Colossor Awakes

Skeletor arms his Collector with a ray that turns living things to stone and stone to muscle, and uses it against Man-At-Arms, Ram Man, Orko and half the Royal Courtyard on a sundown deadline. Reversing it means finding the Fire Jewels first, which puts He-Man on a collision course with the ancient stone giant Colossor guarding Castle Grayskull.

Teela: "I love running at this time of the day." He-Man: "Yeah, me too. Makes me feel close to nature." Teela: "The best part is that it's wonderful exercise." He-Man: "It's the best. Of course, one should check with a doctor before doing any heavy exercise." Teela: "Right, and then start off just a little each day." He-Man: "I sure wish we could tell that to everybody." Teela: "I think we just did." He-Man: "We did?" Teela: "See for yourself." He-Man: "Remember, be good to your body and it'll be good to you." Teela: "Well said, He-Man. Now, I'll race you to the tree!" He-Man: "Okay!"

John Erwin as He-Man/Prince Adam and Beast Man

Alan Oppenheimer as Skeletor, Man-At-Arms and Battle Cat/Cringer

Linda Gary as Teela, Evil-Lyn, the Sorceress and Queen Marlena

Lou Scheimer (credited as Erik Gunden) as Orko, King Randor, Colossor and Wind Raider computer

Norm Prescott as Stratos

J. Brynne Stephens gives Skeletor his most overtly mechanical scheme of the block: a flying weapon called the Collector that turns people to stone and then turns stone back into muscle, which lets the episode stage a body-count threat, Man-At-Arms, Ram Man, Orko and half the Royal Courtyard, petrified against a deadline, without anybody actually being in danger of dying on screen. It is a clever way around Filmation's own house rules, and the sundown countdown gives the middle third real urgency that a lot of season one episodes settle for gesturing at instead of earning.

Where the episode earns its title is Colossor himself, an ancient stone giant Skeletor animates and sends against Castle Grayskull. He-Man's usual move against an out-of-control threat is to talk it down or outsmart it, but Colossor does not talk, and the episode's actual climax is uncharacteristically blunt: warned and given the chance to stop, the giant keeps coming, and He-Man smashes him to pieces in a single blow. It is a rare moment of the show letting its hero end a fight with force alone rather than a lesson, and it works precisely because everything around it, the Fire Jewels quest, the Ray-Fuser built to undo the Collector's damage, is so deliberately non-violent by comparison.

The episode's back half is busier than it needs to be. He-Man collects the Fire Jewels, escapes a volcano, tricks Skeletor into firing on his own hostage, and fights Colossor, all inside the same stretch, and the density shows: side characters like Ram Man and Stratos exist mainly to be turned to stone and then cheer at the end. Orko gets the episode's best button regardless, exaggerating his own role in the finale to his friends until Man-At-Arms's shadow sends him fleeing, a small joke that lands better than the plot mechanics around it. Colossor Awakes is a solid mid-season adventure hiding a genuinely rare beat, a hero choosing to end a fight rather than end a conversation, and the giant is memorable enough that the show kept reusing his ruins as a location long after this one episode was over.

cereal:geek's commentary on Colossor Awakes, with behind-the-scenes detail on how the episode was made.

1. Script approval came December 10, 1982, with a final revision dated July 12, 1983.
2. One of the rare episodes where He-Man ends a fight with force rather than a lesson: Colossor is warned, given the chance to stop, and smashed apart in a single blow when he doesn't.
3. An unused script revision would have had Skeletor call himself only 'soon to be Master of the Universe' rather than claiming the title outright.
4. Colossor's ruins get reused as a location well beyond this one episode, including later turning up as Dark Mountain in Origin of the Sorceress.
5. One of three episodes adapted into the direct-to-video compilation The Greatest Adventures of All, alongside Diamond Ray of Disappearance and Teela's Quest.
6. A massive stone golem named Colossor is reactivated by Skeletor and used as a siege weapon against Eternos. He-Man must talk the golem down rather than fight it.