Huntara (episode)

Huntara is the 45th episode of She-Ra: Princess of Power.

Plot Summary
Hordak and Imp are berating the Hordesmen for their repeated failures to stop She-Ra. Hordak tells them that Horde Prime is displeased, so he's summoned a *Silaxian - a member of a race whose hunters, trappers, and warriors are among the best in the universe - to capture She-Ra. He also warns them that if she succeeds, the Hordesmen will spend the rest of their time at the Fright Zone cleaning out garbage bins with tiny brushes...much to the dismay of Catra and Scorpia.

When the outsider arrives, she introduces herself as Huntara and demands to see proof that She-Ra is as evil as Hordak claims. He shows her some false videos that make She-Ra and the Great Rebellion look like miscreants and anarchists with no concern for the welfare of the common people, and Huntara agrees to fight her. However, as per the *Silaxian code of honor, she insists on fighting alone and with no intervention from Hordak or his Hordesmen. She then sets out to find one of She-Ra's allies, shooting down the Flutter Plane and capturing Glimmer as bait for her trap.

Later, at the Rebel camp in the Whispering Woods, Garv the Innkeeper brings Princess Adora a message, which she listens to with Bow. They learn that Huntara has imprisoned Glimmer in a dimensional transporter in the Crimson Waste; if She-Ra does not meet her alone at Tomb Rock by noon, she will send Glimmer to a place from which she will never return. Meanwhile, Catra meets with Scorpia at Scorpion Hill, and they make plans to tail She-Ra and Huntara in the Crawler and deal with the winner of the duel.

The next morning, Adora transforms into She-Ra and has Swift Wind fly her to the Crimson Waste. She tries to convince Huntara that she is not evil and there is no reason for them to fight, but Huntara refuses to listen and accuses her of being a coward. They engage in a long battle that Catra and Scorpia watch from hiding, which She-Ra eventually wins by turning her sword into a rope, disarming and ensnaring Huntara, and knocking her to the ground as she prepares to throw a bomb. As per the *Silaxian code, Huntara turns herself over to She-Ra as a slave, but She-Ra says that she doesn't keep slaves and releases her. Huntara is confused and says that She-Ra does not seem as evil as she was told, but She-Ra tells her that Hordak lied to her. Huntara is ashamed and angry at being manipulated and swears that Hordak will pay before releasing Glimmer. Just then, the Crawler surfaces and puts the three of them to sleep with its Scorpion Sting Cannon.

Huntara, She-Ra, and Glimmer are taken to the Fright Zone, where Hordak plans to imprison Huntara for failing to capture She-Ra. However, she uses a smoke bomb to slip away from her captors and an exploder star to destroy the force field surrounding She-Ra and Glimmer. Glimmer recovers She-Ra's sword, which She-Ra uses to slice through Huntara's manacles so she can recover her swords, and Huntara jumps out of the way as Catra and Scorpia both leap at her and crash to the ground in a heap. Hordak then deploys a battalion of Horde Troopers, and Huntara, She-Ra, and Glimmer decide to flee.

As Huntara prepares to return to *Silax, She-Ra encourages her to stay and be part of the Great Rebellion, but Huntara says that she is needed on her home planet. However, she promises She-Ra that the next time they meet, it will be as friends. As she flies away, She-Ra says that she's quite a woman, and Swift Wind nuzzles her affectionately and says, "So are you, She-Ra. So are you."

Moral
Loo-Kee: "Hi! It's me again, Loo-Kee. Did you find where I was hiding today? If not, here's another chance. See me now? Here I am! In today's story Hordak thought he could beat She-Ra by telling Huntara lies. But it didn't work, lies seldom do. Somehow the truth always comes out, and then it's big trouble. So save yourself that trouble, and always tell the truth."

Characters

 * Great Rebellion
 * Princess Adora
 * Bow
 * Glimmer
 * Kowl
 * Loo-Kee (cameo)
 * She-Ra
 * Spirit (non-speaking role)
 * Swift Wind
 * Allies
 * Huntara
 * Garv the Innkeeper
 * Heroic Warriors
 * He-Man (indirect mention)
 * Orko (mentioned)
 * Evil Horde
 * Catra
 * Grizzlor
 * Hordak
 * Horde Prime (mentioned)
 * Horde Troopers (non-speaking roles)
 * Imp
 * Leech
 * Mantenna (non-speaking role)
 * Scorpia
 * Shadow Weaver

Objects

 * Vehicles
 * Crawler
 * Flutter Plane
 * Ground Buster
 * Horde Transport
 * Tax Collection Transport (mentioned)
 * *Silaxian Fighter

Locations
(mentioned)
 * Etheria
 * Crimson Waste - Tomb Rock
 * Fright Zone
 * Scorpion Hill
 * Whispering Woods
 * Horde World
 * Silax (mentioned)

Cast

 * Melendy Britt as She-Ra/Princess Adora and Catra
 * George DiCenzo as Hordak and Bow
 * Linda Gary as Glimmer, Shadow Weaver and Scorpia
 * Erika Scheimer as Huntara, Imp and Loo-Kee
 * Lou Scheimer (credited as Erik Gunden) as Kowl, Swift Wind, Leech, Grizzlor and Garv the Innkeeper

Behind the Scenes

 * Script was approved November 20, 1984 and final script revision took place March 6, 1985.
 * An early outline for this story was presented in the Princess of Power series bible by Filmation. In this version, Huntara was ordered to hunt down both She-Ra and Adora with whom she trained together when they were both little girls under Horde control.
 * In the script by Larry DiTillio, Huntara is described as an ebony-skinned warrior, with both Grace Jones and Storm/Ororo of the X-Men being mentioned as reference material.
 * Huntara's acrobatic flip toward the screen was staged by layout artist Lenord Robinson and animated by storyboard artist Humberto De La Fuente.
 * When Catra and Scorpia crash into each other near the finale, it was originally scripted that Scorpia would end up wearing Catra's mask while at the same time Catra's eyes were being covered by Scorpia's helmet.
 * Huntara was supposed to return in a war-themed episode named The *Silaxian Wars, written by Bob Forward, storyboarded by Don Manuel and directed by Tom Tataranowicz, but the episode never went into production.

Continuity

 * The false holo-vid footage that Hordak shows to Huntara uses footage from The Peril of Whispering Woods; Battle for Bright Moon and Duel at Devlan.
 * The shot of Adora and Bow looking up at the projection of Huntara will be reused in The Time Transformer in which they look up at Madame Razz and Broom instead.
 * The shot of Catra and Scorpia looking at each other in shock was first used in the episode Small Problems.

Errors

 * When She-Ra escapes from Huntara's cage, several bars of the broken cage disappear as she starts to get up.

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