop? I sense... evil. Come in closer. Beware,

Tila. Beware. Oh, Oracle, finish your tale. Tell

me of my mother. Young man at arms had driven

off Merman. and made his way to the falcon's

nest. Inside the nest was a baby girl. It was

the sorceress's young daughter. With the passing

of her husband, she had brought the child to

the mountain to raise her in peace. But after

Merman's attack, the falcon knew that without

a real home, the baby would never be truly safe.

The young warrior's heart went out to the child,

and he promised to care for her all his days.

You are that child, Tila. That means my mother...

is the Sorceress of Grayskull. Mother? Yes. You

are my own daughter. And someday, you will take

my place as the Mystic Guardian of Grayskull.

But for now, you have other deeds to do. And

until that time when your special destiny calls,

you must forget what you have learned today.

She will only remember That her mother was a

woman who loved her very much. I leave her a

secret with you, He -Man. You can, I assume,

keep a secret? I've had lots of practice. Alright,

for our second episode, it's time to go on a

quest, Tila -style. Tila's Quest, episode 2 for

our purposes. And I will again mention, if there

are some of the superfans out there, if we are

using a bad source for our dates, please comment

or leave us a message and... give us good dates

to use. My thing that I was using says that this

episode originally aired September 6th, 1983,

so that's what I'm going off of. And T -List

Quest was written by some guy named Paul Dini.

Where do we know him from? And I will mention

that I am avoiding, I literally could look at

my DVD sets, I could look online and get the

list of writers and write them all down. for

you know way in advance but i'm purposefully

as you watch the episode i'm purposefully not

looking at who writes any of the episodes until

i watch the episode and see it on the screen

i like the surprise of turning the episode on

and seeing the writer come up on the screen and

then only having a few seconds to be like either

excited or dreading the episode that's about

to come up and when i see paul dini's name i

was instantly happy. So, go ahead. For those

of you before Kevin gets into the plot, for those

of you who might be living under a rock or in

some despondos... Hey, not everybody's a cartoon

superfan like us. Well, right, but for those

of you who are living under a rock or in some

far off despondos dimension, Paul Dini, writer

on Batman the Animated Series, Justice League,

Batman Beyond, obviously He -Man, you know...

Very, very, very awesome dude. Very accomplished

and amazing storyteller. So that should set you

up for this episode. Alright, so Tila's quest.

We start in space and at the moment we are seeing

some type of character who says her name is Marlena.

She seems to be stranded in a spaceship in an

asteroid shower who decides to land on Eternia

out of desperation to get away from the asteroid

shower. We're then transitioned into seeing that,

oh, that is a flashback, that was the Queen and

how she arrived on the planet because we're shown

Queen Marlena and Prince Adam watching that through

a nifty little device that Man -At -Arms has

crafted. It's also, I believe, our first exposure

to the fact that Man -At -Arms is an inventor

slash Doc Brown genius creator of different things.

Yeah, I think it might have been set in Diamond

of Disappearance somewhere. But we didn't get

to see it in action, so to speak. Right, exactly.

So we see that that is how the Queen arrived.

Adam asked her about Earth. And she doesn't give

a whole lot of information. We're not giving

her whole backstory. But we are kind of given

a little bit of what we might have been lacking

in the first episode as a little bit of information

of where these people came from and that she

was from Earth and that she eventually comes

to Eternia. You know, we don't know how she meets

King Randor, etc., etc., but at least we get

where she comes from. Teela gets angry for Adam

skipping out on some of their exercises. She

kind of bursts in and kind of in a little funny

sequence puts the thing on Adam and we see that

he had quote, gone fishing. And again, this goes

back to what I said earlier in Diamond Raid Disappearance

is that Adam has to keep up the role of the slacker.

Yeah, it's a good point that I hadn't thought

about before. We get some more evidence of Oracle

showing off his magic, creating a musical bomb

box that almost exploded a man -at -arms face.

And then Tila starts asking about her mother.

And man -at -arms reveals that there is, I mean,

he doesn't really come out and say it, but he

basically says that, yeah, I know stuff about

your mom, but I can't tell you. It's a secret.

So we're immediately left with the feeling that

obviously there's something interesting or important

about Tila's mom. And that's basically what the

gist of this episode is going to be. It's her

quest of learning about herself. Now we learn

a little bit about Tila's history and that she

was basically raised by man -at -arms and that

she was obviously not with her parents. There's

also a new thing introduced to the series here

that we haven't heard about before called the

Oracle of the Crystal Sea. Tila comes up with

the idea that she needs to travel to the Oracle

of the Crystal Sea, some type of source of knowledge

or something that's going to give her more information

on her beginnings. I don't know, this might be

the first time we see this, too. Not only is

he inconsistent with his magic, but we see very

quickly that he can't keep secrets. There are

many... He keeps a very important secret. Well,

right, but I do have to bring this up, because

now that you say that, I do remember throughout

this entire cartoon, there are times when...

man -in -arms and i'm not gonna say any specific

ones cuz i don't remember those i i do remember

that that this part of the final there are times

where man -in -arms has to shut him up or elbow

him or because there are times in this series

were all or go almost gives adam secret away

so he persuaded to talk yes so he uh... basically

reveals what we're too is going so adam is going

to follow or slash human is going to follow to

you on her journey uh... we then transition for

the basically the first time in the episode to

snake mountain And we see that Skeletor has the

ability to basically spy or see whatever's going

on anywhere. He's got cameras in the sky. We're

talking Big Brother style. We see a tie between

Merman and Mad at Arms because there's a reference

to what we'll later learn about that there's

some history between the two. And we also learned

that this Oracle of the Crystal Sea is located

in Merman's, basically his home turf, or his

home territory. So Skeletor sends Merman to take

on the task of seeing what's going on there.

We also see the emergence of things called Shadow

Beasts, and there's a little commercial cliffhanger

there where Tila is cornered by a group of Shadow

Beasts, and it switches to commercial, so oh

no, what's gonna happen to her? She uses bright

light against them, and we'll get to that later,

and gets to the Oracle of the Crystal Sea. The

Oracle is starting to show Tila her past, but

unbeknownst to her that it's actually about her.

He shows Sorceress having basically a nest that

is being attacked by Merman and his minions.

There's going to be some type of sacrifice. Man

-in -arms comes in and protects the nest. But

then the Oracle stops because Merman and his

minions appear and take Tila captured. So she

is captive. and oracle fills the sorceress in

on what happened this is real time now not a

flashback oracle fills the sorceress in on what

happened and she also leaves to try to see what's

happened so not only has he -man gone to protect

her now the sorceress obviously sees something

very important and goes to see what's happening

he -man catches up speaks to the oracle learns

a little bit more and then we have the Whole

scene where merman is putting the crimson pearl

to use to summon Bakul who they sacrifice things

to They were originally gonna sacrifice the baby

and the nest to it now. They're gonna sacrifice

Tila to it all these years later Which we will

later on learn is the same person He man appears

and takes over sorceress comes in and takes merman

staff without the staff He can't control Bakul

Bakul attacks merman and then in a weird twist

he man saves merman and then He -Man gets attacked.

We do learn that Sorceress, her husband, had

been killed at some point and that she realized

that she could not care for her daughter efficiently.

So that is why she gives Tila, who we have revealed

is Sorceress' daughter, to Man -at -Arms to raise.

Then right before I was going to have a problem

with something, I had to erase my notes because

Tila's memory is wiped. So even though she has

learned that she's the daughter of the sorceress,

not only that she's the daughter of the sorceress,

but that she is going to be next in line to take

over that position of the magical keeper of Castle

Grayskull. But then they wipe her memory, which

we'll talk more about in a bit. And that's kind

of the end of the episode. So bad guys, we didn't

have a lot of them besides the shadow beasts

and these weird creatures. We basically just

had Skeletor and Merman. And for the good characters

we had, all of them from the first episode except

obviously we didn't see Stratos or Ramman. So

what did you think about the plot for this T

-List quest? I really enjoyed it. It's very very

well written and thought out I really don't have

too many overall issues with it I mean I almost

was gonna have an issue my only issue that I

almost was gonna write down because obviously

this just proves that I've Haven't seen these

recently so I forgot that this is the twist they

put at the end At first I was like, this is an

epic story line. This is an awesome connection

of showing not only where Queen Marlana came

from in the beginning, but now we're learning

background information about Tila and the Sorceress,

and that there's a connection between the two.

I'm like, this sets everything up awesome. I

was like, but... for a second I was like but

wait this could be something that's cool because

we know about it and It would be cool if it takes

a long time for Tila to figure out Because then

we kind of earn on the secret, but she's not

but we're wondering what they're gonna eventually

do with it And then I'm like they tell Tila and

I'm like wait a second. We didn't draw this out

even past one episode It's too soon for her to

know and then they wiped her memory, and I'm

like oh, that's cool yes i think it's cool you

know and not only did we get all those background

information but he does throw a twist at at the

end so it's not just you know it's not just what

you what it seems at on the surface and i think

with the twist with the plot is it's not only

is her memory wiped the only part of her memory

that they wiped was the part about her destiny

right sorceress does leave in the parts about

Doesn't leave in that the Sorceress is her mother,

but the Sorceress flat out says she will know

that her mother loved her very much, et cetera,

et cetera, et cetera. So that way, you won't

have Teela whining every episode, I want to know

who my mother is, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

So I do really, really like that. Again, as I

said, very well thought out. way of writing the

episode and making the plot make sense. They

packed a whole lot into a 20 minute, 20 some

minute period. Yeah. So a whole lot of storytelling

and it never felt like it was storytelling. Like

sometimes when you have to fit a bunch of storytelling

in, it becomes slow. Because you're listening

to a bunch of dialogue or doing this this episode

went by really fast because there was a lot happening

and Not to mention I mentioned, you know that

they give the background on Marlena and the sorceress

and Tila Well, you also get a spotlight on Merman.

Yeah So, I mean they did a lot with this episode

that I thought was really excellently done and

it did not surprise me when you know Paul Dini

was in charge of this that this became a solid

episode and this is not something where I said

Oh, it's Paul Dini. I'm gonna like it no matter

what This is something where it's like, oh, this

is why this guy is good for stuff like this.

Oh, most definitely. The lesson at the end, this

time we get our lesson from Eternia from Tila.

So we get to see that it's not just going to

come from He -Man every time. And this was, again,

fit perfect in with the episode and also fits

perfect with what kids could be dealing with

that are watching these cartoons. And it's talking

about, you know, it doesn't have to be biological.

It's not about, you know, necessarily always

who your blood parents are, but who actually

took the time, raised you, cared for you, sacrificed,

you know, for you. And it was kind of almost

like a pro adoption or pro like, you know, step

mom, step dad type thing where, you know, it's

not about the DNA all the time. Sometimes it's

about who put the work in. It's more so about

who put the work in than it is about the DNA,

but as a personal note for myself, my parents

got divorced when I was two. I did see my dad

once a week, but there were times where I wouldn't

see him for three or four months. By the time

I was between seven and nine, he got remarried

and moved where I currently live. And I was still

in Massachusetts, and I didn't see him at all.

So essentially, my aunt and uncle and my three

cousins, they were my second type of family outside

of my mom, because I was an only child, just

like Adam is an only, well, supposedly Adam is

an only child. You know what I mean? So I can

very much relate to this of, I always wanted

to be over at my uncle's house. I just always

did, because I liked hanging out with my cousins.

I liked. you know, just being there. I just really

enjoyed it. It's just a great, great message

that they have here. And it's something that

I never realized ever, ever before about this

series was that they have built into the foundation

of this series a relationship of a girl being

raised by someone who is not her dad and that

connection and how that could speak to someone

who is, you know, being raised by someone who

is not necessarily their dad or you're raised

by people that, you know, to them is not their

biological parents. So I think that's very cool

that they kind of work that in there and I never

really thought about that until now. And if you

really want to nitpick it, you would think that

her mom would have to be a redhead and seeing

as how men in arms is not. Well, you know, genes

are funny sometimes. Let's get our, do you have

any other plot notes? No. Alright, let's go to

Castle Grayskull. After all, if Tila wants to

go running all up to the Crystal Sea, that's

her business. The Crystal Sea? Oops. Even Tila's

no match for the evil creatures there. Orko,

you should have stopped her. I tried. I tried.

Cringer, we've got to find her. Oh, don't tell

me I have to be that dreadful battle cat again.

Sorry, old cat, but he could stay on Tila's trail

better than you could. All right, let's see what

we find for Tila's quest in the Halls of Castle

Grayskull. I thought it was hilarious at the

beginning when Tila comes in and is yelling at

Adam, puts the visor on, shows that he's fishing.

like he's caught and she's busting him out and

she's like aren't you ashamed of yourself and

he goes yeah I didn't catch a thing that's like

not only is you know is like just it almost showed

like a smartass side but it was also very humorous

and I just thought it was a good timing and a

good joke and it wasn't one of those cheesy jokes

that they threw in that everybody has to laugh

at it was a joke that they threw in that you

could laugh at on your own right so I like that

I've mentioned it before, I absolutely love the

backstory we get in this episode. All the backstory

I was missing from the first episode, I got a

good dose of it in this episode. So that makes

it better for me. I love seeing Merman's home

turf and kind of his little headquarter area

there. Headquarters is the wrong word, but I

couldn't think of a better word to use, but just

kind of like his terrain and... Yeah, his area

I thought that was cool. Um, I feel like you

know, cuz I'm gonna make a reference that nobody's

gonna get but It's just the timing and the cadence

that they use when when he says this but the

thing Merman I think is on Merman or or the the

monster is up like on top of like a mountain

type peak really mountain and Battle can't can't

climb up it and he man goes your claws weren't

made for climbing and it sounds like uh the country

song or whatever where it's like these boots

were made for walking or something like that

and i just like oh my god the way they said it

almost fit perfectly within the song i was like

can they just say that um and then yeah like

i said before i love the sorcerer's tila connection

that's not something you would expect going into

it because there's no clues that there that's

going to exist and uh I love that we were let

in on it and Tila's not because then it kind

of ties you into being like feeling you're part

of that inner circle that knows the secrets.

Whereas not all the characters know the secrets.

Yeah, exactly. So those are my favorite moments.

For me, I actually have to correct you on something

in the plot is that we did see my first note

was I love seeing Marlena's journey and her backstory.

We did. We didn't see her and I think it's because

of the times that the king and the queen are

meant to reflect like Arthurian times. We didn't

see them like how they fell in love or dated

or whatever else, but we did see the fact that

he did rescue her and he made her his queen.

So it wasn't like they just skipped over that

part. I love how Tila wants to learn her heritage

after seeing, you know, after, you know, seeing

Marlena's experience with, you know, bringing

her memories back and stuff like that. I really

do love that. Something I know that you might

not have picked up on, but I always, for people

that have listened to our shows before, they

know I pick up on the strangest things, but I

thought this was really cool. Cringer. Go Cringer.

He dreads Battle Cat. Love this because it shows

that Cringer has a side of himself that he isn't

quite okay with it shows really interesting character

depth and it shows that It's two personalities

in one body like like battle cat is is is him

being fearless and you know standing up whereas

as himself he just Again, I I have to use the

whole Superman Clark Kent thing where it's almost

as if it's two different personalities in the

same body and it's just I just absolutely love

the whole line of oh No, you know, oh, no, do

we have to let him come out? He scares me or

you know, whatever it was that he said and I

just absolutely love that about Cringer Yeah,

Cringer is likeable And I loved how John Irwin

can change his voice so much to fit the different

characters that he voices whereas uh... you know

his he -man voice is is very booming and loud

his anum voice is kind of soft and meek and his

oracle voice is almost like a sage it's it it

almost reminds me of will be one honestly yeah

there's just enough like that's the other thing

i like about watching this as an adult is and

maybe it's just having all the experience of

listening to a million voice actors uh... for

the BehindTheVoiceActors .com. But I like that

I'm able to pick out who's doing what character.

Especially it's easy because there's only three

guys to choose from. So you're like, is that

Lou Scheimer, Alan Hoppenheimer, or John Irwin?

And I'm being able to add a bunch of characters

to the page now because I'm like, oh, that's

him. That's him. So that's cool. My final Grayskull

moment is, so this series is swords, sorcery,

and psychics. I swear as soon as I saw that you

know her heard the name Oracle and as soon as

I saw it was a crystal orb and it looks like

a crystal ball might really psychics really But

yeah, that's that's pretty much all I got for

a school. All right. Let's venture to sneak Alright,

now that we've arrived at Snake Mountain, let's

see what we find here. I have two minorly majorly

problems here. They're somewhere in the middle.

Should we just assume that Tila knows all the

weaknesses of the various life forms of Eternia?

Why do you say that? She's confronted with a

shadow beast and immediately she's like, oh,

this ball of light. They can't see the light.

They're weak if they see the light. I will throw,

you know, I will shine bright lights in their

face. Like, how did she know that? Okay, and

again, if any of the listeners or any of the...

super he fans want to write in email in feedback

if you have no no no seriously they they're called

he fans and she ravers that's what the fan community

of of of of the fans is called he he fans and

she ravers uh... at least that's a toy you recall

some If any of the He -Fans want to write in

feedback at Geekcast Radio, let us know if the

Shadow Beasts made any appearances in the mini

-comics before the cartoon series, if there was

continuity before this at all. Because yeah,

you are right, why does she know this? And it's

common knowledge for us after this that, oh,

they're... They're afraid of life. I mean, the

reason I bring that up, I'm not trying to nitpick,

the reason I'm bringing this up is I want to

know is this a character development thing where

we are learning that she is a very knowledgeable

person that has studied the various life forms

of Eternia and she just knows, like we should

expect to be able to turn to her when we need

to know weaknesses about things, or is this just

a oversight, a slight oversight where... We just

needed her to know the weaknesses like she's

like, oh, they're the shadow beasts shadow Oh

light and like she put two into two together.

I don't know. It just seemed too easy that she

immediately knew what to do. I think that What

the way that this series is and the way that

it doesn't have a directed continuity I would

assume that how I don't know I know in the later

series, in the 2002 series, both her and Adam

are supposed to be teenagers. In this series,

I honestly don't know. I would assume Tila is

anywhere between 18 and 25. I was pictured her

as in the young 20s. Bro, okay, yeah, yeah. I

was pictured Adam and Tila about like between

21 and 25. Okay. All right, we'll go with that.

I know we're gonna get blast on that and everybody's

gonna say that no They're like 17 or 16 or whatever.

They do not act like 17 or 16 year olds. Yeah,

it'll it'll It'll create good fan reaction. Yes,

but my point here is is that Tila seems to throughout

these first two episodes of the series It seems

like they've been fighting for a long time. Yeah,

well like she like man -in -arms raised her to

be a fighter taught her everything he knew about

battle so it could be the fact that she was raised

that way and maybe you're right maybe she does

study the story she's encountered them before

maybe yeah that's that's it just seemed it just

seemed odd at first when i first saw that yeah

yeah um the other thing also involves tila um

he man at one point chuck this i thought it was

cool that he actually threw the sword because

i don't think we had seen that up to this point

No, we've seen him use a sword to reflect things

we've seen him use a sword in other ways But

he actually chucks the sword to free Tila Yeah,

or to do whatever he does I can't remember why

he throws a sword but he throws a sword and it

sticks into the side of the mountain And then

at one point he's like Tila Use the sword and

I don't necessarily buy that she could pull that

thing out of the it's like removing the sword

from the stone type thing Yeah, she she pulled

that sword out like she was he man And maybe

he just barely got it in, and it was just barely

sticking into this rock wall. But he's He -Man,

so if he threw a sword, that thing should be

in there deep. And she just whipped that thing

out. I know that that one particularly is me

being a nitpicky thing, but I had to find something

bad to say about the episode, didn't I? No, not

necessarily. What do you have to say about it?

Well, I will kind of piggyback off of that to

where I think... And again, I know I keep referencing

this because people are probably going to be

like, no, it's not that. It's not that. One of

the biggest things with Paul Dini and Bruce Timm

and all of the DC animated universe creators

starting Justice League was Superman is all powerful.

How do we make him not? you know, just outshine

all of the rest of the Justice Leagueers. Same

thing with He -Man. He -Man is supposed to be

the powerful, you know, most powerful man in

the universe. So I think where it might be possibly

a dumbing down of his power a little bit in this

moment of her being able to pull the sword out,

I don't know. The only thing I had written down,

because the story flows so well, the action is

really cool, the only thing, um... That I had

written down for first, you know, snake mountain

moment was maybe I spoke a little bit too soon

about orko being smarter than Scott and T Bob

because a music box of a bomb parts really oh

And it wasn't a dud because it did explode It

just that moment just I can't wait until Larry

to tell you gets story stuff with Orko. Oh boy.

But yeah, that was pretty much all I had. I mean,

the story overall, the action, the overall episode

is just amazing. So I only had one thing. All

right. Well, in that case, it's time for my favorite

part of the show, the award ceremony. Better

let me handle this, Cap. Your claws weren't made

for climbing crystal. Alright, it's time to hand

out our power swords or Havoc staffs if we have

any. I'll let you go first. Do you have any awards

to hand out, sir? I am going to give a power

sword because not only did Tila really use the

power sword in this episode, I got to give her

a Pog's power sword because overall, the backstory

- Oh my god, you just said give her a Pog's power

sword and now I'm envisioning collecting cards

of these things or somehow giving her an actual

Pog. Oh god. Yes, exactly. A Pog's power sword

in the - I give it to her but I also give it

to I honestly give it to paul dini and and the

backstory and the power of the writing No, seriously.

I love that you just did that It's true because

the story is so powerful. It's it keeps you,

you know, like you said a second, you know, you

said a few minutes ago where They fit a lot into

a 21, 22, 23 minute episode and it is a lot to

take in, but it's not where, it's not like when

you're watching something and it's like, you

know, you get 15 minutes and you're like, oh

my God, when is this episode gonna end? It's

more so like you're sitting here, you're not

paying attention to the clock, you're watching

it and you're just so engrossed in it. So yeah,

between Tila and Paul Dini, they both get a Pugs

power sword. All right, I am. Sticking with a

theme and only giving out power swords so far

This is like a female empowerment episode I mean

if you think of it look at look at what Tila

did in this episode She's first of all she's

running shit at the castle and calling out Adam

for being a douchebag Even though he's doing

it on purpose, but she wants to know something

about her her past So she goes out and says screw

it if people aren't gonna tell me I'm gonna go

find it for myself not in like a completely reckless

way But you know she's gonna do that but like

Seriously, she knows how to deal with a shadow

beast She can pull a sword out of the rock and

do all that stuff like she took charge like she

was all about it and So yeah, not it's not just

that we learned a bunch about her is that she

came across as a very strong individual and strong

character in this episode And it goes back to

my explanation to you about your wondering about

her being able to pull the power sword, is that

she has been fighting for years, it seems. She

has been fighting since she was a teenager. If

we're going to pigeonhole her into being between

20 and 25... She's been doing this a while. Yeah,

she grew up doing it, and she's been in that

culture. But at the same time, we come across

someone who seems like they're responsible, reliable,

and she's not my favorite character in this franchise

whatsoever. I can't give it to anybody but her

on this. So yeah, I'm in agreement with you on

that one, and I think it's awesome that you gave

one out to Paldini. That's thinking outside the

box right there. That's right. As far as Battle

Cats go, if it's not obvious the way we've been

ranting and raving for me, it's five. Five out

of five. Pondini did an excellent job with it.

We got a whole lot of backstory. We got a whole

lot of action. It was not slow. I love Merman,

so I love that we got to little focus on him.

And I couldn't really come up with that much

bad about this episode. So to me, it was a perfect

mixture of story and action. And that for me

is a five. Same here. Five out of five Orcos.

Pretty much everything you just said. You know,

just the overall... We essentially get three

backstories in this episode. We get Marlena's,

we get Tila's, and because Tila's ties into the

Sorceress, we get the Sorceress's. Oh, and you

get a little bit of Man -at -Arms and a little

bit of Merman. Yep. And their history with each

other. Yeah. I mean, this is essentially a full

-on backstory episode for a majority of the,

I wouldn't say side characters, but secondary.

And it really didn't focus, and I'm glad it didn't,

because the first episode, Diamond Raid Disappearance,

focused on the evil warriors versus He -Man and

blah, blah, blah. This one is solely story -driven.

you what's going on with these other characters

versus hey here's another He -Man story! Well

and for me I don't necessarily need to learn

about He -Man and Skeletor right away in their

backstory because I'm already buying them as

a villain and as a hero. I buy them in that role

I can learn about their role as we go on but

it is more important for me these side characters

I don't necessarily have any connection to them.

They're not, you know, I need to know why they're

in the role that they're in. I need to understand

their place in this universe. So I would rather

get an early story that tells me about some of

the side characters and then learn maybe about

He -Man Skeletor Center later on. Exactly. So

yeah, an excellent episode for Tila's quest.

and we will see how the next episode stacks up

against it. Can you help us, sorceress? We must

find the answer before nightfall, or it will

be too late to save Man -at -Arms. This menace

is larger than you imagine. You will walk through

fire before it is over. Seek the fire jewels,

He -Man. Only they can save Man -at -Arms. I

will need help on this quest. Alright, so after

dealing with diamond rays and going on a quest

with Teela, it's time to awaken Colossor. episode

3 which according again to my dates air dates

September 7th 1983 so these were airing back

-to -back -to -back days back in the year 1983

and this one the writer was a J Brynn I'm guessing

it's Brynn Stevens so J Brynn Stevens who I'm

completely unfamiliar with so we will same here

we will judge him as we go So the plot for colossal

awakes we start this time with Skeletor and he

is revealing or unveiling his new vehicle slash

Weapon that he is going to call. I think he called

it the collector Yeah, all right And then after

he shows his minions that we go to man -at -arms

who was playing orco in a very interesting chess

like game With it's almost reminds me of the

Star Wars chess game that Chewbacca plays against

Han, or C -3PO, when they have the pieces that

come alive and stuff like that. And anyways,

after they're playing their chess game, the palace

is again attacked, that seems to be a recurring

thing. He -Man decides that it's time to, or

Prince Adam decides it's time to do his Superman

phone booth thing, turn into He -Man. But not

in time to save Man -At -Arms from being turned

to stone. And then to see Skeletor not only turn

people to stone, but turn stone to life. He brings

these stone statues of lion -like creatures to

life that are going to attack the good characters

there. But the Masters show up, He -Man and etc.

to help out. Ram -Man I think shows up at that

point, I can't remember. And they're there to

help out. Battle ensues until Skeletor eventually

retreats. And then we learn that Man -At -Arms

has until sundown until it's permanently rock

form for him yeah all right meanwhile Skeletor

is now trying to awake this thing called colossal

which is basically a giant stone statue um that

he is using the collector to get energy to then

shoot this thing to try to wake him up it's kind

of a convoluted thing but we'll go with it um

the sorceress tells he man that he needs the

fire jewels to save man at arms evil in then

via communication, a communicator informs Skeletor

that He -Man is on his way for the fire jewels.

Those are some hot balls. He -Man encounters

a swamp bat type character who Beastman seems

to be controlling, so there's a little encounter

there, but He -Man scares him with a flash ball.

There's a lot of balls in this episode. And then

he gets his hand on the fire balls. Oh, excuse

me, the fire jewels. He -Man then don't, don't.

Don't think about this too literally. He -Man

then crushes the jewels into fine powder and

creates a tool to basically make the laser backfire

so that it will have the reverse effect when

it's the green laser type thing or whatever.

Colossor, meanwhile, I know it seems like I'm

jumping all around, folks, but this is literally

the plot. Colossor is then attacking Grayskull.

He -Man gets back just in time as Skeletor fires

on the group and turns them all back to normal.

And then they move their attention to Colossor

and Grayskull. He -Man takes out Colossor and

saves the day. That is the quickest and least

painful way I can describe that plot. Hold on.

Let me just, let me just mention a couple things.

We have the Collector, we have Klosor, we have

Firejewels, we have Flashballs, we have turning

the laser in the Collector to backfire, we have

like a million different things going on here.

People being turned to stone, people being turned

to life, people being turned back into life,

um, ah! was all I could say as I was watching

this episode. I was waiting for five magical

lions to fly in, for Christ's sake. Yeah. I'm

gonna save most of my plot points for a later

section. Yeah. Um, I - I - This episode, honestly?

Fucking sucks. It just does. I mean, this - This

proves this episode what this episode does is

it proves for everybody that we are watching

these objectively because we have both had Very

good comments about episodes and what you're

about to see is very bad So we don't we don't

just love them all we don't just hate them all

We're watching them for what they are and this

episode is awful Alright, let's you know without

real. I'm hoping with this. I'm not gonna steal

away from your notes, but Let's look at this

plan of Skeletor's. He is collecting this energy

by turning people to... Oh my god, I just thought

of this. Holy crap. Essentially, the collector

is the Magna Beam. Oh my god, it is, because

he's collecting energy from people and things

to then feed and awake this colossal thing. Do

what to break into grace? Yeah to break into

gray skill like that's gonna happen. I mean come

on It's just one of those things where you're

introduced to the beginning to this this machine

This collector thing Which seems to have some

cool lazy, you know, it's cool thing. You're

turning things into rock or you're turning rock

into life Whatever. I don't understand why you

need then another thing In this case in the form

of class or like you don't need to devices or

you don't call us or is essentially a red herring

that is an unneeded piece of the plot easily

just had the whole plot about the collector about

that he's turning things in a rock or not turning

things in a rock in humans quest to try to save

his friends or even if you didn't have that you

could left that whole part out to understand

it be humans quest to stop this machine and destroy

Outside of Ramman and Stratos, we have not met

any of the other heroes or masters as they're

called in this series to this point in this episode.

Well, and uh... Well, hold on, hold on, hold

on. If Skeletor really wanted to be smart, he

would have lured the sorceress out of Grayskull

to that battle. He would have turned all of them

to stone. Every palace guard, every chef, every

king, every queen, every he -man, every Tila,

every man -in -arms, every oracle... that he

was just as we turn everyone in attorney at the

stone or everyone at least at the palace to stone

and then he could have gone to grayskull and

just went in himself or it could have set up

for a great episode where you have all of the

main players and turn into stone and you have

one long character that somehow got missed that

then has to save them all Like, there was multiple

options for how you could have used this. I have

no problem with the collector. I have no problem

with the fact that it was doing what it was doing

with the stone and life, et cetera. But they

just went terribly off the course after they

introduced that. And it's just, there's no fluidity.

There's no train of thought where you could follow

this easily, especially as a kid. It's all over

the place. You mentioned that we haven't... yet

met any more of the Masters. Also, last episode

we just basically had Merman and Skeletor, and

this episode we just have Skeletor, Beastman,

and Evil Lin. So we've only seen Triclops and

Trapjaw once, so we're not getting a whole lot

of the evil characters yet either, which I'm

not saying that's bad or good, I'm just kind

of throwing that out there as an observation.

Yeah. And then the lesson from Eternia this time

was a duo. We got it from both Himian and Tila.

And again, I'll bring this up later, but the

lesson basically was about exercise and not going

too hard, too quickly, taking it slowly, but

the importance of exercise is what I got out

of that. Yeah. Okay, well. This was the first...

And I don't know because I have not watched any

other episodes besides these three. This was

the first one out of the three today that made

absolutely no sense to the storyline. It's not

connected to the episode whatsoever. No, not

at all. This feels like an episode that they

were... on a time crunch and number one the guy

didn't get to review the lesson at the end number

two some guy that's not even a writer had to

throw it together and had like a million different

ideas and they're like uh we like that one that

one and that one and he combined it into one

story i don't know what happened with this episode

i don't know what happened but yeah absolutely

nothing to do with the episode let's see if we

can find anything good in castle gray skull about

this episode Alright, let's scope out and put

our sleuth hats on and try to find something

good hanging around Castle Grayskull here. I

have a couple tiny ones here. This is a kind

of a subtle one, but... At the beginning Skeletor

is attacking the palace in a brand new Vehicle

that we talked about the collector I like the

fact that Like he should not he man does not

recognize the vehicle or know who is attacking

them It would have been easy for them to say,

for him to immediately be like, oh, we're being

attacked by Skeletor and his men or whatever.

But I thought it was cool that he didn't know,

because he shouldn't have known, because it was

a brand new vehicle. So I like that. And then

there was what I thought was a hilarious moment,

which also is another reason just why I like

Skeletor. At one point, Beastman and him are

standing. I don't even remember what they're

about to do, but Beastman is in his way. And

Skeletor literally elbows him in the stomach

like two kids would elbow each other. Elbows

Beastman in the stomach and tells him to get

out of his way. I thought that was hilarious

the way that was animated and the way it looked

because it was like these evil characters just

acting like a couple of like junior high kids

or something. He's just like boom, elbow to the

stomach, get out of my way. And I just thought

that was funny. That's all I got. I can't find

anything else. For me, I've got three of them.

Someday you won't order me around, Skeletor.

Beastman is, well, not really foreshadowing,

but just Beastman is mumbling to himself, and

then Panther is like right, like Skeletor had

walked off, but Panther is still standing there,

and Panther just roars, and it's like roar goes

to Panther, and Beastman shuts up. I love that.

It's so funny. Love the fly at the screen moments

There's a scene where Skeletor looks at the view

screen and he man flies right into it into the

camera It's not just with the fist punch. It's

with vehicles and and and all that kind of I

just love that kind of shot I thought that was

so cool. I Thought this was funny, but also it

kind of made me cringe a bit Cheerleaders of

He -Man, get ready, okay! At the end when all

of them are jumping up and down It was a funny

moment, but at the same time it's like But that's

all I got for good stuff That's good because

I think stuff is about to spill out of Snake

Mountain Hold it, fish face! Alright, be ready

cause stuff's spilling out of Snake Mountain

all over the place, out the windows, out the

doors My first note, and please don't get me

wrong I really like Stratos. But, are Stratos

and Ramman the ambiguously gay duo of the Masters

of the Universe? I find it hilarious that they

both show up together and they're like, good

thing we were in the neighborhood! Together?

Again? Just like the first episode you saw us?

Like, what are these two doing all the time together?

I'm gonna leave that one alone. Yeah I just found

it funny that they both showed up right now.

There's anything wrong with that Nothing wrong

with that, but they just randomly both show up

together so far both times I've seen them with

no explanation as to why they're showing up Just

like oh we were walking down the street heard

some commotion decided to come in Okay Ram man

not Ram man man in arms. I will confuse those

two names multiple times during this podcast

man in arms is rock man And we go to a scene

where he is rock man laying on like a bed type,

almost like a stretcher type thing, examination

beds, so to speak. And Queen Marlena is there.

And she alludes to the fact that maybe her earth

knowledge will be able to aid in this situation.

Don't know what that like why or what that has

to do with anything. I also She follows that

up with saying maybe my you know earth knowledge

or my background and earth will help out and

then she hits a button But she doesn't investigate

she does what the three -year -old would have

done there like here's a button I don't know

anything about man -at -arms stuff, but I'm guessing

we can hit this Like, what did that have to do

with your knowledge of Earth? And how in the

blazing hell does she know that the effect will

be permanent at sundown? Yeah. All of a sudden

out of nowhere, she's like, well, we only have

until sundown to do this. Like, that was the

most forced, like, uh... Cliff not like cliffhanger

but like whatever you call it when you throw

in something there like to add to the tension

that you're You know, you basically have a clock

ticking like it's like we want to build some

suspense So we're just gonna throw this in there

Even though there's no like is that what her

earth knowledge told her she knows when someone

turns into a rock They only have until sundown

because I didn't learn that living on earth.

I Just that was a whole bad sequence there with

Queen Marlena and Again, there's a bunch of mind.

I thought it was funny when you said something

about swords and sorcery and psychics Because

that's the only thing I can think of Queen Marlene

is a psychic because she knows that it's gonna

turn permanent at sundown evil lens a psychic

because She sees he man or something going off

and she immediately apparently knows that he

is going for the fire jewels You know, I don't

know how I don't know if she's that smart that

she knows that someone has turned into a rock

she knows also that the Process is going to turn

permanent at sundown and she knows also that

the fire jewels are the only thing that can stop

it Even though he man just had to like go to

the sources or whoever to find that out So it's

so evil and psychic Then This episode hurts my

heart and my soul in my brain at one point he

man needs to go somewhere And he whistles I am

- Oh, you're stealing my - Oh, damn it! I am

fully expecting this, then, to transition, because

it just shows He -Man, he whistles, I'm like,

oh, it's gonna transition to Battle Cat. Yeah,

um - Transitions to a machine cruiser thing!

Since - since you're stealing my - my - my second,

uh, Snake Mountain moment here, what I wrote

down was, okay, when He -Man whistles, I thought,

as you just said, it was going - he was going

to, you know, it was for Battle Cat. but the

wind raider or mini version of it arrives since

when can people whistle for vehicles i call bs

on this like i would have said okay maybe it

doesn't have to be battle cut i would have settled

for a random horse unicorn coming through the

forest or something like it was a freaking wind

cruiser thing swift wind is off in another dimension

dude like what the he just whistled for a machine

and it came yes he did you know maybe it was

t bob's cousin i don't know And my final one

before I pile the crap too high in snake mountains

hallways Was kind of what we already mentioned

the lesson at the end of the episode had absolutely

nothing to do with the episode Yeah fail on that

one Since you already stole my second note, and

we already just talked about it. I have two other

ones I have a huge issue with the scene where

Skeletor is flying through the air in the vehicle

in the in the collector in part of the scene

it seems to me that they are showing him flying

away like there's that camera shot of you know

how when when he man will fly into the camera

and then they'll do another camera shot where

they fly out of the camera you know what i mean

where they're flying off away from something

in the very next scene yeah in the very next

scene he is still over the palace and turns the

stone lion to life now he To me, the shot and

the camera angles are so wrong, because normally

when you see a scene like this, when someone

is going to go... Again, I know we've referenced

many, many things in here. I'm going to go back

to Star Wars again. When you see Luke, or when

you see Biggs, or whoever, make a turn in an

X -wing, you see them actually turn. You don't

see them fly into the camera, fly out of the

camera like they're retreating. Because when

that image of Skeletor flying away, I thought

he was... Tucking tail and running back to snake

mountain I honestly thought he did and I just

cannot buy that scene and it is a complete What

the fuck moment for me because of those camera

angles were just so fucked up. Yeah It was just

so bad The other one was did skill to a really

not see that he man put something on the Ray

lever Did he seriously not - I mean, when He

-Man steps up after he and Skeletor are fighting,

when He -Man steps up, he - Skeletor looks right

at him! Does he really not see him put the little

invention that Man in Arms came up with on there

to neutralize the damn thing? I - I - I - Eugh,

fail Skeletor, fail. I also don't necessarily

buy the connection. in between you have fire

jewels you're crushing them to dust and then

it somehow turns into this little tool yeah i

don't know it's uh it's very very very strange

i have a feeling that we may hand out a first

of a certain type of award here but maybe not

we will uh see let's get into the awards and

rankings i sense evil coming closer all right

so it's award ceremony time and uh I have two.

How many do you have? Any? I do, but I know that

you said in the beginning of the show that the

Havoc staff were for moments that we hated. The

way when I wrote down my notes for this podcast

episode was I wrote down Havoc staff notes for

stuff that I liked from the bad guys and also

stuff that I didn't like. I queued it to... The

good guys get the power swords, the bad guys

get the Havoc staff. That's alright, it's the

first episode, we're still figuring stuff out.

Right, no, I know, I know. But I do have a Havoc

staff and I'm gonna give it to Beastman for almost

showing a backbone and wanting to back talk Skeletor.

I thought that was really, really cool. We're

only three episodes in and you know, you've got

one of his evil warriors wanting to, you know,

mutiny on the bounty. Yeah, that was cool. But

that's it. Okay. So we'll count that as a power

sword since it's a good thing. Okay then. I have

two. I'm gonna give away my first Havoc staff.

And I'm gonna give that to Queen Marlena. Just

for that sequence that she was unfortunately

involved with where... She quotes her Earth knowledge

and touches a button and then comes up with the

fact that he's going to be permanently turned

into rock. I call BS on all parts of you, Queen.

Not a good moment for you. So enjoy that staff

up here. Anyway, I do have a power sword. I think

there was an unsung hero in this episode. There

was a character that actually had a decent episode

that gets lost in the crap that is the rest of

the episode. And so I am going to give a power

sword out to the one, the only orco. I do that

for a couple of reasons. Number one, he plays

vital parts in letting people know things when

he actually needs to let them know. It's not

like he's telling secrets or letting the cat

out of the bag. He's actually informing people

about stuff when they need to be informed. He

is the exposition. He's also successfully displaying

his magic powers. a couple different times in

this episode where it actually works and it's

not just used as humor. So I did like Orko in

this episode. It didn't really dawn on me right

away because I was so thrown off by everything

else. But as I thought about it, I was like,

well, Orko actually had a good episode. And it's

not just me searching for someone that I didn't

we don't have to give one out. So I didn't have

to say anybody was good. But I do think that

he stood out as the key the key character in

this episode. Without him, they were kind of

screwed. Pretty much. Yeah And then we get to

our fun ratings. So let's see the first episode

I gave a four the second episode I gave a five

Let's go ahead and give a one to this one One

battle cat for this horrible Colossal piece of

dung It shouldn't be called Colossus Awakes or

whatever this episode is Colossal class or it

wakes it should be class or takes a dump Anyway,

what about you? Orko has a big O on his chest

and I give no orko zero Absolute zero this episode

was just dumb like how can you? Now I know for

a fact that loose Shimer and and the crew at

filmation had staff writers and freelance writers,

but they did have Certain staff writers that

were on staff to write continuous good stories

But how can you just sit there? Have two really,

you know You know one diamond rated spirits really

really great awesome episode Tila's quest fucking

amazing and Then this crap like everybody else

was busy apparently. Yeah, apparently so uh...

c s zero or close for me i don't know how to

set cleared like i understand they were they

don't care they were just but that's what everybody

will say they don't care they're just a time

crunch are trying to pump out of the so -called

but come on it's not too hard to have somebody

say that such crappy idea i know they had people

involved that would either clear stories or deny

stories i know people wrote mockups for scripts

and we're either given the green light or the

red light on them because I've listened to enough

interviews with the writers from this time period

that usually you would come in with like three

or four scripts and they would say that one's

okay that one's good no we don't like that one

somebody okayed this and I don't something went

terribly wrong at some point apparently so yeah

so that's our thoughts on Klaas or Awakes we're

gonna take a quick break to give you some goodness

And we'll be back after these messages. In today's

story, Skeletor was looking for a shortcut, a

quick way to riches and power. You may know some

people like that, always looking for the quick

way to get ahead of everybody else. But it doesn't

work that way. The people who succeed are the

ones who work for what they want. So don't be

fooled by those who say they have a sure thing.

There's always a catch to it. Don't sell yourself

short. The right way is the best way. Until later.

animation aficionados .com. Grab your helmets

because it's time to assemble M .A .S .K .E.

The GeekCast Radio Network has launched M .A

.S .K .E. to Mayhem with your hosts Optimus Solo

and TF2 and Mike. This podcast covering all 75

episodes of M .A .S .K .E. will feature in depth

analysis of every episode. talk on the toys,

and more. Massed Mayhem will run 30 podcast episodes.

You can find us on iTunes and on www .geekcastradio

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is the ultimate weapon. doesn't matter the ones

who protect us and teach us and love us they

are the ones we call mother and father and they

deserve the same kind of love from us until next

time is this thing on oh goody why hello there

it's your dear old uncle joker here i bet you're

asking yourself what could i be possibly doing

here of all places well i'm laughing at the The

fact that this new podcast presented by Keycast

Radio is called Legends of the Dark Knight. Who

the heck knew the bat was so popular? Ugh. Join

Steve, Mike, and sometimes Tava for reviews on

the greatest DC animated universe, Cartoon, to

ever meet Gotham City. So join moi. for the talk

of the town or I'll send Captain Clown after

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No, there will be no Operation Interference.

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running at this time of the day? Yeah, me too.

Makes me feel close to nature. The best part

is that it's wonderful exercise. It's the best.

Of course, one should check with a doctor before

doing any heavy exercise. Right. And then start

off just a little each day. I sure wish we could

tell that to everybody. I think we just did.

We did? Say for yourself. Remember, be good to

your body, and it'll be good to you. Well said,

E -Man. Now, I'll race you to the tree. OK. Alright

in the spirit of being new and different and

stuff We're kind of doing something that I've

never done with these refuse shows Which is every

time we get done talking about our little group

of episodes for the day We're gonna kind of sit

back and take a look at the series so far and

give our thoughts on what has happened in that

Time span that is usually three episodes Obviously,

these are the first three episodes. So it's kind

of the first one talking about where the series

is in total so far Like you Kind of missed that

we didn't get a little bit saying, you know We're

three so three episodes in and I would have liked

to see a little more origin story I know we got

a ton of it in the second episode Yeah, I liked

a little bit more in the first episode or just

something else along the way. I know we had you

know, maybe they're We can fault this third episode

for being crappy for not giving us a little bit

more But I kind of got spoiled with that second

one But I'm obviously left so far three episodes

in if I'm watching this as a kid. I realize he

man's the good character I realize Skeletor is

the main bad character. I realize they both have

a group of friends I know a little bit about

the characters as far as their powers go. I don't

necessarily understand why there is the Battle

going on I don't understand what we're battling

for, I kind of sense that there's something important

about Castle Grayskull and the Sorceress and

that Skeletor wants something about that, but

I'm not necessarily 100 % clear on the main premise

of the show, besides good versus evil, which

is obviously classic. I do like the amount of

character development we've got. A lot of times

people just blanket statement 80s cartoon shows

or, you know, oh, they're just about toys and

they don't care about character development and

there's no story and there's no continuity. I

have been pleasantly surprised at the amount

of character development so far. You've got character

development all over the map, even though Colossal

Awakes is not a very good episode. It is a zero

-worthy rating episode for me personally. Like

I said before, I love the fact that Cringer is

scared of his other half. You know, I love...

the fact of, you know, the whole storyline of,

you know, showing where Tila comes from and her,

you know, showing us the viewers, her potential,

not potential, but her future destiny, and then

essentially wiping our memory out, you know.

We've learned also a lot about the evil warriors.

I wish they had a cool name like the Masters.

You know, you have the Masters of the Universe

and it's just kind of like the Evil Warriors,

and that's not cool enough. But, you know, we've

learned a lot about them, not just the Merman

kind of focus on, but we've got little bits and

pieces. And it's not just what their strengths

are and why Skeletor likes them. We kind of learned

that they're somewhat independent. You know,

they report to Skeletor or they answer to Skeletor,

but they also can go off on their own and they

have their own... agendas. We also learn a little

bit, we see little snippets from both Beastman

and Evil Lin so far that they're maybe not 100

% loyal. Or at least not 100 % happy with Skeletor

always giving the orders. So we get a lot of

development from the henchmen. Maybe not so much

from Skeletor yet, but there is little bits and

pieces of character development all over the

place. Maybe more so on the other side with Prince

Adam than we have with He -Man so far. You know

we get to see a little bit more about Prince

Adams playing a dumb side going fishing crashing

stuff through walls You know we see his incompetence

so to speak And not so much with He -Man, but

like I said I can wait I can give them a break

on He -Man and Skeletor for a little while The

thing with He -Man is he is there to be the champion

he is there to be the hero he is there to You

know like in again Tila's quest when Was it orco?

I think asked him. Why did he save merman? Because

he said, you know, even though we may not like

a person they still you know deserve to be Saved

and not you know, not not destroyed or whatever.

It was that he said, you know It was a you know

a good believable that was probably the most

character development we got from there was to

see Yeah, his more of his like ethical morals

compass Yeah, exactly. The only minor thing that

I kind of had a nitpick on maybe I guess as the

series so far is I felt like it's been too quick

or too early into the episode in which Adam has

transitioned to He -Man. And obviously there's

a lot of episodes and I'm sure this doesn't carry

on but if I'm just basing it off of these three

episodes it's like within the first couple minutes

it seems like he's already going into He -Man

and so as it moves forward I'm hoping that we

get a little bit sometimes more drawn out or

sometimes it's more like prolonged as we see

Adam not necessarily needing He -Man right away

or not being able to do you know I just I don't

want it immediately every time. Don't I hate

to disappoint you. I don't think that's gonna

happen because as soon as Skeletor or whoever

will attack the palace or will attack grayskull

Or something well, right, but what I'm saying

is like, you know You know you say say you get

Alright, let's use Tila's quest. Let's say instead

of Tila finding out about her you know, wanting

to find out about her stuff. Let's say Marlena

takes the thing off, and as soon as she does

that, Skeletor attacks. Adam is instantly going

to run away. and become He -Man because he has

to keep up that persona of, Adam's a fucking

coward, he doesn't know how to do shit because

He -Man is the hero. So I honestly, I understand

what you want and I understand what you'd like

to see. I'm just telling you right now, I have

a feeling that it's not gonna happen. Well, the

other thing that could happen is it could take

a little bit longer. Like so far we've had a

couple different times where it's just like within

the first five minutes someone is attacking the

palace. Like maybe we could have a plot where

the bad guys are gonna something a little bit

more covertly or where they're going to be doing

something away from the palace to something else

where it's not necessary for him to do it right

away you know I get the point that he has to

do it right away because right but you know maybe

something a little bit more drawn out from the

evil from the strategy of the of the evil characters

I think the only time this ever really happens

to my knowledge and I don't remember what episode

it is I might not even be in might know it would

have to be here would have to be in He meant

it wouldn't be in She -Ra. There's an episode

somewhere in this series where Skeletor kidnaps

Adam. Yeah. Now that is probably where you're

gonna get your He can't transform, blah, blah,

blah. But don't ruin it for us, people. Let us

watch it. No, I'm not. No, I'm not. No, I know.

I'm saying that to the people that are gonna

be up. Well, you're gonna see it in episode 13,

18, and 26. No, don't tell me that. Yeah. Yeah.

Don't. Don't. Don't skip ahead of us, people.

Let us all go on this venture together. Yes.

So those are my kind of thoughts on the series

so far. Through three episodes, where are you

sitting with things? In the back of my mind,

I know it's a serialized cartoon where we're

going to get individual stories, whether they

be continuity -driven like Tila's quest is with

her backstory or whether they're going to be

one -offs like Colossal but Overall, I'm I'm

really excited. I'm really loving watching the

series again as I said in in diamond ray of disappearance,

you know those classic moments That I remember

from my childhood will make me tear up every

time because it makes me remember my childhood

This through three episodes. This is not even

an ounce of as painful as mask was No, not at

all. Sorry, Mask fans. Not at all. And again,

for me, you know, I don't know about you, but

I've always said that for me with Mask and with,

you know, for me with Mask, I always remember

seeing it in passing as a kid. I remember the

theme song and I remember the team up sequence.

Other than that. As far as plots and masks, I

don't remember anything. As far as outside of

those moments I just mentioned, I don't remember

anything as a kid watching it. This I remember

because this I watched every single day as a

kid. Alright, so thanks for not viewing, thanks

for listening to our first chapter of Tales of

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

us or leave feedback for the show, there are

of course several ways to do so. first of all

and foremost of all visit our website www .geekcastradio

.com where you can comment on all of our posts

but specifically you can find our Tales of Eternia

post and I'm sure there will be conversations

going on there you can take a part of that comment

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what we're doing right or what you like or what

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leaving the message for and your name. Excellent,

so we hope you enjoyed the first chapter of Tales

today, and don't forget to join us on our next

adventure when we will be discussing episodes

4, 5, and 6, which are The Dragon Invasion, The

Curse of the Spellstone, and The Time Corridor.

For now, I'm Optimus Solo with TFJ1Mike, and

by the powers of Grayskull, you all... have the

power what kind of bag of worms have we opened

up oh my god the the he -man community is going

to come after us so hard