Mekaneck's Lament

Sent on reconnaissance while the other Masters do the fighting, Mekaneck decides his stretching neck is a useless power, and Man-At-Arms' new spying gadget makes him feel worse. A hooded old man on a raft offers to grant him every power he wants in return for an amulet from the Sands of Fire. The old man is Count Marzo, a sorcerer the Elders imprisoned in an aged body after Captain Miro's army defeated him. With his amulet back, Marzo beats He-Man and gasses the royal palace. Mekaneck stretches his neck above the vapour, and he and He-Man defeat Marzo and put him behind bars.

"Everybody's special. We each have our own unique talents and abilities. So instead of wanting to be like others, try and be the best you that you can be."

Mekaneck: "Reconnaissance? Yeah, great."

Mekaneck: "Me? I can stretch my neck and look at stuff."

Mekaneck: "If you could, you'd have a better boat."

Count Marzo (as the old man): "Why limit yourself? You can have it all. Just counts as one wish."

Count Marzo: "These are the protectors of Eternia? Pathetic."

He-Man: "Oh, and, Orko... Next time, warm water?"

Every team show has a member who suspects he was picked to make up the numbers, and "Mekaneck's Lament" gives that suspicion a whole episode. It opens on a battle at the bridge to Grayskull, where Man-At-Arms hands out the jobs that matter: Stratos and Man-E-Faces hit the cliff high, Ram-Man and Adam hit it low, and Mekaneck gets reconnaissance. His reply is the episode in miniature: "Reconnaissance? Yeah, great."

Erik Runnels and Lara Runnels write his self-pity with some sympathy. Back at the palace he lays out the case against himself: Man-E-Faces has monster strength, Stratos can fly, Ram-Man can knock down anything, and "Me? I can stretch my neck and look at stuff." Adam talks him round by reminding him that he was the one who found He-Man and King Randor trapped in that abyss after He-Man's first battle, and for a moment it works. Then Man-At-Arms, fixing Mekaneck's jammed neck bearings, mentions his new invention, a viewer that can see behind people and above treetops, built to help with reconnaissance. Adam works out the damage at once, and the episode lets him be the only person in the palace who notices.

By now the spine is plain. Mekaneck wants any power except his own, and the episode is about the day the power he despises turns out to be the one that saves the kingdom.

The temptation scene is the best thing in the script. A hooded old man drifts up on a raft and offers to grant a wish, and Mekaneck's first instinct is sound: "If you could, you'd have a better boat." The old man has an answer for everything, including the fact that his magic does not work on himself, and his pitch is the oldest one going: "Why limit yourself? You can have it all. Just counts as one wish." The fee is a small favour, an amulet from the Sands of Fire, a keepsake from a dear departed sister. Mekaneck asks "What's the catch?" and agrees anyway. It is the most human moment he gets.

The Sorceress's flashback fills in what Mekaneck cannot know. Count Marzo once attacked the Hall of Wisdom, was captured by the army of Captain Miro, Adam's grandfather, and was locked by the Elders into an old man's body with his amulet hidden in the Sands of Fire. Once Mekaneck hands it over, Marzo walks away from the deal and heads for the palace, where his beasts and a cloud of choking vapour put the defenders down; even He-Man is beaten in his first round with the man and left out cold until Orko wakes him with a splash of water. He-Man's response ("Next time, warm water?") is the laugh we needed in a dark stretch.

The animation saves its best idea for the climax. With the palace full of vapour, Mekaneck stretches his neck up above the clouds, Marzo greets him as "my stretchy-necked friend," and the fight ends with that same neck wrapped around Marzo on the palace stairs. The power that made him a lookout is the power that gets him over the gas, and the staging lets us see it before anyone says so.

The weakness is what the script leaves out. Mekaneck handed a dangerous sorcerer his power back, and after his cry of "Wait! What about these powers?" as Marzo walks off, the episode never makes him account for it to anyone. A long flashback in the middle leaves little room to spare, and the lesson the show wanted was about self-worth, but a scene of Mekaneck owning the mistake would have made his comeback mean more.

As an early showcase for a secondary Master, this is one of the better first-season efforts, and it gives Marzo a debut strong enough to bring him back later. It closes where it should, with He-Man telling Mekaneck his neck is pretty special and Mekaneck admitting that Prince Adam said so first. The lookout's job was never the small one, and by the end Mekaneck knows it.

1. Production: This episode is Count Marzo's first appearance in the 2002 series, according to the He-Man wiki.
2. Homage: Count Marzo is a Filmation original, created for the 1983 cartoon rather than the toy line; the He-Man wiki lists his debut there as "The Once and Future Duke".
3. Homage: In Filmation's "Search for a Son", Marzo crossed paths with Mekaneck, and the He-Man wiki says the rivalry the 2002 series builds between the two is clearly influenced by that episode.
4. Continuity: Marzo returns in "The Council of Evil Part 1", praising "Lord Skeletor" for his plan, and the He-Man wiki says he takes Mekaneck prisoner in that two-parter.
5. Continuity: Adam's reminder points back to "The Beginning Part 3", where it is Mekaneck calling "They're down here" who locates He-Man and King Randor after their fall.
6. Voice cast: The He-Man wiki credits Michael Donovan with both Count Marzo and Captain Miro, so the villain and the captain who caught him share a voice. The wiki also lists Donovan as King Randor and with directing and casting credits on the series.
7. Voice cast: Gabe Khouth voices both Orko and Mekaneck, per the He-Man wiki, so the scene where Orko tells Mekaneck that an evil wizard is attacking Eternia is one actor playing both sides.
8. Fan observation: The He-Man wiki notes that Marzo's beasts resemble the Terror Dogs from Ghostbusters and reads his order to set them on Mekaneck as a nod to a line of Venkman's in Ghostbusters II. The English subtitles render the order as "Seek him!"
9. Toys: When Mattel released a Count Marzo figure in 2010, it was modelled on his 2002 look rather than his Filmation design, according to the He-Man wiki.