A Beastly Sideshow

A Beastly Sideshow is the 15th episode of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. Beast Man captures Cringer to lure a real trap at a dark fortress called "Snake Mountain".

Synopsis
A carnival arrives at the Royal Palace and Prince Adam, Cringer, Man-At-Arms, Teela, and Orko are all in attendance.

Moral
He-Man: "Today I want to talk to you about courage. Now courage not only means being brave in the face of danger, it also meanshaving the strength to say 'no' when your friends are trying to talk you into doing something you know is wrong. In short, courage means having principles and sticking to them, no matter what. See you all again soon."

Features

 * Heroic Warriors
 * Prince Adam/He-Man
 * Battle Cat
 * Cringer/Battle Cat
 * Man-At-Arms
 * Orko
 * Teela


 * Evil Warriors
 * Beast Man
 * Evil-Lyn
 * Skeletor


 * Creatures
 * Pretty Kitty
 * Shadow Beast
 * Octabeast


 * Others
 * Human Electrode

Locations

 * Eternos
 * Royal Palace
 * Snake Mountain
 * Castle Grayskull (mentioned only)

Cast

 * John Erwin as He-Man/Prince Adam and Beast Man
 * Alan Oppenheimer as Skeletor, Man-At-Arms and Battle Cat/Cringer
 * Linda Gary as Teela and Evil-Lyn
 * Lou Scheimer (credited as Erik Gunden) as Orko

Behind the Scenes

 * Script was approved March 8, 1983 and final script revision was done May 9, 1983. The character models were finalized on May 5, 1983.
 * The original VHS release in the US omitted the title card and the story was listed as 'A Beastly Menagerie' on the back cover.
 * This story is loosely based on the Filmation script premise 'Cat's Cradle' in which He-Man had to rescue Cringer from Beast Man's fortress.
 * In the original script, the scene in which Skeletor makes the walls close in on He-Man was supposed to take place in a cavern instead of Skeletor's throne room, which would make more sense logistically.

Continuity

 * Several of the background crowd scenes were reused in The Greatest Show on Eternia.
 * The shot of Man-At-Arms repairing the Sky Sled was first seen in the moral to The Curse of the Spellstone. A version with Adam replacing Man-At-Arms was used in Teela's Quest.

Errors

 * When Cringer says 'I wonder what she's doing after the show', referring to Pretty Kitty, just before the scene ends, his mouth disappears.
 * The background crowd shot remains the same during the sequence in which the Shadow Beasts puts Teela down, making for an awkward jump cut.
 * As Pretty Kitty walks towards the Royal Palace, she comes to a wall with a doorway that appears to merge into the background wall. The animation overlays don't match up.
 * When Teela says 'The Shadow Beast and I are old friends', the close up of the Shadow Beast does not match the shots preceding and following it in which it is holding He-Man in the air with one arm.
 * Cringer manages to roar just like Battle Cat. He will do so again in Orko's Favorite Uncle.
 * As He-Man and Battle Cat enter the top of Snake Mountain, his sword is visible on his back in one shot, and in his right hand in the next.
 * Evil-Lyn's wand keeps changing in length during each scene it is used in and in one close-up of her feet, she suddenly has high heels.
 * When the walls begin to move in on He-Man and Battle Cat, there are different amounts of space left when we see Battle Cat pushing back the wall and when He-Man is doing the same in the next shot.

The He-Man and She-Ra Blog

 * A brief review #015 - "A Beastly Sideshow"
 * Eternia Times Three?
 * A letter from Skeletor...