Written by TAKE the CHALLENGE!
There are brave “Masters of the Universe” fans that have accepted the challenge to watch all 130 Episodes of the 1983 Filmation Cartoon Series “He-Man and the Masters of the Universe“, for 130 days straight, one episode a day. The few. The proud. The RE-WATCH-A-THON-ERS!
(Also check out the RE-WATCH-A-THON celebratory memento shirts and mugs available!)
Today’s Episode is:
Evil Lyn’s Plot
| PRODUCTION NUMBER | EPISODE TITLE | DIRECTOR | WRITERS | PREMIERE DATE | RE-WATCH-A-THON DATE |
|---|
| MU12 | “Evil-Lyn’s Plot” | Lou Kachivas | Paul Dini | September 21, 1983 | Dec 8 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Synopsis: Skeletor wants the Coridite from Widget Fortress, in order to make his own armor to match He-Man’s. Evil-Lyn disguises herself in order to gain access to it. | |||||
CLICK HERE to Watch on YOUTUBE (or watch it embedded below):
OUR THOUGHTS:
While tolerance for this episode may be dependent on one's fondness for the Widgets, this episode doesn't find its footing until midway when Evil-Lyn's plot begins. It leads to an entertaining battle between He-Man and Skeletor and ultimately provides some interesting lore behind He-Man's power harness. (6/10)
Comment, Review and Discuss below:
Tomorrow’s Episode is: “Like Father, Like Daughter”
This was my favorite episode as a kid, for me it hit on so many levels:
1. This is my all time favorite Evil-Warrior lineup of Skeletor, Panthor, Beastman, Mer-Man, and Evil-Lyn. Panthor was criminally underutilized, and Mer-Man tended to bring a sense of competence to the warriors (not in this episode though).
2. As my username implies, Battlecat is my favorite MOTU character outside of He-Man. I think it gets forgotten at times that he’s He-Man’s partner and also shares the power of Grayskull, so I really enjoy the episodes like this one where it’s just the two of them as the Heroic Warriors (outside of the Sorceress’ cameo).
3. I think this is the best He-Man/Skeletor fight of the series. Skeletor with He-Man’s strength allows for a much more brutal, power filled battle.
As an adult I can put some criticism though – they spend WAY too much time with the Widgets, and Evil-Lyn doesn’t really do a ton despite the title (and that she’s more than capable of).
For my money though, you can’t beat a Paul Dini episode. The ending is one of the few times I’ve literally laughed out loud watching this show when Squinch keeps fumbling around trying to say what he means “Oh I didn’t mean you Laura, I meant PRETTY women"
@battlecat327 Battle Cat is your favorite outside of He-Man? You don’t hear that much. That is neat. Were you upset when they took away his ability to speak in the 200X show?
i agree that Panthor was underutilized in Filmation. I love this episode and the best part is we get some nice scenes with Panthor. I don’t know why he disappeared later on but Panthor is an actual character in this episode. He isn’t just a ride but he is on equal footing with Beast Man and Mer-Man and it’s great. He even gets to help Evil Lyn sell the plot. I love it.
@samuel I have a twin brother so partners/pairs were a big thing with us – usually when we played we would alternate who was who: One day I would be He-Man and Cringer, and then the next I would be Adam and Battlecat (and vice versa for him).
By a mile Battlecat not speaking was the biggest issue with 200X, which overall I like. I think he has to speak – He-Man and Battlecat are usually on adventures with just the two of them, so simply from a story telling element He-Man needs a sounding board. Plus his personality is a good mix with the group as the impulsive fighter. Particularly with Filmation, nobody else typically charges at Skeletor without a second thought, and unless he has corodite (like in this episode), Battlecat can generally get Skeletor scared/running.
You’re spot on with Panthor too – he’s someone else who I felt could have been handled better in 200X. Crazy between that one, Filmation, and Revelation we’ve seen Skeletor riding Panthor a grand total of five times (and two of them are blink and you miss it).
@battlecat327 Only five times? That is crazy. I don’t understand it. They had the stock animation. I’ve seen the cels. Why not put Skeletor on Panthor once in a while when he’s outside? I would have loved a Battle Cat versus Panthor episode. I don’t know where He-Man and Skeletor would be. Maybe they would be trapped but it would be either Battle Cat to save the day or Panthor to ruin the day. That would have been a great episode.
I’m jealous that you have a twin. It must have been awesome to have someone to play with when you were young all the time.
Put me down as one not liking the widgets. The way they are drawn feels like they belong in a different cartoon.
@vintagetyler You said the same things about Zagraz. You thought his art style belonged in a Disney movie.
Zagraz is another character that belongs in a different cartoon. Most Filmation characters feel like they fit in Eternia but not those.
I’m on Ep. 11… Should have long sleeve T’s for sale!
@hemanfan51 Awesome!
There are long sleeves available! There is a drop down menu but here is a direct link: 😊
https://hemania.threadless.com/designs/re-watch-a-thon/mens/longsleeve-t-shirt
Alright putting this in my favorites.
The episodes I’ve been marking down as favorites on a list are usually the ones with good plots and a nice selection of characters present (Diamond Ray of Disappearance, Teela’s Quest, Dragon Invasion)
But this is different in that it’s just a plain funny episode in a lot of probably unintentional ways
The widgets look like they’re from an entirely different cartoon (maybe European) yet seeing them next to He-Man is funny.
And I feel like for that reason this was one of the more higher budgeted episodes in terms of animation I mean just look at how He-Man and Skeletor fight near the end when they aren’t reusing the usual reused animated shots.
The titular character, Evil-Lyn doesn’t show up until around half the episode runtime and only does one important thing.
The first half feels just like another tuesday for He-Man with the way he just casually foils Skel’s scheme alone with BC while they just happen to be around where he’s executing the plan.
and the Widgets just randomly have a He-Signal………..’aight.
Mer Man and Beast Man look like they suddenly have Spider-Man wall crawling abilities
Overall one of the less serious episodes and I mean that in a good way
“Koradite" I swear this show sometimes keeps reminding me of the infamous Zelda CD-i games
4 stars. While light on plot this episode is action packed – the most genuine fight scenes of any episode? The script itself is great, full of chacter. And the animation in this one is wonderful.