Written by TAKE the CHALLENGE!
A terrific group of Masters of the Universe fans 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 per day.
Be sure to check out the RE-WATCH-A-THON celebratory memento shirts and mugs (long sleeve shirts options are available too).
Today’s Episode is:
House of Shokoti Part One
| PRODUCTION NUMBER | EPISODE TITLE | DIRECTOR | WRITERS | PREMIERE DATE | RE-WATCH-A-THON DATE |
|---|
| MU40 | “House of Shokoti Part One” | Lou Kachivas | Larry DiTillio | November 28, 1983 | Jan 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Synopsis: When a mysterious pyramid appears in the desert, He-Man and his friends must investigate. | |||||
CLICK HERE to Watch on YOUTUBE (or watch it embedded below:)
OUR REVIEW:
To some degree an oddly disjointed and unnecessary preamble to a highly regarded second part, this episode's lack of cohesive vision is saved by an interesting new villian called the "Masque" that we wish we saw more of. (6/10)
Comment, Review and Discuss below:
Tomorrow’s Episode is: “House of Shokoti Part Two”
Not bad. Could be better. Could be worse. Mask joins Evilseed in that small club of villains that actually die.
One of us should keep count on how many episodes do not have Skeletor in them. Maybe I will start doing it after I eat something.
I’m pretty sure I have this right (and I think I remember James Eatock talking about this before too), Skeletor is only in 70 something episodes of the 130, which I always thought was low but did the math and it checked out. The other one I remember was Battlecat was in 88 and Cringer in 101, ha. Important to note though the Skeletor number doesn’t include episodes like this one with Trap-Jaw, or other Evil Warriors, Snake Mountain, etc… which is a decent amount. What I don’t know and would love to count out is how many of those exist (no Skeletor OR Evil Warriors).
@battlecat327 You are reminding me of how little episodes Panthor was in.
70 episodes sounds right. That number is one of the hills to die on defending that HATMOTU was more than just a toy commercial. It was an amazing lore builder that gave us so much including the phrase I have the Power, a Sorceress in Castle Grayskull and Orko!
This episode was probably my favorite VHS that my brother and I would rent, it was so fun having a two parter that filled the VHS, and this is definitely a fun one, I really wished they did more.
Masque (and Shokoti) are probably my favorite non-Skeletor villains, and I really wish they weren’t one-offs. A lot of the other ones you feel like He-Man is just toying with (Jarvan, Donovus, etc…) but it definitely comes across that he’s struggling against Masque (and he really struggles with Shokoti). Malaktha and Stanlin are also great additions, I’m glad they get more appearances down the line.
I think I’ll wait ’till tomorrow until I can form a full opinion because it’s a two parter but this first half I would say is pretty good.
I see Masque ordering around Trap Jaw and I’m like “Yeah this guy was probably meant to be Skel but the writers didn’t want to feel too repetitive. Like his design but aesthetically he looks more Star Wars than MOTU. Yes I know the irony that this whole franchise exists because of Star Wars.
Also I just wanna ask, out of Skeletor’s main squad of six throughout the franchise, which guy do you prefer as the team’s main technician/scientist/inventor guy? Trap Jaw like here or Tri-Klops like in 200x? I honestly prefer the latter.