Reign of the Monster

Reign of the Monster is the 16th episode of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe.

Synopsis
Skeletor visits the Torgs and King Von in their cave, promising to free their prince of destruction, Molkrom. In order to accomplish this feat, Skeletor needs the Staff of Avion, which is endowed with the same power of the Elders that imprisoned Molkrom. He kidnaps Stratos to steal the Staff of Avion and successfully frees Molkrom.

Skeletor orders Molkrom to trap He-Man and friends behind a stone wall before riding Molkrom like a steed to Castle Grayskull. There, Molkrom and the Sorceress battle with their powerful magic. Meanwhile. He-Man performs one of his classic punches to break down the stone wall, and appears at Castle Grayskull with a rope to restrain Molkrom. Teela finds where the Torgs are keeping the Staff of Avion so the heroes can imprison Molkrom in a crystal once more.

Moral
Orko: "Boy, the fruit on that tree looks good enough to eat, doesn't it? That's like a lot of things you might find around your house or in your neighborhood. But looks can fool you. Sometimes things that look or smell good can make you very sick. Remember, never taste or eat anything if you're not sure what it is. The best thing to do is ask a grown up who knows. remember, it's better to be safe than sorry. Until next time!"

Heroic Warriors

 * Battle Cat
 * He-Man
 * Man-At-Arms
 * Orko
 * Ram Man
 * Sorceress
 * Stratos
 * Teela
 * Zoar

Allies

 * Delora
 * Elders (mentioned)

Evil Warriors

 * Skeletor

Villains

 * Molkrom
 * King Von

Locations

 * Avion
 * Castle Grayskull

Vehicles

 * Attak Trak
 * Battle Ram
 * Sky-Sled
 * Torg Ships

Technology

 * Photon Cannon

Artifacts

 * Staff of Avion

Cast

 * John Erwin as He-Man and Ram Man
 * Alan Oppenheimer as Skeletor, Man-At-Arms and Battle Cat
 * Linda Gary as Teela, the Sorceress and Delora
 * Lou Scheimer (credited as Erik Gunden) as Orko, Stratos, King Von and Torg Guard

Behind the Scenes

 * Script was approved on January 26, 1983 and final script revision was finished on August 25, 1983.
 * The original title was "Reign of the Monster God", but censors did not allow the word god to be part of the title.
 * This is the only episode out of 130 in which Prince Adam does not appear. In this episode he is in He-Man form for the full duration.
 * Only Filmation appearance of Delora. Here she is depicted as the sister of Stratos, whereas in the mini-comic version of the same story, "Siege of Avalon", she is his human wife. A third version appeared in a storybook published by Ladybird titled "Wings of Doom". Here Delora is both married to Stratos and a member of his species, the Avionians.
 * Elements from this story were adapted into a mini-comic written by Michael Halperin and illustrated by Alfredo Alcala that came with several Masters of the Universe action figures titled Siege of Avion. In this version, Delora is Stratos' human wife instead of his sister and it is she who is kidnapped rather than Stratos. Further more, the Torgs are replaced by a race called Ilkorts and the monster Molkrom is replaced by the demon Haramesh.
 * In the original script, He-Man battled the Torg in the Talon Fighter instead of the Sky Sled. The Torgs used large walking machines instead of flying machines to attack Avalon and the Heroic Warriors battled Cavern Bats as well as the two Cavern Monsters.
 * The character of King Von was designed by Gerald Forton.

Continuity

 * The animated sequence of He-Man and Teela looking up at the fireworks would be reused at the end of The Greatest Show on Eternia.
 * The Photon Cannon weapons from this story can be seen in the background in Eternal Darkness when Prince Adam and Teela run through the Palace to their Sky Sleds.
 * The Cavern Monster's character model was reused as the Tracker in One for All.
 * The character model of the Cavern Monster can be seen as part of the Keeper's menagerie in The Heart of a Giant.
 * The animation of Orko casting a spell to distract the guards was seen earlier in The Dragon Invasion before he created doubles of himself.

Errors

 * Outside Castle Grayskull, when Skeletor says "The castle is strong, but not strong enough", he has the Staff of Avion in his hand instead of his Havoc Staff.
 * King Von grabs the Staff of Avion with his right hand, but is next shown holding it in his left while his right hand is carrying a large club.

The He-Man and She-Ra Blog

 * A brief review #016 - "Reign of the Monster"
 * He-Man's messy hair.