The Problem with Power

The Problem With Power is the 110th episode of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. Based on an idea by Tom Tataranowicz, it was written by Bob Forward and Leslie Wilson and directed by Gwen Wetzler.

Synopsis
At Snake Mountain, Skeletor has summoned General Tataran of the Goblins to come. When the General comes in he tells Skeletor that "It is hard to resist one of your invitations when you say you have a way to finally defeat He-Man, I want to see that do gooder defeated just as much as you do!" After Trap Jaw is dismissed by Skeletor telling him to get out of the main room in Snake Mountain, Skeletor tells the general that he plans to build a dimensional gateway to the Goblin world to bring the General's army there. But as the gateway is to be constructed there will be an event that will defeat He-Man in a way he can not avoid. The General asks Skeletor "What is this Plan?" Skeletor then points out to the general that his kind does not have hearts involving being able to feel a pulse so Skeletor tells the General "This time He-Man is going to defeat Himself."

Meanwhile at the Royal Palace Duncan A.K.A Man at Arms and Prince Adam are reporting to King Randor that it has been detected that Skeletor is building a huge structure on the other side of the planet. King Randor asks "Where is this structure located at?" Duncan tells the king ."On the Crystal Sea near the village of Zak." Queen Marlena comments on how she has been to that village before. Then Duncan tells them that Skeletor is forcing the villagers to work for him. King Randor makes the comment " This is very strange, it is not like Skeletor to make his actions so noticeable." Adam then asks the question " What reason could he have for that?" Randor responds saying " I don't know" Then he tells Duncan to fly out to Zak and investigate. Duncan then leaves for the village with Prince Adam and Orko going along with him. When they arrive just outside of Zak  they notice how the structure is being built. Orko comments " I have never seen anything like it, can you figure out what it is?" Prince Adam comes to the conclusion it is a Dimensional Gate. Duncan then comments on how he has noticed the right side of the structure looks like it is not very safe with how the supports are so weak. Prince Adam then says "This looks like trouble, I better change." Adam then draws out the Sword of Power and shouts "By The Power of Grayskull, I have the Power!!!" and turns into He-Man.

Then when the screen zooms in on the construction site of the right side of the gate we see Skeletor and General Tataran standing there. Skeletor then says "Exellent, Exellent, That right side is booby trapped beautifully, The Slightest push will cause it to collapse!" Skeletor then asks General Tataran if he is ready and Tataran says "Let me test the Force Field." Tataran turns on the force field generator on his belt and when Skeletor asks him if it is working the general tells him "Give it a try!" So Skeletor takes his magic staff and tries to strike the general in the head but the force field deflects the ram skull at the top of the staff. Skeletor then tells the general "Turn it off for one Minute" When the general does so Skeletor fires a beam of magic changing the goblin general to look like a human man. The general then asks Skeletor "How do I look?'  Skeletor then says "Perfect, Perfect, Get ready now, Here comes He-Man!"  Then when He-Man gets there he just asks Skeletor "Why are you making these honest men do your work?" Skeletor responds saying " Honest Men do an Honest Day's work to avoid me destroying their village."  He-Man says " Why You!" Then Duncan comments "This structure is not safe someone could be injured!" Skeletor rudely responds saying "That's your opinion Tin Hat, Now go away I have things to do!" Orko then says "Well if you want my opinion this thing is almost as silly looking as Skeletor himself!"  Skeletor responds saying " Well who asked you!" and he fires a beam of magic from his right hand at Orko.  He-Man then says "That was a Big Mistake Skeletor!"  Skeletor Responds saying "Not as big of a mistake as you are about to make He-Man!"  Then Skeletor fires two beams of magic from his hands toward He-Man and of course He-Man jumps to avoid them. Skeletor then starts to run and lure He-Man towards the unstable right side of the structure. When He-Man thinks he has Skeletor cornered he strikes the structure with is fist causing it to collapse. Duncan shouts "No!" but it was too late and the structure starts to fall. At that time General Tataran who is magically changed to look like a Human turns on his force field belt and the stone structure falls on him. As He-Man comes out from under the rubble thinking that Skeletor's plan is stopped he hears Orko and Duncan yelling for help because they are taking the rocks away from the area where they thought they saw an innocent man be covered by them who we all know is the General. As He-Man is removing the rocks off of General Tataran,The villagers are lining up watching. When He-Man removes the last large stone showing the body of a human laying there he says "Oh no!, What have I done?" He-Man trys to find a pulse and when he can not find one He-Man thinks he has killed an innocent man. Then Skeletor who has been off to the side and changed himelf to look human comes walking up and makes the statement " He was my brother, You have killed him!" With all the same and disgrace that He-Man feels he has brought onto himself he starts walking way in shame and goes to castle Grayskull. In the meantime Orko stayed around the village of Zak and saw after He-Man, Duncan, and the villagers left Skeletor and Tataran change back to their true forms. Orko notices this and because he says out loud "I have got to inform He-Man of this!" Skeletor then captures Orko and has him taken to the dungeons of Snake Mountain.

Back at Grayskull He-Man who is in strong shame holds up the sword of power and says " Let the Power Return" and he is changed back into Prince Adam. Then Adam drops the sword down into the bottomless pit that surrounds Grayskull. Meanwhile at Snake mountain Skeletor brags to Orko that is plan is working perfectly because with He-Man out of the way he will be completing the dimensional gate and bringing the Goblin Army there to take over Eternia. Back at the Royal Palace Teela reports that Skeletor has begun reconstruction of the gateway and since they know that He-Man can not be summoned due to the shame she takes a time bomb with her and flies off to the village of Zak. Then after a while of trying different magic spells it comes into Orko's mind to shrink himself down in size so he can just fly right through the bars of the cell and get back to the palace. When Orko sees Adam standing on a balcony in shame he changes himself to his normal size and tells the Prince that i was all a dirty trick by Skeletor and Tataran, that nobody really died. Then Adam gets his pride back and goes on a sky sled into the abyss and when he gets caught in bad winds he falls deep down into the bottomless pit. Fortunately Adam lands on a giant spider web and just as it looks like he is going to become food for the spider he looks to his left  side and right there is the Sword of Power. He reaches for it and when he finally gets it he shouts "By the Power of Grayskull!" and becomes He-man again After escaping the Spider He-Man then says "Now for Skeletor, The Dimensional Gate, and Teela!"

Meanwhile at the village of Zak as Teela is approaching she notices that Skeletor and Tataran have completed the gate and are getting several legions of the Goblin army to come though. Then when some of the goblin soldiers capture her Teela insists they take her to Skeletor. The goblins take her and when Skeletor looks up he says "Well, Well, Well, what have we here?" One of the goblins responds saying " A Spy Skeletor, we found her sneaking around so we brought her to you" Then Skeletor says " Well Captain Teela this is a surprise, Have you come to surrender to the forces of Skeletor?" When Teela gets near Skeletor she tries to bluff him and warn him that if she activates the timer on the bomb that it will go off in five minutes. General Tataran sees the bomb and tells his goblin forces to get out of there because bombs are the one main thing he fears. Skeletor shouts "No you cowards, come back here!  Teela then tells Skeletor "You have four minutes left Skeletor!"  Skeltor responds saying " I don't need four minutes my dear captain as for you!" He then fires a beam at Teela causing her to fall down and drop the bomb.  Just then He-Man shows up on a Sky Sled.   Both Teela and Skeletor are shocked to see He-Man again.  First thing He-Man says is "Well looks like I got here just in time."  Skeletor then comments "I had thought my little trick would have made you go away permenantly, but no matter I will take care of you now!"  Skeletor starts to point his right hand toward He-man as he is drawing out the sword of power from behind his back.  All of a sudden Skeletor starts hearing some beeping and says " What is That?"  Teela responds that Skeletor's ray must of damaged the timer on the bomb and that it is set to go off now!  Skeletor then says "It should be quite a blast, I shall leave you two to enjoy the fireworks!" Skeletor then jumbs on the sky sled and rides off. Teela then asks He-man " What are we going to do?" He-Man responds "Only one thing we can do, Run for it!" Then He-Man picks up Teela in his arms and starts running as fast as he can to get as far away from the bomb before it blows. When the explosion happens all of the goblin army had gotten magically teleported back to their world and a huge amount of rocks came down on both He-Man and Teela. When He-Man looks down he starts thinking the worst that Teela might be dead. But when Teela wakes up in his arms she says "Oh, I must of bumped my head." Then she suggests they go home. He-Man then starts carrying her in his arms. Teela then says " He-Man you can put me down now"  But He-Man says " If you don't feel up to walking I can carry you back." Then the show ends with the most romantic ending because He-Man is shown carrying Teela off into the sunset.

Moral
Man-At-Arms: "I want to talk to you today about safety. Accidents don't just happen to ohter people, they can happen to you too. But you can do some things to help prevent accidents from happening. Using a savety belt when riding in a car can save your life or prevent you from being seriously hurt. Now I know you've been told never to play with matches, because if you do you're playing with fire. And fire can burn your toys, your home, your family, you. So use your common sense and think about what you're doing. It's better to be safe than sorry."

Heroic Warriors

 * Prince Adam
 * He-Man
 * Man-At-Arms
 * Orko
 * Teela

Allies

 * Queen Marlena
 * King Randor
 * Sorceress (cameo)

Evil Warriors

 * Skeletor
 * Trap Jaw

Villains

 * General Tataran

Locations

 * Castle Grayskull
 * Crystal Sea
 * Eternos
 * Zak

Vehicles

 * Sky-Sled
 * War-Sled

Equipment

 * Mesotronic Bomb
 * Dimensional Gate

Cast

 * John Erwin as He-Man/Prince Adam
 * Alan Oppenheimer as Skeletor and Man-At-Arms
 * Linda Gary as Teela, the Sorceress and Queen Marlena
 * Lou Scheimer (credited as Erik Gunden) as Orko, King Randor, General Tataran, Trap Jaw and various unnamed Goblins

Behind the Scenes

 * Script was approved July 12, 1984 and final script revision took place September 26, 1984.
 * Tom Tataranowicz based the idea of He-Man throwing the Sword of Power into the abyss on a Prince Valiant comic in which Valiant threw away his singing sword.
 * When developing the story, Tom Tatarantowicz wanted He-Man to actually kill an innocent bystander by accident; however, Filmation bosses felt that this idea was far too extreme for a kids' cartoon, so the plot was adjusted accordingly.
 * Writer Bob Forward included the character of General Tataran from The Arena because the General's name was based on that of Tataranowicz.
 * An early draft of the script included a line from King Randor referring to General Tataran's first appearance, in which he stated that the Royal Guard had handled the Goblins before.
 * The village of Zak in the Crystal Sea was named after Tom Tataranowicz's wife, whose maiden name is Zak.
 * The advancement of plot details such as He-Man questioning his right to wield such power without consequences, and the Teela/He-Man/Adam relationship gaining a major foothold, ranks it highly amongst fans as being worthy of a series finale, be it intentional or not.

Continuity

 * The animation of Orko recoiling when he realizes Skeletor tricked He-Man is reused from Masks of Power.
 * The sequence of Orko pacing back and forth across the floor was previously seen in Dree Elle's Return.
 * The design of the giant spider in the abyss was previously seen as Arakna in Fisto's Forest and will be used again as the Jawlik in Search for a Son.
 * The animation of He-Man landing on his feet after jumping from his Sky Sled was previously seen in Return of Evil.
 * The shot of Teela holding He-Man's shoulder was previously used in The Sleepers Awaken. A version in wich Teela is replaced by the Sorceress is seen in Origin of the Sorceress and yet another version in which Man-At-Arms takes the place of He-Man is seen in Orko's Return.

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