Rise of the Snake Men Part 1

Long ago, King Hiss's Snake Men took Zeelahr, brother of Zodak, and Zodak sealed them in a void. Now the snake men seize the key from Zodak, with Evil-Lyn secretly helping them. The Sorceress grants He-Man new snake armour, and the Masters march on Snake Mountain to stop the Snake Men's release, but Evil-Lyn talks Skeletor out of suspecting her, and he drives them off. General Rattlor opens the void, King Hiss returns to claim his throne, and Evil-Lyn turns on Skeletor as the Snake Men overpower him.

Zeelahr: "I am Zeelahr, brother to Zodak and ambassador to the Elders."

Skeletor: "Do you know what the penalty is for trespassing in my domain?"

Skeletor: "And to think I was beginning to question your loyalty."

Skeletor: "See how they run. The masters of failure."

King Hiss: "But not by your hand."

Skeletor: "Oh, you and what army?"

Nobody in Snake Mountain trusts anybody, and they are right not to. "Rise of the Snake Men Part 1" opens far in the past with Zeelahr, brother to Zodak and ambassador to the Elders, telling the Snake Men they cannot do this. He is carried off as another meal for their king, begging his brother to warn the Elders. It is a grim cold open for this show, and it tells us these villains do not bargain.

In the present, the void that held King Hiss and his army has a way in again. The Snake Men take down the Great Zodak and the key he used to seal them away. Evil-Lyn, in a snowbound tower, asks a snake man the one question that matters to her, whether King Hiss will reward her help; she is told he is as generous to his friends as he is ruthless to his enemies. At Castle Grayskull the Sorceress senses an impending evil and promises Adam that Grayskull's power will reach out to prepare him, and He-Man rises from the transformation in white snake armour. The Masters set off for Snake Mountain to stop Kobra Khan from freeing the Snake Men.

This is an episode about loyalty. It is built so that the villain who values it most is the one who cannot see it has already gone. Skeletor meets the Masters with a speech about the penalty for trespassing in his domain and refuses to believe Kobra Khan could get anywhere near Snake Mountain. He is told Khan could, if Skeletor has a traitor in his ranks, and the accusation is cut off by a scream before the name arrives. Evil-Lyn steps forward to say Kobra Khan did try to get in and that she talked him out of it. Skeletor's answer is "And to think I was beginning to question your loyalty."

The scene plays with the audience a step ahead of Skeletor. It is the standout of the half hour. The Masters have walked into the lion's den to tell the truth, the one person who could confirm it is the one who vouches against them, and Skeletor rewards her by offering her the honour of finishing them off. Even the snake men, freeing their own king, are careful about who gets the honour of touching the staff to the altar, and it goes to General Rattlor with a flourish.

The roll call that follows is pure toy-line theatre, Tung Lashor, Squeeze and Snake Face named one at a time and welcomed home, and the episode enjoys it. King Hiss himself gets a proper entrance, spreading his arms and roaring with his gold hood flared. The confrontation in the throne room is a gift for Brian Dobson, who voices both Hiss and Skeletor and gets to argue with himself over whose throne it is. "Oh, you and what army?" is the right line for Skeletor at the wrong moment; the answer comes hissing out of the dark.

The weak spot is the armour. The Sorceress makes a real promise when she says Grayskull's power will better prepare Adam for what may come, and the transformation sells it, white plate amid crackling lightning. But in this half the new armour changes little. He-Man and Teela face down a towering lava monster, He-Man ends up collapsed beside his sword, and the Masters retreat while Skeletor sneers at "the masters of failure." A two-parter can hold its payoff back, and a new figure has to be introduced somewhere, but here the armour is a costume change with an IOU attached.

As the first half of the season's turning point, it does its job, and there is no closing message, only a preview of King Hiss hunting for the power of the Elders. It ends where the loyalty story has been heading. Evil-Lyn turns on Skeletor in front of the Snake Men, and Skeletor gets as far as telling her she will pay before he is cut off.

1. Voice cast: The He-Man wiki lists Brian Dobson as both Skeletor and King Hiss, so the throne-room standoff has one actor playing both claimants.
2. Voice cast: Christopher Judge voices both Zodak and his brother Zeelahr, according to the He-Man wiki.
3. Goofs: The He-Man wiki notes that the end credits list Brian Dobson as Buzz-Off and Scott McNeil as Ram-Man, though neither character appears, while Stratos, who has lines, goes uncredited.
4. Continuity: Teela's line "I thought Zodak resealed the void forever" points back to season one's "Snake Pit", in which the Masters enlisted Zodak to stop the Snake Men escaping their prison.
5. Toys: Snake Armor He-Man arrived in Mattel's spring 2004 wave, branded Masters of the Universe vs. The Snake Men. The winter 2004 wave before it brought King Hssss, Rattlor (sold as The General) and Kobra Khan (as Venom-Spitting Khan).
6. Production: Wikipedia's episode list notes the series was later referred to as Masters of the Universe vs. The Snake Men during its second season, and this is the episode in which the Snake Men are freed.
7. Production: Unlike the two episodes before it, this one has no closing message; a preview of the next episode runs in its place.
8. Continuity: The He-Man wiki records that Snake Mountain in this series is the petrified serpent god Serpos, and that it grows two more snake heads when the Snake Men reclaim it in this episode.