Underworld

Prince Adam's careless remarks about kingship earn him a place in King Randor's entourage for peace talks between the Speleans and the Caligars, rival peoples of the underground realm of Subternia. Meanwhile Whiplash, who grew up there, guides Skeletor through Subternia to attack Castle Grayskull from below. When Spelean scouts report Skeletor in the tunnels, Randor insists on leading the pursuit himself, wins safe passage from the Caligar leader Ceratus, and confronts his old enemy in the lost city of the Ancients who built Grayskull, where Skeletor means to settle the score for the loss of his face.

"Leadership isn't just telling people what to do. It's about leading by example and standing up for what is right."

King Randor: "Are you studying to be king or court jester? Because you are doing neither very well."

Skeletor: "Grayskull walls may be made of the hardest stone, but it no doubt has a soft, weak underside."

Lord Dactys: "I've been apologizing for mine for years."

Ceratus: "I suspect you'd have an easier time defeating Skeletor."

Skeletor: "You took my face, Randor."

Most of us learn who our father was before he was our father late, if at all, and usually from somebody else. Prince Adam finds out in a cave, from a Caligar war chief!

Underworld opens with Adam practising royal etiquette badly, fencing Orko with the cutlery. A king can do whatever he wants, he says, since all his own father ever does is order people around. King Randor is standing behind him for the end of that sentence, and his answer stings: is Adam studying to be king or court jester, "because you are doing neither very well." The punishment is a seat in the royal entourage for peace talks between the Speleans and the Caligars, two peoples of the underground whose peace talks have broken down. Skeletor, meanwhile, has run out of directions to attack Castle Grayskull from, and Whiplash, who grew up in Subternia, offers to guide him in from below.

The episode is about Adam learning that his father was a soldier long before he was a king. Steven Melching builds most of the scenes in Subternia around that discovery. Lord Dactys greets Randor as an old friend, and the Spelean forge reminds us that Randor once fought beside both peoples. When word comes that Skeletor is in the tunnels, Man-At-Arms suggests the king go home. Randor refuses with a speech about a pledge he means to honour "With my own blood, if necessary." Adam's response is two words, "Go, dad," and it is the first time in the episode he cheers his father instead of complaining about him.

The best scene comes next. A Caligar war party jumps the royal group after the name Whiplash is spoken, a name the Caligars take as an insult. Their leader Ceratus is ready to fight until Randor tells him to stop. Ceratus looks again and calls him "Captain Randor," the rank he held in the war against Keldor, and Adam is standing right there to hear it. Randor promises to broker a peace between Caligars and Speleans once Skeletor is dealt with, and Ceratus gives him the episode's driest line: "I suspect you'd have an easier time defeating Skeletor." Adam's verdict is plain and delighted: "Father, that was amazing."

The animation keeps Randor in the thick of it. He leaps at a Caligar brute with a dagger, cape flying, swings a curved blade beside Adam, and climbs a ledge to face Skeletor with sword drawn, while Skeletor squares up with a blade in each hand. Skeletor makes the old wound explicit ("You took my face, Randor"), which turns a king's swordfight into the second round of a very old grudge. He-Man takes over the swordplay soon after, but the episode has already made its point by then.

The voices are worth a note. Michael Donovan plays Randor, according to the He-Man wiki, and he moves from disappointed parent to old campaigner without the change sounding forced. Brian Dobson voices both Skeletor and Ceratus, so the Caligar leader who blocks Randor's path and the villain waiting at the end of it share a voice.

The weakness is the peace talks. They are the reason the royal party goes underground, and the episode treats them as a door: Lord Dactys gives Randor a sword and a farewell, Randor makes a vow to Ceratus, and the dispute is never mediated on screen. The likely reason is the slot; a two-nation treaty is a story of its own, and this one had room only for a father and son. Whiplash's homecoming is the one piece of Subternian politics the script pays off, when a reception committee greets him at the end with "Welcome home, traitor."

The closing scene is a small joke at Adam's expense: he tells Orko his father was like a different person, and is reminded in turn that a good king needs many skills, and that Lord Dactys is coming to a state dinner. Adam sighs. He has seen who his father was, and he still has to learn which fork to use.

1. Continuity: Skeletor's "You took my face, Randor" points back to The Beginning Part 1, where Keldor's duel with Captain Randor ends with Keldor crying "My face!" The He-Man wiki describes the moment as Randor deflecting Keldor's acid back at him with his shield.
2. Continuity: Ceratus greets the king as "Captain Randor," the rank Randor holds in the war against Keldor shown at the start of The Beginning Part 1.
3. Continuity: Randor's promised treaty does not end the feud. When the Speleans and Caligars return in Rattle of the Snake, Ceratus and Lord Dactys are trading accusations of treachery again.
4. Toys: Lord Dactys became a Masters of the Universe Classics figure in August 2013, renamed Dactus, as the second figure in that year's Club Filmation subscription, and Ceratus followed in October 2015 through Club 200X, according to the He-Man wiki.
5. Toys: Whiplash's Masters of the Universe Classics bio makes him Ceratus's younger brother, which the He-Man wiki notes adds depth to the Caligars calling him a traitor here.
6. Voice cast: According to the He-Man wiki, Brian Dobson voices both Skeletor and Ceratus, Garry Chalk doubles as Man-At-Arms and Whiplash, and Richard Newman plays Lord Dactys.
7. Goofs: The He-Man wiki points out that Paul Dobson is credited in the cast for Man-E-Faces and Trap Jaw even though neither character appears in the story.