Written by TAKE the CHALLENGE!
A great 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:
Quest for the Sword
| PRODUCTION NUMBER | EPISODE TITLE | DIRECTOR | WRITERS | PREMIERE DATE | RE-WATCH-A-THON DATE |
|---|
| MU56 | “Quest for the Sword” | Ed Friedman | Marc Richards | October 7, 1983 | Jan 21 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Synopsis: He-Man loses his sword after an earthquake and it’s found by a Rock Man. Now He-Man must get it back, otherwise Prince Adam will never be seen again. | |||||
CLICK HERE to Watch on YOUTUBE (or watch it embedded below:)
OUR REVIEW:
Crafting a story around an underground, primitive but peaceful ecosystem infected by the war weapons from the "civilized" society above is an impressive, lofty goal. However, the amount of time it takes to get there and the narrative choices that surround it makes this episode (sadly) average at best. (5/10)
Comment, Review and Discuss below:
Tomorrow’s Episode is: “Castle of Heroes”
I feel like this is an episode many people remember in great detail (probably helps that it was one of the VHS rentals), but I always thought it was just ok as a kid. It’s a big story of losing the sword, but kid me never liked it when He-Man was without it for an extended period of time.
That said, adult me has grown to really like this episode for one reason – Throughout the episode things continue to not work for He-Man and you see him get down right agitated a couple of times. He can’t get the sword back initially, they can’t break through the rocks, he can’t get the sword during the distraction, and he can’t stop them from throwing the sword in the pit. It’s a good (unintentional) lesson that things don’t always work out (even though they work out in this case).
ANGRY ROCK MAN HAS SWORD! ME WARRIOR! ME LEADER! There is only so much I can take of that Lol.
Also, is it me or do the young girls in this show really look strange sometimes?
I think this is a great episode. The drama is real when He-Man worries he can’t change back to Prince Adam and Teela will find out. I only wish it was longer.
This episode is meh.
I do wonder what was the thought process in designing the weird ass rock monsters.
The whole Teela lamenting about Adam. Does anyone else ever ponder how the Filmation crew would’ve executed a story like Revelation’s basic premise (Adam being fully exposed as He-Man) if they did so?
I feel like it would be a lot different specifically in how characters like Randor react (though to be fair if Filmation did this story, they definitely wouldn’t have killed off He-Man), but if they made it a single episode/two-parter thing, then 100% it would end with something like Sorceress or Orko somehow conjure up a spell that makes everyone forget Adam’s He-Man exposure and yada yada back to status quo
As for the episode itself, considering He-Man’s Superman logic in terms of appearance and identity, would it really have been that hard to go back to from being He-Man to Adam without the sword? That’s confusing.
I read somewhere that early in the series’ development, like later versions of the franchise, Adam was gonna look different from He-Man, mainly thinner, but Filmation be Filmation and saved money by having both of them share animation models.
Is this true?
@slycooperastroboy51 Prince Adam was also a huge guy in the 1982 comics and huge as an action figure. I think Mattel was going for a Clark Kent thing were the body didn’t change, just the outfit.
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3 stars. Actually quite enjoy this one, well animated and has a very different kind of plot without a villan of the week. Like the point above about things not going well for he-man.