A Tale of Two Cities

A Tale of Two Cities is the 31st episode of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, written by Richard Pardee and directed by Marsh Lamore. He-Man is drawn into a dispute between the cities of Operon and Targa, where He-Man is thought to be merely a legend.

Moral
He-Man: "I hope you enjoyed today's adventure. You know, television is not the only way to be entertained by an exciting story. There is another way. It's called 'reading'. And one of the wonderful things about books is that they allow you to choose whatever kind of adventure you like. A trip with an astronaut, an adventure with the great detective Sherlock Holmes, a comedy, anything. You can find it in a book at your school or neighborhood library. Why, I'll bet there are even some good books right in your own home, just waiting to be read."

Heroic Warriors

 * Prince Adam
 * Battle Cat
 * Cringer
 * He-Man

Allies

 * Garn
 * Princess Rhea
 * King Thales

Villains

 * Queen Balina
 * Draca
 * Gargon Warriors

Locations

 * Operon
 * Targa

Cast

 * John Erwin as He-Man/Prince Adam and Gargon Warrior
 * Alan Oppenheimer as Battle Cat/Cringer and Draca
 * Linda Gary as Princess Rhea and Queen Balina
 * Lou Scheimer (credited as Erik Gunden) as Garn, Gargon Warrior and King Thales

Behind the Scenes

 * Script was approved on April 4, 1983.
 * This story was an adaption of the episode "Tarzan and the City of Gold" from the Filmation production "Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle" (1976) and was in turn partially adapted into a mini-comic that came with several Masters of the Universe action figures. Titled Slave City!, it was written by Michael Halperin and illustrated by Larry Houston. In this version, Queen Balina and Draca are replaced by a single villain, Lodar. The Gargon Warriors are called Kobolds and Princess Rhea is renamed Rana. Garn and the city of Targa retain the same names, but there is no city of Operon. Instead, Princess Rana is the rightful ruler of Targa.
 * Originally, Gorgon's guards from The Defection were going to be reused as Queen Balina's warriors.
 * In the script, Queen Balina had an evil-looking leopard called Sultar as a pet. Sultar was held on a diamond-studded leash and would cower behind the Queen's throne upon being frightened by Battle Cat's mighty roar.
 * After He-Man and Garn save the city of Targa, Queen Balina and Draca are nowhere to be seen, while King Thales appears to be holding court in Targa rather than in his own city of Operon. He is seen putting a helmet on Garn's head in the Queen's throne room while the Gargon guards look on. The original script featured a piece of dialogue that would have explained Garn was being inaugurated as the new king of Targa here.

Continuity

 * He-Man dodges a Gargon warrior and then picks him up. This same animation was used for him dodging and throwing Mer-Man in Diamond Ray of Disappearance and Evil-Lyn's Plot.
 * Garn's character model was reused as a blacksmith in One for All.
 * The animation of Garn trying to break free from He-Man's grip was first used in Diamond Ray of Disappearance, at which time it was He-Man trying to break free from Tri-Klops. It was used once again in It's Not My Fault, this time with Rago's guard trying to escape from Man-At-Arms' grip.
 * King Thales' character model was used again as King Duplis in the She-Ra: Princess of Power episode The Mines of Mondor.
 * He-Man twice promises that he'll be back to visit Targa (and presumably, Operon since he also adresses Princess Rhea). While there never was another story featuring these locations, Prince Adam and Man-At-Arms do mention an off-screen visit to Garn in Targa in Happy Birthday Roboto.

Errors

 * When He-Man throws a Gargon Warrior into a pool of mud, the horns on his helmet are gone when he emerges.
 * When Garn and He-Man race towards the trap Battle Cat is stuck in, for once shot that shows their legs running towards the camera, He-Man is holding his Power Sword in his hand. In the shots preceding and following it, the sword is on his back.
 * Battle Cat is trapped in a pit trap and twice do we get a sense of how deep it is during a panning shot. When He-Man and Garn rescue Battle Cat by forming a human ladder, the trap is suddenly much less deep than it was before.
 * A Gargon guard hands He-Man back his Power Sword. In the next shot, He-Man is shown holding up his arm with it as if he had to reach up to grab it rather than from below.

The He-Man and She-Ra Blog

 * A brief review #031 - "A Tale of Two Cities"
 * Hello, gentlemen!
 * FILMATION FEBRUARY - DAY: 4