The Dragon Invasion

The Dragon Invasion is a first season episode of the animated television series He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, produced in 1983. Written by Michael Reaves, directed by Gwen Wetzler.

Synopsis
In Dragon Valley, Skeletor and Beast Man steal several of the Mother Dragon's eggs. When the Mother Dragon attacks, Beast Man's powers prove not to work on her, and Skeletor destroys the ground beneath the beast, causing her to fall into a ravine.

Meanwhile at the Royal Palace, Orko is entertaining the royal family during dinner, when a crashing sound is heard outside. The heroes investigate, and find a dragon's egg within the palace grounds. Before their eyes, the egg hatches and a baby dragon appears, growing to full size in a matter of seconds. and attacking the palace with gouts of flame. Teela takes the King and Queen to safety while Adam transforms, despite the falling debris, into He-Man. He and Battle Cat tackle the dragon with the help of the returning Teela and Ram Man. Man-At-Arms arrives with his new Stasis Ray just in time, freezing the dragon.

At Snake Mountain Skeletor revels in the chaos as baby dragons grow to full size, due to Skeletor's growth serum, all across Eternia. Teela and Orko take the Wind Raider and use the Stasis Ray to freeze another attacking dragon. Stratos reports that a dragon has invaded Avion and requests their aid. Skeletor and his Evil Warriors journey to Castle Grayskull under the cover of the attacks; upon arrival Skeletor challenges the Sorceress. With the aid of the Dragon Pearl, an artifact which magnifies Evil-Lyn's magic a hundredfold, they overwhelm the Sorceress and trap her within the pearl.

He-Man and his friends arrive at the castle just in time for Skeletor to seal Grayskull with a force field. He-Man has the idea of uniting the dragons to break the force field, so he and Teela head to Snake Mountain to confront Beast Man; by defeating him, all the dragons are now freed. He-Man sends Teela back to Grayskull with the dragons; the dragons unite and thrust their collective fire against Skeletor's force field, destroying it.

The Heroic Warriors attack Skeletor, but he escapes through a portal and retrieves the Dragon Pearl from Snake Mountain, where he had hidden it. He-Man confronts him, and the two battle outside the fortress; Skeletor uses the energy of the Pearl to enlarge himself. When, in the heat of the battle, he falls off the edge of a cliff, He-Man grabs his hand and saves his life. A dragon surprises Skeletor, and he drops the Dragon Pearl into Blood Falls. The villain makes a getaway, while the dragon dives into the falls and rescues the pearl. The dragon's fire burns through the Dragon Pearl and frees the Sorceress. He-Man and Zoar return to Castle Grayskull, where the dragons walk through a portal to return to their home.

Moral
Orko: "In today's story, Skeletor tried to conquer Eternia by using animals in an evil way. Animals, like all living things should be treated with kindness and respect. I hope that those of you who have a dog or cat or maybe even a hamster, remember that. When we have a pet we also have a responsibility because they depend on us. But you can be sure of one thing: however much we love them, they return that love, and more. Well, time for me to disappear, bye!"

Heroic Warriors

 * Prince Adam/He-Man
 * Cringer/Battle Cat
 * Man-At-Arms
 * Orko
 * Ram Man
 * Sorceress
 * Stratos
 * Teela
 * Zoar

Allies

 * King Randor
 * Queen Marlena

Allies

 * Mother Dragon

Evil Warriors

 * Beast Man
 * Evil-Lyn
 * Jitsu (only Filmation appearance)
 * Mer-Man (mentioned)
 * Panthor
 * Skeletor
 * Trap Jaw (non-speaking role)

Vehicles

 * Battle Ram
 * Sky-Sled
 * War-Sled
 * Wind Raider

Locations

 * Avion (mentioned)
 * Castle Grayskull
 * Dragonmount
 * Eternos
 * Royal Palace
 * Mystic Mountains (mentioned)
 * Slime Swamp (mentioned)
 * Snake Mountain

Technology

 * Stasis Ray

Artifacts

 * Dragon Pearl

Cast

 * John Erwin as He-Man/Prince Adam, Beast Man, and Ram Man
 * Alan Oppenheimer as Skeletor, Man-At-Arms, and Battle Cat
 * Linda Gary as Teela, Evil-Lyn, and the Sorceress
 * Erik Gunden as Orko, Stratos, Jitsu, and King Randor

Behind the Scenes

 * Script was approved December 10, 1982 and final script revision took place July 11, 1983.
 * This story was loosely based on a Filmation script premise titled 'Dragon Seeds' in which Beast Man commands a dragon to lay eggs across Eternia.
 * Jitsu was known as 'Chopper' in the script and Skeletor's War-Sled was called a 'Doom-Buggy'.
 * An early VHS release featured the original introduction sequence in which He-Man's narration refers to "The Evil Masters of the Universe" instead of "The Evil forces of Skeletor".
 * The original VHS release featured a shot of Zoar the falcon transforming into the Sorceress at the window of Castle Grayskull in sight of Skeletor and his warriors. This scene was corrected for the TV version.
 * Concept art by Charles Zembillas showed He-Man surrounded by many different dragon designs, one of which would be used for Morningstar in Battle of the Dragons. In addition, Red colored versions of the dragons from this story appear as one of two distinct types of dragon in Battle of the Dragons.

Continuity

 * The location of Dragonmount, from where the Dragon eggs are stolen, is used again as Dragon Valley in Disappearing Dragons.
 * The animation of Orko casting a spell before he created doubles of himself is seen again in Reign of the Monster when he is asked to distract the Torg guards
 * The shot of Prince Adam unsheathing his magic sword seen only in shadow would be used again in The Greatest Show on Eternia.
 * The sequence of the dragon attack on the Royal Palace would be recolored and used again for the Gryphon attack in Return of the Gryphon.
 * The shot of Skeletor sitting at the far end of the council table will be used again in The Good Shall Survive, with Webstor and Kobra Khan sitting at the table instead of Beast Man, Evil-Lyn, Jitsu and Trap Jaw.
 * The fight between the giant Skeletor and He-Man was duplicated shot for shot for a fight between He-Man and an Ice Hacker in The Dragon's Gift.
 * Man-At-Arm's Stasis Ray would appear again in Return of the Gryphon as a Freeze Ray Cannon.
 * The downward looking shot of Snake Mountain's Blood Falls was previously used as the abyss surrounding Castle Grayskull in The Shaping Staff.
 * Footage of Ram Man fighting a dragon is watched on a viewscreen by the Game Master in Pawns of the Game Master. However, this time it is daytime whereas the original was set at night.

Errors

 * Orko is conjuring up a plate of food from his chest, He-Man's arm reaches out to take it from him, even though it is Prince Adam who is sitting at the table.
 * He-Man picks up a dragon and throws it. In the next shot, when the dragon has landed, it is facing the opposite way.
 * When Skeletor holds up the Dragon Pearl in his throne room and the camera zooms in, one of four bone-shaped spokes on his chest piece is missing.
 * During the wide shot of the Evil Warriors standing in the Sorceress Throne Room, Trap Jaw's mechanical arm is on the wrong side: its on his left while it should be on his right.
 * In two scenes, as characters are flying in the Wind Raider, a control stick is visible sticking up from the dashboard, yet none of the heroic warriors is holding on to it to steer the vehicle.
 * After one of the dragons is trapped in a cave by a large rock, as it sticks it's head out, the rock appears to be slowly sinking into the ground.
 * When Skeletor, Beast Man, Evil-Lyn, Jitsu and Trap Jaw are sitting around the council table at Snake Mountain, the black highlights on Evil-Lyn's headdress are colored purple by mistake.
 * When the Sorceress is being pulled into the Dragon Pearl, her headdress is missing all of the orange and most of the blue highlights. The same shot is shown in reverse when she is set free.
 * After He-Man is reminded of what Adam said about teamwork, Ram Man is standing behind him, looking over He-Man's shoulder. In the shots before and after, Ram Man is much too short to reach that high.
 * Man-At-Arms uses his new Stasis Ray to freeze a dragon, holding it with both hands. When the Heroic Warriors walk up to the frozen dragon, Man-At-Arms's hands are hanging by his side in the wide angle. Yet in the following close-up are still holding the Stasis-Ray.
 * After the Dragons join forces with the heroic warriors, Man-At-Arms eyebrows switch between orange and black.
 * When He-Man pins Beast Man against the wall of Snake Mountain with a piece of fallen debris, his scabbard is the same color as his sword instead of the same color as his harness.

The He-Man and She-Ra Blog

 * A brief review #009 - "The Dragon Invasion"
 * Don Manuel's Mother Dragon.
 * Strongarm was Chopper?! #1
 * Strongarm was Chopper?! #2
 * FILMATION FEBRUARY - DAY: 24
 * TV spot alternate takes #2
 * TV spot alternate takes #3
 * TV spot alternate takes #4
 * Freed by the power!
 * Skeletor's crazy laugh!
 * 30 YEARS - Top 30 GREATEST MOMENTS #22
 * "The Dragon Invasion" Skeletor layout.
 * "The Dragon Invasion" He-Man layout.
 * Birthday Blog #2 - That's not the abyss!
 * Extended fight scene! #1
 * Extended fight scene! #2
 * Panini sticker album art #42