The Royal Cousin, Return of Evil, and Eye of the Beholder

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! The Gringer 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. Nothing

will stand in the way of my... Hello, this is

Optimus Solo and welcome to the 15th chapter

in Tales of Eternia. With me for this journey

into the Masters of the Universe Franchise, as

always, is TFG1 Mike. Hello. Are you ready for

Powers of Grayskull, sir? Yeah, I am, but before

we get into that, oh my god, I have to tell you,

you have to go to your comic shop and pick up

them. the ongoing, the new ongoing from Big Speak

is that first issue of He -Man and the Masters

universe number one that just came out last month

or earlier this month was free. It basically

turns the universe of Masters that we know on

its friggin head. It was a great, amazing read

and you'll hear more about that in the pullback

in a future episode. But yeah, back to the cartoon.

Alright, well in this episode of Tales of Eternia,

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

The Royal Cousin, episode 44, Return of Evil,

and episode 45, Eye of the Beholder. So we hope

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

Eternia. So you took the globe away from them,

hm? Yes, it's safely hidden away in Castle Grayskull.

Nice work lad. Don't tell me, tell He -Man. I

am telling He -Man. Come in! Your father's been

looking everywhere for you. Where have you been?

Well, I was just out on some royal business.

As in monkey business? Well, you better report

to your father. He has a little surprise for

you. This is your cousin, Jeremy. Wow, the last

time I saw you, you were just a baby. Big deal.

Jeremy will be visiting us. I want you to take

charge of him while he's here, Adam. But father,

my royal duties... They will have to wait. Now

show Jeremy a good time. You are certainly qualified

in that department. Alright. Let's go, cousin.

Don't call me cousin. Sorry. Alright, we start

today with episode 43, The Royal Cousin, which

was written by Robbie London. Who has done a

number of episodes that we have talked about

a beastly sideshow double -edged sword dawn of

dragoon disappearing act and diamond ray of disappearance

Hey, at least this episode title didn't have

a D in it. Exactly. Um, it was has an air date

of wednesday november 2nd 1983 And the plot goes

something like this when jeremy prince adam spoiled

an unfriendly young cousin arrives at the royal

palace things become a lot more difficult for

those in residence jeremy's ideas of fun cause

a lot of trouble with He -Man having to appear

in order to save the day. Meanwhile, Evil Lin

and Triclops are trying to appease Skeletor and

discover that Jeremy could be the instrument

to their success. Evil Lin manipulates the young

boy into obtaining Man -at -Arms Rock Softener,

and with it the deadly duo attack Castle Grayskull,

weakening the walls, and then unleash the mysterious

Growth Globe. Bad guys, we have Skeletor, Evelyn,

and Triclops. Masters, we have the Regs, plus

an appearance by Ram -Man. And the PSA here is

Orko and He -Man talking about don't seek out

and look for attention. Kind of something around

those lines. Basically, don't be an attention

whore, ladies and gentlemen. That's basically

what they said. Your thoughts on the plot, sir?

Oh my god. I'd rather deal with Ed Weiner than

deal with this asshat. Oh my god. wanted to just

punch that kid right in the face oh my god just

like when you said a couple of three or four

or five episodes ago that we were gonna have

a return of the of a royal cousin I actually

thought this episode was Edwina Edwiner whatever

the hell her name is I thought that was her coming

back I would have preferred her coming back over

this little shit oh my god yeah he was not the

most fun character to experience who was doing

the voice for him it had to have been Linda Gary

Linda Gary or Erica Shimer I don't remember yeah

no offense to the boy you know it might have

been Erica Shimer Even if it was Linda Gary may

she rest in peace no offense the voice actors,

but some of these There are certain women that

can pull off a male voice Tara strong can pull

off several different male voices You know and

some of these people back in the 80s apparently

couldn't because I just There were times that

sound like a boy and times that sound like a

girl. Yeah But anyways the plot about the whole

rock softener that man -at -arms invents and

then you'll in and try club trying to get a hold

of it and Softening the walls of gray skull.

How'd you feel about all that? I? Thought that

was ingenious that they're turning in you know

his own invention against the heroes But first

of all like okay. I know why he invented it.

Oh for soil for for for produce for for Farming.

I get that that they have to make their own,

you know, grow their own, you know, they can't

just go to a corner store on attorney, apparently,

you know, they don't have those. But it's one

of those things where I get why he wanted to

do it. But did they not think ahead and plan

ahead? Oh, could Skeletor use this for something?

Right. Oh, because the right setting, the right

setting on the machine, I mean, you know, the

right setting, the right power. Boom, obviously

what happened, you're pretty much almost into

Grayskull. Right. I liked it. I thought it was

interesting. I just didn't like the B plot with...

The little kid. Yeah. I mean, I do like that

evil and... used the kid to her advantage and

kind of manipulated the young kid and whatnot

and taught him a lesson in the process I guess.

He was annoying though and I don't know, the

whole rock -stopper thing was okay but we'll

get more into that I guess later. Any thoughts

on the whole PSA? Kids are gonna want attention

no matter who it is you know they're gonna want

attention from their parents They're gonna want

attention from their grandparents, so I mean

I Just think that the character was written,

but not necessarily written, but it's a bad character

in general for Jeremy like I think the I'm trying

to think here what the I'm trying to turn to

remember what I wrote for what people will read

in the description of the podcast here it is

um this week we find ourselves at the mercy of

yet another one of adam's annoying family members

in the royal cousin this just like you would

think and i mentioned this before about other

plot points and other ep in past episodes you

would think that like Take Tila for example,

and I'm not you I'm not singling her out because

I don't like Tila I'm singling her out because

this happened to her in Like father like daughter

when she's not listening to man -at -arms the

same thing happens here with Jeremy. He's not

listening to Adam He's not listening to people

and I swear I thought man -at -arms is just gonna

haul off and backhand him a couple of times Yeah,

they were definitely letting them have it a few

times which was nice to see yeah All right. Well,

let's get to Castle Grayskull before the walls

fall down Oh, I forgot all right. I'll have to

leave Jeremy with someone else for a while. The

question is, who's gonna be the lucky babysitter?

Uh, sure, Prince Adam. I'll look after him. Jeremy,

stay with Ram Man for a while and don't play

in any of those vehicles. They're dangerous.

Yeah, sure. Don't worry. I got a way with youngsters.

Come on not again enough is enough do it again,

or I'll tell the king you were mean to me All

right, so we're here at a very unstable castle

grayskull trying to find some highlights before

we have to get out of here I only have a few

here I like the reference at the beginning that

he meant doing something prior to when the episode

started I always like that the kind of reference

stuff that you know makes it feel like it's an

ongoing world that it doesn't just exist during

the episodes I thought Ramman was funny in this,

as usual. But he was definitely funny when he

was having a deal with Jeremy. And I don't know

if I super liked this or not, but I guess I thought

it was kind of amusing that all of a sudden Triclops

has all these different names for his different

vision. He has Distavision and Amavision and

these different vision powers. Well, he has multiple

eyes and it's... It hasn't been said before in

this and I think that's what what Robbie was

going for when he wrote it was that setting up

the fact that He has the different I mean, it's

it's been shown before that his eyes do different

things But it hasn't actually like they had the

powers haven't had a name before today. Thanks.

So I Just thought that was interesting. What

do you got for for highlights here? Yay triclops

this will be in the episode post but um battle

punch adam because it's a very interesting invention

that that duncan comes up with and then adam

can't before they use the invention obviously

he keeps whacking it with the hammer and it hit

no go but i like the the reason why i wrote that

always, even to this point, we're at episode,

what, 45? Mm -hmm, getting there. 43, 45. We're

nearly halfway or we're close to three quarters

of the way being done with season one. It always

pisses me off to this point when, oh. Adam can't

do anything. Adam can't save Orko. We must call

He -Man. And I'm glad that Adam was testing out

the rock thing. I thought that was hilarious.

Again, Evelyn's going against Skeletor. What's

interesting is that she is willing to go against

Skeletor, as we've seen in the past, but first

Triclops is not. He doesn't want any part of

it. And then wait, I take that back. Triclops

is agreeing to go along with Evelyn's form. Yeah.

Triclops is going along with Evelyn's plot. Dun

dun dun. Rimshot. Nah. And then of course the

punt into outer space. That was definitely interesting.

It just goes to show you that He -Man can not

only throw staffs into outer space, he can punt

orbs into outer space. Um, but that's all I got.

We gotta get out of here before this damn castle

falls on top of us. Exactly. On to Snake Mountain.

We'll be going home tomorrow, Jeremy. Have you

enjoyed your stay? Eh, it's been alright. Your

Majesty, Adam, the rock softener, someone's taken

it. That device was for the good of everybody.

Who would have taken it? I can't imagine. Unless...

What's the hardest substance on the planet? the

walls of greyskull i don't get it why is everyone

so upset skeletor's warriors could use the rock

softener to enter castle greyskull if that happened

all of eternia would fall to the forces of evil

all right so we have arrived for our own safety

at snake mountain where the walls are stable

which means we will have plenty of time to search

around for some low lights um let me begin first

low lights kind of already mentioned it but that

was horrible voice work on jeremy yes that was

the first thing i wrote down um i thought it

was kind of extreme here when they're talking

to jeremy um i don't remember exactly which character

was saying this but they basically just go to

him and they're like how would you feel if something

you did hurt someone or even killed them that

was man -at -arms i was like good lord like not

just scaring them like hey you could hurt somebody

but no you could freaking kill somebody apparently

I just thought that was an interesting choice

to instill fear into the kid by Making him think

of actually killing somebody The pacing of the

speaking patterns in this episode is off. Oh

Yeah, it's especially noticeable with King randor

and triclops But they are not speaking in a normal

cadence I don't know what's going on there. I

don't know if that's an editing thing. I don't

know if that's how it was recorded I assume it's

not how they actually spoke those lines, but

there's just random pauses between words and

it's just weird to listen to. So that was a low

light for this episode. Oh, Sorceress, once again,

it's too powerful for my magic. Oh, I thought

you were going somewhere else with that. No,

it's just, we should have been keeping a tally

of how many times something is too powerful for

her magic. Because it happens almost every other

episode she's in. Mm -hmm. All right, so we have

this boomerang That Lashes on to metallic items.

Yes. All right. Why didn't it latch on to triclops?

Or why didn't it latch on to he man sword or

why didn't it latch on to ram man? Automatically

because ram man's made out of metal his only

will attach to things you want it to attach to

Apparently so. It's got a special sensor. It

knows what you're thinking. Yeah, because the

second attorney is that very highly done. Yeah.

OK. So we have this rock softener. We have this

thing that has the power to soften rock. Rock

is a pretty hard substance. As evidenced by Adam

trying to hit it with a hammer. Right. OK. Why?

Didn't the ray of the rock softener kill him

in oh I know it he is made of skin muscle flesh

and bones If something has the power to soften

entire cliffs His bones should have been mush

Yeah That was a bad idea to write him into the

story as getting hit by that ray Yeah, and not

having any side effects from it Well, it did

have a side effect. It had the side effect of

basically slow -motioning him to the point where

he was stuck in place. It basically glued him

to the ground instead of softened him. So instead

of a rock softener, it's a superhuman glue gun!

Exactly. Little inconsistency there with the

rock softener. Quick question, why do devices

in these stories always, always, always have

a reverse button? it's like it's the it's the

easiest plot device and at the same time one

of the most lame that every time we're going

to use some type of a device some type of gadget

or whatever the way we're going to get out of

the episode is we're just going to hit the reverse

button yeah no I agree but it's kind of like

nowadays when you know you have cartoons writing

these days where like take Phineas and Ferb the

whole point of Agent P stopping dr. Doofenshmirtz

is that doofenshmirtz always puts a self -destruct

button on his innaters on his evil inventions

So it's the same thing here, even though over

in Phineas and Ferb it's funnier and you know,

it's whatever but here It's just annoying. It's

like seriously, you're really gonna put a reverse

switch on that. Really? Every single thing is

gonna have a reverse switch And then finally

just another editing error here or whatever you

want to call it But why is Tila laughing when

she's not even in the scene? The end scene, she

is not nowhere. She's not even in that group.

She's not been pictured there at all, but she

is sure laughing with everybody else. Maybe she

was off -camera. Maybe she's a jelly stain in

the picture. I don't know What else have you

found here as we camp out in Snake Mountain?

Oh my god And of course I've said I said this

a second ago, but up in Castle Grayskull, but

Adam has some damn dumb ignorant rude ass family

members. I wonder if Jeremy is the brother of

Edwiner This Jeremy kid needs to be whacked with

a wooden spoon. Same old woman disguise as before.

Come on, Evil Anne. It's the same animation.

She just has different clothes on, but it's the

same old woman design. She doesn't need to use

anything else. Yeah, I know. It works so well.

She should have been the witch on Snow White.

What? No Cringer this episode? Boo! Automatic

points taken off for not even having Cringer

or Battle Cat anywhere in this episode. Everything

is too powerful or magic? Yeah, we have the same.

Same thing there. Um, how the fuck does Jeremy

know where Grayskull is? It's been ages since

he was on Eternia. Ugh. Like, seriously, they

say, like, Randor says that in the very beginning

of the episode, it's been ages or years or however

long. How the fuck does this kid know where the

castle is? I think he's a kid, so if it has been

a long time then when he was there last time,

he would have been really smart. He wouldn't

have, yeah, exactly. Um... And I just find it

completely horrid and inconvenient for the plot

that, man -in -arms, he just so happened to have

the port of prison with him. Bullshit. That's

just utter bullshit. What's yeah, this episode

is slowly moving from one ranking to another

as I talk it through All right, let's see what

kind of rankings and awards we have for the royal

cousin will probably none for him But now this

is serious. Tell us what you know right now.

I took the rock softener a woman asked me to

a woman You can bet it was evil in she said it

was a joke She bought me a boomerang. You've

made a grave mistake, young man. Man -at -arms,

alert Captain Teela at once. Eternia's only hope

is that somehow he -man will get word. Hurry!

By the power of Grayskull! Alright, it's award

ceremony time, and I will begin. And I know you're

gonna do the same. I'm going to take a Havoc

staff and, uh... I don't really want to say shove

it up his ass because he's a young kid, but,

uh, yeah. I'm just gonna swat it over his fucking

head. I'm just gonna bash his brains in. He definitely

deserves some type of spanking with a Havoc staff.

Yes. So we're both in agreement. Jeremy gets

a freaking Havoc staff. Yes. I am also, though,

on the other hand, gonna give a power sword out

to Evelyn. I like that she took charge. I like

that she's... you know turn it on Skeletor again

she sees a way to use the rock softener on gray

skull she talks triclops into it she tricks Jeremy

um so really she's kind of on top of her game

for a while in this episode so I thought it was

a good episode for Evelyn yeah anything else

for you or just the Havoc staff for Jeremy just

the Havoc staff for Jeremy and that one point

that you just said is saving this episode from

what I was going to regrade it Alright, episode

ratings, sir. One orko out of five. It was originally

going to get a zero before you pointed out that

Evelyn was damn good in this episode, but other

than that, this episode is fucking useless. It's

by far one of the worst episodes of the series.

And I will concur and I will give this a one

and a half battle cat out of five. One and a

half. I mean, there were some parts that were

alright with Triclops and with Ram Man and with

Evil Lin, but there was just too many plot areas

that didn't make any freaking sense. So, one

and a half out of five. Jeremy, stop this crazy

thing! Yes, let's run far away from Jeremy and

then the falling Castle Grayskull and let's go

on to see what kind of evil is returning in episode

44. Aramis, from my dimension. He's coming after

me! You know, I've heard that name before. Yes,

me too. Tell us more, Orko. Aramis is an electrode

from my dimension. An electrode? That's a robot

made of pure energy, isn't it? That's right,

Adam. Tell me, Orko, why is he after you? I have

a hunch your question is about to be answered,

Father. I am Arumash. I have come for the secret

thing. And Orko, the icon, has it. Alright, it

is time for episode 44, Return of Evil, written

by Richard Pardee, his first episode written

here for the series, and it aired Thursday, November

3rd, 1983. Aramesh, an Electroid, arrives at

the Royal Palace, capturing Orko and demanding

a mysterious object from the Trollon, an object

known to Orko as the Dimension Sphere. He -Man

and Battle Cat confront the Electroid who disappears

with Orko and arrives at Snake Mountain. Skeletor

vows to help Aramesh obtain the Dimension Sphere

in return for help in conquering Eternia. We

have the regular masters for the bad guys, evil

warriors. We have Skeletor, Evil Lin, and Beast

Man. And our PSA is Tila, talking about the value

of fear. Thoughts on Aramesh and his return in

an evil way here? Besides the fact that it's

weird for something to return that we've never

seen before Well, it's the title is pretty much

basically Something coming back from orcos past

is really what it what it means It's not saying

that that's the way I took it because obviously

this is an orcocentric episode It was alright

There are certain things that we'll get to later

that just Yeah Yeah, oh this is the whole boy

yeah ladies and gentlemen you might want to turn

your iPods or listening devices down when we

get to snake mountain moments because I'm going

to be screaming my lungs out. Let's not scream.

Yeah, the The plot it's it's alright. It's a

good It's a good story like like giving Sporko

something that is coming from his planet and

at the same time Skeletor taking advantage of

it. I didn't quite like when He -Man basically

didn't listen to the Sorceress at the end, but

I don't know. What about you? What are your thoughts

on the overall point? I like the fact that it

ties in something from Orko's past and that You

know, we have this new character that we're learning

about and that there's almost like a partnership,

so to speak, with him and Skeletor. There's just

some weird stuff with this whole dimension sphere

and some of that. I don't know if I necessarily

have a problem with the plot as much as I have

a problem with how it's going to be executed.

I guess it could have been done in a good way.

It just wasn't. So on the PSA was kind of a different

one. Yeah Kind of very different. I've had a

few weird ones lately As far as stuff that you

wouldn't normally just it would it's not like

your prototypical stuff You just think of right

off the top of your head that you're gonna try

to teach kids the value of fear But I guess it

works and it makes it a little more unique Any

thoughts on the PSA think they should have worded

it differently yeah I don't know and instead

of saying oh there's value in fear right you

know say something to the effect of you know

everyone gets and I think Tila did say this a

little bit that everyone gets scared every now

and then and that's okay and you know just when

you do go to you I don't know I just think could

have been worded differently yeah that's probably

true Hey bright boy put them down They'll be

alright just had the wind knocked out of them

Cringer Well, I guess it's time for us to take

over, old buddy. Let's move. Oh, no. Here we

go again. It's time for Castle Grayskull Moments

for Return of Evil. I will go first because it's

not going to take me very long. As I said, I

like the partnership of evil here. I like Aramesh

and Skeletor joining forces, and I like Aramesh

overall. He's a cool -looking character I liked

his look I like he reminds me of a character

that showed up in Thundercats, I think it was

at one point but uh Yeah, I like his look. I

like his voice. I like what he does I like that

he's from Marcos past and he seems to have some

powers there So I liked him as a character other

than I don't really have anything that I really

thought was great about this episode. How about

you? You know I I agree with you as a character.

He looks really cool. It's something we haven't

seen. We've seen robots before, but we haven't

really seen this style of robot. Speaking of

robot, and the reason why I'm saying it that

way is because that's the way John Irwin pronounces

it several times throughout the series as Adam.

Instead of saying robot, they say robot. But

what I love about it is, I love Adam taking a

stand as himself. Any time that that, and I said

this last episode we talked about and I said

this in previous podcasts, I love it when they

don't just rely on, oh hey, Adam can't do shit,

we gotta go get He -Man now. I love when Adam

does take stands on stuff and I thought that

was great. Then Cringer. Oh, here we go again.

Insert Whitesnake music. And yes, you people

would have heard that right before this discussion.

Hurry up Skeletor! I'm hurrying! I'm hurrying!

That was funny. That was funny. They trapped

the Henge people. That was kind of awesome. Go,

Battlecat! He tail tripped Skeletor. Yeah. That

was that was kind of awesome, but even though

I love those moments Those and those are good

moments for this episode. It still doesn't save

this episode from A lot of really really bad

Moments. All right. Well, let's get into them

then and as we travel over to snake mountain

which these days is full of goodies Perhaps we

should let this walking lightbulb Aramesh do

our dirty work for us! What is your plan, Skeletor?

I shall bring this Aramesh here and make a deal

with him. So we can help him get the secret for

himself! No, you fuzzbrain! We help him get the

secret for me! So we have arrived at Snake Mountain,

so let's get to business. There's nothing I will

hate more than foreshadowing with a force. The

whole Orko speech at the beginning about wanting

to stop Skeletor, that was painfully inserted

and like, hey guys, this is what's going to happen

in this episode. Orko is eventually going to

stop Skeletor. Okay, I didn't need that. So I

can't keep track of what this object is supposed

to be. Is it the dome from the last episode?

Is it the star seed? Is it the dimension sphere?

How many times are we gonna use this object?

You mean the little ball? Yes. Because it pretty

much has taken the same form and been like five

different things now. Yeah, well it's... I guess

we could blame it on the stock animation. And...

it's... become so many things that they now refer

to it just simply as the secret thing. Is that

really the best name they could come up with?

They could keep calling it the secret thing.

I need the secret thing. Where is the secret

thing? Like that is the lamest thing I've ever

heard. What kind of laugh just came out of Battle

Cat, by the way, in this episode? That was...

Yeah, so if you're listening to this episode

wait for a weird laugh to come out of battle

cat He man, I have no strength, but I will throw

you anyways Yeah, he so did not listen to the

sorcerers whatsoever But I mean there was just

there was a time where he's literally says that

he has no strength, but he manages to throw Whoever

it was anyway like I Yeah, like that made no

sense if he has no strength he has no strength

So like two episodes ago. We had the whole explanation.

That's the sorceress used told us Told us that

she cannot become the sorceress outside of greyskull

yet in this episodes or becomes a sorceress outside

of greyskull Way to be consistent and watch your

previous episodes Sir orko the night Are you

freaking kidding me? No They okay, I Do agree.

It's kind of wonky and kind of lame, but they

had to give they give this character so much

Give him a metal give him a pat on the back.

Give him a freaking cake or something. Do not

deem him a knight And how does Skeletor get back

Yeah, I'll get to I'll let you go then. Oh my

god. All right, first thing you already said

it This episode was damn good until the sorceress

in human form is in a fucking tar swamp. Give

me a fucking break. Oh my god. So Skeletor is

gone. No explanation is given whether he ever

gets out of the other dimension. Really shitty

writing in this episode. Instead of the long

ass fade away from the planet, they could have

put a scene in there about Skeletor being trapped

or somehow getting out of it or something. On

top of that, Evelyn and Beastman are still imprisoned.

Ah, the shitty writing. And on top of that, I

can't take it. We go into the next episode and

it's just back to normal. I know. I know. It's

a different writer next episode too. Yeah, but

no mention of how Skeletor eventually gets back

or how evil and then Beastman get out of prison

It just happens. You know accept it Yep, pretty

much What else do you have that's it? Okay those

as I'll give a disclaimer right now as much as

I love my castle grayscale moments of Skeletor

hurry up. I'm hurrying. I'm hurrying And the

cringer, oh here we go again in the battle -catch

tail -tripping. As much as I love those three

moments, that still does not help this episode's

score whatsoever for the completely shitty, shitty

writing this person has done. I just don't appreciate

when someone apparently watches none of the episodes

beforehand and before they do the writing. And

I know some of them are being written at the

same time, so it's impossible. But you wouldn't

have had to, there should be a series Bible,

as there was for most cartoons, and if there

was for this or wasn't I'm not sure but there

should be somewhere there somewhere there should

be note of the sorceress and what powers she

is capable of and that she can't be you know

in human form outside of grayskull I don't understand

why these writers can't keep that consistent

that's like a main part of the plot that's like

saying you know like wow I can't use a Transformers

reference but I have to It's like saying, you

know, Autobots can't fly and then every fifth

episode a writer lets Optimus Prime fly with

Megatron. Well, flying with Megatron is different.

It would be different as if they, like... No,

I'm just saying if Optimus Prime was flying through

the air to meet in battle Megatron, like, he

can't fly. Like, Autobots can't fly. Yeah, the

Autobots can't fly thing only happened in...

The fact that they could fly only happened in

one episode, and then they retconned it to the

point where, oh, we can't fly unless we have

jetpacks. Right. I'm just saying, it's something

that seems like it's specific, something that

should not be missed over and over and over again,

as we've seen in this series so far. And then

just from episode to episode, we need to... This

guy basically wrote an episode, and at the time...

They were, you know, um, contracted out or however

you want to say it to write, you know, sometimes

one episode, some people were, you know, to write

multiple episodes or they would come with, you

know, three or four episodes and hope that one

of them got accepted, et cetera. You know, I

know there's a process there, but in that process,

you should not write an episode that then leaves

at the end a situation where stuff is not resolved.

Yeah, because it's not the same person writing

all these episodes if you're gonna be writing

continuously Then you know you can take care

of it, and you know hey I left Skeletor here,

and I left the bad guys in jail. I can fix that

in my next episode I will mention that I will

touch on that etc But when you're in the process

where you know it's multiple people writing And

it's gonna go from one writer to another writer

with not a lot of knowledge of what each other

has written You should not leave your episode

in a way that basically screws over whoever writes

the next episode Yeah. Because they're not going

to realize that you have left Skeletor out in

the weird dimension and these guys in jail. Like

he basically screwed over whoever's episode was

going to come next because there was going to

be a lack of continuity there. Yeah, pretty much.

All right. Well, let's get to some awards and

rankings for the return. Booko, where are you?

Leave it to Cringer to find the hiding places.

Alright sir, it's award time. Do you have any

power swords or Havok staffs to give out for

the return of evil? Havok staff, upside the head

of the rider. Like you were just saying, pay

the fuck attention. I am going to give a power

sword to Orko, not because I want to unite him,

but because he did overcome his fears. I thought

that was... a good character moment for him,

so he gets a power sword as well. What about

you? You know, I did like Aramesh. I thought

he was a cool character, but really nobody in

this episode stood out one way or the other for

me. This is just kind of a non -event episode

for me, so I don't have anything to give out.

As far as ratings go, how many oracles are you

giving this one? Zero. Zero? even though i like

those three moments in my in my castle grayscale

moments about battle cat cringer and skeletor

the shitty writing it's just like my brain nearly

exploded when those three snake mountain moments

happen when i wrote those down i like i almost

turned this episode off this almost Zero all

right well I will be consistent today And so

far and I'll also give this one a one and a half

battle cats Just like I did the last episode

because they're both bad not the absolute worst

two episodes I've ever seen but they are bad

We can only go up from here, so let's get to

episode 45 I Would have sent for you, but I could

not My powers grow weaker by the minute man -at

-arms says that the oxygen content of Eternia's

air is lowering That's what's weakening all of

us. Do you have any idea what might be causing

it? Perhaps. Do you notice anything strange on

your journey here? Yes, the Evergreen Forest

is withering. Ah, then I may have the answer.

Deep in the heart of the Mystic Mountains lies

the Sea of Eternity. It feeds a river which supplies

the Vine Jungle and the Evergreen Forest with

water. These two great forces in turn supply

Eternia's air with oxygen. Wait a minute, how

do plants provide oxygen? You know that all animals

breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide?

Yes. Well, all plants take in carbon dioxide

and give off oxygen. That is why plants and animals

need each other to survive. Someone or something

must be cutting off the water supply to the forest

at its source, at the sea of eternity. You, He

-Man, must go and set things right. Science!

Alright, that means we are wrapping up today

with episode 45, which is the Eye of the Beholder,

written Friday. This is how we end our week,

November 4th, 1983. It is written by Jeffrey

O 'Hare with the teleplay by David Wise. This

is the first of two episodes for Jeffrey O 'Hare.

And the plot goes something like this. On Eternia,

he -man and man -at -arms begin to notice that

everyone's strength, including their own, is

weakening. Mad at Arms concludes that there is

a low level of oxygen in the air and that somehow

Eternia's oxygen supply is being depleted. After

speaking with the Sorceress, He -Man heads to

the Mystic Mountains in order to reach the Sea

of Eternity. Just as he is about to pass through

the mountains, he is attacked by a group of untrusting

insect people. He -Man makes friends with Garth

and the two of them head toward the source of

Eternia's problems. In Masters we have the Regulars

and the Sorceress. In Evil Warriors we have Triclops,

Beastman, and Skeletor. PSA is all about beauty

as in the eye of the beholder. What did you think

about the oxygen depleted Eternia, sir? This

will come into play during the Castle Grayskull

moments clip. Yay! Science lesson! i seriously

felt the whole time sources was explaining it

i seriously felt like i was back in high school

learning arm even even middle school learning

about photosynthesis and i'd i seriously felt

like i was back in school watching this episode

yeah i do like the fact that they are discussing

something that is causing the whole planet to

be weak uh... i like the idea of human losing

his power not being able to use it i like the

idea that's not just affecting the people but

the plants the machines and everything is somehow

being affected And I like the tie -ins with science

and educational things that they're doing here

with this episode. So plot -wise, I don't have

a problem with that. I do think if a scientist

that knew what they were talking about went over

this episode with a fine -tooth comb, they would

find some problems with it, though. They're definitely

good on some of their science and bad on some

of their other science. But overall, I like the

idea of everything becoming weak and that they

basically have to figure out... what's happening

and stop it before everyone's dead, which should

have happened in this episode because it took

a long time. Oh yeah, we'll get to that. But

overall, I like the plot for this one. I don't

have a problem with the plot. I like the plot,

it's interesting. It's unique, it's something

we haven't seen before. Yeah, and that's a good

thing. That's always a good thing It is a decent

PSA about the whole beast story of the plot being

that the insect people think that everyone else

is ugly and Everyone else thinks the insect people

are ugly. So it's all about I do think it was

kind of weird though how Tila says it she's like

You know, there's there may be some beautiful

people out there and that's fine but they may

be ugly as far as the way they act and then they're

like and you may know some ugly people yeah it

wasn't it wasn't very well worded you may know

some ugly people oh i don't think that's exactly

what we should be saying to the kids but okay

yeah no that was interesting let's uh head off

to gray skull and see what good stuff we have

to say Raise yourself, man -at -arms. Man -at

-arms, drop the cable from the Wind Raider. Here

I go. feels like it weighs a ton. Then again,

it does weigh a ton. That was quick thinking,

He -Man, using the grappling cable to break off

all. Are you all right? Maybe I'm a little out

of shape. It took all my strength to catch the

Wind Raider. With your strength, it should have

been easy. I know. It doesn't make sense. And

neither does the Wind Raider's engine stopping.

What do you suppose caused it? We'll have to

get it back to the palace and pull it apart to

find out. E -Man, that tree, it was perfectly

healthy when we left this morning. No, it's completely

withered. It's falling toward the council chamber.

And the room is filled with people. How's your

strength holding up? I feel weaker than ever.

Well, let's get the Wind Raider into the lab

and see if anything's wrong with it. I don't

think you will find anything wrong with it. I

think there's something very strange going on

here. Phew. That thing's getting heavier and

heavier. Maybe I should become Prince Adam again.

No. Well, if something really is wrong, your

powers may be needed. Hey! Man -at -arms, you

got a cure for fizzled magic? I don't think there's

any known cure for your magic, Orko. No, I'm

serious. I'm weak and I can't get anything to

work. Look. Magic powers far and near. Make the

speaker disappear. Let's check out the Wind Raider.

Alright, so highlights and Castle Grayscale moments

for Eye of the Beholder. First of all, like I

said, I like the idea of He -Man losing his power.

That's always interesting to see how he's going

to cope with that. And I like the educational

value of a little bit of this episode as far

as oxygen effects. We'll get to more on that

later, but I do like the attempt here. And I

thought the weakness was done really well from

an animation standpoint, from a voicing standpoint.

I thought it was believable and and it looked

real the way that the key man and some of the

others were You know acting we're struggling.

We're um, you know slowing Becoming less energized,

you know stuff like that. I thought that was

done well and believable it could have been done

much worse and uh I feel like the sorcerers had

an advantage here Because even though all of

Eternia is weak Shouldn't the sources be used

to her powers being weak? Anyway, what do you

got? Wow Yay a science lesson when I okay now

I actually Just to let people know how I go through

the process is behind -the -scenes moment time

at Tales of Eternia Usually I watched the episode

for a first time and I go through and I clip

the audio as I'm going through clipping the audio

I also make my notes during this first watch

through I Was also in the middle of cooking dinner,

and I had let it play while i was getting the

pizza out of the oven and as soon as i heard

one of the bugs voices um not um not garth the

other the other one yeah as soon as i heard his

voice i'm like hey wait is that buzz off i didn't

think but i didn't think buzz off was Appearing

that like I got so excited. I'm like, ooh buzz

off. Yeah, and then I looked at I rewound it

on Netflix I'm like, oh, that's not buzz off

What the hell? But I did like the voice for for

that guy. I thought that was pretty cool Other

than that, I don't I I don't know. It's like

there's just too many There's just too many problems

with this episode There just really is. There

is some problems. I don't know if there's as

many problems as there was in some of the other

episodes we just talked about. Okay, I will say

that. You brought up, hold on real quick, you

brought up some, it wasn't Shaman, because the

Shaman was done by Anon Oppenheimer, but this

was one of the first times that we have seen

another voice besides our regulars. The voice

of Garth and the insect guard is George DeCenzo.

Okay, cool the voice of hordak Yeah, so this

is one of his early appearances in the franchise

I Will say even though when we travel to snake

mountain. I will have more bad points than I

do good points This episode overall for me is

enjoyable. It's not because I'm not a big fan

of bugs It's not one that I'll go back to on

the regular But this is more enjoyable for me

in general even though I'm gonna nitpick the

hell out of it This is more enjoyable for me

than the previous two episodes we've talked about

today. Yes, definitely But alas, there are still

some snake mountain moments. Yes. Yes, there

are Who is the strange intruder? How ugly he

looks! He has no shell! Disgusting! We thought

he might have something to do with the disaster

that threatens our hive! What disaster are you

referring to? Our race hatches new eggs only

once every 50 years, and it is time for the new

brood to be born. But our eggs do not glow as

they should. It's as though all of the life has

been drained out of them. If they do not hatch,

our race is doomed. Come, strange sorcerer, out

with it! What manner of spell have you cast on

us? I'm no sorcerer. My name is He -Man. I'm

on a journey to stop this danger which threatens

your hive and the whole planet. Live, the ugly

one! seeks to deceive us? My people are suffering

as you are. And why should we believe the word

of someone as hideous as you? No, Shaman. Let

us not judge this one by his strange looks. No

doubt we look strange to him. I am Goth. What

do you intend to do? I must find the Sea of Eternity.

I believe someone is draining it and taking away

the planet's oxygen in the process. I intend

to stop whoever is doing this. I believe you.

I will help you. No, Garth! Shaman, it's our

only hope. Alright, Snake Mountain moments for

Eye of the Beholder. First of all, right from

the opening there was a horrible animation sequence

with the vehicle there and Prince Adam becoming

He -Man and doing the grappling hook and then

catching it. That just looked totally fake to

me. I just didn't like how that was done. I've

never noticed this before, but how did the trees

in the Royal Palace grow when there's no dirt

underneath them? There's literally... I don't

know what that material is. It's not cement,

but it's whatever their marble or whatever, but

it's a solid floor, and then the trees sit on

top of it. Yeah, that's weird. I feel like before

they went to Grayskull, like... if this was a

film set that someone said hold on we're missing

something and then someone just ran off with

a map and two pieces of tape and stuck it on

the wall and ran off the scene and then they're

like action what the heck was that map doing

on the great skulls wall the searchers was like

i know they're coming so i will hang this map

because i will reference it later Yeah, we should

get a picture of that map hang in there. I'm

not gone If you want to you can I've already

got all the pictures I need for this episode,

but there is room that looks so off Yeah Okay,

how did the evil warriors in Skeletor get a hold

of a man -at -arms oxygen canisters? I just thought

it was weird that it's like this invention that

man -at -arms has been working on for underwater

blah blah blah and he just happens to have it

and he's like oh here I have one this is the

only one I have you can use in He -Man. Well

Skeletor's got like five of them. Yeah that was

ridiculous. I know it makes sense that Skeletor

should be prepared since he's the one that's

going to you know be taking all the oxygen away

but they basically look like the same canisters.

So He -Man Only needs a hit of oxygen like once

every hour it seems like You know once every

so often And when he goes without his oxygen

he can struggle He can walk himself to Castle

Grayskull and then walk himself back to the royal

palace with no oxygen Or when he loses it at

the lake there He can still climb a ladder and

do all this other stuff, which is fine because

he's doing it slowly and he's weak and whatnot

As soon as evil warriors canisters are gone,

even if they just took a hit They pass out. Yeah,

they pass the fuck out It's so inconsistent.

So the oxygen wore off way too fast on the evil

warriors. Yeah. All right I am NOT too sure about

the science in this whole episode I get some

of it. I Get some of it. I do. I think it's a

stretch that the wind Raider Is affected. Oh

Yeah, most that come on. Yeah, I get the trees

are going well not they're not gonna wither that

damn fast, but uh, I Get that it's gonna affect

plant life and I know that it's gonna affect

humans Yeah, not a whole sale buying the machinery

thing and the vehicles Except that they needed

a way to get the vehicles out of there so that

human would be forced to walk everywhere All

right seconds here yes okay I get that the lake

is dammed up or the river whatever dammed up

it's being pumped out and Skeletor's got this

plan there's no water going to the forest means

there's no plant life on Eternia which means

there's no oxygen etc all right there's oxygen

and water and the whole last Phase of this episode

Takes place at the lake, right? Shouldn't there

be enough oxygen at that point? There's yeah

plant life around there because there's water

there. There's plenty of water because that's

where the lake is That's where the lake is being

dammed up yet Everyone still needs their oxygen

canisters Hmm. I mean, I'm not a science genius.

That's not my subject But I would think once

they were at the actual source of the lake that

everyone would be able to breathe fine Yeah,

I mean I know that it says it all the plant life

is dying and withering but I'm sure there is

wherever there's water there's gonna be life

some things Whether it's seaweed or plants or

grass around the lake or something that has not

withered So I just didn't buy the fact that they

needed the a oxygen at that point because it's

far from Eternia I Think there's no key science

going on here. I don't know. I need a scientist

to come and pick away and There's gotta be some

other things that we're missing that are inconsistent

here, but bad use of science, even though it's

a good use of science in some other ways. What

do you think? Wait a second, they couldn't use

the grappling hook without He -Man, even without

power? Like, the whole thing with the wind, like,

the vehicles are not living beings, you fucking

morons! They're not! They're fucking technology!

Whatever power source they're on is not... None

of our power sources are affected by oxygen or

not. Yeah, that was hokey to me. You have gasoline

and the thing is going to have power until you

have no gas. If it's a form of energy, you're

going to have it until that energy source wears

out. Oxygen not being in there is not going to

affect that. Yeah, not at all. And what pissed

me off so much is so they're going to check out

the Windrater before looking at other people's

issues. Boo. That makes no sense whatsoever.

So. I didn't mention this, but everybody on Eternia

and everyone throughout the planet should have

been dead. Yes. So, Kevin, the Eternians are

apparently human beings and not aliens. I thought

that they were aliens because, you know, Eternia

ain't Earth. Like, I understand why. They write

it that way to make it relatable to us as the

audience, to kids as the audience of saying,

hey, you're a human being. You know, he meant

a human, you know, I get that, but still that's

bad writing. Do you know what else I didn't understand?

I just thought of now, they never really explain

why the insect men are not affected by the lack

of oxygen. Yeah, that's true too. Like insects

and animals and everything around here would

be just as affected if there's no oxygen. Yep.

Why are these insect men immune to it? They should

have touched on that at some point Yeah, they

should have mentioned this in Castle Grayskull

moment, but that was a cool fucking form that

that Garth guy turned into Yeah, the butterfly

thing. Yeah, that was pretty cool. I don't buy

the whole evolution thing though No, yeah, I

mean to ultimately evolve into if we swim in

magic water But well, I I think what it is is

is that they were they were they were trying

to go for in order to save himself. It's not

said in this, but I think what they were ultimately

going for was because he had to save himself,

he very quickly spun a cocoon, curled up, and

came out smelling like a rose. I don't buy it

either. And again, I was going to have an issue

with He -Man being strong and the henchmen losing

their strength, and then I realized that he had

an Oxy -Can. I didn't see it at first, but I

think he grabbed Beastmans or he grabbed somebodies

after they were down. What other fact that he

just kept destroying them instead of using them

himself? I know! Only oxygen, you should probably

stop smashing them. Yeah. Yeah, pretty much I

mean your man -at -arms made a point that when

this canister is gone, there's no more oxygen

Okay. Well, then if I come across any extra cancers,

I'm probably gonna protect those two Let's say

fear just in case Yeah, that all you have Yeah,

all right. Let's go on to rewards and rankings

and all kinds of good stuff for eye of the beholder

Strange how those two thought I was a monster

when they themselves look so strange to me It

just goes to show you shouldn't be fooled by

appearances after all your friend Sherman thought

I was pretty ugly All right, it's award ceremony

time for I have to be holder and I do have one

to give out here I like the way that he did things.

I like the way he was animated I like the way

that his speech patterns went when he was weak

and I like the fact that he overcame everything

So I will give a power sword to he man. I thought

he was well done in this episode. I Can agree

to that but at the same time like that's how

he man is supposed to be for me like If something

happens to him, he is supposed to be able to

act the way a normal person would act in that

situation. So no one really stood out to me in

this episode at all. So I'm not going to give

any out. And for ranking -wise, I gave the first

episode today a one and a half. I gave the second

episode today a one and a half. I'll give the

Eye of the Beholder a two and a half. And I'm

just going to give it a straight two. I originally

had it down as a three, but as we've talked it

out, It's all the problems with the oxygen and

the wonky science that knocked it down a point

for me. So two out of five Orcos. Alright, so

that does it for the three episodes for today.

We will take a quick break and be back with our

overall thoughts, etc. Well Orco, Jeremy sure

changed his ways. He was acting pretty rotten

for a while. I think all he really wanted was

for people to notice him. But what good does

it do to be noticed if people don't like what

they see? That's right. The best way to get attention

is not to look for it. By being polite and helpful,

people will not only notice you, they'll like

you too. I'm gonna do something helpful right

now! What's that? I'm gonna say good -bye! Tunecast

is dedicated to the cartoons we grew up with.

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Market, and animationaficionados .com. Today

Orko was being chased by an evil robot. Orko

was very frightened, but in the end he overcame

his fear and helped Team Man defeat the robot.

All of us are frightened at one time or another,

and it's nothing to be ashamed of. Fear is natural.

It makes us aware of possible danger. Without

fear, we'd wind up in all kinds of trouble. So

never feel guilty because you're afraid. Listen

to your fears. They'll help you stay out of trouble.

Until later. Bye now. Welcome to Star Joe's podcast.

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

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

called Star Joe's Podcast, where we talk about

your favorite comic books, your favorite toys

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

Transformers, Mask, Thundercats, Voltron, you

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

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

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the force will be with you because knowing us

is half the battle. Coming to Grand Rapids, Michigan

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For more information, please visit www .grand

-con .com Today we met Garth, who to some people

looked like a monster. But Garth wasn't a monster.

He was a good person with a noble soul. And in

the end, his beauty showed through. Real beauty

comes from inside, which is why ugly people can

sometimes be the most beautiful people to know.

And why people who look beautiful sometimes act

very ugly. Being beautiful on the outside is

alright. But being beautiful on the inside, that's

the best. All right, we're back here to close

out the show. We're not going to beat a dead

horse here. Too much here on the overall thoughts

of the series. The overall thoughts on this set

of episodes is they're terrible. Quite possibly

the worst episode we've had so far as far as

a combination of three episodes that we are discussing.

None of them even reaching a three rating for

either of us. So it needs to get better quickly.

it needs to get so much better and very fast

because you know last episode of the podcast

in episode 14 we were praising them we were saying

oh my god so much character development for sorceress

and then of course it just fucking goes out the

window this episode yeah it needs to get better

this cannot continue all right thank you for

listening to tales of eternity if you'd like

to get in contact with us release feedback for

the show there's several ways to do so visit

the website www .geekcastradio or you can comment

on all of our varied podcasts and posts. You

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so join the forums, start discussions, get in

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the cool stuff Send email to feedback at GeekCastRadio

.com You can leave the show feedback in iTunes

Please do so we do appreciate as many five -star

reviews or whatever you want to rate us as possible

I do want to mention something really quickly.

I'm sorry to interrupt you I do want to mention

something really quickly about the iTunes thing

I looked at it the other day. We currently have

no new reviews But we have, let me just look

here really quick. We have over six star ratings

that basically it puts us where Tales of Eternia

is a five star podcast on iTunes, pretty much

is what it means, ladies and gentlemen. Looking

at it right now, we have... We have six five

star ratings and no five no star ratings other

than five star ratings, which so Basically, we

are a five star podcast based on six ratings

and we still have the same three reviews which

you we have Read on on air in previous episodes.

But yeah, thank you so much as Kevin said go

over to iTunes We are you know, we love this

franchise as as much as count marzo is like you

transformers fanboys Fuck you. We still love

He -Man just like everybody else does. You can

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is 502 -526 -582. One, we hope you enjoyed the

tales today and don't forget to join us on our

next adventure when we will be discussing episodes

46, 47, and 48 which are, it's not my fault,

that one worries me, Trouble in Arcadia, which

I don't know what to expect on that one, and

Castle of Heroes, which I have high hopes for.

That's a cool name for an episode. I know nothing

about it, but it sounds good. All right, for

now I'm Optimus Solo with, and remember throughout

the week, then by the power of Grayskull, we

all have the power. That's it, Emen! Kneel before

your new master!