The Good Shall Survive, Day of the Machines, The Cat and the Spider

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! 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 25th chapter

in Tales of Eternia. With me for this journey

into the Masters of the Universe franchise, as

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

for more Powers of Grayskull, sir? Yeah, we got

20 episodes left of this show. Very true. In

this episode of Tales of Eternia, we'll be giving

you our thoughts on episode 72. the good shall

survive episode 73 day of the machines hmm and

episode 74 the cat and the spider so we hope

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

eternity Good work, everybody. This harvest of

honey will last our colony all winter. Buzz Hump

will be very proud of our work. Let's go home.

Ow! Free! Free at last! We start today with episode

72, The Good Shall Survive, written by Richard

Pardee. Airdate Wednesday, September 19th, 1984.

A leak in the Bee People's honey harvest flows

underground and awakens the taikons from their

rocky cocoons. Skeletor decides to enlist the

help of the taikons by offering them more honey.

He hopes they will raid the palace's food supply

and starve his enemies. He -Man prevents the

taikons raid on the honeycomb. Taikor blasts

He -Man unconscious and raids the king's food

warehouse while the palace is defenseless. The

baking soda pie Orko made sickens the taikons

and makes them vulnerable. He -Man, Man -at -Arms,

and Buzz -Off approach the taikons about becoming

friends, and Taikor realizes Skeletor has been

deceiving him. He -Man, Taikor, and Buzz -Off

storm Snake Mountain to find the remains of the

palace's food supply and to defeat Skeletor.

So for the Masters, we have Buzz -Off as well

as the regulars, including the king and the queen

in this one. And then the evil warriors, we have

Skeletor, Webstore, and Cobra Khan. The PSA is

He -Man and Orko. Basically, it's saying about

the right ways and the wrong ways of getting

what you want. I thought it was a good example

here. If someone has something you want, say

a toy you'd like to play with, don't just take

it. That's stealing. You're gonna make the other

person angry, but if you ask rather than take

or if you offer to share something in return

Things can go usually pretty much better The

Oracle fun facts really weren't worth mentioning

for this episode, but what did you think? I didn't

think so if not for this one More so for the

other two episodes that we'll talk about today.

Yeah. Yeah I'm trying to think this one I like

this one. It's interesting. We finally get a

new character that we haven't seen before. Even

though I knew he was coming, we finally get Buzz

off. Right. So I thought that was really cool.

Finally, anyone else other than Beastman and

Trapjaw. Anybody else? Is this the first time

we've seen Webster in Cobra Con? I believe so,

yes. So that's cool. Yeah, that's that's very

very cool. So we get a variety of new people

in this one Yes, the PSA or my you know when

you're saying this, you know saying about the

PSA that it's always good to ask instead of just

take oh and also I can think of is all those

kids that grew up in the night like late 80s

early 90s like I mean even even us to a certain

extent, you know watching the Simpsons Homer

would always go yoink. It's like Homer Simpsons

teaching us bad things I know I like this one.

I think this is a really interesting one. It's

a great setup for For buzz off to kind of introduce

him. It's I would have preferred some sort of

origin story I do know as I've said before in

previous episodes of the podcast that at one

point I believe he and the bird people he and

Stratos have have a fight over something or other

I forget what it is It's probably some crop or

some precious plant that is useful to both tribes

course i could just be making this up i i don't

remember honestly uh... but no this one was fun

yeah i like the idea of the new blood as far

as the characters go uh... i like the idea that

there's you know not just individual people that

are from different tribes or races or species

on the planet that we actually have like the

whole species there so we have like the whole

bee people we have the whole uh... whatever the

tychons are supposed to be So I thought that

was kind of cool that we had like feuding factions

of like an actual whole species instead of just

like one or two people So I thought that was

cool Almost expected to see Stratos at some point

But obviously maybe we'll wait for that for a

future episode So yeah, I didn't mind the whole

plot and I think it's a good lesson as far as

tying in with the PSA about you know not just

taking what you want and that's something that

someone makes it unique to The episodes we watched,

we haven't had really just someone who was just

straight up trying to just steal stuff just because

they needed to survive and going about it kind

of the wrong way. They mentioned in the episode

that they need to eat like three times their

weight each day or something, which is ridiculous.

That's a lot of stuff to have to eat. Yeah. So

I mean, it wasn't that they were just all out

bad. They were just needing it to survive. Talked

about how their species was close to extinction.

There wasn't a lot of them left. So I thought

there was a bunch of cool stuff thrown in this

one, so a pretty enjoyable episode. If I had

to eat three times my weight, that would be 1

,215 pounds. No thank you. Every day. No thank

you. Alright, so 1215 times 365, you don't want

to know what that number is. So yeah, decent

plot, decent PSA, they all tied together, decent

characters, so let's see if that made us... Come

up with a bunch of good stuff or not to say about

episode 72, The Good Shall Survive. Thank you!

Thank you! That was a neat trick, Orko! Now show

us your new transporting trick! Make this flower

go from my hand to someplace else! Hmm. I'll

try. Maybe this time it'll work. With a flower

of beauty in Tyke's little hand, go to the urn

on my command. Oops! I guess there's a little

too much command. Let me outta here! Sorry about

that, little pal. Pycons are coming! They're

a harvest of honey! Where are they now? They're

coming this way, looking for more honey. We gotta

get to the palace. Good idea, Orko. I'll take

our people to the safety of the High Caves. You

must go back to tell Buzz off and the others.

I can't float as fast as I can fly. Uncle Orko,

try your trans -sporting trick. Maybe it will

work this time. I don't know. You must try. It's

our only hope. The Good Shall Survive, a title

that actually fits the story. How about some

highlights for you, my friend? Awesome, the bees

and Buzz off premieres here, finally! Poor Cringer.

Why is it I never liked this part? Oh no, He

-Man is sleeping on the job. Thought that was

funny. The B -Kid is the best kid in the entire

series. Like, I kid you not! I don't know how

many other children are coming in the rest of

season 2, but the B -Kid is the most least annoying

kid character out of this entire cartoon. Interesting.

Love all the action with He -Man and Buzz -Off

and Tychor. The action, this was great. And Skeletor,

I mean, anytime you can drop... a future even

though it's is looking to do with the care of

the the actor future fire marshal built a character

in the wind with that water or a fountain that's

always layers that'll be in the post was in general

and the skill to accept them and every time they

have this thing they have this stock footage

of him when he's sitting down every time i see

it all as i can think of his uh... a female here

and that's all i can think of is it is this is

the scene from the secret of the sort of people

who are you uh... obviously like the new blood

and finally that we got like i mentioned before

it is in one of the oracle fun fact actually

says that uh... they're like this is a mistake

because in the scene where buzz off sitting at

the table with the king the king introduces him

as a new friend and ally but he had already been

seen multiple times in season two not true because

you're in production order and not in the order

that it aired. So if you watch it in the order

that it aired, this is the first time Buzz Off

appears, that's why we're doing it this way.

So we got Andy Mangold or whatever, messed that

up on the Oracle Fun Facts for this episode because

he was just thinking about it in production order.

Tycor had an interesting three -person punch

when he showed up at the... the bee people's

place he like literally punched and three people

got hit by it um so he's quite the quite the

fighter there i liked he man getting assertive

there he's like out of my way skeletor now he

usually he's not so uh aggressive but uh he definitely

was telling skeletor what to do there um the

baking soda pie i thought that was somewhat interesting

um stomach ache to ensue I guess that's a neat

little angle, I guess, that it took. It's weird

-ass science. We shouldn't be surprised that

by now, in the midst of Season 2, that the science

and all this and all that of how things work

is ass -backwards in this series. But I don't

know if that would ever really work. I'm not

sure. I don't know what baking soda would have

an effect on the cooking process. I'm not really

sure. Yeah. Um, but either way, it's kind of

just interesting that he's misread it and made

something that you wouldn't really want to eat.

And that of course, since these guys are trying

to eat a billion things that they just ate it

with no thoughts. So that's kind of a nice little

touch. Um, like I said, a good PSA for the kids.

We all went through where friends were trying

to take toys or not share toys or this and the

other. So I thought it could definitely resonate

with the kids that were watching this at the

time, us included. Um, And I also thought it

was cool that they didn't just introduce Webster

and Cobra Khan. They kind of showed a little

bit of what they can do, too. Webster had the

cool grappling hooks that he shot out. Cobra

Khan had like the sleeping gas that he sprayed.

So they did a little more than just show them.

They kind of gave us a glimpse of different things

and powers that they had or abilities. So I thought

that was cool. And I think they've done that

so far to this point with all of the character

most of the characters At least the evil warriors

because I remember, you know One of the very

first episodes Evelyn was in, you know, we see

she's magical I mean a beastly sideshow really

shows off Beast man's powers, right? But sometimes

it wasn't this it wasn't always necessarily like

right away Right sometimes we got we had to wait

for an episode that featured them type thing

where they give us a glimpse of these two right

away So I like that anything else for Castle

gray skull Nope. All right. Let's see what nitpicks

we have for the good shall survive Perhaps we

can use their services but how If we promise

them all the food in the palace as a reward for

their help, then all the food in the Eternia

warehouse will be eaten. Exactly! Then the King

will be forced to hand over the secrets to Castle

Grayskull or the kingdom will starve! And for

now, I'm going to the Evergreen Forest to meet

our new friends! All right, Snake Mountain is

where we find ourselves for this part of the

episode. For the good shall survive, I'll go

first. First of all, bad move by Battle Cat.

Causing He -Man to be knocked out, basically.

So he could have probably thought that one out

a little bit better. I thought the voices were

terrible in this one, actually. Especially on

the bee people. Buzz off. I was not expecting

that voice for Buzz off, and it really takes

a character that looks pretty cool and makes

him not as cool. Yeah, that's his voice though.

That's gonna be his voice the rest of the series.

I just wish they would have picked a better voice

for Buzz Off. Do you know off the top of my head,

do you know off the top of your head who it actually

is under the vocoder, whatever it is, under the

effects? Do we know who that is? I don't even

hardly know if it's much effects. We've heard

that voice somewhat before in a couple different...

Side character, so it's basically just someone

using a very similar voice, but it just doesn't

sound impressive enough to me To to warrant because

I think buzz off has an actual cool look to him

and Almost like, you know, right harken him to

like strato. So obviously we've made that comparison

a couple different times But that's that's a

look that I expect maybe a deeper a deeper voice

Or I don't know just something besides what we

got and I just think that possibly Alan Oppenheimer

would do better than that so he's a good actor

so I think that he I for some reason I want to

and maybe I have to go back and watch the next

episode with him in it I mean obviously whatever

the next one is that he'll he'll be in I really

do think part of it is vocal effects though I

don't think that's like the metallic sound in

his voice. I don't think that's Oppenheimer.

I think that's some sort of machine effect. I

also didn't like Linda Gary's voice for the kid.

First of all, it confused me the whole episode

I was trying to figure out if that kid was supposed

to be a boy or a girl. Yeah, that was a little

confusing. So that was kind of weird. Also thought

that it was a little too easy for the whole Good

Guy turn for Tychor. Like, I realized that they're

all sick to their stomach and whatnot, but it's

just like, oh, we'll just, He -Man and Buzz Off

will just come in and be like, hey, you should

be good. And he'll be like, okay, I'll be good

now. It wasn't - That was a little too quick.

It wasn't that easy, but it sure didn't take

him much convincing. So that was a convenient

thing for making the episode not go too long,

I guess. and then a complete nitpick but how

did he man get that far into snake mountain undetected

he's literally in in skeletaurs like main whatever

you want to call it control room office like

grand central station he just like walks right

in there with nobody knowing and just being like

i just apparently snake mountain needs to get

up their defenses a little bit what about you

um i really only had one problem with this episode

Skeletor stealing food to get the secrets of

grayskull that's a bad plot right there but the

execution was awesome but like seriously stealing

the creatures food to get wait stealing the creatures

food to get something that you want hmm where

have we seen that before secret of Omega Supreme

When they broke the asteroid open, turns out

the asteroid was the creature's food because

there was a baby living inside the asteroid that

the Constructicons were. Okay, you already knew

you were going to have a Transformers reference

in this episode, so you had to come up with another

one. No, no, no, I'm being serious though. The

Constructicons? I don't know what you're talking

about. I think it's a little stretch. A little

stretch. No, it's not a stretch. It's not a stretch.

They are destroying the creature's food. Yeah,

but that's like a food that they didn't realize

was food. This one we're quite obvious that the

people wanted them. Well, right. But yeah, still,

it works, Dan. It works. It does. It does. Anyway,

anything else for Snake Mountain? No. All right.

Let's see who gets power swords and havoc staffs

for episode 17. They must eat several times their

body weight just to survive. Father, I'll find

He -Man. In the meantime, Duncan and Teela can

go with Buzz off to the colony. Good idea, Adam.

Did I hear Adam say, E -Man? Come on, Cringe.

We've got a job to do, old buddy. Here we go

again. Why me? Alright, it's award and ranking

time. for the good shall survive. I'll start.

I have a couple different awards to give out.

First of all, I would like to give a power sword

to both Web Store and He -Man. I like both of

them in this episode. Like you said, a lot of

the action was good. I thought it was a cool

little introduction for Web Store. So I like

those two characters. I will give a Havoc staff

though, probably the first time I've ever done

this, to Battle Cat for just blundering that

whole scene up and causing He -Man to get knocked

out. That was not cool by Battle Cat. I'm gonna

give a power sword to battle cat because they're

actually Cringer because I'll give a power sword

to Cringer every time he does a funny line honestly

because It just it net for me. It never gets

old what any of these writers come up with to

have him get out of becoming battle cat. I'll

also give a power sword to both Cobra Khan and

Web Store. I like them. I wish they would have...

I wish they would use Triclops more. I mean,

Triclops has been around since the first season.

I kind of wish that they would use him a little

bit more, but I'm very happy that it's not just

Beastman, Trap, Jaw Merman. As much as I love

those characters... They're getting old, and

I'm very happy that this wasn't just another

one -off stupid villain we'll never see again.

I'd love that it has to do with, you know, Snake

Mountain and even though Skeletor's plot was

lame as hell, as I said before, the execution

was very well done. So three power swords? Yes.

You liked Battle Cat in this episode? Yeah. Alright.

It makes one mistake out of out of 70 something

episodes and you are you you obvious? He makes

one mistake in 70 something episodes, and you

just you know send them back to the shelter I

will say that I actually would not mind seeing

a little bit more of a couple other characters

from season one I mean, I don't need to see Beastman

or trap job, but I could definitely see more

merman and maybe some more triclops because we

haven't seen Merman in a long time have any type

of actual role and I don't think I don't even

know if we will in season two since he was more

of a season one toy slash character but we'll

see but I do agree with you that Webster and

Cobra Con appearing were definitely very cool

cool enough for me to give this episode four

battle cats out of five how about you Same here,

four orcos out of five. I only took one point

off because I'm sorry. I know it was a mistake

that orco made and, you know, and he's always

bumbling up words, but a baking soda, oh my god,

that's just ridiculous. So yeah, four out of

five orcos. Alright, so that's how we start off

today, very positive, both of us giving fours

out. We'll see if that continues or what happens

as we go to episode 73, Day of the Machines.

Why is it every time I say orcos I feel like

I'm I'm friggin John Stamos and a Dan and commercial

I've used the same idea to build a remote control

computer. It can guide real ships on hazardous

missions with no risk to human life. It hit the

Royal Chamber. If this had happened an hour later,

the King and Queen would have been in there.

I'm sorry, Man -at -Arms. It wasn't your fault,

Orko. It was mine. I've failed dozens of times

on the remote control project. Just when I thought

I had the real computer working, this happens.

All right. Episode 73 is where we find ourselves.

Day of the Machines, which aired Thursday, September

20th, 1984. Written by David Wise. And the plot

goes something like this. Man -at -arms tests

his latest invention, a remote control that operates,

among other things, a rocket. It malfunctions.

The rocket hits the royal chamber. Upset, Man

-at -arms vows to quit his job and resign from

his position. Skeletor seizes on the opportunity

and duplicates his pet malabese into a pure electrical

form. which Trapjaw miniaturizes, and then Skeletor

transports or teleports the Small Beast to Man

-at -Arms Master Computer, which operates all

the electoral devices in the Royal Palace. Once

Byte takes hold of the computer, the palace's

defense systems begin to attack Adam, Tila, Man

-at -Arms, and Cringer, while He -Man fights

the computer's attacks. Tila and Battlecat go

to Stink Mountain to figure out what's going

on, where Tila overhears Trapjaw revealing that

Skeletor has implanted the computer with Byte.

Meanwhile, Okor uses a shrink ray at man -in

-arms so that he can go into the computer and

find the source of the problem. Man -in -arms

gets trapped in the memory grid while He -Man

goes to the sorcerer so that he too can be shrunk.

He -Man frees man -in -arms and they ride the

negative energy current to Byte's hiding place

where He -Man ties up the computer beast. Our

heroes return to normal size and send Byte back

to Snake Mountain to torment Skeletor. So we

have Beast -Man, Trapjaw, and Skeletor, which

we just talked about. And then, of course, the

Masters. We have the regulars with them. appearance

from the sorceress and the PSA was basically

all about man -at -arms portion in this and how

he accepted the responsibility for something

which wasn't his fault he didn't stand around

trying to blame someone else and said he did

something to try to make it right so we all make

mistakes but when we do we should be afraid to

admit them and when they aren't our fault well

don't waste precious time putting the blame elsewhere

just do what you can to make things right Oracle's

fun facts obviously writer David wise would later

pen a Transformers episode not only with the

same plot but with the same title Okay, now wait

before you get to wait before you continue. Hold

on wait before you continue You said this aired

September 20th 1984. Yeah, correct. The Oracle

fun fact says writer David wise with later I

understand that, and that is why I let you finish

that part, but wait. That episode, Day of the

Machines for the G1 series, Season 2, Episode

14, October 10th, 1985, almost one year later

between the two episodes. Okay, yeah. So you're

supporting that. Well, I support the Transformers

episode more than this one. The background, using

the computer's interior, you'll later see it

in Filmation's Ghostbusters episode, so they

even use it in different series. So yeah, so

that's some interesting stuff there obviously

we'll talk a little bit about the day of the

machines aspect But as far as the plot goes with

the whole Machines taking over energy beast type

angle. What do you think of that? I? Liked it.

I thought it was interesting. I have way more

negatives about this episode than I do positives

though it just I Don't know the plot was okay

I think it took him a year to really work on

this plot again and Really do it much better.

Well, I mean in the other series. It's different

It's a different animal because in the other

series you are dealing with all machines and

robots and stuff like that So it's harder to

insert this into a sword and sorcery show and

make it feel natural It just fits when you're

dealing with the show about big robots and machines

and stuff like that so I mean, of course you're

gonna like Transformers better than he man, but

No, now wait a second here. I like them equally

except for this episode. I prefer the one in

Transformers over this one. Okay, fair enough.

Decent PSA. Maybe a little too deep for some

kids to pick up on, but a decent PSA nonetheless.

And of course, right after we talked about liking

Cobra Con and Web Store, we go right back to

Beastman and Trapjaw. But Beastman didn't even

talk in this episode, so... Still. He appeared.

I did think it was interesting that he appeared

since he had been gone for a long time. I figured

he was like, booted. He was down in the Dunham

somewhere, or kicked off a Skeletor's team. Alright,

I'm afraid to do it, but I guess we'll see if

you can muster up anything good to say about

the He -Man version of Day of the Machines and

Castle Grayskull moments coming up. Hey, I have

a lot of valid points when we get to Snake Mountain,

dammit. I doubt it. I knew I should have quit.

It must be some flaw in the computer that I overlooked.

This is all my fault. Couldn't we just turn off

the current? Grief! The central power supply!

I hope that computer hasn't gotten to it yet.

Man at Arms! Wait! Hey, man! That computer couldn't

do all this by itself! This whole thing smells

of Skeletor! You could be right. But I can't

leave here now. I can. It's too dangerous. If

there's a chance that it's Skeletor's sabotage,

I owe it to my father to find out. Otherwise,

he'll blame himself for this for the rest of

his life. How can you get there? The computer's

controlling all our vehicles. But it doesn't

control Battle Cat. Alright, for man at arm's

sake. But be careful. Cat, take Teela to Snake

Mountain. Alright, time to say good things about

Day of the Machines, my good things. I loved

some of the dialogue in this episode. I thought

this was a very well -written episode as far

as the dialogue goes, which sometimes is not

the case with these episodes. And especially

some good moments coming from Skeletor. I loved

him basically making fun of his quote, poor man

at arms and like just... Really playing that

out and emphasizing how much of a pity party

man -at -arms is playing and then I love when

he's talking to trap -jaw. He's keep your trap

-jaw shut. I Don't know why I thought that was

funny, but I just thought there was some good

dialogue Especially what wine Skeletor was given

and also interesting to see Tila on battle cat

I don't think we've seen that up to this point

or if it is I have forgotten But I thought it

was a cool angle that at Tila actually was on

battle cat this time instead of Eman Think there

might have been an episode where he might have

rescued her. He might have said put her on my

backers Not where she actually was riding him.

No, no That's what she said. What no What a cat

riding a cat? What good things can you say about

this one before the the energy beast looking

thingamajig thing Before it got too big. My note

was hey look An early model for Krimzik. I have

at least seen that shape or form or model of

an energy beast type thing at least three or

four different times in different cartoons now.

It just always pops up and they always look like

that. What I'd love to know is the technique

or how they got the stock animation to be miniaturized.

To give us the size and scale. Okay. Sure. You

can hit he man and man -in -arms with a ray and

we see them smaller But then when they're on

screen running through the computer, we see it

almost as if it's the regular stock animation

So I would like to know how they did The miniaturization

and at the same time it still looks like the

standpoint like they're not miniature at all,

right? Other than that, nothing. Oh, come on.

Nothing else good to say about this one? Nothing.

Oh, Lord. People, I'm apologizing early on now

for what you're about to have to go through for

the rest of this episode. Oh, shut up. Let's

get Snake Mountain so Mike can get on soapbox

and try to justify his hate for this episode.

Shut up. Poor man at arms. His remote control

computer has been giving him so many prob - I

think we should help him out trap jaw Why would

you do that? Why am I surrounded by fools? Just

watch me you pile of scrap iron. Maybe you'll

learn something First I need the most vicious

and evil beast in all my menagerie all right

it's time for Mike to take it away with his snake

mountain moments okay I have six things here

I failed dozens of times on the remote control

project it's time for me to quit so man -in -arms

what makes this time the last straw just because

it hit an empty royal chamber stop being so down

on your like seriously they make this the David

wise in the writing makes this sound like he

is hit The castle the the the palace so many

times but like ten or fifteen times before this

time that we see on screen That's just bad writing

And don't you think you should have said it was

a shrinking ray before telling or go to fire

it at you man -at -arms I mean or this is one

time I absolutely love or go because he's like,

um, I'm not so sure I want to do this Like, seriously,

any time Orko, and we very rarely see this, any

time Orko is hesitant to do something, to press

a button, that's a good moment because, holy

crap, the rest of the moment is like, man, an

arm's telling him to do something without actually

informing him what the hell it's gonna do. That's,

again, bad writing. I don't think it's bad writing.

I do. No, because it was intentional. He did

that so that Orko could have that moment where

he's like, what just happened? Like, blah, blah,

blah, blah. It's not bad writing, it's just a...

talking about the character. If anything, you

can fault man -at -arms for not telling Orko,

but it's not in the writer's fault. Wait, wait,

wait. Teela drops down into the corner of Bonebrain's

throne room. Neither Trapjaw, Skeletor, or whomever

else was in the scene heard her land on the floor.

Bullsnot. Right there. That is a bunch of bullsnot.

She's like a ninja. She's like a Teenage Mutant

Ninja Turtle. They can do stuff and you don't

hear it. Something about what the actual hell

instead of trying to find something Oh What the

actual hell instead of trying to find orco to

use the machine they go to grayscale and use

the weakling sorceress what the hell that was

that was just because That was ridiculous. That

was a simple that was something simple We have

three different people that are miniaturized

here, and they didn't want them all to be miniaturized

in the exact same way so that's why they had

them finding different ways to become miniaturized

on plus human didn't know about man -at -arms

being in there or the shrink ray that man -at

-arms had so he just went to the person he knew

that might have the ability to shrink him the

sorceress which makes sense it's no it's still

he should have looked for orco instead of going

all the way to grace call away i would you know

when they work with anything to do anything Why

would you seek out the court gesture when you

need to be shrunk? Cuz Orca was the one that

shrunk the guy in the first place. He didn't

know that. Anyway, it's just really really bad

writing on this one. I disagree, I don't think

there's bad writing on this episode. The last

one, the last one I have, writing on an energy

beam seriously. That is the only example of bad

writing on this. It looks like they're writing

on fire, like, it looks like they're, you know,

take their... They're boot little little little

booties and socks off. It looks like they're

you know caged people from bedrock running over

hot coals. Oh my god Done Yeah, okay. I also

have a problem with bandit arms being the quitter.

That's just a weird I mean, I know that they

were trying to get it into the PSA about don't

don't quit on etc, etc but I thought it didn't

make much sense for him to quit his whole job

because of this one project being failed if they

were saying I'm going to give up on the You know

whatever on the device that we're using right

now, or I'm gonna give up on this project Then

I'm fine with that you could have said like enough

This is going on the scrap heap and toss it aside

that I could have bought but when he's like I'm

gonna resign my position like that for one thing

That I don't think people would buy as much as

not as natural So I think they could have done

that a little bit differently and still got the

same thing they were going for but made it more

effective Wait, Skeletor keeps a spy beam on

man -in -arms at all times Unobstructed view

from snake mountain to man -at -arms Those two

places aren't even close to each other No, so

that was just a weird thing to throw in there

like Skeletor doesn't need that he could have

just got to his like little Half globe thing

that he does where he sees people in all parts

of Eternia Like he doesn't need a beam to do

that. So why create a beam? That is first of

all, just unrealistic when he can just look at

his thing and be like, oh this is happening And

then there was just a whole lot of a weird electric

slash power physics and science going on in this

episode that I don't think hold up So I do have

a problem with the whole idea that yeah You can

do this day of machines and whatnot and I get

that you're gonna infect this thing what I think

there was better ways to do this than to beam

this guy all the way over there and then to have

them riding energy beams and all the different

things that was going on with the physics and

the science part, no. I will say, I forgot to

kind of bring this up in the Castle Grayscale

moments before we get to awards and rankings,

that I loved the image at the end of Snake Mountain

being all blown up because of the energy beast.

That made Snake Mountain look really awesome.

Yeah. Alright, well... I don't even want to know

about radians and stuff here, but anyway, so

let's get to that part of the show. Alright,

awards and rankings time for Dave and the Machines.

Let's just get Negative Nancy out of the way

first. What Havoc staffs do you have to give

out? David Wise. I don't like the writing in

this episode, I don't like the execution in it,

I think it was poor all around. Alright, well

I will give a power sword out for the writing

in this episode, basically for the dialogue specifically,

and my power sword more directly goes to Skeletor

because I thought he had awesome dialogue in

this episode. For rating, one out of five. One

out of five, I don't think you're quite fair

on this one. One oracle, he says. To be fair,

I'd probably give one Autobot symbol or, well,

actually probably two Autobot symbols to the

Transformers version of it, so it's not like

I'm gonna rate either one of these a five. I

will disagree with you slightly. I don't think

it's as bad as you're making it out to be. There

are some issues with it and some things that

should have been done differently. So I will

give this one a three battle cats out of five.

So three for me, one for negative Nancy. And

let's head to episode 74 to see if Mike is still

Debbie Downer on this episode or if he cheers

up a little bit. The cat and the spider coming

up next. Is this what we've been looking for,

Malakva? We'll know for sure once we clear those

vines away. Well, it looks like a cat. The temple

of the cat, to be precise. That means those ancient

books were correct. There was a race of cat folk

living in this jungle. But what happened to them?

No one really knows. But perhaps we can learn

something more by exploring this temple. Alright,

time for episode 74, last one for today, The

Cat and the Spider, aired Friday. That's how

we ended our week, September 21st, 1984, and

we got this episode from the writings of Larry

DiTillio. Adam and Malektha, a returning character

there, investigate the Temple of the Cat, where

He -Man retrieves a mysterious feline statue

after enduring several magical obstacles. A spy

for the cat people reports the incident to King

Paul, who sends his emissary, Katrina, stop typing,

to the royal palace. Overnight Katrina tries

to steal, but an alarm alerts Tila, who stops

her, both are surprised when Webstore comes in

and climbs into the window and steals a statue

from them. He -Man follows Webster to Snake Mountain,

where Skeletor uses an illusion to trick Battle

Cat into an underground trap. Webster and Skeletor

overpower He -Man. Tila and Katrina join forces

and attack Snake Mountain and the Wind Raider,

but Skeletor's nullifier ray crashes them. With

Tila knocked out, Katrina is left on her own,

but she quickly finds Battle Cat and the two

of them enter Snake Mountain. Webster and Katrina

battle. While Battlecat frees He -Man, Skeletor

has already released the Grimalkin beast from

its statue, but the monster takes over, growing

ever larger until it breaks out of the side of

the Snake Mountain. He -Man, Tila, Battlecat,

and Katrina run to a nearby mountaintop where

He -Man uses his sword and the power of a storm

to return Grimalkin to its statue holding. The

Grimalkin statue is returned to the cat people

after the Atterneans and Katrina realize they

shouldn't have mistrusted each other in the first

place. For the Masters of the Universe, we have

the Regulars, and for the Evil Warriors, we have

Skeletor. web store. The PSA is about Katrina

and Adam saying how you shouldn't judge a book

by its cover. You shouldn't mistrust people just

because you don't know about them. It's all about

races and stuff like that, basically underlying

the stuff there. Also, shortly after being shocked

by Katrina, King Paul mentions the Whiskers of

Saz. This would be repeated in a She -Ra episode,

and Whiskers of Saz is simply Whiskers of Laird

Attilio's cat, who is named Saz. So yeah. And

that's just about all. The room where he managed

to imprison and skeletal examines the Grimalkin

statue is actually in Negator's prison from the

episode game plan, so obviously we know there's

a lot of stock footage you don't forget. But

what did you think about this whole plot with

the cat people? I like it. I like seeing Katrina

as a new character, but it's not the best plot

we've ever seen. First of all, why? We've had

70 -something episodes out of 130 so far. Skeletor

has done this type of plot so many times before

where he'll find something he'll wanted because

he wants the power He'll open it up. He then

cannot control it and he man has to come in and

save the day Seriously, has he not learned in

nearly 70 something episodes sometimes that just

don't learn I do agree. I like Katrina. I actually

should say that I watched this episode with the

audio commentary on which was God, I said his

name earlier, but the guy who did all the special

features and Larry D 'Itilio himself. So I got

to listen to them talk about the episode a little

bit and he was very much pleased with Katrina

and he really liked that as a character. He liked

what Linda Gary did with Katrina. And I have

to agree, I think that that character was good

enough where it could have been a recurring character.

She could have been a replacement for Tia altogether.

Not necessarily, but she could have. Yes, necessarily.

been seen more than that. And I agree with him

on that part of it. But decent to see, like I

said, it's kind of similar to the first episode

we talked about where we have these different

species, not just like a couple characters, but

we have the entire cat people. So, you know,

we were introduced to Katrina, to King Pa, there

was a guard that talked, and there were some

other people in the background. So it's, you

get this idea of entire races of people. It almost

reminds me more so of Thundercats, though, where

we're having like these, we're having the bee

people and the cat people and stuff like that

where, you know, typically we haven't had a lot

of that in He -Man. We haven't had like the animal

people as much as just different types of like

humans and humanoid figures, but. If you think

about it in He -Man's history, you have multiple

animal or reptile... Right, I was just saying

like up to this point, we had gotten more. We

have like Fisto who's like a person, or we have

like, you know, different villains that are people

trying to do things. Or monsters, we've gotten

a lot of monsters. But up to this point, there

hasn't been a ton of animal -like people, but

now we're getting a healthy dose. You know, we've

got Stratos and the birds, we've got Buzz -Off

and the bees. you've got the preternious the

preternions the snake people in the over the

years to fight uh... i forget anyway there's

there's a bunch of all rights uh... well likes

a decent plot decent characters etc so we'll

see if we can say some good stuff or or like

last episode we're gonna have an answer or not

let's see what we can get a castle grace call

for the last time there must be a way in I believe

this should do it. Shall I lead the way? Well,

you are the Royal Archaeologist. Fascinating.

These carvings show that the catfolk had a high

degree of intelligence and artistic ability.

I... Malektha! Hold on, I'll get a rope! rope

now by the power He's safe, but I'm more concerned

about you All right, no bones broken. I'm just

a little sore. Well, I think you should take

it easy for a while, but the temple I I must

find out what's inside You're in no shape to

go exploring right now. I'll check the temple

out for you Be careful chances are there are

more traps. All right castle greyskull for the

last time in today's episode highlights first

of all As far as the Cat and the Spider goes,

I like the whole booby traps and the archaeology

setting. You know, obviously, that's why we have

Malekta there. But I just like that type of stuff,

kind of an Indiana Jones feel. Laird Attilio

said it was very much like a dungeon crawl in

like D &D or other role playing games that he

was into at the time, where you have a lot of

different booby traps or obstacles to go through.

So I like that setting. Like I said, I like Katrina

and the cat people. I like Web Store. So I think

there was some stuff to like in this episode

not like a bunch of different moments to like

but just like overall The feel of the episode

and the people involved. What do you think? Yeah,

I mean I agree with you. It's it's an overall

good episode. It's an overall very well -written

episode unlike the last one The tillio really

does pay more and I think that's the thing, you

know I think we mentioned this off air but David

Wise was not the biggest fan of writing for this

series And whereas Larry Attilio, he was more

so... He hit the ground running, the sword and

the sorcery stuff. That was his thing. And...

He also said this is one of the episodes that

he really liked that he did. Yeah. I'm sure that's

what he... I think, if I remember correctly from

those commentaries, he had said that his favorites,

his number one favorites, were the Granamere

episodes. And then after that is this one and

a few others. For me, I wasn't sure what that

creature was in the beginning. I wrote down a

dragon dog or a devil dog. I have no idea what

the red creature was supposed to be in the very

beginning of the show. Because it looked like

it was half dragon and half dog. Yeah. No, I

think that's what it's basically supposed to

be. Yeah. Battle cat was really resourceful this

time around digging himself out I Love that I

love I almost called her Katra Katrina I Love

her as a character. I wish we would see more

of her. I don't think we will sadly But she really

made this episode for me. And having kind of,

you know, Skeletor kind of taking a backseat

and having Web Store do all the work, that was

really interesting. Yeah, and they mentioned

that a little bit in the commentary too. And

also some, I guess we can, we know where we can

lay the blame for a few of our other gripes towards

the end of season one and now into season two.

But they basically said that they were, cause

he said he basically almost had a hand on every

script. As someone who would rewrite it or edit

it get in its final form or whatever, but he

basically said, you know that it was him and

Robbie London was it was doing most of the work

He mentioned a few other people but he said they

basically the overall feeling was that in season

one they use Skeletor too much What they felt

now I don't maybe they were only talking about

the first half of season one I don't know because

Skeletor doesn't hardly even show up in the second

half But uh, but they were saying that they felt

like they use Skeletor too much and that the

plot was always, you know Skeletor You know Finds

this thing to attack human with human you know

the reason the same plot over and over again

just skeletor skeletor skeletor So they were

trying to find he said they made a concerted

effort in season two to try to find other people

to focus on Or if they did have skeletor to have

him more of a backseat person where it's not

just him doing the main action now I mean I can

understand part of that, but I Think they're

wrong that they in the fact that I think they

were wrong thinking that they use skeletor too

much I think maybe if you use the same plot over,

yes, if you use the exact same way, but I think

there was ways to use Skeletor in different ways,

and people wanted to see Skeletor in The Evil

Warrior, so I think they were a little confused

as to what the audience would think. Yes, they

used Skeletor a lot, but I don't think the audience

was tired of him, and I think there was ways

that they could have used him, so I'm hoping

that this doesn't mean that we're gonna see even

less of him now in Season 2. Well, I do know

it's been about what three episodes since we

did our season one recap. Did you do a list of?

How many I think you did a list of right, but

listen I'm saying like you counted how many episodes

Skeletor was in versus how many he wasn't right

and there could have been a number of the ones

that he wasn't that you could have just completely

done away with those one -off villains that nobody

if you're gonna do a one -off villain or a villain

of the week and never bring them back or give

them some sort of continuity and I know back

then his show wasn't about continuity I get it

but you know if you're just gonna write them

as a villain we can never use them as another

villain of the week plot again later than it's

actually useless it'd be more beneficial to us

as the viewers to put skills are in there right

to put triclops in there to put evil in there

to put claw full in there even though i can't

stand claw full i mean Anybody except a villain

there's so much that they haven't like I can

understand that they've they say that they view

Skeletor a lot and that he's done the same plot

similar You know a bunch of times, but they've

never really done much with his origin There's

so much other stuff that they could have explored

with all the other evil warriors outside of maybe

Beastman and in evil in a bit But they definitely

could have gone into I mean they only had like

one episode for Merman They've really hardly

had any episodes to focus on Triclops as a character

You know, there's I don't I honestly don't even

remember the last time or the first time we ever

saw Triclops So I just think yeah, you don't

you didn't need the Skeletor to be the main person

But you could have focused a little bit more

on some of the evil warriors You didn't just

have to go out and find an outside villains like

there's other characters that you could have

given us episodes about So, I don't know. I don't

necessarily I understand what they were thinking

and what their logic was But I think it was a

little bit misplaced But anyways, let's get to

Snake Mountain and see what evil things we have

to say about this episode. Right now, I believe

we should take this back to the royal palace

where I can study it further. I must tell King

Pa! King Pa! King Pa! My king! The Gromolkin

statue! It's been taken! What? Where two humans

found the way into the temple, they took the

statue and laughed with it. There, there, tell

Katrina to come to my chamber at once. I must

know more. Alright, for the last time we find

ourselves a snake mountain for the cat and the

spider, Katrina and Webster. Um, I hate it when

they do this. I really hate it when they do this.

Really, really, really, really, really, really,

really, really, really, really, really, really,

really, really, really, really, really, really,

really, really, really, really, really, really,

really, really, really, really, really, really,

really, really, really, really, really, really,

really, really, really, really, really, really,

really, really, really, really, really, really,

really, really, really, really, really, really,

really, really, really, really, really, really,

really, really, really, really, really, really,

really, really, really, really, really, really

I really wish they would stop giving He -Man

these magical powers outside of just being strong.

He -Man brings the rain and the lightning. So

apparently He -Man picks up this entire, he breaks

off this rock of salts and different chemicals

that normally would cause clouds to cover and

rain to happen over time. But apparently if you

just throw a big rock like that into the sky,

rain will come instantly. And not only that then

you can use your power sword and harness the

power of lightning Which actually takes over

your entire body and then shoot it at something?

I might be able to buy the power sword part if

it wasn't for the rain part right before that

I just hate that they keep trying to make him

with these like magical powers. No, he's just

supposed to be strong folks He's supposed to

be strong. He can break things. He can overpower

people. He can hit things He has a power sword

that he can use but let's not let him be a rainmaker

He was bringing the thunder that day. I hate

that the whole idea of Katrina and battle cat

being Interested in each other which I understand

like she's Katrina which is a cat person and

battle cats a cat But I feel like people might

be confused about that whole thing because she's

still a humanoid form she's still someone who's

walking up right on two feet and Let's not try

to send too many mixed messages and build future

animal lovers I feel like kids would be like,

oh, it's OK to have romantic feelings for your

battle cat. I'm just kidding. I know that's a

huge stretch. But I just find it weird that,

even though they're both cats, that one's a legit

cat and one's a humanoid cat, so it's weird that

they liked each other. And my last thing, as

much as they got Buzz Off's voice wrong, I think

they got Webster's voice wrong, too. And actually,

Laird Attilio was even agreeing with this. He

said that they wish they would have done something

better with Webster's voice. He gave the voice

actors a lot of compliments, but he did say that

he thought they missed it with Webster, and that

it needed to be less comical and more intimidating

and more of a presence. So I agree. I think they

missed voices with both Buzz Off and Webster.

I love how funny and pitiful it has become when

He -Man uses the excuse that Adam is safe and

everyone just goes on believing it without question.

Right. Like, seriously. The power of the storm

and then magically there just happen to be storm

clouds appearing. Oh my god. Yay, the science

of weather. Um, this episode is better than Day

of the Machines, but not by much. Um, I agree

it's better, and I agree not by much, but I think

it's gonna be very different. I mean, like, okay,

well, when it comes to the, like, the whole weather

thing, that's what I mean by the not by much.

Um, as far as Battle Cat and Katrina having feelings

for each other or whatever else, I... I don't

know. I... It didn't... It almost strikes me

that battle cat was once human I know he wasn't

but it just The way that Oppenheimer sometimes

does his characterization in the voice and in

the lines that are given to battle cat it it

seems he's more human than Than what he should

be as far as a giant green tiger. Yeah So I didn't

quite mind that I thought it was kind of interesting

that they kind of give him a love interest a

little bit Again, I wish that we would have seen

Katrina more. I think that's a poor decision

Not using her more But other than that Yeah,

overall, I did enjoy the episode outside of the

whole weather crap. Yeah All right. Well, let's

see what we hand out this one We've done fours

and ones for you so far and I did a four and

a three So see where we end up with the Cat and

the Spider That's the goofiest looking cat I've

ever seen. Oh, I don't like it. It's too scary.

Cringer, you think everything's too scary. Only

because everything usually is. Cringer may be

right about the statue. It might very well have

some evil power about it. Evil power? Adam, why

don't we take a vacation for a while? Some place

far away from here. Don't worry, Cringer. My

magic will protect you. Now I'm really scared.

All right, it's power sword in Havoc staff time

for episode 74 I will be giving out one award

only and that is a power sword to Katrina I think

she's good character. She should have been used

more. I like the look I'd like the voice of Linda

Gary uses for her. I liked her Her strength I

liked her, you know, the even though it was weird

for her and about had to have like the romantic

interest I thought it was good that they had

that relationship where they had to team up and

whatnot So power sword to Katrina. How about

you? Mr. Typer? Wasn't typing, I was scrolling.

Anyway, um... I'm gonna give a power sword to

Battle Cat. I liked him in this episode. I thought

he was pretty funny. I'll give one to Katrina

too, because she is a new character and sadly

we probably won't ever see her again. Alright,

then what about your final rating of the day?

I give this one a 3 out of 5 or it goes... Way

up there. Yeah, like I said it was better than

The day of the machine I agree it was better

So I will go from a three that I gave the day

of machines and go to a three and a half For

the cat and the spider I have to take some points

off for all the science and nonsense, but three

and a half for me three for you and What are

your overall thoughts so far? For season two

are it I don't know it We got some new characters

that we asked for. We got to see Webster, Cobra

Khan, Buzz Off. You know, even if Katrina's not

used again, new character. Maybe you can consider

a one -off or whatever. But we did get some more

evil villains and some more masters. We got Skeletor

in a couple episodes. Yeah, which is good. We

got a little of what we have been asking for.

Yeah, we just need more. Need more, he says.

I just want an all -out Masters versus Evil Warriors

with no other characters. No energy beasts, no

random other aliens or humans or whatever, just

straight up, let's get a good old battle. Evil

Warriors versus Masters, I need some of that.

That's what I want. Yep, I agree. Or a specific

one -on -one type of episode where it's like...

Not, I'm just using this because it's the easiest

example, but like in Evil Wind and Tila episode,

but like different than other characters. Like,

you know, whoever. Stratos and Merman or something.

Like, give me a focus where it's just one each,

where they're battling stuff out. Yeah, other

than that, I'm not too upset. I mean, I gave

a four and a three and a half and a three to

today's episode So I'm not overly upset with

the episodes. I just am waiting for something

just to get me excited about these episodes Absolutely,

I mean I am excited to see what else we have

for season two and I know there's a lot of characters

that we still have to see but I'm just Wanting

to see some of these episodes now We learned

today that there are right ways and wrong ways

of getting what you want. If someone has something

you want, say a toy you'd like to play with,

or maybe some candy or cake, don't just take

it. That's stealing. And chances are you'll only

bring out the anger in the other person. But

if you ask rather than take, or if it's yours,

offer to share, you'll get back more than you

give. Like maybe even a new friend. Right, Orko?

See you next time. Grab your helmets because

it's time to assemble M .A .S .K. Masked Mayhem

is here with your host TF2 and Mike Optimus Solo

and brand new host Toon Master Tim. This podcast

covering all 75 episodes of M .A .S .K. will

feature in -depth analysis of every episode,

talk on the toys, and more. Masked Mayhem will

run 30 podcast episodes. You can find us on iTunes

and www .geekastradio .com. So get your Spectrums

ready, as podcasting is the ultimate weapon.

in today's story my father accepted the responsibility

for something which wasn't his fault and he didn't

stand around trying to blame someone else instead

he did something about making things right and

he succeeded with a little help from he -man

now we all make mistakes and when we do we shouldn't

be afraid to admit them and when they aren't

our fault well don't waste precious time putting

the blame elsewhere just do what you can to make

things right see y 'all soon That has such patsas

in it. You know, kids, a lot has changed while

your old uncle Joker's been away. New Gotham.

New rules. Even a new Batman. It isn't 65 years

in the future, but Legends of the Dark Knight

has gone beyond. Batman beyond, that is. Ah,

the new boy. Ears are too long and I missed the

cape, but not too shabby, not too shabby at all.

Join Steve and Mike as they delve into the remaining

episodes of the podcast, where they'll cover

Batman Beyond, products, games, and more. Check

it out only on GeekCastRadio .com. In today's

story, I made the mistake of not trusting the

people of Eternia just because they were different.

You can't judge a book by its cover means you

can't tell from the outside what something is

like on the inside. And that goes for books as

well as people. Not liking a person because he

or she is a different race or religion is wrong.

People should be judged for themselves. Right,

Katrina? Right you are, Adam. Right you are.

So long. Alright, that's gonna do it for this

episode of Tales of Eternia. Thank you for listening.

There's so many ways to get in contact with us.

Visit the website geekcastradio .com where you

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the message for and your name. 502 -526 -5821.

Sometimes Skeletor picks up, I don't know why.

We hope you enjoyed the tales today and don't

forget to join us in our next adventure when

we will continue Season 2 discussing Episodes

75, 76, and 77, Trouble and Trauma, The Great

Books Mystery. That looks like a weird ass title.

And the origin of the sorceress? Holy crap. That's

the last thing we need. Oh, I think it's exactly

what I've been asking for. Anytime an episode

has the word origin in it, I am all for it. Yeah.

For now, I am Optimus Solo with... You're an

idiot. That's who you are. You're an idiot. For

now, I am TF2 and Mike with... Optimus Solo.

I wonder how many people will be confused by

that. Nah, they'll just think you're an idiot.

Asshole. The powers of Grayskull, you all have

the power. Why not send him back to where he

came from? Let him play around in Skeletor's

computers. Get out of there! Stop that! Get out

of there! Take that alone!