Castle of Heroes

Castle of Heroes is the 57th episode of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, written by Mel Gilden and directed by Ernie Schmidt. Skeletor's old friend Monteeg visits Eternia to add He-Man to his collection of powerful warriors from history.

Moral
Prince Adam: "Orko certainly had an exiting lesson in history today. Of course chances are most of you won't have the same opportunity to meet any of those famous people who lived long ago. But even so, remember that just like you, they were very real. For the most part, the people we read about in history books lead pretty exciting lives. And that's why, to me, history is like, well, it's like a great adventure story. And the best part is that it really happened. Well, see you soon."

Heroic Warriors

 * Prince Adam
 * He-Man
 * Orko
 * Teela
 * Man-At-Arms (mentioned)

Allies

 * Blackbeard
 * Hannibal

Animals

 * Herc

Evil Warriors

 * Clawful
 * Skeletor
 * Evil-Lyn (cameo)

Villains

 * Monteeg
 * Orro (mentioned)
 * Ringus (mentioned)
 * Signus (mentioned)

Others

 * Good King Archibald (mentioned)
 * Ice Trolls (mentioned)

Locations

 * Eternos - Royal Palace
 * Ice Mountains - Needle Mountain
 * Polonia
 * Snake Mountain

Vehicles

 * Wind Raider

Cast

 * John Erwin as He-Man/Prince Adam and Blackbeard
 * Alan Oppenheimer as Skeletor / Monteeg and Hannibal
 * Linda Gary as Teela
 * Lou Scheimer (credited as Erik Gunden) as Orko and Clawful

Behind the Scenes

 * Script was approved May 12, 1983 and final script revision took place June 27, 1983.
 * Mel Gilden was suggested as a writer by Michael Reaves. He based the name 'Monteeg' on the character of Montag from Ray Bradbury's book Fahrenheit 451.
 * Tom Sito provided the storyboards and animated the sequence of He-Man ripping the gate from the wall and throwing it out of shot. He also suggested designs from Hannibal and Blackbeard that were much more historically accurate and was disappointed with their final appearance.

Continuity

 * The animation of Evil-Lyn seen on Skeletor's viewer is reused from Diamond Ray of Disappearance.
 * The animation of He-Man pulling the gate from its hinges and throwing it was reused in The Gamesman and reanimated for a sequence in an episode of Filmations BraveStarr titled Thoren the Slavemaster.
 * The location of Polonia was previously seen as Stardica in Like Father, Like Daughter will be seen again as the Weather Station in The Ice Age Cometh and as Station Zeta in Happy Birthday Roboto.
 * The animation of He-Man chopping a rock with his magic sword will be seen again in Monster on the Mountain.
 * When J. Michael Straczynski wrote the updated series bible for season two, he suggested that the character designed created for Blackbeard could be reused for a new character named 'Lasar the Space Pirate'.

The He-Man and She-Ra Blog

 * A brief review #057 - "Castle of Heroes"
 * He knows what to do!
 * Happy Birthday He-Man #6 - You Clod!
 * Happy Birthday He-Man #22 - Cute characters!