Trouble in Trolla, The Great Book’s Mystery, Origin of the Sorceress

I proudly present for your entertainment the

magical mystery of the Vanishing Prince. I'd

rather see the mystery of the Vanishing Orko.

Now, Father, be nice. Orko's been practicing

this trick all week. Adam, if you will please

enter the magic cabinet. I'm glad it's Adam in

that box and not me. I hope you'll be all right.

Now for the magic words! Niggle, muggle, muggle,

niggle! Prince of Eternia, disappear! Oh, wait

a minute! Oh! Hmm. That wasn't supposed to happen.

I better reverse the spell. Niggle, muggle, muggle,

mack, man -in -arms, please come back! Uh -oh!

Now the King and Queen are gone! And us too!

It sure got crowded in there. I should have known

better than to be anywhere near one of Orko's

goofy tricks. I think I used too much muggle.

Is that enough muggle? If we could try just one

more time. I think we've had quite enough magic

for today, Orko. But Your Majesty! Orko, I said,

no more magic! But I'm not doing this! You're

not? Magic pyramid! The one I let you swallow!

Too low! I'll go! 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!

Hello, this is Optimus Solo and welcome to the

26th chapter in Tales of Eternia. With me for

this journey into the Masters of the Universe

franchise, as always, is TFG1 Mike. Hello. Hello,

how are you? I am doing fine. And, sir, are you

ready for the powers of Grayskull? Um, I guess.

I like the spirited excitement and enthusiasm,

that's good. And this episode of Tales of Eternia

will be giving you our thoughts on episode 75,

Trouble in Tralla, episode 76, The Great Book's

Mystery, and episode 77, Origin of the Sorceress.

So we hope you're ready, because it's time to

go back to Eternia. Wait a second. I thought

we were doing some weird thing this week Some

weird middle episode. That's what I read last

time in episode 25 at the end what? the God what

was the name that stupid episode that it was

it wasn't that episode. It was a different episode

I'm so confused right now the the great books

mystery. Mm -hmm. It wasn't that episode that

I read in the I don't know, ladies and gentlemen.

We're going to the first episode of Holy Grail.

It might take you long, but you're too big for

the Magic Pyramid. I'll have the Sorceress send

Cringy and me through one of her magic gates.

Me? I don't want to go, but I hate magic gates.

They make my whiskers itch. All right, Adam,

you see the Sorceress. You want me to clear my

uncle's house. Come along, Cringy. We're going

to Castle Grayskull. Oh, joy! well it was i read

last time when it was a twenty five i read uh...

trouble in trial the ice age cometh is the first

i remember cringing at that because the first

thing i thought it was all great here we go rare

a model as a as a half a lump or whatever the

hell but uh... did we have the schedule wrong

or something in the episode twenty five scripts

Because I swear that's what I read was Trouble

in Tralla, The Ice Age Cometh, and Origin of

the Sorceress. I remember that. I'll pull it

up. I don't think so. I don't know. This is weird.

But Trouble in Tralla, take it away. No, you're

just on drugs. No, I'm not. Yes. No. Alright,

we start today with episode 75, Trouble in Tralla,

written by Larry DiTilio. The air date was Monday,

September 24th, 1984. Orko's magic pyramid appears

from Chala, and Driel informs Orko that an upstart

named Snoob has successfully challenged and succeeded

Montork in his role as head of the Academy of

Magic. Orko returns, bringing joy to the unhappily

retired Montork, who explains that his magic

inexplicably failed to work in a duel between

him and Snoob. The Crimson Council made Snoob

the new head of the Academy of Magic. He man

uses the Sorceress Portal to go to Tralla, where

Orko and Driel sneak inside Snoob's house and

discover Whiplash, who has been controlling Snoob

through fear. Whiplash wants Snoob to teach him

magic so that he can impress Skeletor. Whiplash's

henchmen take Orko and Driel away to their fortress,

where Whiplash reveals that he used a ray to

weaken Montork when he was competing in the duel

of magic against Snoob. Spurned, Snoop joins

Orko and Driel. Whiplash unleashes his beast

scarg to combat the heroes, but the combined

magic of Snoop, Orko, and Montork shrinks the

scarg into a harmless worm. He man traps the

fleeing Whiplash in a treasure chest, and Orko

forgives Snoop. So we had Whiplash as the evil

warrior. We had all of the major masters, including

the King and Queen, making an appearance in Sorceress.

And the PSA was Orko and Man -at -Arms. about

snooze learning a lesson that young people and

older people can work together and accomplish

a great deal. It's all about age in this PSA

and not to... write people off into respect to

our elders. As far as Orko's fun facts, the Crimson

Council, who appear in Montork's flashback, were

introduced to the Trala and Mythos in this episode,

when later on in She -Ra, in the episode The

Greatest Magic, which we will eventually get

to, which I guess features Trala, they bring

back the Crimson Council, giving them speaking

parts this time, so a little continuity there.

And the scarg was originally used in The Witch

and the Warrior, as a sand devil. So what did

you think about this trawling episode? Well,

we got to bring up that final fact because there's

a podcast out there done by the He -Man .org

people called Roast Google and I always wondered

where the hell that came from and now we know

because apparently the trawling's dying on Roast

Google. The end of the episode It's I guess it's

their version of turkey. I don't know What about

the idea that we're gonna go to trial? We're

gonna have evil warrior there. That's trying

to learn magic and then upset the trial and lifestyle

and that I like it. I just don't like it was

whiplash. That's the only thing I don't like

about it he just doesn't seem to be a character

that is mad like he seems more brute force like

Beastman maybe that's why he's trying to learn

the magic maybe but like I could see maybe true

well no I couldn't see tricloops because tricloops

is more so about the technology I could see maybe

instead of trying to learn the magic I could

see Evelyn going there and trying to steal the

magic I'm not saying this is a bad episode in

any means at all. I don't even think I have any

snake mountain. Well, I have two snake mountain

moments, but they're not... They're not majorly

affecting my grade of this episode. I absolutely

love this episode. I love returning to Tralla.

Tralla is one weird looking world, isn't it?

Yeah, it's definitely an interesting looking

world. I like seeing Driel again. Was Snoob's

voice the same voice as... Cousin yak or whatever

the hell or goes cousin snooze was voiced by

Erica Shimer Who I'm trying to remember if she

did the other because I actually this is one

of the episodes that had a commentary track on

it So I got to listen to the commentary track

and this time it was Andy Mangold or whatever

his crap his name is Larry DiTillio Lou Shimer

and Erica Shimer All did the commentary track

together. So there was four of them on this one.

Um, so there was some interesting stuff and they

actually talked a little bit about the voice

acting, um, among other things, which was, which

was interesting, but I don't know, um, who all

she has voiced on the show. She's voiced a lot

of the kids, kind of like Linda Gary. Um, I know

specifically she did, uh, God, who was it? Um,

the, the spirit of the ancients and the Justin.

and Prince Jeremy. Right, right. So she's done

a few voices here and there. The reason why I

ask, and I know you know the character I'm talking

about, Yak here, Yuck or whatever. Yuckers, that's

what it was. Yeah, she did not do that voice.

Okay. Because Snoob kind of sounded a little

bit like that to me at first. Makes sense. A

little bit. Not much. Sometimes it's hard to...

Decipher when it's Erica and when it's Linda

Gary, and I'm sure it must have been Linda Gary

that did the Did actually yuckers was Alan Oppenheimer?

Huh weird um Snoob his design I guess trolling's

have big noses. I Just looks weird to me. They

definitely did a good job of giving each trial

and it's like a distinct look. Like they all

have their thing, whether it be a hat or a, or

a letter or, you know, just some type of a facial

feature. Um, they make them very distinct. Like

you wouldn't really ever get two trials confused

for each other. Oh, no, no. Um, overall, I like

the plot. I think it's really interesting. Um,

I think it's interesting that, you know, a cartoon

can actually Inject continuity into itself at

this time in the eighties unlike certain other

Cartoons that was actually somewhat nice like

the reference there for once. Yeah Yeah, I like

the idea of there being an evil warrior in trial

because that's really something we haven't seen

We've seen villains and stuff like that, but

we didn't I didn't expect to see an actual evil

warrior And I think it's cool that he's on there

on his own trying to impress Skeletor rather

than Skeletor just having sent him. So I thought

that was a cool kind of thing, too. So I enjoyed

the idea of the plot and the premise for it.

And then it just comes down to how well will

they execute this, which we'll get into. But

as far as like just a random plot with his uncle

being up seated from his spot and there being

little, you know, behind the scenes mischief

going on as to why his uncle was unseated, I

like that part of the plot. Yeah, I think that

was very well executed though that we didn't

like usually we'll find out right away Like as

soon as they say something as soon as they say

oh, well, I got unseated by by Snoovin I don't

know what happened. My magic just stopped work

I like how detilia wrote that to where the reveal

of whiplash even though I don't care that it's

whiplash doing it the reveal wasn't done right

away, so it didn't cheapen how how the episode

would end up later. Right. Outside of that, some

interesting notes from the commentary as far

as how they did the voice acting. Apparently

when it was Lou and Erica, they would come in

and they would record... She was the voice director,

which I guess I didn't know that. She was the

voice director and what she would do is she'd

get Lou in there and he would do... the whole

script in one of his characters. So he would

do all his lines for Uncle Montork or whatever.

And then they would go back through the whole

script and do all of his lines as another character

and then go back through and do all his lines

as another character. And she would do the same

thing. Meanwhile, all the regulars, Alan Oppenheimer,

John Irwin, Linda Geary, whatever, would be together.

Doing their parts, but I'm guessing Lou was you

know Too busy with his all his other work at

filmation to be on those sessions most of the

time So he would do his lines separate Which

are somewhat interesting and another reason because

obviously Alan Oppenheimer John Irwin Linda Gary

etc They mentioned the whole rule about you know

when they were doing a recording session they

could only do you know the three characters per

contract So if they were going to do more characters,

they had to get paid more. So that's why you

see them doing two or three characters in an

episode where Lou sometimes does four, five,

six characters in a couple of episodes time frame.

So some interesting stuff from the commentary,

a little more interesting than the last commentary

I listened to when it was just... What was the

last one you listened to? It was just Larry DiTillio

and Andy Mangels. I mean, it was somewhat interesting,

but... It didn't have as much as when you get

Lou and Lou and Erica both in there. And there's

another one. I'll be listening to all the commentaries

I can going forward just because it might give

us a little bit of extra information to talk

about. But I'll let you know if it's worth listening

to or not. But this one was definitely worth

listening to. It was the first commentary that

Lou did. for any of the sets was this episode.

So I believe he does a few more, but he was even

saying how much he enjoyed it and how it was

a lot of fun doing the commentary and whatnot

on it, so. Yeah. I do know, and this is jumping

ahead to the 30th anniversary of, you know, He

-Man's sister, but I do know he and Erika are

also on the Secret of the Sword commentary, the

film version, not the broken up episodes. There's

a lot of information in that as well, so we'll,

you know, when we get there we'll most definitely

have to talk about that. Right. Alright, well

we'll see what things caught our interest in

a good way as we travel to Castle Grayskull for

the first time in a day. I told you before, I

don't wanna go. Orko's dimension is full of spooky

stuff. Oh, don't be silly. I'm not being silly,

I'm being careful, and I'm also not going. Alright,

if you won't go with me, I know someone who will.

Good. Namely, Battle Cat. I got power of Grayskull!

All right, it's time for the good moments from

trouble and trial Here we go, how about lately

the sorceress is on a roll of actually being

helpful She's actually doing things that help

out shrinking people sending them through portals

and using her magic in a way that actually works

And she's not overpowered so she's on a roll.

Let's see how that long that lasts I like the

idea of the crimson council And I also like the

idea of the whole backstory that they gave in

Trala and all the information that we got. That's

probably the most background we've gotten on

another world planet area in the entire series

so far. So I like that and I like the idea that

we'll see them again in the She -Ra series. I

also like I said, I like the idea of an evil

warrior being in trial. That's something different

And I thought it was I actually thought it was

good getting a solo whiplash episode I'm not

saying that there wasn't other people that might

have been more suited for this specific episode

but I like the idea of him not just being this

because he was kind of never given an episode

and he was just like the side character, henchmen

that didn't really speak that much. So giving

him a whole episode really got us a better look

at him and a little more knowledge about him

as a character. I think it's cool when they keep

introducing new trolling. Like I said, each one

has its distinct look and personality, whatever.

So it makes that world bigger when it's not just.

Driel every time, you know, we've had Uncle Montork,

we've had Snoop, we've had Yuckers. So that's

kind of cool. It would have been cool to see

Yuckers in this episode as just a small cameo.

And I thought it was kind of funny that they

chose to capture Whiplash in the treasure chest,

out of all things. I'll get to that later. So

what about you? What were good things about this

episode? I love Cringer not wanting to go. I

will never not like... and it's so... that scene

right there is so funny because he keeps refusing

to go and Adam's like, okay, well, I'll find

somebody else to go with me. He's like, oh, that's

okay with me. Ha. Namely, Battle Cat. Adam, that's

cheating. Right. absolutely I love that that

is so amazing um you know you you've pretty much

hit the trolling characters on you know nail

on the head kind of thing it's always nice seeing

the trolling characters again I love when we

do go back there because let's face it Orko doesn't

get enough credit Orko doesn't get enough not

necessarily backstory but doesn't get enough

because the whole point of Orko is on his world

he is a wizard. His magic does work on his world,

whereas for some odd reason on Eternia his magic

doesn't work. So it's always nice seeing a more

competent orco. The animation in this episode

was amazing. I mean, I don't think there was

one... Point in the animation that I did not

like it except for a certain size differential

that I'll talk about When we get to snake mountain,

but the the actual animation I didn't notice

any errors There are certain stock animation

things, but we already know about that, but other

than that I mean I loved looking at this one.

It was great Yeah, I thought it looked pretty

and they do have fun another thing they talked

about was they liked having the trial episodes

because it gave everybody a chance to do new

things with the backgrounds new things with the

The items that are going to be shown kind of

gave a break to the animators and the designers

to just Kind of not limit them to what it had

been in Eternia and just give them a way to just

go crazy so at the end whiplash looks like he

has a hot foot to this Trail drop the the worm

in his boot, but he's jumping around like his

foot's on fire. Yeah Anything else that you found

in Castleberry Skull? No, that's it. Alright,

well you mentioned a few things about Snake Mountain,

so let's see exactly what you were talking about

with those. So, you got your safe and sound,

did you? I don't know what you're up to, alligator

breath, but you won't get away with it! What

are you gonna do with them whiplash? I think

I'll leave that up to the crew. I thought I'd

see the head of the Trollen Academy of Magic

dealing with villains. You should be ashamed

of yourself, Snoob. Octo's right. What kind of

a Trollen are you? He's the scared kind. And

if he's smart, he'll stay that way. My Octo would

never take a nap from a bully like him. That's

why I helped this wimp. Be gentle. What do you

mean? I won the duel with Mondord myself! Alright,

we find ourselves at Snake Mountain today. for

the first time to see what mike didn't like about

trouble in trial so you have nothing i have a

couple okay i was gonna say i only have two when

someone says quote that is the most dangerous

beast on trial you do not go rushing into face

it you more i mean i swear to god uh... snoo

was pulling a t -bob moment right there it's

like all my god you don't do that and honestly

how the hell could whiplash fit in that chest

Because it's he man. Oh I Call Bullshit on that

just like you call bullshit on he man being able

to stop natural disasters. That's ridiculous

What do you got? Um, I did not like the whole

Just the overall action in this episode I thought

could be seen as a little boring. There wasn't

much as far as action goes It was it was a lot

more just storytelling and situational type stuff.

So if you're looking for a human episode that

has like action and Fighting and things like

that. I don't think this would be the ideal episode

for you But that's just kind of a nitpick and

then ropes Google. That was that was weird. I

Don't know about all that But not a lot necessarily

negative about this episode I can see some people

really liking this episode and I can see some

people not caring for it as much But I don't

think either group would be able to say too many

bad things about it Oh, no, no, you know some

people it wouldn't be the episode for them, but

they were still done pretty well There wasn't

like a bunch of stuff to hate about it absolutely

no, I mean they're like and Snoop Snoop might

be the I guess you could call him a kid character

might be the best kid character Out of the show.

Yeah, cuz all the other ones like if I was gonna

have like a mile long list of Snake Mountain

moments It would have to do with him if he was

any worse than what he was But he wasn't that

bad of a kid kind of character Overall, like

I said, I enjoyed it. I thought there was enough

action for what the episode was there could have

been a little more but I mean overall it was

very very enjoyable and not a whole lot of things

to bitch about on a podcast oh it looks like

you might have a good rating in store for us

so let's see what that is Maybe I can lend a

hand. He -Man, I'm glad to see you. You gotta

help me save Marco and Brielle. Let's go. This

place gives me little helpin' hoobies. It's not

exactly a picnic, that is it. It's time for hardware,

and it seems like we're gonna be in a positive...

Positive first step for today's episode. Maybe

I'm wrong though Mike What as far as power swords

and havoc staffs did you feel like on this episode?

Um, I'm gonna give one to orco Even though he

only forgave snoob because Driel begged him to

do so It is a nice it is a good message that

you should always be you know, forgiving of people

that you know, sometimes do make mistakes And

Cringer Cringer and anytime Cringer refuses and

has funny lines. He always gets a power so Alright,

so we have rules now for Cringer and the power

sword Like I said, I I didn't necessarily feel

like there was anything bad about this episode.

I actually liked the episode but There wasn't

a whole lot of things that stood out either way,

so I'm not going to hit anybody with a Havoc

Staff, and I'm actually not going to hand out

any Power Swords either. Not meaning this is

a bad episode, I just don't think anybody stood

out in one direction or the other. So, rating

-wise, how do we start today? Four out of five

orcos. Only because of the treasure chest thing.

That just doesn't work for me. A whole point

for a treasure chest. I'm going to give this

four... but nothing to do with the treasure chest.

I think it was a good solid episode, could have

had a little more action, could have had a little

more like standout characters, etc. But overall,

you know, it was it was a good episode. Good

way to start today. So we are both in agreement

with four and four out of five. And we'll see

if that can continue as we head to episode 76.

It simply disappeared. Don't be silly, Orko.

Books just don't disappear. Well, this one did.

Think, Orko, think. Where was the book when you

last saw it? It wasn't right there. It was all

about unicorns with lots of pictures. It was

Adam's birthday present. What am I going to do?

His birthday is tomorrow. I'd help you look,

but it's time for Adam's Gym Lesson. Oh, it's

still a book about unicorns. I'll show you again.

Grab, pull up. Grab, pull up. It's easy. Look

out below! If I can do it, you can do it. But

you're as nimble as a cat. No, no, no, not a

wild cat! Sir Nimble, you'd never catch me trying

that. Come on, Adam. All right, well, there,

one more time. Oh, it's too painful to watch.

It's time for episode 76, The Great Book's Mystery,

written by Harvey Brenner, air date Tuesday,

September 25th, 1984. And all of the books of

Eternia have disappeared, so the heroic warriors

investigate the situation. Teetha and Orko follow

a trail of books to the Temple of the Sun, where

they encounter Batros, the winged villain from

the dark side of Eternia, who steals books because

he knows that knowledge is the most valuable

power of all. Skeletor sends Beastman and Chapjah

to capture Batros so he can combine forces with

such an impressive intellectual. Batros agrees

to go to it with Beastman because he wants to

join Skeletor. The sorceress sends He -Man and

Battlecat to the Temple of the Sun, but they

go to Grayskull when Mad -At -Arms informs them

that Skeletor and Batros are planning an assault

on the castle. Batros produces a bridge of hardened

snakes to cross the moat, but He -Man stops him.

After Skeletor vanishes, Batros drops He -Man

into the abyss, but he climbs back to the top

and throws Batros back to the dark side of Eternia.

He -Man discovers that all the books have been

moved from the Temple of the Sun and decides

to confront Skeletor at Snake Mountain. Thinking

he has He -Man and Battle Cat trapped, Skeletor

reveals the hidden books underneath the mountain.

He -Man breaks free and returns the books to

the royal palace, where the royal family celebrate

Prince Adam's 19th birthday. As far as the masters,

we have He -Man and the main ones there with

King, Queen, Sorceress, everybody. The bad guys,

we have Skeletor, Beastman, Trapjaw, and then

a non -speaking appearance from Triclops and

Merman. And the PSA is all about the value of

books. And as far as Oracle's fun facts, Professor

Smolin, and this is his second appearance, he

was in Keeper of the Ancient Ruins, so we have

a recurring character there. Temple of the Sun

also makes a reappearance from the episode Temple

of the Sun. Batchelous went through numerous

design changes, but at all times he had his bat

-like symbol reminiscent of the Evil Horde logo.

And like I said, Prince Adam's birthday cake

has 19 candles on top, revealing that up until

this point in the series he was 18 and possibly

even younger in the earliest episodes. Let's

deal with his age first. Oh, okay. You know,

he sounds... 18 19 ish, but he man himself when

he transforms. He sounds like he's 30 or 40 Yeah

That's just the sound How else do you want to

deal? I mean, that's why that's why I've always

kind of we thought of I always thought the voice

coming out of Prince Adam was weird Just cuz

it didn't just sound less muscly. He sounded

younger And I guess I know now if he was trying

to portray an 18 or 19 year old why his voice

would have sounded like that And apparently once

he's human you can just sound like his regular

adults So, you know 30 year old self, but I just

never knew that he was that young I've always

figured he was in mid 20s or something like that

in this series, but I Guess now we know the age

of he man or at least Adam. I don't know What?

Well, they're the same person. So technically

he man is also 19 years old I do know once we

get to Masters of Grayskull Reviewing the 2002

cartoon. I do know that they specifically stated

on the commentaries for those episodes that Adam

and Tila are 16 years old Gotcha, so You know

How about this plot here, which you can say nothing

about this plot except for that it is a hundred

percent and Supposed to be or intended to be

an episode that teaches kids the value of books

This entire episode was a PSA. Yes on books Not

that that's a bad thing But the entire episode

is a PSA on books and reading and reading his

knowledge and it surprised me that even Skeletor

says to Beastman you idiot Jules aren't the most

powerful thing. It's knowledge that's the most

powerful thing. So even Skeletor recognizes the

importance of books. I liked it. It was interesting.

It's not gonna make a top ten list of episodes

of favorite episodes. It's probably not one that

I'll go back to often, but it's not a bad episode

in any means. There are a few bad things about

it, but... Well, I'll get to it at Castle Greyskull.

I don't mind, you know, that we're gonna try

to teach kids the value of books, etc. You know,

and there is action and there's evil warriors

involved, so I'm not gonna complain about that.

It's not probably my all -time favorite episode

of the series, but it's by far better than average.

I think it's better than average, at least for

me, and I'll get to why as we get to Castle in

Grayskull. Professor Smolin, if you'll excuse

me, I have something important to do. I'm afraid

my son doesn't take this problem seriously. We

must find those books. Can't it wait? I've plans

for a catnap! By the power of Grayskull! It's

time for Castle Grayskull Moments for episode

76, The Great Book's Mystery, and I will start

because I have three words for you that sum up

all of the Castle Grayskull Moments for this

episode, and that is Batros, Batros, Batros.

I love the design of this character. This character

should be an evil warrior. Or this character

should be a... person sent from Horde and Hordak

like back in time or something like this. This

should be a recurring character. This character

looked great. He had the Horde -like bat symbol

on him. He had the outfit that made him look

like, you know, like He -Man does or like a bunch

of them with, you know, the belt and the strap

and everything like that. I liked his voice,

I liked the way he interacted with the evil warriors.

He didn't come across as just a bumbling idiot.

I thought this guy could have been a great addition

to the evil warrior crew, so I liked everything

about him in this episode. You know, he he says

this Bantros guy is even more intelligent than

most of my other warriors, you know They made

beast man look like a little cowering fool in

this episode. Yeah It took away all credibility

he had as a bad person Yeah, but I just like

Bantros a lot. What about you? What were good

things that you liked in this episode? Know this

character wasn't introduced until 1986, but the

series was running at the time of this episode

And I wrote down Skeletor rhymes like wheelie

When do you appear like wheelie Rhymes like oh

rhymes like oh, okay gotcha gotcha Rhymes like

wheelie gotcha. Um, I love that trap jog and

all strung up. I thought that was hilarious Again

orko is actually, you know proving his worth

so that's that's always a good thing so so he

man's wrist gauntlet is also a communicator now

interesting oh i like it i just it's like it's

a little strange but i don't have an actual problem

with it i enjoyed it um other than that i mean

overall the episode is really enjoyable um for

the most part there are some i guess Maybe I

like him more than other people, but I'm really

thinking we're gonna have to do like a list When

we finish this series of the one -off characters

or the evil character of the week The best ones

that should have been recurring or should have

been members of of the evil warriors or the Masters

or whatever Best guest characters of the whole

series or something like that Because Batros

would probably be at early nomination for me.

All right, let's see what evil things we can

find at snake mountain Batros! He's someone I

could almost respect! If Batros is so smart,

how come he stole the books instead of the gold

and the jewels? Because unlike you, Batros has

a brain! What he has taken is more precious than

gold or jewels! Books! Of course, you worthless

hunk of fur! Books are the real treasures of

the world. Bring him to me. No. Yes, now, dummy.

I can use his clever brain to help me once and

for all to capture Grayskull and its secrets.

Lowlight time for the great books mystery. I

got a couple things here that I'd like to get

off my chest. First of all, they even put the

line here, books are the real treasures of the

world. I understand that you're trying to make

books sound interesting and valuable to kids.

Let's not, uh... be too forceful with it though.

There's one point where He -Man's trying to outrun

a tornado. We all know how you hate He -Man versus

the weather. So they have He -Man on side of

cliff or whatever, side of river, tornado following

him, they cut away, they cut back and He -Man

is magically on the other side of the river now.

He must have jumped a football length field.

over to the other side in a moment's notice.

I didn't actually have a problem with how he

destroys the tornado this time as much, because

it's a little bit more feasible, but I have a

problem with him vaulting 100 yards without any

explanation of how he did that. Just a little

animation flood maybe or something, but I don't

know. Is Trapjaw really that dumb? Yes. Because

he's standing there, Orko gets the rope, Does

thing they pull the rope out right in front of

him and he trips over it Yeah, which is fine

if you would not have seen that coming but since

he was there the entire time while they devised

this setup He probably shouldn't have ran into

it Well, it's your standard run into trap get

too close to it while it was being set up And

then, probably the biggest part of the episode

that I had a problem with is these books are

all important and all whatever. I'm not 100 %

sure, and I'll let it slide, but I'm not 100

% sure how Batra stole them all in the first

place, or how they're transporting these books

from place to place, or if it's just a magic

snap of a finger and they appear. But we'll give

them the benefit of the doubt, and all the books

are in the Temple of the Sun, fine. Alright,

these books are super important enough that we

have to send human and call for him and we got

to get these books back man Or we can't live

without them fine, whatever they find the things

and Then man -at -arms says hey, they're about

to attack Castle Grayskull and Now we just leave

the books Like I get that. It's important castle

grayskulls under attack But maybe someone stays

with the books. Maybe we call somebody into grab

the books while we do that. The whole episode

was about saving these books. Orko and Tila did

go back. Well, I know, but the whole idea was

about saving these books. And then He -Man immediately

leaves them unguarded and goes off to Castle

Grey's call. And guess what happens? They get

taken again. So as important as these books are,

it seemed like that wasn't too important for

them to actually make sure, now that they finally

located them, that they would do anything to

secure them. So minor problem with that whole

writing. What about you? um yeah what is he man

doing at greyskull have you not seen the previous

75 episodes of the series skeletor like i get

it if they meant in the tone of skeletor wondering

why he man went to greyskull but he says it as

if he doesn't know why he man would actually

be there Yeah. That's He -Man's base. I mean,

come on now. I'm OK. It's not his. You know what

I mean? But generally, it's his base. That's

like He -Man asking, why would Skeletor be at

Snake Mountain? Well, duh, he lives there. Right.

The books, the shot of the books. It was more

than a few, but it wasn't like a whole library's

worth. Come on, Teela makes this big thing about,

oh, we got to get all these books back to blah,

blah, blah. It was maybe one room of books. One,

maybe I would say 10 by 12 room of books, like

jail cell type of, you know, room full of like,

it wasn't like. a five -story library full of

books, because every other room in the entire

Temple of the Sun was empty. Right. I can't believe

I'm saying this, but for once, Orko, listen to

Tila. It's like, Jesus Christ. And then Tila,

she immediately, you know, basically reneges

on what I just said, because then she's like,

oh, all right, I'll come back with you. Elastium,

really? They had to make up a name for rubber

bands. They couldn't just say rubber band. Oh,

God. Yeah. Yep. Yep. All right. Well, that sounded

somewhat negative. We gave the last episode each

four out of five. Let's see where we go to this

one. If it's as bad as we made it sound or if

it's some redeeming qualities here. While the

sorceress is watching Beastman Squad, we'll sneak

across the moat from this side. And how do you

propose to do that? There's our bridge of snakes.

After you, my dear Skeletor. And turn my back

to you? Oh no! You lead the way! I hope this

isn't a private party. Alright, it's time for

Power Swords and Havoc Staffs, and I do have

one this episode, even though I did not. Last

one, and I don't think it's gonna be a mystery

to anybody here, but Power Sword to one J. Michael

Batros. Batros here, Power Sword, because he

was fantastic. What about you? Nope, none. Alright.

As far as ratings go, honestly, ideally, or normally,

an episode like this, I would probably... rate

two and a half to three and a half somewhere

in there um just because it's just kind of somewhat

in the middle might be a little bad might be

a little better um but strictly for the introduction

of batros and his involvement in this save the

episode for me all the way up to a point where

i'm going to give this one a four out of five

three i it's middle of the road for me batros

Batros didn't annoy me as much as some of the

other non -general evil warrior characters, like

some of the wizards that have shown up and stuff

like that. Batros is cool, I like his design,

but he didn't do a... I kind of wish he wouldn't

have teamed up with Skeletor and just done something

on his own with the books. The episode itself

outside of Batros, the episode by itself, it's

middle of the road for me, so three out of five.

I agree that it's middle of the road. I think

I just like Batros that much more than you that

he's enough to propel it up to a four. So we're

somewhat positive here. One three and three four

so far, and we're headed into the last episode

for today. So let's see if it can keep up the

streak or if it lets us down. Episode 77, it's

got a good title. It's Origin of the Sorceress

coming up next. Well, Man -at -Arms hasn't come

out of his laboratory for days, working on his

new invention. Must be something really special.

Just can't stand the suspense, huh? Course I

can! Doesn't bother me at all! Well, I'm glad

to hear it, Arko. Man -at -Arms! Is it finished?

See for yourself. Wow! It's a whore! His name

is Stridor. He has terrific strength and a computer

system that can detect trouble quickly. The perfect

companion for He -Man. I don't understand. Stridor

is only supposed to do that to warn us of some

danger. But there's no danger here. Uh -oh! He's

heading straight for the palace. We've got to

stop it. Alright, it's up for debate. How will

we end the day today? Episode 77, Origin of the

Sorceress, written by J. Michael Straczynski.

Airdate of Wednesday, September 26, 1984. Man

-at -arms introduces his latest invention, the

robot horse, Stridor. A meteor shower at the

Royal Palace alerts the Sorceress to the return

of Morgoth, the Terrible. She explains to He

-Man that Morgoth was a wizard who saw too much

power and was banished to another dimension by

the Ancients. They journey to Dark Mountain to

prepare for the return of Morgoth. While there,

the Sorceress explains her origin story, which

began when Morgoth invaded her small village.

Morgoth, with an army of alien invaders, imprisoned

the Sorceress, then known as Tilana. A fellow

prisoner told Tilana the legend of Castle Grayskull.

Where hope may be found, she escaped her captors

at night and searched out the castle. A voice

beckoned her inside, where she found Kuduk Ungol,

the former sorceress. She offered Tilana the

power to defend her village, but only if she

replaced her as the guardian of Castle Grayskull.

Tilana accepted, and Ungol lowered her into the

pool of power. Tilana emerged changed as the

falconzor. The Sorceress liberated her village

by destroying the ship controls of the alien

invaders and sending Morgoth back to his dimension.

In the present day, Morgoth's symbolic ring of

fire appears and he drops his magic gem into

the Eternian soil, placing a force field around

it, which no living creature can breach. Stridor

pushes through the barrier and kicks the gem

out of the field before falling to Morgoth's

blasts. He -Man destroys the gem, sending Morgoth

back in exile. He -Man carries Stridor back to

the laboratory, where man -at -arms Electrode

Thought Monitor reveals that Stridor wants to

be free. They release Stridor into the wild.

before the Sorceress returns to Grayskull. Okay,

first off, I have to slightly correct you. What

is the name of the old lady? Not our Sorceress,

the other one. It was Kuduk Ungol. Okay. Think

of those two names, first name, last name. Now

think of the Sorceress. It's not Teelah Na, it's

Teelah Nah. Nah is her. No, it's not Teelah Na,

it's Teelah Nah. Oh, is that how they said it?

Tila nah nah is her last name Right. I know it's

Tila. I get that but I just know I'm Saying the

the separation between Tila and nah nah is the

like, you know, no one would call you I don't

know if it was her last name. I think so. That's

just how you said the word Tila nah So we had

the we had the major Masters we didn't have any

of the evil warriors and the PSA was about taking

the responsibility to care about your fellow

men a Man, if you have a friend who needs help

who's having a difficult time do what you can

to help them out, etc or goes fun facts Unfortunately

large part roughly two minutes of the flashback

sequence was actually lost when this episode

was distributed on video back in the 80s The

script explicitly states that the invaders are

the horde from the Sheikah series And the reason

Morgoth appears to be very angry to invade immediately

is due to a line removed from the episode where

the three warriors decide to conquer Ternia for

themselves. And when men -at -arms refers to

Stridor as the perfect companion for He -Man,

originally Cringer objected to this comment.

Continuity. This is the only episode to reference

She -Ra, Princess of Power. Although the script

associates the alien invaders with the evil horde

and they wear the red bat symbol of the organization,

the connection is never stated within the episode

itself. It may have been a deliberate effort

to avoid revealing key plot points in The Secret

of the Sword. But the secret of the sword reveals

that the Horde attempted to conquer Eternia before

being driven off by the sorceress and other heroes.

So this story appears to be intended as a prologue

to those events to establish how the Horde first

learned of Eternia in the first place, and why

Eternia was uniquely prepared to repel them when

they finally returned in force. I guess it does

say the sorceress' real name is Tila Nah illustrates

her connection to her daughter, which is first

revealed in Tila's quest. And Kudok Ungol entrusts

Tilana with the Swords of Power, which are clearly

He -Man's Sword of Power and She -Ra's Sword

of Protection. So there's all kinds of stuff

going on with this episode. What were your thoughts

about it? I loved it. I thought it was interesting.

I thought it was really interesting that these

swords were just hanging out on a wall. I guess

you could say that He -Man facing the Horde -like

creatures in this episode, I guess that in the

present day, we're supposed to believe that he

has, like, all of Eternia has the spell cast

on them from the Sorcerer. He doesn't see any

of them. He doesn't battle any of them. Yes,

he does. Doesn't he? No, it's just Morgoth in

the current day. It's just Morgoth trying to

come out of that ring of fire. Oh, so he didn't

actually... Okay, I was gonna say because what

I was gonna say was if He -Man had battled them,

I guess you could say that by now in the present

day, she had already cast a spell for everybody

to forget. Adora and the Horde and he would be

like, hey, who are these guys? Well, it wasn't

necessary because like they did they know yeah

to make sure that it was just in the flashback

where they actually appeared right, but just

the whole The whole thought that went into this

episode and the idea You know, like I said that

thought that it's the Horde's first attempt to

get there that they don't ignore that and they

connect that later with the secret of sword and

then Unlined specifically in there and into the

She -Ra series and that the whole Sorceress connection,

the fact that they remembered all those things

and intentionally did that makes this an incredible

episode. I love origin episodes. Love that it's

the origin of the Sorceress. Love that we learned

that there is a different Sorceress beforehand,

but we're going to get too much into Castle Greyskull

moments. But as far as the plot, the plot of

telling the backstory of the Sorceress is good

enough for me. yeah it was absolutely very very

interesting I think if and I know we're not there

yet I think if I was to rate this and the episode

in the 2002 series that they do for her origin

I'd probably give a slight edge to that one because

that one actually that one basically takes this

episode and Tila's quest and pushes the continuity

into one where in the 2002 series They give you

the origin of how the sorceress was, you know,

how she met her husband and etc, etc, etc We'll

get to that. But no, I love this episode. I love

the plot There was no beats in the writing or

the story the execution that that were god -awful

at all I wish that they would do more stuff like

this. Yeah instead of villain of the week or

wizard of the week or you know, bad of the week.

Well, maybe we will get a little more like it.

I don't know. I mean, they are trying to tie

things in and setting up the She -Ra series and

the movie. So maybe we'll get little bits and

pieces. But this was by far cool to finally see

something with a little connectivity between

all the stuff. So we'll see what kind of places

we go from here. But before we unveil them all,

let's get over to Castle Grayskull so we can

talk about all the good moments of this episode.

By the power of Grayskull! Thank you for coming,

Eman. The one responsible for the Wheel of Fire

was called Morgoth the Terrible. Was he a sorcerer?

Yes, once, a very long time ago, he sought to

rule Etonia and the universe itself. He sought

more power than any mortal should. He became

a giant, immortal, with terrible powers. Just

in time, the ancients cast him into a prison

zone, a dimension from which there would be...

No return. Until now, that is. That is correct,

He -Man. So, what's our first step? We must journey

to Dark Mountain. For that, I must call up the

Crystal of Alana, which will allow me to use

my powers and maintain my true form outside Castle

Grayskull. And now, we must go to prepare for

the coming of Morgoth. highlights I'm gonna say

all mine and then we'll see if you have any left

I mean obviously the origin story for the sorceress

we've been dying for origin stories we finally

get one in season two here it's awesome it's

awesome that it ties into the Tila episode from

season one it's awesome that it ties into the

Movie, it's awesome that it ties into the She

-Ra series. It's awesome all the way around.

They did not miss a beat They did not ignore

stuff. They did not forget stuff later on they

connected some dots, which is excellent seeing

horde members for the first time is great and

seeing the History of how they learned about

Eternia, etc And it was also cool. I don't know

if you caught this but another by the power of

grace call moment not from He -Man Coming from

the original sorceress or the sorceress before

Tila now where she says by the power of grace

gall So it's kind of cool seeing somebody else

say that But there's just so many good things

all across the board Definitely seeing the other

sorceress and her interaction with the new sorceress

and how they came into that situation There were

so many good things about this episode that you

should just watch it What do you have Mike? Did

you notice a certain i guess this is a full of

locally but did you notice uh... my and i love

the opening the episode where this you know this

ring of fire starts firing and men are just like

everybody scattered immediately as soon as it

was gathers adam goes to pull the sword when

he pulls the sword the vocal that there's a vocal

echo on his voice when he says by the power of

grace call People would have just heard it in

the grayscale moments clip here in the podcast,

but I tend to notice crap like that when it's

not, it's not necessarily a bad thing. I thought

it was really cool that they did that. Uh, but

like if the lightning changes during his, like

the lightning sound effect changes, I'll notice

that kind of stuff. Um, these sorts of power.

I love seeing those things. This is so awesome.

They're just both chilling there. Like you said,

Yeah. Finally, we see the sorceress actually

being competent with her magic. Like, she did

everything in this episode in that flashback

to get rid of those guys. That was amazing. Great

to see the origin. Interesting that the Horde

was a part of it all from the beginning. It's

weird, but awesome seeing the Swords of Power,

especially weird seeing the Sword of Protection

before Secret of the Sword. Because, and I mean,

I guess, you know, it... It goes along with what

you're saying there, you know, they're building

continuity. They are building up to Secret of

the Sword and She -Ra, but I remember watching

Secret of the Sword when I was a kid and be like,

you know, Sorceress just pulling this jeweled,

hilted sword out of her butt and it's like, hey,

where'd that come from? And it's kind of nice

seeing it here to where it's like, oh, okay.

Yeah, very awesome, very awesome. I only have

one Snake Mountain moment. I don't think it's

worth the journey to go there. But what about

you? Were there anything that you didn't like

in the story? I just have a couple of nitpicks

that aren't full -on Snake Mountain moments.

I thought his transformation was a little bit

out in the open. Maybe not the most careful transformation

we've seen. And wait a second, has the Sorceress

always had this crystal that she can just use

to stay as the Sorceress outside of the castle?

Because if she has always had it this could have

been handy a couple times Get out of my head

stop reading my notes you jerk So why is it now

that she pulls the crystal out of her feathers

to explain? Why being her true there? I know

in the last 25 episodes probably in the first

14 or 15 episodes of Tales of Eternia There were

many times where I complained about her being

in her true form or outside of the castle. This

would have been nice to have back then. That

explains all of that away. He put that in here

and helped out every writer that wrote before

him. Well, we might not have needed to go to

Snake Mountain, but we definitely need to go

to the award ceremony room, because I have a

feeling there's lots of stuff to give out for

this episode. Absolutely. Finally, you must preserve

and protect the souls of power. until the day

comes when they may be claimed. Tiana, I know

your heart. I know that you are worthy, but the

decision is yours. I accept then, by the power

of Grayskull, let it be done. Alright, it's time

to keep - gushing over episode 77, Origin of

the Sorceress. Power Sword, obviously for me,

will be politely presented to the Sorceress for

having a kick -ass background story, for kicking

ass in the background story, and just for being

all kinds of awesome. This is probably her best

episode so far, so Power Sword to the Sorceress.

Yeah, absolutely. I agree. Same here. Power Sword

of the Sorceress. I mean, this made her... More

than just a random sorceress that we don't know

how, why, or what about. Right, right. This made

her more than meets the eye is what this made

her because it just... We finally get her background.

We finally see that she, you know, she wanted

to save her village and this was the only way

to do it. And the fact that, you know, a young

girl would do, you know, give that up. And I

know that this series is kind of like, Eternia

is kind of set in olden times. Right. I mean,

sure they have, you know, high tech, you know,

fly that, you know, they have sky sleds and,

and attack tracks and battle rams and whatever

else. But like a lot of these villages, even

when we get to She -Ra. I think it's meant to

be like late 1800s, early 1900s. That's how I

see it. I could be wrong. I view it before that.

I view it way back. But everything about this

is amazing. It really, really is. I'm going to

be in the running for one of the best episodes

of the series in my book. It's an easy five Battle

Cats out of five for me. Same here for Orcos.

Five out of five Orcos. So we're in agreement

that the first episode today was fours. Four

and three on the second episode and both on fives

on this one. If you haven't seen a He -Man episode

in a long time, this would probably be a good

one for you to watch just so you don't view some

piece of crap and write off the whole series

because there's definitely good stuff in here

along the way. Is this the first episode we've

ever both rated a five? No. There's been a few

more that we'll give in the wrap up of the entire

series. I did want to say that this is what we've

been looking for. This is what we've been searching

for when we give our overall thoughts of the

series. So now that we've got that, I guess we

can see what we think and what we're looking

for now, next. Hey, in our tale today, Snoob

learned a very important lesson. He found out

that when young people and older people work

together, they can accomplish a great deal. You

see, older people have experience that can help

young people if they're willing to listen, and

that's why you should always respect the older

people and pay attention to the advice they give

you. Well, I'll go for once you're right. Aren't

I always? Until later. Shut up. Beyond the Night

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

everything in the Knight Rider television universe.

From the classic 80s TV series to the 1991 reunion

film, Team Knight Rider, and the 2008 relaunched

series as well. So join TF2 and Mike and Dion

the Music Man as they go in depth in Beyond the

Night only on GeekCast Radio Network. You can

find Beyond the Night in iTunes and on www .geekcastradio

.com. Yes, Michael. Just keep driving. Ah, brave

new world 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 KeycastRadio .com. You sure have your hands

full. Well, I have lots of reading to catch up

on. Good for you, Arco. You know, when you open

a book... You're really opening a door to a wonderful

world of entertainment and information. Well,

that's for sure. I'm fighting all about science

and dragons and sports, but mostly bodybuilding.

You have a book on bodybuilding? No, but to carry

all these books sure builds my body. Hey, Geocast

listeners. Do you ever listen to Punisher Body

Count and think to yourself, this show would

be awesome if it had less toilet humor and was

not about the Punisher? If so, join me, Emily

Williams, as I class up the Punisher Guys on

Dane and Jake at Classy, or like the Oprah Book

Club of comics. You'll hear us discuss famous

works like The Dark Knight Returns and The Grove,

along with graphic novels no one else is talking

about, like Blue Monday and Blankets. You can

find us at daneandjakeatclassy .wordpress .com

or on iTunes. Today we learned about the importance

of taking the responsibility to care about our

fellow man. If you have a friend who needs help,

who's having a difficult time, do whatever you

can to help them out. Because as you saw in today's

episode, no matter how big the problem, one person

or one living creature can make a big difference.

See you next time! Warriors so far not not enough.

We still obviously have a lot of characters that

we have yet to see which I'm looking forward

to We did get kind of a solo episode for whiplash,

which was somewhat of what we were asking for

Maybe not specifically whiplash, but we still

got it. So we got to see a little bit more about

him We got a pretty cool episode with Tralla

Overall and escaping from from Eternia for a

little bit and then with the sorceress episode

that just like we said It's a great episode.

So that's more of what we've been looking for

with continuity and origins and backstories and

stuff like that So hopefully we'll get some more

of this. Hopefully this isn't the last time they

do something like this in season two it is a

damn shame that they did not have the storyline

of The whole family affair with randor and keldor

and all it's like I would have loved to have

seen the keldor storyline done in the Filmation

cartoon, but it's a damn shame that it wasn't

done then So far these three episodes have really

turned it around. I don't know what we're you

know what to expect My expectations of this series

at this point aren't high, but they're not low.

I would say they're right there in the middle.

Certain episodes, as always, are going to make

me cringe like there's no tomorrow. But when

I see stuff like Trouble and Trauma and like

The Origin of the Sorceress, it shows me that

this series really does do very well put together

stories. Yeah, I agree. And for those of you

that are watching this series on the DVD sets,

not the most recent... You're talking about the

BCI sets, the original sets. If you're watching

them on the BCI sets, I noticed something in

the second episode today, which is The Great

Books Mystery, that it was getting towards the

end of the episode and my timer still had about

two minutes left to play. And I thought, that's

odd. There's never this much time when they get

to the... I mean, the PSA was already done. There's

never that much time when you get to the credits

scene. It scrolls through all the credits and

then it must be an Easter egg because after that

there is a minute long segment, maybe a little

over a minute, all with shots and scenes of Cringer

being scared, running away, some of his one -liners,

et cetera. But it's a good minute long of Cringer.

tacked on to the end of this episode and it even

puts a puts text on the very first shot that

says cat got your tongue and Then it just goes

into all these different segments of Cringer

So if you're if you have the BCI sets go to the

books of mystery And and fast forward to the

credits and you'll get a little kind of cool

scene of Cringer So you're basically saying this

is kind of like what transformers used to do

with their After shots like the cassette a cons,

you know that you know that kind of thing. It

wasn't like it's not commercial or anything It

was just like a highlight of cringer. So I thought

that was cool. So you should check that out But

that's all I got All right. Thank you. We're

listening to tales of attorney if you'd like

to get in time Damn it. It's writing is crap

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the tales and don't forget to join us our next

adventure when we will continue season two discussing

episode seventy eight seventy nine eighty those

being betrayal straddles The Ice Age cometh,

oh god. Um, end the arena. For now, I am Optimus

Solo with... TFG -1 Mike. The power of Grey Skull,

you all have the power. Well, it's about time

for us to be getting back to Italy, Elko. The

Sorceress's gate won't last much longer. But

you can't leave not before our celebration feasts,

what? There's whole Roskubal in Yavin! Roskubal?

That's my absolute favorite! Well, I suppose

we can stay a little longer. Right, Cap? What

about Whiplash? Oh, he'll keep. Bring on the

feast, Montaq.