Double Edged Sword


 * This article is about the animated episode. For the minicomic loosely based upon the same story, see Double-Edged Sword.

Double Edged Sword is the 42nd episode of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, written by Robby London and directed by Gwen Wetzler. The episode appears in the Season One, Volume Two DVD set as the second on Disk 2.

Synopsis
A young boy, Chad, who was under the care of his disabled grandfather, dreamt of joining the Royal Guard and enjoying the glory of battle, until an attack by the Evil Warriors taught him the true cost of war. There was a mad rush by both the good and bad guys to collect the energy source eternium in the Sands of Time. Both sides invaded a neutral desert country for a rare mineral power supply. The young boy was attacked by a Spidasaur, a sea monster summoned by Mer-Man (despite being at the desert, there was a small lake, but seemingly deep enough for the Spidasaur), and He-Man came to the rescue. Trap Jaw then decided to eat some eternium to become as powerful as He-Man and convinced Mer-Man to help him get the eternium, promising to turn two thirds of Eternia into an ocean.

His strength greatly emplified by the eternium, Trap Jaw rumbled with He-Man, but his newfound powers wore off and he went in search for more. Chad's pet Burbie ingested the last piece instead, but it proved to be poisonous to the small creature, so He-Man took it to the Sorceress to help the pet get better. In the meantime, Chad's grandfather told him that was he formerly a soldier, but once used his Scatter Ray to scare some attacking orcs and his reckless shots made a mountain crumble on him, and that's what caused his legs to be paralised.

Moral
He-Man: "Sometimes movies and television adventure series like this one make it seem as though shooting a gun, fighting, and taking chances are fun and exciting things to do. And what's more, the good guys never get hurt. But in real life, people do get hurt, even killed, when they fight or use guns. Make believe can be fun, and there's nothing wrong with imagining great adventures. But never forget, that when it's the real thing, someone can get hurt. Even the good guys. Even you."

Heroic Warriors

 * Prince Adam
 * Battle Cat
 * Cringer
 * He-Man
 * Man-At-Arms
 * Orko
 * Sorceress
 * Teela

Allies

 * Chad
 * Elden
 * King Randor
 * Energy Patrol (mentioned)

Evil Warriors

 * Mer-Man
 * Panthor
 * Skeletor (mentioned)
 * Trap Jaw

Villains

 * Orks (flashback only)

Creatures

 * Burbie
 * Spidasaur

Technology

 * Jet Chair
 * Porta-Prison
 * Scatter Ray
 * Telebeam (mentioned)

Vehicles

 * Basher
 * Doom Buster (mentioned)
 * Wind Raider

Locations

 * Castle Grayskull
 * Eternia - Royal Palace
 * Prison Mines (mentioned)
 * Sands of Time
 * Snake Mountain

Minerals

 * Eternium

Cast

 * John Erwin as He-Man/Prince Adam and Elden
 * Alan Oppenheimer as Man-At-Arms, Mer-Man and Battle Cat/Cringer
 * Linda Gary as Teela, the Sorceress and Chad
 * Lou Scheimer (credited as Erik Gunden) as Orko, Trap Jaw and King Randor

Behind the Scenes

 * Script was approved April 29, 1983 and final script revision took place June 23, 1983.
 * Robby London wrote this script in reaction to the accusations of Saturday morning cartoons being too violent.
 * In the first draft, Chad was named 'Joshua' and his grandfather Elden was called 'Vince'. Originally, Beast Man and Mer-Man were the main villains and Trap Jaw joined them in act 2.

Continuity

 * The Evil Warrior's vehicle, the Doom Buster was previously mentioned in Disappearing Act and is referenced again here, but will not be seen until The Shadow of Skeletor.
 * A completely different power source for the Royal Palace was featured in The Starchild.
 * Most of the footage of He-Man arriving at Castle Grayskull and commanding the Jaw-bridge to lower is reused from Diamond Ray of Disappearance.
 * The animation of Mer-Man summoning a Spidasaur is reanimated footage of Beast Man summoning the Giant Crawler from Song of Celice.
 * The Spidasaur was seen earlier in The Curse of the Spellstone as the tentacled serpent that attacks the Heroic Warrors twice in the Region of Flame.
 * Various plot points about a youngster direspecting the peaceful ways of his elders were recycled in the BraveStarr episode To Walk a Mile, while plot elements and dialogue were recycled in another BraveStarr episode, An Older Hand.
 * The character model used for Chad would be reused as Thad in Return of the Gryphon.
 * The animated sequence of Orko throwing punches would be seen again in No Job Too Small and The Toy Maker.
 * The character model for Chad can be spotted during a flashback sequence in Battlecat together with the character model for Jeremy from The Royal Cousin.
 * Eternium will be used as a plot device once again in the 2002 He-Man and the Masters of the Universe episode Trust.
 * Chad appears again in The Eternia Flower but his look has been altered.

Errors

 * During the opening scene, Man-At-Arms is reflected in the elevator door. He moves his left hand down, and his reflection moves the same hand upwards.

The He-Man and She-Ra Blog

 * A brief review #042 - "Double Edged Sword"
 * Forward's Scatter Ray.
 * Trap Jaw's Tongue?
 * 30 YEARS - Top 30 GREATEST MOMENTS #19
 * Happy Birthday He-Man #23 - Even the good guys...