Beauty and the Beast, Orko’s Revenge, Visitors from Earth

It's Showtime Synergy! The latest review podcast

from the Geekcast Radio Network is here! So join

TFG One Mike, Nicole Hailstorm, and myself, Lady

Rek, as we will be reviewing all 65 episodes

of Joe 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. 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. He -Man! Hello,

this is Aftermath Solo, and welcome to the 40th...

Chapter and tales of Eternia with me for this

journey into the Masters of the universe franchise

as always is TFG when Mike hello Hello, we only

have 85 episodes to go folks Till what? Till

the podcast is done. This is the only time though

that we will say welcome to the 40th chapter

because none of the other Iterations will get

to the 40th episode Like the original human will

since the other one ends at 35 and one ends at

25 and one ends at 15 so It's the only time we

get to 40 but are you ready for powers of grace

call? I Think I am but our buddy Patrick Moore

emailed me the other day and we have some feedback

for the show. Yay! Yay! Dear Mike and Kevin,

I finally decided to give my thoughts on Powers

of Grayskull. It is a great podcast that made

me re -watch the show all over again when I watched

them on DVD. I like the banter between the hosts

and their thoughts on the episodes. There's an

Easter egg apparently in Temple of the Sun where

the gold statue is that of Blackstar, another

filmation cartoon from the 80s. Watching he made

again my 30s made me remember my childhood again

as I'm a collector of old -school shows from

the 80s and 90s Oh my god, this guy sounds like

you did you write your own? Did you not change

your name? I should show him my DVD collection

and see if he's even more or less than I do He

says I would like to see Cartoon Network bring

the classics back again Not this garbage like

they have now Teen Titans go etc etc etc. Can't

wait for your shooter reviews. Neither can we

Patrick And apparently Pogs gets 10 stars overall.

I like it. In his email. I'm just going to say

this about the Cartoon Network thing. Cartoon

Network does not deserve any classic reinventions

of shows. They have crapped on. But let's see,

the 2000X series, the 2002 series that we'll

talk about later on in the podcast lifespan here,

that got 39 episodes you know that didn't last

uh thundercats got like 26 but it was aired like

all kinds of which like they would air two weeks

in a row and then they have like nine months

off and it's like what the hell i know animation

costs a lot to do But if you've already got the

episodes in the can why are you just sitting

on your asses and not airing them Cartoon Network

is the Michael Bay of Cartoon Networks Yeah,

I don't something like that I like to crap on

stuff Other people like yes, exactly and I know

this isn't really really big news, but I had

posted on Facebook or somebody had posted and

I reposted on Facebook a while ago, so about

two or three weeks ago we finally have a logo

for Masters of the universe did you see this?

Yeah, I saw that. It means it's real. It means

it's happening. Yeah, it's like my good buddy

Optibotamus Paul he commented on that and he's

like Looks good. What looks good. It's just the

title and then everybody else is like, yeah,

but that means it's actually happening now, you

know, it's like what the hell Rumors. Yeah, exactly.

So Finally after nearly 30 years, we're gonna

get a new Masters of the Universe movie That's

that's just amazing how the nervousness kind

of on set because now that they're actually doing

now we should just be nervous about who's gonna

be involved and what companies and what You know

behind -the -scenes people what actors etc. Yeah

Absolutely, so should be interesting, but yeah,

that was cool. I saw that I was I was pleased

by that Any other news um Not relating to him

in all right other than I am awesome You mean

I am awesome, not you are awesome, I am awesome.

Anyways, in this episode of Tales of Eternia,

we'll be giving you our thoughts on episode 117,

Beauty and the Beast, episode 118, Orko's Return,

and episode 119, Visitors from Earth. So we hope

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

Eternia. When Beauty saw the beast, she was horrified

by his looks. But as she came to know him, it

was his spirit, not his ugly appearance that

she learned to care for. In the end, when Beauty

looked at the beast, it was the honesty of his

soul, not the ugliness of his appearance that

she saw. I loved that story when I was a child.

Well, it's just a fairy tale. Sometimes fairy

tales come true, little friend. Alright, after

multiple weeks of great reviews about all kinds

of He -Man episodes, we've been on a streak here

in the second half of season 2, we will begin

on a different note with episode 117, Beauty

and the Beast, written by Don Heckman, air date

of Wednesday, November 21st, 1984. Skeletor kidnaps

Tila and Orko and sends them to the unreachable

castle of the Monster of Moragor, while he demands

a hefty ransom to rule Eternia. Bad guys Beastman,

Evelyn, Skeletor, and Whiplash. And the Masters

we have the Regulars as well as Cyclone appearing

here. And the PSA was Tila, Orko, Prince Moragor,

and He -Man. talking about lessons fairytale

lessons that can be related to the real world

and The whole thing about beauty is not on the

surface etc a Couple fun facts for you in this

episode Adam appears to transform in front of

cyclone so possibly another member that knows

that Change in the real identity of human because

there's no Really other explanation for it because

he basically transforms in front of cyclone And

Adam and Cringer Are said to appear in one point

when it should be human and battle cat I think

I'll talk about that a little bit later But I

think that's again mr. Mangels trying to find

something where there's not because there's a

cut in the scene So they could have easily gone

back to being Adam and Cringer It was basically

he was basically saying that it was human battle

can one scene and then they appear in the next

scene and they're back to Adam and Cringer, but

That could easily happen happens all the time

right, so I think he's just being Thinking he

knows more than he does But anyways I hope he

doesn't listen to this episode. Hey that guy's

got nothing to complain about He's got to work

on like some of the most classic childhood properties

I don't know why he got the golden like ticket

to do that and like Apparently he was the one

that knows more about these shows than anybody

else But that's why I question one when he when

he puts stuff in in these that are just not true

or not right or whatever I don't know I mean

I maybe just jealousy because I wish I'd had

his job But I don't know how he got so lucky

to work on all these shows I would have had better

special features though on my DVDs if I was in

charge of that anyway What do you think about

the completely unoriginal plot here of Beauty

and the Beast? Have I given away how I'm gonna

feel about this episode yet? This was what two

days before your birthday in 84, right? Yeah,

not a good birthday present glad it wasn't No,

that's actually the last episode today I'm gonna

fast forward a couple of years cuz in season

3 of Gem and the Holograms. They do a Beauty

and the Beast thing, but they do it as a play

where Gem and the Holograms have to star in the

play. And they have Greg Berger as the voice

of the Beast. And it was such a... Okay, sure,

don't get me wrong, Beauty and the Beast, it's...

I can't not do it. It's a tale old as time, god

damn it. And it's one of those things where...

after you've seen the disney movie it's like

anytime you see a pop -up you're like oh god

no not another beauty and the beast rip -off

um gem was gem did beauty and the beast in a

way where it was such an original idea they wanted

to update the concept a little bit this is beauty

and the beast ish but it is really has nothing

did like if The beast of this castle would have

come to man -at -arms and says I want your daughter

and if you don't give her to me I'm going to

do like This wasn't Beauty and the Beast at all

it loosely like extremely loosely Was Beauty

of the Beast Yeah, but there's so much of the

whole he's a beast type character. He's upset

at how he looks He's ashamed of himself. He doesn't

act out. He's not using the power that he should

have You know, he's not using the force that

he could have and the whole I'm gonna you know

through true love I'll go back to being my princely

self which I Don't know to me that whole thing

just read the Beauty and the Beast story, although

Good intended and sometimes well carried out

Actually, isn't that great of story because it's

a story that's talking about How you shouldn't

be concerned about what you look like? But in

the end you turn back into looking good on the

surface so does that really I mean it's almost

a contradiction it's like yeah you should be

happy with the way you look you should you should

find your own inner strength your own inner beauty

blah blah blah but it but through doing these

trials or you know finding love or doing whatever

it is we're going to turn you back into a good

-looking person so you don't have to deal with

any of that so I don't know I it's not exactly

the Beauty and the Beast story but it's the same

Moral and it's the same idea. It's the same moral

same idea and it has the same beast plots It

has nothing of the beauty plots. I mean, it's

not like Tila's trying to fall in love with this

guy No, no, no, it avoids that but to me it's

the it's The parts that are beauty and the beast

in this are so terrible Yeah, that it's just

a really I I don't care for this plot like I

don't mind that there's some prince or some Monster

somewhere that you know is gonna Hold one of

the Masters Captive or hostage and it's a whole

plan that's involving Skeletor and he's gonna

use that as a way to try to you know Get Eternia

or get Castle Grayskull or do whatever you know

it's got some ends to his means there means to

his ends Whichever way you say that Like I wouldn't

mind that but to masquerade it as this Beauty

and the Beast plot and to have him You know turn

back into a prince with the tea less kiss etc

like Did not like the execution of this plot

And I don't like the idea of the plot based on

the name itself like Call this something else

and take that element out of the episode and

maybe it would be a decent episode, but no not

doing it for me Yeah, she swacked him in all

the wrong ways. I don't need any fairy tale stories

retold through He -Man's world. No, not at all.

We're already living in a fantasy world. I don't

need fairy tales on top of that. Yeah, absolutely.

No, we don't need fairy tales on top of that.

Yeah, I mean... I don't know. We'll get to it

when we get to it, but it's one of those things.

I think I'll be going first on that one because

I'm sure you have more to say than I do. It's

just one of those things where... And this was

written by who? Somebody we don't know. Yeah,

exactly. Don Heckman. I don't know. He'll come

up again later. I want this show... To be like

where's Robbie Gore Robbie Gordon or? some somebody

like that health well flint was a little too

busy on transformers, but you know Larry DiTilio

David well David Weiss has said it was a Yeah,

Straszinski. Well David Weiss has said in interviews.

This wasn't really his thing He was a staff writer

on this, but this this wasn't his favorite kind

of down show to be writing on but Don heckman

did write one previous episode in season two

here, and that would have been No job too small

Which involved panther? Well that one wasn't

we gave that a four and a three so I mean he

did decent on that last time But what you're

talking about is basically if you look back at

the second half of season two We have had three

appearances of the tillio and one of Robi Gorin

and Two of J. Michael Straczynski outside of

that though You know besides the one that Bob

forward did part of yeah, there really hasn't

been There's been a lot of one -offs here in

the second half of season two a lot more than

probably any of the other If we were to break

it up like if you look at the first half of season

one, or I'm sorry the first half of season two

You know Robie Gorn had a couple episodes Doug

Booth had like three or four episodes J. Bryn

Stevens had a couple J. Michael Zorzinski had

like three or four to tell you had a couple Bob

forward had another one David wise had a couple

Paul Dini had one So I mean the first half of

season two was filled with people we know or

people that the series knew Yeah, see, that's

the thing. You know, you mentioned in the intro

to this episode that you wish the special features

on the BCI DVDs were a little bit better. What

I remember from the BCI DVDs are all the behind

-the -scenes stuff with those people. David Wise,

J. Michael Straczynski, Paul Dini, Larry DiTillio.

I remember all those, you know, where they're

talking about it, and it's like, why are they

not writing more than what... They have done

as far as this cartoon series goes and I'm sorry

this this episode is horrible. It's just bad

it I have three Castle Grayskull moments and

I have like Four or five snake but it's just

Just to just to look at the second half of season

two because we haven't talked about how well

we've rated it and And how well the second half

of season two has gone, but if you look at the

ones that we did rate high I give a four and

a I gave two four and a halfs to Larry the Tillio

episodes I gave a five to the Bob forward episode

a five to another Larry the Tillio episode a

five to a J. Michael Straczynski episode and

then we both gave a five to a Ken cinnamon and

Karen Wengrat episodes that's kind of the outlier

and then you gave an additional five to another

J. Michael Straczynski episode and Then one to

a John Curtain episode so I mean the ones that

were rating high are still those people for the

most part Yeah, but that's what I'm saying Why

are they going to these people that we've never

heard of to write these? If Paul Dini had written

this episode, it would have been a much more

in -depth story than what we got. If J. Michael

Straczynski had written this story, it would

have been a comedic version of Beauty and the

Beast. It wouldn't have been probably the tragedy

maybe. There's only been there's only been six

episodes that neither one of us has rated above

a three and a half In the second half of season

two and it's a Anthony's a loose ski is the writer

on one of them We got Anthony's a loose ski the

writer on another one Shelly Carroll and Warren

Greenwood on one Barbara chain on one Gina the

car on one and now Don Heckman on one So I mean

the ones that were both universally disliking

just happened to be from all of these writers

And we're not doing that you know based on the

writers. We don't make our ratings based on the

writers. It's just, when we look at it afterwards,

it's just how it's matching up. I do a lot of

crazy things, folks. Kevin can attest to this.

I've done some crazy things in 40 episodes, almost

two and a half, three years in this podcast.

Like, you know, giving a power sword to Panthor,

or giving a power sword to the Spirit of Castle

Grayskull or something, or whatever. I don't

ever sit here and take off four points out of

five because I see a writer's name. When that

title card comes up, I see the title. If I perchance

remember to look and see who the writer is, I'm

like, oh, okay. I don't sit there and say, oh,

well, just because it's this guy, it gets this

score. I sit here and I watch the episode and

if the episode is horribly bad, horribly bad,

then it is. And it's then that person's fault

afterwards. Yeah, when I'm doing the script,

I will write down who's the writer of each episode

and then I immediately forget. Like I immediately

put it out of my mind. The only time I actually

even think about it is when I have a spreadsheet

going, obviously. You know with each episode

what our scores are who we give power swords

who we give havoc staffs the writers etc And

all our ratings broken down, you know in the

different ways I break it down That's the only

time I actually even pay attention to who the

writer was and how we rated it is when I get

to that I don't do that until we're actually

recording our episode. So it's definitely not

An impact on on how I rate my episodes But yeah,

it just seems like we've been getting a lot of

one -offs here or a lot of not well -known writers

in the second half of season two luckily we've

had Some of the writers, you know make an appearance

and when they do make an appearance as it's Been

paying off well and we get some good episodes,

but yeah, it seems like they're just kind of

running on fumes here I don't know if the rest

of the guys had moved on to other stuff if they

were working on She -Ra and trying to get that

set up or what they were doing but it's like

they don't really lay the groundwork and now

they were just kind of Handing the reins to these

other people while they did other stuff. Maybe

I don't know Well, let's get to Castle Grayskull

for episode 117 Beauty and the Beast to see if

there is any beauty in this episode Awfully nice

of Skeletor to contribute building material for

the new hospital. Now what? Head on back to the

palace in case there's more trouble. As for me,

well, I have a little unfinished business with

Skeletor. Alright, for the first time today we're

at Castle Grayskull to talk about what things

were good about Beauty and the Beast. Well, as

a Disney movie, I thought it was... Oh, not that

Beauty and the Beast. We have to find something

good about this Beauty and the Beast. Yikes.

We saw an actual all -out assault on the palace,

which we don't usually see. So that was fun in

the beginning. We don't usually get to see that

type of thing, which I don't know why we don't

see more of that. Most dialogue the guards have

ever had is in this episode. I thought it was

a cool -looking castle that Moragor lived in.

Kind of when we saw it in the Destroyed sense

of the story kind of reminded me of Castle plunder

Yeah, I thought it was cool looking even though

this has happened a year before that but still

it I got reminded. I got to give props for the

good old Star Wars trash compactor scene Although

it wasn't very original and then they had some

cool panic animation on Skeletor in the one scene

towards the end made me laugh a little bit with

the way they animated his face, etc. So yeah,

that's all the good I'm gonna say about Being

the Beast. What about you, sir? Yay, Cyclone!

Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Yay, Cyclone! I

did think, even though it's a little strange,

I did think He -Man's sword -swinging with the

spider's energy web, I thought that was kind

of cool. I can see that. It's only because We

head into darkness with this last This last note

of mine did that move feel connish to anyone

else Skeletor's wrath is a bad thing Basically

what I mean by this is the whole freezing and

putting people into tubes. I'm like, oh my god

It's it's Star Trek in he -man. No get Star Trek

out of he -man And silence I can see that a little

bit That was the first thing I thought of was

and it was only because of the more recent movie

Into darkness that I noticed that and I'm like,

wait a second. What the hell? But that's it.

All right, we're doing well here with Beauty

and the Beast. Let's get Snake Mountain where

I think we're gonna take a little more time Only

I know where they're going. Now back to Snake

Mountain. We must give King Rando our terms for

their safe return. All right, we're at Snake

Mountain. Time for the Beast of Beauty and the

Beast. I don't know something this kind of bugs

me when they do this in the series Where they

try to make Eternia sound more Earth -like? For

example in this episode building material for

the new hospital But yeah, okay, so what are

the attorney and supposed to call where they

sit like they go to the sorcerer she waves her

wand like a magic spell This is like okay, hold

on this is this is in a fantasy world like this

in the world of Eternia We usually would equate

that to something akin to like what the earth

was during the Middle Ages Or you know something

like of that time period There's not hospitals

in that time period there's you know, there's

black magic there's your you know, like your

your Things that get handed down from generation

to generation on this is how you cure this and

this is how you know All the old wives tales

and stuff like that like There's some doctors

maybe or not really doctors, but there's some

people that will that specialize in that type

of thing Maybe or like a town or a civilization

looks towards but there's not hospitals in those

environments When you insert stuff like building

material for the new hospital and they've done

other things before in the series I don't remember

what items that was but you know stuff like that.

It's it's trying to make it Relatable to earth

but relatable to earth in modern times and that's

not what I picture for Eternia is is modern earth

Like I don't need schools or hospitals a baseball

stadium. I don't need a library. I don't need

This is not Sims So you're telling me that you

don't want half of the children that we hate

in this series to go to school and actually learn

how to be better children? No, I wanted to be

with the guys from 300 from Sparta learning how

to be warriors and shit. Okay, so here's the

thing. We're off talking to a wizard about magic

or something. Yes, Eternia is a fantasy world,

but it is also a science fiction world. Yeah,

but they don't need hospitals. Don't want a hospital

with my attorney. I don't want a hospital in

my fantasy world. Oh Not fantasy world. Okay.

There's different types of fantasy worlds, but

in my fantasy science fiction He -man Eternia

world. I don't need constructions like hospitals.

I just don't we got palaces and castles Only

the fucking hospital Next episode Skeletor is

gonna be taking over the hospital so that he

can like keep you know have power over the kids

and that'll give him a one hands up on getting

the Eternia I don't know like this is stupid

like I Don't need Them to insert this dumb line

like what we need building material for a new

hospital. What was the purpose of that line?

Okay, the purpose of it was it was to be a funny

joke because they were making fun of Skeletor

doing something the the the line was oh Skeletor

finally helped us out giving us new building

material for the hospital you know it was supposed

to be giving us building material to repair you

know the west gate of the palace or something

there the fuck anything about a hospital So we

need it for our helipad We've switched personalities

in this episode folks cuz normally it's me that

is nitpicking this kind of thing. Don't get me

wrong I'm agreeing with you, but I'm sorry the

part I don't agree with is the fact that you

think that attorney it does not need schools

and libraries where they They could have a medieval

style school. That's fine They could have a place

where the kids go and they get told stories by

that storyteller who appears in this episode

And that's fine, and then they can learn how

to fight or learn how to build like some trade

thing Or whatever blacksmithing school or something

like that like come on and all the other fantasy

worlds like Could they deal with the kids in

a way like we what is that? We need this material

for the next for the next level in our skyscraper

like come on now Got to build this elevator to

get to the first floor of the Trump Tower or

something I don't need this unrelated to earth

in that sense like I just told that's a dumb

line Okay, then they write in that Tila is gonna

give some advice and Then once again, we write

her character so that she's gonna give advice

and then immediately ignore her own advice For

what reason why did we have her give dialogue?

To say it should you know, you should do this

or you should do that and then have her actions

and then immediately contradict that dialogue

that we just gave her. Like either you're writing

the character to be an idiot or you didn't realize

you did it and you're an idiot. And then we get

these bees. Can we talk about the bees? We put

a picture of the bees in the episode post because

those bees are the most retarded looking things

I've ever seen in my life. It's like a bee body

from like Maya the bee or something like some

kids like elementary school program And then

it's got like a face on it, which is just downright

disturbing Those bees look stupid and I swear

there's a scene where they show an ass crack

on one of the guards I would have to go back

through and watch this episode which I'm not

willing to do to get a screenshot of that but

I swear they showed the ass crack on one of the

guards like they thought that was funny or something

okay okay it's time to reach out to the fans

folks Tim Silver's our super fan let Kevin know

if there's an ass crack watch the episode with

an eye for an ass crack anytime there's a scene

with guards Please look at their asses and tell

me if they actually show Like a plumber thing

going on there. I don't know it was disturbing

I swear I saw it, but I was so distracted by

the awfulness of this episode I forgot to pause

it and to get a screen capture for it and then

my other two things which are which are big on

on more towards the plot part of what's going

on here and and I kind of alluded to it already,

but number one They're way too heavy -handed

on the whole Beauty and the Beast moral. I get

that that's kind of what the theme is for this

episode and that's what you're trying to teach

people. You're trying to teach the kids here.

But over and over and over again throughout the

episode, they find the need to hammer it into

our heads again and again. It wasn't bad enough

that they named the episode Beauty and the Beast.

They couldn't come up with a better name. They

had to be like, look, we're gonna tell you the

story of Beauty and the Beast. We're not gonna

hide it. We're gonna actually name the fucking

episode that. And then throughout the episode,

again, again, and again, and again, hammering

that moral to us. It was heavy -handed. It was

off -putting. It took me completely out of the

episode. And then, of course, Prince Morriger

comes back from a damn kiss. Are you freaking

kidding me? And also an awkward kiss. It wasn't

like Tila was just like, oh, thanks for your

help. And she pecked him on the cheek. This is

from a back angle, so we can't really exactly

tell. But I swear to God, she's kissing him on

the lips, which doesn't make any sense. That's

not just, oh, you helped us out, I'm going to

give you a peck. Like, straight on lip to lip

kiss, which doesn't make any sense. We've never

seen Teela kiss anybody else like that. And then

Prince Moragor turns back into a strikingly Prince

Adam -like looking character, and everything

is good in the world. Again, I disagree with

the whole idea of having a Beauty and the Beast

moral, and then having The main character that

is supposedly ugly turn into somebody that's

looking good What I don't think that teaches

the moral I don't think that shows the lesson

that they found real beauty It's like you found

real whatever and now we're gonna turn you into

a good -looking person So you can just forget

about all that cuz now you're good -looking.

I fucking hate this episode I want to remind

everybody that you should really follow at pow

of grayskull on Twitter so you can see the outtakes

that I've just posted. Oh my god. Okay, so as

far as me, I know this is an epic. I know everyone's

probably sick of me saying this, but Whiplash,

again, get a new damn villain, damn it. Please,

anybody but Whiplash. This is his last appearance

so you don't have to worry about that. His last

appearance was the last time we did an episode.

Whiplash hater. Pretty much, yeah. Why the hell

is this guy even following Skeletor? Oh, right,

because Skeletor cursed him or whatever. When

he said that he works for Skeletor, I thought

it was going to be something that we got from

Season 1. There was one villain that said he

worked for Skeletor, even though we never saw

Skeletor in that episode. Now, this episode is

meh. Just meh. A sad ripoff of Beauty and the

Beast. Meh, it's not good enough. And now that

I hear you, and I hear you explain this, that

this is not a good lesson, my last note here

was to kind of overall wrap it up and have us

eventually head to our next section here, but

it said overall this episode has a good lesson,

but the plot is stale, old, and re - and so re

-used. And even now, Yeah, the lesson sucks,

I can't even say that it's a good lesson anymore

Yeah Nothing we need to we need to hand out some

awards and rankings on this piece of shit Excellent

whiplash! Go to it! Uh -oh, we've got company,

Battle Cat! Alright, it's time for awards and

rankings for Beauty and the Beast. I'll let you

go first, sir. Any Havoc staff or Power Swords?

The writer. Havoc staff, that's pretty much...

Because I actually can't fault any of the characters

for anything that they... Okay, yes, we all know

and we agree that this is a bad episode and this

is a bad storyline and a bad plot and shitty

execution, but nothing that any of the core characters

that we've talked about in the past 39 episodes

of this podcast... Did anything completely egregious

for me to give them a Havoc staff, right? But

the writer most other I don't ever want to see

this guy ever again. Um What about uh, what about

you i'm gonna give him one and i'm also gonna

give the director one so writer director anybody

that was involved in the behind the scenes decision

making of this episode gets a Havoc staff because

it's awful And rating sir, what do you give this

one? I'm pretty sure we're gonna pretty much

say the same thing Jack could not get the giant

goose eggs as much as this episode does Goose

egg for you? Pretty much Even though there is

some nice sword swinging with that's one scene

out of the whole thing And even though cyclone

did show up and he was pretty cool the overall

plot takes away from both of those really cool

things because it is so horrible so straight

zero yeah you know i almost just put the cool

castle and the assault on the palace and cyclone

and this that and the other would like to give

it a point but i just can't to zero oh zero this

episode sucks all right let's move on than Snake

Mountain. Good, it's about time we went into

business for ourselves. Yeah, now it's time to

show King Randor who's boss. All right, it's

time for episode 118 Orko's return written by

J. Larry Carroll, air date of Thursday, November

22nd, 1984. Beastjaw and Trapjaw have acquired

the amble crystal of Malacca. Wait, wait, wait,

wait, wait, stop. Did you say Beastjaw and Trapjaw?

Beastman and Trapjaw. No, that's not what you

said. You said Beastjaw. I heard that. It's in

the recording. Love to find that. Don't believe

it until I hear it. have acquired the Amber Crystal

of Malaka and decide to go into business for

themselves. After conjuring up a fortress, they

summon Orko by magic and hold him for ransom.

A lot of ransom going on today, guys. Meanwhile,

He -Man and Man -at -Arms travel to the original

owners of the crystal, the insect -like Poultie.

Bad guys we have Beastman and Trapjaw, they do

mention Evil -In, and the regular masters, and

the Orko, or the PSA is Orko. talking about uh

today's show where you saw him playing tricks

on his enemies all sorts of tricks and it was

pretty funny but sometimes people try to play

tricks on each other for fun well it isn't lots

of times a trick can scare our friends or even

hurt them so play it safe and leave the tricks

to the pros like me What? Anyways, yeah, so we

have a couple different things here We have the

whole ransom angle again obviously with one of

the masters being held ransom But then we also

have the whole idea of beastman and trap job

going out on their own and doing this kind of

going into business for themselves as I said

and trying to take over or you know Give themselves

something to use for leverage. So what do you

think about or it goes return episode? I keep

saying return, but it is revenge Orko is not

a Jedi, he can get revenge if he wants to. Return

of Orko's revenge. I like this one. I thought

this was a lot of comedy. I thought it was pretty

refreshing compared to the shitty episode we

just talked about. It was funny because Orko

saw the silver lighting in what they were telling

him. Because they told him you have to do whatever

we say and he basically This might be the one

episode out of a hundred and thirty that orko

is the smartest character in the room during

his scenes Because he's pretty much setting them

up Just absolutely love it. Yeah, I mean don't

ever cross orko people. Yeah fans of orko would

definitely I appreciate this episode. He does

get to do all his hijinks and whatnot. I do like

the angle of Beastman and Trapjaw. You know,

we've had this before. It's not like it's the

first time it's happened, but I do like the idea

of them going out on their own and trying to

do something, you know, without Skeletor's consent.

So I mean, I have some questions about the execution,

but as far as the plot goes, I don't necessarily

have a problem with it. It's not something I'm

like excited and jumping out of my chair for,

but it's not something I'm like, Oh God, here

we go again. So it's something that I'm kind

of just in the middle of the road and it depends

on the execution on how I'm going to like this

one or not. So absolutely all right, so let's

make our way to Castle Grayskull for hopefully

more moments than we had with our last episode

all right it's time for the castle grayskull

moments of episode one hundred and eighteen i'll

start because i'm like that uh... the minions

going out on their own like i said i like that

uh... cool cage for orco and that kind of looks

sweet as as they animated you know as they as

they animated that scene and that look so i thought

that was pretty cool I like the idea of them

using the communication ball. That was definitely

sci -fi -ish. Mr. Trap -John, see? I like that

they did the big boss voice for that. They made

a reference to the Roast Google, which we've

had in a prior episode, so yay for continuity.

Oracle Plane Semantics, as far as... You know,

obviously he had to do whatever they said, but

I like that they made it, you know, into a word

game where he was taking literal things or this,

that, and the other and taking advantage. That

was fun to try to play along with him and see

what he was going to do. And I like the fact

that Trap, John Beastman proved they aren't leader

material. No, not at all. What do you like about

this one? I just love seeing Trap, John Beastman

interact with each other. This is just hilarious.

Lots and lots of magical brushes and then trap

jaws like I've got a bad fully trap John knows

in the back of his mind He knows like this is

not going to end well for them, right? and when

they asked for magical brushes when beastman

asked for magical brushes to Constantly brushes

for all as I can think of is the scene from sword

in the stone when Merlin has The mops and the

brooms and everything going down in the kitchen.

That's all I can think of with these magical

brushes. Just, oh yeah, track. We need more attack

track. That's what we need. Just hang on. Let

me do the driving. I didn't remember going into

this whole venture how much of a character the

attack track actually was. Oh man, he... He's

such a character. But that's all I got. Alright,

so some good things about this episode? Maybe

some bad things too though, so let's get to Snake

Mountain. Alright folks so the bad parts about

this episode number one how they trap or go I

Don't understand the science or the logic or

the physics behind that Yeah, they didn't really

explain that too. Well with the whole gem of

morg or whatever the hell it is also How did

trap jaw and beastman come across this amber

crystal? I? Wish they would have shown they they

didn't show it, but they explained it they stole

it from the Polio poliosis people or whatever

the hell it is, right? I would say you know spent

a little more time on the beginning Maybe showing

them actually stealing it from them or something

and and how did beastman and trap dog get in

that place? So that they were there and they

built the castle they conjured up the castle

thing fortress around them Otherwise there was

no way to get out How did they get in? And then

it was a conjuring around them because when it

disappeared it was just them in the open it wasn't

any like Yeah, and why I don't understand why

they couldn't get out at one point either But

I don't know like there was some physics parts

of this that I don't really Like the physics

of that he man rescue made no sense Well, you

know like like when when have we ever I mean

118 episodes when have we ever agreed with or

or sided with the science of the man for crap

sake His rest here this one made absolutely no

sense There was a lame ending as far as the animation

on the laughing Like usual also there was a scene

where beastman's forehead was white So they messed

up the painting on that one but mainly just the

whole idea of this fortress and I don't think

they were consistent with What could be done

and what couldn't be done and the physics behind

this whole thing? So I did have some issues with

the execution of this It was it threw me off

a couple different times watching through this

episode. What about you? He transforms in the

open. He doesn't go behind a rock. He doesn't

do the like How like when they are standing it's

at the scene where they get to the the Tower

Palace, whatever the hell the Beast jaws castle

and He's just standing there and he transforms

how do they not see him? Right, how do they not

see Adam becoming? And then you know you mentioned

the rescue and I have to kind of piggyback off

of that the cliff where the baby bug is it crumbled

Just before he landed on it So how did he man

know that his weight along with the little buggies

weight was gonna support? Be supported by that

cliff before he tarz and off the damn thing.

It was bad. It was just horrible So not a perfect

episode. Did you have any other specifics? All

right, then let's see how this one plays out

because there's definitely some good and some

bad about this one I can only use my magic to

do exactly what you say, huh? That's right. Exactly.

Okay, so what exactly do you want me to do, Master?

First things first. We need some food, slave.

Yeah, conjure up a table and some food for us.

No, no, a real feast. That's what we want. All

right, it's time for the awards and rankings

for episode 118 orkos return Revenge revenge.

Why do I want to keep saying return because I

wrote that in the script probably Anyways orkos

revenge and since he is getting his revenge.

I will give a power sword to orko Absolutely

same here. Yeah, anybody else Gotta give a havoc

staff to he man just brain him in the head with

it because he should have found a way to like

he jumped off of the wind Raiders wing and landed

pretty hard on that already shaky ground like

why couldn't they have just Flown closer to the

thing leaned it over like they did where he jumped

off the wing and just have him hold out, you

know just have him hang off the wing and just

rescue the little bug that way instead of jumping

off the vehicle onto an unstable platform. So,

Havoc staff for E -Man. Fair enough. And how

many orcos for this episode? See, that's where

I find myself at a conundrum here. Even though

there's a lot of bad things in this episode,

Beast... Beastman and Trish... You ass! You started

this shit! Uh, Beastman and Trapjaw's comedy

with Orko kinda wins me over for the entire episode,

so while I do agree that the execution of certain

things are horrible, the comedy in this one wins

out for me. I get to give it a four. All right,

I'm sorry I know I'm probably crazy for doing

that but it was pretty damn funny a little high

for my liking I couldn't get past some of the

other things they Brought it down more than they

did for you. So I will set right at the middle

here I'll even give it a three so had some good

had some bad so that for me puts it right in

the middle at a number three battle cats out

of five so That means it is time for the final

episode today, so let's make our way to episode

119 and see who these visitors are from Earth.

Just hang on. The light is blinding. I can't

see. Check your computer. Whatever hit us pulled

us way off course. It did more than pull us off

course. I think we're blown... If we're not Earth's

solar system, where are we? Mark, I think we

just entered some sort of other galaxy. Are you

sure? I'm not sure of anything. I just know we're

someplace I've never seen before. Well, wherever

we are, we've got to find that meteor again.

How do we do that? Our computer's not working,

and I can't plot a course without it. Mark, the

sensors are working again. There's a planet below

us! The readings indicate that there's life down

there. Coordinates 9 -9 -0 -0. Let's hope we

can find it. Well, you should have excellent

weather for your trip, Adam. Oh, I wish I had...

What kind of ship is that? I don't know, but

whatever it is, it's in trouble. You found the

life forms, Colonel. But how do we know if they're

friendly? We don't, Andrea, but you're going

to find out. Me? How? You're going to eject.

Won't you need me up here? No, it's going to

be a rough landing. I won't risk it with you

here. And with what we've got on board, I can't

risk landing anywhere near those below. What

can I do to help? Well, pray that I find a...

Nice, soft landing spot. Head to north. That

will be your best chance. Activate your homing

device. I'll contact you when and if I land.

Happy landing, Andrea. 1984, my third birthday.

Two Earth astronauts on a mission to destroy

a magnetic meteor about to collide with Earth

are sucked into a time portal and end up near

Eternia instead. To complicate matters, Skeletor

seizes the missile intended to destroy the meteor

and attempts to use it to blow up Castle Grayskull.

We have Beast Man, Evil In, Skeletor, Screech,

and Too Bad. And first appearance right and we

well according to which order you watch it yes

And then we have the Masters the regular ones

obviously and the PSA was from Queen Marlena

today's story was make -believe You know that

earth was never really in any danger But you

can still learn something very important from

today's adventure are we afraid to tell anybody

that earth would ever be in danger Andrea would

never have accomplished their mission if he meant

his friends had not joined together to help them

helping others is a wonderful thing and when

you do you're really also helping yourself you

see for one thing it makes you feel good and

Who knows? The next time, you may be the one

who needs the help. So yeah, don't worry kids,

Earth is never in danger. But what did you think

about the visitors from Earth Angle here with

this plot? I liked it. I thought it was interesting.

I thought Skeletor turned into a dumbass the

entire episode, though. We'll get to that later.

I thought the episode was interesting because

of the fact that we do get to see other people

from Earth and the fact that they actually do

remember and know who Marlena is because they

tied into the whole space program. You'll have

to remind me, who wrote Rainbow Warrior? Rainbow

Warrior, that was a while ago. That was Bob...

Bob Forward? Yes, Bob Forward and Leslie Nielsen.

Mostly Nelson. Oh, no, I don't think lieutenant

Frank driven wrote Okay They pretty much kind

of pick up not directly where that leaves off

But they pick up the the bits of the storyline

So I like that part of the continuity of the

overall plot of the series so they don't just

forget about Marlena, you know being from earth

and I mean hell even even he man says something

about it later in the episode which we'll talk

about I like this one. I thought it was really

interesting. I thought it was fun thought it

was pretty cool at the same time There are a

lot of technical things wrong with this episode

Yeah, there's a few which we'll get to for sure

But I definitely like the idea of this whole

earth connection and expanding on what we already

saw in Rainbow Warrior So I'm all for the plot

on this one. It's actually somewhat excited for

it So we'll have to see how it all played out

as we get to Castle Grayskull for the final time

today. But tell us, why are you here? I take

it your ship is in trouble. Yes, and my commander

stayed with it. He's trying to save the ship.

Why didn't he eject? He just couldn't. You see,

we are Earth's only hope. What do you mean, Earth's

only hope? For years, people from Earth have

been sending satellites and rockets into space

for protection and space exploration. Most of

these could not be brought back and were left

to drift in space But astronomers recently discovered

a magnetic meteor hurtling towards earth Its

magnetic force is attracting any dead satellite

or rocket in or near its path. The meteor is

becoming enormous and Deadly, what do you mean

deadly if that meteor crashes into earth? It

will destroy our planet So your mission was to

destroy the meteor before it hit Earth. For the

last time, Castle Grayskull about visitors from

Earth. First of all, I love the idea of connecting

with Earth. Again, picking up from where Rainbow

Warrior left off, so I like the continuity angle

there. Also, Marlena Glenn is apparently her

last name on Earth. Any relation to John Glenn?

No, I don't think so. But yeah, the legendary

astronaut Marlena Glenn. if you're wondering

what her last name is or if you're playing a

human trivia game at some point in your life

uh... too bad and spike or uh... is cool seeing

as i didn't mention spiker before because apparently

he's not supposed to be in this episode but uh...

we'll talk about that in a little bit but uh...

yet definitely like seeing too bad and spiky

or and screech and uh... i like the idea that

they were playing games uh... that was a cool

little angle too so what about you what do you

like for visitors from earth um you like too

bad yeah i love that too bad is there you like

earth oh that's king hiss is not in this episode

anyway um uh the funniest moments in the episode

are with too bad and beastman that's just hilarious

because you technically have three people arguing

and then I didn't feel sorry for him, but I thought

it was hilarious when Beastman dropped a rock

on his foot. And He -Man. He -Man had the line

this episode. A nice, safe, empty place, huh,

Skeletor? Talking about Skeletor's brain. Nice.

Absolutely love that. Like I said, I love seeing

too bad. I love the whole thing with the continuity,

as I already said before. Other than that...

Uh, you know, I love the line with He -Man where

he says, oh, so that's where my mother is from.

And, uh, Mark or whatever the other, the other

astronauts, they go, what'd you say? Oh, nothing,

just talking to myself. Right. I did, I did like

that. Um, I do like that we finally get to see

earth in the series instead of attorney and just

looking like a earth copycat. Um, come on now,

you know, that looks like north and south. It

does. So well you had mentioned that you had

mentioned some things that weren't good about

this episode or some mistakes So let's see exactly

what you're talking about. Let's get this thing

Wait, stop. Before we enter Snake Mountain, I

meant to mention this in my Castle Grayskull

moments, folks. When was this? A couple years

ago. MattyCollector .com, Mattel, and all that

stuff put out a Masters of the Universe Classics

Convention exclusive Queen Marlena. She came...

as she started off as a collection, a convention

exclusive, and then she was eventually in the

mattycollector .com shop. She came at the convention

in the space suit, and she was being sold online

after that in her queen suit. Basically same

figure, except it has, it's an interchangeable

outfit things. I actually had this character

when I was collecting toys, and the Marlena Glenn

thing with the whole space suit, I thought it

was hilarious, I thought it was awesome, but

I... Loved having the real King Randor Marlena

Adam on the whole family adore. It was so cool

And she she actually comes with a baby cringer

Well, there were some terrible landing skills

on that ship or that pilot that was not the most

graceful landing I've ever seen good lord And

how does Andrea or Andrea or however you said

her name in the episode? How does she know how

to pilot a sky sled? I Guess it's like riding

a bike if they teach that on earth somehow and

the the most obvious mistake in this episode

is a spike or is originally in this episode and

Then apparently disappears and turns into Beastman

Huh because it's too bad in spike or Then spike

or it disappears and then from there on out.

It's too bad in Beastman Yeah, so I think the

comedy plays better with Beastman even though

it's a mistake though. Yeah, and There should

have been no knowledge that human was going to

launch the missile Like yeah, the one character,

you know, he didn't know he man was going to

launch the missile so That was just a weird Continuity

type thing within the episode but not too much

to hate. I mean just a couple flubs there here

and there but what about you? Mean I knew he

man was like as soon as he said oh, I'll take

care of that I It's obvious he man was gonna

launch the damn missile um I know we've complained

about this before, but I'm sorry Erica Shimer

I like most of your voice acting your voice for

Andrea is just Ears shatteringly bad Okay, so

when we Skeletor steals this bomb he sets it

to go off puts it at Castle Grayskull and then

they stand across the thing where the jaw bridge

is up they're not even 10 feet away why would

Skeletor stand there yeah he would be blown up

from the bomb he planted and then he's an idiot

because he shoots where He -Man is which hits

the missile and sends it into the into the abyss

Understand the idea of a bottomless pit and they

have used it before But if it was really a bottomless

pit wouldn't that mean that there's a hole in

the planet? Yeah Okay, and let's talk about time

I wish Doc Brown was here for this folks. They

have 49 minutes Okay, and then when they reach

earth, they only have three minutes left can

you say time paradise so you're telling me it

took it took them all that time it took them

46 minutes to get to earth and just barely have

enough time to blow the thing up god give me

a break and how how is he man breathing in space

nobody can breathe in space and let oh god This

actually the how is he man breathing in space

thing will come back for us at some point when

we get to myths of aetheria and the Shira reviews

because The sort of protection actually turns

into a space helmet for Shira I do remember that

from one of the episodes there. So but seriously,

how is he man breathing in space folks? I I just

don't fucking get it Yeah, it's a valid point.

Yeah But that's all I got Alright, then for the

final time, let's see how that all plays out

and what it equates to as far as awards and rankings.

Alright last time for awards and rankings any

power swords or havoc staffs to give out sir.

Um I gotta give another havoc staff to He -Man

because he needs a helmet in space as he'd be

dead Actually, you know what? I'm gonna give

a havoc staff to the dead corpse of He -Man folks.

The dead corpse of He -Man gets a havoc staff

Alright, I do have a power sword to give out

and that's to Andrea or Andrea or whatever. Why?

Because I thought she played a good role in this

Thought she was a key character in this whole

thing and I like the tie -ins with it So she

gets a power sword and you can't do anything

about it As far as ratings go you like this less

or more than last episode? Sadly a little bit

less three out of five forcos I just couldn't

get over some of the just The whole Bottomless

pit and skillet Skeletor should be a smarter

villain by now Yeah, I can see that I will disagree

with you though. I'm gonna flip -flop what we

did this last episode. I'm gonna give this one

a four I definitely think it was better Norco's

revenge Like the earth tie -ins like the continuity

with the rainbow warrior to this I think it makes

a good story overall good little story arc So

I can't give this one less than a four so four

out of five battle cats for me And with that,

that does it for today's episode, so we're going

to take a quick break and we'll be back with

our final thoughts. But you learned it well.

Hey, I'm Gary. I'm Mike. I'm Chuck. And I'm Justin.

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Download and listen today. I suppose I still

can't say something about Transformers, can I?

Good grief. What about sports? Yeah, that's alright.

You saw me playing tricks on my enemies. All

sorts of tricks. And it was pretty funny. But

sometimes people try to play tricks on each other

for fun. Well, it isn't. Lots of times a trick

can scare our friends or even hurt them. So play

it safe and leave the tricks to the pros like

me. Grab your helmets cuz it's time to assemble

mask mass mayhem is here with your host TF Joe

and Mike optimus solo and brand new host tune

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will run 30 podcast episodes you can find us

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spectrums ready as Podcasting is the ultimate

weapon today's story was make -believe You know

that earth was never really in any danger, but

you can still learn something very important

from today's adventure Andrea and colonel blaze

would never have accomplished their mission if

he man and his friends had not joined together

to help them Helping others is a wonderful thing

and when you do you're really also helping yourself

You see for one thing it makes you feel good.

Who knows the next time you may be the one who

needs the help All right. So we are at the point

now where we have 11 Episodes remaining in the

He -Man series or what? Do you think what are

you looking for in 11 final episodes? I want

three episodes by Larry DiTillio. I want two

episodes by J. Michael Straczynski And I want

a mixture of all of them among the remaining

six out of that like no other no name Only written

one episode writers. No No, no, no, no, no, I

want the core staff writing team to write the

remaining 11 episodes All right, that's what

I want all right I'm all for that I'm all for

seeing a couple more characters that we haven't

seen we're running Desperately out of time to

see any of the characters that we haven't seen

yet So I'm hoping they make appearances and they're

not toy only characters, but maybe they're I

mean I'm sure there was some of those so um i'm

just looking to see who will show up in these

final 11 episodes and hopefully i was i was hoping

to see the origin of too bad like how like i

i think i could be wrong people correct me in

the comments i think they do do that in the 2000x

series um i could be wrong though but like i

i don't know i think it's too late in the game

to bring like if they had Replaced whiplash with

too bad every other time. I would have loved

it. It was too bad. It's just hilarious, right?

Okay, well I'm a to looking for like I said as

many characters as possible to cram in these

last 11 episodes and let's end this like the

rest of season 2 has been and not like these

last Three episodes have been I need some some

high quality episodes. So that's what I'm looking

for. Yeah, we're winding down Pretty much. Yeah

You never sent me the damn script so I don't

have the outro. Yeah, I did a long time ago.

No you didn't I'll just do it. Tales of Eteria

40 I have 35 and 39. I'll just read one of those.

Hold on. Just do it yourself. So thank you for

listening to Tales of Eternia, and if you'd like

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Start winding down season 2 discussing episodes

120 121 and 122, Monster on the Mountain, The

Magic Falls, and Search for a Sun. For now, I'm

Optimus Solo with J .F .J. and Mike, by the powers

of Grayskull. Until next time, you all have the

power.