Episodes 102-104: Greatest Show, Not So Blind, Secret of Grayskull

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! 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 Adjima Solo and welcome to the 35th chapter

in Tales of Eternia. With me for this journey

into the Masters of the Universe franchise is

TFG1Mike. Hello? Only 10 episodes left, yay!

This actually marks, uh, because each podcast

in this, uh, Powers of Grayskull series has a

set number of episodes. Uh, He -Man being the

longest of the four shows is the longest podcast.

At 45 episodes. This would be the mark right

here where we would be finishing with She -Ra

would be episode 35 That would be where we were

that's this is how long we'll have to go to get

through She -Ra But we have ten episodes to go

still for He -Man So I have an announcement to

make oh, and you don't know about this because

I forgot to tell you So originally I had Steve

set up, because the way I look at setting feeds

up and setting iTunes up and getting it on iTunes

and all that stuff is it's kind of a little hidden

copyright. It's not fully legal, but people see

it on iTunes. It's like, OK, it's already there.

I'm not going to copy it. Originally, Powers

of Grayskull's series was going to be four separate

podcasts. Tales of Eternity, Mists of Etherea,

Masters in Space, and Masters of Grayskull. We

are still going to have four podcasts, but they're

all gonna be on the same powers of grayskull

feed So you guys don't have to go anywhere Steve

is gonna make new art that includes the original

four arts that would have been on all four individual

shows so Technically when we get to episode 46

that'll be episode one for Shira Yeah, so it's

something you and I can talk about off -air,

but but yeah, no, you know Steve said hey You

guys have already built up a fan base with this

one feed. There's kind of no sense in you know

Right have having people switch over to a new

feed, right? So But yeah sounds good All right.

Well in this episode of tales of Eternia We will

be giving you our thoughts on episode 102 the

greatest show on Eternia Episode 103, Not So

Blind, and Episode 104, The Secret of Grayskull.

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

go back to Eternia. Look at the coaster! Wow!

Tightrope walkers, jugglers, wild animals! Woo!

Wild animals? I get nervous around butterflies!

Careful, Arko! See! Look at the clouds! Whoa!

We start today with episode 102, quote, the greatest

show on Eternia, written by Robie Gorin, airdate

Wednesday, October 31st, 1984, Halloween episode.

The plot, Skeletor is furious that Crackers the

Clown is bringing his circus to the Royal Palace

instead of Snake Mountain, like he requested.

So he resolves to sabotage the show. and force

the performers to amuse him alone. You bad guys,

Beastman, Evil Lin and Skeletor are regular masters

and the PSA was all about Orko and Adam. Orko

was talking about how he wanted to do everything

but he didn't really want to put the practice

and the effort to learn everything so it's all

about you have to spend enough time to learn

the necessary skills to be good at something.

Yeah Well, okay. Okay. Let's talk. Let's get

the PSA out of the way. I like the PSA I like

the PSA because it applies to a lot of stuff

we do in life, you know when I you know, it took

me a Year and a half listening to various podcasts

before I started my own And then it still took

me another year and a half to get better and

better and better. You know, I've said, I've

often said, and everyone else has said this,

but I think it's, it's better coming from me

because I know how horrible it was. But TMT on

podcast is easily the worst podcast I've ever

produced. It's funny because I was so excellent

from day one. Sure you were. Right. You know,

so, but I mean, you know, this PSA kind of ties

into, you know, learning life lessons and you

know, you start something you get better at it

and better at it as you go along you don't just

know everything right away which is interesting

yeah i mean it's a good lesson because a lot

of people are and they kind of talked about it

i think man in arms brought it up at one point

about how orca would start one thing and then

Give that up or lose interest in that and then

start another thing and then start another thing

I think a lot of kids do that They'll join, you

know Boy Scouts and quit that and they'll join

baseball and quit that and join, you know soccer

and quit that Or not necessarily quit right away,

but just you know, do it for a little bit and

they're not super successful So they move on

to the next thing or whatever so I think that's

kind of a good message for that too just to you

know, if you really want if you weren't really

interested in something and you really want to

You know be good at it or achieve some type of

success. You can't it doesn't come quickly. You

know that's the greatest The kind of flaw and

a lot of people's thinking is they want everything

but they want it quickly I want you know fame

or money or talent or skill just to be there,

so I think that's good message for kids absolutely

so But yeah as far as the plot goes I mean let's

just get the white elephant in the room out of

the way right away We already had an episode

called a beastly sideshow Well a Beasley sideshow

greatest show on Eternia, it's slightly different

And it's not the same circus either Yeah, I mean

it's not the same circus, but I mean to have

two circus episodes in the series seems weird

You know I could see it once where it's trying

to make Eternia feel more like a regular just

world and country that has you know things that

we can relate to circuses or you know sporting

events or You know whatever whatever might be

to try to make it the world relatable But it's

still somewhat weird to have a circus in Eternia

and then to have two Makes me just feel like

this guy didn't obviously see the first one now.

I know the first one You know well they even

do some of the same stuff where Beastman is trying

to control stuff But this is the first time in

a long time that we've even seen Beastman uses

power Yeah, but I mean, you know, you know The

first one was more centered on Beastman controlling

the animals in the circus, etc This one has a

little bit of that not to the same extent I think

what gets me about the plot more so is not that

they did a circus episode again. That's fine

They could have even had the same circus from

the first one revisit They could have been on

on that cycle to retour again, you know until

a year later that would have been fine, but my

problem is more of the premise of skeletor being

upset because he requested the circus to perform

at snake mountain for him alone that just seems

weird yeah that doesn't seem that doesn't seem

like what the evil villain would be worried about

like i want the circus to come perform at my

evil layer just for me it just Again, I think

it's like what you said. It's a case of the writer

not knowing Skeletor's, you know, M .O. and what,

and you know, this guy wants to take over all

of Eternia, yet for one episode he just wants

to be a child and have the circus all to himself.

I really, really don't want to say this, but

I'm going to say it anyway, and I know you're

going to groan and you're going to scream at

the top of your lungs and whatever else, but

honestly, Skeletor in this episode, while I have

never seen the show because we are all on social

media, I know who this person is, and just everything

about them is so wrong. Skeletor was honey boo

boo in this episode. I kid you not, he was. It's

funny because I listened to this episode on the

DVD set. The only DVD set that I'll acknowledge

exists. Wait a minute. Wait, wait, wait. What?

The BCI set. Oh, OK, OK, OK. Not the Robov set

that came later. But on the BCI set, this episode

has a commentary track as well. The commentary

track is with a bunch of animators and whatnot.

But they do make a mention that they said Robi

Gorin was Kind of a comedian of sorts and that

he would do different improv and stand -up type

stuff or Not necessarily like he was a stand

-up comedian, but he would Take people of that

or he was into that or whatever in some way shape

or form And they said a lot of times when he

was writing for any of these types of shows or

whatever He would be the one that would try to

bring as much humor in as possible do tongue

-in -cheek type stuff So, you know, I guess it

makes a little more sense for what he's doing

here and maybe making a little bit of a joke

out of out of Skeletor in some way shape or form

but uh yeah it still doesn't feel right yeah

it just feels weird that a evil villain wouldn't

be demanding the circus play i could see the

evil villain being like no no circus in Eternia

and nobody can have fun you know i want to be

debbie downer type thing but to be like i want

the circus to perform at snake mountain that's

just weird Yeah, another fun fact that I got

in the commentary was that they talked about

how a lot of times They're different billboards

or posters that are seen in the series won't

have any type of words or writing on it Mostly

just images and pictures. They said they did

that so that The show when it's aired in other

countries you wouldn't have to do anything with

that It would just be the images and the pictures

and there wouldn't be any writing or lettering

or words that you had to worry about trying to

fix Right so that kind of made sense, but I don't

know it's a Know it's only been done once before

and a lot of themes and human have been done

three four or five times So I guess I can't fault

it too much, but it still has been done before

and I didn't necessarily need to see another

circus episode See for me. I thought this plot

was kind of cool. It gave Skeletor a lot of funny

lines and It is only second to a Beasley sideshow

for me as far as these circus episodes go. Because

I do think a Beasley sideshow was a little bit

more funny because of Cringer and all the stuff

that happened with him in that episode. But no,

I enjoyed this one. I thought the plot was kind

of cool. Yeah, sure, there is the problem with

Skeletor just being a little brat. But other

than that, I thought it was... Pretty damn good.

It's a rare case in the powers of Grayskull when

we have you like an episode more than more than

myself Yeah, see exactly how this so plays out

here as we get to Castle Grayskull to see what

good things you liked about this episode Getting

ready to land on the fairground Looks like the

Rockets in trouble It's out of control. It's

gonna crash into Mount Eternia. Crencher, it's

time for He -Man and Battle Cat to save the day.

But we saved the day yesterday and the day before

that. Every day we save the day. He wins. By

the power of Grayskull. It's time for the first

time today for our castle gray skull moments

I will just start with Mike since he apparently

has a lot of good things to say about this episode

So let's see what they are and see if I just

missed something Yeah Strangest rocket ever he

man literally pulled on its nose The the circus

rocket like I get it, it's Eternia, it's make

-believe, don't get me wrong, but the fact that

he pulled on its nose and it basically, you know,

avoided Mount Eternia, whatever, it just... When

I see a rocket, I don't think of it being bendy

and flexible and made of silly putty. Even if

it is a rocket for the circus. Skeletor is just

hilarious throughout this whole episode. I think

he even says a line, which I will have to play

for you later. I can't get anything done right

unless I do it myself, which is exactly how I

feel a lot of the time. So I guess I have Skeletor

inside me somewhere. That doesn't surprise me.

Yeah, right. Did you notice the shadowy transformation?

Yes, a little bit. I thought that was interesting.

You know, Adam runs off, and instead of actually

just using a stock footage of Adam standing there

pulling the sword, that they basically just use

his shadow. He pulls the sword, and then obviously,

you know, the transformation is a transformation.

But I thought that was really, really cool that

they did that. He -Man gave Skeletor the bounce,

just like Ram -Man bounces. I thought that was

hilarious. Echo Valley is an interesting yet

dangerous place. I enjoyed that scene, but I'm

not sure if I'd ever want to visit there. You

know, because you always see in anything in media,

you always see these, you know, these people,

hello, hello, you know, just standing out over

over canyons and stuff. And I think a place called

Echo Valley would be kind of fun yet dangerous

to live in. I really enjoyed, overall, I mean,

there's not too much for me personally that I

disliked or found out of place, like made me

actually, I only have one Snake Mountain moment.

And once again, Skeletor is just hilarious. And

Orko learns another lesson that we should all

learn. What about you? Just a couple things.

I thought it was funny when Orko was in the bucket

of paste and the old flag came out. That'll be

in the post I like that they mentioned Mount

Eternia again so that it wasn't just a one -time

mention Same writer that mentioned it the first

time but at least he remembered that I guess

And I did like how the PSA was intermixed into

the episode How they even spent some time in

the actual episode before they got to the PSA

to talk about? Taking time to be in a profession

or to do this than the other so like that was

interwoven But that was about it for me Really?

Sorry. Oh boy, here we go. Alright, let's make

our way to Snakemon. No cooperation! I get no

cooperation from anyone! I have to do all the

work around here! Where's Beastman? Where's Evil

Lin? What's bugging you, bonehead? Have you received

word yet from the circus? You mean about your

request for them to perform here at Snake Mountain?

Yes. When will they arrive? They won't. They

turned you down. They what? Yes. The royal family

arranged a week of free performances for the

enjoyment of the people of their kingdom. Enjoyment?

I don't want anyone to have any enjoyment except

for me! Take the rest of the day off. You and

Beastman, go to the circus! That's awfully nice

of you. Nice? Nothing! I'm sending you... Alright,

Snake Mountain, here we are. Honestly, even though

it makes it sound like I don't like this episode

at all, I don't have that much to say at Snake

Mountain other than what I've already said. I

was not thrilled about another circus episode

and I don't get the motivation behind Skeletor

wanting the circus to perform at Snake Mountain.

Was gonna put crackers the clown in here, but

he wasn't that bad He was no he wasn't annoying

it makes me fee I know this wasn't the case,

but as soon as I heard crackers I'm like wait.

What's Mickey Mouse doing in a he -man show?

Because it sounded like whoever was doing the

voice of crackers was doing a Mickey Mouse impersonation

Yeah, it was just a little bit weird, but I didn't

put him in my snake mountain moments But he was

kind of on the fence Other than that it wasn't

like there was a bunch of bad moments just overall.

I didn't necessarily enjoy the episodes a lot.

What about you? I only had one here not too sure

how Skeletor taking over the circus or demanding

the circus would you know be Goal -oriented for

him taking over Atternia I get he wants to be

entertained, but this just feels like it's beneath

him and also it You know it kind of feels like

you know You will entertain me, dammit! It feels

like somebody at, you know, 3 a .m. who is bored.

Twitter, Facebook, entertain me, or else. It

just, it feels like one of those weird Twitter,

Facebook messages that people post when they're

really bored at 4 a .m. Other than that, I really

liked it. I thought it was great. Alright. Well,

let's see how differently we rank this episode.

Oh, god. It's like parting the Red Sea all over

again. But our circus is for families and children

it's not for you it is now Alright, it's time

for awards and rankings for the greatest quote

-unquote show on Eternia. We'll start with you

since I believe you're gonna be a little more

positive than me for once, so what do you...

Well first, what hardware do you give out? Do

you have any Power Swords or Havoc staffs in

this episode? Skeletor and orko both get a power

sword. They were boy, you know the the orko flag

that's hilarious You know, it's skeletor When

they give him a chance to be funny and evil all

at the same time Even though he does kind of

act like a little two -year -old in this episode.

I still thought it was absolutely hilarious So

they both get a power sword. All right as far

as the rating goes Gotta give it four orcos.

I really enjoyed it. I thought it was cool. I

thought it was great All right, I have no hardware

to give out although I do agree that sometimes

Skeletor is actually the funniest character in

the whole series Even better than the Cringer

and orco at times I will disagree with your four

and I will go ahead and slap a one on this one

one one battle cat for me I apologize, I just

did not enjoy this episode. Maybe I'm not as

much of a circus person as I should be. Or maybe

I'm blind. Alright, let's make our way to episode

103, Not So Blind, coming up next. All the colors

of the rainbow! Ah, noble prince, you honor me

with your presence. How can I serve you? Well,

I'm looking for a gift for my mother. Is today

the queen's birthday? No, it's no special occasion.

I just wanted to get something because, well,

because I love her. Oh, how thoughtful. Isn't

this scarf beautiful, hm? It's hand -embrided

with the finest and rarest silks in the land.

Yes, it's... it's very nice, but, uh... What

happened? Shh! Now just quiet down and I'll finish

the story. Now, where was I? Ah, yes, yes. He

-Man was surrounded by rock monsters. Fortunately,

the monsters were just big rocks, so He -Man

had no fear about hurting them. Did he smash

them? Well... Yes, he did, actually. He -Man

pulled back his mighty fist and... and wham!

The rock monster was a pile of pebbles. And then,

after taking care of the last monster, He -Man

took his friends to safety. Oh, Your Highness,

how good to see you again. Oh, please don't get

up. I was just enjoying your story. How are you,

my old friend? Children, you have asked me where

I get my stories? Meet He -Man's closest friend,

Prince Adam. Wow, the prince! Do you live in

the palace? Why, yes, I live in the palace. Does

He -Man live there, too? Uh, well, sometimes.

Actually, he just seems to turn up when he's

needed. I wanna know something. How come He -Man

doesn't just go to Snake Mountain and smash Skeletor

into little bones? Hey, children, children, what

kind of talk is that? He -Man never tries to

hurt any living thing, evil or not. But I don't

understand. When I do something bad, I get punished.

Why doesn't Skeletor? Yeah, how come he gets

away with everything? He will be punished for

his evil deeds. Skeletor is not an ordinary criminal.

You see, when someone commits a crime, he's tried,

and if found guilty, well, he's punished. Skeletor

hasn't been punished. I told you, if you were

powerful enough, you could get away with anything.

Well, not really. The punishment is just delayed,

that's all. You see, the more evil Skeletor does,

the worse his punishment will be. And each day

we come closer to taking care of Skeletor once

and for all. I still think He -Man should beat

him up! That'll be enough of that, young man.

Alright, next up today is episode 103, Not So

Blind, written by Robert Lamb. Airdate Thursday,

November 1st, 1984. He -Man and Ram -Man befriend

a blind boy and take him on an adventure, which

takes a dangerous turn when the heroes are themselves

blinded. So we have Prince Adam slash He -Man,

Man in Arms, and Ram -Man. That's all you get

for this episode, whether it be Evil Warriors

or Masters. And the PSA is, um... Basically talking

about disabilities specifically obviously the

blind factor and how they're still people and

They're not helpless. They still have feelings.

They can still do stuff. They still want to do

stuff They want to be included etc. Obviously

the PSA is good It's good message for kids to

hear And the plot is not in my opinion terrible

I think it was a great idea to include an episode

that had a blind individual. So that I give them

props for. I think that was very cool. Probably

one of the first times. I mean, I'm not an expert

on all cartoons that came before this, but I'm

guessing it's, you know, one of the earlier examples

of a blind kid in a cartoon. Of a blind kid,

yes, but it's not the first episode overall for

a child with disabilities in cartoons. I mean,

we can't forget about Chip Chase after all. He

is in a wheelchair. Well, this came before that,

though. No, it didn't. When was Chip Chase first

appeared? Sometime in 84 it premiered in September

September 17th for more than meets the eye chip

was in like the fifth or sixth or seventh episode

Yeah, he was in the very first Dino bot episodes.

So these were probably filmed way before that

And I think we did get blind adult males before

in other cartoons I'm like the old blind guy

type of stuff, but to have a blind child in a

cartoon. This is gotta be one of the first first

references or inclusions like that so i think

that's cool i think the plot's interesting um

i also kind of like the idea that a t -man and

ram man as the only two and they're kind of just

on the adventure um you know with the kid and

i also like the plot element that they too uh

have to deal with um the same kind of uh situation

where they are temporarily blinded by uh the

elements in the story I thought that was kind

of crystal. Yeah, so gave it gave kind of them

a firsthand experience and got to try to Even

more magnify what it would be like to be blind.

So I don't have a problem with the plot on this

one at all What about you me either? I don't

have a problem with the plot It actually, you

know, we'll get to it when I talk about my cross

castle grayscale moments But this episode actually

kind of hits home for me a little bit So there's

that I like There are a few questions I understand

it's part of the story, but the whole time they

were on the bridge on the way back, it's like,

I'm just waiting for something to happen. I'm

just waiting for the other shoe to drop, because

I know it will. You know, so there's that. But

yeah, no, and the PSA was good, very well executed

and, you know, very, very interesting. So I think

we ought to get DeGrasse go. Really? No he -man?

Yes, probably better than anyone. I've always

wanted to meet him This is loose. He was born

blind Well loose, how would you like to go on

an adventure with he man? What I Wow, I have

to ask my parents first. All right, where do

you live? I can take you there, but I thought

I'm blind but that doesn't mean I'm helpless

Very well loose. Leave me to your home Alright,

we're at Castle Grayskull for episode 103, Not

So Blind. I'll have a couple things for you here.

Obviously, like I said, I like having a blind

kid involved. I also wonder, maybe the highlights

of the episode for me was at the beginning, when

all the different kids were asking the storyteller

questions. I loved some of the questions they

were asking about Skeletor and He -Man, about

why Skeletor keeps getting away with everything,

why he doesn't get punished. you know, why doesn't

He -Man, you know, take care of him once and

for all type stuff. So I thought the kids' questions

were excellent. I thought that was a cool way

of dealing with questions that kids probably

had in real life about this series. You know,

as a kid, you're always like, why don't they

just put him in jail or why don't they just kill

the bad guy or do away with him or whatever.

So I thought that was cool that they actually

brought that in and had He -Man and the storyteller

responding to those questions. Absolutely. So

that was probably my favorite part of the episode.

What things did you like about this episode?

Well, I like how it opens. I think it's an interesting

way to tell kids about He -Man, plus the lesson

that Adam tells the kids is great, like you already

said. You know, this one has no evil warriors,

so I didn't quite mind it that it was something

that it was, you know, part of where they were

going that actually is the quote unquote villain

of the episode. As someone who was born with

disabilities, damn drunk doctor, I can relate

to Luce when he says even though he's blind,

he isn't helpless. I was born with a mild case

of cerebral palsy and I was born with optic atrophy

with nystigmatism in my eyes. So without glasses,

I have 2200 vision in both eyes. I have 2200

in my right eye and 2400 in my left eye. With

glasses, I have 2060 vision. And in both and

2100 in my left eye and how my eyes are is My

right eye is my dominant eye So it's my eye where

I could be looking at you in the face and whatever

else whereas my left eye is my peripheral Vision

like I have absolutely almost zero center vision

with my left eye It's all you know on the left

side of my face as far as that goes as far as

being able to see out of my left eye So as a

kid with disabilities and growing up, you know

with the cerebral palsy and having kids make

fun of me and everything else or having kids

assume that I'm that I'm helpless because of

You know my left my right hand and right foot

turning inwards and are smaller than my left

hand and left foot I can really see where we're

loose is coming from, you know being a blanket

hell I even attended, you know eight week Blind

training session kind of Interim at the Kentucky

School for the Blind at the time so This episode

like I said earlier in the plot kind of does

hit home for me because you know I'm as far as

my sight goes like I can see everything I can

make everything out but like I'm looking out

my window and I can see a house at the end of

my street if And there's a stop sign down there

at the end of my street. I can see the stop sign

I know it's a stop sign I can see the color,

but I can't actually see the letters st. Op on

the stop sign Right. You know what I mean? So,

I mean, I thought this one was really, really

good. I, you know, overall enjoyed it. Loose

might be the only kid in the entire series that

is not annoying. I can see that. So that's what

I got. Okay. Well, I mean, I think there are

a bunch of good things about the episode, but

there are always a few negative things as well.

So let's make our way to Snake Mountain. Is this

the Crystal Cave? No, just a short tunnel. It's

the only way to the Crystal Cave trail. Watch

your step! Uh, oops! Ram Man! Say, uh, where

do I get one of those sticks? Don't worry. I'll

watch out for you. Come on. were falling behind.

Let's take a rest here. Loose, what do you do

to find your way? Sounds, smells. My mother taught

me to use my other senses to notice things around

me. Gee, that sounds hard to do. Not really.

Just takes practice. Ready to go on? The caves

are nearby. You bet. Let's go. Alright, as far

as Snake Mountain moments, I really don't have

a lot of huge things to point out about this

episode. The kid voices still annoy me. They

didn't right at the beginning, but the more I

had to listen to Luce, the more the voice kind

of got to me. So yeah, I don't like kid voices

in this series, but other than that, there wasn't

a whole bunch of nitpicks except for, in general,

that I felt like the action in this was somewhat

boring. I didn't think that there was a lot of

entertainment value to this and I know it's just

ran man and he man and just kind of some natural

You know disasters or traps or things like that

So I don't know if that kind of played into it,

but I was a little bored overall with the episode

For me what the hell kind of name is loose like

I mean that's like naming your kid north it just

What the hell kind of name is that? Come on loose

get down with your bad self. It just doesn't

work So they all turned blind now. I know this

is part of the plot. I know this is you know

to teach He man and ram man a lesson of how loose

lives his life or something like and then all

of a sudden by the end of the episode it's just

magically cleared up like it would have been

nice if they carried this over into the next

episode like oh you know it's been six weeks

we finally cured your blindness yeah it basically

served two purposes from what i can tell number

one it made it uh accentuate the strength that

a blind person has and what the kind of things

that you don't necessarily know about until they

have to you know kind of show their heightened

uh ability and awareness of their other senses

this that and the other so kind of accentuated

that is also not trying to be mean with saying

this but it's the only way that they could have

turned the kid or given the kid an opportunity

to be the the hero in this episode at the end

because if he man and ran man can still see they're

gonna overshadow anything that the kid can do

And the kid's not going to be as important. So

by making them blind, then it turns the kid into

the hero. Yeah, that's true. And I do kind of

like that. I will say I've seen plots like this

before. Like, I don't necessarily remember seeing

this episode as a child. But since then, the

biggest one I can remember is Blind as a Bat

from Batman, the animated series where. Bruce

Wayne goes blind somehow, you know, and then

by the end of the episode, his vision returns.

But as Batman, he has to figure out how to use

his other senses because he has gone blind. And

it was a really cool episode. This was a good

episode. Again, I enjoyed it, but just little

little nitpicks for me. All right. Well, let's

see how we actually grade this episode out and

see if we like it better or worse than the last

one. The crystal caves are on the other side

of this gorge. Now, Loose, the bridge is rather

narrow. Maybe I should carry you across. Are

you gonna carry Ramman across the bridge? No,

I think he can take care of himself. Well, so

can I. I'm not helpless. Loose, I didn't mean

to. You didn't hurt my feelings. I just want

you to treat me like anybody else. I understand.

But Adam promised your mother I would bring you

home safely. You may cross the bridge, but keep

your hands on the rope railing. You too, Rammy.

All right, as far as awards and rankings with

episode 103, Not So Blind, I do have one piece

of hardware to give out, and that would be a

power sword to He -Man. I liked how he interacted

with Luce. I liked how he treated the kid. It

was cool seeing He -Man blind and still trying

to function and being aware of the strength that

he had with having Luce there and kind of...

going through that so i like him in this episode

so i will give him a power sword um for me uh

it wasn't anything that really like i mean i

i i i i agree with you as far as um as far as

he man goes but there still wasn't really anybody

that like did something so, you know, mind -blowing.

Right. So, you started last episode here with

Four as the greatest show on Eternia. Where do

you go for Not So Blind? About the same, Four.

I enjoyed both of the episodes immensely as they

progressed. But you know, I I think they're both

for material not really anything less or more

Okay, that's fair enough. I gave last episode

a one. I Will increase it ever so slightly. I

think it was a great idea. I think it's a great

concept I think the action was boring. I think

the execution could have been better To make

it even more impactful, but because it was such

a great idea and I appreciate what they did I

will give this one a three So, I would give this

one a 3 out of 5. You will give it a 4. Who would

have thought that you have turned into Mr. Positivity

and I have taken on the role of grumpy old man.

We will see how we end this episode and see what

we think of The Secret of Grayskull next. Your

wish is my command. Oh boy, just like in my storybook.

No fooling around. I mean, can I wish for anything?

Oh, uh, you wish. And then we'll see what happens.

What'll it be? The usual? Power? Riches? Oh,

no, Mr. Genie. Nothing like that. I just want

my friends to like me. That's what I wish for.

Impossible. Your friends only keep you around

because it amuses them to have a pet. That's

not true, is it? Suit yourself. But... Be honest.

Wouldn't everyone be much better off if you had

never come to Eternia? Well, sometimes they make

me feel like I'm not really wanted. Take charge.

Do something about it. Like what? Don't tell

me you've already forgotten about the Dimension

Portal. The Dimension Portal? Now you're talking.

Step right up, little master. It's a pleasure

to serve someone smart enough to know his friends

don't really want him here. Oh, I know men. My

arms would be glad to see me gone. Boy, do I

make his life miserable. So here's your big chance.

Step right in and we'll have you home in a jiffy.

Home to where you're loved and wanted. I guess

home is where I belong. All right, we end today

with episode 104, The Secret of Grayskull, written

by John Curtin. Airdate Friday, November 2nd,

1984. It's how we ended our week back in 1984

here. Plot was Oracle feels unwanted and leaves.

We've seen that before. Skeletor captures him

and forces him to explain how to get into Castle

Grayskull. And then we have a showdown between

Skeletor and the Sorceress as she tries to protect

the secrets of Castle Grayskull. We have Clawful,

Cobra Khan, Trapjaw joining Skeletor in this

one. And we have our... regular masters including

the king the queen and obviously the sorceress.

The PSA was talking about that being punished

or being scolded or whatever does not necessarily

mean that someone doesn't care about you and

that they would still care about you and that's

why they're disciplining you basically. So obviously

a good moral it's a good message not something

we haven't seen before. Right. Now, I guess it's

kind of twofold. The main plot in here is Skeletor

trying to get into Castle Grayskull and trying

to learn the secrets of Castle Grayskull, etc.

Then the subplot would be how he gets there and

the whole orco feeling not wanted, not loved,

and somewhat playing into the fact where he gets

captured by Skeletor and becomes a means to get

into Castle Grayskull. So what do you think about

the plot? I like the plot. I think it's interesting.

I think I would have liked... But I would like

anything more or less, but I would have liked

to have seen where Orca would have ended up if

he had gone, like, did Skeletor send him back

to Trala? Did Skeletor send him to Despondos?

Where would have Skeletor sent him if the Sorceress

hadn't Ez -Zor saved Orca with the last split

second? I like this one. I think it's a really

great episode. You know, we all deal with this

kind of issue with, you know, self -doubt and

you know just being very introverted and you

know worrying about what other people think I

get that but I think I would have enjoyed the

episode even more had the oracle angle not been

involved if it was more so just oracle doing

his thing and he just gets captured by a skeletor

for some other reason besides him feeling bad

for himself and being upset because he got yelled

at. If he would have just, since we've seen that

before, if he would have just been out doing

something or whatever and somehow Skeletor captured

him and then used him and then it became more

about just Skeletor and the secret of Grayskull,

I would have liked that episode a little bit

more. It took it away a little bit for me because

of the whole, how they yelled at me again, because

he technically should have already learned this

lesson when we had this. the first or second

time we've seen this so that he's feeling sorry

for himself again after already learning those

lessons to me just doesn't quite jive I can agree

with that but still I still really really enjoyed

this one because I'm not saying I didn't enjoy

it I'm just saying that would have been even

better if we had a different angle besides him

feeling bad for himself. I'm not saying that's

not a good message. What other angle can Skeletor

exploit? No, that's what I'm saying. Like just

Orko's out, you know, just whatever, out in the

jungle or out whatever searching for something.

Like maybe it was more of a, you know, something

didn't work that that man at arms was doing and

he needed something. So Orko was just out searching

for that to try to help out and try to just,

you know, make up for all. previous times where

he's always fumbled things around so he's out

looking for a secret element or whatever and

then Skeletor just captures him. Right, but that

wouldn't work with how the rest of the episode

plays out because she has to show Orko how much

his friends care about him. Well, yeah, I would

have eliminated that part. It would have eliminated

all of that storyline, so I mean I i understand

you don't like the setup of or go being the b

-plot or what's that and technically or i don't

see it i don't mind him being the part of his

mind the reason the motivation behind his character

being that he feels like they don't appreciate

him that's the only aspect i would take out uh...

and i think you could even though i enjoyed the

flashbacks and sorcerer showing him things i

don't think that was a bad for the episode uh...

if we go with my plot we can easily take that

stuff out and build up more of the tension of

skeletor trying different ways to get into Castle

Grayskull, maybe trying more than one riddle,

whatever it might be, make it a little bit more

tension as far as him getting in there, or there

could have been a little bit more of him trying

to get more out of the Sorceress once she had

kind of sacrificed herself and let herself get

handcuffed. We could have had a little bit more

of him, like the stalling tactics. I wish we

would have seen a little bit more of the stalling

tactics. Cuz he man says just stall stall him

until I get there, but we really don't get to

see any of that Yeah, so well, it is only a 22

minute show So that's how I was done a little

bit different not to say I didn't like the episodes

Let me prove that as we get to Castle Grayskull

and I can talk about my favorite moments of the

episode Not another step Granger stick around

by the power of Grayskull! I wish I could talk

the Queen into getting Adam a new pet! All right,

to prove that I don't hate this episode, um...

First, I thought there was some clever dialogue

at the beginning with Skeletor. He has a whole

little rant there where one of his lines is,

I'm not one day closer than the day I started.

Seeing that this is episode 104, I think that

was fitting to say that he basically has gained

nothing over the course of these 100 episodes.

We saw what might have been quite possibly the

best ZOR moment of the entire series. Absolutely.

Where she comes in at the last second and saves

Orko, that might be the best we've seen from

her. So I thought that was good. I thought it

was super funny. Again, this is just another

example of how sometimes Skeletor can be the

funniest character on this series. When Orko

reveals about the riddles... When he's under

that kind of hypnotic trance Skeletor. Oh, I'm

horrible at riddles He's like looking at his

even less intelligent minions who's good at riddles

The only thing that would have made that funny

is if they would have like had certain evil warriors

try like oh go get You know evil in and then

she would fail and oh go get whatever But yeah,

he's looking for his evil warriors and who's

good at riddles and I do like the idea that We're

involving riddles in the show I don't know if

I necessarily like that as being the key to open

the drawbridge, but I do like Riddles being involved

in the cartoon. I do like the idea of a secret

that only certain people know as far as how to

get into Grayskull. I don't necessarily know

why Orko would know it. Well, Orko is one of

the three. Yeah, but I don't think necessarily

anybody should know that. Sorceress and then

He -Man because he can just open it. Yeah, I

mean, He -Man doesn't need the secret riddle,

so I don't think we need necessarily another

way to get in. That's bad security system. Well,

I don't think ADT was around in the Atterian

days. I guess not. And then once they're all

inside, Grayskull towards the end, and the Sorceress

frees herself and is about to, you know, wreak

havoc, I guess. Trapjaw and the rest are all

wanting to run. And Skeletor basically is like,

nah, I'm not running, blah, blah, blah, blah.

I know that was great because even Skeletor knows

how weak the sorceress really is. As far as how...

But she said... No, no, no, I know. I'm just

saying about how we've seen in the series prior

to this, how she always fails and how it gets

overpowered. So I like that Skeletor was like,

no, I'll take my chances. I've seen this girl

work before. So I like that moment. What about

you? Poor Cringer wish he could talk the Queen

into letting Adam get a new pet. I love that

absolutely love that So apparently we now have

a billion and one uses for the power sword it

can now boil water interesting Skeletor like

I wasn't like I thought Skeletor was just gonna

create a spell You know what I mean and and have

some mystical thing show up as the jet didn't

realize like that was kind of shocking to me

see Skeletor pull off the genie Torso's like

whoa. Why he was there the whole I mean I knew

it was his voice obviously, but it just felt

like It could have been a completely different

character than Skeletor basically cosplaying

as the gene Yeah, actually I'd actually captured

an image of the genie just in case I needed to

add him as another character But I'm like, I'm

pretty sure that Skeletor would just yeah, it's

Skeletor Skeletor almost had oracle believing

his lies and then Zor saves the day I always

laugh when When the evil warriors, uh oh, he

man's cat. Run! Yeah, that was funny. All battle

cat has to do is just a slight roar or just put

his paw forward and zoom there off. And as Skeletor,

poor, you know, poor Skeletor, he hates the place

he wants to conquer. If you hate the place you...

I mean, I know it's because of, you know, what

Sorcerers was doing to him, but if you hate the

place you want to conquer, then why the hell

do you want to conquer it? Yeah. Absolutely hilarious.

Absolutely awesome. Yeah, there's a lot of funny

moments in this episode. Yep. Alright, well let's

see if there was any negative moments to speak

of. Alright, not to say the episode is perfect,

there is always some castle, some snake mountain

moments, excuse me. First off, fireworks that

turn into spiders that turn into fire. That was

a bit of a stretch. Yeah, a little bit. So, I

could see maybe one thing turning into one thing,

but when it's one thing that turns into one thing

that turns into another thing. And then He -Man

making it rain. Well, technically... Skeletor...

Who came up with the idea of a triple changer

first? Because technically that's what Skeletor's

spider fireworks were, were triple changers.

Right, so... He -Man, whenever he gets involved

in science, kinda... I'm gonna make my sword

hot and put it in water and make steam and then

shoot a lightning bolt into it to make rain.

I don't know about that. As I said, I didn't

necessarily super care for Oracle feeling sorry

for himself again. It doesn't make as much sense

to me. I question that a riddle is all it takes

to get into Castle Grayskull. Could be a better

system there. Whatchamacallit refers to Trapjaw

as trappy. I thought we were done with that,

especially since trappy and trapjaw are the same

amount of syllables. A slight problem maybe with

this episode moving forward is don't they know

about the fact that they just have to answer

riddle now yeah so can't they just keep trying

to get in over and over and over again and at

the end the sources has um trap jaw uh clawful

cobra con and skeletor are all in prison basically

why not keep them that way why not keep them

in their little jail that's problem solved why

do we return them to make sure that they can

keep causing havoc it goes back to the kids asking

at the beginning but then they pose a question

to him at the end you had them all trapped what's

the deal so what about you anything that you

didn't like at first this episode was moving

way too goddamn slow it took I don't know how

many minutes from the start of the episode like

not even from the start from the point where

after the opening credits and after the opening

director credits and stuff It took what seemed

like to be 10 minutes out of the 22 to get to

even seeing. We hear, oh, well, this must be

Skeletor's doing. This must be this. And then

it takes too damn long to get to it. And we finally

see him and it's like, oh, OK. It's just in the

beginning, this episode really felt like it was

dragging along. And it didn't get that as much,

but OK. What else you got? That's it. That's

it. All right, then it sounds like you are gonna

be a three for three with episodes you like today.

Let's see if that's true as we get to our last

awards and rankings for the day. Skeletor? What's

that? Stop Skeletor. I don't know how you managed

to open the jaw bridge, but you still can't get

into Grayskull without facing me. It's the sorceress.

We better get out of here. Stand your ground,

you crab -faced coward! She can't do anything

to us! Alright, it's time for awards and rankings

for episode 104, The Secrets of Grayskull. I

will start with my hardware, and I will give

a power sword to the sorceress. Because she defended

Castle Grayskull, she saved Orko, she finally

was powerful enough to actually do something

instead of just be weak. So, uh, what do you

think? No, I agree with that, but I'm gonna break

every like I remember the first time I gave a

power sword to one of the writers and you just

kind of broke your brain I'm gonna break your

brain again. I'm gonna give a power sword to

the castle itself to the castle Okay, sure. Yes

the source in this episode Yep, sure the source

the sorceress you know did her magic and had

all this stuff happen but actually seeing the

castle pieces move and things come out of the

walls and all that kind of just seeing the castle

in action as you said it did speak uh... you

know so really really dug that I'm also going

to give a power sword to Skeletor because he

was just hilarious this entire episode Alright,

so Castle and Skeletor as far as ratings sir

you've been at four both previous episodes and

What are you ending today at? There are a few

nitpicks, but overall this is the best episode

of the day for me I'm gonna give it five orcos

five Yeah, I can I can kind of overlook the nitpick

and I know I understand you have an issue with

it But I can kind of overlook the nitpick that

the power sword makes boiling water because we've

seen you know nitpicks like this throughout the

entire series and it shouldn't even surprise

us at this point with what kind of weird sciency

bullshit they come up with yeah um well i started

today with a one for the greatest show on eternity

went to a three for not so blind with the secret

of grace call i do feel like it was the best

episode of the day so i agree with you at that

point But with the Oracle feeling sorry for himself

again, with the He -Man playing Mother Nature,

I do have to knock it down a little bit, so I

will not give it a 5, but I will give it a 4.

Battle Cats out of 5. So I will give it a 4,

but I have no problem with you giving it a 5.

I feel like you have something to say. No, I'm

fine. You outscored all three episodes and put

them all higher than me, which is weird. This

might be a record, ladies and gentlemen. And

honestly, and I said, I said, I think it was

episode 32 or 33 or 34. I said, we've got a lot

of episodes coming up that I really, really enjoy.

I hope because I like this positive vibe that

we get from you. And I don't mind being the bad

guy. So that's fine. So let's take a break and

get real quick thoughts of our scene two and

how it's going If you really want to be a juggler

or anything else in life You have to be willing

to work at it So when you find something that

you really want to do then do yourself a favor

work at really work at it Spend enough time learning

the necessary skills and I promise you you'll

be surprised at how good you can really be See

you next time! It's Showtime Synergy, the latest

review podcast from the Geekcast Radio Network

is coming. So join TFG1 Mike, Nicole Hailstorm,

and myself, Lady Rec, as we will be reviewing

all 65 episodes of Gem and the Holograms in a

25 episode long podcast. You can find Showtime

Synergy on iTunes and geekcastradio .com. We

are the truly outrageous podcast that you want

to be listening to. So children, what did you

learn from this story? Dallos is blind. He's

just like the rest of us. Yeah, and because he

learned to use his other senses, he helped T

-Man. That's right. Just because a person is

blind or handicapped, that doesn't mean that

they're helpless. Yeah, they have feelings and

want to do stuff like we do, too. And who knows?

You might learn as much from them as they do

from you. Hello, geeks. Want a podcast that covers

a vast array of topics with no rhyme or reason?

Then check out Altered Geek Unlimited, where

the topics fly more or less off the cuff. We

cover media news, TV, our favorite geek products,

and of course, your feedback. So get altered.

Give Geeky with the Altered Geeks every Friday

on the Geekcast Radio Network. Well, that isn't

true. They don't punish to be mean, but to teach

you. They hope you'll remember the punishment

and not do wrong in the future. If I didn't love

Orko, I wouldn't care what he did. I'm glad Man

-at -Arms cares enough to correct me when I do

wrong. How else am I going to learn? I know he

loves me, even if he doesn't say it all the time.

Yeah, well, it's time to go. Bye! All right.

We just finished 102, 103, and 104, which were

our fourth, fifth, and sixth episodes of the

second half of season two. I'd like to point

out, after what seemed like a very negative Nancy

at the halfway point, you have now ranked one,

two, three, four, five, six out of your last

seven episodes, a four or higher. Six out of

the last seven episodes. So it seems like the

second half of season two is to your liking,

sir. So far. So you like where everything's going?

So far, there's not a lot of... What do you call

it? There's not a lot of continuity, there's

not a lot of growth character -wise, there's

not a lot of origin stories in these three episodes,

but they're overall fun episodes. Yes, there

are small things that might take away from people's

enjoyment, but it really didn't bother me that

much. You know, we're 104 episodes into the series.

I half expect He -Man to do stupid sciency bullcrap

that doesn't matter. Yeah. You know, I'm not

disappointed or anything. I still probably, even

though I'm not ranking the second half of season

two as high as you so far, I'm still a little

higher season two overall. I don't mind. You

know, I could have done without the circus. episode

and I'm at this point I guess what I'm mainly

looking for because obviously it's a broken record

like we say every time we're looking for more

character you know development origin stories

more more characters just to appear etc but it's

also given the point where at this point a hundred

and some episodes into the to the series that

obviously bonus points for me just for originality

and uniqueness at this point You know, anything

that we haven't seen two or three times is going

to score higher for me. So if there's writers

out there that came up with new ideas at this

point that we hadn't basically seen in one form

or the other, that's what I'm looking for. If

I can't get the backstories and the more characters,

I just want to see some stuff that I haven't

seen before. Absolutely. Alright, thank you for

listening to Tales of Eternia. If you'd like

to get in contact with us, leave feedback for

the show. There are several ways to do so. Visit

the website, geekcastradio .com, where you can

comment on this and all of our other episode

posts. Send email to feedback at geekcastradio

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do this. Follow us on Twitter, at geekcastradio,

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name five oh two five two six five eight two

one We hope you enjoyed the tales today and don't

forget to join us in our next adventure when

we will continue season two Discussing episodes

105 106 and 107 those being no job too small

Why do I feel like the widgets are gonna be in

that one? The bitter rose and the gambler sounds

like we have an album The bitter rose and the

gambler has to be the first two songs on a country

album somewhere. Oh God ladies and gentlemen

Poison's greatest hit as we close out for now

I am DFT on mic with Optimus Solo Where the powers

of grace go you all have the power Although we

both lie silent Still in the dead of the night

Although we both lie close together We feel miles

apart inside Was it something I said or something

I did Did my words not come out right Though

I tried not to hurt you Though I tried But I

guess that's why they say Every rose has its

thunders it started this whole thing anyway you

did I did not you did too well it looks like

the sorceress taught Skeletor a good lesson yes

he man the secrets of grayskull are safe and

what's even more important so is orca