Game Plan

Game Plan is the 54th episode of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, written by Coslough Johnson and directed by Lou Kachivas. The evil Negator will stop at nothing to capture Man-At-Arms, and when He-Man and Ram Man try to rescue their friend they become trapped in Negator's computer game.

Moral
He-Man: "Everybody likes to play games. But when they do, it's natural to try and win. But some people try so hard to win that they forget about safety. They get excited, lose their tempers and then run the risk of hurting themselves or someone else by playing too rough. No game is worth an injury. When you play, don't be so anxious to win that you'll do something which you will regret later on. Play it safe."

Heroic Warriors

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

Villains

 * Negator
 * Nerbs

Locations

 * Eternos - Royal Palace
 * Mystic Mountains (mentioned)
 * Valley of the Desert - Negator's Lair

Vehicles

 * Sky-Sled
 * Wind Raider

Technology

 * Beam Ray

Cast

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

Behind the Scenes

 * Script was approved June 1, 1983 and final script revision took place June 17, 1983.
 * The story is loosely based on a Filmation script premise titled Video Magic in which the heroic warriors were swept into a video game dimension called Videola that was ruled by Skeletor.
 * Orko is so startled to see the sculpture Adam has made that the 'O' on his tunic pops off and shoots out of screen.
 * In the original script there was a scene with Orko performing a trick for Teela just before she is called away by the Royal Guard (Negator in disguise). This would have explained how Orko knew that Teela had left for the Valley of the Desert, as he overheard the conversation.
 * Ram Man's appearance was explained in the script, in which it was made clear he had an appointment with Orko to receive a juggling lesson from the Trollan jester.

Continuity

 * The background seen in Negator's prison is used again as the room where He-Man is imprisoned and Skeletor examines the Grimlakin statue in The Cat and the Spider.
 * The animated sequence of Orko doing a backflip was first seen in House of Shokoti Part 1.
 * The shot of Prince Adam examining the rockfall while Cringer looks around in fear is seen again in Search for a Son.
 * The flooding of the crops sequence was previously seen in Wizard of Stone Mountain and Evilseed.
 * Various computer-based backgrounds would be used again in Day of the Machines as well as in the Filmation's Ghostbusters episode Cyman's Revenge
 * The animated sequence of Cringer being scared with a visible shiver running up his spine was also seen in A Bird in the Hand.

Errors

 * When He-Man prepares to charge the electric bars on the cage he runs into the cage but the background is slanted in the opposite direction.

The He-Man and She-Ra Blog

 * A brief review #054 - "Game Plan"
 * Birthday Blog #7 - Negator, in all his glory...
 * Weekend Away #13 - Safety last?
 * ROAR!